VRBO Property Management: How TIDY Fills the Gaps

As a professional property manager or property owner, you work tirelessly to ensure exceptional guest experiences in clean, welcoming homes. With a cleaning crew at your disposal, it’s possible to provide the kinds of spotless experiences your guests expect. However, you need a system to get your cleaners in and out while ensuring quality control and quick turnarounds.

Linking vacation rental websites like VRBO with TIDY makes it much easier for property management companies to automate cleanings and elevate guest experiences. In this article, we delve into the benefits of integrating VRBO with TIDY to simplify rental property management and optimize bookings at investment properties.

What Is VRBO Property Management?

VRBO, short for Vacation Rental By Owner, is an online marketplace and software for property management that facilitates short-term rentals of homes, condos, cabins, villas, and other properties.

With over 2 million whole homes available for short-term rental globally, VRBO is similar to other vacation rental sites like Airbnb in that it connects travelers with places to stay. However, VRBO differs from Airbnb in that it primarily caters to families and groups seeking spacious, amenity-rich accommodations in traditional dwellings. In contrast, Airbnb includes unconventional property listings such as shared spaces, campsites, and other off-beat accommodations.

Many property management companies rely on VRBO to advertise their short-term rentals, manage the booking and payment process, and streamline the reservation process. The platform assists property owners looking to fill vacant rentals and provide comfortable, luxurious accommodations that bring together families, couples, friends, and business professionals.

Especially during peak periods, having a platform like VRBO to encourage bookings can be a game-changer for property managers tasked with ensuring high occupancy of investment properties.

The Role of VRBO in Vacation Rental Management

For busy owners or rental property managers, listing a home on VRBO can increase the exposure and visibility of properties among a broad audience of vacationers and working professionals around the world. From families planning holiday excursions to remote workers seeking changes of scenery, VRBO connects guests with their perfect getaways.

Listing a property on VRBO is a simple process for owners or vacation rental management companies. Individuals and home rental companies alike can sign up for free and begin advertising one or multiple locations in a few clicks.

When you have a vacation rental property to list, you can easily add an online listing with property descriptions, amenity highlights, high-quality photos, rates, minimum stay requirements, house rules, availability, and other property details. Renters can search for properties that meet their needs, contact property owners through the platform, inquire about availability, and book their stays.

As a host or channel manager for a vacation rental company, you can manage bookings, rental agreements, and payment processing through the VRBO app. You can also navigate guest inquiries from interested parties and guest communications before, during, and after stays. With built-in communication tools, you can ensure every guest is a happy guest when they spend their time at your property. You can also respond to any feedback, whether positive or negative.

VRBO charges a $499 annual subscription fee or a pay-per-booking fee of 5% of the total booking cost. Guests also pay a guest service fee of 6% to 15% of the total booking fees. In addition, hosts may add guest fees such as cleaning fees or a deposit for any property damage.

The Benefits of Using TIDY in Conjunction With VRBO

As easy as VRBO makes property management, you might need additional resources when it comes to getting rental properties cleaned and sanitized following guests’ stays. Common challenges of property maintenance and cleaning include:

• Cleaning turnarounds. Getting properties cleaned and sanitized promptly after guests check out can be challenging. Coordinating cleaning crews and ensuring quick turnaround times can be logistically complex.
• Scheduling and communication. Managing cleaning schedules and coordinating with cleaning professionals can result in miscommunication or scheduling conflicts, potentially leading to delays in preparing a property for the next guests.
• Quality control. Presenting a spotless and well-prepared property for each guest is essential for maintaining positive reviews and repeat bookings. Yet maintaining consistently high cleaning standards can be difficult when you’re off-site, especially if you rely on disparate cleaning teams.
• Time management. Property managers often have a multitude of tasks to handle, from guest communication to networking and marketing. Instead of coordinating and overseeing cleaning, they can better utilize their time in high-impact aspects of property management.
• Guest experience. Meeting and exceeding guest expectations is critical in vacation rentals. Inconsistent or subpar cleaning can lead to negative guest experiences and reviews, impacting your property's reputation and ability to attract new bookings.
• Scalability. As a property manager or owner, you may be looking to grow your business beyond the properties you currently manage. Scaling your business is challenging, considering the logistics of managing cleaning services across multiple properties.

Integrating TIDY with VRBO addresses these challenges, streamlining the cleaning process, enhancing communication, ensuring quality control, and allowing property managers to focus on other crucial aspects of property management. By linking TIDY with VRBO, you can access various tools for administering cleanings after guests depart. Below are some benefits of connecting your VRBO account with TIDY to simplify and automate turnovers between reservations.

Automated Cleanings

One of the most significant advantages of integrating your VRBO account with TIDY is the ability to streamline and automate the post-guest departure cleaning process. Once you link your VRBO account with TIDY, you can automate cleaning services immediately after your guests check out. Easily invite all your favorite cleaners onto the app for free, set up cleaning requests, save time, and avoid phone tag with your cleaning crew.

Here's how it works:

• TIDY connects with your VRBO account, allowing it to receive instant notifications when guests check out. TIDY automatically initiates the cleaning process after guests leave the property, ensuring it’s ready for the next guests without any manual intervention.
• With TIDY, you can invite your preferred cleaning professionals onto the platform. Work with cleaners you know and trust to do excellent work without getting bogged down with phone calls or scheduling conflicts.
• Automatic bookings allow property managers to specify their cleaning preferences and instructions and tailor the cleaning process to meet each property’s needs.

Perfect Turnovers

Enjoy perfect turnovers as your cleaners complete cleaning requests to your specifications. With cleanings on autopilot, you’ll always know your properties are getting the white-glove treatment as you manage the process online.

By automating the cleaning process, you save valuable time and reduce the hassle of coordinating cleaning services. TIDY simplifies turnovers as soon as guests depart, allowing you to focus on other aspects of property management while ensuring new guests arrive in a clean and welcoming environment.

Seamless Reservation Management and Integration

Integration with TIDY lets you link your calendar in the app and configure it for each property’s needs, including check-in and check-out times. From there, it’s easy to manage cleanings and track the progress of every task — from upcoming cleaning jobs to pending and completed requests.

TIDY also enables efficient communication between property management and cleaning professionals. Quickly relay important instructions, changes, and other communications through the app, and never miss important messages from your cleaning pros.

Enhanced Guest Experiences

Stellar stays in clean, welcoming homes mean repeat bookings, five-star reviews, and referral business — all of which add up to business success. Connecting VRBO with TIDY ensures you can always exceed guests’ expectations and set your property apart from the competition.

With more positive reviews, attracting new bookings on VRBO also becomes easier. Research shows that up to 92% of travelers read online reviews before booking their stays, making positive feedback vital to continued success on vacation rental platforms. Providing clean accommodations and a range of amenities increases the likelihood of earning positive reviews from satisfied guests.

How to Integrate TIDY With Your VRBO Account

TIDY allows property managers to improve and automate cleaning and property maintenance from anywhere. Our unique combination of software, artificial intelligence (AI), and human support and service takes the process of property upkeep off property managers’ plates:

• Powerful software allows you to create “digital twins” of your properties. Automate your workflows digitally, and manage cleaning and maintenance tasks across all your properties.
• TIDY’s AI technology automates cleanings based on probabilities. The technology will predict issues and acceptance rates and suggest tasks to enhance operations.
• TIDY Concierge is available 24/7, so you’re never stuck when you have more complex needs. Request and manage human tasks, and build “human in the loop” workflows for when you require that extra human touch.

Whether you have an existing team or need to build one from scratch, we can help get you up and running quickly. Follow the steps below to get up and running and begin seamlessly managing the cleaning process for your properties.  

Log In to Both Accounts

You’ll need a TIDY account to get started with linking your VRBO account to TIDY’s platform suite of services. You can begin the account setup process online, or request a demo to learn how the platform works.

Once you have an account set up, log in to both your TIDY and VRBO accounts to ensure seamless integration between the two systems.

Copy Your iCal Link

Integrating via an iCal link allows you to sync calendar data and enable automatic bookings. To link your iCal calendar, copy your iCal link from your VRBO settings page. With automatic bookings, TIDY will attempt to book cleaning pros according to your priorities and specifications.

Click on Integrations

On your TIDY homepage, locate and click on “Integrations” in the left-hand menu bar. Click “Add Integration,” and you’ll see a new screen with various integrations. Select “iCal” and search for VRBO.

Paste Your iCal Link

Paste your iCal link in the indicated field.

Complete the Form

Fill in the form with your property’s address to ensure matching with pros in your area.

Configure Automatic Booking

Select “Automatic Booking,” and configure the app for your specific requirements, such as check-in and check-out times and types of cleanings.

How Automatic Booking Works

Automatic booking is one of TIDY’s superpowers, helping to turn over properties quickly and saving property management companies the hassle of coordinating cleanings between stays. With automatic booking, TIDY will automatically add a booking to your “Reservations” tab anytime the app detects a new guest reservation from your VRBO account.

After a check-out notification occurs, TIDY initiates a turnover cleaning, adhering to the preferences you've configured under the "Automatic Booking" settings. The cleaning professionals you've previously designated in the "My Pros" section of the app then receive a notification of your cleaning request. Pros can then accept the job in the order you’ve previously established.

Once a professional accepts the cleaning request, the pro can access your specific instructions, including the To-Do List if you've created one. Throughout the process, you and the pro can communicate through the app.

Once a professional completes a cleaning request, your property will be prepped and ready for the next guest, all without you needing to fret about any logistics. TIDY streamlines the property management experience, ensuring a seamless transition between guest stays.

Elevate VRBO Property Management With TIDY Integration

Regular maintenance and care of rental properties is essential for creating incredible experiences for your rental property guests. By providing both the technology and access to professional cleaning services, TIDY allows property management companies to offer extraordinary getaways — while enjoying the peace of mind that comes with hassle-free property maintenance.

At TIDY, we pride ourselves on providing amazing software and transparent, helpful service that makes property management easier for all of our partners. We’ve earned the trust of over 10,000 property managers who rely on our software and service to simplify the complexities of managing one or multiple properties.

If you’re curious about how TIDY can improve your property maintenance workflow, click here to learn more about integration with TIDY. With our help, you can streamline cleanings and improve both VRBO property management and guest experiences.

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