Replaces the plain Locations dropdown in your Explorer search bar with a tabbed “Find Your Destination” popup, so guests can browse by island, region, city, or resort instead of scanning one long list.
What it does #
A flat list of every location gets unwieldy once you have more than a handful of destinations, and guests often think in groups (“the islands,” “which resort”) rather than a single alphabetical list. Destination Filter takes over the Locations control in your Explorer search bar and replaces it with a tabbed popup: guests pick a tab (for example Island, City, or Resort), then browse or search within that group.
The destination tree is built from the property tags and location terms you already use in your PMS, so there is nothing to map by hand. Tag your properties consistently and the groupings appear automatically.
- Guests open a tabbed popup instead of one long dropdown
- Islands can expand to show their sub-regions nested underneath
- City and resort tabs can be searched by typing a label
- A footer shows “N filters applied” with Apply and Clear All buttons
- Selecting a destination filters Explorer results exactly the way the old Locations dropdown did
How to turn it on #
1. Switch it on in the Toolkit Hub #
In your WordPress admin, go to the HomeRunner Toolkit hub and switch on Destination Filter.
2. Set Explorer’s location source to Zone #
Destination Filter needs your Explorer search bar’s “Where” source set to Zone. Open Destination Filter in the Toolkit admin and check the source status shown there; it links you to the right setting if it is not already set to Zone.
3. Tag your properties #
Destination Filter reads two sources, all standard PMS tagging:
- Island / side / resort tags: property tags starting with a configurable prefix, by default
(i)for island (e.g. “(i) Kauai”),(s)for island side (e.g. “(s) East Kauai”), and(r)for resort (e.g. “(r) Poipu Kai”). Which island a side or resort belongs to is worked out automatically from which properties share those tags, so there is no manual island-to-region mapping to maintain. - Cities: your existing location terms, no special tagging needed.
A property with no matching tags simply will not appear under that tab. An admin-only “Data hygiene” table on the Destination Filter settings page flags common tagging problems (an empty label after the prefix, a side tagged under more than one island) so you can catch them before guests do.
4. Configure the tabs #
The Destination Filter settings page has a card-based tabs editor, up to 6 tabs. Each tab has a source, which decides what feeds it:
- Tag prefix: your island, side, or resort tags. Choose which level (island, side, or resort) this tab shows, and, for an island-level tab, whether to nest side tags underneath it.
- Location: your existing location terms. This is what the default City tab uses.
- City: a separate city field on your properties, also read straight from your existing tagging with no prefix needed.
For each tab you also set:
- Whether it is searchable (adds a label search box)
- Whether it groups by island (nests entries under the island they belong to)
- Whether it is collapsible and starts open (accordion-style panels)
Reorder tabs with the move-up and move-down buttons on each card. Use Rebuild now after retagging properties to refresh the cached destination tree immediately rather than waiting for it to expire.
5. Adjust the search bar (on by default) #
The Search settings below add a single search box above the tabs, so guests can type instead of tab-hopping. Popup search bar is on by default; switch it off there if you would rather guests only use the tabs.
One search box for everything #
With the search bar on, a single input sits above the popup’s tabs. Guests type once and get grouped matches across Homes, Islands, Cities, and Resorts at the same time, instead of hunting through one tab at a time.
- Picking a home result jumps straight to that property page.
- Picking a destination result (an island, city, or resort) selects that filter, flips the popup to its matching tab, and expands and highlights the row so the guest can see what was just applied.
- Matching is forgiving of accents, so a guest who types “Kaanapali” still finds “Kāʻanapali.”
- Long result groups collapse behind a “+N more” link rather than flooding the popup.
The same search component is also available as a standalone shortcode, [homerunner_destination_search], so you can place a destination search box anywhere on your site, not just inside the popup: a homepage hero, a destination landing page, or a 404 page.
| Attribute | What it does |
|---|---|
placeholder="Search our islands…" | Overrides the input’s hint text. Defaults to the Placeholder setting below. |
groups="islands,cities" | Limits which groups this instance searches, comma-separated from homes, islands, cities, resorts. Defaults to the Search across setting below. |
results_url="/vacation-rentals/" | Where a destination pick sends the guest, carrying the pick as a filter. Without a results URL (here or in Settings), the standalone search only offers homes, since there is nowhere to send a destination pick. Home picks always go straight to the property page regardless. |
max_per_group="8" | How many results to show per group before collapsing behind “+N more.” |
min_chars="2" | How many characters a guest must type before results appear. |
show_counts="0" | Hides the property-count badges next to each result. |
autofocus="1" | Focuses the search field as soon as the page loads. |
class="my-search" | Adds a custom CSS class to the search container for your own styling. |
Settings #
All of these live on the Destination Filter settings page in the Toolkit Hub, except Tag prefixes, which is used during property tagging.
| Setting | What it controls |
|---|---|
| Activation scope | “Marker class only” (default): only Explorer instances wrapped in a specific class are affected, useful for rolling this out to one page first. “All explorer instances site-wide” applies it everywhere. |
| Popup title | The heading shown at the top of the popup. Default “Find Your Destination.” |
| Tag prefixes | The island/side/resort tag prefixes Destination Filter looks for. Defaults to (i), (s), (r). |
| Show counts | Shows the number of properties next to each destination. On by default. |
| Live counts | Recomputes those counts on every request instead of using the cached tree. Off keeps the popup faster; on keeps counts always current. On by default. |
| Cache minutes | How long the destination tree is cached before rebuilding. Default 30 minutes. Use Rebuild now for an immediate refresh. |
| Tabs | Up to 6 tabs, each with its own source, label, grouping, search, and accordion behavior (see Configure the tabs above). |
| Popup search bar | Shows the grouped search box above the popup tabs. On by default. |
| Placeholder | The search box’s hint text. Leave blank for the default, “Search homes, islands, cities…” |
| Search across | Which groups the search box covers: Homes (property names), Islands & sides, Cities, Resorts. All four are on by default. |
| Results per group | How many matches to show under each heading before collapsing behind “+N more.” Default 5. |
| Minimum characters | How many characters a guest must type before results appear. Default 2. |
| Picking a destination | “Adds it to the selection” (default): the popup jumps to the picked destination so the guest can keep stacking filters, then tap Apply. “Applies it immediately”: picking a destination applies it and closes the popup right away. |
| Search results page | The page destination picks from the standalone shortcode send guests to (that page should contain your Explorer search). Used by the standalone shortcode described above; home picks always go straight to the property page regardless of this setting. |
Tips #
- If a tab looks empty to guests, check that the underlying properties are tagged with the matching prefix, then use Rebuild now rather than waiting for the cache to expire.
- Keep prefixes consistent across your PMS. A tag with the right prefix but an inconsistent label (extra spaces, different capitalization) is the most common reason a property lands in the wrong group.
- Pair Destination Filter with the Destination Index if you also want a browsable, SEO-friendly destination directory outside the search bar.
- Set a Search results page before placing the standalone
[homerunner_destination_search]shortcode anywhere off the popup, so destination picks have somewhere to land. - If your site leans on one or two groups more than others (mostly named properties, say), narrow Search across or a shortcode’s
groupsattribute so guests are not shown empty-feeling headings.