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Ask Away! We're Here to Help

Got questions about managing your property? From setting up your listing to handling guest inquiries, we've covered everything you need to know to ensure a hassle-free hosting experience on Search and Stay.

Ask Away! We're Here to Help

Holiday property owners who self-manage their accommodation put an enormous amount of effort into managing, cleaning and maintaining their holiday property, decorating their holiday house and creating a fantastic holiday guest experience around the rental of their holiday accommodation.

Search and Stay add a minimal booking charge to the guests final payment depending on the value of the booking. It's significantly less than what many platforms charge, making it fairer for owners and their guests.

Listing Your Holiday Property on Search and Stay

Listing your property on Search and Stay, is easy and cost-free. Advertising and taking bookings for your holiday home costs nothing for owners on Search and Stay. There is no commission or pay-per-booking fees charged to homeowners. All you need to do is open a holiday rental owner account and list your property. You can open your account via the pop-up on listyourholidayhome.searchandstay.com or by clicking the "List Your Property" button in the right-hand corner of SearchandStay.com. There is no cost to owners to list on Search and Stay. In addition to your booking fees, costs, rates and charges, there is a minimal Search and Stay booking fee included for the guests' on confirmation and payment of their booking.

Why List Your Holiday Rental on Search and Stay?

It is FREE, fast and simple to list your holiday house on Search and Stay.

There is no owner cost to listing, promoting and taking bookings for your holiday home on Search and Stay.

You need to set up your owner account with some general details, provide the specifics, features and appealing aspects of your holiday rental and its location. Include the description, images and rates and then you can press publish and your property will appear on Search and Stay ready for guest bookings. If you list your holiday home on other booking sites or holiday rental platforms, you may be used to paying commissions or owner pay-per-booking fees but on Search and Stay there is no cost to owners. Instead of charging the guest for their hard work, there is a small fee charged to the guests when they finalise their booking.

How Much Commission Do I Pay Per Booking For My Holiday Home on Search and Stay?

NOTHING! You pay no commission on bookings or any listing costs on Search and Stay.

If you list your holiday home on other sites, you may be used to paying commissions or booking fees for each booking. Some sites also have a subscription option, where you pay a set amount instead of per-booking-payment. The commission charged to owners on many of the holiday listing platforms and Online Travel Agencies (OTA) is generally between 3% and about 17%. This cost generally comes straight off your bottom line and eats into your profits.

Most owners who self-manage their holiday properties put an enormous amount of effort into organising and preparing their holiday house, cleaning and maintaining their holiday property, decorating their holiday house and creating a fantastic holiday guest experience around the rental of their holiday accommodation. Some holiday rental property owners may add this commission to the cost of the booking or include in the rates of their holiday home, this is a completely acceptable way of reducing your loss however, it does inflate the cost of your property and could be off-putting to guests booking your holiday property. Essentially, the multinational holiday rental booking sites are taking significant revenue at the expense of either holiday home owners or both holiday rental guests and owners.

Why Doesn't It Cost Owners To List Holiday Rental Accommodation on Search and Stay?

Advertising and taking bookings for your holiday home costs nothing for owners on Search and Stay. Search and Stay add a very small charge to the gueston confirmed reservation depending on the value of the booking.

How Can It Be Free For Owners to Find Holiday Guests on Search and Stay?

If you list your holiday home on other sites, you expect to pay either commissions or fees-per-booking when a guest chooses to stay at your property. Some sites also have a subscription option, where you pay a set amount per year or month instead of per-booking-payment. The commission and fees charged to owners on many of the holiday listing platforms and Online Travel Agencies (OTA) is generally between 3% and about 17% of the full cost of the booking. This charge generally comes straight off your bottom line and eats into your profits. There is zero cost to advertising and taking bookings for your holiday home on Search and Stay. Property holiday owners who self-manage their accommodation put an enormous amount of effort into managing their holiday house, cleaning and maintaining their holiday property, decorating their holiday house and creating a fantastic holiday guest experience around the rental of their holiday accommodation. Some holiday rental property owners may add this commission to the cost of the booking or include it in the rates of their holiday home, this is a completely acceptable way of reducing your loss however, it does inflate the cost of your property and could be off-putting to guests booking your holiday property. Essentially, the multinational holiday rental booking sites are taking significant revenue at the expense of either holiday homeowners or both holiday rental guests and owners. Search and Stay charge a very small booking fee to the guest depending on the value of the booking.

First Steps to Listing Your Holiday Property on Search and Stay

Listing your property on Search and Stay, is easy and cost-free. Advertising and taking bookings for your holiday home costs nothing for owners on Search and Stay.

All you need to do is sign up by adding your name and email on the pop-up box on listyourholidayhome.searchandstay.com or by clicking the "List your Property" button in the right-hand corner of SearchandStay.com.

After you sign-up to list your holiday property by adding your name and email, you will be sent an email to the email address you provided, simply press the link and you will be able to set your preferred password to get access to your Search and Stay account.

Opening Your Owner Account with Search and Stay

When opening your owner account with Search and Stay, you will need to provide the following information: · Your first and last name, email and address details · Your bank account details - which account you would like your bookings to be paid into · Property Settings – These property settings are the general or over-arching settings that apply to ALL your holiday properties. This saves you time adding the same information to a few properties, even if you only have two holiday homes, it’s the ideal way to update information across your holiday property listings. The information will be populated in all the holiday accommodation listings that you have connected to your account. This is particularly helpful when you are setting your seasons for holiday period, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons – as these are often the same or similar for all your holiday rentals. If you input information into the individual properties that is different from your Property Settings, it will overwrite your Property Settings.

Managing your holiday rental bookings in your Search and Stay account

You can easily log in to your account by entering your email and your password. You will have set your password when you first signed up to Search and Stay. This will give you access to your owner panel. Here you can manage your details and personal information, your approved bookings and the booking pending your approval – this only applies if you don’t have instant booking on your holiday property listing – you can also check cancelled and past bookings. You can look at and manage your reviews and guest communication and messages. If you’d like to set up and check the wishlist of holiday rental properties that you’d like to book, you can do this on your panel as well. Changing your Search and Stay owner account details. If at any time you want or need to change your account details, you can log in and update this Search and Stay owner account information. Simply make the changes to your account details and press Save. If you want to change your password there is a toggle marked ‘Change Password’ move this across and you can change your password to anything you want.

When you log in to your owner panel. Here you can manage your bookings. If you have your bookings set to “Booking Request” then you will have to review and approve all bookings for that property, to manage these you can select booking pending your approval. Once the bookings are approved, they’ll be listed under your approved bookings. In your owner panel you can also check cancelled and past bookings.

Providing your details for your Search and Stay account

When opening your owner account with Search and Stay you will need to provide your first and last name, email and address details. You’ll also need to set your password to get access.

Providing your financial details for your Search and Stay account

When opening your owner account with Search and Stay you will need to provide details of the financial institution and account into which you’d like your bookings to be paid. As an owner there is no cost to list or take bookings on Search and Stay, however, there is a section that allows you to save credit card details. Credit card details are ONLY required should you take up one of our premium services such as the Channel Manager that lets you list your holiday properties on 60 + other holiday rental sites, booking platforms and Online Travel Agencies (OTAs). All credit card details are encrypted and saved in line with PCI compliance.

Adding Your Holiday Rental Properties to Search and Stay

Property Settings These property settings are general or over-arching setting that apply to all your holiday properties. This saves you time adding the same information to a few properties, even if you only have two holiday homes, it’s the ideal way to update information across your holiday property listings. The information will be populated in all the holiday accommodation listings that you have connected to your account. This is particularly helpful when you are setting your seasons for holiday period, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons – as these are often the same or similar for all your holiday rentals. Your Global Property Settings include booking fee, check-in & check-out details, bond requirements, If you input information into the individual properties that is different from your Global Settings, it will overwrite your Global Settings. Booking fee This is the fee that you’d like to add to each guest booking across all your properties. You don’t have to charge a booking fee and you can choose any amount to charge your guest and this will be added to the total payment, when your property is booked. This is a non-refundable fee that you will receive should your booking be cancelled. Check-in/Check-out This is simply the time that you would allow your guests to Check-In or when they can get access to the property. Also the time that you require the guests to Check-Out, to depart the property and/or return the keys. Bond requirements A bond, also called a damage or security deposit, is required by most home owners to protect them from damages or loss to their holiday property. You can set amount of bond required in your Property Settings and the funds will be held in Trust by Search and Stay. Owners can also select the payment schedule or how long before Check-in that the bond is required and the bond release, which is the number or days that the bond is held after Check-out, to ensure they have time to review the state of the property after the guests leave. If the owner wants to disput the return of the bond, they can place a hold on the bond return in their owner account. Cancellation Policy If owner allows booking cancellation, they can easily toggle to on. This will open the section which allows you to complete details and rules of the cancellation. You can set a non-refundable booking fee to be deducted from booking payment. Refund rules will need to be set detailing the number of days before check-in (eg 0-7 days) and the related percentage of booking amount to be refunded to the guest. For example, if the rule is set as 0-7 days before check in receive 25% of total booking. If the guest cancels their booking 5 days before check in and the booking is $1000 they will receive 25% or $250. To set the rule they must be toggled to Active. Click on ADD RULE to include all cancellation time periods and percentage of refund. You can’t skip a consecutive range eg 0-7 days then 15-30 days. The rule for 8-14 days must also be included. Allow partial payments If owner will allow the booking to be paid in separate partial payments, they can easily toggle partial payments to ON. No more than three (3) fixed payments are allowed including a set percentage of payment at the time of booking. Owners can complete the details and payment schedule, the percentage required at time of booking, then the remaining payments will be divided by the number of fixed partial payments. For example, a $4000 booking may require 25% ($1000) at time of booking, then partial payment is set at 3 fixed payments, guest will be charge another three (3) payments of $1000 each to finalise the booking. Owner must state the number of days when the full payment must be made prior to Check-in and cancellation must be put in place if payment is more than a set number of days overdue. The cancellation refund will depend on that of the policy already set for the property or in the owner account, general settings. Seasons Seasons are a variation on the day rate or booking conditions, like the length of stay, for holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons. When setting seasons owners will need to include the season name for example July School holidays, the season start and end dates, the minimum stay or the minimum number of nights to be booked, for example, 7 nights, set check-in days for example only Saturday is available for check-in and check-out and the cancellation policy, if it differs from the set cancellation policy. It’s important that all seasons vairations are include up to any advanced bookings period. If a guest can book up to 18 months ahead all seasons should be included for the advance booking period.

Adding Your Holiday Rental Property Settings to Search and Stay

These property settings are general or over-arching settings that apply to all your holiday properties. This saves you time adding the same information to a few properties, even if you only have one or two holiday homes, it’s the ideal way to update information across your holiday property listings. The information will be populated in all the holiday accommodation listings that you have connected to your account. This is particularly helpful when you are setting your seasons for holiday period, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons – as these are often the same or similar for all your holiday rentals. Your Global Property Settings include booking fee, check-in & check-out details, bond requirements, If you input information into the individual properties that are different from your Global Settings, it will overwrite your Global Settings.

Adding Your Holiday Rental Property Booking Fee to Search and Stay

The Booking fee is the fee that you’d like to add to each guest booking across all your properties. You don’t have to charge a booking fee and you can choose any amount to charge your guest and this will be added to the total payment, when your property is booked. This is a non-refundable fee that you will receive should your booking be cancelled.

Adding Your Holiday Rental Check-in/Check-out to Search and Stay

This is simply the time that you would allow your guests to Check-In or when they can get access to the property. Also the time that you require the guests to Check-Out, to depart the property and/or return the keys

Adding Your Holiday Rental Bond Requirements to Search and Stay

A bond, also called a damage or security deposit, is required by most homeowners to protect them from damages or loss to their holiday property. You can set the amount of bond required in your Property Settings and the funds will be held in Trust by Search and Stay. Owners can also select the payment schedule or how long before Check-in that the bond is required and the bond release, which is the number of days that the bond is held after Check-out, to ensure they have time to review the state of the property after the guests leave. If the owner wants to dispute the return of the bond, they can place a hold on the bond return in their owner account.

Adding Your Holiday Rental Cancellation Policy to Search and Stay

If the owner allows booking cancellation, they can easily toggle to on. This will open the section which allows you to complete details and rules of the cancellation. You can set a non-refundable booking fee to be deducted from booking payment. Refund rules will need to be set detailing the number of days before check-in (eg 0-7 days) and the related percentage of booking amount to be refunded to the guest. For example, if the rule is set as 0-7 days before check in receive 25% of total booking. If the guest cancels their booking 5 days before check in and the booking is $1000 they will receive 25% or $250. To set the rule they must be toggled to Active. Click on ADD RULE to include all cancellation time periods and percentage of refund. You can’t skip a consecutive range eg 0-7 days then 15-30 days. The rule for 8-14 days must also be included

Allowing Partial Payments When Adding Your Holiday Rental Properties to Search and Stay

If the owner will allow the booking to be paid in separate partial payments, they can easily toggle partial payments to ON. No more than three (3) fixed payments are allowed including a set percentage of payment at the time of booking. Owners can complete the details and payment schedule, the percentage required at time of booking, then the remaining payments will be divided by the number of fixed partial payments. For example, a $4000 booking may require 25% ($1000) at time of booking, then partial payment is set at 3 fixed payments, the guest will be charged another three (3) payments of $1000 each to finalise the booking. Owner must state the number of days when the full payment must be made prior to Check-in and cancellation must be put in place if payment is more than a set number of days overdue. The cancellation refund will depend on that of the policy already set for the property or in the owner account, general settings.

Adding Seasons to your Property Settings for Your Holiday Rental on Search and Stay

Seasons are a variation on the day rate or booking conditions, like the length of stay, for holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons. When setting seasons owners will need to include the season name for example July School holidays, the season start and end dates, the minimum stay or the minimum number of nights to be booked, for example, 7 nights, set check-in days for example only Saturday is available for check-in and check-out and the cancellation policy, if it differs from the set cancellation policy. It’s important that all season variations are included up to any advanced bookings period. If a guest can book up to 18 months ahead all seasons that fall during the next 18 months need to be included in your General Property Setting or in your individual property listing.

Entering Property Setting for ALL your Holiday Rentals in your Search and Stay account

Property Settings These property settings are general or over-arching settings that applies to all your holiday properties. This saves you time adding the same information to a few properties, even if you only have two holiday homes, it’s the ideal way to update information across your holiday property listings. The information will be populated in all the holiday accommodation listings that you have connected to your account. This is particularly helpful when you are setting your seasons for holiday period, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons – as these are often the same or similar for all your holiday rentals. Your Property Settings include Bbooking Fee’, ‘Check-in & Check-out’ details, ‘Bond Requirements’, ‘Cancelation Policy’, ‘Payment Schedule’ and ‘Seasons’ If you input information into the individual properties that is different from your Account Settings, it will overwrite your Account Settings. Booking fee This is the fee that you’d like to add to each guest booking across all your properties. You don’t have to charge a booking fee and you can choose any amount to charge your guest and this will be added to the total payment when your property is booked. This is a non-refundable fee that you will receive should your booking be cancelled. Check-in/Check-out This is simply the time that you would allow your guests to Check-In or when they can get access to the property. Also the time that you require the guests to Check-Out, to depart the property and/or return the keys. Bond requirements A bond, also called damage or security deposit, is required by most home owners to protect them from damages or loss to their holiday property. You can set amount of bond required in your Property Settings and the funds will be held in Trust by Search and Stay. Owners can also select the payment schedule or how long before Check-in that the bond is required and the bond release, which is the number or days that the bond is held after Check-out, to ensure they have time to review the state of the property after the guests leave. If the owner wants to disput the return of the bond, they can place a hold on the bond return in their owner account. Cancellation Policy If owner allows booking cancellation, they can easily toggle to on. This will open the section which allows you to complete details and rules of the cancellation. You can set a non-refundable booking fee to be deducted from booking payment. Refund rules will need to be set detailing the number of days before check-in (eg 0-7 days) and the related percentage of booking amount to be refunded to the guest. For example, if the rule is set as 0-7 days before check in receive 25% of total booking. If the guest cancels their booking 5 days before check in and the booking is $1000 they will receive 25% or $250. To set the rule they must be toggled to Active. Click on ADD RULE to include all cancellation time periods and percentage of refund. You can’t skip a consecutive range eg 0-7 days then 15-30 days. The rule for 8-14 days must also be included. Allow partial payments If owner will allow the booking to be paid in separate partial payments, they can easily toggle partial payments to ON. No more than three (3) fixed payments are allowed including a set percentage of payment at the time of booking. Owners can complete the details and payment schedule, the percentage required at time of booking, then the remaining payments will be divided by either one (1) or (2) fixed partial payments. For example, a $600 booking may require 25% ($150) at time of booking, then partial payment is set at 2 fixed payments, the guest will be charged another two (2) payments of $$225 each to finalise the booking. The owner must state the number of days when the full payment must be made prior to Check-in and cancellation must be put in place if payment is more than a set number of days overdue. The cancellation refund will depend on the policy already set for the property or in the owner account, general settings. Seasons Seasons are a variation on the day rate or booking conditions, like the length of stay, for holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons. When setting seasons owners will need to include the season name for example July School holidays, the season start and end dates, the minimum stay or the minimum number of nights to be booked, for example, 7 nights, set check-in days for example only Saturday is available for check-in and check-out and the cancellation policy, if it differs from the set cancellation policy. It’s important that all seasons vairations are include up to any advanced bookings period. If a guest can book up to 18 months ahead all seasons should be included for the advance booking period.

How do I Add an Individual Holiday House Listing to Search and Stay

It takes only a couple of minutes to add your individual property to Search and Stay ready for bookings. When adding your individual holiday property details to Search and Stay you will need to provide the following information: - General details (property name, property reference) - Short-term Rental Registration (if applicable) - Advanced booking period - Limited rental days per year - iCal credentials (if required to avoid double-booking with other booking sites) - Location (address and map reference) - Description - House Set-up and Amenities (property type, house set-up, room inclusions, amenities, Holiday type, Holiday guest or groups that property is suitable for) - Images - Pricing details - Check-in & Check-out time and details to be sent in an email to guests - Rates - Season - House Rules

Adding a New Holiday Rental Property to Search and Stay or Instant Guest Bookings

Adding an individual holiday house listing to Search and Stay is simple it takes only a couple of minutes to add your individual property to Search and Stay ready for bookings. When adding your individual holiday property details to Search and Stay you will need to provide the following information: - General details (property name, property reference) - Short-term Rental Registration (if applicable) - Advanced booking period - Limited rental days per year - Number of Guests - Instant booking or booking available on request - iCal credentials (if required to avoid double-booking with other booking sites) - Location (address and map reference) - Description - House Set-up and Amenities (property type, house set-up, room inclusions, amenities, Holiday type, Holiday guest or groups that property is suitable for) - Images - Pricing details - Check-in & Check-out time and details to be sent in an email to guests - Rates - Season - House Rules

Logging-in to your Search and Stay owner account

Changing your Search and Stay owner account details

If at any time you want or need to change your account details, you can log-in and update this Search and Stay owner account information. Simply make the changes to your account details and press Save. If you want to change your password there is a toggle marked ‘Change Password’ move this across and you can reset your password.

Changing your Search and Stay owner account details

Managing Your Holiday Rental Approvals in your Search and Stay account

Login to your owner panel and here you can manage your bookings. If you have your holiday rental set to “Booking Request” then you will have to review and approve or decline ALL bookings for that property, to manage these you can select booking pending your approval. Once the bookings are approved, they’ll be listed under your approved bookings. In your owner panel you can also check cancelled and past bookings.

Providing your details for your Search and Stay Listing Account

When opening your owner account with Search and Stay you will need to provide your first and last name, email and address details. You’ll also need to to set your password to get access.

Providing Your Financial Details for your Search and Stay Listing Account

Setting your Property Settings in Search and Stay Listing Account

These property settings are general or over-arching settings that apply to all your holiday properties. This saves you time adding the same information to a few properties, even if you only have two holiday homes, it’s the ideal way to update information across your holiday property listings. The information will be populated in all the holiday accommodation listings that you have connected to your account. This is particularly helpful when you are setting your seasons for holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons – as these are often the same or similar for all your holiday rentals. Your Property Settings include ‘booking fee’, ‘check-in & check-out’ details, ‘bond requirements’, ‘Cancelation Policy’, ‘Payment Schedule’ and ‘Seasons’ If you input information into the individual properties that are different from your Account Settings, it will overwrite your Account Settings.

How To Set Up your Property Settings in your Search and Stay Listing Account

Property Settings These property settings are general or over-arching settings that apply to all your holiday properties. This saves you time adding the same information to a few properties, even if you only have two holiday homes, it’s the ideal way to update information across your holiday property listings. The information will be populated in all the holiday accommodation listings that you have connected to your account. This is particularly helpful when you are setting your seasons for holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons – as these are often the same or similar for all your holiday rentals. Your Property Settings include ‘booking fee’, ‘check-in & check-out’ details, ‘bond requirements’, ‘Cancelation Policy’, ‘Payment Schedule’ and ‘Seasons’ If you input information into the individual properties that are different from your Account Settings, it will overwrite your Account Settings. Booking fee This is the fee that you’d like to add to each guest booking across all your properties. You don’t have to charge a booking fee and you can choose any amount to charge your guest and this will be added to the total payment when your property is booked. This is a non-refundable fee that you will receive should your booking be cancelled. Check-in/Check-out This is simply the time that you would allow your guests to Check-In or when they can get access to the property. Also, the time that you require the guests to Check-out, to depart the property and/or return the keys. Bond requirements A bond, also called a damage or security deposit is required by most homeowners to protect them from damages or loss to their holiday property. You can set the amount of bond required in your Property Settings and the funds will be held in Trust by Search and Stay. Owners can also select the payment schedule or how long before Check-in that the bond is required and the bond release, which is the number or days that the bond is held after Check-out, to ensure they have time to review the state of the property after the guests leave. If the owner wants to dispute the return of the bond, they can place a hold on the bond return in their owner account. Cancellation Policy If owner allows booking cancellation, they can easily toggle to on. This will open the section which allows you to complete details and rules of the cancellation. You can set a non-refundable booking fee to be deducted from booking payment. Refund rules will need to be set detailing the number of days before check-in (eg 0-7 days) and the related percentage of booking amount to be refunded to the guest. For example, if the rule is set as 0-7 days before check-in receive 25% of total booking. If the guest cancels their booking 5 days before check-in and the booking is $1000 they will receive 25% or $250. To set the rule they must be toggled to Active. Click on ADD RULE to include all cancellation time periods and percentage of refund. You can’t skip a consecutive range eg 0-7 days then 15-30 days. The rule for 8-14 days must also be included. Allow partial payments If owner will allow the booking to be paid in separate partial payments, they can easily toggle partial payments to ON. No more than three (3) fixed payments in total are allowed including a set percentage of payment at the time of booking. Owners can complete the details and payment schedule, the percentage required at time of booking, then the remaining payments will be divided by the number of fixed partial payments. For example, a $600 booking may require 25% ($150) at the time of booking, then partial payment is set at two (2) fixed payments, the guest will be charged another two (2) payments of $225 each to finalise the booking. The owner must state the number of days when the full payment must be made prior to Check-in and cancellation must be put in place if payment is more than a set number of days overdue. The cancellation refund will depend on the policy already set for the property or in the owner account, general settings. Seasons Seasons are a variation on the day rate or booking conditions, like length of stay, for holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons. When setting seasons, owners will need to include the season name for example July School holidays, the season start and end dates, the minimum stay or the minimum number of nights to be booked, for example, 7 nights. Set specific check-in days, if you restrict which days are available for check-in and check-out. Update the cancellation policy, if it differs from the set cancellation policy. It’s important that all seasons are included up to any advanced bookings period. If a guest can book up to 18 months ahead all seasons should be included for the advance booking period.

How to Add an Individual Holiday House Listing to Search and Stay

Adding the Property Name and Property Reference to your Listing on Search and Stay

Under the property details, you’ll need to include the property or house name. The property name is the name of your property for example, “Beach Paradise”. You can use between 20 and 70 characters and it’s best to avoid street names and numbers and property size, 42 Smith Street 2 Bedroom. It’s great to get selling points into the name to make your holiday home sound as appealing to potential guests as possible. You might like to add more details to appear in the heading to help your guests in the selection, like “Beach Paradise oceanfront home minutes from Café strip”. The property reference is generally applicable to agents who manage several properties but if you have a specific number, code or reference for your property then you can add it here.

Adding Short-term Rental Registration to your listing on Search and Stay

Your holiday rental listing asks for Short-term Rental Registration (if applicable). Many State, local or regional governments have a registration system for Short-term rentals, if this is the case in your area then you can add it here. It’s important to note that the owner is responsible to ensure all legal obligations for your State, local or regional area are up-to-date or completed otherwise Search and Stay, or any of our channel connections like Airbnb and Booking.com will not be able to list your property.

Including your Advanced Booking Period to your Listing on Search and Stay

The Advanced booking period detail how far in advance you will except bookings from guests. This setting is in months for example 24 months means you will accept bookings for two years’ time. You can include as far in the future as you like and the booking calendar on Search and Stay will allow or limited the bookings possible in the system in line with the set advanced booking period.

Including your Limited Rental Days to your Holiday House Listing on Search and Stay

The ‘Limited Rental Days’, is only required if it is applicable based on State, local or regional requirements or the owner's personal preference. This details the number of days that your property can be booked out per year obviously to a maximum of 365 days in any. This will limit the number of days allowed to be booked in the Search and Stay booking system.

Including your Calendar (ICal) Link to your Holiday Rental listing on Search and Stay

In your listing you can add an Ical link from any other booking site eg Airbnb, booking.com or Stayz to sync, view and block out in Search and Stay’s calendar any bookings for your property on other sites to prevent double booking. If you don’t use another platform or if you prefer to make the Search and Stay your primary Ical you can leave this blank. You can also download the Search and Stay Ical to input and sync with other platforms. To download the Search and Stay iCal, go to the 'Calendar' in your owner account and you will see a 'Copy ICal' button, click on this button and you can copy your Search and Stay calendar in to any other platform, for syncing.

Adding your Holiday Rental Property Location to your Search and Stay listing

Here you input the property address and map reference. Firstly, input the property address details into the ‘Search Address’, dropdown options will appear so you can correctly add the address and location. You will need to add the unit number, if applicable. Search and Stay can’t list a property without a correct address but you don’t need to have the address or the exact location of your property appear on your Search and Stay property listing. You will see ‘Property Map Visibility’ which lets you choose if the exact location or your property appear on your Search and Stay property listing and the attached map. If you toggle on the exact location of your property will appear on the map. If you toggle off, only the suburb/general location will be highlighted on map.

Adding your Holiday Rental Property Description to your Search and Stay listing

This is your opportunity to really sell your holiday property and to include all the most appealing aspects of your holiday home to encourage guests to book your home over others in the area. Here are some helpful tips to follow when describing your holiday rental property on Search and Stay. - Be unique! Don’t copy descriptions of other similar properties or properties in the area. - Use about 700 to 1000 words - Include property type eg Gorgeous beachfront apartment - Highlight special amenities or aspects of your property that makes it stand out eg Enjoy the ocean views and make the most of the backyard BBQ and pool area. - Describe suitability for certain groups of guests eg Perfect for families with a large backyard for kids to play or a Fisherman’s mecca with boat parking and across from the boat ramp. - Include proximity to local attractions eg Located just 500 metres to the beach and a short walk to restaurant and café strips There’s no need to include the address or bedroom and bathroom count, as these details are displayed clearly on the property listing. And avoid using capital letters, it feels like you’re shouting. Please note: no phone numbers, emails, weblinks or social media references can be included in the description.

Including Images of your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

It’s easy to upload your images of your holiday home, its benefits and features and the location. You can simply drag and drop images from your computer or you can select to upload from a file. It’s recommended that you upload at least 25 images but feel free to add as many as you want. They should be least width is 1024 pixels and the height is 768 pixels. However, the size can’t exceed 2MB (2 Megabytes) If you want to change the image order, which you will need to do to ensure that the hero shot or the most appealing photos appear first in the scroller. It’s easy to change image order just upload images then click on images, drag and drop to change its position.

Changing or Adding More Images of your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

If you want to add more images for change those you have, you can log-in to you property listing at any time and upload new images of your holiday home. You can simply drag and drop images from your computer or you can select to upload from a file. If there are images you want to delete you can just click on the small ‘x’ in the top corner of the image. It’s recommended that you upload at least 25 images but feel free to add as many as you want. They should be least width is 1024 pixels and the height is 768 pixels. However, the size can’t exceed 2MB (2 Megabytes).

Setting the Check-In and Check-out for your Holiday Rental Property in your Search and Stay listing

You’ll need to set the Check-in and Check-out times for your holiday rental. Check-in is the time of day that the guests can get access to your property on the first day of their booking. This may be the time they collect the keys, meet the owner or manager at the property or there may be another way they can gain access at the time of Check-in to your holiday home for example via a time-lock. Check-out is the time of day that you expect the guests to leave the holiday property on the day that they depart and return keys.

Creating Guest Check-in and Check-out emails for your Search and Stay guests

The guest check-in email will be sent to guests before checking in detailing how to access the property, for example where to collect keys or any entry codes, requirements for use of property and amenities and other useful and important information about staying at the property. You can also include all the details your guest may need during their stay. It’s important to remember this information may include details that will allow access to the property and safety and security of the property, current, previous and future guests should be considered. The guest check-out email will be sent to guests before checking out detailing how to check-out and leave the property and amenities also other useful and important information about departing the property for example where to empty rubbish bins, where to return the keys. Please don’t forget this information may include details that will allow access to the property. Safety and security of the property, current, previous and future guests should be considered.

Is linen provided in your Holiday Rental Property?

Guests will always want to know if linen is provided because this will determine what they need to bring with them to enjoy their stay. Do all the beds have sheets and pillowcases, the bathrooms have towels, hand towels, bathmats and the kitchen has tea towels etc. Simply toggle on or off and if there is a charge for linen include it under ‘cost for linen’ and this will appear when paying for booking. It can be helpful if in the description you detail if certain linen type items are not supplied for example “Please provide your own beach towels” if there is a pool on site. As holiday rentals compete with hotels and resorts for guests, supplying linen or providing the option to supply is a good way to improve the guest experience.

Including the Number of Guests for your Holiday Rental Property in your Search and Stay listing

How many adults can sleep in your property? This is the total capacity based on the number of beds, for example, two double beds and a fold-out lounge will accommodate six people, when all beds are shared. Enter this number next to ‘Number of Guests’. To avoid confusion, don’t include infants in cots or portacots as additional beds, you can include these in the room configurations when you detail the inclusions in each room.

Are you happy for guests to instant book for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing?

You have the option to have an ‘Instant Booking’, and guest booking will be approved straight away or you can click on ‘Available on Request’ and a request to book will be sent through to via email and will appear in the messages on your dashboard. You can then approve or reject the booking.

How would you like to manage the cleaning for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing?

You will need to make sure you have enough time between guests to manage your cleaning.

Toggle ‘Block Cleaning’ to ON and you will see “Block X days for cleaning”, here you detail the number of days required between bookings to complete cleaning.

One day means that if guests depart in the morning no guests can book in until the afternoon of the following day, for example, if check out is 10 am Sunday morning, then no guests can check-in until Monday at check-in time, eg 2 pm.

If there is a charge for cleaning include it under ‘Cost for Cleaning’ and this will appear when paying for booking.

Setting the pricing for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing?

This is very important and obviously a required field as no booking can be calculated without an allocated cost. You will need to set the ‘Day Rate’, ‘Minimum Stay’, the ‘Bond’ and the ‘Booking Fee’ you’d like to charge per booking. If you input information into the individual properties that are different from your Account Settings, it will overwrite your Account Settings.

Setting the Day Rate for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing?

This is very important and obviously, a required field as no booking can be calculated without an allocated cost.

Firstly, you will need to set your ‘Day Rate’. This is the amount it costs between check-in and check-out during a 24-hour period, the total cost of the booking will depend on the number of nights that are booked.

For example, three (3) nights at a day rate of $500 will cost $1500. You can change your ‘Day Rate’ and ‘Minimum Stay’ during peak periods, holidays or long weekends. You can set these for specific dates under ‘Seasons’.

Setting the Minimum Stay for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing?

The ‘Minimum Stay’ is the number of nights that guests must select in each booking. You can type in a number or select from the scroller.

You may be happy for guests to book just a single night, then the minimum stay will be one (1).

However, some owners prefer to ensure they have two (2) or more nights books at each time. You can select as many nights as you prefer.

You can change your ‘Day Rate’ and ‘Minimum Stay’ during peak periods, holidays or long weekends, you can set these during specific dates under ‘Seasons’.

Setting the Bond for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

A bond also called a damage or security deposit is required by most homeowners to protect them from damages or loss to their holiday property.

Here you can set the amount of bond required for your holiday rental property and the funds will be held in a Trust account by Search and Stay.

The bond amount is up to the owner but it should at least cover your insurance deductible, then if you need to make an insurance claim you’re not out of pocket.

The security deposit should be higher for properties with a greater value or with more inclusions.

If some damage or loss does occur and the owner wants to dispute the return of the bond, they can place a hold on the bond return in their owner's account, while suitable evidence and repair or reparation cost can de be demonstrated.

Setting the ‘Booking Fee’ for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

The ‘Booking Fee’ is the fee that you’d like to add to each guest booking for this property.

You don’t have to charge a booking fee but you can choose any amount to charge your guest and this will be added to the total payment when your property is booked.

This is a non-refundable fee that you will receive should your booking be cancelled.

If you input information into the individual properties that is different from your general Account Settings, it will overwrite your Account Settings.

Setting the Seasons for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

Seasons are a variation on the day rate or booking conditions, like the length of stay, for specific dates during holiday periods, school holidays, long weekends and peak seasons.

When setting seasons owners will need to include the ‘Season Name’ for example July School holidays, the ‘Season Start Date’ and ‘Season End Date’, the ‘Season Minimum Stay’ or the minimum number of nights allowed to be booked, for example seven (7) nights. A ‘Weekend Rate’ can be set and the specific days of the weekend - Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and/or Sunday - that the rate applies.

‘Season Check-in Days’ for example only Saturday is available for check-in and check-out during the season dates. A ‘Season Price Adjustment’ or ‘Forced Price’, can be added which will force the price depending on the number of days booked. Block Cleaning’ and ‘Extras – Linen and Cleaning rates’ can be adjusted for the Season dates.

The ‘Season Cancellation Policy’, can be included if will default to the ‘Cancellation Policy’ in your Account Property Setting or you can customise it if it differs from the existing cancellation policy. It’s important that all seasons are included up to the advanced bookings period. If a guest can book up to 18 months ahead all seasons should be included that fall into the advanced booking period.

Clarifying House Rules for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

House rules are certain requirements or rules that apply to guests and visitors when staying at the property. Guests must understand restrictions and what is expected of them during their stay and outlined before they book the property.

The rules may include whether parties or smoking is permitted or whether pets are allowed.

Under ‘House Rules’ in your holiday rental listing, you’ll find a list of the key rules generally applicable to many holiday rentals, please select those that apply to your property.

Pet Friendly,
Events on Application,
Late Check-Out Available,
No Smoking,
No Parties or Events,
No Pets,
No Subletting,
Guest Registration Required Prior to Access

Selecting Blocked Dates for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

Blocked Dates are specific dates and times that can’t be booked, as they may be required for maintenance, cleaning or owner use. There is a summary section to input the reason that you are blocking out these dates and times.

Adding Property Type for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

Property Type is simply where you can explain to guests to the type of holiday rental you are offering.

Some guests may prefer a certain type of property for example, are looking for a farm stay or something unique.

Select the property type that best resembles your holiday property.

Choose from

House,
Unit/Apartment,
Townhouse,
Cabin,
Studio,
Farm Stay,
Granny Flat or
Unique.

Setting the House Configuration (or House Set-up) for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

Generating the ‘House Configuration’ or the set-up and furniture in the house is very important for many guests.

It usually determines how different groups and families can be accommodated.

You will firstly need to add the number of each four primary and most important types of room

Bedrooms,
Bathrooms,
Kitchen and
Parking.

You can do this by typing the number next to the room type or using the scroller.

Setting the Specific Room Configuration for your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

Once you set the ‘House Configuration’, the system will then set the number of rooms and parking you have set and it then allows you to detail the exact furniture, facilities and inclusions in each room.

Just press the small pencil icon and a list of furniture and inclusions will drop down and you can select those that apply to the room.

You can provide as much or as little information as you like, but the more details you provide the more helpful it is for your guests.

It’s highly recommended to explain what beds are offered in each room and it’s vital to note that you can’t list on Search and Stay unless you are offering your guests' a kitchen or kitchenette.

Adding a Room to the Configuration of your Holiday Rental Property on your Search and Stay listing

Generating the ‘House Configuration’ allows you to add the number of the four primary and most important types of rooms but will see the ‘+ Add Room’ button where you can include any or all the other rooms in the house.

You can select the room type from the scroller:

Bedroom,
Bathroom,
Laundry,
Loungeroom,
Parking,
Gym,
Games Room,
Outdoor,
Pool,
Additional Toilet,
Kitchen.

You can choose another room name, if you'd like. For example, you may select an Outdoor area and call it “Deck”. Depending on the type of room you select, a list of inclusions relevant to that room type will appear for you to select from.

Detailing the Amenities Provided in your Holiday Rental Property listed on Search and Stay.

The ‘Amenities’ that you provide in your holiday rental can make a great deal of difference to the guest experience. You can very easily select the ‘Main Features’ and include the amenities that are generally most important to guests.

Alternatively, you can detail all the amenities that you offer under each category:

Accessibility,
Climate Control,
Kitchen,
Outdoor,
Pool,
Entertainment,
Covid-19 Measures,
Popular Amenities,
Policies,
Loungeroom,
Dining Room,
Country-Specific Sanitization Requirements,
Laundry.

All the amenities that you provide will make your Holiday Rental Property more appealing and will entice guests to choose your property over the others. You can provide as much or as little information as you like, but the more details you provide the more helpful it is for your guests.

Including a Holiday Filter for your Holiday Rental Property listed on Search and Stay.

In the ‘Holiday Filter’ you’ll find a ‘Holiday Type’ category listing and a ‘Holiday Suitable for’.

These filters are to help guests when they are selecting the type of holiday they are looking for or the age group or group make up of the travelling guests. Simply select which of the Holiday filters best suit your property.

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