Have you settled into the rhythm of the New Year yet? We have, and after getting through the hustle and bustle of January, we’re excited to introduce you to a few exciting enhancements to help increase your booking optimization strategies and simplify your daily operations.
From even more marketplace integrations to quick wins with substantial impact, here are our latest developments. Get to know them, implement them, and enjoy them—they can all help you take your vacation rental management to the next level!
New checkout feature
Checkout 1.0 was launched in 2013 and, for many years, provided our users with a simple way to offer a seamless checkout experience to their guests.
However, we felt it was time for an update, so we’ve revamped the entire feature with one goal in mind: to help you increase your conversions.
The feature has currently been released to a group of beta testers, and within the coming weeks, all Lodgify users should be able to enjoy the following improvements:
- Better overall user experience and user interface: Everything looks and feels more intuitive, professional, and modern (just take a look at the before and after photos above!).
- Enhanced performance: We’ve revamped the backend technology to provide your guests with a quicker, safer checkout experience from the moment they select their dates to the “thank you” screen they see once they’ve made their payment.
- Increased sense of trust and security: As a vacation rental business owner, it’s important to know that you’re offering a safe and efficient checkout experience for every guest. That’s why we spent time improving the layout and functionalities of Checkout 2.0 to enhance the sense of trust and security between you and your guests.
Aside from (hopefully) helping you increase the conversion rate on bookings, this update is also aimed at helping you decrease the time to book.
New availability calendar
In January, we also optimized the calendar experience across all Lodgify accounts. You should be able to see the brand-new availability calendar on your websites after publishing.
What’s this change all about? Mostly, it’s geared towards providing an easier booking experience for your guests. This update makes it easier for them to select dates on your calendar to view options such as minimum stay limitation, check-in/out restrictions, and unavailable dates.
Depending on your calendar settings, it now looks like this…
Note that the new calendar doesn’t currently support room-type users, but we’re working on it. This will be the next iteration of this feature, which we aim to add soon.
Manage season rates on the go
Have you ever thought, “Wow, I’d really love to manage season rates on the go without having to sit down at my desk?” Okay, maybe you never got that specific, but this was a heavily requested feature among Lodgify users…so here it is.
Now, you can effortlessly create, edit, and manage your season rates directly from your mobile device, mirroring the functionality available on the web.
This enhancement ensures you have the flexibility and convenience to optimize your pricing strategies anytime, anywhere, without compromise. Take a look at the feature in action…
New marketplace apps
Building on last month’s exciting integration with Clearing, designed to streamline your accounting and booking processes, we’ve been hard at work expanding our marketplace apps.
This month, we’re excited to introduce new apps that simplify everything from guest identity verification to increasing visibility for glamping rentals.
Charge Automation
Charge Automation is a guest experience software designed to enhance revenue, streamline check-in processes, and improve guest satisfaction. As a vacation rental owner, that translates into…
- Fewer manual tasks
- Optimized operational efficiency
- A seamless guest experience
By integrating Charge Automation with your Lodgify website, you can now effortlessly conduct guest identity verification, obtain e-signatures for agreements, and facilitate contactless check-in and upsells.
It’s ideal for when you need to charge for additional services, such as the local tourism tax, airport pickup, or similar fees.
Using it makes you one step closer to streamlined, hassle-free operations. Learn more about how to get started with Charge Automation here.
Glamping Hub
If you have or were hoping to have a glamping rental in 2024, it’s now much easier to integrate those bookings into your Lodgify website due to our Glamping Hub integration released this month.
As a specialized booking platform for luxury accommodations in natural settings, it’s a valuable niche rental distribution channel.
This integration enables simple rental listing export and mapping and the ability to sync availability details straight to your listings, streamlining the process of managing properties in these unique and sought-after locations.
The result? You can expand your reach and your glamping rental experience for guests. Learn how to maximize bookings with this new integration here.
Looking for more updates?
We hope this product update is helpful in optimizing your vacation rental booking backend processes and boosting your revenue.
If you missed the previous update, read it here, as it’s full of other recent updates, including our payment processing and listing improvements.
And for those of you (yes, you) who aren’t currently using vacation rental software to help scale your business and haven’t tried Lodgify yet, why not sign up for a free 7-day trial? Don’t worry—it’s the “totally and completely no strings attached” kind of free; we don’t even ask for a credit card.
You can also register for a personalized product demo call with one of our specialists or try our features with a product demo. Or, if you’re up for a bit more reading, check out what our customers are saying about us!
