AirBnb and VRBO News Thread

[Lauren Kormylo]

I thought we should have a post about changes to Airbnb and Vrbo, or news concerning them, and everyone can keep updating it as changes happen.  Because it seems like every week there's something new that hosts need to know about.

First up is Airbnb has now changed their age policy. They now allow hosts to require that a guest be up to age 25 to book. For the last few years, Airbnb has said that any guest 18 years old is allowed to book your property (unless your town or HOA has other requirements), and hosts have no say in it. But now that has changed: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3930?fbclid=IwY2xjawPTpN...

The second thing is not new, but I had a phone call with a Vrbo rep today, and then they sent an email recap.  They call every few months trying to get me to look at policies and make changes.  Today they went over things that help my rental go up in visibility on their platform, meaning I will rank higher in their algorithm if I do these things.  I thought you all would like to see what they are: 

Pending opportunities just for you to considerate in order to increase your exposure on Vrbo:

• Apply Mobile Booking Promo: Provide 10% off travelers booking through the mobile app.
• Apply Last Minute Promo: Provide 10% off to travelers booking within the booking window of 30 days pre-stay.
• Apply Early Booking: Provide 10% off to travelers booking 60 days in advance pre-stay.
• Apply Members Only Deal: Provide 10% off for Blue members, 15% off for Silver members and 20% off for Gold and Platinum members of Expedia.
• Appy Weekly Discount: Provide 10% off to travelers booking 7 nights or more.
• Apply Monthly Discount: Provide 10% off to travelers booking 30 nights or more.
• Change cancellation policy: Relaxed cancellation policy will help you to attract more travelers since over the 75% prefers properties with this cancellation policy.
• High Fees: Lower your fees and add the amount to the rate per night. Finding a property with low fees, is more attractive to travelers. You don't have to cover the fees, you just have to make them look low.
• Instant Booking: pushes your property out to all of our other platforms (Expedia Group).

[John Underwood]

The age requirement on Airbnb is definitely good.

I have taken advantage of most of Vrbos recommendations. I'm not taking off the cleaning fee and adding it to the nightly rate. That is just a shell game. I think most people look at the total anyway.