Best match: take actions to get the results you want

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1 Best match: take actions to get the results you want Providing relevant search results that display the most suitable properties is crucial to travellers, owners, and property managers. By introducing best match, travellers can expect to instantly find their ideal property, while property managers can expect to receive better quality booking requests and enquiries. Our aim is to help everyone get the best booking experience possible.

2 We want to help you be successful by optimising your ranking in best match. Here are 10 factors you can control: Enable and use online booking Responsiveness Availability and Calendar accuracy High bookings acceptance rate Recent guest reviews Accurate rates Precise location of property Number of bedrooms and sleeps Type of property specified Description of amenities

3 Enable and use online booking It s easy to attract more travellers with online booking. Online-bookable properties generate up to 110% more bookings than listings without it*, and enabling online booking and accepting a high percentage of bookings are the top two ways to optimise your position in search results through best match. Responsiveness

4 Responding to enquiries and booking requests within 24 hours is a critical component of traveller satisfaction. Responsiveness Please note this includes nights and weekends, not just business hours. You can always set up an automatic reply for the times you re not available so travellers know you ll come back to them soon. Enable and use online booking Availability and calendar accuracy

5 Accurate calendars help us to match a traveller s preferences with your property s availability. Remember that the day of your last calendar update is displayed on your listing, so you should make sure your calendars are updated regularly. Availability and calendar accuracy Responsiveness High bookings acceptance rate

6 High bookings acceptance rate When you show your record of accepting booking requests, it proves you re likely to accept future booking requests. This is known as your booking acceptance rate. The number of bookings you accept is a signal that you re providing a good experience. We look at your history of accepting bookings, and listings with a high acceptance rate are displayed higher in search results. This means it s very important to accept bookings through HomeAway or let HomeAway know about bookings by indicating them within your software s channel or marketing source. Availability and calendar accuracy Recent guest reviews

7 Recent guest reviews Travellers tell us that reviews written in the last two years are more helpful than older reviews when making a booking decision. If a booking is made online through HomeAway s system, an automatic request for a review is sent to the traveller after their stay. While positive reviews are always the most desirable, it s also important to respond to negative reviews so that travellers know you take their feedback seriously. High bookings acceptance rate Accurate rates

8 Accurate rates that travellers can easily understand help make your listings more appealing. Ensure that the rates you supply to HomeAway are up to date and as accurate as possible to maximise your booking requests. Accurate rates Recent guest reviews Precise location of property

9 It s important that a complete and accurate address and latitude/longitude is on file for each of your listings. We ll use this to improve location searches, as travellers want to know where a property is located before booking. The listing cannot go live without this information. Precise location of property Accurate rates Number of bedrooms and sleeps

10 Making sure that everyone in the group has somewhere to sleep is a basic requirement for travellers. Checking how many people can stay in the rental is often a starting point for travellers searches, so ensure you correctly display this information to get more qualified enquiries. Number of bedrooms and sleeps Precise location of property Type of property specified

11 As well as having a dream destination in mind, travellers often have a vision of their perfect property. If their heart is set on staying in a cute cottage, a sunny villa, or a dramatic castle, then accurately specifying your property type will help travellers quickly find your rental. Type of property specified Number of bedrooms and sleeps Description of amenities

12 Description of amenities When you list as many amenities as possible that your property has to offer, you give travellers greater flexibility to filter by the preferences that matter most to them. When you accurately map all the available amenities from your software to HomeAway, we display this information clearly on your property details page. However, we re aware that not all amenities that we list on our site are available through your software integration. We suggest that you add this information to your descriptions instead. If you see amenities that are offered by HomeAway but aren t in your software, please contact your software representative and request the features you d like to add. Type of property specified

13 By regularly taking a few minutes to make sure your listings are current and optimised based on our 10 best match practices, your listings will be more likely to be successful in our search results pages. *Based on 2015 bookings per listing for classic tier, payments enabled, 7 largest HomeAway brands