Changelog
Follow up on the latest improvements and updates.
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new
host
New product: Website Builder
The Change
You can now create your own rental property website with Kopa's new tool, Website Builder.
Benefits
Through the Website Builder, hosts can:
- Be independent of platforms and have a central place for all their bookings
- Create their own custom website, branded entirely for them/their business, in just a few minutes.
- Get direct bookings by telling any interested renter to book on their custom website
- Receive online payments
- Offer special discounts
- Seamlessly cross-post on the Kopa marketplace for free
Who is Website Builder for?
The Website Builder can be used by anyone with 1 or more properties. The hosts who have created their own websites through Website Builder have been hosts who want to:
- Avoid service fees from other platforms
- Keep all their renters' information and payments in one place
- Want to prevent competition with other hosts and properties
- Do short-, mid-, and/or long-term rentals
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Support for all 3D tours
The change
Kopa now supports any type of 3D tour. Previously, we only supported Matterport tours.
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Reason for change
Our data shows that having a 3D tour
triples
— you heard that right .. triples! — the likelihood of your space getting booked. For many renters, especially during the COVID pandemic, 3D tours have become a must in their search. A 3D tour serves as a "virtual" tour through your property, allowing renters to see different rooms and angles to better understand your space.
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Examples of 3D tour services
- Google Virtual Tours- Completely free to use and create a 3D tour. All you have to do is upload 360º or panorama photos of each room in your property.
- Matterport
- GeoCV
––
How to add a 3D tour
#1. Head to
Listings
and click Edit
on the listing you want to add a tour for. #2. Click on the
Visuals
tab. 
#3. Scroll down and find the
3D Tour
section. 
#4. Copy your link from the tour website and paste it into the field on Kopa.
improved
host
Editing listings: Updated calendar
The change
Step 3,
Availability
(shown when you're editing any of your listings
has an updated user interface (UI) to help you more easily add and remove blocks from each listing's calendar. 
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Reason for change
We've seen lots of hosts accidentally block off dates, thinking that they were actually making them available.
Keeping your calendar up-to-date and as accurate as possible is one of the most important things you need to do as a Kopa host.
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Highlights
- View the new key to see what each coloring means
- Easily add and remove blocks
- Importing iCal links from Airbnb, VRBO, and other platforms is easier
- Now showing 6 months at a time only, with the option to show 6 more months, rather than having both a yearly and monthly view
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improved
host
Requests & Stays — combined "Booking Requests" and "Tenants"
The change
We combined inquiries (messages), booking requests, and confirmed stays into one page, Requests & Stays.
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Why we changed
- Hosts had a hard time finding their Tenants page.
- The next step of the process, no matter what step you were on, was not clear.
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Navigating with Pending, Confirmed, and Archived tabs
Requests & Stays includes a tab navigation to separate the type of request.
- Pending: Inquiries (messages) and booking requests. The renter has not paid their rental deposit yet.
- Confirmed: Booking requests where the renter has paid their rental deposit and therefore secured the space.
- Archived: Expired, canceled, deleted, and declined requests
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Highlighting important information in each row
Each row on
Requests & Stays
includes: - The renter's first name (and last name for confirmed stays) and a link to their profile
- Listing title and address
- Renter's move-in and move-out dates
- Your potential earnings (for pending requests)
- Request status and the corresponding action you need to take
- Date the request was sent (for pending requests) and a note if they will expire soon
- Viewlink to see more information about that request
If you're ever unsure what the status means, click on the tooltip icon
(?)
next to Status to see a full list of all statuses. 
__
Request detail
Previously, all details of the request were all shown on
Booking Requests
. Now, to view details of an inquiry, request, or stay, simply click View
to see more information. On this page, you can see:
- The step of the process you're on to move pending requests to a confirmed stay
- Listing title, address, and the renter's move-in and move-out dates
- Renter name, profile picture, and link to their profile
- The latest message and a link to your conversation with them in Inbox
- Total Earnings, where you can see a breakdown of all payments and the ability to edit any of these payments or dates to make special offers or changes
- Your house rules, cancellation policy, and other information shared with your renter per your listing
new
improved
host
renter
Refer a host, get $150.
We upgraded our host referral program. When you refer a host to Kopa, you'll get $150 when they accept their first tenant on Kopa.
You can share your referral via:
- Facebook Messenger
- Text message with your custom link
You can share with people you know or don't know — it's up to you and how much money you want to earn! We recommend sharing your custom link in Facebook groups and emailing other hosts you know for the most earnings.
To get access to your custom link, sign into your Kopa account before accessing the
Refer a Host
page. See more at
Refer a Host →
new
host
renter
Refer a renter, get $50.
We introduced a renter referral program. When you refer a renter to Kopa, you'll get $50 and give $20 to them when they book their first listing on Kopa.
You can share your referral via:
- Facebook Messenger
- Text message with your custom link
You can share with people you know or don't know — it's up to you and how much money you want to earn! We recommend sharing your custom link in Facebook groups for the most earnings.
To get access to your custom link, sign into your Kopa account before accessing the
Refer a Renter
page. See more at
Refer a Renter →
new
improved
host
renter
Kopa supports unfurnished rentals
Why did we make this change?
Renters have different needs and budgets. For some, having furniture is important for a monthly rental. However, especially for longer stays, renters are happy to rent an unfurnished space if that means a lower monthly rent price.
Where you'll see updates
Homepage
:
We updated the text about what we do to focus on monthly rentals, not just furnished apartments. We also added a testimonials section. 
Search apartments
: Now, you can filter by unfurnished, partially furnished, or unfurnished spaces. Saved searches:
If you select that you're only interested in unfurnished rentals, you'll see those unfurnished listing options after saving the search. Creating a listing:
You'll see a new question regarding if your space is furnished, partially furnished, or unfurnished. For all listings created before today, we've already selected the appropriate answer. Listing pages (see
example
):
We updated the Overview section to clearly state how much of the space renters will get, the amount of furniture, if it's pro-rated, and if the host lives in the space. 
Become a Host now includes a corporate partners section to inform potential and current hosts about who some of our corporate partners are. We are always on the lookout for new relationships with companies that refer renters to Kopa.
We also added a testimonials section that features some of the nice things our hosts have said about us, as well as success stories.
new
improved
host
renter
New and improved Inbox
We've recreated your Kopa Inbox to be more user-friendly, especially on mobile. Some highlights include:
- Read receiptsthat show when the recipient has read each message.
- Messages in real-time, which means you'll see new messages instantly without refreshing the page.
- Typing indicators, which shows when other people in the conversation are actively typing.
- Improved mobile experiencethat provides a much better user experience that's designed and built specifically for mobile devices.
- Ability to edit booking requestsallows renters to change their dates and/or bed selection for pending booking requests. (This means renters no longer have to cancel their booking request to update this information!)
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host
Cancellation Policies
Define how much you'll give back to renters if they need to cancel their stay. This applies to cancellations that happen before a renter's move-in date.
The cancellation policy is shown on each of your listings. When you accept a renter, you have the opportunity to change it for that booking and for all future bookings.
To add or edit your cancellation policy for all listings, please head to your Host Dashboard.
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