We’re a month into the new year and have already been working hard to ensure our product is even better than last year. Our top priority continues to be serving our customers, and after taking your feedback into account, we’re excited to announce various updates that we believe will help you grow your short-term rental business more than ever.
The vacation rental industry is always evolving with new challenges and opportunities. Therefore, it’s important that our product adapts, so your short-term rental business can too. 2023 will see many new integrations including new ways to customize and monetize your direct booking business, a fresh take on trust and reputation…and much more!
For now, let’s review all of the improvements we’ve recently made to our product in January as well as what is coming next.
Recent Updates in January
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Self-hosted domains
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Google & Apple Pay
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Cleaner URL structures
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Improved mobile UI/UX
Self-Hosted Domains
Property managers can now use domains from any third-party domain provider for their Dtravel sites which supports operators in fully customizing their URL to align with their branding.
As part of the recent release, property managers can add a custom domain to their Dtravel powered direct booking site by configuring the DNS records with their third-party provider.
Learn more about self-hosted domains here.
Replace your Existing Booking Engine with Dtravel
Businesses who already have a direct booking site can still take advantage of Dtravel’s booking engine simply by pointing prospective guests to a Dtravel hosted domain through a “Book Now” button or similar. In the near feature, we will enable property managers to connect a subdomain, which will create a more on-brand and seamless user experience. For any operator interested in learning or would like assistance in replacing their existing booking engine with Dtravel, please book a call here.
Apple Pay & Google Pay
One of our biggest themes for 2023 is making payments and the flow of funds as easy, secure, and inexpensive as possible. We know that crypto can solve a lot of the challenges facing this sector, but not all guests and property managers feel comfortable transacting in crypto just yet, which is why we’re increasing the number of fiat providers as well.
Any short-term rental business using Dtravel with an active Stripe account will automatically be able to offer and accept both Google Pay and Apple Pay for bookings.
Apple Pay is available on the web in Safari starting with iOS 10 or macOS Sierra. Google Pay is available using any credit or debit card saved to a guest’s Google Account.
There are no additional fees to process Apple Pay and Google Pay payments, and the pricing is the same as a Stripe transaction.
Cleaner URL structures
The old structured URLs with wallet_id or user_id were no longer accessible, leading to broken links in social media posts and impacting some existing property managers. We’ve redirected old structure URLs to the new primary URL to ensure a good experience for all users.
Improved mobile UI/UX
We updated the UI/UX of mobile version with the following changes:
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Resolved the inconsistencies in margins and spacing of all pages
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Improve the scrolling effect of the carousel
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Update the correct text style of all elements
What’s Next
We’re working on providing you with even more customization options, with the following updates on the horizon:
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PayPal integration, giving you and your guests even more payment options
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Manual invoices, helping you quickly spin up new custom reservations and collect payment from our numerous providers
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Customizable reservation add-ons (e.g. airport transfer, early check-in or late check-out, sporting equipment rental), providing guests the option to purchase additional services and helping you increase your average checkout value
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Ability to add new pages, allowing you to host other content like an owner recruitment page, FAQ, blog, and more
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Trust and safety features (e.g. rental agreements, guest screening), giving you more peace of mind
Complimentary Consultation
To help you get started with setting up a Dtravel powered direct booking site and advertising your site, we’re providing white glove onboarding support to short-term rental operators and property managers.
Contact us for a FREE marketing consultation to learn how you can grow your direct bookings.