VRBO – Synchronise prices and minimum stays

From now on you can synchronise VRBO (and the whole group as HomeAway, FeWo-direkt, Abritel, etc.) with Smoobu – prices and minimum stays. All of this easily and directly from the Smoobu Channel Manager.

VRBO doesn’t offer an official connection for price and availability synchronisation for channel managers like Smoobu. However, we have developed our own innovative solution to sync prices and minimum stays. And yes, our solution is also available for VRBO accounts with less than 5 units.

The calendar and reservation synchronisation is still managed through iCal.

Still not familiar with VRBO?

VRBO became part of the HomeAway Group in 2005, the leader in the American online holiday accommodation rental market. It is now also part of the Expedia Group. The VRBO/HomeAway Group has more than 1 million published holiday accommodations in over 190 countries through its international network.

At Smoobu, the VRBO group is the third largest portal in terms of bookings after Booking.com and Airbnb. It is consolidated as another portal of great international relevance, which can now also be managed centrally from Smoobu, as your holiday rental management software. It has never been easier!

How to synchronise VRBO with Smoobu’s channel manager

Synchronise prices and minimum stays:

1. In Smoobu open > Settings > Portals and add VRBO as a portal. If you have already done so, click on Edit in the VRBO portal options.
2. Choose your base URL. If you connect from VRBO select VRBO. If it is HomeAway, select HomeAway, etc.
3. Enter your access data to the portal.
4. Map the units in Smoobu to the portal units.
5. Click “Save” at the bottom of the page.

Synchronise calendars and reservations through iCal:

1. Open your VRBO portal in a new window and if you haven’t already done so, open it in parallel in Smoobu – Settings – Backup portals – VRBO.
2. In VRBO click on Calendar, Availabilities and select your accommodation.
3. Click on the calendar icon “Import/Export”.
   • To import the calendar: add now under “Import” the Smoobu iCal link, which you have already copied in Smoobu under “Settings – Booking portals – VRBO /Edit” on the left side. Give this entry a name, e.g. “Name of Smoobu accommodation”. Select “Locked periods” and then “Import calendar”.
   • For calendar export: copy the iCal export link from VRBO. Uncheck the option “Calendar export including tentative bookings” and paste the iCal export link with the extension “Not provisional” into Smoobu on the right.

You can see more details about the iCal connection also in this VRBO video: