Settings | BrightSide PMS | Short Term Rental Software

Company Setup

BrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:05:30-04:00

Summary

In this tutorial you will learn how to set up your company information in BrightSide. This needs to be the first thing you do in order to get started using BrightSide.

Enter your company name, address, phone, and email address
Enter your Tax ID
Add your website address
Select your time zone
Upload your company logo

Setting Up Your Company

Setting up your company information in BrightSide is fairly straightforward. Be sure to include as much information as possible. Other areas of BrightSide will use the information you insert here.

Navigate to: Setup > Company

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The company information input here is used for outgoing emails and other purposes. Please complete as much of this as possible.

Name: enter the legal name for your company.
Address: enter the complete address for your company.
Phone: enter the phone number for your company.
Email: enter the email address for your company. This email address is used for the “reply” address when sending out emails. Be sure it is an address that someone in your office monitors regularly.
Website: enter the URL of your website beginning with https://
Tax ID: this is usually your federal employer identification number (FEIN) in the following format – 12-3456789.
Time Zone: enter the time zone where your office is located.
Logo: upload your company logo. Best size is 280 x 80 and format is either PNG, JPF, or GIF

Company SetupBrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:05:30-04:00

Reservations Settings

BrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:17:06-04:00

Summary

In this tutorial we will discuss how to select the default settings for new reservations, both for online booking and within BrightSide. These settings impact all reservations.

New Reservation Options
Reservation Policies
Reservation Types
Custom Fields
Restrictions

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Reservations

HINT: The “Reservations” section of the setup page is found in the left hand column, just below “Email” and above “Guests.”

Options Tab

The reservation settings chosen here determine the requirements needed for each booking. For example, if you want to require the source of the reservation to be input, select that option here. This helps you track where the reservation came from; a phone call, Airbnb, VRBO, or some other source.

HINT: These settings can be changed when needed.

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New Reservation Settings

The following requirements have tick boxes next to them. If you want to make it a requirement for every reservation, just tick it to activate.

Require Source: require a source to be selected to complete a new reservation. Common sources used include Airbnb, VRBO, Phone Call, Booking.com, Walk-In, Online, etc. When you require this, you can utilize reports letting you know where your reservations originate.
Require Occupancy: require a number of adults to be entered to complete a new reservation. If your property sleeps six, you need to know if they intend to have 16 guests. If they have more guests than the current unit accommodates, you can refer them to a larger capacity unit.
Require Vehicles: require a number of vehicles to be entered to complete a new reservation. If you have parking for two vehicles, they need to let you know how many they intend to park at your property.
Maintenance Reason Required: require users to give a reason for any new maintenance blocks.
Maintenance Skip Cleaning: skip cleaning on maintenance blocks by default.
Changed Rent Reason Required: require users to give a reason for changing the rental amount on a new reservation. If your reservationist, or someone else, changes the posted rental fee, require them tell you why they did it.
Arrival Time Required: require an estimated arrival time to be entered to complete a new reservation.

Online Reservation Settings

Allow Weekly Pricing: this enables weekly pricing for online reservations.
Allow Monthly Pricing: this enables monthly pricing for online reservations.
Enable Test Card: enable a one time use of Visa test card # 4111-1111-1111-1111 on the website.
Advance Notice: To prevent same day online bookings, enter the number of hours prior to the end of the arrival day required to book. Usually 24 hours or more.
Max Advance Notice: Limit the number of days in the future guests are able to book online. For example, if you don’t want bookings a year in advance, this is where you limit it.

Policies Tab

Policies are critical to allow BrightSide to work as intended. Every channel you utilize, from your company website, to Airbnb, VRBO, or your front office, need the policies to be set here.

HINT: Airbnb, VRBO, and Booking.com will all reference your policies to determine how much of a deposit you require and when balances are due from guests.

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Check-In / Check-Out Times

Set the default check-in and check-out times here. This time will show up in your guest letters, website, and a host of other places. You may override this setting in the setup for an individual unit if it has a different check-in and check-out time.

Required Documents for Check-in

Require Contract for Check-In: require a signed contract before allowing guests to check in.
Require ID Document for Check-In: require a guest ID document before allowing guests to check in.
Require CC Imprint for Check-In: require a guest credit card imprint before allowing guests to check in.

Balance Due Policies

You can create a number of balance due policies, depending on your needs. Most property managers use only one for all their properties. However, if you want to have separate balance due policies for various units, set them up here. When you add units/properties in BrightSide, you will choose which of these policies applies to that unit.

Policy Name: if you have more than one balance due policy, give them a distinguishing name. For example, if you require the balance due 15 days before arrival on some properties, name it “15 Days Before Arrival.” If you have other units requiring the balance due 30 days prior to arrival, name it “30 Days Prior to Arrival”.
Balance Due: select from the dropdown menu when you want the balance to be paid. You can select from 90 days prior to arrival, at check-in, check-out, or any number of days in between.

HINT: You may apply only one balance due policy to any given unit.

Deposit Policies

Most management companies use only one deposit policy. However, just like balance due policies, you may create more than one policy if needed.

Policy Name: if you will have more than one deposit policy, give it a distinguishing name, like 50% Deposit.
Type: select which method of determining the deposit you want to use. You may choose from Flat Fee, % of Total, % of Charges, and # Nights Rent.
Amount: enter the deposit amount required according to the method chosen. If you chose Flat fee, enter the amount here. If you chose % of Total, enter the percentage you require; for example, 50.00. For a number of nights rent, enter the number of nights you want to charge up front.

HINT: You may apply only one deposit policy to any given unit. Currently, we do not have a feature allowing for multiple deposits to be made at timed intervals.

Types Tab

A number of reservation types are inherent to BrightSide. Since not all reservations are paying guests, BrightSide gives you options to block off days and assign them a “type.” The most common types are “Owner Stays” or “Maintenance Block.” Another type of reservation is an “Owner Guest.” You may create your own type if needed.

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Types of Stays

The four types of stays already in your BrightSide account are Guest Stay, Owner Stay, Owner Guest, and Maintenance Block. If you need other types, you may add them here.

Name: if you need an additional stay type, name it here.
Occupied By: let the system know who will be staying in the unit, if anyone.
Paid By: who will be paying for this stay, a guest, the owner, the owner’s guest, or nobody.
Select if a contract is required for this stay, if cleaning is required for this stay, and a color to show on the calendar.

HINT: If you deselect “Cleaning Required” for any of these stays, the unit will not be marked as dirty when they check out. If an owner chooses to clean their own unit after a stay, you may make adjustments in the unit’s Rates tab. Depending on how you manage it, cleaning may not be required after a maintenance block, so you can deselect it here.

Custom Fields Tab

Reference Number

Reservations are assigned a unique confirmation number, automatically generated by BrightSide, regardless of the source of the reservation. When reservations are booked through OTA channels, like Airbnb or Booking.com, their system sends over a reference number that is stored in BrightSide. That unique number can be found inside the reservation, identified by “Reference #”.

Show Reference #: to activate the reference field in your reservations, tick this box (highly recommended).

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Alternative Uses for the “Reference #” Field

If a reservation is booked through an OTA, their reference number will populate this field in BrightSide and cannot be removed. If, however, the reservation is booked from your website or by phone, the reference field goes unused and you can use it in other ways.

For example, you could use it to connect multiple reservations for a singular event, like a wedding. The screenshot below is a reservation that includes the Reference #: Cardinal Wedding. Any other reservation using that same reference can be viewed as a list.

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Manage Custom Fields

You may want to add a custom field on your reservation form for easy reference. For example, if you have units people rent frequently while attending weddings, you could set up custom fields to add the wedding information. In the screenshot below, we added custom fields for the wedding date, wedding venue, additional guests who may be staying in the unit, and a tick box to indicate if they purchased a photo CD.

A number of custom fields may be created from three different types; Date/Time, Text, or a Checkbox. This example shows all three available types of custom fields in use. Feel free to create custom fields that will help you.

HINT: These fields are not searchable and will not show up anywhere but on the reservation form.

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To create custom fields for reservations follow the steps below.

Description: this description will show up in the reservation.
Type: choose a type from the dropdown menu. You may choose from Date/Time, Text, or a Checkbox.
After doing the first two steps, click the + box and it will be saved.

HINT: When you create these custom fields, they will show up on every reservation for every unit.

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Restrictions Tab

Occasionally, you may want to create a check-in or check-out restriction for one or all of the units in your portfolio. In this section, we will show you how to create a restriction.

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What are Restrictions?

Restrictions are used for two purposes: to prevent check-ins on a specific day, to prevent check-outs on a specific day; or both. This is useful when you do not have any staff on hand to clean the unit, or perhaps it is a holiday and no one is in the office to check guests in or out.

Some property managers use this feature for Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and July 4th. If you are available 24/7, year round, you likely will never use this feature.

Add Restrictions

Date: enter the date you need to restrict a check-in and/or check-out.
Unit: you may apply this restriction to one unit or all units. If you need to apply it to more than one unit, but not all, you need to create a separate restriction for each unit.
Restriction: choose from “No check-in or checkouts,” “No check-ins,” or “No Check-outs.”
Save
If you need to add another restriction, click “Add Changeover Restriction.”

HINT: Restrictions do not autodelete after they expire. You need to delete expired restrictions manually to keep the list clean and current.

Reservations SettingsBrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:17:06-04:00

Custom Guest Information Fields

BrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:18:46-04:00

Summary

This tutorial shows you how to add custom fields to the guest information form.

Manage Custom Fields

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Guests

Custom Fields

Manage Custom Fields

Occasionally, you may want to add custom fields to your guest information form. When added, these options will show up on every guest record as available fields. Four types of fields are available to use: checkbox, date/time, quantity, and a text box.

Description: this shows up in the guest form to let the one completing the form know what information goes here.
Type: determine which type of field you want to use for this information, choose from checkbox, date/time, quantity, and text box.
Click on the + sign to add and the x to delete.

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Guest Form with Custom Fields

After adding the custom fields to the guest form in settings, you can view the new form with the fields at the bottom. See the example below using the fields created above.

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Custom Guest Information FieldsBrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:18:46-04:00

Units Settings

BrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:32:08-04:00

Summary

Before you add rental properties, or units, to your BrightSide account, you need to set a few defaults. In this tutorial, we will show you how to set the defaults for the following:

Display Settings
New Unit Defaults
Occupancy Charges
Policies for All Units
Owner Portal

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Units

Options Tab

These default settings apply to every unit in your portfolio.

HINT: If needed, default settings may be overridden within individual units.

BrightSide Units Setup | Options Settings

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Display Settings

Prefer Unit Name: BrightSide allows property managers to assign unit codes and names to every property. If you prefer to have the unit name appear as a priority over the unit code, select that here. (Recommended)

New Unit Defaults

Management Fee: set the default management fee for new units. You can change these values for individual units if needed.
Cleaning Cost: set the default cleaning fee for new units. You can change these values for individual units if needed.
Gross Receipts Tax: under normal circumstances, you will want this percentage to equal 100% when added to the management fee percentage. For example, if you charge a 30% management fee, you may want this set to 70%. This percentage determines the amount of gross receipts tax that the owner will pay.

Occupancy Charges

The purpose of occupancy charges is to set a base occupancy per unit, and if the occupancy exceeds that base, the guests will be charged an additional occupancy fee. The fee will be added into the rate and will not be a line item on the bill. Occupancy charges can be set for adults, children, and vehicles.

When these fees are set, fields are added to the individual units under the “Rates” tab. Enter the Base Occupancy for that unit there. Any occupancy exceeding the base will activate the fees set here.

Adults: if you want to charge a fee per adult over your base occupancy, select it here and add the amount to be charged.
Children: if you want to charge a fee per child over your base occupancy, select it here and add the amount to be charged.
Vehicles: if you want to charge a fee per vehicle over your base occupancy, select it here and add the amount to be charged. This comes in handy if you have limited parking, at a condo for example, and guests need to pay for additional vehicles.

Policies Tab

Default Policies for All Units

These default policies apply to all the units in your portfolio. If needed, you may override these policies within the settings for individual units. A blue toggle means it is active. After changing a toggle, the settings are automatically saved.

BrightSide Setup | Default Policies Settings

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Online Bookings are Allowed: if you have a website and want guests to be able to book online, toggle this switch. On occasion, someone may have a property where you want guests to call your office to book. If that is the case, remove this permission.
Owner Portal Bookings are Allowed: if you want the owner of a unit to be able to book it directly through the owner’s portal, activate this setting. This can helpful, allowing owners to book without calling the office.
Children are Allowed: if children are allowed at the property, activate this setting.
Events are Allowed: if you allow events, like weddings, parties, etc., activate this setting.
Pets are Allowed: if you allow pets, activate this setting.
Smoking is Allowed: if you allow smoking on the premises, activate this setting.
Minimum Age to Rent: enter the minimum age required for individuals to be able to rent the property.
Check-In Time: enter the standard check-in time for your properties.
Check-Out Time: enter the standard check-out time for your properties.
Minimum Stay Length: enter the minimum number of days you require in order to book a stay at your properties.
Maximum Stay Length: enter the maximum number of days you allow a guest to stay at your properties.
Minimum Nightly Rate: enter the minimum fee you are willing to accept for units. If this varies by unit, you may set this in an individual unit’s settings. We highly recommend setting a minimum nightly rate either here, or for individual units. If you do not set this, a guest could theoretically apply a “Special” to an already discounted rate and drop the nightly rate below an acceptable level.

Owner Portal Tab

Owner Portal Settings

All unit owners have a portal where they may access information about their rentals. These settings determine what kinds of information they can see and what they can do on their own. A blue toggle means it is active. After changing a toggle, the settings are automatically saved.

BrightSide Setup | Owner Portal Settings

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Open Owner Portal: this is a shortcut to the owner portal. Property managers may send this link to owners so they can log in and view activity, reports, make reservations, etc. To create an owner account, login to your BrightSide account, go to: Properties > Owners > Add Owner

Allow Owners to View Inactive Units: this can be helpful to owners when they need to go back and look at information regarding a unit they have taken off of your program. Inactive units stay in BrightSide, but are hidden by default.
Allow Owners to Create Owner Stays: when this is active, owners may make reservations for owner stays in their portal. If it is not active, owners need to contact you to make a reservation.
Allow Owners to Cancel Owner Stays: when this is active, owners can cancel their owner stays without needing to contact your office to do so.
Allow Owners to View Expected Reservations: when this is active, owners can see who booked their unit for upcoming stays.
Allow Owners to View Expected Charges: this allows owners to look at a report of expected charges for the month.
Allow Owners to View Pending Maintenance Issues: when this is active, owners may log in and view any pending maintenance issues with their unit.
Allow Owners to View and Print Completed Maintenance Issues, Including Details: activating this setting grants owners access to all the details of a maintenance issue.
Allow Owners to Clean the Property after Owner Stays: owners may not want to pay others to clean their units after an owner stay. When this is activated, owners are responsible for cleaning their own units after an owner stay. This marks the unit “Clean” when the owner checks out, bypassing the need to have housekeeping clean it and then designate it “Clean.”
Allow Owners to View Owner Statements: activating this allows owners to view and print their monthly owner’s statement directly from the portal, bypassing the need to email it to them.
Owner Portal Message: if you want to add a message to all the owner portals, you may add it here. The message will show up in every owner portal when they log in.

Units SettingsBrightSide Support2024-04-10T16:32:08-04:00

Set Up Travel Insurance

BrightSide Support2024-04-11T16:21:25-04:00

Summary

When you use a travel insurance program, you need to set it up in BrightSide. BrightSide accommodates both travel cancellation insurance and damage insurance.

Travel Insurance.
Damage Waiver Insurance.

Navigate to: Setup > Travel Insurance > Add Policy

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Travel Insurance Policies

Add Travel Insurance Policy

Your insurance carrier will supply most of the information needed to complete this form. After you add this to your BrightSide account, the travel insurance can be offered to your guests on your website and via the backend.

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Policy Tab

Name: Enter the name of the product. Guests can see this on your website.
Product: Enter the insurance company’s policy name and number.
Percentage or Amount: Enter the cost of the insurance. This is usually a percentage of the total. Some policies allow for a flat fee. Choose which form of premium you charge.
Amount: Enter a number representing the percentage or the fee you charge for the insurance.
Commission Percentage: Enter the percentage of the commission the insurance company pays you for selling this product.
Auto Add: Tick this box to automatically add this insurance to every reservation.
Addition Limit: Most insurance companies limit how late you may purchase a travel insurance policy. For example, they do not want guests to be able to purchase travel insurance near the arrival date. Enter the number of days before arrival when guest can no longer purchase insurance.
Cancellation Limit: Enter the number of days after purchase that guests may request a refund. After this number of days, a refund will not be granted.
Start Date: Enter the start date of the policy. This can be the date you begin selling it or the effective date the insurance company provides.
End Date: If your policy has an end date, enter it here.
Alternate Charge:
Policy Document: Upload the policy documents the insurance company provided.
Save

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Taxes Tab

For self-funded cancellation protection, you may need to charge taxes. If so, select the proper tax rates. Check with your local tax authorities to see which rates apply. Often you will use the same rates as the unit. When this is the case, tick “Use Unit Taxes.”

True insurance products, underwritten by an insurance company, likely do not need to charge sales tax. Check with your insurance carrier to be sure. If you do not need to charge taxes for this product, do not tick anything.

Save

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Charges Tab

Select which charges to use when calculating the premium. The premium is based on a percentage of these fees. Ask your insurance carrier which fees need to be included.

Save

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Website Tab

To display a written description of what the travel insurance covers, enter it here. This will show up on your website.

Save

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Commissions Tab

Enter the amount of commission you want to pay your reservationists for selling the travel insurance.

Save

Set Up Travel InsuranceBrightSide Support2024-04-11T16:21:25-04:00

Airbnb Integration

BrightSide Support2024-05-21T10:29:20-04:00

Summary

BrightSide integrates with Airbnb to manage reservations, update photos, block off the calendar, create new properties, and so much more. In order to connect your properties with Airbnb, follow the instructions provided in this tutorial.

Pre-Integration Steps

If you do not have an active Airbnb account, open an Airbnb account, then return here.
Add your amenities to BrightSide.
Add your units to BrightSide.

IMPORTANT!: Before connecting your BrightSide account to Airbnb, you must create your units/properties in BrightSide first. Unit data only goes one way, from BrightSide to Airbnb (reservations go both ways). After your BrightSide account connects to Airbnb, BrightSide will overwrite any unit data you have in Airbnb, not the other way around. If you already have properties on Airbnb, you still need to create them in BrightSide. Once connected, the information from BrightSide will update your listings already on Airbnb.

After you complete the preliminary steps above, follow these next steps to complete the integration with Airbnb.

Set Default Amenities
Feature Mapping
Online Booking
Blackout Dates
Add Airbnb Account to BrightSide

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Airbnb (tab)

HINT: Skip the “Add Airbnb Account” step for now. We will return to it after we set the default amenities and the feature mapping.

Airbnb | Skip This Step for Now

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Set Default Amenities

Default amenities are features that are included in ALL of your units. If you provide towels, bed sheets, and toilet paper for all of your properties, this is where you list it. If some of your properties have an air conditioner, but not all, do not include it here.

Click the blank area below “Default Amenities”; a dropdown list of common amenities will appear.
Scroll down the list and tick the box next to the amenities that apply to ALL of your units.
Click Save.

HINT: Having amenities in your BrightSide account is not required to set defaults; but without amenities, you cannot complete the Feature Mapping.

Airbnb Integration | Default Amenities

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Feature Mapping

The purpose of Feature Mapping is to link your amenities to Airbnb’s amenity list. For example, they have a feature named “Hot tub”. Your feature may be named “Hot Tub” or “Jacuzzi”. By mapping the features, you are telling Airbnb that both of these are considered hot tubs.

Under the heading Features, and below the heading, Airbnb Feature, click the arrow in the blank field. A list of Airbnb’s amenities will appear.
Scroll down the list and select the amenity that most closely matches your amenity. Do this for each amenity in your list.
Click Save.

HINT: Not every amenity you have will match to an Airbnb Feature (see Dog Walk in the screenshot). That’s okay, they don’t show every type of amenity on their website. However, the Dog Walk amenity will show up on your website.

Airbnb Integration | Feature Mapping

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Online Booking

Cancellation Policy

Airbnb allows you to select from a number of cancellation policies, from Flexible all the way down to Super Strict 60. Whatever you choose here will sync with Airbnb to let them know how to handle reservation cancellations. Select one of these from the dropdown and then save it.

Flexible: full refund 1 day prior to arrival, except fees.
Moderate: full refund 5 days prior to arrival, except fees.
Firm: full refund up until 30 days prior to arrival. 50% refund of accommodation fee up to 1 week prior to arrival, then non-refundable.
Strict 14 with grace period: full refund within 48 hours of booking if before 14 days of check-in. After, 50% refund up until 1 week prior to arrival.
Super Strict 30: 50% refund up until 30 days prior to arrival, except fees.
Super Strict 60: 50% refund up until 60 days prior to arrival, except fees.

Airbnb Integration | Cancellation Policy

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Channel Markup Fee

Airbnb charges you a commission when someone makes a reservation through their website or app. BrightSide allows you to create a fee to offset their commission, and hide it in the rent. This fee is called a channel markup fee. The amount of the fee is up to you, however, it is normally set to calculate on a percentage basis.

This fee will only be added to reservations booked through Airbnb.

HINT: Create the fee in BrightSide at Reservations > Fees and Charges > Add. After you create the fee, it will show up here where it may be activated.

Airbnb Integration | Markup Fee

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Blackout Dates

During high traffic seasons you may prefer for guests to book directly through your website rather than through Airbnb. Instead of removing the property from Airbnb, block those dates off by creating Blackout Dates.

When you create a blackout date, your units will not be bookable through Airbnb. The calendar will simply show that the dates are not available.

HINT: Keep in mind that blackout dates apply to all of your units. If you create a blackout date from July 1 – July 10, none of your units will be bookable on Airbnb for those dates. Use wisely.

Start Date: select the date you want to begin blocking off.
End Date: select the date you want to stop blocking off. If you want to add additional blackout dates, click the + box next to the dates.
Save

Airbnb Integration | Blackout Dates

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Add Airbnb Account

It is time to connect your BrightSide account with an Airbnb account.

Click on the “Add Airbnb Account” button.
Log into your Airbnb account.
Once inside your your Airbnb account, navigate to Account > Privacy & Sharing > Services.
Choose BrightSide as your integration partner.
Select “Sync Everything” and connect.

HINT: Your BrightSide account can connect to more than one Airbnb account. If you are managing properties for more than one Airbnb account, you may connect them and manage them all from within your single BrightSide dashboard. Just repeat the steps above for each Airbnb account you need to connect.

EXTREMELY IMPORTANT!: DO NOT connect individual properties to Airbnb, VRBO, or any other OTA, until you have completely built out your property in BrightSide. This includes photos, rates, amenities, descriptions, basically everything! This is especially important when you already have the property on the OTA. When you connect, BrightSide will overwrite ALL unit data on the OTA. If you have not set rates, they will show up as $0.00 on the OTAs. If you haven’t added photos to BrightSide, the photos on the OTAs will be deleted.

If there is any doubt about what you are doing, contact customer support at support@bookonthebrightside.com or call 865-233-3778.

After you connect your Airbnb account, you need to activate individual units so they will show up on Airbnb. When you get ready to activate units, go to Properties > Units > Airbnb (tab).

Airbnb Integration | Add Airbnb Account

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Airbnb IntegrationBrightSide Support2024-05-21T10:29:20-04:00

Vrbo Integration

BrightSide Support2024-05-29T10:24:45-04:00

Summary

BrightSide integrates with Vrbo to manage reservations, update photos, block off the calendar, create new properties, and so much more. In order to connect your properties with Vrbo, follow the instructions provided in this tutorial. These steps are different than Airbnb, so please follow closely.

IMPORTANT!: You must create your units/properties in BrightSide even if you have existing units on Vrbo. Unit data only goes one way, from BrightSide to Vrbo (although reservations and availability go both ways). After your BrightSide account connects to Vrbo, and you activate a property, BrightSide will update and overwrite that unit’s data in Vrbo, not the other way around.

Get Advertiser ID
Add Amenities to BrightSide* (you must have amenities in BrightSide so you can assign them to units and map them to Vrbo)
Add Units to BrightSide* (even if you have units already in Vrbo, you MUST create them in BrightSide)
Set Default Amenities
Feature Mapping
Online Booking
Blackout Dates
Activating Units
Connect to Vrbo

* These links take you to our Knowledge Base containing detailed instructions.

NOTE: After you complete these steps, Vrbo may take several days to activate your properties. They may reach out to you through email to confirm that you are asking them to allow BrightSide to manage your properties.

Advertiser ID

Before attempting to connect to Vrbo, ask your BrightSide Onboarding specialist to assign you a unique Advertiser ID. You will use this Advertiser ID when you connect your account. You can find yours at the Vrbo tab in Integration Partners, under Account Settings.

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Vrbo (tab)

Vrbo Integration | Advertiser ID

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Set Default Amenities

Click the blank area below “Default Amenities”; a dropdown list of common amenities will appear.
Scroll down the list and tick the box next to the amenities that apply to ALL of your units.
Click Save.

HINT: Having amenities in your BrightSide account is not required to set defaults; but without amenities, you cannot complete the Feature Mapping.

Vrbo Integration | Default Amenities

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Feature Mapping

The purpose of Feature Mapping is to link your amenities to Vrbo’s amenity list. For example, they have a feature named “Hot tub”. Your feature may be named “Hot Tub” or “Jacuzzi”. By mapping the features, you are telling Vrbo that both of these are considered hot tubs.

Under the heading “Features,” and below the sub-heading, “HomeAway Feature,” click the dropdown arrow in the blank field. A list of Vrbo’s amenities will appear.
Scroll down the list and select the amenity that most closely matches your amenity. Do this for each amenity in your list.
Click Save.

HINT: Not every amenity you have will match to a HomeAway Feature (see Dog Walk in the screenshot). That’s okay, they don’t show every type of amenity on their website. However, the Dog Walk amenity will show up on your website.

Vrbo Integration | Feature Mapping

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Online Booking

Rental Agreement URL

BrightSide onboarding can help you upload a PDF of your rental agreement to your website (this may have already been done during the onboarding process). Vrbo imports this document and provides a link to it so guests may read it during the booking process. If you do not know the URL, ask your onboarding specialist to assist you.

NOTE: Since Vrbo provides options for the cancellation policy, it is no longer necessary to provide a URL for your cancellation policy.

Vrbo Integration | Rental Agreement URL

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Cancellation Policy

Vrbo allows you to select from a number of cancellation policies, from “No Refund” all the way down to “Relaxed.” The “default policy” you choose here will sync with Vrbo to let them know how to handle reservation cancellations. Select one of these from the dropdown and then save it.

No Refund: No refunds at any time.
Strict: 100% refund up until 60 days prior to arrival.
Firm: 100% refund if cancelled at least 60 days before arrival and 50% refund if cancelled at least 30 days before arrival.
Moderate: 100% refund if cancelled at least 30 days before arrival and 50% refund if cancelled at least 14 days before arrival.
Relaxed: 100% refund if cancelled at least 14 days before arrival and 50% refund if cancelled at least 7 days before arrival.

NOTE: When needed, you can override this default cancellation policy within each unit. This is handy if you need to assign a separate cancellation policy for each unit.

Vrbo Integration | Cancellation Policy

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Rent Adjustment

If you want to increase the rates across the board for Vrbo listings, you may do it here. This is useful when you own all of your properties as well as manage them. By using Rent Adjustment, you do not have a separate fee hidden in the rental charges, it just raises the rental rates. Owners are paid a percentage of the entire rental charge.

HINT: When you manage properties but do not own them, you may want to raise the rental rates with a hidden fee to recover the Vrbo commissions you are charged. When this is the case, use the Channel Markup Fee below.

Vrbo Integration | Rent Adjustment

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Channel Markup Fee

Vrbo charges you a commission when a guest makes a reservation through their website or app. BrightSide allows you to create a fee to offset this commission, and hide it in the rent. This fee is called a Channel Markup Fee. The amount of the fee is up to you, however, it is normally set to calculate on a percentage basis.

This fee will only be added to reservations booked through Vrbo.

Create the “Vrbo Markup”

Navigate to: Reservations > Fees and Charges > Add

Enter the name of this fee, “Vrbo Markup”
Set the type as “Percentage”
Tick “Include in Rent”
Set the percentage you want to increase the rent in order to cover the commission charged by Vrbo. Remember, this percentage is added to the rent only, not the subtotal, which is how Vrbo calculates their commission.
If you need to use different markup percentages per unit, tick the “Varies by Unit” box and set the rate in each unit on the Rates tab.
You must tick “Use Unit Taxes” since this is a taxable charge.

NOTE: After you create the fee, it will show up in the Vrbo tab in Integration Partners where it may be activated. If you need assistance choosing the options for this fee, please contact support.

Vrbo Integration | Create a Vrbo Markup

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Apply the “Vrbo Markup”

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Vrbo (tab)

Scroll down and select Vrbo Markup from the dropdown next to Channel Markup Fee
Save

HINT: When using the Channel Markup Fee, Vrbo shows the guests the increased rental rate that includes the markup. However, BrightSide breaks down this fee into two charges, the rental charge and the markup fee. BrightSide then assigns the markup fee to the management company. The owner’s payment is based on the rental charge that does not include the markup fee.

Vrbo Integration | Apply the Channel Markup Fee

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Blackout Dates

During high traffic seasons you may prefer for guests to book directly through your website rather than through Vrbo. Instead of removing the property from Vrbo, block those dates off by creating Blackout Dates.

When you create a blackout date, your units will not be bookable through Vrbo. The calendar will simply show that the dates are not available.

HINT: Keep in mind that blackout dates apply to all of your units. If you create a blackout date from July 1 – July 10, NONE of your units will be bookable on Vrbo for those dates. Use wisely.

Start Date: select the date you want to begin blocking off.
End Date: select the date you want to stop blocking off. If you want to add additional blackout dates, click the + box next to the dates.
Save

Vrbo Integration | Blackout Dates

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Activating Units

After you have completed the previous steps, you must activate each unit individually that you want to be available on Vrbo. For detailed instructions on how to activate a unit on Vrbo, visit the Connect a Unit to Vrbo tutorial.

NOTE: The Vrbo tab does not show up in the unit’s screen until after you have an Advertiser ID in BrightSide.

Connect to Vrbo

Final Step

To use BrightSide to manage your properties on Vrbo, you must have an active Vrbo account to which we can connect. If you already have an account, that’s great. We can connect it in just a few short steps. If you do not have an account, you can create one in just a few minutes using the steps below.

I Have a Vrbo Account

Start Here (when you click this link, you will leave BrightSide and go to Vrbo). After arriving on Vrbo’s website, answer the following:

Do you have an account with Vrbo or its affiliated partners? If you already have an account with Vrbo, answer “Yes.”
Do you currently use property management software? Answer, “Yes.”
Sign into your Vrbo account and follow the instructions.
When asked, select BrightSide as your choice of property management software.
When asked, enter your unique Advertiser ID assigned by BrightSide (find it here: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Vrbo).
When finished, return to BrightSide.

I Do Not Have a Vrbo Account

Start Here (when you click this link, you will leave BrightSide and go to Vrbo). After arriving on Vrbo’s website, answer the following:

Do you have an account with Vrbo or its affiliated partners? Answer, “No”.
Do you currently use property management software? Answer, “Yes.”
What is the primary language of your listing content in your software? For most, the answer is English.
Click “Get started.”
Vrbo will take you through a series of screens to set up your account.
When asked, select BrightSide as your choice of property management software.
When asked, enter your unique Advertiser ID assigned by BrightSide (find it here: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Vrbo).
When finished, return to BrightSide.

NOTE: After you complete one of the two steps above, Vrbo will contact you via email, and possibly phone, to confirm you want BrightSide to manage your properties and to complete the integration on their end. Expect this process to take at least 48 to 72 hours.

Vrbo IntegrationBrightSide Support2024-05-29T10:24:45-04:00

Minimum Stay Length Rules

BrightSide Support2024-05-10T16:43:37-04:00

Summary

Property managers must determine the minimum number of nights required for a guest stay at each unit. BrightSide provides several ways to enter the minimum night stay length requirements, and when needed, minimum stay overrides. This article will help you understand where to set the minimum stay length policies, overrides, and the hierarchy, so you understand which settings take priority.

The following are listed in order of increasing priority, with “Rate Seasons” being the lowest and “Minimum Stay Overrides (Units)” the highest.

Rate Seasons
Unit Rate Season Overrides
Minimum Stay Overrides (Global)
Global Policy
Unit Policy
Minimum Stay Overrides (Units)
Wheelhouse, Beyond, & PriceLabs
Calculations
Gap Fill
Common Questions

Rate Seasons

Applies to: All Units

This is the most basic control, where you set a minimum stay rule for each of your rate seasons. Look at this as the default minimum stay requirement for every unit, based on the rate seasons. For example, if you require a longer minimum night stay during the Peak season than the Holiday season, this is where you enter it.

Navigate to: Properties > Rate Seasons

NOTE: In the hierarchy of minimum stay length requirements, this is the lowest ranking, or sixth highest ranking (6), and can be overridden by any of the following settings and overrides.

Minimum Stay Length | Rate Seasons

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Unit Rate Seasons Overrides

Applies to: Individual Units

The minimum night requirement number set in “Rate Seasons” above can be overridden on an individual unit basis here. For example, some very large units may not need the same minimum stay requirements as smaller units during the same season. If needed, you may override the “Rate Seasons” default setting within each individual unit. As with the “Rate Seasons,” this setting affects every date during the season, but is specific only to that particular unit.

Navigate to: Properties > Units > Select a Unit > Rates (tab)

NOTE: In the hierarchy of minimum stay length requirements, this is the fifth highest ranking (5), just above “Rate Seasons.” It overrides the “Rate Seasons” settings, but can be overridden elsewhere.

In the example below, we changed the minimum stay requirement for this unit to “1” night for “Low Season” and “4” nights for “Peak Season.” The “Default Season” and the “Holiday Season” remain unchanged. The light gray color of those numbers indicates the number was set in “Rate Seasons.”

Minimum Stay Length | Unit Rate Season Overrides

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Minimum Stay Overrides (Global)

Applies to: All Units

The first setting, “Rate Seasons” allows you to set the default minimum stay requirements for entire seasons, for all units. The “Unit Rate Seasons Overrides” allows you to override the minimum stay requirements set in “Rate Seasons,” for a single unit. Both tools impact entire seasons, the first on a global level and the latter on a unit level.

On occasion, you may need to override the minimum stay requirement for specific days on ALL units (global). If so, use the “Minimum Stay Overrides” tool. Be sure to select “All” from the dropdown. This allows you to change the minimum stay requirement for specific days and only affects those exact dates, not future years, and applies to all units. Using the global minimum stay override allows you to change the requirements for specific days without impacting the entire season. Keep in mind, this tool allows you to override to a longer minimum stay, but not a shorter stay set in Unit Policies.

For example, a festival is scheduled to run from a Friday to Sunday and you want to change the minimum stay requirement from two nights to three nights for that weekend only. You also want it to apply to all your properties.

Navigate to: Properties > Minimum Stay Overrides > All (dropdown)

NOTE: In the hierarchy of minimum stay length requirements, this is the fourth highest ranking (4). It overrides both the “Rate Season” and “Unit Rate Seasons Overrides” settings. However, this setting can be overridden elsewhere.

Minimum Stay Overrides | Global

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Policies

“Minimum Stay Policies” offer the highest level of control, both globally and per unit. The purpose of the policy is to prevent a reservation with a shorter stay length than you or the owner wants.

For example, if a “Rate Season” or a “Global Override” is set to a one night minimum, and the “Policy” for a unit is set at two, the policy prevents a reservation shorter than two nights from being booked. Remember, the Rate Seasons, Unit Rate Season Overrides, and Global Overrides, are global settings and the three lowest settings in the hierarchy. They are trumped by the Unit Policy.

You may set a default policy, that applies to every unit (Global Policy), in the system policies. Alternatively, you may set the policy within each unit (Unit Policy).

NOTE: The only setting that can force a shorter stay mandated by the Policy is the Minimum Stay Overrides (Units). However, the other minimum stay settings and overrides may impose a longer minimum stay requirement.

Global Policy

Applies to: All Units

The global policy allows you to enter the minimum stay requirements without having to enter it for every unit manually. BrightSide offers two ways to enter the Minimum Stay Length Policy, globally, or within each unit. If you have a minimum stay policy that applies to every unit (globally), you may set this in your BrightSide Unit Policies settings.

This policy is only used when it is more restrictive than the one set on the seasons or global overrides. For example, if the global policy is set to “3” and a night is overridden to “5,” the minimum stay for that night will be “5.” But for nights overridden to “2,” the minimum stay will be “3” due to this policy.

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Units > Policies (tab)

Near the bottom of the page, enter the number of nights you require for a Minimum Stay Length. This applies the policy to all units. If you prefer, you can set the Minimum Stay Length Policy in each unit (see the next section).

NOTE: In the hierarchy of minimum stay length requirements, this is the third highest ranking (3). This setting can only be overridden by the Unit Policy and Minimum Stay Overrides (Unit level). If you set a Global Policy, remember, the Unit Policy outranks it.

Minimum Stay Rules| Global Policies

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NOTE: Keep in mind, this safeguard setting is primarily for online booking and reservations made through online travel agencies. Your reservationist may book a stay that is shorter than the minimum stay length setting allows.

EXAMPLE: If you set this policy to “2” nights, BrightSide will not allow an online reservation to be booked for one night. If a guest calls and requests to book one night, and you want to do it, your reservationist may book it.

Unit Policy

Applies to: Individual Units

You may want to bypass the global setting altogether and enter the Minimum Stay Length Policy directly in each unit. This provides a bit of flexibility to have different requirements per unit. Entering it in the unit is useful if you have a particular property owner that has a different minimum stay policy than your other units.

In addition, the “Unit Policy” outranks the “Global Policy.” So if you enter a Global Policy in the system settings and a different one in the unit, the “Unit Policy” takes precedence.

Navigate to: Properties > Units > Select a Unit > Policies (tab)

Near the bottom of the page, enter the number of nights you require for a minimum stay length and save it. In most cases, we recommend using two (2) nights for the minimum.

RECOMMENDATION: Entering one or two nights into the Unit Policies is a good choice, unless you have an owner who refuses to rent for less than a higher number of nights. Enter the number of nights that is the absolute minimum number of nights you are willing to rent this unit. For example, if your owner says they don’t want to EVER rent for less than a week, enter “7.” If you normally rent for “7” nights, but are willing on occasion to rent it for two nights, enter “2.” This will allow you the flexibility to set higher stay requirements elsewhere, but not go below the minimum.

NOTE: In the hierarchy of minimum stay length requirements, this is the second highest ranking (2). The only setting higher than the Unit Policy is the Minimum Stay Overrides (Units).

Minimum Stay Length | Unit Policy

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Minimum Stay Overrides (Units)

Applies to: Individual Units

The “Minimum Stay Overrides,” on the unit level, trumps every other setting and cannot be overridden anywhere. This override even takes priority over the Unit Policy, the second highest ranking setting.

Navigate to: Properties > Minimum Stay Overrides > (Select Unit)

After navigating to the overrides page, select the unit you wish to modify from the dropdown menu on the left. The light gray numbers on each day of the calendar are the nights designated in the Unit Policies. From there, enter a new number for each day that needs to be changed. This can only be done a day at a time, there is no bulk editing on this screen. Minimums that have been overridden are colored black. To revert back to the default designated in the unit policy, just click in the field and delete the number. These fields will auto-save.

NOTE: In the hierarchy of minimum stay length requirements, there is no higher level than the Minimum Stay Overrides (Units).

Minimum Stay Overrides | Units

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Wheelhouse, Beyond, & PriceLabs

Applies to: Units Connected to Yield Management Companies

All pricing and minimum stay requirements are relegated to Wheelhouse, PriceLabs, or Beyond when you are connected and syncing to any one of them. Policies, overrides, and/or settings entered into BrightSide will be overridden by the external yield management company. You must ensure that you have the proper minimum stay settings in their software before connecting. Any changes made in BrightSide will be overridden by them the next time it syncs.

Calculations

When checking minimum stay rules for a potential reservation, BrightSide checks every night of the stay and uses the largest number found on any of the nights. For example, when getting a quote for a 4 night stay, if 3 nights are set to a 2 night minimum but the last night has a minimum of 5 nights, the stay will not be allowed, as it treats the whole stay as a 5 night minimum.

However, some OTAs like Vrbo calculate minimum nights only on the arrival date, not the entire stay, so there may be situations where we cannot enforce this logic.

Gap Fill

We also have an optional feature where minimum stay rules can be bypassed completely if the reservation is completely filling a gap between two other stays. If this is enabled on your account, you can configure the absolute minimum stay you’ll accept, even if a gap is being filled, and the maximum lead time (days between the booking date and arrival date) allowed.

Common Questions

Q. If I set the minimum stay length policy in the system setup, can I override it on a unit by unit basis?
A. Yes, the policy setting in the unit takes precedence over the global policy setting.

Q. Do I have to enter a minimum in the global policy settings or can I just enter it in each unit?
A. You are not required to enter a minimum stay length in the global policy settings. You may do it on a unit by unit basis.

Q. How do the OTAs determine the minimum stay requirements when the stay overlaps days with different requirements?
A. Many OTAs only look at the arrival date, not the entire stay, to determine the required minimum nights.

Q. May I override the Unit Policy by using the Minimum Stay Overrides?
A. The answer to this one varies depending on the type of Minimum Stay Override.

A Minimum Stay Override using the “Unit,” is the highest level rule and trumps all others. It allows you to lower the number of nights below what is required in the Unit Policy. This is the only setting that allows you to override to a lower number.
A Minimum Stay Override using “All” allows you to increase the number of nights required in the Unit Policy, but does not allow you to change it to fewer nights than the policy states.

Minimum Stay Length RulesBrightSide Support2024-05-10T16:43:37-04:00

Short Term Vacation Rental Software Hospitality PMS

Summary

Setting Up Your Company

Navigate to: Setup > Company

Summary

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Reservations

Options Tab

New Reservation Settings

Online Reservation Settings

Policies Tab

Check-In / Check-Out Times

Required Documents for Check-in

Balance Due Policies

Deposit Policies

Types Tab

Types of Stays

Custom Fields Tab

Reference Number

Alternative Uses for the “Reference #” Field

Manage Custom Fields

Restrictions Tab

What are Restrictions?

Add Restrictions

Summary

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Guests

Custom Fields

Manage Custom Fields

Guest Form with Custom Fields

Summary

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Units

Options Tab

BrightSide Units Setup | Options Settings

Display Settings

New Unit Defaults

Occupancy Charges

Policies Tab

Default Policies for All Units

BrightSide Setup | Default Policies Settings

Owner Portal Tab

Owner Portal Settings

BrightSide Setup | Owner Portal Settings

Summary

Navigate to: Setup > Travel Insurance > Add Policy

Travel Insurance Policies

Add Travel Insurance Policy

Policy Tab

Taxes Tab

Charges Tab

Website Tab

Commissions Tab

Summary

Pre-Integration Steps

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Airbnb (tab)

Airbnb | Skip This Step for Now

Set Default Amenities

Airbnb Integration | Default Amenities

Feature Mapping

Airbnb Integration | Feature Mapping

Online Booking

Cancellation Policy

Airbnb Integration | Cancellation Policy

Channel Markup Fee

Airbnb Integration | Markup Fee

Blackout Dates

Airbnb Integration | Blackout Dates

Add Airbnb Account

Airbnb Integration | Add Airbnb Account

Summary

Advertiser ID

Navigate to: Setup > Settings > Integration Partners > Vrbo (tab)

Vrbo Integration | Advertiser ID

Set Default Amenities

Vrbo Integration | Default Amenities

Feature Mapping

Vrbo Integration | Feature Mapping

Online Booking

Rental Agreement URL

Vrbo Integration | Rental Agreement URL

Cancellation Policy

Vrbo Integration | Cancellation Policy

Short Term Vacation Rental Software
Hospitality PMS