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Setting Up the Location Filter in the HomeRunner Search Bar

2 min read

Table of Contents

This guide walks through how to configure the location filter (the “Where” field) in the HomeRunner search bar, including why Zone is the recommended mode and how locations are sourced from your PMS tags.

Overview #

The HomeRunner search bar can display the “Where” field in two different ways:

  • Zone (recommended): Opens a full modal experience with grouped locations and more options.
  • Location (legacy): A smaller, condensed dropdown. Kept for backward compatibility but no longer the default recommendation.

Setting the “Where” field source to Zone unlocks the full experience, including location-based collections like regions, destinations, or neighborhoods.

Step 1: Set the “Where” Field Source to Zone #

  1. In WordPress admin, go to HomeRunner Settings → Explorer → Filters → Primary.
  2. Find the “Where” field source setting.
  3. Select Zone.
  4. Save settings.

After refreshing the front-end, clicking the search bar’s location field will now open the full modal with locations and cities, rather than the legacy condensed dropdown.

The other options (such as “Location”) are legacy and only kept for older sites. New setups should always use Zone.

Step 2: Understand How Locations Are Sourced #

Once Zone is active, the location filter pulls data from two places:

  1. Cities: Automatically populated from property data coming in from the PMS. New cities are added as they appear. No manual step needed to make a city show up.
  2. Location-based collections: Regions, destinations, neighborhoods, or any custom grouping you want to surface above the city list. These are driven by tags in your PMS.

Step 3: Configure Location-Based Collections via PMS Tags #

Location collections are created by tagging listings in your PMS with a specific prefix, which HomeRunner parses into a location taxonomy.

The Prefix #

By default, the prefix uses square brackets with a lowercase “l”:

[l]Colorado
[l]Pacific Northwest
[l]Palm Beach

The prefix tells HomeRunner that this tag should be treated as a location rather than a general-purpose tag.

Prefix Variations #

The prefix is configurable. Some installs use:

  • (l) with regular parentheses
  • [location] or [LOC] instead of [l]

Refer to the HomeRunner tag documentation for the full set of supported prefixes, or check your site’s specific configuration.

How It Flows #

  1. Tag listings in the PMS using the prefix, for example [l]Colorado.
  2. HomeRunner ingests the tags during sync.
  3. The tagged locations appear in the location filter’s modal, grouped above the city list.

Step 4: Order and Manage Locations in Settings #

Back in the HomeRunner location settings, you can control how items appear in the modal.

Reordering #

Any item with the three-line drag handle icon is drag-and-droppable. This applies to both:

  • Location collections (regions, destinations, etc.)
  • Cities

Cities are added automatically but are not sorted in any particular order by default. To change the order, drag and drop into the sequence you want, then save settings.

What You’ll See #

In the settings panel, you’ll typically see:

  • Your configured location collections at the top (e.g., Colorado, Pacific Northwest, Palm Beach)
  • The auto-populated cities below, which can be reordered as needed

Step 5: Customize the Default Image (Optional) #

Each location in the modal has a default image, pulled randomly from a generic source. If you want to replace or hide it, you can use a simple CSS rule to:

  • Remove the default image entirely
  • Replace it with a branded logo or icon
  • Apply a solid color or pattern

This is a theme-level customization, so reach out to your developer or Hudson Creative Studio if you want help implementing it.

Quick Recap #

  1. Switch the “Where” field source to Zone in Explorer → Filters → Primary.
  2. Tag listings in your PMS with the location prefix (default: [l]YourLocationName).
  3. Locations and cities will populate automatically in the modal.
  4. Use drag-and-drop in settings to control the order.
  5. Optionally customize the default image with CSS.

If anything in your setup doesn’t match what’s described here, or you want to adjust the prefix or layout, let us know.