Short break pricing on VRBO

[nicknsally]

Hi

First of all thanks to whoever wrote this:https://www.laymyhat.com/portfolio/ota- ... or-owners/ I've been trying to rationalise our listing across VRBO, BDC and ABB and it's been a huge help.

I'm struggling with short breaks on VRBO though. As with (I think) most owners we charge a higher daily rate for short breaks, so for example the daily rate for a two night break is much higher than the daily rate for a week long break. This is simple on BDC, and I've worked out how to do it on ABB, but it seems to be impossible on VRBO.

Have I missed something or is this just not possible on VRBO?

Thanks!

Nick

[newtimber]

If you advertise on more than one channel, you really need a booking system that is API integrated. This means that availability and pricing is synced in real time so you don’t get double bookings.

The ability to choose and send different prices to OTAs for different lengths of stay depends on the capabilities of the booking system you use.

[nicknsally]

I use Holiday Rental Management which works extremely well and is good value. It connects via iCal which seems to work fine - it syncs about every 30 mins and we haven't had a double booking yet. I've had a look at channel managers and they are expensive - and with only two properties they provide more than we need. Getting the pricing right across platforms isn't so difficult - just a bit of spreadsheet design. So that wasn't really my question - which was more to do with the functionality of VRBO to manage short breaks.
Thanks

[Susan J]

Hi,
It can be confusing to do short break rates on VRBO, they don't make it easy to find guidance on how to do it. I know I struggled to work it out when we started.
You need to go to the calendar, click on the start date and then the end date of the period you want to change. You should have a highlighted period and a pop-out box on the right side of the screen with rates and discounts. You can enter your short break nightly rates for each day (minus VAT if you are VAT registered as VRBO add the VAT on later!) and then enter a % discount for weekly rates which will bring it down to what you would charge for a week, (remembering it's a VAT minus price if you are VAT registered). You will also need to set your minimum stay.
It's a case of keep checking until you get the figures you want.
Hope this helps.

[newtimber]

I'm very confused as to your VAT explanation. Certainly for UK properties.
VRBO don't add VAT to your rates if your API integrated as it completely messes up dynamic prices which are based on the VAT inclusive rates. Why on earth would they do something different for non-API hosts?

[Susan J]

My property is in the UK & we are VAT registered. With VRBO I found that when I put in VAT inclusive rates, prices came out 20 % higher than they should be. When I do it the way described in my previous post, the rates align with what they should be.
I don't know why they would do different things for API & non-API hosts, I was just trying to offer an explanation of how we found the way to enter the short break rates on VRBO and allow for weekly bookings at a weekly rate.
If it's not the way it's done for API integrated hosts, I'm sorry if I have caused confusion.