Vacation Rental Owners Blog

New MyVR Features Will Help Cut Your To Do List

Posted: 29 Apr 2014 12:00 PM PDT

Want to save money, save time, be more organized and look more professional when it comes to managing your vacation rental property? The MyVR team has been busy building great new features — it's like spring cleaning for your property management to do list.

Lower your credit card rates

Travelers prefer to pay by credit card, but owners often skip the option because of the fees involved. I think this is a big mistake; your guests increasingly expect to be able to book immediately online. We’ve negotiated the best rates in the industry: 2.5% + 30¢, including international cards and American Express.

Free up more time to spend growing your RBO business

Delivering good customer service takes time, so focus your time where it matters most.

Auto-responders are great, but sometimes you can't send the same message to every inquiry. Our conditional auto-responders let you send personalized, templated replies based on criteria you set up yourself. This means that if you need multiple auto-responders, you can easily set them up.

Every inquiry creates a new contact entry where details like special notes, past reservations and correspondence are tracked — all in one spot, so you won't need to fish for it later.

There's also a renter screening tool that brings up information like social media profiles, so you can get a better understanding of your guests and confirm that you're corresponding with the person they claim to be.

Look and feel more professional

Running your rent-by-owner (RBO) like a professional gets easier when you have the right tools.

Sign up for text alerts and find out as soon as a new inquiry comes in. Response time matters for new inquiries; by getting text alerts to your cell phone, you'll know whenever a new inquiry arrives in your MyVR Inbox — whether it comes via your website, Craigslist, or other advertising channels (like HomeAway, VRBO, FlipKey and others).

We have new website templates that let your photos do the talking. If you have multiple properties, we have templates for you, too. These templates are photo-centric, customized for vacation rentals, and mobile friendly — delivering the information your guests want right up front.

If you are managing multiple properties, we now have an integrated multi-property calendar that shows all your rental properties on one screen. If one property is booked, but you have a suitable alternative available, you can spot it right away and get back to your potential guests immediately.

We don't talk about MyVR much on the blog, but we're excited to add these new features to our existing online platform: one Inbox to manage, one hub for all your advertising, one great-looking website. After all, we're vacation rental owners, too; we want to streamline the management process so you can focus on the things that need a personal touch.

What do you think? Tell us how else we might help you manage your vacation rental business in the comments below!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014