What Does Premier Host Mean on Vrbo and Is It Worth It?

Vrbo is one of the short-term rental industry’s most popular listing sites and now has over 2 million different property listings on its platform. Because of this, vacation rental hosts and property managers are always looking for opportunities to stand out among the crowd – and Vrbo’s Premier Host program is one way to do that.

Whether you have been part of the short-term rental industry for years or just getting started, being able to achieve Premier Host status can give you a sought-after competitive edge. Read on to find out more about the Vrbo premier host program and how to become a premier host on Vrbo.

What Does a Premier Host Mean on Vrbo?

The Vrbo Premier Host program is an invite-only program that acknowledges property managers and property owners who consistently provide quality traveler experiences to their guests. Achieving premier host status is not easy and keeping the Vrbo premier host badge is even harder!

Once property managers or vacation rental owners earn Premier Host status, they will have access to special privileges and exclusive access to certain services.

Once a host meets the eligibility criteria, they will automatically be added to the Premier Host program. So let’s take a closer look at what those criteria are.

How Do You Become a Premier Host on Vrbo?

Luckily, the Vrbo Premier program qualifications and eligibility criteria are easily measurable. Although, it will take some effort on your part to succeed.

To count yourself among the Vrbo Premier Hosts, you’ll need to achieve the following combined performance for all listings in your account:

• 4.3 or higher average guest reviews rating

• 90% or higher booking acceptance rate

• 5% or lower owner-initiated cancellation rate

• Three or more Vrbo reviews
• At least five bookings or 60 booked nights

While this will take a lot of work and consistency to achieve, it’s not impossible. And, once you become a Premier Partner, you’ll have access to all the exclusive benefits.

Is It Worth It To Become a Premier Host?

Now that we know what it takes to become a Premier Host, you’ll need to decide if achieving Premier status is worth it. Once you become a Premier Host, all eligible properties will have access to the following Premier Host benefits and business opportunities:

1. Vrbo Premier Host badge

A Premier Host badge, displayed on all your qualified listings, will be tied to your account and profile. It will even display on your brand-new listings.

The Vrbo Premier badge gives hosts extra verification, so prospective guests can identify them as a Premier Partner. This gives potential guests an added level of trust, making them likelier to make online bookings at their vacation rentals.

2. Access to the Boost program

The Boost program provides more opportunities for a Vrbo Premier user to enjoy increased visibility and an improved search position in Vrbo’s search results.

Through the Boost program, Premier Hosts can:

• Earn power-ups by accepting bookings
• Earn power-ups when a guest completes their stay
• Earn power-ups across all their listings.

However, it’s important to note that power-ups can only be used by the listing that earned them. These power-ups can then be used to improve your listing’s search position.

3. Premier Host filter

Vrbo has a Premier Host filter that enables travelers to filter listings so that they see only properties listed by a Vrbo Premier Host.

Therefore, if you are a property manager or owner with Premier Host status, your listings will be shown in the search results under this filter. This provides even more opportunities for those who become Premier Hosts to drive consistent bookings.

4. Premier Host support

Once you become a Premier Host, you will also enjoy the perk of priority support from Vrbo with expedited 24/7 access.

This is an amazing benefit of the Vrbo Premier Host Program because priority support means hosts can offer a superior guest experience. This, in turn, will encourage travelers to book with them again in the future.

How Can I Know How Close I Am To Vrbo Premier Host Status?

With all the different Premier Host requirements, it can become difficult to track. That is where Vrbo’s Premier Host scorecard comes in.

The Premier Host scorecard, located under Performance on the host dashboard, is a way for hosts to track their overall performance and measure how far away they are from Premier Host status.

In other words, it can show you your current booking acceptance rate, owner-initiated cancellation rate, average review rating, and your number of reviews and bookings so that you can see how far away you are from becoming a Premier Host.

This Premier Host scorecard can also be downloaded as a report. You can use the report’s filter to sort between options and identify areas where you still need to improve.

What Are The Quarterly Assessments?

Vrbo assesses each host status every quarter to determine who has met the Premier Host requirements and can be part of Vrbo’s Premier Host program.

These quarterly assessments take place on February 1, May 1, August 1, and November 1 each year. During each assessment, Vrbo reviews performance over the past 365 days and will remove host accounts that no longer qualify for the program.  They will also add new Premier partners that now qualify for it.

If you were a recognized Premier Host previously but failed to meet the requirements in a specific quarterly assessment, there’s no need to worry. Once you meet the eligibility criteria again, you’ll automatically be added back into the program and become a Premier Host once more.

What Are The Best Tips to Becoming A Premier Host And Staying That Way?

Vrbo will recognize partners who keep qualifying for Premier Host status every quarter, so it’s best to keep up your quality of service so that you can keep enjoying the perks.

Here are our top tips for becoming a Premier Host and staying one:

Streamline your business with automation software

A short-term rental business needs to be streamlined and run efficiently in order to provide the best guest experience possible. With the right vacation rental software, you can save time by letting automation tools do all your tedious tasks for you, freeing up time for you to focus on your guests and your business.

iGMS provides vacation rental software that not only automates the majority of your property management tasks but also helps you perfect your channel management strategy and guest experience so that you can become a Vrbo Premier Host in no time.

With iGMS you can:

• Managing multiple accounts and listings on the top OTAs from a single interface
• Synchronizing reservations across multiple platforms to eliminate the risk of double bookings
• Organizing messages into a single feed with a unified inbox
• Improving communication with automated templates and triggered messaging
• Creating and coordinating cleaning tasks with live tracking to completion
• Creating your own direct booking website
• Managing direct bookings using a direct booking management toolkit
• Processing payments securely via integration with Stripe.
• Creating essential reports on your business results within minutes
• Adjusting your pricing in a smart way through integrations with PriceLabs, DPGO, and Wheelhouse
• Automating the process of guest reviews

Encourage positive reviews

Becoming a Premier Host means that you need to keep your average review rating high. For this, you’ll need to ensure each guest completes positive reviews for your property after their stay.

The first step to accomplishing this is to make their experience an exceptional one. This is possible if you:

• Maintain strong communication before, during, and after their stay
• Provide a strong welcome experience with a welcome letter, welcome book, and a welcome basket.
• Use checklists to ensure your property is stylishly furnished, fully stocked, and sparkling clean.
• Provide a smooth key handover for the check-in and check-out processes

Optimize your pricing strategy

To keep your occupancy rates high and meet the minimum number of bookings needed, you need to optimize your pricing strategy. An efficient pricing strategy will strike the perfect balance between keeping your rental property booked, while not leaving any money on the table.

Consider adding the following to your pricing strategy:

1. Offer discounted rates and special offers on your rental properties during low seasons when you can see you’re not getting enough bookings.
2. Price your property higher on weekends and lower on weekdays.
3. Offer special rates for longer stays.
4. Take advantage of dynamic pricing tools like PriceLabs, Beyond, DPGO, and Wheelhouse.

Take advantage of instant booking

Vrbo’s instant booking feature allows travelers to book a property instantly and confirms booking requests automatically. Needless to say, this feature saves time for both the host and the guest.

Your guest will select a property, select dates they would like to travel, and then instantly make the necessary online payments to secure their booking on the spot.

Instant booking will help you stay at Premier Host status because by allowing Vrbo to automatically confirm your bookings, you’ll be able to hit the five bookings minimum and 90% booking acceptance rate a lot easier.

About the Author
Callan Riddles is the Content and Social Media Specialist at iGMS. Callan has a passion for finding new ways to help vacation rental businesses thrive. In her free time, she loves to travel, read, and experience all the new things that life has to offer.