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We are excited to announce our partnership with LocalOTA as a new first-class channel partner!
LocalOTA is a white-label travel software provider dedicated to empowering travel businesses of all kinds, from individual hotels and home rentals, to DMOs such as visitor centers, as well as international OTAs similar to Airbnb and Booking.com, making them a versatile choice for enhancing local travel offerings.
Driven by the belief that traditional OTAs are overly exploitative, their software is designed to create a fair alternative while offering all the same features of a more expensive OTA. Since their founding, they have supported a diverse array of businesses, continually growing while staying true to their mission of leveling the playing field for hosts in the online travel industry.
You can now list your properties on HipInn.com, GOhostels.com, and BigBear.com!
Learn more about LocalOTA by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for integrating OwnerRez with LocalOTA.
Prepare your holiday spirit by dashing into the OwnerRez November Product Update! As we enter a busy season for 2025 bookings, discover some timely gifts such as the new Quote Triggers, additional Property Search Widget Amenity Filters (e.g., pet-friendly, smoking allowed), Map Pin channel display, and more.
We've all seen it: a potential guest begins your website's "Book Now" process but doesn't complete the reservation. They may have been evaluating their options for a larger group or exploring different choices. Still, following up to address any questions and remind them to finalize their booking was essential. However, following up with these potential guests was a frustrating, manual process for OwnerRez users.
Our November 6th release includes new immediate and scheduled Quote Triggers, allowing you to send follow-up templates to potential guests who started your website's "Book Now" process. These new Quote Triggers can be configured to send your follow-up template immediately after a quote is sent.
Or the Quote Trigger can be scheduled to be sent a few days after a quote is sent.
There should be no shame in your guest communication game. Be sure to check out all of the OwnerRez Messaging options.
Presenting your property's amenities on your hosted website promotes transparency and empowers potential renters to make informed decisions. Detailed amenity filters that attract guests seeking pet-friendly or specific amenities enhance guest satisfaction and your property's overall marketability.
As part of our November 6th release, we added additional Amenity filters to the Availability/Property Search Widget for Hosted and Integrated Websites. These new Availability/Property Search Widget Amenity Suitability Filters include the following.
You can add these new Suitability Amenity Filters to your Availability/Property Search Widget by navigating to your Hosted Website > Properties webpage > Availability/Property Search Widget > Change Settings > Filters > Amenity Filters > Suitability.
These new Suitability Amenity Filters will be displayed on your Hosted or Integrated Website Property page.
Are you considering a hosted website for your vacation rental property? Learn all about OwnerRez Hosted Websites.
OwnerRez's API for Apps is available to partners and users who want to communicate with our software. In November, our OwnerRez API v2 had several updates.
Due to numerous partner and user requests, OwnerRez added the capability to fetch property reviews in our November 13th release.
With our November 20th release, we added support for both inquiries and quotes.
We also improved the performance of outbound webhooks, fixed long custom fields from causing booking endpoint errors, and smoothened the auto-pausing and notification process for high-failure webhooks.
These API v2 updates include support for WordPress plugins and Integrated websites in the OwnerRez API v2. To access the reviews endpoint, the WordPress Plugin + Integrated Websites premium feature must be enabled.
Learn more by reading our OAuth Apps support article.
The November 6th release improved the OwnerRez Support Center navigation menu design, giving it a cleaner, crisper look and feel on both desktop and mobile.
Gone are the large green categories, and much like the OwnerRez app, the navigation menu now includes simplified icons.
Stay abreast of all the OwnerRez design updates by reading the New Design 2024 support article.
Highlighting your property's amenities fosters transparency and helps potential renters make informed choices. Precise details build trust, set expectations, and attract guests looking for specific comforts, enhancing their satisfaction and your property's appeal.
With our November 6th release, OwnerRez has reorganized and moved some amenity features to other areas. Let's review these changes one by one.
The Amenities Type section was moved to the top of the Accommodations page, and the Wheelchair Accessible and Shared Spaces from Accommodations were collapsed into the Accommodation Type section (Properties > specific Property > Listing Content > Accommodations> Change > Type).
Events and Smoking was moved to a new Suitability Restrictions section within the Property Rules area (Properties > specific Property > General Info > Rules > Change > Suitability Restrictions), just above Occupancy Restrictions.
The Long-term Renters Welcome, Senior Adults Only Community, and Additional Info options have been removed from Amenities, as we feel that information is best suited for Property Descriptions.
Why all these changes to Amenities? These updates to the Amenities section are essential as they are part of our overall plan to revamp the entire Amenities page, which is expected to be released in early 2025.
Both Airbnb and Vrbo recently provided data showing that listings using Map Pin—a setting that displays your property's location on the map without revealing the exact address—perform better in search results and are more likely to convert to bookings.
Not only that, there are a number of other reasons why listings using Map Pin are more successful.
Having Airbnb and Vrbo listings set to "Use Property Default" for location display could lead to inconsistencies and missed booking opportunities, so OwnerRez will be switching all properties using "Use Property Default" to Map Pin in early December. If you prefer the new setting, you need not take any additional action; we'll update it for you. And hey, you're making the right decision!
Check your current property location settings by navigating to Settings > Channels > your Airbnb and/or Vrbo channel > Change > Options > Map Display section > and selecting either Map pin or General Area. You can also opt-out of either by selecting Use Property Default for your location display.
OwnerRez emailed all users with affected properties whose Airbnb and Vrbo listings are set to "Use Property Default" for location display.
OwnerRez's Channel Management integrations effectively streamline your advertising on both Airbnb and Vrbo. With our November 13th release, OwnerRez has added more information from your Airbnb and Vrbo integrations to the "Check Status" display for each property under its respective API connection.
Want to view your Airbnb or Vrbo Listing Status displays? Navigate to Settings > API Integrations > either your Airbnb or Vrbo channel > and select Check Status from the Actions dropdown list on the right side.
When clicked on, the Check Status popup will appear. In addition to the Check Status and Quality Standards of your Airbnb listings, you can now view Host Roles and Regulation Requirements.
If sent to OwnerRez, any Regulation Requirements will be displayed, but if no regulation requirement items are provided to OwnerRez, no Regulation Requirements will be displayed.
When you click on Check Status for your Vrbo listing (Settings > API Integrations > your Vrbo channel > and from the right side Actions dropdown list, select Check Status), your Vrbo Legal Registration (if returned) will be displayed.
OwnerRez's incredibly powerful Channel Management feature can simplify all your channel advertising. Be sure to check out all of our Channel Integrations.
As part of our November 20th release, OwnerRez now supports Booking.com's Payments Clarity Package. The Payments Clarity Package enables hosts to retrieve more granular information via Virtual Credit Cards (VCC), bank transfers, and even agency reservations, whereas Booking.com (BDC) doesn't have to facilitate financial transactions.
BDC's Payments Clarity Package also supports their new automated tax calculation and remittance capability for some U.S. states. How will these tax capabilities affect your BDC API-connected property? Learn more about that by reading Booking.com's Understanding tax remittance management in the US
Not familiar with Smart Locks? A great place to start is by reviewing our Smart Lock Overview vacation rental guide and then checking out all of OwnerRez's door lock integration options.
Farewell, TripAdvisor! Effective October 2024, TripAdvisor officially closed its rental business, including Holiday Lettings, FlipKey, and Niumba, so OwnerRez sunsetted the TripAdvisor API integration on November 6th.
OwnerRez had a long-standing relationship with TripAdvisor and FlipKey. TripAdvisor was one of the first API integrations that OwnerRez undertook, so this sunset is particularly bittersweet for us.
TripAdvisor's August 2008 acquisition of Flipkey rocked the vacation rental industry, so it's no surprise that on June 19th, 2011 (13 years ago!), we announced our New calendar synchronization for FlipKey and TripAdvisor. Also, TripAdvisor was prominently featured in our October 10th, 2018, Introducing OwnerRez Channels Product Update blog post.
Don't Display URLs in Search Result Previews. OwnerRez search results incorrectly displayed URLs in the search result previews. We fixed this bug, and search result previews will no longer display URLs.
Fill in the Correct Number of Adults and Children in Quick Quote. While the inquiry was valid, clicking the Create Quote link from the guest conversation view did not auto-populate the correct number of Adults and Children in the Create Quote popup. OR corrected this glitch, and the correct number of Adults and Children will be auto-populated in the Create Quote popup when linked from the guest conversation.
Fix Cases Where Taxes For a Booking Could be Negative. In rare instances, tax amounts were calculated as negative if the rent was not taxable and included a taxable discount. We have resolved this issue, and now, rents that are classified as not taxable while containing a taxable discount will not result in negative tax amounts.
Guest Review Form Character Limit to 10,000. While the Guest Review form displayed an allowance of a maximum of 10,000 characters, it limited guest reviews to less than 1,000 characters. OR resolved this issue, and Guest Review forms will again allow up to a maximum of 10,000 characters.
Specify Bookable Gap Selections on Conditions Editor Dropdown. Some users found the language of our new "Gap" fields confusing since the logic only looks at "available" gaps, not all gaps. We have clarified the language by adding the suffix "(bookable)" after the title of all three fields: Arrival Gap, Departure Gap, and Arrival Or Departure Gap.
Update Error Messages to Accurately Show Minimum Nights Rule Violation. Even though the minimum night rule was configured, error messages did not accurately display the minimum night rule violation when expected. OR fixed this glitch to ensure that minimum night rule violations are accurately displayed on error messages.
Update Error Page Message With Support Ticket Option. We've updated the text on error messages to include a link to open a Support Ticket.
Add LQA Check for Vrbo Charge Category Taxability Mismatch. Users with multiple surcharges in the same category, one taxable and the other non-taxable, discovered that all surcharges in that category were deemed taxable for Vrbo bookings, even though some surcharges were set as non-taxable. OR resolved this issue by adding an additional Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) check for taxable and non-taxable surcharges applicable to the Vrbo and the same property and charge category and display the following LQA error: "Surcharges in the same charge category must either all be taxable or non-taxable."
Fix Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges Property Dropdown From Losing Selection After Preview. Properties selected from the Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges Property dropdown list during the preview failed to hold those property selections when users executed the Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges batch. We corrected this glitch to ensure that properties selected from the Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges Property dropdown list during the preview will be maintained when users execute the Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges batch.
Fix Blocked-off Time Trigger From Possibly Running Twice. Due to a code regression, some blocked-off time triggers inadvertently sent templates twice.OR fixed this bug, and blocked-off time triggers will send templates correctly.
Fix Channel Bridge Error on Airbnb Charge With "(generated)" in the Name Field. The Channel Bridge import logic did not properly handle some Airbnb charge descriptions, leading to the addition of the word "(generated)" at the end of each value in the Name column. We corrected this issue, and the Channel Bridge import logic will properly handle Airbnb charge descriptions.
Fix Guest Conversation Ability to Apply Template. Due to a code regression, some guest conversations did not allow users to apply templates. OR fixed this bug to ensure that templates can be applied correctly in guest conversations.
Fix Immediate Type Triggers From Firing as Scheduled Ones. Due to a code regression, some immediate type triggers inadvertently sent templates as a scheduled type trigger. We resolved this issue, and immediate type triggers will send templates correctly.
Fix Inquiry Email to Send Even if Inquiry Body is Empty or No Adults is Set. Some inquiry emails failed to be sent if the inquiry body was empty or no adults were set. OR corrected this glitch, and inquiry emails will be sent even if the inquiry body is empty or no adults are set.
Fix Merging of Similar Charges When Creating Line Item Pivot Report. Despite having the "Merge Similar Charges" checked when creating the Line Item Pivot Report, similar surcharges were not merged as expected. We resolved this issue to ensure that similar surcharges are merged as expected when the "Merge Similar Charges" checkbox is checked when creating the Line Item Pivot Report.
Fix Payment Detail Report Projected Deposit Date if Completed Deposit. The projected dates for completed deposits on Payment Detail Reports were incorrectly displayed if the deposit had already been completed. OR corrected this glitch, and projected dates for completed deposits on Payment Detail Reports will not be displayed for completed deposits.
Fix Quote Trigger "Open" Status Criteria. Due to a code regression, some "open" quote status conditions were not correctly applied, resulting in trigger failures. We fixed this bug, and "open" quote status conditions will be correctly applied to triggers to send templates properly.
Fix Sending the Correct Grace Time Before Arrival to Schlage Locks. Schlage API-connected locks configured with the Grace Time Arrival period to all day instead sent the door lock code with the incorrect grace period of the OwnerRez configured property check-in time. OR resolved this issue, and Schlage API-connected locks configured with the Grace Time Arrival period to all day will send door lock codes with the correct grace period.
Restore Featured Sort Order for Property Search Widget Default Option. Due to a code regression, the featured property sort order was inadvertently removed from the Availability/Property Search Widget. We corrected this glitch, and the featured property sort order has been restored to the Availability/Property Search Widget.
Restore PMv1 Owner Statement Full Amounts Export Behavior. Users encountered errors when attempting to Export Full Amounts from PM v1 Owner Statements. OR resolved this issue, and the Export Full Amounts from PM v1 Owner Statements process will work correctly.
Update Air Surcharge Category Mismatch LQA to Provide the Correct Fix. Following the October 2024 Airbnb and Vrbo Surcharge Categories release, the Airbnb surcharge category mismatches displayed on the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) did not provide adequate information for users to correct the issue. We fixed this bug to display the LQA Airbnb surcharge category mismatch information, providing users with adequate information to correct the issue themselves.
Add LQA Check for Non-taxable Rent When Some Configured Taxes Apply to Vrbo. Vrbo does not support non-taxable rent, so the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) has been updated to include checks for and warnings about non-taxable rent applied to Vrbo when other taxes are configured.
Add LQA Check for Non-taxed Discount That Applies to Vrbo. Vrbo does not support non-taxable discounts, so the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) has been updated to include checks for and warnings about non-taxed discounts that apply to Vrbo.
Billing Info From Travel Insurance Should Not Cause iCal Bookings to be Updated. When travel insurance was purchased for iCal bookings, OwnerRez was sending Booking Update webhooks to OAuth-integrated applications. We have corrected this so that no Booking Update webhook is sent when travel insurance is purchased.
Fix Blocked-Off Immediate Triggers to Run. Some triggers configured to send templates for blocked-off times failed to run correctly. OR resolved this issue, and triggers configured to send templates for blocked-off times will run correctly.
Fix Crash When Submitting Vrbo Review Response. Some users experienced errors when attempting to submit a Vrbo review response. We fixed this bug to ensure users can submit a Vrbo review response correctly.
Fix Expenses With $0 Amount Being Filtered Out From Owner Statements. $0 expense amounts were incorrectly filtered out of v1 owner statements. OR corrected this glitch, and $0 expense amounts will be handled properly on v1 owner statements.
Fix 'minimum' Typo. An error message contained a typo of the word minimum. This typo has been corrected.
Fix Per-guest Fees to Not Convert to Per-stay Fees on HA-XML-based Channels. Due to a possible incorrect or incomplete multiplier fee, some per-guest fees were incorrectly passed to HA-XML-based channels as a flat per-stay fee. OR resolved this issue, and per-guest fees will be correctly passed to HA-XML-based channels.
Fix Public Link (Global Landing Page) From Allowing Selection of More Children Than Max Guests. The Public Booking Link (formerly the Global Landing Page) incorrectly allowed the selection of more children than the guest maximum limit. We fixed this bug so that the Public Booking Link will adhere to the property guest maximum limit.
Fix Quote Trigger With "Open" Status. Scheduled triggers configured with an "open" quote trigger status condition failed to send templates as expected. We corrected this glitch, and scheduled triggers configured with an "open" quote trigger status condition will send templates as expected.
Fix Theming Rendering on Certain Guest Forms. Some client theming was not rendered consistently or correctly on some guest forms. We fixed this bug to ensure that theming is consistent and correct on all guest forms.
Fix Vrbo Channel Bridge Bookings Download. Due to changes outside of OwnerRez, the Vrbo Channel Bridge bookings download process encountered errors. OR resolved this issue, so that the Vrbo Channel Bridge bookings download process should be working again.
Have Trigger Forecast and Booking Messages Tab Tooltip Verbiage to Account for Disabled Seasons. The trigger forecast and booking messages tab tooltip language did not accurately account for or reflect any disabled seasons. We corrected this glitch to ensure that the trigger forecast and booking messages tab tooltip language accurately accounts for or reflects any disabled seasons.
Improve Airbnb Message Filtering Option on API Channel Edit. The labels on the Airbnb API connection message filtering options were somewhat confusing. That language has been updated for clarification to "Ignore messages regarding listings not managed by OwnerRez."
Fix Search Widget Amenity Filter to Carry Search Selections to Properties Index Page. Some amenity filters configured in the Availability/Property Search widget failed to display the correct search results on the Properties index page.
Fall is in full swing! 🍂 Don’t miss out on our November webinars!
This month is full of weekly demos, a live Q&A, an in-depth focus session on security deposits, and partner webinars with Breezeway and Igloo. Be sure to register early to secure your spot and join us live. You can also catch up on any past sessions on our webinar page here.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Our client engagement team will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
OwnerRez and Breezeway's International Short-Term Rental Safety Expert Justin Ford will dive into the crucial measures needed to ensure a safe and secure environment for guests and hosts.
Join us for a live webinar with the igloo team! OwnerRez has built a direct integration with igloo door locks to offer our users an affordable and seamless automated smart door lock service.
Join Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for a look at Security Deposit Holds and RDDs - Setting/Releasing/Options.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Our client engagement team will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
Join us for a live Q&A! Steve, from our Engagement Team, will be answering your questions. Please write in questions prior to the webinar and we'll start off by answering those.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Our client engagement team will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
OwnerRez CEO Paul Waldschmidt recently sat down with the team from The Art Of Hospitality Podcast, where they discussed the origin of OwnerRez, an engineering mindset, updates, growth, funding in our space, and a lot more.
Welcome to "The Art of Hospitality," where the Operator meets the Philosopher to unravel the intricate tapestry of the vacation rental industry.
Led by Conrad O'Connell, the Digital Strategist who turns clicks into bookings, and hosted by Scott Fasano, the "Operator," and Adam Norko, the "Philosopher," their podcast presents a trinity of perspectives that uniquely positions them at the intersection of practical operations, philosophical depth, and digital innovation.
They tackle the gamut—marketing strategies, guest relations, property management, and internal operations—all while keeping an eye on the ever-changing landscape of our industry. This isn't just about running a vacation rental management business; it's about mastering the Art of Hospitality, where operational precision and thought leadership intersect to create extraordinary experiences.
So, if you're keen on listening to discussions that marry tactical excellence with intellectual depth, all underpinned by game-changing digital strategies, you're in the right place. Join them as they redefine what it means to excel in the vacation rental industry.
Ready to listen? You can listen to the full conversation using the Spotify podcast player below:
If that doesn't load for you, go directly to the Paul Waldschmidt episode on Spotify or visit the The Art Of Hospitality podcast page. Want to listen on another platform? Here are more options:
We are happy to announce our partnership with Owner Center to offer our users a comprehensive tool to automate owner payouts and more!
Owner Center is a tool designed for managing short-term rentals, offering customizable features and automation capabilities. It enables property managers to effortlessly create owner invoices, statements, booking reports, and collect payments, making it a robust platform for streamlined communication and efficient financial management for both managers and property owners.
7-day free trial! Take a look at their pricing calculator here.
Get started with Owner Center by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for integrating OwnerRez with Owner Center.
We are excited to announce our partnership with AIPEX to offer our users an AI solution for guest engagement.
The AIPEX platform allows hosts to efficiently handle guest interactions while at the same time raising the bar on the guest’s experience. One affordable subscription delivers 3 different AI solutions: An AI Concierge on guest’s phones, In-Property AI Devices, and AI-Powered Messaging with the OwnerRez inbox. With powerful features like support for images and video in AI responses, hosts get unique capabilities to help differentiate their properties.
Get started with AIPEX by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for integrating OwnerRez with AIPEX.
It's officially spooky season! 🎃 Don’t miss out on our October webinars!
This month is packed with weekly demos, a live Q&A, in-depth focus sessions, and partner webinars with RemoteLock and Jervis Systems. Be sure to register early to secure your spot and join us live. You can also catch up on any past sessions on our webinar page here.
Join us to learn how RemoteLock’s universal access control eliminates those cumbersome keys through their leading smart lock integrations and provides so much more than just keyless entry.
Join Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for a look at Tips & Tricks to make your OR account work for you!
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Our client engagement team will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Our client engagement team will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
Join Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for a look at Tags & Tag Automations.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Our client engagement team will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
Join us for a live Q&A! Steve, from our Engagement Team, will be answering your questions. Please write in questions prior to the webinar and we'll start off by answering those.
Join us for an insightful event hosted by Jervis Systems and OwnerRez, where we’ll explore how automation can transform guest management and make your life as a property manager easier.
Is there another integration that would work better? This still hasn't been solved and is a back and forth between Schlage and Ownerrez that I am a bit frustrated by, both blaming the other for being the issue (and I am guessing Schlage is at fault but it's still frustrating to be in the middle of this and feeling helpless since I'm JUST a user with no power in this situation). I would like to change to another integration if it works better and allows me to have the default toggle to code usage notification as on.
Hi Susan,
We have updated our support content so that our users are aware of this limitation.
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/integration-schlage-door-locks#notification
Thank you for the update!
Is there another integration that would work better? This still hasn't been solved and is a back and forth between Schlage and Ownerrez that I am a bit frustrated by, both blaming the other for being the issue (and I am guessing Schlage is at fault but it's still frustrating to be in the middle of this and feeling helpless since I'm JUST a user with no power in this situation). I would like to change to another integration if it works better and allows me to have the default toggle to code usage notification as on.
Hi Susan,
We have updated our support content so that our users are aware of this limitation.
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/integration-schlage-door-locks#notification
Is there another integration that would work better? This still hasn't been solved and is a back and forth between Schlage and Ownerrez that I am a bit frustrated by, both blaming the other for being the issue (and I am guessing Schlage is at fault but it's still frustrating to be in the middle of this and feeling helpless since I'm JUST a user with no power in this situation). I would like to change to another integration if it works better and allows me to have the default toggle to code usage notification as on.
@Paul,
thanks for following up on the surcharge tag automations. I do realize it is much harder to add tags around user generated items but from following the forums this was one of the biggest needs around tag automation. Is there a timeline for V2? Is there any way to just do a V1.1 to just add auto tags for surcharges?
Did the votes from the 4 closed topics get added to the new consolidated thread? It seems to few votes for all the comments. At least Insee that it is in development!!!
Hey Tarki,
I see what you mean - thanks for the screenshot. We will discuss internally. Thanks for your patience.
As a temporary fix, you could use some custom CSS in the page to replace that hover text with your own custom wording. This is a very hacky solution, but it will work.
Go to the widget > Change > scroll down to CSS and put in this:
.popover-content
{
visibility: hidden;
}.popover-content:after
{content:'Total includes fees and taxes';visibility: visible;display: block;position: absolute;top: 9px;}
Then Save and go refresh your website again. You should see different words appear. I just tried it and it works:
You can customize that CSS to change other things or alter the words slightly.
PS.Thanks for continuing to raise good feedback! ♥ Don't hesitate, even if you've mentioned it before, and it's not fixed yet. We get an enormous amount of feedback every day and devote a lot of our development effort to fixing bugs or making small tweaks. If you scroll up and look at this very blog post, you'll see that 45 bugs were addressed in August alone. Then there were many other tweaks and new features above that. This is the case every month. Customer feedback about bugs or inconveniences is a huge thing for us.
You do all sorts of design improvements and other things and this is good. But... when it comes to some errors I point in your system you never accept to do anything about them.
Our prices are inclusive of everything and taxes as well.
However, when I make a search on the widget and when I bring the cursor on the price I see "Total includes fees, not tax". Please see the following screenprint.
We don't have separate taxes and our prices entered in OR are inclusive of taxes and showing a text saying that "Total includes fees, not tax." makes customers think that these prices will get more expensive although they'll not.
This deters potential customers from making a booking by creating hesitation.
Quick update - looks like Dori is correct. There is a dependency on PM being turned on in order to turn on "different expense accounts for different fees". We are working on removing that dependency so that everyone can use the setting.
Hey Dori! Great question. Short answer is: no, you should not need to pay for PM in order to map expense accounts. However, I'm wondering if we have some error (or dependency in place) that is limiting how you select expense accounts? I will follow up with the team to see what happened with that. But no, deposit syncing using different expense accounts for fees will not require paying for PM.
I am unable to "Use different expense accounts depending on the fee category" in the Deposit Syncing. Looks like you must enable (and pay extra for) the PM feature in order to properly configure the "Fees Expense Account." Please let us know if this is the case or if this Deposit Syncing feature is available without paying extra for the PM feature. Thanks!
As we moved further into fall, with more time for reflection and relaxation, OwnerRez continued to work diligently throughout October. Take a look at the results from the month's Product Update, including the progress on Property Management v2 (PMv2), Vrbo additions, a sneak peek of the Unified Inbox, and more.
On October 23rd, 2024, PMv2 (internal codename: "Everything is an Expense" 😄, rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?) debuted for new OwnerRez users (not because we didn't want to reward loyal and long-standing PM customers, but) due to its magnitude of how it handles PM data. Why didn't we just release this PM Upgrade for all users? An upgrade of this magnitude significantly impacts the appearance of owner statements and changes underlying bookings and expense data. OwnerRez takes your property management business and operations seriously. We want to carefully observe the outcomes of this initial release to ensure that we get it right before we release it to all Property Managers.
PMv2 includes more flexibility in configuring and displaying expenses and allows the creation of custom formulas for owner statements. What does that mean for new and existing OwnerRez Property Management users?
For one thing, we've added some system-wide default expense settings for all PM users with this release. All existing PM users can configure their system-wide default expense settings by navigating to PM > Expenses > Settings. Then, they can determine the default dates to use: the Arrival (default), Departure, or Booked Dates.
As mentioned above, newly enrolled OwnerRez users who enabled the Property Management premium feature (after October 23rd, 2024) will be on PMv2. If you've been an OwnerRez user for a while but only now need the PM premium feature and are turning it on for the first time, you will also begin your PM journey on PMv2.
For new PM users, "how it used to be" won't matter as much, but you may still be asking, "What is PMv2?" Read on to understand what else PMv2 brings to the table.
PMv2 handles things differently in a few key ways from PMv1 (a.k.a. Legacy PM). Things are more straightforward and visible to you and your owners, making it easier to "follow the math." For example, taxes, commission, and damage protection are now system-managed visible expenses on each booking on the Expenses tab (depending on who is set to pay for each—i.e., Property Manager or Owner).
Some other features for newly enrolled PM users include enhanced PM Expense Settings and a newly redesigned "PM tab" on each booking, detailing side-by-side Owner/PM information.
The biggest thing PMv2 eliminates is the "Owner Visibility" settings (i.e., the concept of pre-deducting expenses). Instead, Custom Statement Views include an option to "Hide Booking Expense Category" to control what is visible to owners on Owner Statements.
The ability to add custom formula columns to Statement Views, is another way to roll things together and help you owners understand the breakdown you desire to show them. When PMv2 users configure their Statement Views, they can add custom formula columns by clicking the formula calculator icon to open the Custom Formula pop-up.
PMv2 users also have an additional Damage Protection expense setting available in the PM > Expenses > Settings area. There, they can determine what booking default dates to use for expenses and select their Damage Protection PM Account (if configured).
PMv2 users can also access the new Owner Statement Summary Report, an income statement (i.e., Profit & Loss statement) that contains owner income and expense totals based on remittances (i.e., how things appeared on the included v2 Owner Statements. This report will not return legacy (v1) Owner Statements data, so that's why this new report is only available to PMv2 accounts.
For more information about all things PMv2, you can read the ever-expanding support documentation - PMv2 has its own new section.
More information on the upgrade path from Legacy PMv1 is coming in the future. Interested existing Property Management users are being added to the PMv2 upgrade private beta waiting list upon request.
Integrating with Vrbo through OwnerRez streamlines your property management by automating bookings, improving visibility, and increasing revenue by reaching a wider audience efficiently.
With our October 2nd release, OwnerRez has added more listing status update webhooks to our Vrbo API integration. What does that mean for you? During your initial Vrbo API integration, the listing status of your property/ies is now more real-time in if your property is recognized on the Vrbo side.
When your new Vrbo API integration is initiated, property listing statuses include your Property ID, Property Active Status, First Time Active, and Property Status Change statuses. New Vrbo messages now include your Property ID, Message Thread ID, Message ID, From Role, and Reservation ID.
To learn more, explore OwnerRez's direct partnerships with major listing channels (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, Google Vacation Rentals, and more).
Patience is a virtue, and soon, OwnerRez users will be rewarded! Yes, indeed, one of our long-awaited feature requests, Automatic 5-star Vrbo Reviews (which operates much like the Airbnb option), will be available to all in the coming weeks.
It will also alleviate the need to run Channel Bridge to bring in your Vrbo reviews (if you're API-connected, that is).
Rather than leaving our users in suspense, please know that OwnerRez is diligently working on testing it in production with a set of properties.
Be assured that we're hustling to reach the wide-release phase. At OwnerRez, we never settle for half-baked solutions and want to ensure we get this right for you.
The OwnerRez Unified Inbox is coming soon, and we want to give you a little sneak peek to whet your appetite. Not only have we included regular inbox functionality with the ability to compose, archive, and mark messages as read/unread, but the associated booking information includes links to booking charges, transactions, and guest contact information that opens in another tab. Here's a little taste.
The Unified Inbox is in active testing in production with limited users (and we continue to add more features before we release it widely), and we look forward to releasing it in a "limited beta" phase very soon.
The OwnerRez in-app design changes continue. In October, we focused on the in-app Profile Menu Items, including the Profile, Preferences, Notifications, Safeguards, Affiliate Program, Change Password, and Logout pages. These subtle design changes are consistent with other recent in-app design enhancements.
Here's a side-by-side before and after example of the OwnerRez Profile section.
The new Preferences page includes updated rounded toggle buttons.
Here's what the previous Notifications page looked like.
Now, the Notifications page also features rounded toggle buttons with the ON/OFF text removed for simplicity. Additionally, both the Email and Push notification Previews now have their columns for increased visibility.
Here is the previous Safeguards page.
The New Safeguards page now includes the rounded toggle buttons.
We also revamped the Affiliate Program pages.
Here's our new OwnerRez Change Password page, which now includes the password eye icon for viewing the input in the password fields.
And lastly, check out the new Logout page.
Once again, these design changes may be subtle, but they were implemented to ensure consistency across all areas within the app.
Have you noticed the new OwnerRez public website header and footer yet? Our new header looks like this now.
Check out our new footer, which appears on all public website pages, including the Support Center, Blog, Forum, and Vacation Rental Guides.
Do you remember the required Surcharge Category "keywords" for your Airbnb or Vrbo API-connected property to ensure your surcharge was correctly passed to Airbnb or Vrbo? Those Surcharge description "keywords" included Cleaning, Resort, Management, Community, Linen, and Pet.
With the October 30th release, those magic description field "keywords" are no longer necessary. Now, through category mapping logic, you can safely rely on the Surcharge Category to push your surcharges for your API-connected Airbnb and Vrbo properties to Airbnb and Vrbo.
The work on this release paves the way for future support for Airbnb per night, per guest fees.
Still not API-connected? Check out all of your OwnerRez channel management options!
Since the release of the OwnerRez "Global Landing Page," it was only available as an option with Google Vacation Rentals. With our October 23rd release, it is available for you to send as a "Public Link" to potential guests from multiple in-app places (Bookings, Inquiries, and Quotes).
Sending potential guests a Public Booking Link is a great alternative for users who don't yet have a hosted website (we recommend all users have a direct booking site) but still want to accept direct bookings and allow guests to select different dates. Here's a reminder of what the Public Link/Global Landing Page looks like.
Prospective guests can change the dates and guest party details and begin the Book Now process directly from your Public Link!
How do you send a quick Public Booking Link to a potential guest? There are several ways to generate the Public Booking Link in-app.
One quick way is to navigate to the Quick Quote tool through Tools > Quick Quote or click the + Create Quote, + Create Booking, or Block Off buttons on the Booking section. The Quick Quote pop-up allows you to generate a Public Booking Link by selecting the Public Link radio button and choosing to Copy Link or View Link, which will open the Public Booking Link in another tab.
You can also click on the dropdown lists on the Booking List view, Quotes, and Inquiries grids and select Copy to New Public Link.
You can select the Public Booking Link from the Copy To dropdown list on individual Quote Overview pages.
Just like Quotes, you can also send a Public Link to guests (past and present) so they can book their next reservation. Select the Public Booking Link from the Copy To dropdown list on the Booking Overview page.
Is the Public Link available to send to guests through OwnerRez channel messaging (Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo)? Unfortunately, no. These listing channels will redact your Public Link in their messaging systems.
OwnerRez integrates with many industry-leading processors and gateways. OwnerRez has been connected to Authorize.net for a long time and it was due for an upgrade. With our October 9th release, OwnerRez has upgraded and modernized our Authorize.net integration to the latest direct API. The updated integration also lays the groundwork to support automatic deposits (like we offer for Stripe, Lynnbrook Group, and Airbnb).
Check out all of the available OwnerRez payment processor options.
The OwnerRez Zapier public integration allows users to connect OwnerRez with thousands of the most popular apps, so now you, too, can automate your work and have more time for what matters most—no code required. OwnerRez has recently updated our Zapier platform version, enhancing our Zapier integration to improve communication, add more trigger types, and enable the updating of additional categories for contact and booking updates. Additionally, you can now filter your webhook subscriptions.
Zapier is very powerful, and we have other automation integration options. Check out all of the Business Automation integrations.
Taxes can get complicated, but OwnerRez tries to simplify them for you as much as possible. Your configured tax line items are added to quotes and bookings, and OwnerRez ensures those tax settings are initially applied correctly to both direct and channel bookings.
But what if your rent is not taxable? By design, even if you had configured your Pricing Preferences > Rent Taxability to Not-Taxable, taxes would automatically be applied whenever you added additional nights to a booking. While you could uncheck the Taxed checkbox, it was frustrating and easy to miss.
With the October 30th release, you can now extend a guest's stay, and your configured Pricing Preferences > Rent Taxability settings will be applied correctly, even when set to Not Taxable.
Vrbo and Airbnb reviews boost credibility, attract more bookings, improve search rankings, and provide valuable feedback to enhance guest experiences and drive repeat business.
Starting with the October 2nd release, OwnerRez has added a new Review Submitted Via Channel Notification that alerts you when your Airbnb or Vrbo channel guest has left a review of their stay.
Notice that the Email Notification is automatically turned on for all users, but the Push Notification is defaulted to Off. You can enable the Push Notification for Review Submitted Via Channel by navigating to your Profile menu > Notifications > Review Notifications > and toggling the Review Submitted Via Channel Push Notification to On.
Here's an example of the Review Submitted Via Channel Notification from OwnerRez to users.
Configuring automatic 5-star reviews of guests saves you time, encourages positive reciprocal reviews, boosts your listing's ranking, and enhances guest satisfaction for future bookings. But sometimes, a guest isn't a great fit for our property. While we may be able to skip their automatic 5-star review through the use of tags, there may be times when you want to cancel the automatic 5-star review altogether and write a manual review.
With the October 2nd release, you can now click the new Cancel Automatic Review button on the specific Booking > Reviews tab.
Learn more by reading our Automatic Posting of 5-Star Reviews for Airbnb support article.
OwnerRez partners with many third-party integrations to provide additional features, allowing you to choose the best solutions for your specific vacation rental business needs alongside the power of OwnerRez. But keeping track of, or accessing, your disabled listing channels, locks, payment methods, or QuickBooks integrations was tricky until now.
When you attempt to connect an integration, we've added links to your disabled listing channels, locks, payment methods, or QuickBooks integrations, allowing you to access those disabled integrations if needed, instead of thinking you have to recreate a new connection, you can often times reactivate a disabled one.
Check out all OwnerRez third-party integration partners to solve your vacation rental business needs.
OwnerRez's Oauth API is available to other companies and users who want to communicate with our software. With our October 9th release, we've added additional support for the creation of booking and block information (e.g., Cleaning Date, Check-in, Check-out, Arrival, Departure, Owner Blocks, Property IDs, Guest IDs, Notes, etc.) to the OwnerRez Bookings API v2.
Learn more by reading our v2 OwnerRez API for Apps Overview support article.
Change Communication Notifications Descriptions from "Channel" to "Channel/SMS." For clarification, the Notifications > Communication notifications section has changed "Channel Message Fails to Send" and "Channel Message is Received" to "Channel/SMS Message Fails to Send" and "Channel/SMS Message is Received," respectively.
Don't Send Forum Notifications to Users With Disabled Notifications. Forum notifications were incorrectly sent to users who had disabled them. We fixed this bug so that we no longer send forum notifications to these users.
Exclude Non-automatic Discounts From LQA Checks. Non-automatic discounts (e.g., Discount Code, Optionally, and Manually) were incorrectly displayed as errors on the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA). OR corrected this glitch to ensure non-automatic discounts are excluded from LQA checks.
Fix Airbnb Check-in Window Display. Some Airbnb bookings had incorrect check-in window times field codes rendered and displayed on channel templates. We resolved this issue by correctly rendering and displaying Airbnb check-in window times field codes on channel templates.
Fix Error When Some Team Access Staff Users Try to Access Notifications. Some Team Access Staff users encountered errors when accessing the notifications area. OR fixed this bug to ensure that, if allowed, Team Access Staff users can access the notifications area.
Fix Phone Number Inputs on Booking Widget and Guest Forms to Follow Default Country. Some booking widgets and guest forms failed to automatically detect the default country in the phone number input fields. We resolved this issue, and booking widgets and guest forms will correctly automatically detect the default country in the phone number input fields.
Fix Sorting Issue for Surcharges With Blank Position. We experienced a code regression in which some surcharges with no position configured were incorrectly placed above discounts, resulting in an incorrect discounted surcharge. OR corrected this glitch, and surcharges with no position will be appropriately applied.
Show Distribution Channel Name on Vrbo Bookings. Other than Vrbo, other Vrbo distribution channel names (e.g., Expedia, etc.) were not displayed on the booking channel tab. We resolved this issue by ensuring that other Vrbo distribution channel names are displayed on the booking channel tab.
Alphabetize Property "Other Rooms" Type Dropdown. The Property > Other Rooms > Type dropdown list was unalphabetized, confusing users. OR has updated and alphabetized the Property > Other Rooms > Type dropdown list.
Auto-disable Webhooks for Partner OAuth App Integrations That Fail at a High Rate. Some partner OAuth Apps occasionally respond to OwnerRez data pushes with errors. When this happens at too high a volume, it can cause problems for that partner and other OwnerRez partners. Partner OAuth App integrations that experienced high failure rates utilized substantial OwnerRez processing power. We have resolved this problem by auto-disabling partner OAuth App integration webhooks when too many failures occur, skipping all retries for these apps, preventing old retries when and if the webhooks are re-enabled, and notifying the partner that their webhooks are disabled with the following message, "Webhooks have been paused due to a high incidence of errors from the remote server. Please review the HTTP failures in the webhooks below and correct any issues. Then re-enable webhooks."
Don't Send Review Submitted Via Channel Notification on Placeholder Create, Wait Until Submitted. We inadvertently sent users notifications when Airbnb created a temporary review placeholder. We fixed this bug, and notifications will only be sent when the guest actually submits a review.
Fix Duplicate Contact Issues When Multiple Vrbo Inquiries. When Vrbo guests initiated multiple inquiries, multiple guest contacts were inadvertently created. We corrected this issue so that Vrbo guests who initiate multiple inquiries will not result in multiple guest contacts.
Fix Error on Host Review When Delayed Negative Review Scheduled. This edge case occurred when a scheduled and delayed negative host review received an error, resulting in a host review failure. OR fixed this bug so scheduled and delayed negative host reviews will be sent correctly.
Fix Incorrect Inquiry Violation Autoresponder Upgrade. When we converted Autoresponders to Inquiry Triggers, some triggers were created with an incorrect send condition, resulting in these triggers being sent with the wrong inquiry status. We've corrected these triggers so that they will now be sent with the correct inquiry status.
Fix Incorrect Trigger Gap Rule Between Upgrade. When we released the September Trigger Conditions redesign, we upgraded Gap Rules to use the new Between operator. However, if the gap rule was set to exactly 1 number, the upgrade was incorrect. OR corrected the upgraded triggers that exhibited this problem by using the Equals operator instead.
Fix Missing Items for Conditions Editor for Triggers. We encountered a code regression that resulted in some condition options not appearing for blocked-off time triggers. We've corrected this regression so that blocked-off time triggers will offer all applicable conditions.
Fix Issue With Review Import When Neither Guest Nor Review Have a Display Name. Some review imports without guest or display names resulted in import failures. OR corrected this bug, and review imports without guest or display names will be imported correctly.
Open Up QuickBooks Fee Settings to Non-PM Users. The August QuickBooks Deposits release mistakenly required users to enable the Property Management premium feature to configure the QuickBooks fee settings. We resolved this glitch so all users can configure the QuickBooks fee settings for deposits.
Push Trigger Between Criteria to Channels. Due to a code regression, the "between" surcharge/discount condition wasn't properly sent to listing channels. Or fixed this bug, and "between" surcharge/discount conditions will be properly sent to listing channels.
Set Correct Listing Status for Vrbo Status Webhook. Vrbo listing statuses were incorrectly set as not sync connected on the Vrbo status webhook fallback. We resolved this glitch to ensure that Vrbo listing statuses are set to active on the Vrbo status webhook.
Update Notification Name to "Pending Booking New Card On File." The "Booking New Card on File" email and push notification had a confusing name, so we have updated the notification description to "Pending Booking New Card On File" for clarification.
Use the Correct Default Field When Creating a "Payment" Type SMS Template. When creating a "Payment" type SMS template, the form incorrectly prepopulated the "To" phone number field with an incorrect field code, resulting in the phone number not rendering or being displayed correctly. OR fixed this issue so that the "Payment" type SMS template "To" phone number field will be prepopulated with the correct field code.
Fix Error When Disabling Property Tied to Mutual Blocking. Users who attempted to disable mutually blocked properties encountered errors preventing them from disabling them. OR resolved this glitch to ensure that mutually blocked properties can be disabled correctly.
Fix Igloohome Locks When Trying to Move Arrival/Departure Times. Some users with Igloohome API-connected locks encountered errors when they attempted to move arrival or departure times. We fixed this bug, and Igloohome API-connected locks will be able to process moved arrival or departure times correctly.
Fix Issue With Booking.com VCC Scheduled Payments. We experienced a code regression that resulted in some Booking.com (BDC) Virtual Credit Card (VCC) scheduled payment failures. We corrected this issue, and BDC VCC scheduled payments will be properly processed.
Show Helpful Error if Setting up QuickBooks Deposits With No Undeposited Funds Account. Users with API-connected QuickBooks accounts encountered unclear errors when attempting to configure deposits without an "Undeposited Funds" account. OR resolved this glitch to display a more helpful error message to API-connected QuickBooks when they attempt to configure deposits without an "Undeposited Funds" account.
Show Scheduled Messages on Blocked-Off Time's Messaging Tab. While triggers correctly sent messages for blocked-off times, the blocked-off time messages tab failed to display those scheduled messages. We fixed this bug, and scheduled messages will be displayed on the blocked-off time messages tab.
Fix Converge Credit Card Handling Issue for Non-US Addresses. Due to an error in our system, Converge credit card payments from non-US addresses were rejected. We corrected this error, and Converge credit card payments from non-US addresses will be processed correctly.
Fix Error on PM Statement Export to Excel. The PM Statement Export to Excel contained a null reference (a value saved for indicating that the pointer or reference does not refer to a valid object), which resulted in errors. OR fixed this bug, and the PM Statement Export to Excel process will work correctly.
Fix Error While Viewing Older Outbound Channel Messages. Several of our older outbound channel messages included language that stated, "You can go ahead and reply to this email. This email account is monitored." However, that is no longer the case, so that language has been removed from outbound channel messages.
Fix UI Issues With Widget Amenity Filter. The amenity widget filter was not rendering or behaving correctly on integrated websites. We resolved this issue to ensure the amenity widget filter renders and behaves correctly on integrated websites as expected.
Fix Vrbo Listing Import Duplicating Pet/Children Policy Text. Pet and children policy text was inadvertently duplicated and imported during Vrbo Listing Imports. OR fixed this bug, and the pet and children policy text imported during Vrbo Listing Imports will be correct.
Fix WWW Support Center Interactivity Bugs. Following the October 16th Public Website Header and Footer release, we noticed that the Support Center left navigation menu was bleeding over the footer under certain circumstances. We corrected this glitch, and the Support Center left navigation menu will now be displayed and behave as expected.
Improve Navigation on the Possible Airbnb Duplicates Page. The Possible Airbnb Duplicates page navigation inadvertently directed users to the merged contact's conversation history after merging rather than the expected Possible Airbnb Duplicates page. OR resolved this issue by sending users to the expected Possible Airbnb Duplicates page after merging duplicate contacts.
Restore Event Time Filter to Triggers. We experienced a code regression that removed the Event Time conditions from the trigger configuration form. We fixed this bug, and Event Time conditions have been restored to the trigger configuration form.
Hi Ben, who is supposed to be my rep?
I’ve only had support interactions first with Chris and Paul, then with Ken, and this year a number of different support people.
What front end has OR built out beautifully this year? It’s just the same as it’s always been.
What is the status of the revamped communication dashboard that OR has said it’s been working on for the past couple years?
Hi Scott. I assumed the unified inbox had been rolled out to all OwnerRez users at this point, but I forgot that I had pushed for us to be beta testers when it first was being implemented. OwnerRez has a fantastic (and incredibly clean and quick) unified inbox that shows and organizes all guest communication from Airbnb, VRBO, BDC, and SMS. If you’re not using it or able to see it yet, I would suggest asking your rep about when it will be available. It’s been a game-changer in our business.
So companies like HostAI are now able to leverage the unified inbox in OwnerRez and expand upon it with a variety of additional tools, including AI responses.
Please do I'm very interested
Paul, are you planning on doing a joint call anytime soon with HostAI to show highlight the features?
No plan for a joint webinar yet, but we do love to do them!
ILOVEOR - 30 days free!
Thanks in advance!
Paul, are you planning on doing a joint call anytime soon with HostAI to show highlight the features?
We are pleased to announce our partnership with HostBuddy AI to offer our users automated guest communication with AI.
HostBuddy AI automates guest communication for short-term rental hosts using cutting-edge AI technology. This software was built by Superhosts with conversational communication at its core, to deliver the most effective guest messaging. HostBuddy AI offers custom scheduling, vacant night upsells, action item generation, multi-channel notifications, software integrations, and much more. Simply connect your OwnerRez account, review property information, and schedule HostBuddy to ensure your guests are supported whenever you are unavailable.
HostBuddy's AI is designed to be conversational, solution-focused, and most importantly, to sound human. It analyzes each conversation, identifying issues and action items, so you can stay informed at a glance. HostBuddy AI will use this information to automatically generate context-aware upsells and review requests.
HostBuddy AI acts as your always-on assistant, handling routine communications while keeping you in the loop on important matters.
Get started with HostBuddy AI by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for integrating OwnerRez with HostBuddy AI.
Thank you very much for the clarification, Paul.
FYI - this is not a replacement for the internal Unified Inbox feature we have been working hard on for many months. That new Inbox is well through development and into testing, and is finishing up the last rounds of tweaks before being released to a small group of initial users. We have spent many months working on it, as well as re-shaping where we want our messaging to go in the future, and we're excited to almost have it out.
These messaging integrations (eg. HostAI) are about automated AI-based responses and are not really related to the Unified Inbox itself. In some cases, the message partner has an inbox themselves, in other cases, they don't and rely on AI responding only. Either way, the messages will be able to be seen and managed in the OR inbox.
What front end has OR built out beautifully this year? It’s just the same as it’s always been.
What is the status of the revamped communication dashboard that OR has said it’s been working on for the past couple years?
Will this integrate with OTA platform channels for messaging as well?
does it integrate w/ airbnb? meaning will it auto respond on the airbnb platform or only if a guest direct books?
