Lessons Learned: VRBO Pre-Approval is not for me (or most people)

[Christina B.]

I'm going to try to post snippets of things I've learned this past year as a way of paying it forward and gratitude for all I've learned and keep learning via this community. Today's lesson: why I won't use VRBO Pre-Approval anymore.

I get inquiries from time to time asking things like- is your place truly ski in/ski out? Answer: yes, we're less than a 5-minute walk to the lift but you need to be skiing at blue+. Alternatively, you're a 5 minute drive to the resort. When it seems like a good fit, in the past, I've gone ahead and pre-approved the stay. Recently, with two separate inquiries (different dates, different groups), things didn't work out.

VRBO Pre-Approval blocks those dates in your calendar for 72 hours. !!

I'm in one of 2 peak seasons currently. If someone's not truly interested, I want those dates released ASAP. I had to call VRBO and push repeatedly for those dates to be freed. They warned me I'd take a hit on the algo. I pointed out the guest already notified me they had booked a different property, etc. VRBO then said they cleared the dates but when I refreshed the calendar, I could see it was still blocked. Second attempt on their part freed up the VRBO calendar, but not Airbnb's (and yes on sync'd). ONLY when I pushed further, did they actually release those dates (and I received an email with the subject: Your reservation XXX was cancelled at property YYY), and those dates showed as truly open across both calendars. (They also assured me I would not take the algo hit.)

I no longer default to pre-approval as for me, it's bad for business. If they're serious, I encourage them to send me the request which I accept (after I've also made our House Rules clear). TLDR: Pre-approval seems like a good thing but it can lead to lost bookings or a time sink (has anyone spent less than 20-30 minutes on the phone with VRBO trying to fix something??).

[Lauren Kormylo]

It only took me once to learn not to pre-approve a booking.  

[Mike Grudzien]

All I can say is: OUCH!
and of course thanks for the info!

[Michael Baum]

Yeah, no pre-approval for us as well. Book it or don't.

Luckily we don't get many requests like you got @Christina B..

Most folks just book it and sometimes ask later. For example we had a group coming to stay for a wedding but after booking realized that it was almost 40 miles downlake from town.

They went and canceled in 15 minutes with a lot of apologies. There aren't many places available in the summer right now. Most are booked out a year in advance. We are about 40% full for the season right now and we are waaaay out of town.

I was able to get them in touch with an off booking sites place that had an opening in town. It cost quite a bit more but it met their needs better.

[Christina B.]

Thank you @Lauren Kormylo @Mike Grudzien @Michael Baum for your replies. I *do* learn eventually, lol. For clarity, when I first started out, most of my bookings were from Airbnb and Pre-Approval is easy to do as a response to inquiries and only lasts 24 hours. So when I started getting more inquiries on VRBO, I assumed (incorrectly) this was a similar feature until a few days ago. (And since I also got bookings via my earlier VRBO pre-approvals, didn't realize until the inquirer let me know they were going with another option, that VRBO holds it for 72 hours.) Lesson learned. Have a great weekend, y'all.