Vrbo: Setup Guide and Key Requirements

Learn the main setup steps and important requirements for connecting Vrbo to Hostaway, including payments, export preparation, currency, and account configuration.

Connect to Vrbo API - Exporting new listings

• The Hostaway software allows you to create new listings on Vrbo automatically.
• Vrbo will connect your current listings to these newly created listings if you have them.
• This way, you can have your new properties listed on Vrbo more quickly than when you do this manually.

Synchronization with Vrbo allows you to manage your listings, reservations, and availability seamlessly across platforms.

We'll guide you step by step to make sure your connection is smooth and efficient.

Important

• Since you are using Hostaway, you can connect to the Vrbo API no matter your location or the number of listings you have. You can apply for API integration
• API integration allows you to sync every content detail, amenities, fees, and taxes
• If you need to adjust any content information, you can do it manually on Hostaway or Vrbo
• Vrbo booking lead time
  • You can specify how many days in advance you allow to receive bookings from Vrbo
  • To configure this, go to Listings > Additional Info and select a value from 0 to 31 days in the dropdown menu, or choose Other to enter a custom number
  • If you select 0, you are allowing same-day bookings for that listing on Vrbo.
    
    
     
• Currency. Vrbo supports 6 currencies: USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, AUD, and NZD. When choosing the currency in which you want to publish your listings on Vrbo, you must take into account that the currency must match the location of your Vrbo account, in particular, the Vrbo brand. For example, Vrbo US only supports USD and CAD. If you want to use EUR, you would need to use a European brand such as Vrbo UK, IT, or ES (in Europe, a VAT ID is required).
• Multiple Vrbo Accounts
• If you used a channel manager and would like to import Vrbo reservations
• Homeaway listings in Vrbo accounts are not mapping during onboarding, creating double booking risks. To identify affected listings, check if marked as "Homeaway" in Vrbo, and please manually verify all listings during onboarding. Please check this article about this. 
• Optional step: If the connection is taking longer than expected, you can connect your listings via iCal and import reservations to avoid double bookings.

• Keep in mind that all financial records and payments will be kept within Hostaway and your payment processor as the source of truth, so any additional fees/extras or financial updates may not be directly changed in your Vrbo dashboard. This is expected based on the Merchant of Record ownership change once you are integrated through Hostaway; Vrbo will no longer manage this data after initially receiving the reservation. For more details, please refer to their guide on Payments for Integrated Accounts

• Vrbo includes fees and their guest service fee in the totals displayed in the Vrbo dashboard, but in Hostaway, these Vrbo dashboard totals are not reflected, and we do not have any data for them until the reservation becomes confirmed.

• Vrbo will block the archiving of any listing with existing reservations dated after the onboarding date, not the mapping date.

Different Vrbo Account  Statuses in Hostaway:

• Pending Setup (AOI connection ready, listings not mapped yet)
• Connecting (listing mapping was committed)
• Connected (listing mapping approved, listings live)
   

When your VRBO account displays a "connecting" status in Hostaway, this indicates that the system is in the process of establishing a connection with VRBO's servers. During this transitional period, the account will remain inaccessible until the status successfully changes to "connected."

Notes

• It is important to review and complete the steps below, and inform us that you have done it, so we can enable the connection for Vrbo; otherwise, the Vrbo implementation specialist will not be able to start the integration project. Find more information from Vrbo on How to integrate with property management software.

• When onboarding new clients, make sure you do not have any dynamic pricing tools connected directly to the OTAs, whether you are a platform user or part of an internal department. If you see different prices on an OTA or on a reservation, always check whether you have any dynamic pricing tool connected directly to that OTA (Airbnb Smart Pricing must be off as well).  

Step 1. Set up the Payment Provider

Make sure that you have a Stripe or Braintree account connected with Hostaway before the integration. Once the integration is completed, you will be able to charge your guest directly via Stripe/Braintree on Hostaway. Vrbo will not take payments for you. For more information on Payment Providers.

Step 2. Set up Auto Payments for Vrbo

Use Auto payments to set up the payment automatically, so you will not have to process it manually. Once set up, it will only apply to new reservations.

Step 3. Get ready for Content Export

In your Hostaway Dashboard, update all the listings by menu Listings > Edit button per listing, and provide as much information as possible. Specifically:

• Basic information tab
• Correct and full address details of the listing
  • Please do not enter the full address on the first line. City, state, country, and zip code should be entered in their designated area to avoid errors. There is a limit of 40 characters on the first line. If the address is too long, please use the second line to add or complete the suite number or apartment number.
• Make sure bed settings are correct
• Financial Settings (update taxes for the listing)
• Prices & fees - refundable damage deposit
• Under "Additional info", the Check-out, check-in start, check-in end time, and square meters
• The Channel-specific: title, headline, description, and upload a Vrbo rentals agreement PDF
• The listing language field and description must match the property locale language used in Vrbo; if you're exporting listing data to Abritel, for example, the language setting must be French, and the content description must be in French so Vrbo/Abritel can approve the content.
• In Channel-specific, the Property Name must be between 20 and 30 characters, the Headline should be between 20 and 00 characters, and the Property Description must be 400 characters or more.
  • The total character count and content consist of Property description + House rules from the 'Additional Info' tab, since these two fields are exported together in one listing description to Vrbo
  • Vrbo Property description plus House rules should not exceed a maximum of 10.000 characters combined.
• Handle Payment By Invoice Or At Location > Select if you process the payments by credit card or send an invoice manually to guests with payment instructions. When you select Handle Payment By Invoice Or At Location "Yes", you will need to manually send invoices to the guest to pay by bank or cash on arrival. When you select "No", Vrbo will send CC details by Hostaway to your Stripe account to charge the guest
• Add the contact person's information
• Add all the amenities that exist in the Amenities tab
• In Financial Settings > Vrbo host channel fee > Add the percentage Vrbo charges per reservation. This can then be used in Financial Reporting with the field HostChannelFee. Please note that it will only calculate for newly received reservations after this value has been updated (read Step 7)
• Add in the Minimum Age Rule by going to Channel Manager > Channels > Configure Vrbo > Settings. Add in the minimum age of the renter and click on Save
  
  

Important

• Set up taxes for Vrbo before the integration is completed
• Avoid any duplicate photos in the listing
• Vrbo supports an unlimited number of photos for each listing, which means you can upload as many photos as you want in the Hostaway Dashboard, and they will be displayed accordingly in the channel.

Vrbo Listing Export and Photo Guidelines

When exporting your listing to Vrbo, it's important to follow Vrbo's listing photos-specific guidelines to ensure everything syncs correctly. Here’s what you need to know:

Vrbo Photo Guidelines

• You should always refer to Vrbo's Photo Guidelines when exporting your listing photos. You can find these guidelines here: Vrbo Photo Guidelines
• If any of your photos do not meet Vrbo’s standards, the entire export will be rejected
• It is essential to review the guidelines and ensure your photos comply with the requirements for attempting an export.

Vrbo Export Errors & Audit Report

• If there is an issue with your listing export, Vrbo will generate an audit report. This report will help identify what went wrong during the export process
• If you notice that your photos or listing details are not syncing properly, always check for an audit report. If you haven’t received one, or if you're unsure whether one exists, please contact Vrbo directly to confirm
• The Hostaway support team may request the audit report from you to identify any errors detected by Vrbo. This step is crucial for diagnosing issues and confirming whether any changes are required to complete the export process

Step 4. Connect your Hostaway > Vrbo Proxy email address

Once your account has been created in Vrbo:

• Copy Vrbo inquiry email: It can be found in Channel Manager > Channels > Configure Vrbo > Settings. Copy it and add it as a secondary email address in your Vrbo account
• After this, it may take a few minutes before the listing shows on Vrbo

Attention

When you export your listing to Vrbo, it creates an API connection between Hostaway and the Vrbo software. From this moment forward, you can export content updates from Hostaway. Any changes made directly on the channel might be overwritten if you push an API update via Hostaway.

The Hostaway software supports the very well-working basic configurations for Vrbo; however, when you are looking for advanced pricing or discount rate plan options to set up in Vrbo, it is possible that the software does not support this yet. When you need an adjustment that is not supported, let us know.

We evaluate if and, if so, when it is expected to be possible to support this new setting. If you were using the iCal connection and switched to the API connection, please remove the iCal link to avoid getting reservations via iCal.

Time & Settings review

Hostaway aims to have you exporting the highest quality listings to Vrbo in the fastest way possible. However, you, as the manager, remain fully responsible for verifying your listings and settings on Vrbo after export at all times.

So, in this case, either the listing is still being exported to Vrbo, or it was set as OFF there. The action to set this to ON needs to be done on the Vrbo side. Once it is active, you should be able to see the active date as well.

Additional notes

• If you require registration information for your listings, please make sure to add it in Vrbo once the listing is exported from Hostaway to Vrbo (otherwise, the listing will be off in Vrbo).