The Vacation Rental Website Launch Checklist

Start on your phone at the address you plan to give guests. Pick a weekend, find a place to stay, and try to book it. That one run tells you more than another hour looking at the homepage in WordPress. Use the checks below before you announce the site, then repeat the booking once the public version is live.

Check what guests see

• Open the public address. Make sure it loads over HTTPS and shows your actual homepage. Tap the main menu, open each property page, and check that the main booking button takes you where you expect. If WordPress is showing your latest posts instead of the homepage, check Settings → Reading. See the WordPress guide to setting a homepage.
• Check the facts and photos against the property. Read the guest limit, bed sizes, pet rules, fees, and arrival times. Open the gallery on your phone and make sure the photos show the right rooms. If you imported a demo, look for sample phone numbers, reviews, and map pins in the footer and contact page as well as in the main content.
• Send a message from the contact form. Send it from a personal email address and check that it reaches the inbox you monitor. Reply to make sure the guest’s address comes through. Tap the phone number and email address if they’re shown. Have someone else read the booking terms and find the cancellation policy without asking you.

Run a booking from start to finish

• Try a date that should work and one that shouldn’t. Start with an ordinary weekend, then try a blocked date or a stay that’s shorter than your minimum. If you have several rentals, search for dates when just one is free. Check that the result opens the right page and that the booking lands on the right calendar. In LodgeWP, the calendar and form are selected under Booking Form on each accommodation page. See the LodgeWP booking page guide.
• Check the full price and the way guests pay. Compare the displayed total with what you’d charge by hand for the same dates. Try a weekend or peak period if your prices change, and check any cleaning fee, tax, or deposit you charge. If you take card payments, use the payment provider’s test mode where available and check which booking status follows a successful payment. Switch back to your live payment settings before opening bookings. See how to accept payments with WP Booking System.
• Read the booking emails from both sides. The guest should see the right property name, dates, price, and what happens next. If you approve requests by hand, make sure the first email says the request is pending. Check the owner’s notification too. Cancel the test reservation and confirm the dates return to the availability you intended. See how WP Booking System booking emails are set up.
• Check calendar feeds if you also take bookings elsewhere. For each property, compare known booked dates with your Airbnb or Booking.com calendar. If you’ve set up sync in both directions, test both directions and allow time for the services to refresh. iCal shares availability. Set prices and stay rules in each system. Read the WP Booking System calendar sync guide.

Make the site public and check it again

• Take a backup and open the site to visitors. Keep a backup that includes your WordPress files and database. Remove any maintenance screen or password you used while building, then open the site in a private browser window. In Settings → Reading, check that Discourage search engines from indexing this site is unchecked if you want the site to appear in search. See the WordPress backup guide and the Reading settings guide.
• Retest on the live site. Go through the public booking flow once more and check your inbox. Remove any test bookings and blocks you added. If you use Google Search Console, you can run a live URL inspection on the homepage to see whether Google can access it. See how to use URL Inspection.

When the first real booking arrives, compare it with the result of your test. Check the amount paid or due, make sure the dates are blocked as expected, and read the email the guest received. That’s the first reservation your new site needs to get right.