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Toolkit: Destination Search

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A single search bar that guests can drop into a hero or landing page, so they can jump straight to a home, island, city, or resort without opening your full destination filter.

What it does #

A tabbed destination popup is great for your main search bar, but it needs the full Explorer search to live in. Landing pages, heroes, and other one-off spots need something lighter: a single field guests can type into and go. Destination Search is that field. Guests start typing and get grouped matches back across your homes, islands, cities, and resorts. Picking a home takes them straight to that property page. Picking a destination takes them to your results page with that destination applied.

  • One search field, placeable anywhere with a shortcode
  • Results are grouped under headings (“Homes,” “Islands,” “Cities,” “Resorts”) so a guest can see at a glance what kind of match they got
  • Picking a home goes straight to its property page
  • Picking a destination goes to your results page with that destination already applied
  • Loads its destination data only when a guest actually reaches for the field, so pages carrying the shortcode pay no extra cost until then

If you already run Destination Filter, Destination Search reuses the exact same destination data and settings, so the two never drift apart. You do not need Destination Filter to use Destination Search; it works standalone.

How to turn it on #

1. Switch on Destination Search in the Toolkit Hub #

In your WordPress admin, go to the HomeRunner Toolkit hub and switch on Destination Search.

2. Drop the shortcode where you want the search field #

Place [homerunner_destination_search] on any page or in any YOOtheme element, such as a homepage hero or a destination landing page. No results URL is required to start, but see the setting below to enable destination picks.

3. Set your search results page #

For a destination pick (an island, city, or resort) to go anywhere, Destination Search needs to know your results page. If Destination Filter is also enabled, this is shared with that module’s settings. Otherwise, set it in Destination Search’s own panel in the Hub (see Settings below). Without a results page set, the search still works for finding homes by name; destination picks just have nowhere to send the guest.

Settings #

If Destination Filter is enabled, Destination Search’s settings (placeholder, groups, results count, minimum characters, and results page) are managed from Destination Filter’s panel instead, since the two modules share one search configuration. A note in the Destination Search panel links you straight there.

If Destination Filter is off, Destination Search has its own panel:

<table>

<tr><th>Setting</th><th>What it controls</th></tr>

<tr><td>Placeholder</td><td>The text shown in the empty search field. Defaults to “Search homes, islands, cities…”</td></tr>

<tr><td>Search across</td><td>Which groups the search matches against: Homes (property names), Islands & sides, Cities, and Resorts. Each checked group gets its own heading in the results.</td></tr>

<tr><td>Results per group</td><td>How many matches show per group before the rest collapse behind a “+N more” link.</td></tr>

<tr><td>Minimum characters</td><td>How many characters a guest has to type before results appear.</td></tr>

<tr><td>Search results page</td><td>Where a destination pick redirects to, with that destination applied. Home picks always go straight to the property page regardless of this setting.</td></tr>

</table>

Every one of these can also be overridden for a single placement using shortcode attributes (placeholder, groups, results_url, max_per_group, min_chars, show_counts, autofocus, class), without changing the site-wide defaults.

Tips #

  • Use results_url on the shortcode to send one placement to a different results page than your site-wide default, useful for a destination-specific landing page.
  • For the full tabbed “Find Your Destination” popup inside your main Explorer search bar, use Destination Filter instead. The two share the same underlying destination data, so tagging your properties once covers both.
  • If picking a destination does nothing, check that a search results page is set, either in Destination Filter’s panel (if enabled) or in Destination Search’s own panel.