WooDoo - Airbnb Channel


New to Airbnb? It's time to sign up!


Go to Airbnb.com or Airbnb.it and click SIGN UP.



Fill out the form with all requested information:




2. Read the Airbnb Terms and Conditions of Service, then click AGREE AND CONTINUE:




3. Choose your Airbnb profile picture: You can upload your own one or select a picture from your Facebook uploads:




4. Register the phone number associated with your profile. You will receive a text message or call to confirm that it is indeed your number:




5. Verify your account: Airbnb will send a confirmation email to your address. To finalize your registration, click the link shown in the email.




Connecting Airbnb channel in WooDoo




In order to add the channel, you have to contact our support team (by clicking on HELP button inside your account) so that they can add the channel for you. Once added, you'll find it on the left side of the page, under YOUR CHANNELS:


↳ Useful link: WooDoo > Channel Manager > Channels




Click now on it to access the channel configuration page. Inside the channel you will find the "Connect" button. Before clicking it, open another page and go to your Airbnb profile on the property page you want to link to. Then click the button in WooDoo:




You will now be redirected to an Airbnb page where you have agree for information sharing between Airbnb and WuBook. Click ALLOW. You'll also need to check and accept terms and conditions of Airbnb's additional services to proceed:




Once done, you'll be automatically redirected to WooDoo, on Airbnb channel configuration page.

There are two ways to use our interface:

- You can map existing Airbnb listings to WooDoo.

- You can create a new Airbnb listings directly from WooDoo.

Let's take a look at both below!


How to map an existing listing on Airbnb



Once the channel is launched, the account you are logged in will be displayed at the top and linked to WooDoo. Go on by clicking on DOWNLOAD LISTINGS to import ads which already are already on Airbnb:




At the end of the import procedure you should finally see the table where you can perform the Mapping.

The NAME column shows rooms with the name used on Airbnb. STATUS shows the current synchronisation status of the room in case.  SYNC allows you to select the type of synchronization. WUBOOK ROOM is the dropdown menu that allows you to select which WuBook room to associate:




It's finally time for rooms mapping.

First of all you can choose between LIMITED or TOTAL synchronization.

LIMITED: WuBook will only synchronize prices, availability and messages. All other settings will be directly managed from Airbnb extranet.

TOTAL: All details and information, reservations settings, prices, availability and messages are directly managed from WuBook extranet.

Then choose the code from WUBOOK column which corresponds to the WuBook room that you want to connect. Click on the + button to confirm. Repeat now the operation for every room to associate. At the end of it you will see a table like the following:




Next step is rate plans mapping between those used on Airbnb and those created on WuBook. Choose the corresponding rate plan in WuBook and a restriction plan. When done, click SAVE:



Before concluding the whole linking process, you can import all reservations or selected rooms from Airbnb to WooDoo. Obviously reservation on Tabla will reduce by one the availability for those dates.



Finally, you can set up Preferences, including whether to honor Wubook Restrictions or not.

What does it mean?

Wubook Restrictions are those regulating direct sales on your site. When you close a day/room on Wubook Restrictions, the day/room is no longer for sale on the Online Reception, even if you still have all rooms available. On channels, however, the date would stay open on portals Rates with which Wubook Restrictions are not associated but other restricted plans.
If you wish that when you close a room on your site, it is also closed on Airbnb, then you have to tick this preference.

All you have to do is to click SAVE at the bottom of the page: an automatic update to the portal will start immediately for the maximum period the channel manager can manage, usually a couple of years.




How to directly create a new Airbnb listing from WooDoo



Directly from the main menu, we work on the table "Create a new Airbnb listing from a WuBook room". We choose the WuBook room to which the new Airbnb room will be associated:




After clicking on "Add", the content page will automatically open.





Fill in all your listing/apartment details. In the LISTING section you will find all the geographical information and a map (at the bottom of the page). In this section you will also find the GENERAL and AMENITIES AND FEATURES information.

IMPORTANT: try to be as precise and complete as possible, filling in all requested fields, in order to avoid problems in the review by Airbnb in the next phase.





-DESCRIPTIONS. Summarizes all important information, including house composition, how guests can get there, how interaction with the host will take place, what's available in the surrounding area, and other useful details. IMPORTANT: You can insert your descriptions in different languages.

- PHOTOS. Here you can upload pictures of your ad. Select the best ones and show your house/apartment points of strengths to your potential guests. In order to avoid mistakes during the review process, it is mandatory to upload at least 7 pictures.

IMPORTANT: of these 7, at least 3 must be at least 800x500 pixels, on high definition.

-ROOMS: very useful if you have a house or a flat consisting of several rooms. Describe how they are organised and what kind of beds there are in each room.

-BOOKING SETTINGS: enter in this menu all the information related to reservations. What are the cancellation policies? What are Check In and Check Out hours? Are animals allowed? It is also possible to give extra information to help you manage your guests' expectations. (E.g. you can specify to your guests that there might be noise under their window because the house is located in the centre, close to nightlife).

-AVAILABILITY RULES: Here you can set the minimum stay, the allowed check out days and other availability information.

IMPORTANT: much of this information can be overwritten by WooDoo.

-PRICING SETTINGS: This is used to set different room prices but, as with previous menu, this information may be overwritten by WooDoo.




Once you finished to fill out all requested fields, you can submit your listing for review to Airbnb. To do so, click the SUBMIT FOR REVIEW button:



If all the information has been entered correctly, a confirmation notification will be displayed, otherwise an error message will appear.

In case of an error, the reasons are described in the message. You have to take action on the points listed in the text to resolve the problems.

New advertisements are shown in CONNECTED LISTINGS table:



Check the status of the listing: REJECTED means that the listing has not been approved by Airbnb. This can occur if some of the requested content (photos, descriptions, restrictions) is missing. If APPROVED appears, the listing has been successfully placed.



To know 


Availability window set on "Dates unavailable by default"


It has happened to some of our clients to suddenly find themselves with all of their sales closed on Airbnb, despite having the channel already connected for some time and having available rooms open for sale. You should first check the Booking Settings and Availability Rules set up on your Airbnb Extranet to understand what could be leading to an unavailable date.

In this particular case, we discovered that this closure was not due to a technical problem, but to a manual setting made on the Airbnb extranet: in the Listings settings, under the "Availability" tab, Dates unavailable by default" had been set.




You can change this setting in two ways.

1. Disconnect the listing from the channel manager, then go into the Airbnb extranet and set the availability window to "all future dates" or one of the other options (12 or 9 or 6 or 3 months in advance), then reconnect the listing to the channel manager!



2. Without disconnecting the listing, you can try disabling the "Maximum advance" restriction directly from the Listing Settings page within the Airbnb channel on WooDoo.




However, this may not be enough to solve the problem: if it is, work as in step 1.


I'm receiving reservations without the booker's email. What should I do?


In some cases, Airbnb forwards bookings to ZaK without the guest's email. This is because Airbnb wants to discourage the use of aliases to communicate with the guest. Following is the section where Airbnb discusses this:


However, you can enable again the sending of guests by filling out the specific Airbnb form here:



Airbnb presentation



Founded in 2008, Airbnb is a global community that allows people to organize magical trips by choosing where to stay, what activities to do, and who to meet.

Airbnb leverages technology in a unique way to facilitate the economic livelihood of millions of people around the world, who can monetize their spaces, passions and talents by becoming entrepreneurs in the hospitality industry.

Airbnb's accommodation marketplace provides access to millions of accommodations in more than 190 countries and a choice of apartments, villas, castles, treehouses and B&Bs. 

With Experiences, travelers can experience new dimensions of their destination, taking part to exclusive activities organized by local experts and, thanks to the collaboration with Resy in certain countries, booking tables at the best local restaurants.

All this in an intuitive and pleasingly designed platform, available both as a web version and as a smartphone app.

The 10 destinations preferred by travelers are the United States, France, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, Japan, Canada, Australia, Germany and Portugal.

The top 10 countries of origin for travelers are the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, China, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands.


Airbnb charges a service fee (including tax if applicable) each time a reservation is completed. These fees are calculated from the subtotal of the reservation and are automatically deducted from the host's fee.

For hotels and traditional accommodations (B&Bs, hostels, etc.), the service charge is currently 15% to allow for more control over the final price paid by guests. 

For property managers (PM) there are two different structures:

 - Cost of service charged to the host. Removes costs for the host (up to 20%). Costs covered solely by the host range from 14% to 16% and guests will see a service charge of 0 throughout the booking process. 

- Shared costs between host and guest. Splits the cost of the service between host and guest. The host is charged fixed costs of 3% to 5% (depending on the cancellation terms chosen).

For property managers using the old commission structure (Costs shared between host and guest), the amount of the commission depends on the cancellation policy chosen and is different between Italy and other countries:


Italy

Airbnb in Italy has four different options based on the cancellation policy you choose. If you choose the "Flexible" cancellation policy, the fee is 3%, "Moderate" is 4%, and "Stiff" and "Super Stiff 30/60" are 5%.

Payment will be made 24 hours after check in.  You can find all the details by clicking this link


Other Countries

Airbnb has two different service fees based on the cancellation policy you choose: 3% and 5%.

If the 'Flexible', 'Moderate' or 'Strict' cancellation policy is chosen, the fee is 3% and payment will be made 24 hours after the guest arrives.

If the 'Super Strict' cancellation policy is chosen, the commission increases to 5%. You can then choose to be paid 30 or 60 days prior to the guest's arrival. If the guest cancels before the 30 or 60 days, they will receive 50% of the money and the remaining 50% will be refunded to the guest. You can find all the details by clicking this link.



WuBook is an Airbnb partner and is pleased to offer its customers a complete two-way XML connection, with one of the most advanced technologies available on the market today.



There are different types of information and data shared between WuBook and Airbnb: however, not all of this information is compatible with the system.


Compatible Information

-Photos

-Descriptions

-Prices per room

-Availability

-Minimum Stay

-Rent bookings via VRMS

-Extras that will appear as additional description

-Final cleaning and deposit if required

-Modifications to existing reservations

-Dates where Check-In and Out are allowed



Incompatible Information

-Prices per person
-All extras, compulsory or not, except final cleaning
-City tax
-Discounts and supplements


New rate model effective December 7, 2020


Airbnb is moving to a simplified payment model for Airbnb services for hosts (hosts) connected via third-party software, i.e., a Channel Manager.

 Beginning December 7, 2020, most of our hosts that have listings connected through Channel Manager will switch to a model of commission payment only for hosts, called "simplified pricing."

Let's point out that this change is internal to Airbnb: it was decided by Airbnb and governs the relationship between host advertisers and Airbnb.

Wubook has no part in the collection of Airbnb's commissions, nor on the determination of their percentage, nor does it collect part of these commissions.

We describe in this paragraph, purely for the convenience of our mutual customers, a relationship that pertains solely to Airbnb and its host customers.

 

What is changing 

Today, hosts connected to the software can choose between 2 payment models for Airbnb services:

- "shared rate", meaning payment of service fees shared between host and guests;

- "simplified rate" with the entire service fee paid by the host.

 After December 7, 2020, it will no longer be possible for most software-connected hosts to share commission payments with guests.

The "shared fee" will only remain available to software-connected hosts with most of their listings in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Argentina, Taiwan and Uruguay.


This means that:

- The cost-of-service model will change for hosts connected to a Channel Manager, unless the majority of their listings are in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Bahamas, Argentina, Taiwan and Uruguay.

- Airbnb will deduct a 15% host service fee from each payment, and we will not charge a host service fee.

- Existing bookings will not be affected, but this change will apply to all bookings made after December 7, 2020.

- Guests already using the "simplified rate" model will have a 14% service charge until January 1, 2021. After that date, the service charge will increase to 15%.


Why is Airbnb making these changes

The simplified rate model gives hosts more control over the final prices that guests pay. Hosts define what they want guests to pay, and no additional cost is added to the final price.  

 Since we started offering simplified rates, we've seen that hosts who have used them, and have competitive pricing across all websites, have increased their bookings by an average of 17%*. It also provides a better experience for guests, who prefer to book places that don't have an additional cost.

In This document provided by Airbnb you'll find more details and tips for hosts to update their prices so that earnings don't change.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact Airbnb Assistance.