Launch a short-term rental property

The full STR launch lifecycle — setup, publish, channels, operations, and marketing — tracked property-by-property in Launch & Setup.

Purpose

Setting up an STR property and actually launching it are two different things. Launch & Setup (STR > Launch & Setup) turns going live into a tracked, per-property journey: a readiness ring, a categorized checklist, and a launch status that moves from draft to live. This article explains the lifecycle end to end so you know what "ready" means and what happens at each stage.

Who can use this

Admins and property managers with the short-term-rental launch permission. The Short-Term Rental module must be enabled.

The launch lifecycle

A property moves through these stages, and its status badge reflects where it is: 1. Draft — created, but no required setup done yet. 2. Setup in progress — some required steps complete; keep working the checklist. 3. Ready to publish — every required step is done; nothing is blocking launch. 4. Live — published to your direct-booking site, or marked as live on external channels. 5. Paused / Archived — temporarily off the market, or retired.

Steps

1Open STR > Launch & Setup. The header rolls up your whole portfolio; each property has its own card with status, completion, and the next required action.
2Open a property to see its launch page: the readiness ring and a checklist grouped by category (listing content, pricing, availability, guest experience, channels, direct booking, operations, marketing).
3Complete the required steps first — these are what block launch. Most complete automatically the moment the underlying data exists (photos, a base rate, a description); a few (like confirming a cancellation policy) you mark done by hand.
4Work the recommended steps next — fees, taxes, house rules, checkout instructions — to strengthen the listing.
5Connect channels (optional): add Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com. Channel sync is one-way via iCal calendar links, so availability stays aligned and you avoid double bookings. Rentivue does not auto-publish or push your listing content to these platforms — you create the listing on each channel yourself.
6Publish direct booking: once required steps are green, publish the listing to your own commission-free direct-booking site. This is the action that flips the property to Live.
7If you only sell on external channels and not your direct-booking site, use "Mark as published elsewhere" instead — it records the property as live without a direct-booking publish.
8Do the launch review: a final human check that the listing is accurate and ready for real guests. Confirming it completes the launch-review step.
9After launch: operations (cleaning turnovers, guest messaging) and marketing (a first campaign, social content, a review strategy) run as recommended follow-ups.

Important notes

Publishing is gated: the button stays disabled until every required step is complete, and the confirm dialog lists any remaining blockers.
"Live" means either your direct-booking site is published or you marked the listing live on channels — it does not mean Rentivue posted your listing to Airbnb or Vrbo.
Pausing stops new bookings without losing any setup; resuming brings it right back.

Related settings

Settings > Modules & Features (Short-Term Rental, Direct Booking); the property's STR profile; STR > Direct Booking > Settings for site branding, payments, and analytics.

Common mistakes

Treating channel connection as publishing — connecting an iCal feed syncs the calendar but does not create or update the listing on that platform.
Skipping the launch review and going live with a placeholder title or an unset cancellation policy.

FAQ

Does publishing here put my listing on Airbnb?: No. Publishing goes live on your own direct-booking site. External channels are calendar-synced via iCal; you create and manage those listings on each platform.