Vrbo: Setting Up Vrbo Promotions

Subtitle: Boost visibility, highlight deals, and maximize occupancy on Vrbo with automated Weekly, Monthly, Early-Bird, and Last-Minute discounts.

⚠️ IMPORTANT (DISCLAIMER): Vrbo only merchandises (displays with special badges and price strikethroughs) discounts that are 5% or higher. Any discount set below 5% (e.g., 3%) will still reduce the final checkout price, but guests will not see it flagged as a special promotion on search results.

1. Why Use Vrbo Promotions?

Activating promotions gives your properties special marketing treatment on Vrbo, helping them stand out and convert more travelers:

• Special Badging: Listings are highlighted with promotional badges.
• Price Strikethrough: Travelers see their original nightly rate crossed out next to the discounted price.
• Enhanced Filters: Guests searching for active discounts will find your property more easily.
• Clear Discount Labels: The discount details appear prominently on search results, the property page, and at checkout.

2. Step-by-Step: Setting Up Your Promotions

Hostaway supports four types of promotional discounts for Vrbo:

A. Weekly and Monthly Discounts (Length of Stay)

Perfect for securing longer stays. You can set up one of each type:

1. Go to your Hostaway Dashboard > Listings and click Edit on your listing.
2. Go to the Price & Fees tab.
3. Under the Discounts sub-tab, locate the fields for:
   • Weekly discount: Applies automatically to bookings of 7 nights or more.
   • Monthly discount: Click the Gear icon next to it to set the exact minimum number of days (e.g., 30+ days).
     
     
      
4. Enter the percentage discount you wish to offer (e.g., enter "10" for 10%).
5. Click Save at the bottom of the page. 

B. Early Bird and Last-Minute Discounts (Booking Windows)

Designed to secure advanced bookings or fill last-minute calendar gaps:

1. From your listing’s edit page, navigate to the Channel Specific tab.
2. Scroll down to the Vrbo Discounts section.
   
   
    
3. Configure your promotions:
   • Last-Minute Discounts:
     • Discount starts: Enter how many days before arrival the discount becomes active (e.g., 7 days).
     • Discount (%): Enter the percentage off the nightly rate.
   • Early-Bird Discounts:
     • Discount ends: Enter how many days before arrival the discount is no longer available (e.g., 90 days).
     • Discount (%): Enter the percentage off.
4. Click Save or Save & Export. 

3. Pro-Tip: Bulk Editing Your Promotions

If you manage multiple properties, you do not need to configure these promotions one listing at a time. You can easily replicate your Vrbo Promotions from a master template listing to your entire portfolio simultaneously.

Simply click the Bulk Copy icon (the clipboard/overlapping papers) next to the discount settings, select your target properties, and apply the changes.

For detailed, step-by-step instructions and important rules on how to do this, please check our Guide: Bulk Editing Listing Settings & Content.

4. Crucial Rule: Avoid Discount Stacking

Unlike Airbnb, which has a strict prioritization hierarchy to prevent multiple discounts from overlapping, Vrbo applies discounts cumulatively by reducing the nightly rate.

If a guest books a long stay far in advance and qualifies for both a Weekly Discount (10%) and an Early Bird Discount (10%), Vrbo will stack these promotions, resulting in a total discount of approximately 19% (rather than 20% due to adjusted rate calculations, but still a much deeper discount than intended).

How to protect your revenue:

• Avoid overlapping booking windows for different promotions.
• Keep discount percentages low enough so that their combined stacked impact remains within your target pricing strategy.
• Hostaway cannot block Vrbo's native stacking behavior, as this is controlled entirely by the channel.