About the Website:

Your CiiRUS Website is built using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. HTML stands for Hyper Text Markup Language and is the standard markup language for web pages.

HTML is used together with CSS and JavaScript for building websites. It provides the sites’ basic structure, which is later enhanced by CSS and JavaScript.

CSS helps visually style the basic structure classified by HTML and it controls how the content’s layout is formatted and presented to the users.

JavaScript is used to make the website interactive and it controls the behavior of different content elements in response to user action.

Since the site is built using HTML, it makes it easier to control all the functionality on the site since it is easy to access the code to make modifications and updates.

So how does the website communicate with CiiRUS?

Well… everything is seamlessly connected! CiiRUS is your central platform where you can add and update properties with all the booking settings, images, descriptions, etc... Once it is saved in CiiRUS, it will automatically populate on your website.

Likewise, if a booking is made through your CiiRUS website or any connected channels (VRBO, Airbnb, Booking.com, ect), it will automatically update and block the calendar in real-time for all connected platforms.

We hope you enjoy reading through the Website Guide, to fully optimize your site and understand how it works with CiiRUS.  

Property Assistant:

During your Onboarding Journey & System Training, you will learn how to add/configure new properties in the system.

As soon as the property is added into CiiRUS, it will automatically stream onto your website. This includes all the property configuration, such as, the property images, descriptions, booking settings, rates, availability and so on.

To add a new property, please go to:

1. Owners & Homes
2. Add New Property
3. Follow the Assistant to complete set-up

How to de-activate a property on the website:

You can activate/de-activate properties for the website specifically. They can still be active in the system or on the channels but hidden on your site.

When a new property is added into CiiRUS, it will automatically be active on the website. To de-activate a property, please go to:

1. Owners & Homes
2. Quick Property Setup
3. Click “Website” from the “View Settings”
4. Click the checkbox within “Show on MC Website” to disable the property

In addition, you can hide the rates and the availability calendar from showing on the property details page, by disabling the check-box within “Show Rates List” or “Show Availability Calendar.” The following will be hidden:

Rates Tab:

Availability Calendar:

How to add Destinations / Communities:

Your website includes a drop-down field that will dynamically populate the locations that you have added into the system.

To add the locations to the website, please go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. General Settings
3. Advanced Settings
4. Location Editor
5. Select each location from the 4 dropdowns (must match the hierarchy in the property)
6. Click the “Plus” icon and Add
7. Update the location name according to what you’d like to display on the website

Featured Properties:

You can add up to six properties that you would like to feature from the home page:

To assign the featured properties, please go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. General Settings
3. Featured Properties
4. Select up to 6 properties from the drop-down choosers

SEO - Titles & Meta Tags:

SEO stands for search engine optimization (SEO) and describes an online marketing strategy that helps your website, as well as company, earn more online traffic by increasing your ranking in search results on search engines like Google and Bing.

While here at CiiRUS, we do not specalize in SEO, we give you the optimization tools needed such as the meta tags & titles, blog facility, and reviews and ratings.

Search engines use meta tags to interpret exactly what your website is all about. And they’re also read by people who are searching for websites just like yours. A meta title tag is a brief statement of what your page is about. Ideally, it should be around 60 characters.

To add your page meta tags and desciptions, go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. SEO
3. Titles & Meta Tags

SEO - Blog:

Updating the website with new content, is a great way to boost your SEO. What better way to do this, than using the blog!

To add blog posts, please go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. SEO
3. Blog / Guide
4. Add categories (theme parks, restruants, things to do, ect)
5. Click Add New and enter the category and title
6. Be sure to click "Enable" for the blog post to be visble on the site

SEO - Reviews & Ratings:

Guests can leave a review on the property page of your website after their stay. You can even send automated emails from the CRM in CiiRUS to ask the guest to leave a review after they depart.

When a guest leaves you a review, you will need to approve it in the system, before it will be visible on the site.

Past reviews or reviews from other platofrms can be added to your website, to again, help boost your rankings!

To add reviews or approve a review, please go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. SEO
3. Reviews & Ratings
4. Add and select the property
5. Enter the review details
6. Be sure to click "Enable" for the review to be visble on the site

SEO - Google Analytics:

Google Analytics has been integrated to CiiRUS, allowing in depth analysis of your web marketing campaigns.

To connect your Google Analytics account, please provide your Google Analytics ID, Username, and Password for us to esablish the connection.

You can also provide your tracking code, that we can add to the HTML of your website.

Please click here for steps on how to get the HTML Tracking Code.

Property Sort Order:

By default, the search page is ordered by availability - homes with more availability, will appear first. Once the guest passes dates, then the page will load the available units based on the filters applied.

If you prefer, you can order the units to show in a particular order.

To order the properties, please go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. Property Sort Order
3. Specify to order the units by availablity or based on the list to the right
4. Use the list to drag-and-drop the units in the order to display

Contact Form / View Web Inquiries:

A guest can submit a question or inquire about a unit, using the Contact Form.

Their inquiry will land in the system where you can respond to their message.

For further assistance using this module, please contact our Customer Success Team

To view the Web Inquiries, please go to:

1. Reservations & Quoting
2. View Web Inquiries
3. View the inquries in the table and click "Reply"

Search Page Listing Details:

The Search Page works seamlessly with the system. Any changes made to the listing details in the system, will automatically reflect on the webiste.

To update the listing details, please select the unit and go to:

1. Owners & Homes
2. Property Assistant
3. Click on "Title / Bullet Points"

1. Headline: This is for VRBO only. A catchy title.
2. Property Title: This is the name of the unit that will display on the website. Make this a catchy title, too!
3. Bullet Points: Enter up to 5 bullet points, essentially, the 5 selling features of the home
4. Search Grid Overview: Enter a short description of the home. This is not required, if you fill out the bullet points instead.
5. Plain Text Description: Enter the full description of the home. This will display on the property details page on the website.
6. Location Description: Not required, but this is a short description of where the home is located. This will show on the property details page under the map on the website.

Number of Properties on the Search Page:

The Search Page can display up to 15 units per page.

The reason it cannot show more units per page, is due to the load time. Having more units, can cause the page to load much slower.

You have the ability to specifiy how many units you would like to show on the page. Currently, this setting is only available in the downloadable Windows Application. If you are using CiiRUS One, please contact us and let us know how many units you would like to show.

To specify the number of units, please go to:

1. Website & Marketing
2. General Settings
3. Within the "Property Search Grid" tab, specify the number of units to display

Property Details Page:

The Property Details Page works seamlessly with the system. For instance, if you add a new property in CiiRUS, or delete a property, it will reflect on the website. Furthermore, if you update a description, change the rates, add new images, ect, those changes will display in near-real time on the site.

Changes to the property page, can be made within the Property Assistant in the system. Let's start from the top of the page, to the bottom:

1. Image Gallery: To upload new images, change the order, or delete an image, click on "Images"
2. Property Overview: To update or add the description of the home, click on "Title / Bullet Points" and edit the Plain text description
3. Property Features: To specify the amenities within the home, click on the "Location" tab and then " Features"
4. Availability Calendar: It's important to import your current reservations so the calendar on your website is up to date, prior to going live. Please contact our Customer Success Team for more information
5. Location: Specify the address of the home, by clicking on the "Location" tab. Enter the GPS coordinate codes, so the map can show the area of the home.
6. Rates: Pricing and rates are added to the system, within the "Rateset" tab. Add each rate band and assign it to the unit.

Custom Property Features:

In addition to the general property features / amenities that come with the system, additional and custom features can be created.

You can upload your own icon, and then assign the feature to the applicable units.

We reccomend choosing an icon from Flat Icon.

The custom features will appear within the features section on the property details page. If you would like to add the custom feature to the search page for a guest to filter by, please contact us.

To add a custom property feature, please go to:

1. Owners & Homes
2. Custom Property Features
3. Select “Upload Icons”
4. Click to Browse and select the icon
5. Click Upload and once upload click “edit icons”
6. Click “assign to properties”
7. Select the property from the dropdown
8. Select the icon and click “update property” over to the right and update to confirm
9. Repeat steps for each property and feature

Please note, it is $10 per custom amenity to add to the search page of your website.

Google Maps API Key:

You may have noticed a map on the property page, that displays the location of the selected property. Unless a Google API Key has been obtained, the map is likely to throw an error.

To obtain a Google API key for your website, please login to your Google Account and click here.

Follow the instuctions on the page above to obtain the key. Then copy the key and paste it into CiiRUS.

To add the key to CiiRUS, please go to:

1. Account Settings
2. Software Settings Assistant
3. Navigate to GuestPass
4. Paste the key in the "Google Maps API Key" field
5. Save and clear your website's cache to see the map

Add a Custom Token:

The property details page can be customized with tokens. For example, perhaps you'd like to add a video or Matterport tour of the property to the page. This can be accomplished using a custom token!

First, we will place a token onto the details page that will dyanmically populate with the video, once the iframe (the embed code) has been added. You will then need to paste the iframe from the video, into CiiRUS.

To add the iframe of the video, please follow these steps:

1. Locate the iframe and copy it
2. Go to Owners & Homes
3. Descriptions
4. Tokens
5. Select the applicable token and paste the iframe into the "Token Value" field
6. Repeat for each applicable property