If you co-host short-term rentals and use Hospitable to run the day-to-day operations — messaging, calendar, pricing, reservations — but you do not want to process guest funds, this guide is for you.
You'll connect your owner's Vrbo account to your Hospitable account, and set things up so that your owner remains the merchant of record: their bank account receives the payouts, their credit card pays the Vrbo commission, and they own the tax and chargeback exposure.
This flow uses the Vrbo Partner Connection — Hospitable's official, API-based integration with Vrbo.
💡 The contents of this help article refer to the Vrbo Partner connection only! This setup is not relevant to the Vrbo Legacy connection.
This guide assumes you and the owner have agreed that the owner will be the merchant of record.
What you'll set up
The owner's Vrbo account, connected to your Hospitable account, so you can operate the listing.
Stripe or Hospitable as Merchant of Record, using the owner's Stripe- or bank account (not yours). Payouts go directly to the owner.
The owner's credit card on file with Vrbo, which Vrbo charges its ~5% commission to per booking.
Before you start
Gather these from your owner before you begin — you'll need them during the flow, and chasing them mid-setup is the most common reason this gets stuck:
The email address the owner uses (or will use) to log in to Vrbo.
The owner's Vrbo Account Holder Name.
How to connect an owner's Vrbo Partner account to your Hospitable account as a co-host
The following steps are from the Hospitable host's perspective, and describe how to send the property owner an invitation to connect their Vrbo Partner account to your Hospitable account while remaining the recipient of all reservation payouts and the party responsible for the Vrbo commission.
Step 1: Start the connection process
Log in to your Hospitable account (the co-host account).
Go to Channel connections
Choose Connect Vrbo
Continue through the steps until you get to the Self-Service onboarding in Vrbo window.
Under Setting this up on behalf of an owner?, click the Copy button.
Step 2: Share the link with the owner
The owner will need to complete the connection steps from here.
Share the link you copied with the owner and exit out of the connection flow.
The owner will complete the connection on their end, including providing the payout details.
You can share the connection steps with them here: Vrbo Partner for Owners with a Co-Host: Your Part of the Setup
What's now true for this Vrbo channel
With the setup above:
You operate the listing in Hospitable — messaging, calendar, pricing, reservations, reviews, and any team workflows.
The owner does not have the ability to control their listing on Vrbo.
The owner receives payouts for all Vrbo reservations either via Stripe or Hospitable.
The owner pays Vrbo's 5% commission directly via their card on file with Vrbo.
The owner is responsible for tax collection and remittance on Vrbo bookings if they selected Stripe as their payment processor.
Hospitable is responsible for tax collection and remittance (where available) on Vrbo bookings if the owner selected Hospitable as their payment processor.
You can still trigger refunds, alterations, and operational actions from inside Hospitable — they're applied against the owner's Stripe account.
Managing multiple owners as a co-host
If you co-host for several owners, repeat the connection steps above for each owner's Vrbo account. Each owner needs:
Their own Vrbo account with their own commission credit card.
Their own Stripe- or bank account, connected to their own bank.
Hospitable supports split payouts. See more about that here: Vrbo Partner: Payouts & Bank Accounts
Troubleshooting
The Stripe option isn't showing for one of the listings
Stripe-as-MoR is available in most supported countries, but a few markets are still rolling out. You can see the full list of supported countries here: https://stripe.com/en-es/global
If Stripe is not an option in the property's country, and Hospitable doesn't offer financial services in the country, you will not be able to use the Vrbo Partner connection.
Vrbo asks the owner for a VAT number and we don't have one
Vrbo requires VAT or equivalent business registration in some regions. The owner must provide it in Vrbo's own screens — Hospitable can't bypass this. If the owner can't provide it, the Vrbo Partner Connection isn't available for that account.