VRBO's Automatic !0% Last Minute Discount

[Lauren Kormylo]

I got the presumptuous email below from VRBO today saying they will apply a 10% last minute discount (less than 14 days) on my listing unless I opt out!  So check your email for this too. 

I opted out of course because I use Pricelabs and already have a discount.  This would be in addition to that, and that is NOT what I want.  A rep from VRBO called me 2 weeks ago, their usual call trying to increase my bookings by me giving discounts and lowering cleaning and pet fees, yada yada.  I said no thanks, I was booked last summer at 98%.  2/3 Airbnb and 1/3 Vrbo, but hey I was booked.  She admitted to me that VRBO bookings have fallen off this year. 

"Coming soon: 10% Last Minute Promotion for your listing

Vacation rental travelers rank pricing as their top concern when choosing a stay.* To spotlight your listing to guests filtering for shorter booking windows (<14 days), a 10% last minute promotion will soon be added to your listing(s). Offering this promotion could help your listing: Capture more last minute bookings, which make up 30%+ of all Vrbo transactions.** Fill gap days with price-savvy travelers. Boost visibility with sort order uplift, badges, and more. No action is required, but if you’d like to opt out of offering a last minute promotion, you can do so by May 18, 2025.

[Greg Janes]

VRBO has been pretty active this year - they were pushing the 10% weekly discount earlier this year and now this. It is our preferred booking channel, but like you we use a pricing tool so we wouldn't want this to automatically apply. 

At our lake house that we own/manage they always want us to do things like this, and we always politely decline because we are booked, like you, at nearly 100%. Happy to try some of these things during the off-season but would prefer to avoid any automatic adjustments during high season. In fact, all the pricing tools say our nightly rate at our lake house should be lower, but we keep increasing it and we continue to book at nearly 100%. You can't always trust the pricing tools.

Honestly, I'd like to see VRBO focus on helping people to make their listings stand out or add more features that show price reductions (like when Airbnb crosses out the original price and shows the reduced price).