November 12, 2020

How to Choose a Vacation Rental script?

Snippet: in this post we look at the what a vacation rental script is and what features are absolutely necessary for you to choose the best script.

How about an Airbnb clone script

The Airbnb platform – on both web and mobile – has disrupted the travel and tourism industry. The platform is safe and secure for both hosts (property owners) and guests (travelers).

We have extensively written about Airbnb’s successful business model and how you can create a platform exactly like Airbnb – with all the features on both web and mobile platforms.

A clone script takes all the excellent features from a platform like Airbnb and creates a replica of it – hence the name ‘clone’. Now, is a copy of the platform as good as the original?

The answer to this question is simple. The platform (clone script) is just the beginning. Even Airbnb don’t define themselves as a tech company. The founders describe themselves as a customer service company.

Image: Airbnb founders

As a result, it is vitally important to choose the right vacation rental script and offer excellent service to make sure your business succeeds.

Why an Airbnb clone script is better

To begin with, a good clone script will save you a lot of time and money. Time – saving you hours of work to plan, design, and develop a comparable tech platform. And money – you need top quality designers and developers to build a great platform.

So, the question is, why not buy a ready-made, tailor made clone script? One which is based on the best in the business a.k.a Airbnb. And one which is customizable and easy to deploy?

With an Airbnb clone script, you will get all the features which work on Airbnb and the features your customers want. The idea of producing high quality, similar user experience on both your website and mobile app is easy with a solid rental script.

What are the best features of an Airbnb clone script

Succeeding in the vacation rental industry is all about creating a cohesive and a safe platform for both hosts and guests. Only when the homeowner feels safe about your platform, will he/she list their property with you.

Only when users find enough listings on your platform, would they be interested in booking homes/rooms. Here are the best set of features which are absolutely necessary while choosing the best rental script for your business:

Features to encourage hosts – property owners

Communication is key: allow hosts to chat with guests. This promotes a transparent transaction and avoids cancellations.

An Airbnb clone script should allow you to offer the chat option like Airbnb.

Protect hosts against cancellations: Last moment cancellations is a bane for hosts. They not only end up losing the business, but also get less to no time to find new guests.

A good clone script should allow you to create transparent and clear cancellation policies and make it easy to implement those policies.

Offer security to home owners against property damage: Most property owners stay far away. As a result, they don’t get to meet guests and keep an eye on the property. So, what happens when there is property damage of any kind. Such as a broken tap or a window to a damaged television or air conditioner caused by guests?

A clone script should allow you to create some sort of property insurance measures to protect hosts. Just like Airbnb does.

Create a community for hosts: Let your community of hosts communicate and learn from each other about hosting on your platform. By creating a community, you encourage collective problem solving and reduce your customer service cost.

The best clone script should be ready to host an in-built community with all the features necessary to register, invite, and communicate easily on web as well as mobile platforms.

Features to encourage guests – travelers

Protect guests against cancellations: you drive guests away when property owners cancel bookings at the last moment – just because they got a better booking deal through some other platform. To avoid such a scenario, create a merit and performance based host hierarchy system. Promote hosts who never cancel bookings and perform well to the top of the ladder. Airbnb calls this as Superhost.

The rental script you choose should allow you to create such a merit based host hierarchy. One purely based on the rules you create to boost your business.

Onboard a lot of listings: Only if there are enough cab drivers, will Uber succeed. Only if there is enough good content will Netflix succeed. The same applies to your business. You have to onboard a lot of listings to lure more travelers to your website and mobile app.

A good rental script should not limit the number free listings.

Highlight reviews and ratings: Make it easy for guests to leave reviews, and for hosts to reply and resolve issues. This way, you create a transparent platform which drives engagement.

The rental script you choose should allow for extensive ratings and reviews from both hosts and guests. The user interface should be easy for both parties to access reviews and ratings on the website as well as on the mobile app.

Make it safe, secure, and easy to pay and receive refunds: There will always be cancellations and there will always come a time for hosts to refund the booking money. Your platform should make it easy for both parties to transact.

Any good vacation rental script should allow for refunds to be initiated. And also, for cancellation charges to be levied, before the refund is initiated.

RentRoom is one such Airbnb clone script

We have built RentRoom to mimic the features of Airbnb. Not only that, we offer round the clock tech support till you take your platform live. And also, we offer free software upgrades – for both web and mobile platforms – free for life. This is the guarantee you get from us.
For any questions and clarifications, reach out to us at [email protected] or connect over WhatsApp here.