HOSTING, BUYING AND RENTING

Listing Your Property:

Listing your property such as homes, rooms or land on Occupyproperties is completely free. To get started, after registration and login, click Become a Host in the header on the top-right corner of the any page on the platform. Clicking on Rent Out Your Property or Space to list your property or rooms or Create Home or Land for Sale to list homes or land for sale. Clicking on the appropriate link will take you to the screen where you will be asked to enter all relevant information regarding your listing, including title, description, price, location, and amenities, photos and house rules, if you are listing a rental property or room. You can set different prices for day or nightly stays, monthly stays or yearly stays depending on your preference. It also allows you to select the special amenities and features that your property has or that you provide. Ensure your title and description of your property are accurate, clear, concise, and captivating, while maintaining true and correct reflection of your space, property, experience or adventure or social dining in order to attract potential renters, buyers or travelers to your listing. 

Furthermore, you may also provide your neighborhood information and short list of tourist attractions that may be available around you or close to your area, such as Schools, Historical Sites, Museums, Beaches, Restaurants, Rivers, Parks, Night Clubs, Shopping Malls, Festivals, Libraries, Mountains, Hills, Lakes, Game Reserves, Zoos and other things to do or see in your for your prospective guests, renters or buyers.

We encourage you to ensure your property is very clean before each guest’s arrival for nightly, monthly or yearly renters. This includes providing clean bed sheets, pillow cases, towels, washcloths, kitchen utensils etc. for your guest(s) and regularly changing linens, cleaning surfaces, wiping mirrors and emptying wastebaskets in your bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen. 


Your Profile:

Your profile is a representative of yourself. It enables your guests to get to know you before they meet you in person. As such, upload a recent and clear picture of yourself and enter details about yourself as a host to enable your potential guests to know more about you. Likewise, the Guest, Renter or Traveler must create and upload his or her profile information to the platform to enable the Host to identify them. To do this, click on your name or profile picture at the top right corner of the site after you log in and click Dashboard. Click Profile link on the top grey bar at the top of the site in your user panel. Enter your profile details in EDIT PROFILE such as your first and last name in the name fields and other information as requested; write something about yourself in the ABOUT ME box to enable your prospective guests to learn about you, as the information you provided will enable you to get bookings for your property from prospective guests. Upload a recent photograph of yourself by clicking PHOTOS on the left pane. Please note that your full name, address and phone number(s) will not be revealed to your prospective guests until you have approved your guest/traveler booking requests. 

Under no circumstance should a host/agent discriminate against a guest in terms the kind of people they want to host. Doing so is against Occupyproperties.com Terms of Use and Terms of Service and such host will be removed from the platform. 

Online and Offline ID Verification:

The platform is based on trust and allows you to connect your account to Social Networks such as Facebook, Google, Linkedin or Twitter for online identity verification. Furthermore, you must upload your government issued Driver License,Real Estate or Agency ID or Number, ID Card, Passport or Voter Card to the platform for identification purposes. To do this, go to the Trust and Verification link on the left plane under PROFILE. Select your country and enter your phone number, and upload your Driver License, ID Card, Passport or Voter Card for verification. Occupyproperties team must verify the document(s) your provided before you can commence transactions or use the site.

Property/Space (Room) Types:

Occupyproperties.com enables listing of the following properties or spaces by hosts/agents which can be rented on a daily, weekly, monthly or yealy basis, depending on the specification of the host/agent: Apartment, House, Bungalow, Cabin, Camper/RV, Castle, etc can be listed.

Property: 

We encourage all prospective hosts/agents to upload very clear, attractive or professional pictures of their properties or spaces (rooms) in their listings. Your pictures are part of your selling points to prospective guests, renters or buyers. 

Availability Calendar: 

It is also important that hosts set the availability of their properties or spaces in Calendar to ensure that guests don’t contact them when their properties or spaces (rooms) are not available for reservation on the platform. To locate the calendar, click on your name or profile picture after you log in to the platform and then click My Properties on the upper right corner of the site. Click Manage Property and Calendar. Important: You must have finished creating your property or space (room) listing before you will be able to set your availability calendar in the system. Click on the appropriate dates and select Available, Not Available or Booked as your preference or set Special Prices for your property or space (room). 

Property: 

Proper pricing of your property or space (room) on Occupyproperties is your responsibility as a host/agent. It is up to you to determine the price of your property or space (room). However, we encourage you to see prices of similar properties in your area or location when determining what to charge for your listing. 

Communication: 

Communicating clearly with your guests is very essential to successful hosting on Occupyproperties.com. It’s very important to let your guest know in advance what your property looks like and what your requirements are before they book your property or room. Use the messaging system on the platform to send and receive messages regarding your reservations. The messaging tools: (Envelope Icon for Property Hosts and icon next to the Envelope Icon for For Sale Homes or Land messages) can be found in the upper right corner of the site after login. The messaging system enables you and your potential renters or guests to ask questions and get answers from each other regarding expectations. Proper communication with your guests will ensure that your guests understand you and your offering and give you good reviews after hosting or buying. 

Booking:

The platform provides you and your guests, renters or buyers all the necessary booking and reservation tools. There are two types of property or space (room) booking available to Guests or Renters on the platform, depending on the ones activated by the Host/Agent for property or space booking: There is the Instant Book, which enables Guests or Renters to make instant and direct booking, without the interference of the Host. Instant Book is automatically approved by the system for the Host/agent, if the host/agent activates this feature when listing their space (room) or property. Furthermore, there is the Request to Book, which enables the Host/Agent to allow booking requests of their properties and such requests must be approved by the Host/Agent within 24 hours before the booking is finalized. When a guest (renter or traveler requests a booking of your property using Request to Book, the host/Agent has 24 hours to accept or reject the booking; otherwise the booking request will expire after 24 hours. It is important that you as the Host/Agent respond to every booking request from your prospective guests in a timely manner, as lack of response may negatively affect you as a host/Agent. 

Contacting Host/Agent or Property Owner:

The platform also has Messaging tools, which allows a Guest, or Renter to contact a Host/Agent or Property Owner and the Host/Agent or Property Owner to contact the Guest, Renter or Buyer. This feature (envelope icon for Property messages and icon next to the envelope icon for Properties for Sale messages) can be found in the upper right corner of the platform after a user is logged in to the site. Renters or Buyers can ask a host/agent or property owner questions pertaining to the property or land or any kind of questions they might have before or after booking a property or space (room). Similarly, Host/Agent or Property Owner can ask the Guest, Buyer or Renter relevant questions regarding their reservation.

Hosting/Property Owner Fees:

Listing your property on Occupyproperties.com is completely free, however, the platform charges a hosting fee to cover the cost of the transaction, if a renter or buyer successfully books your listing. 

Host/Agent or Property Owner Payout:

The platform enables you to set how you will like to receive your pay. This includes Paypal, and Bank Transfers. When you accept a booking as host/agent or Property Owner, the payment for booking your property is held by Occupyproperties.com until 48 hours after your guest’s check-in date. Thereafter, you will receive the payment in your account. To set your Host/Agent or Property OWner Payout Method, first log in to your user panel and click Account on the top grey bar, after clicking on your name or profile picture on the top right corner of the site and click Payout Preferences on the left pane. There are two payout methods available to hosts: Bank Payout Method and Paypal Payout Method. If you choose to use Paypal as your payout method, you must create or have a Paypal account and you must be living in a Paypal Accepted Country, otherwise select Bank Payout Method. To see a list of Paypal Accepted Countries click here. 

To use Bank Payout Method, select Add Bank Payout Method under Payout Preferences and enter all your required Bank Account information, depending on the country you live and choose to receive your payout. For detailed information required for Bank Payout in your country, click here.

Get Verified:

Verification is very important to successful hosting: E-mail address, ID Card, Real Estate ID or Number, Driver's License, Passport and Phone Number are various forms of verification. Furthermore, online ID verifications such as connecting your account to Facebook, Google, Linkedin or Twitter are also important. 

Reviews:

The platform enables hosts to write a review of their guests after their checkout dates. It equally enables the guests to write a review of the hosts regarding their stay with the hosts.

To post a review after hosting of the guest or renter, make sure you are logged in and go to the Dashboard, if you are not there already. On the Dashboard, you will find Booked Trips on the right pane of the screen. Click Waiting For Your Review button. This link will take you to your booked properties where you will find the booked property you want to review. On the property, click Review. 

RENTING or BUYING: 

Signing up:

Creating an account as a guest, renter or buyer is totally free. To create an account, click Signup in the upper right corner of the platform and enter all relevant information when prompted. Once you complete the signup process, go directly to the e-mail account that you provided during registration to locate an email that we sent you regarding your new Occupyproperties.com account and activate your Occupyproperties account. 

You may also check your Spam box, if you can’t find it in your In-Box. Click the link inside the email to activate your account and return to the site to complete your profile.

Searching for a Property:

Searching for a property or space (room) to stay when traveling or residing is very easy on Occupyproperties. To begin, you can use the Search tool on the front page or the property view page on the platform, by entering the name of the area, town or city where you are going; Check-in and Check-out dates and the number of guests (if any) and clicking the Search button when you finish to see the properties listed by hosts in that area, town or city. 

Property search tool is also available to guests, renters or travelers at the top search bar after clicking on their respective links or tabs on the front page of the site and on the properties view pages on the site.


Your Profile:

Your profile is a representative of yourself. It enables your guests to get to know their hosts and hosts to know their guests before they meet you in person. As such, upload a recent and clear picture of yourself and enter details about yourself to enable the hosts to identify you as the person who booked their property or space during your trip.  To do this, click on your name or profile picture at the top right corner of the site after you log in and click Dashboard. Click Profile link on the top grey bar at the top of the site in your user panel. Enter your profile details in EDIT PROFILE, such as your first and last name in the name fields and other information as required by the platform; write something about yourself in the ABOUT ME field to enable your prospective hosts to learn about you. Upload a recent photograph of yourself by clicking PHOTOS on the left pane. Please note that your full name, address and phone number(s) will not be revealed to your prospective hosts until they have approved your booking requests. 

Online ID Verification:

The platform is based on trust and allows you to connect your account to Social Networks such as Facebook, Google, Linkedin or Twitter for online identity verification. To do this, go to the Dashboard, if you are not already there. To get to the Dashboard, click on your Profile icon or Profile picture on the top navigation bar and highlight My Account. Once My Account is highlighted, you will find the Dashboard link on the left side of it. Once on the Dashboard, you will see a wheel icon next to the word Traveling. Click on the wheel icon and look for Social in the drop-down menu. Click on Social. Once on the Social page, you will find various Social Network icons. Click on each Social Network that you are a member of by clicking on Connect With button in blue colour next to the Social Network icon to verify your identity, using Social Network. 

Booking a Property: 

Once you find the property or room that you like, you can proceed to booking or reserving by clicking on the Instant Book Request to Book or Book It button next to the property and profile pictures of the host or property owner. This enables you to enter specific reservation dates and payment information. However, you will not be charged unless and until the host accepts your booking request, except you choose Instant Booking. Thereafter, Occupyproperties.com will hold your payment until after your checkout date when it is then released to your host/Agent as your payment. 


Payment Authorization: 
Occupyproperties or its payment partners may authorize traveler’s Debit or Credit card. When authorization is done on a user’s debit or credit card, a little amount of money is deducted from that user’s card to ensure that there is money on the card. The deduction is thereafter returned to user’s account automatically. 

WishList: 

The Wishlist feature can be found in the property view page during property search. Wishlist enables travelers to save any property they like for future booking or reservation. 

Reviews: 

The platform enables you to post a review of your host and your stay on the platform. It also enables your host to post a review of you and your stay after your checkout date. To post a review after your stay at your host's property, make sure you are logged in and go to the Dashboard, if you are not already there. On the Dashboard, you will find My Reservations, just below Revenue on the left pane. Look for Waiting for Renter or Traveler Review. This link will take you to your booked property or room when clicked where you will find the property or room you want to review. Click Review.  


Security Deposits: 

A host/agent or property owner may require security deposit from his renter or guest to cover accidents that may occur during hosting, such as broken door or window, unreturned keys or spills on rugs etc. Host/Agent or Property Owner usually adds this type of deposit before any booking by renter or traveler. If everything goes well during the stay without any damages to the property, your security deposit will be automatically refunded to your account.