Most homes go from the first call to go-live in 3 to 5 days. When one takes 2 weeks, it's almost never the listing or the cleaner. It's waiting on an insurance declarations page.
Owners expect us to ask for the listing, the Wi-Fi password and the cleaner's number. Those take an afternoon. The 5 things below are the ones that surprise people, and each one is on the list because something went wrong at a house once without it.
1. A short-term rental insurance policy, with the declarations page
Most homeowner policies don't cover paid guests. Owners assume they do, and the first time it matters is the worst possible time to find out. Airbnb's AirCover and Vrbo's host protections stay in place because guests book on your own accounts, but those are not insurance, and they say so.
We ask for the declarations page before go-live, not the policy number. The dec page is the one that shows what's actually covered. We'll tell you where to get a policy if you don't have one. Then send it early. It's the single thing most likely to hold up your start date, because it depends on an insurer's timeline instead of yours.
2. A backup lockbox, with a key, even if you have a smart lock
Smart locks are great. We recommend one, and most owners add one, because it's what lets us create a code for every guest and remove it after checkout. They also run on batteries, lose Wi-Fi, and occasionally refuse a code for no reason anyone can explain at 11 pm.
A lockbox with a physical key means the guest still gets in, and we can tell them how, without anyone driving over. It's a $30 fix for the worst 20 minutes of a guest's trip. We don't hold up go-live for it, but it's the strongest recommendation on this list, and the owners who skip it are the ones who get the 11 pm text. The lockbox code never goes in the guide. You read it to us on a short call and we keep it in a password manager, never in a form.
3. A local contact
We never come to the house. Your cleaner and your local contact handle anything on site, and we handle everything else. So before go-live we need to know who gets the first text when something needs hands.
When a guest reports no heat or water where it shouldn't be, your local contact is texted the moment it's judged urgent, with what we know and what we'd do. No reply in 10 minutes and we text you. At 20 minutes a VCoHost lead is on the phone with you, your contact and the guest until it's fixed. If you're the local contact yourself, we require a backup contact, because the 10-minute text has to go to someone who isn't already not answering.
If you don't have anyone, we talk it through on the call. Most owners have someone closer than they think: a neighbor, the cleaner's partner, a friend 20 minutes away. Near Saugatuck, our sister company Sans Souci can be the local contact for $995 a year.
4. Instant Book on
This one gets the most pushback, so here's the reasoning. Airbnb ranks Instant Book listings higher and shows them to more guests. It's how your calendar fills without a 24-hour approval clock, which, when nobody is watching the phone, is how bookings go to the house down the street.
What protects you: Airbnb verifies every guest's identity before they can book. We read every new reservation against your house rules within the hour, and when a booking breaks your rules, we cancel it under Airbnb's Instant Book policy. You can still block any dates you want. Your rules are in the guide every guest gets, and we remind them before arrival.
5. A walkthrough, with photos
You or your local contact walk the home with our checklist and photograph what guests ask about: the door lock, the lockbox, the thermostats, the Wi-Fi router, the remotes, the trash bins, the driveway, and whatever else in your house has a quirk.
Those photos are how we answer a guest about the thermostat without being there. "It's the white one in the hall, the round dial, turn it right" only works if we've seen it. The same goes for the lock when a code doesn't take, and the router when the Wi-Fi drops. The walkthrough doesn't hold up go-live; we can start answering guests before it's done. But every photo you send is a message we can end before it starts, and the homes with the most photos are the ones whose owners hear from us least.
What we don't ask for
Your passwords. On Airbnb you add us as a co-host from your own account. Vrbo we connect together on the onboarding call, from Vrbo's own screens; we never see your login. Your lock login and lockbox code you read to us on that call. Nothing sensitive goes through a form.
Your money. Airbnb pays you directly, the way it does today. Our fee is invoiced once a month in your owner portal, where you pay it from a bank account you connect after go-live, and nothing is billed before then.
The rest of the list, quickly
An entire home, booked for stays under 28 nights. A cleaner. The permit and taxes in your name, because the rental is your business. All of those most owners already have.
Send the dec page first. Everything else fits in the week.
Questions about your own home? Write to [email protected], or read the other posts.