We’re building for the community! As the number of property managers using Dtravel Direct to create their own direct booking site grows, so too do the feature requests. We’re incredibly thankful to be building Dtravel alongside so many dedicated vacation rental operators and the commitment to build an industry leading ecosystem has never been stronger.

Read this month’s update to learn about our latest releases and how we’ve made it easy for operators to voice their opinion about what we should be building next for Dtravel Direct. For those who missed our Community Call, we also touch on a new product we’ve been working on that will make it easier for travelers to discover directly bookable vacation rentals, including those powered by Dtravel Direct.

Recent Updates in September

• FeatureOS
• Dtravel Sensei
• Google Vacation Rentals Update
• Trust & Safety Signals
• Google Tag Manager
• Terms & Conditions
• Airbnb Import Fixes
• Misc. Upgrades
• Community Call #10
• Pathmonk
• Zebu Live

Product Updates

A recap of the product updates over the last month.

FeatureOS

We’re making it easier for vacation rental operators with a Dtravel Direct direct booking to voice their opinion on what features they want next.

Do you have a feature you'd like added to your direct booking site?

Request new Dtravel Direct features, bump up requests by casting your vote and subscribe to get updates when the latest features go live.

Submit a New Feature Request:

1. Head to https://dtravel.featureos.app/
2. Click the "New Post" button
3. Create your request and add your email for status updates

Upvote an Existing Feature Request:

1. Browse all existing requests or search for specific keywords
2. Click the square with an arrow on the left side to upvote a request
3. Sign up or sign in to receive status updates

Google Vacation Rentals Update

Property managers and vacation rental operators can create a free direct booking site powered by Dtravel Direct and automatically have their listings pushed to Google Vacation Rentals.

The integration has been live for a couple of weeks now and we're now just waiting for listings powered by Dtravel Direct to be discoverable through Google Vacation Rentals. As a reminder, this process is gated by Google as each listing needs to be verified, a process that can take 2-4 weeks.

If you have properties that you would like to be discoverable through Google then you should get started today! Create a booking site powered by Dtravel Direct, import all of your listings and start customizing your site while you wait.

Dtravel Sensei

If you joined our latest Community Call then you’ll be familiar with Dtravel Sensei.

If not, then you’ll be excited to know that we’ve been working on an AI-powered recommendation engine designed to make trip planning a breeze by accelerating the discovery of directly bookable vacation rental listings from all over the world and personalizing the results.

What does this mean for property managers using Dtravel Direct?

1. Travelers will soon have a way to discover and book any listing powered by Dtravel Direct.
2. Property managers will gain access to an innovative direct booking distribution channel.

We’re excited to soon share demos and beta-testing opportunities with the community.
For more information, please watch the community call time-stamped replay.

Trust & Safety Signals

Like any website, trust and safety signals help visitors feel confident and in the case of vacation rentals, can greatly increase the likelihood of a booking. Dtravel Direct customers can now add trust signals to their homepage within the settings of their dashboard. Add links to your Google Business, Airbnb profile, and other social media accounts to boost trust and convert more guests."

Add an Airbnb Profile to Your Homepage to Boost Conversion

• Builds trust and instills confidence
• Enables prospective guests to easily compare prices
• Verify history as an Airbnb host
• Potential guests can read past reviews

Google Tag Manager

This month, we enabled property managers to add either a GA4 (Google Analytics) or Google Tag Manager ID to their direct booking site in order to gain further insight into visitors, site performance and conversion optimization.

Adding GA4 ID provides Dtravel Direct customers with standard analytics on data like page views, users, and acquisition, whereas Google Tag Manager provides more flexibility, including accurate conversion data reporting.

Once added source code and data should be reflected in a user’s reports within 48 hours.

Terms & Conditions

We’re continuing to make it as clear as possible that a booking is between the guest & property manager. Dtravel is merely the technology layer and does not process bookings or intermediate in any way. To improve this, we’ve updated the Terms & Conditions content, Privacy Policy and House rules within both Dtravel Direct app and guest-facing pages - details. In addition, we’ve added a checkbox for guests to confirm and agree to the booking terms prior to completing a reservation.

Airbnb Import Fixes

Property managers and vacation rental operators can quickly create a direct booking site powered by Dtravel Direct simply by importing their listings from Airbnb. Improvements to this integration include:

• Showing cancellation policies for Airbnb imported listings.
• Sync the minimum stay per range data of Airbnb imported listings.

Misc. Upgrades

Over the past month, we continued to make improvements to the overall Dtravel Direct product. Recent updates include:

• Added Polish Zloty (Poland), Thai Bath (Thailand), and Japanese Yen (Japan) to display currency list. Guests can now view the listing’s price and make payment for the booking with these three new currencies.
• Added Telegram as an optional contact channel.
• Prevent Credit Card processing fee from being displayed when an operator chooses to absorb it. This avoids incorrectly reflecting on an operator's financial reports.
• Updated Promo code logic from being applied on total booking value to now being applied on the base price + extra guest fees (and after any weekly/monthly discounts).
• Increased the max length of listing description for native listings from 500 to 5000 characters.
• Since Airbnb provides operators with an option to set up Check-in time as “01:00 (next day)“, we’ve updated Dtravel Direct to also support this option in Native listing’s create/edit view to ensure that the data from Airbnb imported listings are correctly reflected on Dtravel.

Growth and Marketing

A recap of the growth and marketing initiatives over the last month.

Community Call #10 Live Stream

Watch the full recap of our second Community Call Video Live Stream. On the call we discussed our most recent updates and achievements, providing the community with a few walk-throughs. In addition, we shared upcoming growth initiatives including the Dtravel Affiliate and Referral programs. Finishing off the call we provided the community with some alpha, teasing a new search product that will enable travelers to more easily discover directly bookable vacation rentals.

Watch the full recap here:

PATHMONK

Dtravel CEO, Cynthia Huang spoke on the Pathmonk Podcast and shared how Dtravel is using community led growth and web3 technology to turn community members into raving advocates for our mission to empower direct connections between property managers and guests in the short-term and vacation rental industry.

EuroSpark

Cynthia was invited to speak at EuroSpark on Designing for Adoption in Web3. EuroSpark was a 3 day mini interactive conference in Lisbon that included talks and fun workshops in the programming.

Zebu Live Partnership

We’re excited to be partnering with Zebu Live, London’s premiere web3 conference from October 5 - 6. Cynthia and Eric of the Dtravel Core Team will be at the conference this year along with a number of Dtravel community members.
If you’re in London and would like to attend then you can get 25% off the ticket here.

Gate 3 <> London - Zebu Live Side Event

Hosted by longtime members of the Dtravel community (also the earliest Dtravel Direct customers), Gate3 is a Zebu Live side event focused on discussing how web3 is already evolving our reality right before our eyes.

With talks by Evin Mcmullen the CEO of DISCO, Ella Cullen the CMO of Minespider and Cynthia Huang the CEO of Dtravel, Gate3 proves that community is the driving force behind every successful web3 project.

Zebu Live Twitter Spaces

Cynthia was invited as a speaker to talk about Dtravel’s first community hosted event as part of Zebu Live. The panel included other community partners who are building unique communities and projects that are aimed at bringing more adoption in web3. Play the recording here.

What’s Next

• Improve Dtravel Direct onboarding experience
• Dtravel Direct referral and affiliate program
• Enable ability to easily create crypto wallets with 1-click
• Add-ons to help drive more ancillary revenue
• Property Management pages for all Dtravel Direct users
• AI-powered direct listing recommendation engine

Direct Booking Sites Primed for Distribution

We're making it easy for vacation rental operators to start and grow their direct booking business. To do this, we're not only focused on improving the features that come with Dtravel Direct, but also how we can help property managers drive more bookings.

Create a premium direct booking site with Dtravel Direct in minutes and get ready for our distribution network.

Create a Site

Join the Community

Website | Twitter | LinkedIn | Telegram | Discord