Connecting to VRBO / HomeAway

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  • Calendar Based Channels only support: availability updates, booking downloads, and automatic adjustments.

    • They do not support rates! Enter rates directly into the HomeAway extranet.
  • Even though VRBO is owned by Expedia, it is not possible to make the connect to this channel through Expedia.
  • WebBookingPro does not control how frequently calendar channels poll us for availability, so it can take 0.5 to 2 hours for availability to reflect on the channel. Please confirm this interval with your HomeAway Account Manager.

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Step 1

If you do not have an account on HomeAway:

  1. Create an account on HomeAway.
  2. Once done, proceed to Step 2.

If you do have an account on HomeAway:

Proceed with Step 2

Step 2

[wph_info bg_color=”#c0e62c” text_color=”#000000″]This article will walk you through the entire process of mapping your rooms to your Vrbo (HomeAway) rooms (and vice versa). Once you have completed all of the steps below, the system will update Vrbowith your availability, and the channel manager will download your Vrbo bookings into your bookings page in your system.[/wph_info]

[wph_warning bg_color=”#eb7c7c” text_color=”#000000″]Vrbo (iCal) is a calendar-based channel, which works differently than normal distribution channels. For example, only availability can be updated, no rates or any other stay restrictions.[/wph_warning]

  1. Vrbo iCal connection only supports the following:
    • Availability updates
    • Booking Downloads
    • Automatic Adjustments
  2. Vrbo iCal connection does not support rates.  You must enter rates directly into the channel’s extranet.
  3. Vrbo iCal connection supports cancellations but be careful. If you receive an Vrbo cancellation, please check if you have received Cancellation notice from WebBookingPro within 15 minutes.
  4. Because of how the calendar URL system is designed, Vrbo iCal is only able to connect to one of the rooms of a WebBookingPro room type at a time.
  5. Reservations from Vrbo (iCal connection) does not contain any guest specific information, including guest’s name.

Connection Guide

  1. Access your WebBookingPro account and go to the “Channel Manager” from the left menu
  2. Click on “Add New”
  3. Search for Vrbo in the list of channels and click on Create

4. Now click on “Map Rooms” under Vrbo line.

5. For each room copy from WebBookingPro a calendar link.

6. Now Login to your VrboAccount – link: https://www.vrbo.com/p/home 

  1. Select Property
  2. Click on Calendar on the left side

  1. First you have to Import WebBookingPro calendar. Click on “Import & export”
  2. Then Select “Manage imported calendars”
  3. Then add new calendar link as first link from WebBookingPro system – click on Import Calendar.
  4. Copy paste link from WebBookingPro
  5. Then you have to “Export” calendar from Vrbo and paste the link in WebBookingPro interface. Click on “Export calendar”
  6. Copy the link and paste in on second field in WebBookingPro

  7. Finally do “Save Changes” and from now on Vrbo and WebBookingPro are connected.

Repeat the steps above for ALL of your Vrbo rooms you’d like to sync with WebBookingPro.

On WebBookingPro, click Import once completed – Your channel is now live!

Considerations

Please take the following considerations in mind when working with a calendar channel such as Vrbo:

  1. Selling Dorm beds/rooms on Vrbo is not recommended
    • Calendar-based channels do not provide us with the number of customers that booked, so bookings for shared/dorm rooms will be imported as 1 bed by default, even though there could be more! It’s safest to not update/sell dorm rooms on Vrbo.
  2. We highly recommend disabling Instant Book with Vrbo.
    • By disabling Instant Book, you will have the opportunity to confirm all bookings before you accept them. Otherwise, an overbooking situation is more likely to occur because they download the calendar files from us in hourly intervals.  To resolve this overbooking potential, we recommend that you turn off Instant Book by toggling the Instant Book lightning icon off.
  3. Only one unit can be sold per room type each night
    • As soon as a booking is made for a particular room type, that booking will block the room type from being available to anybody else on Vrbo.  Creating multiple listings for each room is not a solution because you cannot assign multiple channel listings to a single channel manager room.  At best, you can sell one unit of each room type per night on Vrbo.