Exciting things are happening here at Lodgify and we’re thrilled to share them with you. We always strive to offer the best service and product to our customers and our most recent updates are a reflection of these efforts.
We’ve asked you what we can do to help you grow your vacation rental business and the answers are clear. We’re giving you more power and flexibility over your Vrbo and Booking.com connections, a major upgrade to the damage protection notifications, some sleek changes to the calendar design, and more! Ready to see how these updates will take your business to the next level? Keep reading to learn more about what we’ve been up to over at Lodgify.
Airbnb Preferred Software Partnership Status
Lodgify has made the list for Airbnb’s Preferred Software Partner 2021. Beyond the honor, this preferred partnership status is emblematic of our commitment to the deepest level of connectivity with all the major OTAs. We proudly hold preferred and premier partnership status with Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and Expedia.
To become a preferred software partner for Airbnb, companies must, at a minimum, meet a high level of technical and business performance benchmarks in addition to having a full API integration. This rigor shows that Lodgify not only delivers an exceptional product but exceeds the expectations of channel partners and customers.
New Vrbo amenities’ synchronization
Vrbo is one of the biggest players in the game, so the bar is high for making your listing shine on this channel. On Vrbo, like most OTAs, the amenities are arguably the gamechanger for most guests, which is why we’ve prioritized this feature. With our new update, you can now add location amenities to your listing to rise above your competition.
What does that mean exactly? Destination locations, like properties positioned next to a lake or ones that sit on the foothills of a ski resort, can make this a key highlight to their property. If your location is one of the best things about your property, why not brag about it? The new location amenities feature allows you to show off your scenery and score new bookings. Some of these new locations include:
- Beachfront
- Downtown
- Golf course view
- Lake
- Mountain
- Near ocean
- Oceanview
- Resort
- River
- Rural
- Ski in-out
- Town
- Village
- Waterfront
How can the amenities location feature boost your bookings?
Travelers can search and filter by location, which could help to bring your property to the top of the ranks! If you’ve been looking for new ways to improve your Vrbo listing, this just might be the answer you’re seeking!
The amenities list can be found in the overview section of the listing, accessing the “Rental amenities” slider.
Calendar updates
Just as you put your best foot forward for your guests, we’re rolling out the red carpet for you! We’re here to help your listings stand out, but internally we want to make sure that we’re offering you the most usable product on the market.
With that in mind, our new calendar updates have shifted the design in a way that focuses on usability and compatibility with the overall reservation system. We’ve enhanced this functionality by redesigning the booking slider to match the reservation system’s interface. When you click on a reservation in your calendar, the booking will appear on the side, just as before, but with a new, sleek, usable design.
But that’s not all! Many of our users love to use the multi-unit view calendar with the “price toggle” turned on. By default, this setting was originally turned off, but we’ve now made it to where the price toggle feature will be turned on automatically. If you choose to turn off this feature, you can always go to your settings to switch it to “off.”
Accept reservations within hours notice on Booking.com
It’s no secret that last-minute bookings are all the rage right now. To better accommodate this shift in reservation trends, we’ve made it easier for you to take in last-minute guests while still maintaining bookings with a longer reservation window. Your listing’s availability can now be as low as zero hours, meaning you could accept reservations on the spot!
Keep in mind that by changing this booking setting, you will see your reservations in hours as the options would no longer be in days. For example, 0 means they can book right away, 24 means they can book within one day’s notice, and 168 means they book with 7 days’ notice.
This option can be found on the listings page under the section “channels.” After accessing the settings of the listing, look for “advance notice” and make the changes there.
Your damage protection preauthorization is essential in making sure your property is protected in case something goes wrong. That’s why you should be immediately in the loop if this preauthorization fails. Whether the preauthorization has expired or the payment didn’t process correctly, you’ll receive a notification so you can fix it without delay.
This option can be found on the “notifications” page in your settings. Just look for the option “damage protection” and select what notifications you’d like turned on for this authorization.
To sum it up
Change is good, especially when it comes to your vacation rental software! All of the features and updates that we’re unveiling are here to improve the product that gets you bookings. Having more control over your channel connections, a better experience on the calendar page and notifications of preauthorization to keep you up to date on all necessary changes will make your business smoother, more efficient, and more prosperous; we can almost guarantee it!
Did we mention that we’ve been awarded Airbnb’s Preferred Software Partner status for the third year in a row? We’re pretty proud of that, to say the least, as it’s symbolic of our commitment to keeping your properties connected, booked, and profitable. Our high standards for functionality and usage are made known through our partnerships and loyal customers.
