A slide-out tab that follows guests around your site, keeping their saved homes and recently viewed properties one click away. For operators who want to keep browsers engaged and make it easy to return to a home they liked.
What it does #
Guests rarely book the first home they look at. They browse several, lose track, and sometimes leave. The Side Panel, modeled on the experience used by Marriott Homes & Villas, adds a fixed tab to the edge of every page. Click it and a panel slides out showing the homes the guest has saved (hearted) and the ones they have viewed recently. It keeps their shortlist visible across the whole site, so getting back to a favorite is always one click away.
- A fixed tab on every front-end page (it hides automatically on phones and small tablets, see Tips)
- Slide-out panel showing saved (hearted) homes
- Slide-out panel showing recently viewed homes
- A shortcut to share a wishlist
- Works alongside the Wishlist heart so saves and recents stay in sync
How to turn it on #
1. Turn it on #
Go to HomeRunner Conversion Kit in your WordPress admin and open the Side Panel tab. Check Enable this tool and save. It is off by default until you do this.
2. Match it to your brand #
Set the heart color and decide how many recently viewed homes to keep.
3. Hide it on pages where it should not appear #
Add any URL patterns (for example checkout or account pages) where the panel should stay hidden.
Settings #
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Enable this tool | Turns the Side Panel on or off site-wide. Off by default. |
| Heart Color | The accent color for the saved-homes heart (default #ff385c). |
| Max Recently Viewed | How many recently viewed homes the panel remembers (default 10, range 1 to 20). |
| Hide on URLs | Pages where the panel should not appear. Useful for checkout flows, account pages, and custom landing pages where the tab would get in the way. Accepts simple URL patterns with * and ? wildcards. |
Tips #
- Keep the panel out of your checkout flow so it does not distract a guest who is already booking. Add those URLs to the Hide on URLs list.
- The Side Panel and the Wishlist share the same saved-homes data, so a heart tapped anywhere shows up here. Turn both on for the smoothest save-and-return experience.
- Recently viewed is a low-effort way to recover a guest who wandered off; the home they liked is right there when they come back.
- The panel is hidden on phones and small tablets (screens narrower than 960px) so it never covers the booking flow on mobile. It still shows on desktop and larger tablets.