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Having Website Issues?

We are constantly striving to improve our website functionality and design. This means we’re continually making small tweaks and changes to different aspects throughout the site to improve the guest experience. Occasionally, a developer will try out a new design or functionality and may decide to reverse it because it’s had an effect elsewhere or otherwise doesn’t seem to fit with the design or functionality we’re going for.

Enter “caching”. Caching is the ability for your browser to retain some information about a site or page you’ve already visited, in order to optimize future visits. This is not limited to our website, but is a function used on all sites you’ve visited. Ever notice your property may seem to sit in roughly the same location in the results when you search for it? Or that you’re new to our program and can’t seem to find it on third-party sites at all? That’s most likely caching at work.

With that, we’d like to introduce instructions on how to optimize your experience as an owner, to ensure you’re seeing the site the way a new renter would see it when they arrive on the page. This should help not only with our websites, but also with searches on VRBO/Homeaway, Airbnb, TripAdvisor/FlipKey, and other third-party channels where you may be frequenting to check your property.

Your Selected Browser

First, for optimal experience we always recommend using Google Chrome or Safari as your default browser. Firefox is also a generally acceptable browser. These browsers are the most highly supported across most platforms. Using a browser such as Internet Explorer or Microsoft Edge will yield poor results in most cases, as most websites and programs no longer fully optimize or support these browsers. (“IE 10” is Internet Explorer. Microsoft Edge also uses a similar “e” icon.)

 

Clearing Your Cache

Using this method, you can clear all the cache memory out of your browser for a specified period, or for all time. Please read through this quick guide on how to clear your cache depending on the browser you’re currently using.

Going “Incognito”

If you want to see the website as a truly new user would see the pages, you can go “incognito” or to private mode.

In Google Chrome, you would go to the menu icon in the upper right corner (the 3 vertical dots) and select “new incognito window” or you can select ctrl+shift+N as a shortcut.

In Safari, you would go to File > “New Private Window” or you can select shift+command+N as a shortcut.

 

Fun Fact: Did you know that there are e-commerce programs out there using a dynamic pricing model which tailors prices to specific digital habits and demographics? This means if you’re using certain digital devices, companies using those programs may charge you more money. If you use incognito mode to do your shopping, you avoid overcharges. (While we use dynamic pricing, we do not utilize or have access to any features which would allow us to do this to our guests. Our dynamic pricing is the same across all digital devices. This is just a helpful hint to you for your own future online shopping endeavors!)