VRBO Search Experience
VRBO’ s search experience is intended to present as many properties as possible to a guest that match the exact search requirements entered. This is all in an effort to secure a booking through the VRBO platform. That said, VRBO caps searches returned at 500 homes— and the map itself is not comprehensive to all listings in the area.
The VRBO map only pins those homes that are loaded in the search results on the left-hand side. Also, when you zoom into a property’ s street / lot and the home doesn’ t appear right away, it could be because there are multiple search pages returned. The viewer will need to click / scroll through to find the property.
Finally, there are a number of search factors that can significantly impact a home’ s ability to be displayed in the top listings / map when a guest searches. They include the following:
DATE SELECTION
This is the primary search filter that VRBO uses to present properties. If dates are selected and a home is not available for rental for that exact date range, the home will not be presented to the guest. Conversely, if no dates are selected, VRBO will prioritize homes according to its internal property ranking algorithm. More notes on this below.
GUEST COUNT
Again, VRBO prioritizes an exact match here. If a guest is searching for a home that sleeps 9, VRBO will prioritize all homes that sleep exactly 9 over the larger homes— unless other search criteria entered by the guest ranks the larger homes occupancy over the exact guest count match.
OTHER FILTERS
When a guest applies additional filtering for things like private pool, pet-friendly, elevator, etc., the search result will significantly narrow further.
VRBO’ s intention here is to present the most homes that are exact matches with the guest’ s requested criteria. Without exact date matches, guest count, and other filters, the algorithm will merely present the guest with a wide range of homes in the general geographical area— all in the hope that the guest’ s next move will be to stay on the VRBO platform and further narrow their search to complete a booking with VRBO.
With the above noted, there’ s more to VRBO’ s search / ranking algorithm. Below, you’ ll find additional information on how it works and what affects your home’ s search results on the site.