Vrbo has taken another step in its bid to go up against arch rival Airbnb in the battle to win over property hosts.
The Expedia Group-owned private accommodation booking service is relaunching its owner service as Premier Host (formerly Premier Partner).
The new effort includes a number of enhancements to give its best hosts better visibility to prospective guests when searching for a property.
To qualify as a Premier Host, owners must have a 90% or higher acceptance rate of guests, have cancelled on guests on less than 5% of occasions and have higher than a 4.3 rating from guests.
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The property must also have a minimum of three reviews and more than five bookings or over 60 nights booked.
Kevin Locraft, vice president for partner success in vacation rentals at Expedia Group, says: "With a growing demand for our vacation rental properties, and as consumer travel habits continue to evolve, we are regularly reviewing and advancing the program to ensure it adds maximum benefit for all involved.”
Earlier this month, Vrbo launched its "Fast Track" program, designed to help experienced hosts - and "Superhosts" - who haven't joined the site yet increase their visibility and earnings.
With Fast Start, hosts who have a review rating of 4.5-plus and who have earned more than $3,000 in the past year receive an elevated position in sort on Vrbo for the first 90 days they’re on the platform.
Properties are indicated by a “New to Vrbo” badge that displays their review score based on reviews from other travel sites. While individual reviews are not shown, the scores are provided from the hosts themselves or from data scraped by Vrbo.
The designation is available to individual owners or multi-property accounts, and Vrbo provides dedicated support in getting hosts signed up. Hosts do not have to be exclusive to Vrbo to participate.