HomeRunner API Explained: What You Can (and Can’t) Do With It Today

If you’re running a vacation rental business today, you probably know that strong technology integration is no longer a luxury — it’s the backbone of a scalable, profitable operation. As we strive to give property managers, agencies, and owners more clarity about technical capabilities, this deep dive explains exactly what the HomeRunner API actually lets you do right now — and what’s not in the cards (yet). Expect a practical, detailed perspective tailored to independent vacation rental operators and agencies building with WordPress.

Understanding the Role of HomeRunner: More Than Just Another Booking Tool

Before we explore APIs, it’s important to clarify what HomeRunner does — and what sets it apart in the world of vacation rental technology. We’ve intentionally designed HomeRunner as an independent layer that connects your WordPress site to your Property Management System (PMS) in real time. Unlike tools that try to be your all-in-one business dashboard, HomeRunner focuses specifically on powering direct bookings, enabling you to maintain your operational hub (PMS) and keep control over your website, branding, and data.

This means HomeRunner never replaces your PMS. We don’t handle your guest messaging, accounting, or channel management. Instead, our API sits between your PMS and your website, so all your direct bookings, inventory, and rates are always accurate, instantly synchronized, and stay under your brand, not ours.

How the HomeRunner API Actually Works

At the heart of HomeRunner’s value is its deep, purpose-built API integration with major PMSs. No copying data, no spreadsheet exports, and no accidental double bookings. Our API is fully focused on one thing: seamless two-way sync between your PMS and your website.

• Supported PMSs: As of right now, we offer secure, professional integrations with Hostfully, Guesty Pro, Hostaway, Hospitable, OwnerRez, and Lodgify. More connections are actively being built.
• Bidirectional sync: All updates to properties, pricing, photos, and calendars in your PMS are reflected on your website in real time. When a booking is made direct, it’s instantly pushed back into your PMS, keeping all availability up to date.
• No disruption: You continue day-to-day management and communications in your PMS. We just give you the tools to capture more direct, commission-free bookings on your website without manual work.

What You Can Do With HomeRunner’s API Today

1. Real-Time Sync of Listings, Rates, and Calendars

Our integration enables:

• Up-to-date property details, descriptions, and images on your website
• Live calendars that prevent double bookings
• Rate and rule changes sync automatically — no need to chase down missing updates
• Amenities, add-ons, and custom property features easily carried over

We take great pride in reliability here — our users report that data is reflected on their website almost instantly after changes in the PMS, reducing guest confusion and manual admin time.

2. Seamless Reservation Handling & Booking Creation

When a guest books on your site, here’s what flows securely back to your PMS:

• Full guest contact and reservation details
• Chosen property, room, and stay dates
• Price, add-ons, fees, and payment status
• Special notes or booking requests

You don’t have to re-enter data, chase emails, or worry about reconciliation. This process is fully automated, letting your existing business workflows — check-in, cleaning, guest comms — continue as normal in the PMS.

3. Multi-Unit and Hotel-Style Booking Support

If your PMS supports multi-unit listings (think hotels or resorts where each listing represents many rooms or units), HomeRunner reflects the same dynamics online:

• Unit-type bookings with automated assignment
• Updated inventory and availability for each subunit
• Dynamic pricing fetched for every room or unit type

No clunky workarounds — your website mirrors what’s possible in your PMS.

4. Payment Gateway Flexibility

HomeRunner handles payment flow in two primary ways:

• Payments are processed directly through your PMS’s secure, PCI-compliant payment system by default.
• For businesses needing more flexibility, we support a wide range of external gateways (Stripe, PayPal, Square, Authorize.Net and many more) depending on your PMS integration and region. Cryptocurrency, BNPL, and regional alternatives are available too.

This gives you total control of your payment stack while keeping guest transactions secure and trackable in your system. No double-data entry is required.

5. Multi-Site Inventory Segmentation

With HomeRunner, you can run several branded booking websites from a single PMS inventory. Some examples:

• Luxury or themed property collections
• Separate sites for different regions or brands
• Corporate housing vs. family vacation portfolios

Properties can be grouped, filtered, and displayed on different domains or landing pages. Bookings from any site feed back into your master PMS. For a more strategic look at building guest-friendly collections, check out our deep dive on theme and location collections.

What You Can’t Do (Yet) With HomeRunner’s API

1. Combine Data from Multiple PMSs or Multi-Owner Marketplaces

As of today, all inventory must reside under a single PMS account per site. If you’re dreaming of launching a marketplace with listings pooled from various hosts or multiple PMSs, that’s not possible with the current API. However, we’re actively developing support for these kinds of collaborative, multi-provider marketplaces. For agencies, this is on the near-term roadmap — stay tuned for updates.

2. Build Custom Integrations or Direct Developer Access

We don’t expose a public, general-purpose API for you to build direct third-party integrations, plugins, or dashboards. All our integrations are built, maintained, and supported internally. If you need a gap filled — say a connector to a local payment gateway or external service not listed — reach out to us. We routinely evaluate and build new connections driven by real customer demand. But you won’t be able to authenticate and interface programmatically with HomeRunner itself.

3. Direct Database Export or Advanced BI Customization

While our built-in dashboard shows you real-time reporting, revenue, and search insights, there’s currently no way to stream raw data out to Tableau, Power BI, or custom BI stacks. All analytics remain within our system for now. If you’re tracking deeper conversion metrics, we suggest instrumenting your public WordPress site as you would any modern e-commerce site. For advanced GA4 and GTM tracking ideas, see our analytics playbook.

The Impact of HomeRunner’s Focused API Architecture

We made a conscious decision not to be a ‘feature bloat’ platform. This means HomeRunner is fast to implement (often live in 30 minutes), easy to maintain, and doesn’t lock you into proprietary data silos. By limiting scope to what drives direct bookings, you get:

• No custom code required — ideal for lean teams without a dev department
• Reliable, resilient syncing during peak and off-peak seasons
• Simple migrations: change PMS providers without needing a new website or engine
• All SEO benefits: listings displayed directly on your site can be indexed by Google (see proven SEO checklist)

What’s Coming Soon: Roadmap Highlights

• More PMS integrations are in the pipeline. If you don’t see yours yet, check back often or ask our team where it stands!
• Support for non-WordPress and headless site architectures using JavaScript embed (currently in testing)
• Multi-owner and multi-PMS collaborative websites for agencies and property marketplaces

We’re committed to scaling features that empower our partners and users, not locking them in.

Who Can Benefit from HomeRunner Integration?

• Individual property managers running 5 to 15 homes who want pro-grade tools, not spreadsheets
• Growing brands with 15 to 50+ listings that need real-time inventory control and a cohesive website presence
• Enterprises with 100 or more listings, especially those operating multiple brands from a single PMS
• Web agencies delivering turnkey booking platforms without expensive custom builds

Websites like redcottage.com, beachsidevr.com, onesuitespot.com, homesweethudson.com, and booknola.com all harness our API to power robust direct booking features at scale and with full brand control.

What Does Setup Look Like For a New Integration?

If you’re evaluating or about to implement HomeRunner, here’s a detailed look at your path:

1. Confirm PMS compatibility: Are you on Hostfully, Guesty Pro, Hostaway, Hospitable, OwnerRez, or Lodgify? If not, check with us — more are being enabled.
2. Ready your WordPress site: Any theme, any configuration, no plugin lock-in. No website rebuild needed.
3. Prepare PMS credentials: You’ll need your API key/token, account ID, and payment config.
4. Choose a payment stack: Stick with your PMS’s payments, or leverage supported external gateways.
5. Migration and testing: We offer white-glove setup, unlimited onboarding help, and zero fees until you’re live — typically within 30 minutes. Test your flows, then launch your booking engine with confidence.

Pricing: No Surprises, No Fees Until You’re Live

We believe in transparent, property-based pricing. All plans include real-time sync, full features, analytics access, and support. You can stage and test as long as you like before flipping the switch. Current pricing is here.

Final Thoughts: Focused, Reliable, and Real

HomeRunner’s API is not a playground for custom experiments — it’s a robust conduit between your PMS and your guest booking flow. What we do, we do really well: real-time data, secure transactions, seamless guest experiences, and flexible property grouping. If you’re looking for a tool where you can pull raw data into Power BI or program your own front-end widgets from scratch, our stack may not fit — at least today.

But for thousands of property managers who care most about conversion, independence, and speed, this focused approach is a true advantage. You get all the power of your PMS, all the flexibility of WordPress, and a direct booking engine that’s easy to launch, run, and grow with. If you want to dive deeper into strategy, conversion best practices, or see live examples, start with our guides like ways to lift conversion on your direct booking pages or the vacation rental booking flow playbook.

If you’re ready to discuss integration, request a feature, or see a personalized demo, visit our official site. We’d love to show you what professional, independent direct booking looks like — and help you own your guest experience from end to end.