feat(vrbo): add VRBO vacation-rental search skill via Patchright

README.md

@@ -204,6 +204,7 @@ Start here: the **orchestration skills** call everything else automatically.
 | **rapidapi** | Booking.com hotel prices. | RapidAPI |
 | **serpapi** | Google Hotels search and destination discovery. | SerpAPI |
 | **ticketsatwork** | TicketsAtWork (EBG) corporate-perks portal. Hotels, theme park tickets, attractions, live events. Often beats portals by 10-30%. Docker: `ghcr.io/borski/ticketsatwork`. | None (requires TaW account + Patchright) |
+| **vrbo** | VRBO whole-home, condo, and cabin search via Patchright. Complements Airbnb for group stays. | None (requires Patchright) |
 <!-- END: readme:hotels -->
 
 Also use **tripadvisor** (under Destinations) for hotel ratings, rankings, subratings, and reviews.

llms.txt

@@ -51,6 +51,7 @@ Skill listings below are auto-generated from `skills/*/SKILL.md` frontmatter by
 - [Rapidapi](https://github.com/borski/travel-hacking-toolkit/blob/main/skills/rapidapi/SKILL.md): Booking.com hotel prices.
 - [Serpapi](https://github.com/borski/travel-hacking-toolkit/blob/main/skills/serpapi/SKILL.md): Google Hotels search and destination discovery.
 - [Ticketsatwork](https://github.com/borski/travel-hacking-toolkit/blob/main/skills/ticketsatwork/SKILL.md): TicketsAtWork (EBG) corporate-perks portal. Hotels, theme park tickets, attractions, live events. Often beats portals by 10-30%. Docker: `ghcr.io/borski/ticketsatwork`.
+- [Vrbo](https://github.com/borski/travel-hacking-toolkit/blob/main/skills/vrbo/SKILL.md): VRBO whole-home, condo, and cabin search via Patchright. Complements Airbnb for group stays.
 <!-- END: llms:hotels -->
 
 ## Loyalty and Points

plugins/travel-hacking-toolkit/skills/compare-hotels/SKILL.md

@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ Run these in parallel where possible. **Never fail silently.**
 | Source | Skill/Tool | Speed | What It Finds |
 |--------|------------|-------|---------------|
 | Airbnb | `airbnb_search` MCP tool | ~5s | Entire homes, private rooms, with total pricing |
+| VRBO | `vrbo` skill (Patchright) | ~20s | Whole homes, condos, cabins. Professionally-managed units often not on Airbnb. Headed/Docker — behind Akamai. |
 
 ### Premium Property Databases (local, instant)
 
@@ -80,6 +81,9 @@ PARALLEL GROUP 1 (fast, ~3-5s):
   - Airbnb: vacation rentals in the area
   - Local data: check premium-hotels databases for the city
 
+PARALLEL GROUP 1b (slower, ~20s, headed/Docker — behind Akamai):
+  - VRBO: whole homes / condos / cabins — vrbo skill (run alongside Airbnb for whole-home comparisons)
+
 PARALLEL GROUP 2 (slow, ~45s, Docker):
   - Chase Travel: --hotel --dest "City" --checkin YYYY-MM-DD --checkout YYYY-MM-DD --json
   - Amex Travel: --hotel --dest "City" --checkin YYYY-MM-DD --checkout YYYY-MM-DD --json

plugins/travel-hacking-toolkit/skills/vrbo/Dockerfile

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+FROM ghcr.io/borski/patchright-docker:latest
+
+COPY scripts/search_vrbo.py /app/search_vrbo.py
+COPY scripts/entrypoint.sh /app/entrypoint.sh
+RUN chmod +x /app/entrypoint.sh
+
+ENV VRBO_IN_DOCKER=1
+
+ENTRYPOINT ["/app/entrypoint.sh"]

plugins/travel-hacking-toolkit/skills/vrbo/SKILL.md

@@ -0,0 +1,158 @@
+---
+name: vrbo
+description: Search VRBO (Vrbo / Expedia Group) vacation rentals including entire homes, condos, and cabins via Patchright browser automation. VRBO sits behind Akamai Bot Manager so plain HTTP and standard Playwright get a 429 bot wall. Use for whole-home or group stays, multi-bedroom rentals, and Airbnb-vs-VRBO comparisons. Trigger phrases include search VRBO, Vrbo rentals, vacation rental, cabin rental, whole house, condo for the group.
+category: hotels
+summary: VRBO whole-home, condo, and cabin search via Patchright. Complements Airbnb for group stays.
+api_key: None (requires Patchright)
+---
+
+# VRBO Search
+
+Search VRBO vacation rentals via Patchright and return whole-home / condo / cabin
+listings with pricing and booking links. VRBO is the natural complement to the
+Airbnb MCP for group and family stays — many mountain-town and resort property
+managers cross-list on both, but VRBO carries professionally-managed condos and
+cabins that don't always appear on Airbnb.
+
+**Requires Patchright** (undetected Playwright fork). VRBO sits behind **Akamai
+Bot Manager** — plain HTTP, standard Playwright, `@playwright/mcp`, and
+agent-browser all get a `429 Too Many Requests` ("Provisioned request rate has
+been exceeded") bot wall. Patchright passes Akamai's sensor and earns the
+`_abck` cookie. This is the same wall — and the same fix — as the chase-travel /
+amex-travel / southwest skills.
+
+**Must run headed (`headless=False`).** Akamai flags headless browsers. On macOS
+a Chrome window briefly appears. For background / unattended runs, use Docker
+(Xvfb provides the virtual display).
+
+**No login required.** VRBO search results are public — unlike chase-travel /
+amex-travel, there are no credentials. The persistent profile only caches the
+Akamai cookie so repeat searches re-challenge less.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+```bash
+pip install patchright && patchright install chromium
+```
+
+Or use Docker (no local install, headed via Xvfb):
+
+```bash
+docker build -t vrbo skills/vrbo/
+```
+
+## When to Use
+
+- Group / family stays where you want a whole home, condo, or cabin
+- "Compare Airbnb vs VRBO in <place>"
+- Multi-bedroom rentals with separate rooms (the multi-person trip pattern)
+- Resort / mountain towns (Canmore, Banff-area, Whistler, Muskoka) where
+  professional property managers list condos on VRBO that aren't on Airbnb
+
+## When NOT to Use
+
+- **Completing a booking.** This skill finds rentals and returns links only. Do
+  not attempt to complete a purchase.
+- **Hotels.** Use compare-hotels / serpapi / liteapi / the portal skills.
+- **Single rooms / shared rooms.** VRBO is whole-property only; for private
+  rooms in a shared home use the Airbnb MCP (`private_room`).
+
+## Usage
+
+```bash
+# Local (pops up a Chrome window on macOS)
+python3 skills/vrbo/scripts/search_vrbo.py \
+  --dest "Canmore, Alberta, Canada" \
+  --checkin 2026-06-26 --checkout 2026-07-02 --adults 3 --json
+
+# Whole homes with 3+ bedrooms
+python3 skills/vrbo/scripts/search_vrbo.py \
+  --dest "Canmore, Alberta" --checkin 2026-06-26 --checkout 2026-07-02 \
+  --adults 3 --min-bedrooms 3 --json
+
+# Docker (headless host, headed browser via Xvfb)
+docker run --rm vrbo \
+  --dest "Canmore, Alberta" --checkin 2026-06-26 --checkout 2026-07-02 \
+  --adults 3 --json
+```
+
+### Arguments
+
+| Flag | Default | Notes |
+|------|---------|-------|
+| `--dest` | required | Destination keyword, e.g. `"Canmore, Alberta, Canada"`. VRBO resolves it to a regionId server-side. |
+| `--checkin` / `--checkout` | required | ISO `YYYY-MM-DD`. Must be today or later. |
+| `--adults` | 2 | Traveler count. |
+| `--children` | 0 | |
+| `--pets` | off | Pet-friendly only. |
+| `--min-bedrooms` | 0 | Client-side filter (VRBO's URL filter is unreliable). |
+| `--limit` | 20 | Max listings returned. |
+| `--retries` | 4 | Akamai retry attempts (homepage warm-up → SERP). |
+| `--json` | off | Emit JSON to stdout (use this for orchestration). |
+
+## Output
+
+JSON shape (with `--json`):
+
+```json
+{
+  "source": "vrbo",
+  "extractor": "__PLUS_REDUX_STORE__ | dom:lodging-card | dom:anchors",
+  "searchUrl": "https://www.vrbo.com/search?...",
+  "count": 12,
+  "listings": [
+    {
+      "id": "1234567",
+      "name": "Mountain-View Condo Steps from Main St",
+      "bedrooms": 3, "bathrooms": 2, "sleeps": 6,
+      "rating": 4.9, "reviewCount": 84,
+      "priceText": "The current price is CA $312 CA $312 CA $2,184 total includes taxes & fees",
+      "pricePerNight": 312, "priceTotal": 2184, "priceIncludesTaxes": true,
+      "lat": 51.08, "lng": -115.35,
+      "url": "https://www.vrbo.com/en-ca/cottage-rental/p1234567?..."
+    }
+  ]
+}
+```
+
+`extractor` tells you which layer produced the data. `__PLUS_REDUX_STORE__` is
+richest (bedrooms, coords, review counts); `dom:lodging-card` is reliable but
+thinner (the common case — names, prices, URLs); `dom:anchors` is a last-ditch
+id+url scrape — if you see that, the page shape changed and selectors need a
+refresh (file a P2 task).
+
+**Prices:** the SERP price string is parsed into `pricePerNight` and
+`priceTotal`. Verified against live data: VRBO's SERP **total includes taxes &
+fees** (`priceIncludesTaxes: true`) — `priceTotal` is the all-in for the whole
+stay, `pricePerNight` is the lead nightly rate. This satisfies the
+hotel-comparison standard's all-in requirement directly; still open the listing
+URL to confirm before booking, since a damage deposit or optional add-ons may
+not be in the SERP figure.
+
+## Tests
+
+The pure logic (search-URL building, Akamai block/challenge detection, SERP
+price parsing, skeleton filtering, listing enrichment) is covered by stdlib
+`unittest` tests — no browser, network, or Patchright needed (the `patchright`
+import is lazy):
+
+```bash
+python3 -m unittest discover -s skills/vrbo/tests -v   # or: python3 -m pytest skills/vrbo/tests
+```
+
+17 tests, no third-party deps. The browser-driven path (Akamai bypass, DOM
+extraction) can't be unit-tested without a live residential connection — verify
+it manually with a real search (see Usage above). The repo smoke test
+(`scripts/smoke-test.sh`) separately validates this skill's frontmatter and
+structure.
+
+## Known fragility
+
+- **Akamai is IP-rate-limited.** Datacenter / CI / VPN IPs are frequently
+  blocked even with Patchright. Run on a residential connection for best
+  results. If every retry 429s, the script exits 1 with a clear message — that
+  is an environment block, not a code bug.
+- **DOM selectors drift.** VRBO/Expedia revise their `data-stid` design system
+  periodically. The extractor tries the embedded state blob first (most stable),
+  then `data-stid` cards, then a generic anchor scrape. If `extractor` is
+  `dom:anchors`, refresh the Layer-1/2 selectors.

plugins/travel-hacking-toolkit/skills/vrbo/scripts/entrypoint.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Start a virtual display so Patchright can run headed (Akamai detects headless).
+Xvfb :99 -screen 0 1440x900x24 -nolisten tcp &
+export DISPLAY=:99
+sleep 1
+
+exec python3 /app/search_vrbo.py "$@"