VRBO Connection Issues | Host Tools Help Center

Please check out this page for live status updates. Subscribe to this page to be emailed with any updates.

Intermittent VRBO API Errors

Host Tools currently does not have any issues with the VRBO connection. We have experienced intermittent issues with the VRBO API. When these issues arise, we do all we can to keep this connection alive and working.

The errors with the VRBO API are not constant. When occurring, there are issues with, but not limited to, seeing and sending guest messages, seeing reservations, updating the calendar, and importing new listings.

What you need to do:

To avoid double bookings, we suggest that all users export their Host Tools iCal, from their parent listing and import it into VRBO.com. Then export the VRBO calendar (from VRBO) and import it into Host Tools on to your parent listing. This will ensure you don't get double bookings and that dates are blocked when you get a booking on another channel.

You'll need to message guests in VRBO when the connection is not active. You can also add the guest's email address to the iCal reservation if you want Host Tools to email your automated messages to VRBO guests.

What Host Tools is doing to fix this:

VRBO is ultimately insisting we move to their new API that requires Hosts to become the merchant of record. That means hosts would need to set up Stripe or another service to process credit cards and collect guest payments. We have resisted this switch because our goal has always been to make Hosts' lives easier, and becoming the merchant of record does not align with that goal. This is a requirement for every single PMS.

We are researching ways to make becoming the "merchant of record" as hands-off as possible for our users. We hope we can handle the payment logic for you, and adding a stripe account will be as easy as linking a new channel.

Host Tools will not charge users for any VRBO listings while the API connection is down.

We are working on fixing issues as they arise while researching and building this new API. From what we have seen, no other PMS using the same API as us has been able to get it to stabilize either. We are currently throwing all of our efforts toward building the new API and researching ways that Host Tools can do the heavy lifting for payment collection.