How to manage my Vrbo bookings?

In this article

• Invoice booking process
• Online booking process
• Offline booking (inquiries) process
• Cancel a booking
• Edit a booking

Online booking process with invoice payment

Online bookings with invoice payments on Vrbo must be authorized on BookingSync side, in the settings. Your rental must be Bookable Online. This setting can be changed anytime but selecting the corresponding option in the rental > Base tab.

1. The guest confirms his booking on Vrbo but asks to get an invoice to pay.
2. The booking is created on the BookingSync calendar as a tentative (the length of the tentative can be adjusted on the HomeAway app -- see the setting section).
3. The manager sends an invoice with information to proceed to the downpayment.
4. The manager collects the downpayment (wire transfer, cheque, BookingSync payment link, etc.)
5. The manager confirms the booking in BookingSync by recording the payment (it's recorded automatically if the BookingSync payment link is used so this step becomes unnecessary).
6. Vrbo gets the confirmation and calculated the commission based on the rental price.
7. The manager gets the payment of the balance (wire transfer, cheque, BookingSync payment link, etc.)

BE CAREFUL!! Don't confirm the booking on BookingSync if you are not 100% sure to get the payment.
For information, an expired tentative CANNOT be restored, a new booking needs to be made by the traveller. We advise you to contact the guest in this case.

TIP: the request of both payments can be automated thanks to BookingSync's notification center.

Online booking process with credit card payment

Online bookings with credit cards on Vrbo must be authorized on BookingSync side, in the settings.
Your rental must be Instantly bookable. This setting can be changed anytime. See how to open your rentals to instant booking.

As described in the steps below, there are two ways to process your online booking payments with Vrbo: 

1. The guest confirms his booking on Vrbo by providing his credit card information. The credit card information is sent in a secured way to BookingSync which attempts to process the down payment with the payment gateway assigned to the rental. This new option allows you to define the best scenario in case this attempt fails:

• With synchronous payments option: if the down payment fails the booking is canceled. 
• With asynchronous payments option: even if the down payment fails, the booking is created as confirmed on BookingSync. The manager is informed via a notification sent to the email recorded on the HomeAway app that the down payment was not processed. The manager can reach out to the guest directly with the BookingSync payment link in order to collect the down payment. If needed, the manager can always manually cancel the reservation on BookingSync with “The guest has another reason to cancel this booking” as cancellation reason.

Note: In both cases: if the down payment attempt is a success, the booking is created on the BookingSync calendar as confirmed and the downpayment is recorded automatically.

1. Once the booking is confirmed, Vrbo calculates the commission based on the rental price.
2. The manager handles the payment of the balance (wire transfer, cheque, BookingSync payment link, etc.)

--------------------------
It’s important to note that by default the synchronous payment flow is enabled, to switch to the asynchronous payment flow, please apply the change in the settings.

TIP: the request for the balance can be automated thanks to the BookingSync notification center.

Offline booking (inquiries) process

Inquiries are still possible even with the Vrbo app installed and the connection made.

1. The guest sends you inquiries with dates and the number of guests.
2. The manager decides to accept this booking and creates it on his BookingSync calendar as a tentative with source HomeAway
3. The manager gets the downpayment (wire transfer, cheque, BookingSync payment link, etc.)
4. The manager confirms the booking in BookingSync by recording the payment (it's recorded automatically if the BookingSync payment link is used so this step becomes unnecessary).
5. Vrbo gets the confirmation and calculated the commission based on the rental price.
6. The manager gets the payment of the balance (wire transfer, cheque, BookingSync payment link, etc.)

Please make sure to enter HomeAway as the source of your offline bookings when you create them in your BookingSync calendar to guarantee a good "inquiry to booking" conversion rate, which is important for your ranking and could otherwise lead to account suspension on Vrbo if too low.

TIP: the request of the balance can be automated thanks to the BookingSync notification center.

Cancel a booking

No matter which kind of booking was created in your account, to cancel a Vrbo booking, you need to

1. Go into your BookingSync account > Bookings section
2. Click on the booking you'd like to cancel
3. Click on Cancel booking
4. Pick a reason
5. Add a cancellation reason for the guest and optionally a reason for the channel
6. Click on Cancel Booking again.
   

Edit a booking

By clicking on Edit Bookings, you can modify the following data:

• Check-in and check-out dates
• Estimated time of arrival and departure
• Notes
• Tags
• Client information
• Initial price
• Discount
• Additional fees
• Damage deposit

For any additional change, please contact our support - Channel Manager team - to unlock the reservation and then you can proceed to edit the booking