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Learn how updating your policies, house rules, seasonal rates, and more can help your vacation rental maintain a high acceptance rate.
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7 tips to increase your vacation rental acceptance rate
Learn more about how our owner tools and proven strategies can help you increase your acceptance rate and improve your vacation rental business.
One of the most simple and effective ways to be successful on Vrbo is to maintain a high acceptance rate. Your acceptance rate is defined by how often you accept bookings compared to how often you decline. High acceptance rates increase search ranking and give you more visibility and exposure. When looking at two similar or equal properties, the one with a higher acceptance rate is more likely to show up higher in search results.
When travelers find a property they like but their booking is canceled or their request is declined, it can be disappointing. Negative experiences like these can make travelers hesitant to book with you and with other vacation rentals in the future. All the more reason to pay attention to your acceptance rates.
For those of you looking to improve your overall acceptance rate and listing performance overall, here are some more simple tips that can help generate more bookings for your vacation rental.
1. Keep your calendars synced and up to date
Save time and avoid mismatches by using our calendar syncing tool. This tool helps you import and export calendars and bookings from several platforms — such as Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Booking.com, and Airbnb — into a single view. Syncing your calendars helps avoid double bookings, incorrectly blocked dates, and other factors that can lead to unnecessary cancellations.
And don’t forget to block your calendar if your property will be unavailable to book at a particular time. Whether your property is being renovated or you just plan to use it yourself, be sure those dates aren’t available for guests to book.
Our calendar syncing tool imports & exports calendars into a single view.
Calendar syncing helps avoid double bookings & incorrectly blocked dates.
2. Activate Instant Booking
Turning on Instant Booking is the easiest way to increase your acceptance rate — and it also simplifies the booking experience for both you and your guests. With Instant Booking enabled, all booking requests are automatically accepted, thereby boosting your acceptance rate and improving your property’s search performance.
Even with Instant Booking enabled, you are still in control: before booking, all travelers must agree to the house rules, owner cancellation policy, damage policy, and rental agreement you’ve set.
Instant Booking also gives you more potential traffic by appearing on your listings across all Expedia Group sites at no extra cost. On average, partners who use Instant Booking see nearly 35% higher conversation rates and 25% more net revenue than those who don’t.*
What’s more, partners who enable Instant Booking and sync calendars see 60% more bookings.* So if you list your vacation rental property across multiple sites, don’t forget to turn on calendar syncing and Instant Booking. You and your travelers will be glad you did.
Using Instant Booking is the easiest way to increase your acceptance rate.
3. Set your house rules
Save time by posting clear house rules to your listing and be clear about what types of guests your property is a good fit for. For example, if your property is a good fit for large groups, is wheelchair accessible, or welcomes dogs, select these amenities in your dashboard. You should also highlight them in your listing description and update your house rules or rental agreement accordingly.
Likewise, if your property is not appropriate for specific groups of travelers, make sure this information is in your house rules and reinforce these restrictions by stating them clearly in your listing description and rental agreement.
House rules should be added and up to date when Instant Booking is enabled. Having house rules in place helps set expectations for travelers and allows you to request cancellation waivers without penalty if a booking doesn’t meet your requirements. Without house rules specified, declining this reservation can impact your visibility in search results.
4. Get the mobile app
Stay connected to travelers and manage your listing from anywhere with the Vrbo mobile app for vacation rental owners. Using the app, you’ll receive real-time notifications so you can easily reply to guest messages, inquiries, and booking requests. Within the owner app, you can also easily manage your calendar and bookings and make quick updates with just a few clicks.
5. Receive text alerts
Promptly responding to guests is one way to avoid missing out on potential bookings. By signing up to receive inquiries or booking requests via SMS, you’ll be notified immediately when booking requests or inquiries are received via the app, in addition to standard email alerts. Hosts who respond to booking inquiries within 3 hours are 2.5 times more likely to have more inquiries convert into bookings than owners who wait 24 hours or more.**
6. Temporarily hide your listing
If you’re unavailable to respond to guest booking requests or inquiries for more than 24 hours, you can temporarily hide your listing. You control the dates to hide your listing and the end date when it will automatically go live again. This prevents you from getting booking requests that you can’t honor or respond to quickly.
Hiding your listing won’t negatively impact your performance, and you can unhide it anytime to make it visible to guests.
7. Keep your rates and calendar updated
Travelers may want to book months or days in advance and 49% of travelers say that getting the best price is an important factor when choosing where to shop for and book travel.*** By keeping your calendar updated and pricing info accurate, you can avoid traveler confusion and cancellations due to double bookings or outdated rates.
We recommend regularly reviewing your booking requirements to confirm that these settings are up to date:
- Minimum stay requirements
- Check-in and checkout days
- Calendar blocking
- Black-out dates
By making use of these tips and tools, you’ll be well on your way to improving your acceptance rate and capturing the attention of future guests in their search. As an added perk, you’ll also be in a much better position to qualify for the Premier Host program and its many benefits. To start, with a Premier Host badge displayed in search and on your listing, you’ll enjoy an improved position in search, priority support, and more.
“Our listing performance with Vrbo this year over last year is not even comparable. We’re seeing a significant increase in bookings. And the guests we get from Vrbo are high quality. We know they will look after the property.”
Increase acceptance rates
Utilize our proven tools and resources to improve your vacation rental performance. Instant Booking is the best way to increase your booking acceptance rates.
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Matt Sartor
Senior Director, VR Partner Success, Expedia Group
Matt is responsible for building strong relationships with Vrbo’s top hosts and property managers. His teams deliver high-quality consultations that help our Partners provide exceptional travel experiences, all while improving their booking performance on Vrbo and beyond. Matt has spent nearly 20 years in e-commerce and SaaS building global customer-centric teams that collaborate effectively with product, engineering, marketing, and support teams, to keep exceptional customer experiences top of mind for all.
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*Booking dates from January-December 2022, Expedia Group internal data, 2023
**Expedia Group internal Vrbo data, 2023
***Expedia Group, The Path to Purchase, 2023