Our host dashboards are the engines that make our RV rental businesses run. They’re where we weigh booking requests, chat with guests, keep our calendars in check, and more.
That’s why we at Outdoorsy are stoked to announce scads of new and improved features are coming soon to a host dashboard near you.
We’re calling this our new host tools rollout. And we built all these features in collab with hosts just like you.
In this post, we break out all the things coming down the pike with new host tooling.
How to Start Using New Host Tools
All the new host tools we’re about to talk about are available right now in your hosting dashboard – no opt-in required!
At the time of this writing, you can still toggle between the classic and the new view by clicking on the menu in the upper right corner of your hosting dashboard.
New Host Tools Breakdown
Let’s take a deep dive into all the new tools you can expect to see in this dashboard. Our whole goal behind what we’re doing here is to make your business more streamlined, more intuitive, and more responsive for your guests.
Profit Plan Tab
This new tab in your host dashboard serves as your one-stop shop to pull all the levers you need to pull to maximize your earnings.
You might be used to many of the features I’ll mention here — but the key with the new profit plan tab is that it joins this all together in one easy-to-modify place.
Here’s what you can do right from the profit plan tab:
- Set pricing rules — Customize the price of your RV or Stay based on events, weekends, holidays, seasonal flux, etc.
- Nightly rate — Easily customize your nightly rate (day-by-day if you’d like) to match demand or anything else you see going that should influence your nightly price.
- Length of stay — You can often incentivize bookings by giving a discount for longer stays. The profit plan tab lets you easily set this up.
- Minimum night rule — Longer rentals are generally more profitable. We’ve always had access to this rule, but the profit plans tab puts it front and center for us so you can weave together all the pricing pieces that work in your business.
Today’s Activities
Think of this like the news feed for all things RV rental related. Your important notifications will all show up as a banner here to help you help your renters (and prospective renters) get everything they need.
Have a trip departing soon? It’ll show up here.
Pending requests that might expire? They’ll show here too.
Someone requesting a reservation change? Yep, that’ll show here as well.
This is one of the most powerful new host tools because it streamlines our day-to-day.
Key Exchange
Gone are the days of cumbersome paperwork to hand over your RV. This process is now seamless, with e-signing at every level.
You simply click ‘begin key exchange’ and it walks everyone through the steps.
When you get your RV back, just click ‘begin handoff’ and new host tooling will walk both of you through those steps as well.
Mileage on your rig and generator is also tracked via the new host dashboard so you can easily see if you need to charge for any overages.
The new key exchange process also puts claim filing more front and center. If you notice damage between your pre/post photos, you can immediately file a claim against your renter’s security deposit.
New Messaging Platform
The overarching theme of our new host dashboard is that we bring the info you need closer to where you’re working. Our new messaging platform is a big example of this.
Case in point, you can click ‘trip details’ from within a message to see a pop up that’ll show you all the particulars for that booking without leaving the page.
You’ll also be able to filter messages by booking type and even archive old messages for better organization.
And the icing on the cake is that our new messaging platform will feature templates. That means you can now create canned messages for common communications like pre-departure info, things to do in your area, etc.
My Bookings
This tab will show you anything that needs attention booking-wise in one view. Gone are the days where you might have to figure out if a booking is waiting for you or waiting for the guest.
The new ‘my bookings’ page puts badges on any requests to label them if they need attention from either party. These badges also show when trips are pending, in action, and completed so you can see everything happening in your booking world.
Filters are also part of the new booking page so you can sort for bookings that are confirmed, canceled, or declined.
And keeping to the theme of putting everything front and center for you — you can click ‘trip details’ from any booking on the booking tab to see a pop up that’ll get you everything you need to know about the trip without leaving the page.
You can even edit trip details like start/end times and pick up/drop off locations right from this pop up.
Last but not least, you can click into the protection (insurance) package that your renter chose right from the booking tab. This lets you make sure that your renter is verified and that they’re covered in the way you want them to be.
New Calendar Tool
The calendar that’s part of the new host dashboard truly shines. Gone are the days where changing your availability involves multiple steps.
With this new calendar, you can easily click into any date range you like to set your availability right from an in-screen popup. Seamlessly block/unblock any date range by clicking on the start date and adjusting accordingly.
There’s even a notes section that allows you to indicate why you blocked a certain date (e.g. ‘Taking the RV out with the family!’).
Filters? Oh ya, this new calendar tool has filters.
You can easily filter to see any pending, confirmed, currently hosting, or completed trips on your calendar. Click into any of these reservations and you’ll get a pop-up that features all the details of that particular trip.
Calendar Sync
This is a shiny new feature that we’re especially proud of. Our new host dashboard allows you to easily download an iCal link that’ll put an end to double bookings once and for all.
What this means practically is that you can list your RV or Stay on multiple platforms without fear of creating duplicates.
We get that you might be listed in places like Airbnb and RVshare. That’s cool. We still think we’re the best fit for getting that Outdoorsy audience, but we know you gotta run your business in the way that makes sense for you 🙂
The beauty of calendar sync is that you can now list in many of the places you want to and see who gets you the best bookings (we’ll take that bet 😉
New Host Tools Changes the Game
Outdoorsy is evolving into a platform that restores our connection to the outdoors in multiple ways. From our new Stays platform to our campgrounds to RV rentals, we’re hyper-focused on helping folks like you become world-class hosts of life-changing outdoor experiences.
The tools that are about to hit your dashboard are vital ingredients in that mix.
