New Onboarding Self Service for VRBO

It is now possible to connect your Vrbo account to RoomCloud Channel Manager with a self-service onboarding process. This new onboarding significantly reduces ad serving time.

Vrbo, formerly HomeAway, is an OTA part of the Expedia Group specialized in apartments, villas and holiday homes. The portal is the number 1 in the United States for the distribution of vacation rentals but is also gaining more success in Europe.

RoomCloud Channel Manager is VRBO’s Integrated Software Partner, thus a certified connection with the portal is already active. Yet, this new update introduced important changes.

The changes introduced by the new Onboarding Self Service

The goal of this update is to speed up and simplify the onboarding process. The improvements can benefit all types of properties. Those already present with announcements in VRBO, that want a direct link to the channel manager, and the completely new ones on the portal. In the past, the OTA required the property manager to meet many requirements, while now the process has become a lot quicker. Let’s see the changes in detail.

• Connected in 24 hours. While previously the connection times could reach up to 13 days, now it takes on average only 24 hours from the first contact to online ads.
• Just an ad and you are connected. It is no longer mandatory to link at least 5 listings, but one is enough. The portal now allows XML connections even with single listings, while previously it was mandatory to use the iCal connection for less than 5 ads.
• Property managers and private owners. You don’t need to be a company to post ads, but private owners with VAT can also connect their listings.
• A link for everyone. The link for self onboarding will be the same for all countries.
• Automatic migration. For properties already active on VRBO witching to the 2-way connection, the migration of ads and reservations is automatic.