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Summer is here, but that never slows OwnerRez down! Dive into our June product update, where we explain all the exciting changes made in the four June releases.
Many of our users are often on the move and need to receive notifications without relying solely on their email inboxes. The OwnerRez user community requested, and we delivered.
Enabling push notifications via the OwnerRez Progressive Web App (PWA) will allow you to receive them across all of your devices—iPhone and Android (as well as Windows or Mac). It might work fine on Linux, although we didn't focus any efforts there.
Here's an example of a new booking notification on an iPhone.
And here's an example of a new booking notification on an Android phone.
Your OwnerRez Push Notification experience may vary depending on your device, operating system, and browser.
Get started by reading our Push Notifications support article.
Receiving unsolicited and irrelevant spam inquiry messages can be frustrating for OwnerRez users. These messages often promote other PMS competitors or irrelevant services.
OwnerRez is now utilizing a spam-checking service to evaluate inquiry comments for spam detection. The spam-checking service we are using is a highly respected enterprise-grade company that has been around for a long time and is used by millions of websites every day. Its filters are trained by all who use its service, so it will only get better at this for OwnerRez users over time.
Not only is our partner evaluating the inquiries received, but you can also mark Inquiries as spam manually if need be. You can mark unwanted inquiry spam messages by navigating to the specific Inquiry > Overview >, clicking on Mark as Spam, and selecting OK on the subsequent pop-up.
You can also mark inquiries as spam in the Inquiries section of the app by selecting an individual inquiry from the list and selecting Spam (or Not Spam) from the Mark As dropdown menu.
As you can see, you can also mark an inquiry 'Not Spam'. So, if one is automatically flagged incorrectly or you accidentally flag one as spam, you can reverse that flagging.
By default, you will not see spam inquiries in the main Inquiries list or be notified of them by email. That's the entire point of this feature—to prevent users from being bothered by spam. If you want to find spam and double-check for false positives, change the filter on the Inquiries list to Spam: Yes.
Will this release filter out Vrbo spam? No. The Vrbo API does not support spam filters at this time (Vrbo handles spam filtering on its site). It will not check general types of messages like SMS or Airbnb. It only checks inquiries received directly through your website and widgets.
Potential guests often have specific criteria or property features they are looking for during their vacation rental search process. In addition to the regular Bedroom, Bathrooms, Guests, Location and Tag Group filters that were available on the multi-property Availability/Property Search Widget, OwnerRez has now added Amenity Filters for popular property Amenity Features, including Accessibility, Business, Dining, Entertainment, Family, Kitchen, Location, Outdoor, Parking, Pool & Spa, Popular Amenities, and Safety Features.
To add your Amenity Features, navigate to your Hosted Website > Properties webpage > Availability/Property Search Widget > Change Settings > Filters > Amenity Filters.
Are you considering a new website for your vacation rental business? Check out OwnerRez's Hosted Website options!
OwnerRez continues to enhance our API connections each month. This month we added new amenities that can now be pushed to Airbnb from OwnerRez! These expanded amenities for all new and existing Airbnb API connections include additional property details, entertainment, outdoor, and sports features pushed to your Airbnb listing. Check-out tasks was also added.
Users previously had to input some of these details directly into Airbnb but can now enter them in OwnerRez instead. These new amenities are only pushed to Airbnb if they have been added to a property in OwnerRez.
New OwnerRez Property Type details include the number of floors and the year the property was built.
Any Check-Out Tasks added to OwnerRez property amenities are also pushed directly into your Airbnb listing's Checkout instructions.
New entertainment amenities have been added to OwnerRez for Airbnb. These include arcade machine, home theater, life size games, theme room, and playroom. Additionally, new outdoor amenities have been added to OwnerRez and pushed to Airbnb, including children's bike, playground, and sun lounger. Furthermore, new location sports & adventure activities have been added to OwnerRez for Airbnb. These include batting cage, bowling alley, climbing wall, hockey rink, mini golf, skate ramp, and laser tag.
Items added to the Check Out Tasks section of Amenities will only be sent to Airbnb; no other channels support them. Check Out Tasks will also be displayed on OwnerRez Hosted Websites.
And don't worry, if you set those already in Airbnb, this release will not overwrite your previously set Airbnb amenities. They were imported into OwnerRez.
Haven't yet made the API integration leap? Learn all about OwnerRez Channel Management options!
Our OwnerRez Hosted Websites are highly optimized for speed and performance in several ways. And with our June 12th release, they're even better!
We've added Google Vacation Rental Structured Data, a standardized format for providing information about webpages and classifying their content. This structured data allows potential guests to see more about your website, such as the name, description, images, location, rating, reviews, and more, in search results. In other words, more Google juice! We all need more of this to maximize our SEO (search engine optimization).
Learn more about OwnerRez's Hosted Website options!
Did you see that all OwnerRez customers now get a free Breezeway safety course and product discounts? Host like a pro with top-tier operations, guest experience, and safety for short-term rentals. Automatically sync your property details and reservation data from OwnerRez to easily coordinate cleaning, inspections, and maintenance.
Check out the Breezeway blog post to learn more!
OwnerRez continues to update in-app design elements, the general user interface, and the overall experience.
Are you a fan of old-school keyboard shortcuts? Many of us are! OwnerRez has added a few new in-app keyboard shortcuts to trigger global actions that will work on corresponding in-app pages.
/ - Open the in-app Search flyout (as long as you are not using a rich text editor or input element)Ctrl + / - Open the in-app Seach flyout menu at all timesCtrl + Alt + F - Moves cursor to the Select Ribbon Calendar Property Filter (available if more than one property)The Quick Quote (on the Tools menu) and the Bookings > + Create Quote pop-up windows have been redesigned for a cleaner and fresher look. Instead of two individual arrival and departure date selectors, it now has one combined and outlined input date selector.
Four Tools menu items, the Direct Rate Tester, the Channel Rate Tester, the LOS Checker, and the Rate Checker, received some love with our June 5th release.
These four important Tool menu items used to open up in pop-up windows. Now, they open as full pages, allowing for increased visual space and more readable results!
For instance, the Rate Checker displays all dates without scrolling across your screen to see the rates.
The LOS (Length of Stay) Checker can now display all rates on one page with less horizontal scrolling if you collapse the left navigation menu.
The Find or Create a Guest pop-up window also got a refresh! At the top, the Create or Update Guest record is highlighted by a subtle grey background, and many of the guest fields now have icons rather than text labels.
Finally, the Status column warning and error icons in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) results were updated with more rounded icons.
Keep your eye on the New Design 2024 support article to stay updated on upcoming design changes.
Following our February 14th release of Inquiry Triggers, OwnerRez wanted to continue improving triggers. With our June 12th release, we've added new condition statuses for inquiries and bookings, the option to create your trigger in a disabled state, and Trigger Grid display improvements. Let's review!
New Condition Statuses
Create a Disabled Trigger Option Added
Have you ever wanted to create a trigger but not activate it until later? Now you can do that! When creating a new trigger, check the "Create this trigger in a disabled state — I will activate it later" checkbox.
This checkbox is unchecked by default and is only displayed or available when creating a new trigger, not when editing a previously created trigger.
Triggers Grid Updates
As part of this release, we've updated the Triggers Grid.
Some OwnerRez users remain only iCal connected to some listing channels (mainly due to Merchant of Record (MOR) issues) that receive booking calendar conflicts, making it difficult to issue refunds or make any changes to existing bookings.
OwnerRez has added a new listing channel filter to apply to your custom iCal Export! You can apply this listing channel filter to your custom iCal by navigating to your specific Property > General Info > Calendars > Calendar Export tab.
At this point, you can either create a new custom iCal Calendar to export by clicking on the + Export Calendar or edit your current custom iCal by clicking the pencil icon.
In the Create or Edit Calendar Export page > Criteria section, you can include or exclude specific Listing Sites.
The Listing Sites section defaults to All, and the Items to Include section defaults to All events, but you can select Bookings only if desired.
Still on the fence about whether API integration is right for you? Check out all of your OwnerRez Channel Management options!
Ever wonder if a guest message was delivered to your guest's email host (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, etc.)? OwnerRez has added the Delivered status for emails, meaning that your email was delivered to your guest's email host.
When you view an individual email Activity, you can see if your email was delivered to your guest's email host.
The Delivered email status is also displayed in the Feedback column of your Communication History grid.
Unfortunately, we cannot know if your guest saw your email message, as spam rules or other post-delivery filters may hide it. Following the instructions in the Email From/Reply-To and Verified Sender support article may alleviate some issues of your emails being flagged as spam.
Are you utilizing all of our messaging tools? Check out all the OwnerRez Messaging tools we offer!
A direct booking website empowers property owners with control, revenue, guest communication, branding, data access, and sustainability. With our June 12th release, OwnerRez added video play icons to hosted website videos.
We also improved "back button" behaviors when viewing photo galleries/carousels by adding browser history markers, resulting in a smoother user experience.
Haven't gotten around to setting up your direct booking website? Check out OwnerRez's Hosted Website options!
Locating your property listing on the map view of some of the most extensive listing channels can be difficult. OwnerRez has added map search icons for your Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, and Vrbo/Expedia API-integrated property listings.
To view your property on the map view of these listing channels, navigate to Settings > Channels > API Integrations > your Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, or Vrbo/Expedia API Integration > Properties tab > and click on the Map Search Icon.
Are you API-integrated yet? Check out all of your OwnerRez Channel Management options!
As OwnerRez continues to refine our Damage Protection premium feature, we've updated the Existing Bookings enrollment process section and now clearly display the amount due at the time of Damage Protection enrollment.
During the Damage Protection enrollment process, no selections to the Existing Bookings will be made by default, and you will be required to make that selection yourself.
If your Existing Bookings selection results in a balance due, any amount due will be clearly displayed when you agree to your new or updated Property Protection Program.
Check out OwnerRez's Damage Protection and Other Insurance integration options.
Did you know that Whimstay offers Damage Protection through RentalGuardian, just like OwnerRez?
We recommend that you retain the built-in OwnerRez Damage Protection program for all bookings, no matter the channel the booking came through (because it is the only way to ensure that you are covered equally and consistently on the owner/manager side), but we understand that you might feel comfortable with Whimstay's option and feel that it's redundant also to have the owner/manager side coverage.
Now, you can opt out of Damage Protection for your Whimstay guests by navigating to Settings > Financial > Damage Protection > Change > Channel Opt-out > Exclude these channels > and select Whimstay from the Channel dropdown menu.
Of course, you must complete the Damage Protection agreement to confirm these changes.
Learn more about OwnerRez Damage Protection and Other Insurance integration options.
As a followup to our May OwnerRez v2 Messaging API Metadata Optimizations release, and in preparation for future non-channel direct guest messaging threads through partner Artificial Intelligence (AI) integrations, OwnerRez has set up an "OwnerRez Messaging Threads" sandbox for partners.
Have you ever mistyped a new password during sign-up and couldn't remember what you initially entered? It's happened to the best of us. To combat this, we've added confirm password fields for all new OwnerRez and Team Access accounts.
What is a confirm password field? It's that required second field when creating a password to ensure that both the password and confirm password fields match.
We've already required users to complete confirm password fields on the in-app Change Password (My Profile > Change Password) process, so this change shouldn't be new for most of us.
Some listing channels (Airbnb, GlampingHub, Got2Go, Hopper Homes, Whimstay, etc.) remain the Merchant of Record (MoR), meaning they charge your guest on your behalf and directly pay you, the host.
OwnerRez has updated the API Integration process for listing channels that remain the MoR for clarity.
Want to learn more about vacation rental payment processing? Read our Choosing a Merchant of Record for Your Short-Term Rental vacation rental guide.
Airbnb Max Guests Capped at 100. Airbnb property listings with a guest maximum of 100+ received errors from Airbnb as their guest maximum is 100 or less. We have resolved this issue by capping Airbnb property listing maximum guests to 100.
Fix "Back to all messages" Link When Viewing a Message. While clicking on the browser backlink worked, clicking on the in-app "Back to all messages" link when viewing a message resulted in errors. OR fixed this bug, and the in-app "Back to all messages" link will work as expected when viewing a message.
Fix "Do not retry" Trigger Retrying Same Day. Some triggers configured with "Do not retry," incorrectly sent messages on the last day of the cut-off. We resolved this glitch, and triggers will not send messages configured with "Do not retry."
Fix Error in Processing Booking Fees on New Bookings and Transactions. Some Refundable Damage Deposits (RDD) stored the RDD payment fee and then created the booking fee when the RDD was returned, resulting in booking fee errors on new bookings and transactions. OR corrected this issue to properly process booking fees on new bookings and transactions with RDDs.
Fix Error When Deleting a Booking Fee. This edge case occurred when a user attempted to delete a booking fee, resulting in an error. We resolved this glitch, and users can delete booking fees as expected.
Fix Error When Searching OwnerRez Website in the "All" Area. When attempting to search the OwnerRez website with the dropdown menu configured to "All," no search results were returned. OR fixed this bug, and users can search the OwnerRez website with the dropdown menu configured to "All" as expected.
Fix an Error That Sometimes Occurs When Accessing a Record With the Wrong Team Selected. Account users with access to multiple team accounts sometimes encountered issues where the wrong team was selected when accessing a record. We resolved this glitch to ensure that account users accessing multiple team accounts will no longer encounter this issue when accessing a record.
Fix Issue With Forums Authentication. Users logged into and authenticated on app.ownerrez.com were inadvertently asked to log in again when they attempted to access OwnerRez forums. OR fixed this bug, and users logged into and authenticated on app.ownerrez.com can access OwnerRez forums without logging in again.
Fix Multiple Guests Being Created for Vrbo Messages. The OwnerRez system associates Vrbo guests with bookings, so if no booking is managed through the integration, it automatically creates a new guest. However, some Vrbo API-connected properties experienced the creation of multiple guests after completing their Vrbo API connection, resulting in duplication in the inbox and contacts. We corrected this issue to ensure Vrbo API-connected bookings do not duplicate guests added through the iCal import process.
Fix Phone Entered on Guest Forms as "Mobile" Saved as "Other" Under Contacts Upon Form Completion. Phone numbers entered in the mobile phone field of the guest forms were incorrectly saved as an "other" guest contact phone number during the guest booking process. OR fixed this bug, and guest phone numbers will be saved and displayed correctly.
Fix Regression Where Review Recorded Date on Reviews Grid Was Always Showing Today's Date. OwnerRez experienced a code regression where the Review Recorded Date on the Reviews Grid incorrectly displayed today's date, regardless of when the review was recorded. We corrected this glitch to ensure that the Review Recorded Date on the Reviews Grid will display the date the review was recorded, not today's.
Increase Booking.com Availability Push Frequency. Since Booking.com (BDC) does not offer a last-minute availability check, we have increased OwnerRez's availability push frequency to BDC.
Increase Cap for Line Item Pivot Report. Clients with large numbers of properties encountered data cap errors when attempting to run Line Item Pivot Reports, forcing them to split the report. OR has increased the data cap to accommodate those clients so they can process large reports properly without splitting them.
Prepopulate Property Filter When Clicking Bulk Recalculate Charges to Active Properties Instead of All. Rather than defaulting to any active properties as expected, the property filter defaulted to all properties during the Bulk Recalculate Charges process. We resolved this issue, and the property filter will default to active properties only during the Bulk Recalculate Charges process.
Properly Display Airbnb Account Issues for Channel Integration. Airbnb account issues displayed in-app had a font that was too large, and if there was no description, it was displayed as "null." OR fixed this bug to properly display Airbnb account issues with the correct sized font; if there is no description, it will not be displayed.
Remove Obsolete TripAdvisor Description Fields. OwnerRez determined that some property description fields and field mappings are no longer supported by the TripAdvisor API. Those unsupported description fields will no longer be synced to TripAdvisor.
Remove Property Actions from Property Sidebar Menu. Not a bug, but some clean-up. OwnerRez moved the Property Actions submenu section into the Property General Information area quite some time ago. We've removed the Property > Action submenu heading to reflect that initial change accurately.
Update {MYTWITTER} Field Code Name and Description on the Account Tab to Refer to "X." Following the April 2024 release of New X (Twitter) Icons Added, we've updated all associated X (Twitter) field codes, including account, profile, hosted website tooltips and the Field Codes support article.
Add Thread IDs for Inquiry/Quote API Endpoints. As a fast follow-up to our May 2024 OwnerRez v2 Messaging API Metadata Optimizations, release, OwnerRez has included thread IDs for inquiry and quote endpoints.
Don't Allow Users to Delete Contact Associated With Their SMS Number. Deleting contacts associated with a user's SMS phone number results in message failures because that contact is the "participant" in every SMS conversation with any other guest. Therefore, we no longer allow users to delete contacts associated with a user's SMS phone number.
Fix Blank Tools Menu Bottom When Third-Party Tools are Hidden. When users hid all three third-party apps in-app in My Preferences (My Profile > My Preferences > Tools > Hide), the Tools menu displayed a bottom border line with black space under it. OR resolved this by detecting when all three third-party apps have been hidden by users and hiding the bottom border in the Tools menu.
Fix Defaults When Adding Additional HA-XML-based Channels. Some HA-XML-based channel listing property default information pushed was incorrect. We corrected these issues by sending correct property default information, which now includes house rules and correct rate adjustments and no longer includes personal account names.
Fix In-app Link Color. Following the June 5th In-app Design Updates release, the color of in-app links was unintentionally changed to a lighter green. OR updated the in-app link colors to be back the same color as the green of the OwnerRez logo.
Fix the "Open Menu" Text When the Menu is Collapsed. OwnerRez experienced a code regression in which the text "Open Menu" was displayed on two lines when the menu was collapsed. We fixed this bug, and the text "Open Menu" will be displayed on one line when the menu is collapsed as intended.
Fix Phone Number Search on Booking Grid Error. Searching for a phone number while on the booking grid resulted in errors. OR resolved this glitch to ensure that users can search for phone numbers while on the booking grid as expected.
Google Vacation Rentals:
Relax New Auto-spam Checking on Inquiries. The June 5th release of the Ability to Mark Inquiries as Spam Added proved a little too aggressive as users encountered legitimate inquiries being marked as spam. We resolved this issue by relaxing the new inquiry auto-spam check level for the time being.
Update Inquiry Instructions to Clarify That Channels Don't Send Emails to Guest. To clarify that some listing channel inquiries (Vrbo, Airbnb, booking.com, and TripAdvisor) do not provide guest email addresses, we've updated the in-app inquiry instructions, Automatically Import your Inquiries into OwnerRez.
Update Tools Menu Service Status Icon. Following the June 5th In-app Design Updates, we noticed that the Tools Menu Service Status icon was a different style than initially intended. OR corrected the Tools Menu Service Status icon to a similar solid version as we had before to ensure its prominence.
Adjust Vrbo Channel Bridge to Handle Payment Schedule Info Better. When attempting to run the Vrbo Channel Bridge (CB), some users found that while running the CB for specific bookings was successful, running the CB with date ranges failed to update Vrbo booking payment schedules. We resolved this issue to ensure that the Vrbo CB process will update Vrbo booking payment schedules.
Fix Crash on Inquiries Grid When Sorting by "Read" Column. Some users reported encountering a crash when sorting the inquiry grid by the "Read" column. OR fixed this bug, and users will be able to sort the inquiry grid by column correctly.
Fix Crash When Updating Airbnb Guest With Missing Last Name. Merging or updating Airbnb guests without last names sometimes resulted in errors. We corrected this glitch to merge or update Airbnb guests without last names without errors.
Fix Disconnecting of a GVR Listing With LQA Errors Present. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) listings with Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) errors couldn't unmap properties with errors until the errors were corrected. OR fixed this bug to now allow GVR listings with LQA errors to unmap those properties from GVR.
Fix Error on Hosted Site Property Page When Property Has No Address. Following the June 12th release of the Vacation Rental Structured Data Added to Hosted Websites, OwnerRez experienced a code regression that resulted in errors on hosted website property webpages if the property had no address. We resolved this glitch, and properties with no address will no longer result in errors on hosted website property webpages.
Fix Error on Property Share Widgets if No Property URL is Found. Following the May 15th release of Google Analytics Added for Property Shares, OwnerRez experienced a code regression that resulted in property share widget errors if no property URL was found. OR corrected this issue, and properties with no URLs will not cause property share widget errors.
Handle Credit Payment Data From Channels. Merchant of Record (MOR) listing channels sending negative commission amounts (e.g., credit payment data) sometimes resulted in errors. We fixed this bug to ensure that MOR listing channels sending credit payment data will no longer result in errors.
Handle Large BDC Booking Sync Data. OwnerRez has optimized Booking.com (BDC) booking sync data, which includes BDC bookings with extra-large sync documents.
Handle Missing Guest Name on Airbnb Thread. Some Airbnb message threads were missing guest names. OR resolved this glitch by using the Airbnb guest's first name from the reservation confirmation when the message thread is missing user names.
Provide More Helpful Errors for Widgets That are Set up Incorrectly. Incorrectly configured widgets displayed unhelpful error messages for users. We have added more useful error messages to assist users to correctly configure their incorrectly configured widgets.
Fix Back to Messages Link on Channel Messages. OwnerRez experienced a code regression that prevented the channel message link to a previous page from working correctly. We fixed this bug, and the "Back to messages" link works now.
Fix Issue Where Disabled Properties Were Being Billed for Premium Locks. Premium lock billing included disabled properties, leading to continued billing for unnecessary premium lock charges. OR corrected this issue by now excluding disabled properties from the premium locks billing.
Fix an Issue Where Airbnb Channel Messages With Attachments But No Body May Fail to Send. Some Airbnb channel messages with attachments but no body content encountered sending failures. We resolved this bug to ensure that Airbnb channel messages with attachments without body content will be sent correctly.
Fix Regression Where Host Messages in Inbox Grid Were Not Displayed as From Host. OwnerRez experienced a code regression that resulted in messages not being correctly displayed as being from the host in the Inbox grid. OR fixed this issue, and host messages will be displayed correctly in the Inbox grid.
If Error During SMS Brand Registration, Show That it Failed and Not "Pending" to User. Errors encountered during the SMS Brand Registration process due to incorrect data input incorrectly displayed a blue "Pending" callout, even though the brand submission failed. OR fixed this issue to instead display a red "Rejected" callout with the text, "We were unable to submit your brand due to a validation problem. Please contact support for assistance."
Our CEO, Paul Waldschmidt, recently sat down with Matt Landau on the Unlocked Podcast.
Paul and the rest of the OwnerRez team were part of the reason Matt decided to create this 12th season of Unlocked. In this episode, Paul and Matt talk about the OwnerRez retreat in the Dominican Republic back in 2023, where they, along with the OwnerRez team, started working on completing the employee manual. However, the retreat became much more than just completing it. Listen in to hear about the pivotal moment that set Paul on the path to making OwnerRez what it is today.
Matt Landau is a prominent figure in the vacation rental industry. His Unlocked podcast is widely regarded as the biggest podcast in the industry, and he is involved in various other roles, campaigns, and multimedia outlets. Check out VRMB which is Matt's mothership for all of the community, marketing, multimedia, and resources that his team manages.
Unlocked is a podcast series that allows you to listen to VRMB founder Matt Landau interview some of the world’s most innovative vacation rental professionals. The goal of this podcast series is to share best practices and to remind vacation rental professionals that we already possess everything we need to succeed.
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 Unlocked podcast page. Want to listen on another platform? Here are more options:
We love interacting with the vacation rental community and hosting our own webinars is an excellent way to do so. Here are all the webinars taking place in June. Find registration links below to sign up in advance and join live! If you ever want to find any of our past focus sessions or partner webinars, you can find those on our webinar page here.
Join Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for her series on account setup. Today's topic is Payment Methods - credit cards, checks, and Venmo.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Lisa, from 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! Steve, from 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 Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for her series on account setup. Today's topics are Description, Guest Instructions, Health & Safety.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Pam, from 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! Lisa, from 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.
Starting this month, we will be publishing monthly webinar announcements instead of releasing a blog post every week to inform you about each webinar individually. Welcome to the first full-month webinar blog post! You may have noticed that we are publishing monthly product updates now instead of weekly posts. You can find the April Product Update post here.
Here are all the webinars happening this month with registration links so you can register ahead of time and tune in live!
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Lisa, from 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 Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for her series on account setup. Today's topic is Cancellation Policies, Travel Insurance, and Damage Protection.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Pam, from 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! Lisa, from 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 Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for her series on account setup. Today's topic is Property Listing Rules.
Join us for a live demo of OwnerRez! Steve, from 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! Pam, from our client engagement team, will give a high-level demonstration of how OwnerRez looks across all of its menus and features.
We are excited to announce our partnership with Glamping Hub as a new first-class channel partner!
List your property with the world's leading luxury and experiential accommodations booking platform. Glamping Hub is the leading booking platform for unique accommodations in nature, listing a variety of cabins, domes, tiny houses, tree houses, safari tents, and more. Glamping Hub was the original glamping marketplace when it was founded in 2013. They have booked thousands of guests looking to reconnect with nature. They offer close to 20k listings across 110 countries. When you list with Glamping Hub, you have access to all the benefits of their partnerships — your property will also be visible on Kayak and Google Travel for even more exposure, and the best part is that it's free to list!
List your vacation rental with no contract and no fees to join! They take a 4% commission on confirmed bookings.
Learn more about Glamping Hub by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for integrating OwnerRez with Glamping Hub.
Welcome to our May 2024 product update, which includes all the happenings from five May releases.
Read on to decide on your favorite feature or enhancement from the month.
Following the release of the April 24th New Sidebar Design, OwnerRez has added new in-app improvements to the Sidebar Menu, secondary menus, top menu icons, and Tools menu icons/spacing on May 1st.
You'll first notice that the "hamburger" icon that opens and closes the left navigational sidebar menu has moved inside the sidebar menu, clarifying its use.
Next, the sidebar menu has new icons! These menu icons help identify each item on the sidebar menu when collapsed.
You can also toggle the sidebar menu open and closed by clicking OwnerRez (when open) or OR (when closed). When the sidebar menu is collapsed or closed on a desktop computer, the menu icons remain visible, and each menu item is identified by the tooltip name when you hover over the icon.
We've optimized the mobile user experience to maximize your "visual" space. Tooltip names are not visible when the sidebar menu is closed or collapsed.
Of course, your in-app OwnerRez experience may differ depending on your specific device, operating system, and browser.
We've truncated the unread counts displayed on the menu for super-users with inbox messages and inquiries of 999 or more.
The top right Tools (wrench icon) flyout menu has been styled to have the help text indented to see each item more easily at a glance.
The secondary sidebar menus (e.g., Properties, Settings, Reports) have been refreshed. They now have a crisp gray background, and the headings are consolidated with a "strikethrough" line to differentiate between the sidebar sections. Each section menu item is still highlighted in bold green but now with a darker gray bar behind to help you quickly locate your location in the app.
Stay updated on past and upcoming design changes by checking out our New Design 2024 support article.
We heard you, and we delivered. Following our September 13, 2023, release of "Stickier" Filters on Grids (e.g., Bookings List, Inquiries and Quotes), we knew more grid filter improvements needed to be made.
Grid filters are now even "sticker" than before! Now, you can save your default view on various in-app grids, including Bookings List View. And those saved defaults stick across your OwnerRez sessions!
Want to filter out (or hide) all canceled bookings? You can do that. At the bottom of the Filter pop-up, simply check the "Save as my default" checkbox and click Save & Apply.
Want to display only bookings that need a renter agreement signed as your default Booking List? You can do that, too. Selecting your preferred agreement from the Not Signed Agreements dropdown menu will display only bookings that have not yet signed your agreement.
Of course, users can always change or clear the "default" filters by clicking on the Show All link for that grid.
These configured default filter settings will be consistent across sessions and devices. These settings work across devices but are cookie-based, so changes made on one device may not update on the other device immediately. As always, your in-app OwnerRez experience may be different depending on your specific device, operating system, and browser.
IP (Internet Protocol) banning prevents requests from specific IP addresses and is vital for cybersecurity, preventing spam, managing resources, ensuring compliance, blocking repeat offenders, and protecting privacy, while still allowing legitimate users to visit your website.
You can now block specific IP addresses from your OwnerRez Hosted Website by navigating to Settings > My Website > Hosted Websites > your Hosted Website > IP Blocklist > + Block IP and add the IP address and description.
Don't have your own direct booking website yet? Check out OwnerRez's Hosted Websites to start taking your own direct bookings!
Attracting attention to a new Airbnb listing can be challenging. One way to gain traction is to offer the Airbnb New Listing 20% Off Promotion on your first three bookings.
With the May 1st release, you can now configure your eligible Airbnb New Listing 20% off discount directly in OwnerRez by navigating to Settings > API Integrations > your new Airbnb channel > and from the Actions dropdown > select New Listing Discount.
You can also easily see the status of your Airbnb listing by selecting the Check Status link from the same Actions dropdown menu.
When clicked on, the Check Status popup modal will appear, where you can see the Quality Standards & Status of your Airbnb listing.
OwnerRez's incredibly powerful Channel Management feature can simplify all your channel advertising. Be sure to check out all of our Channel Integrations.
Through our partnership with RentalGuardian, OwnerRez allows users to optionally offer guests the option to purchase travel insurance, covering specified costs in case of travel mishaps or cancellations.
With our May 22nd release, you can now offer Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) Travel Insurance Protection to your Canadian (excluding Quebec) guests!
Learn more about offering your guests by reading our Travel Insurance Overview support article.
Navigating the extensive OwnerRez Support Center, Blog, and Forums can be daunting. We have enhanced the search filters to public site search features, allowing you to really drill down on your search results.
Now, you can filter your results by content (e.g., All, Support, Forums, Feature Requests, Blog) and dates!
Additionally, Support Center articles now have improved organization and navigation, allowing you to expand and collapse articles by topic.
With all of the new OwnerRez Design Changes, many of our support articles now have outdated screenshots. As noted on our Support Center Homepage, please be patient with us as we work to revise our support articles with updated screenshots.
Expect numerous improvements in the Support Center's organization over the next few months!
OwnerRez messaging and triggers are powerful tools for automatically sending custom messages based on conditions, events, and/or time-based criteria. However, sometimes, it proved challenging to determine why a guest message would not be or was not sent.
We've updated the Guest Message Status tooltips, which you hover over to get more details about when a message will be sent or why it won't be sent.
Don't forget that you can always check your Trigger Forecast to see all future messages that will be sent by your triggers.
Are you utilizing all of our messaging tools? Check out all the OwnerRez Messaging tools we offer!
In April 2023, OwnerRez partnered with bnbfinder to provide an integrated API connection between the two systems. Now, bnbfinder has been upgraded to a fully integrated listing channel with OwnerRez!
This integration makes loading content, displaying rates, and availability easy, taking direct bookings on bnbfinder, and receiving complete booking data, including guest credit card information.
Check out our bnbfinder Setup & Connecting support article to learn more.
Do you utilize Property Sharing? If so, understanding your property share website's traffic is helpful to understand usage. However, Property Shares used your user-level Google Analytics Tracking ID, which combined the tracking data with all other data under that Google Analytics Tracking ID, making it hard to distinguish property share traffic from other website traffic.
But with the May 15th release, a different Google Analytics tracking ID can now be added specifically to each Property Share! Track away!
Also, since Google Analytics 4 will replace Universal Analytics in July 2024, Universal Analytics has been removed from in-app Analytics Tracking as part of this release.
Learn more about utilizing Google Analytics for your website by reading our Tracking guest interactions through Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel support article.
OwnerRez's valuable Channel Bridge tool has been updated! Let's review what's new.
Not yet API-connected to Vrbo or other listing channels OwnerRez offers? Consider amplifying your vacation rental marketing by checking out all of our Channel Integrations.
OwnerRez noticed that the Inquiry counter numbers didn't consistently reflect the actual state of unanswered inquiries.
Even when filtered for unread inquiries, answered or quoted inquiries answered via a trigger were included in the inquiry counter number and erroneously displayed higher than the actual number of unread inquiries, leading to confusion.
For clarity, we've split the Read + Answered Inquiry Filter into separate filter options, allowing for more definitive inquiry filtering.
As OwnerRez continues to add grid filters across sections in the app, we've also added new grid filter options to the premium feature Property Management Owners Grid!
The filter button was already available, but now you can filter owners by their name and current property name by entering your text in the Filter > Name field.
Learn more by checking out OwnerRez's Property Management premium feature!
We received several requests from partners integrating with the new Messages API to include more data.
We updated the Messages API to include additional metadata surrounding conversation threads, such as message sender roles and the associated property, bookings, quotes, or inquiries.
Add Vrbo Listing Quality Analyzer for Refundable Damage Deposit with Pet Criteria Properly. Vrbo pet criteria are not compatible with refundable damage deposit types. However, this limitation was not checked for nor displayed in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) results. We corrected this glitch, and the LQA will now check for and display the proper warnings for the combination of Vrbo pet criteria and refundable damage deposit types.
Better Handle Phone Number Formatting for International Numbers. The system continued displaying incorrect leading zeros for some international phone numbers, confusing our international users. OR fixed this bug, and international phone numbers will be saved and handled correctly.
Disable Airbnb Messaging Role Under My Preferences When Fewer Than Two Active Airbnb Connections. The Airbnb Messaging Role section (referring to preferred Host/Owner or Co-host roles) proved confusing for users with fewer than two active Airbnb connections. We resolved this issue by disabling the section for users with fewer than two active Airbnb connections.
Fix Airbnb Booking to Update Guest Name After Inquiry. Some Airbnb inquiries sent guest initials and only sent full names with subsequent bookings. However, our update logic did not update the full guest name (even if it was incomplete) if only guest initials were received with the initial inquiry. OR fixed this bug to update Airbnb inquiry guest initials with full guest names when the booking comes through.
Fix Channel Rate Tester From Showing Airbnb Discounts Twice. Occasionally, the Channel Rate Tester would generate incorrect Airbnb proposed quotes if the dates selected included a discount, resulting in duplicate Airbnb discounts due to cleaning fee adjustments. This is now fixed.
Fix Vrbo Pending for 12 Hours Getting Immediately Canceled for Some Users. OR encountered a code regression following April's Hour Intervals Added to Pending & Auto Cancellation Rules release. The result was the immediate cancellation of some Vrbo bookings when that property's pending cancellations were configured to twelve hours. OR corrected this glitch to ensure that properties configured with twelve-hour pending cancellations will process appropriately as configured.
Global Landing Page Total to Right Aligned Text. The OwnerRez Global Landing Page displayed the booking total currency amount as a left-aligned text after the word "Total." We fixed this so the booking total currency amount is correctly displayed as right-aligned text.
Handle Schlage Locks Returning "Name already exists" Error, But No Matching Access Codes are Found. A user encountered a Schlage "Name already exists" error, but there was no matching existing code in their Schlage app, nor could they sync or regenerate a door lock code in OwnerRez. OR corrected this issue, and Schlage door lock codes will be generated properly as expected.
Image Requirement for Listings to Show Correct Warnings, Recommendations, and Issues. Image size validation details were calculated and captured but not displayed to users in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) or the mapping screen when that information could assist users in correcting issues that prevent them from connecting a listing channel. We fixed this glitch, and the image validation details calculated and captured will be displayed to users in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) and the mapping screen, allowing them to correct those issues.
No Longer Fail Stripe Connection on Phone Shorter Than 10 Digits. Users with fewer than ten digits were experiencing connection failures with Stripe due to an optional phone number field that required ten digits. OR resolved this issue by no longer populating the optional Stripe phone number field if the phone number contains less than ten digits.
No Longer Error When Adding a Second Phone Number. Users who attempted to register a second SMS phone number encountered errors. We fixed this bug, and users can successfully add a second SMS phone number.
Owner Email Rendering on the Wrong Line by Hiding the "Email Address" Label if There Are None. Owner phone numbers were incorrectly displayed in the email address field on some mobile devices due to a display alignment error that can occur when there is no registered email address for the owner. Despite the display error, the owner's phone number was mapped correctly. OR corrected this glitch, and owner phone numbers will be properly displayed on mobile devices.
Remove Google Vacation Rentals Headline (Title) Description Override. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) property description overrides that included the {PPUBNAME} field code in the Title field failed to be displayed on GVR listings. GVR requires property description headlines to match the hosted website headline. However, headlines are not used on the global landing page. For these reasons, the GVR property description override headline (title) field has been removed.
Rework Google Vacation Rentals Availability Push. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) changed its validation on the availability push API, so OwnerRez was unable to push availability to GVR. We resolved this by updating our integration to fit the new, undocumented validation changes.
Support Longer Payment Processor Status Reasons. Lengthy payment processor error messages were truncated in Booking > Transaction > Reason sections, resulting in incomplete error messages. We resolved this issue by supporting longer payment processor error messages in the Booking > Transaction > Reason sections.
Triggered Emails to Handle Non-ASCII Characters Properly. Non-ASCII text characters in email templates sent by triggers were rendered incorrectly in communication history, resulting in gibberish-like text displayed (Note: the actual delivered emails were unaffected). OR fixed this bug, and non-ASCII text characters will be displayed correctly in communication history.
Add Back SMS Status Column on Communication History Grid. Due to a code regression, the SMS Status column was inadvertently removed from the Communication History Grid. We corrected this issue, and the SMS Status column was added back to the Communication History Grid.
Fix Airbnb Deposit Handling Where Host Fee VAT Amount Changed and Increased. When the host fee VAT amount changed and increased, Airbnb deposits were not handled correctly to reflect those changes or increases. OR resolved this glitch, and Airbnb deposits will correctly reflect any host fee VAT amounts that are changed and increased. Affected users were contacted by email.
Fix Crashing When Pushing Many Year Old Photos to Airbnb. Older photos pushed to Airbnb sometimes encountered sync crashes. We fixed this issue, and older photos pushed to Airbnb will no longer experience sync crashes.
Fix Premature PM Lock on Bookings With Refundable Damage Deposit. Bookings with Refundable Damage Deposit (RDD) configured could be prematurely PM locked. OR corrected this bug, and bookings will only be PM locked if the balance due is zero, the RDD has been kept/released, and the booking has been included on an Owner Statement.
Fix Schlage Error Populating "0000" Code. Properties configured with multiple Schlage locks that encountered an error on one lock experienced the door lock code changed to "0000" rather than the same code from the successful door lock code. We resolved this glitch, and properties configured with multiple Schlage locks that encounter an error will be assigned the same code as the successful door lock code.
Fix "tomorrow" Incorrectly Displaying for Certain Time Zones. Quotes where users with significantly different time zones from the potential guest and configured to expire the next day didn't display the correct quote expiration date. OR fixed this bug, and quote expiration dates will be correctly calculated and displayed.
Handle Airbnb International Phone Number Import When Missing "+" Prefix. International phone numbers imported for Airbnb guests that were missing the "+" prefix encountered incorrect international phone number formats. We corrected this issue, and international phone numbers imported for Airbnb guests will now be formatted appropriately.
Handle Case Where Lynnbrook Reversal Doesn't Have a Description. Lynnbrook reversals (aka ACH electronic fund transfers or chargebacks) did not include any description of the reversal causing issues with import. OR resolved this glitch, and Lynnbrook reversals with no description will succeed as an "Unknown Reversal."
Handle Property Import Lookup Timeouts. Some property imports encountered import lookup timeouts, resulting in incomplete property imports. We fixed this bug by optimizing the property import lookup to improve the timing of timeouts.
Show Error on LQA for GVR Surcharges With Positions Set. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) does not support positioned surcharges and discounts, but warnings about them were not displayed on the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) tool. OR corrected this issue, and warnings about any positioned surcharges and discounts will now be displayed when running the LQA.
Show Property in SMS and Channel Message Received Alerts When Possible. Property names were intentionally not displayed in SMS and Channel Message Received alerts. However, we realized that it was not ideal. So now, if the property name is known, it will be included in the two alert types.
Allow Channel Bridge to Update Guest Info if Airbnb Transaction Sync is Enabled. Users who had their Airbnb Transaction Sync automatically enabled prior to importing pre-API-connected bookings via the Channel Bridge tool encountered missing guest information for those older Airbnb bookings. OR has resolved this issue to ensure that users with Airbnb Transaction Sync enabled will be allowed to run Channel Bridge imports to merge old guest information into pre-API-connected bookings.
Allow Unprocessed Scheduled Payment Delete Even if PM Locked. Users could not delete unprocessed scheduled payments if they were PM locked. We fixed this bug to allow the deletion of unprocessed scheduled payments even if the booking is PM Locked.
Block Vrbo Integration if No Properties are Mapped. Some Vrbo API integrations were allowed even if no properties had been mapped, which caused integration issues. OR corrected this glitch, and Vrbo API integrations with no properties mapped yet will be prevented from continuing the Vrbo API integration process.
Case-insensitive Match Guest Names When Merging Vrbo Threads. Some Vrbo guest names failed to merge correctly with their associated conversation threads because the system attempted to match guest names using case-sensitive rules. We resolved this bug by instead matching Vrbo guest names with case-insensitive rules to ensure they will be merged with their associated conversation threads.
Clarify Channel Sync Status Popover Content. The channel sync status popover error language was misleading, suggesting that some updates had never been synchronized when they actually had. OR fixed the language for the "Sync Status" popover column when displaying errors to display the last channel sync error only.
Fix "Automatic payments applied" Email Being Sent When Confirming Pending Bookings. Some "Automatic payments applied" system emails were incorrectly sent when confirming pending bookings. We corrected this bug, and "Automatic payments applied" system emails will be sent correctly.
Fix Delay in Phone Number Formatting Issue on Guest Forms. Due to phone number formatting delays, guests encountered phone number input errors, including "Phone number too long..." on guest forms. OR resolved this glitch, and guests can properly input phone numbers, even long international ones.
Fix Incorrect Lock Count on User Invoice if Lock is Deleted. Locks that were deleted after an invoice date were no longer displayed or included in the quantity count of the previous invoice. We fixed this issue to ensure that user invoices already generated always list the proper lock quantity on previous invoices, even if the lock(s) is/are now deleted.
Fix Portal Invite Radio Button Selectability. When attempting to invite a new portal user, users were forced to choose "owner" when they wanted to select a property-based option. OR resolved this glitch, and users can again select the option they need to when inviting a new portal user.
Prevent Bulk PM Lock From Locking Bookings With Unprocessed Scheduled Payments. Previously, the Bulk PM lock tool allowed users to bypass the check to prevent PM Lock on bookings with open scheduled payments. We updated the Bulk PM Lock tool to follow the same validation rules as the individual PM Lock and not allow locking bookings with scheduled payments.
Update API for Duplicate Key Constraints to Produce 4xx Errors Instead of 5xx. OwnerRez API partners who sent duplicate requests received erroneous 5xx error codes rather than the correct 4xx code errors to inform the partner that the error is on their side, not OwnerRez. OR updated the API to now respond to partner duplicate requests with the correct 4xx error codes, informing the partner that the error is on their side.
Update Guest Forms to Support Hours or Days Wording Based on Pending Booking Length. Following April's Hour Intervals Added to Pending & Auto Cancellation Rules release, we needed to update our guest forms to appropriately support hours or days language based on the property pending booking length configured.
Add Support for Listing Airbnb Noise Monitor Expectations for Guests. Airbnb was clearing out noise monitor expectations added in OwnerRez upon sync. We fixed this by adding noise monitor support for Airbnb listings where what is entered in OwnerRez is synced without being cleared by Airbnb.
Don't Send Watch Posts by Main Account (a.k.a. Billed User) to Staff Users. Staff members inadvertently received watched forum and blog post updates intended only for the OwnerRez billed account user. OR resolved this glitch, and staff members will no longer receive watched forum and blog post update emails for the OwnerRez billed account user.
Fix Email Template Header/Footer Themes for Associated System Messages. Users who modified system messages found that the template created did not use the account theme or header/footer settings configured. We corrected this issue by using the configured account theme and header/footer settings for modified system message templates properly.
Fix Hosted Site Header From Preventing Clicking Menu Dropdown Options When Hyperlink is Below Other Header Rows. Hosted websites with additional header rows and a configured center Book Now link prevented guests from clicking the menu dropdown items due to padding issues that interfered with the dropdown menu. OR resolved this glitch to ensure that hosted website overlapping elements are applied correctly.
Fix Inactive Triggers From Showing on Booking Messages Tab. While messages sent by triggers were sent as expected, disabled or inactive triggers were displayed in the booking messages tab/section, resulting in confusion for users. We fixed this bug to ensure disabled or inactive triggers are again no longer displayed in the booking messages tab/section.
Fix New Booking Forms to Use Correct Pluralization (e,.g. bed vs. beds, bath vs. baths). Properties with a single bed or bath were incorrectly displayed as pluralized (e.g.,1 Beds, 1 Baths) on guest global landing pages. OR resolved this glitch, and the correct pluralization will be displayed on guest global landing pages.
Fix Scheduled Trigger With "After" Condition From Reverting to "Before" After Saving and Reopening. Saved scheduled triggers that included "after" conditions incorrectly reverted to "before" conditions when reopened and received validation errors when users attempted to change and save the trigger. We corrected this issue and saved scheduled triggers that include "after" conditions will be correctly saved.
Fix Viewing of Historical Invoices That Contain SMS Messages With No Linked Messages. Some SMS messages without linked messages were not displayed on historical OwnerRez account invoices. OR fixed this bug, and SMS messages without linked messages will be displayed properly on historical OwnerRez account invoices.
Google Vacation Rentals:
iCal Deletion Will Now warn About Damage Protection Effects. Users who deleted their configured iCal imports did not receive any warnings regarding the impact of booking/block damage protection policies. We have updated the warning to include damage protection impacts when users delete their iCal imports.
Lynnbrook Group Fees Should Reflect Correctly When User is on 'Net' Billing. Lynnbrook group fees for Net Billing, which deducts the fee at the same time as the deposit, did not correctly reflect the fee information. OR resolved this bug so that the correct fee information can now be displayed.
Remove Remaining Booking.com Platform (a.k.a. Proxy or Pass-through) Email Addresses from Guests. Booking.com (BDC) platform (a.k.a. proxy or pass-through) email addresses still existed on some upcoming bookings, leading to issues with message sending. We tidied this up further, and Booking.com (BDC) platform (a.k.a. proxy or pass-through) email addresses were removed from upcoming remaining BDC bookings.
Return an HTTP 400 Status to Invalid Widget Requests. We were returning invalid widget requests indicating an internet address could not be found. OR has corrected this issue by returning a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) 400 Bad Request response status code indicating that the server cannot process a request due to a user error.
Schlage Lock Integration Set to Use Random Numbers Will Now Match to the Correct Existing Access Code Stored in Lock. Some Schlage lock integrations with random number-configured door lock codes encountered failures when the system failed to match the existing door lock code. We fixed this glitch to ensure that Schlage lock integrations configured with random number door lock codes will match the correct existing door lock code stored in the lock.
Bulk Recalculate Charges for Older Airbnb Bookings. When some users attempted to run the Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges tool, some older booking charges were not imported as expected. We fixed this bug to ensure that the Airbnb Bulk Recalculate Charges tool will now load the latest information from Airbnb for older bookings.
Don't Fail on Hosted Site Certificate Check if Homepage Has Been Disabled. Some hosted websites with disabled homepages experienced Transport Layer Security (TLS) certificate check failures. OR resolved this glitch, and hosted websites with disabled homepages will not automatically have TLS certificate check failures.
Explain How to Gain Access to Messages API on APIv2 Page. The Messages API v2 is feature-flagged and requires signed agreements to access. We've added the following information under the Messages API v2 section to explain: "Messaging agreements must be signed to access the Messages endpoints. To gain access, email help@ownerrez.com with the subject line Messaging API Access."
Fix Airbnb Cleaning Fees Displaying as "Other" for Pre-approved Inquiries. Airbnb cleaning fees were incorrectly displayed as an "Other" fee for pre-approved bookings. OR corrected this issue, and Airbnb pre-approved bookings will now display the fee as the correct surcharge.
Fix Airbnb Co-host Inquiry Associating With Property on Other Account. Instead of the host and co-host each receiving separate inquiry messages, an Airbnb co-host received an inquiry that was inaccessible. This was due to incorrect property matching and incorrectly associated the inquiry with a different property that the co-host has access to on another account. We fixed this bug to ensure that Airbnb co-host properties are properly matched so that the host and co-host will each receive separate inquiry messages.
Fix Channel Bridge "Modified since" Option for Bookings With Modified Paid Status. The May 8th Channel Bridge update contained some incorrect logic, which resulted in incorrectly searching for and modifying bookings with recent payments instead of correctly searching for and modifying bookings with no recent payments. OR corrected this issue by fixing the Channel Bridge "Modified since" logic to ensure that the process runs properly.
Fix Crash When Changing Airbnb Property Sync Type. Disabled non-synced Airbnb listings encountered errors when attempting to change the listing mode from Limited to Everything or vice versa. We resolved this glitch, and disabled non-synced Airbnb listings will be able to change the listing mode as needed.
Fix Hidden Account Switcher Dropdown. Impersonated users were not able to click on the "Switch account" menu. OR corrected this issue to ensure that impersonated users will be able to click on the "Switch account" menu.
Fix SMS Communication History Status Column Not Displaying After First Page. The SMS Communication History Status column was not displayed after the first page. We fixed this bug, and the SMS Communication History Status column will be displayed as expected.
Google Vacation Rentals:
Handle Potential Error in Expedia API Logic. Due to a potential error in the Expedia API logic, we may have failed to log some Vrbo messaging events. We corrected this issue to ensure that we are logging potential Expedia messaging error events.
Handle Vrbo Deprecated Amenities. Vrbo no longer supports the "Outdoor Fenced Pool" amenity, and OR has adjusted the Vrbo API sync to no longer pass that as an amenity to Vrbo.
Fix Lynnbrook Group Net Billing Deposit Decimal Conversion. Lynnbrook Net Billing deposits were fixed in the previous week's release but had decimal conversion issues in some cases. OR resolved so that the correct fee information has the proper decimal conversion on the display to the user.
Properly Record Refundable Security Deposit Fees. Refundable Security Deposits (RDD) stored the RDD payment fee and then created the booking fee when the RDD was released, which resulted in problems with the RDD due to unnecessary adjustments. We corrected this issue by creating the booking fees for RDDs to avoid any unnecessary adjustments.
Right-align Adjustments and Fees Columns on the Deposits Grid. The Fees and Adjustments columns on the Deposits grid were left-aligned. OR changed this so that the Fees and Adjustments columns are right-aligned.
Re-specify Channel "Via" Next to Channel Trigger Entry in Guest Conversation. Channel messages sent via trigger did not display the specific channel name/icon on which the message was sent in individual guest conversations. We resolved this glitch to ensure that the specific channel name and icon are displayed in individual guest conversations.
Show Channel Message Failed Reason to Users. Some channel messages did not include any status that a channel message had failed to send. OR changed this to display failure statuses for channel messages when available.
Support Booking.com Allowing up to 90 Max Nights. If enabled by the user on the BDC (Booking.com) Extranet, BDC now supports bookings of up to 90 maximum nights. We updated the BDC API to support bookings of up to 90 maximum nights.
Vrbo RTB (Request To Book) Shouldn't Send Time-based Triggers. This edge case occurred when a Vrbo API-connected property encountered time-based triggers that incorrectly sent messages for pending bookings that shouldn't have been sent until the booking was confirmed. OR corrected this bug to skip sending time-based trigger messages for Vrbo RTB bookings while they are still unconfirmed.
Each Widget has controls, in the OwnerRez widgets area, that can do this:
https://app.ownerrez.com/settings/widgets
Look for a Properties selector -
The default is All, as shown here, but, you can change that however you wish, to include/exclude whatever properties as required.
Loved this podcast, thanks for sharing all that you do and being transparent! Now if you can only get the messaging update done last week ;) jk we appreciate all you do and will be patient
Our CEO, Paul Waldschmidt, recently sat down with Luke Carl from The Short Term Rental Management Podcast to discuss the origins of OwnerRez, the challenges we faced in the early days, and how we've evolved to become a foundational tool for property managers and owners.
The Short Term Rental Management Podcast is about managing your short term rental from anywhere in the world. The host, Luke Carl, is a real estate professional who began his career buying short-term rentals in vacation markets in order to use the cash flow to purchase long-term rentals. Luke is the proud owner of the longest-running “Airbnb” in the Smoky Mountains and has hosted over 4000 stays in his career. He owns hundreds of units with no partners, including multi-family, single-family long-term, and, of course, short-term rentals. Luke and his team also buy and sell short-term rentals with local expert agents in Over 20 Top Vacation Markets!
During the podcast, Luke and Paul discuss:
Looking for a way to remove a property from my private website through the widget. I still want it on the platforms but not on my website.
Just reach out if you'd like a discount code to give RedCarpet a try.
Oh wonderful. Thank you, Bryan!
There's a link to a sample guest app on this page. . .
https://redcarpethost.com/redcarpethost-and-ownerrez
You're right, I should have that on the home page as well. Thank you for the suggestion!
I wish their website included a sample guidebook to see what the offering really entails. As it stands now, I'd have to watch the demo of how to build one in order to get a glimpse of a finished product.
We have 3 properties connected to Google Vacation Rentals.
We selected the Landing Page option, but when testing the link it keeps linking to our hosted OwnerRez Website instead of the Landing Page.
How can we fix this?
Thanks!!
Katy, I suggest you reach out to the OR Helpdesk directly for this issue. Thanks!
We have 3 properties connected to Google Vacation Rentals.
We selected the Landing Page option, but when testing the link it keeps linking to our hosted OwnerRez Website instead of the Landing Page.
How can we fix this?
Thanks!!
My rates are not showing up on Google Vacation Rentals. Why is that? And the landing page is different than what is described in OwnerRez. This is what I'm seeing when I click on listing link through OwnerRez to Google Vacation Rentals.
Caitlin,
Best of luck!
My rates are not showing up on Google Vacation Rentals. Why is that? And the landing page is different than what is described in OwnerRez. This is what I'm seeing when I click on listing link through OwnerRez to Google Vacation Rentals.
We are happy to announce our partnership with RedCarpet Host to offer our users a thoughtfully designed guidebook builder built by long-time OwnerRez users!
As an experienced STR host and OwnerRez user, the developer of RedCarpet Host set out on a mission to create tools that are smarter, easier to use, more affordable, and provide a better guest experience. A great example is their innovative and thoughtfully designed guidebook builder, which turns a dreaded task into a refreshingly simple experience. Create smart guidebooks powered by real-time data from your OwnerRez account for a delightfully friendly and personalized guest experience. You’ll also appreciate the fully automated (and FREE!) Waitlist app that takes the stress out of those inevitable requests to “Notify me if you have a cancellation."
A first-hand understanding of the short-term-rental business inspired the host-friendly RedCarpet subscription model. Instead of charging a per-property fee, RedCarpet fees are based only on your total number of bookings received each month. Your first booking is $8.00 and each additional booking is just 29 cents. That means you’ll pay $0 if no bookings are made in a given month. Take a look at their pricing calculator here to learn more.
Get started with RedCarpet Host by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for integrating OwnerRez with RedCarpet Host.
We love connecting with the vacation rental community, so we are cranking up the number of special webinars we hold every month! We host weekly demo webinars and bi-weekly Q&A sessions, but we also host special focus sessions and Q&A webinars on specific topics.
This month, we are hosting the following special webinars:
Join Adrielle from our Onboarding Team for her series on account setup. Today's topic is Surcharges and Discounts, including information on channel quirks you need to know. Register below or click here!
Join us for a live Q&A! Tiffany, from our Onboarding Team, will be answering your questions about OwnerRez Hosted Websites. Please write in questions prior to the webinar and we'll start off by answering those. Register below or click here!
You can find all of our past and future webinars on our Webinars page.
We are happy to announce our partnership with Magnetic Strategy, offering custom website services using our integrated site API.
Magnetic Strategy crafts custom direct booking websites and executes strategic digital marketing campaigns for vacation rental businesses from SEO services and content development to email marketing and more.
Since 2017, they have empowered property managers and owners to drive revenue, secure direct bookings, and elevate their online presence with websites built to be SEO-friendly and seamlessly integrated with industry-leading property management systems like OwnerRez.
They offer both WordPress integrations with the OwnerRez WordPress plugin as well as a full WordPress integration using the OwnerRez API. This allows your website to have a real-time sync with OwnerRez, ensuring your website is always up-to-date with availability, pricing, and property details. Partner with us to stand out, attract guests, and maximize your rental business potential.
This website utilizes the OwnerRez integration with Magnetic Strategy:
Starting at $1,500, view all pricing information here.
You can learn more and speak with their team by visiting the Magnetic Strategy website here.
On Wednesday, 4/17, join Adrielle from our Onboarding Team as she discusses Surcharges and Discounts, including information on channel quirks you need to know.
The session starts at 12:30 pm Eastern, 9:30 am Pacific. It is free to join, but you need to use the sign-up for OwnerRez Focus Session - Surcharges & Discounts link to register.
You can find all of our past and future webinars on our Webinars page.
Welcome to the first full-month product update blog post!
(ICYMI: we've switched to a monthly product update format)
OwnerRez made lots of changes in the month of April 2024 that you should be aware of. Some are more obvious than others! Read on to catch all the updates made during the last four weekly releases.
In case you missed it, on April 24th, 2024, we implemented a sidebar main menu to enhance your user experience!
We believe this elevates the look and feel of OwnerRez, and it should seem familiar as many other apps have a similar structure. The top menu bar still has a role, so click on everything to see where your most-used items are.
If the menu takes up too much space on your screen, you can collapse it out of the way (and reopen it when needed). On the smallest of screens (e.g., cell phones), the menu is auto-collapsed and you just open it when needed.
Besides its location, having a sidebar menu allows for more menu real estate, so Settings is back (a welcomed change, for sure!), and the "CRM" menu is no longer needed. Instead, Inbox, Contacts, and Reviews are on the main menu now.
In preparation for this significant update, OwnerRez gradually introduced incremental changes over the past year. For the remainder of this year, we will continue implementing additional design changes to enhance your user experience further. You will also see the sidebar continue to evolve a bit.
Read more about these changes (and keep track of further upcoming design changes) by reviewing the New Design 2024 support article.
New look, updated URL! We changed the app's URL (i.e., subdomain) from secure.ownerrez.com to app.ownerrez.com to coincide with the menu design changes.
Why change the URL? All OwnerRez site pages are secure, so having "secure" in the URL was redundant. Many apps use "app" in their URL to let users know they are in the main application, so we wanted to follow suit. If muscle memory still causes you to type in secure.ownerrez.com, you will be redirected to app.ownerrez.com.
We would have preferred to do it back in January with the root URL change from ownerreservations.com but doing it all at once was too large of a release.
This change was smooth and has been well received. This update also lays the groundwork for the much-anticipated push notifications feature. In the near future, you will be able to receive alerts directly on your iOS or Android devices!
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to enhance guest communication by providing instant, personalized, and efficient responses, reducing wait times, and improving overall satisfaction.
As OwnerRez continues to expand partnerships, such as the March 24th, 2024, Integration With Enso Connect, we have added new messaging endpoints to our v2 API to accommodate Enso and other potential partners offering guest communication options utilizing AI.
For those interested in AI messaging options to be offered by OwnerRez partners, more info to come in the weeks ahead!
SMS Messaging is a powerful way to send information directly to your guests, bypassing email. Our SMS feature also works with templates and triggers so that you can send automated personalized messages at scheduled times.
Like the channel thread messaging implemented in the fall, OwnerRez has now converted SMS messages to a new thread architecture. We also improved SMS sending latency, or the time for an SMS message to pass on a network from OwnerRez to your intended recipient. These changes are probably not noticeable to our users as these improvements took place under the hood. Still, they lead to improved guest communication and better preparation for the upcoming unified inbox.
Also, TMobile, and by extension, our provider, has introduced new fees for infractions of its content policies. Due to these changes, users must now agree to be bound by OwnerRez's terms of service, content messaging policies, and its messaging partners during new SMS Brand applications.
Recently, Vrbo updated its API endpoints, resulting in Channel Bridge (CB) booking download import failures. This proved challenging for those of you with non-API-connected Vrbo properties that rely heavily on the OwnerRez CB Chrome extension to manually import your Vrbo bookings into OwnerRez via an Excel file. The vast majority of our users rely on API integration for their Vrbo listings, so most of you were unaffected.
As part of this release, we updated the Channel Bridge booking download import to include those new Vrbo API endpoints.
This should fix Vrbo Channel Bridge booking download failures. To avoid future Channel Bridge problems, consider connecting your properties to Vrbo through our fast and reliable integrated API connection between Vrbo and OwnerRez.
Setting clear property rules benefits both hosts and guests by promoting mutual respect and understanding. It helps prevent misunderstandings and conflicts, ensuring a smoother and more enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
OwnerRez has added hour interval options to many areas for more flexibility in your Pending & Auto Cancellation Rules.
Why? Recently, we implemented hourly pending services, allowing us to add hourly intervals. Pending bookings tie up your availability calendar, so we suspected some users would appreciate the flexibility to nail down more specific Pending & Auto Cancellation Rules. Now, you can determine when to place bookings (and quotes) in a pending state, when to auto-cancel the booking if a guest fails to meet the payment deadline, or even offer more time for the guest to provide a valid payment.
In your Property Rules, you can now select hours (or days) from the Pending & Auto Cancellation dropdown menus to automatically place the booking in a pending state in the event of payment failures for Credit Card, Checks, and Custom Instructions.
You can review your properties Pending & Auto Cancellation Rules by navigating to Properties > Rules > Change > Pending & Auto Cancellation. 14 days is the default selection for Credit Card, Checks, and Custom Instructions. Still, you can determine the best settings for your vacation rental business.
In your fully API-integrated listing channels, you can select hours (or days) from the dropdown menu to automatically place the booking in a pending state in the event of credit card failures.
You can review your API-integrated listing channels by navigating to Settings > Channels > API Integrations > specific Listing Channel > Change > Credit Card Payments > If Card Fails.
Are you wondering what "fully integrated" means and which API-integrated listing channels are classified as "fully integrated?" A fully integrated listing channel allows guests to book directly on the listing channel. Those API-integrated listing channels include Vrbo, HomeToGo, GuestSmiles, getawayGoGo, Whimstay, Rentalz, Hopper Homes, and Got2Go.
In individual pending bookings (specific Booking > Change Pending Status), you can now select hours (or days) in the "What do you want to do?" section to determine how long a period you want to wait before auto-cancelling the booking if a guest fails to meet the payment deadline.
Note that you can only change an individual booking's Pending Status when the specific booking is in a pending status.
You can also change your Pending & Auto Cancellation rules for quotes by navigating to the specific Quote > Rules > Change > Pending & Auto Cancellation. The settings appear and act just like property Pending & Auto Cancellation rules but will only apply to that specific quote.
Read the Pending Bookings support article to learn more.
OwnerRez has replaced X's (Twitter) old bird icons with their new X icon on our public website and in-app.
The new X icon is on the top bar of our public website, ownerrez.com, alongside our other social media icon links.
Did you know that OwnerRez is on Linkedin, too? As part of this release, we added the Linkedin icon next to the X icon.
Hosted website header and footer icons have been updated to the new X icon. Here's a hosted website header example.
And here's a hosted website footer example.
Additionally, we updated both the {MYSOCM} (multi-line social medial inks) and the {MYSOCS} (single-line social media links) field codes to now display the new X icon. Hosted websites using the {MYSOCS} field code for their footers will automatically see the new X icon added.
Not a fan of the new X icon displayed on your hosted website and prefer the old bird logo? You can change your hosted website header social media icons by navigating to Settings > My Website > your hosted website > Header Layout > selecting the device layout > clicking on the social media section and changing your X (Twitter) icon. Start typing in the text twitter, and select a different icon. You can also select the X icon with the black background if that works better on your hosted website.
Notice that the Action column is now displaying "X (Twitter)" instead of "Twitter."
X (Twitter) and the X icon have also been added in-app to the Theming section (Settings > Branding & Legal > Theming > your Theme > Change > Social Networks).
Are you wondering about all these new icon options? As part of this update, we updated our Font Awesome (a font and icon toolkit) to the latest version, allowing us to update fonts and icons as necessary seamlessly.
OwnerRez's Property Multi-Select Tool allows users of multiple properties to quickly and efficiently search and select their desired properties by simply adding the first few letters of a property or owner.
As a followup to our January 12th release of the Property Multi-Select Tool Added, we've added the Property Multi-Select Tool in-app in the following areas: Deposits, Imports, PM, Properties, Settings, Team Access, Form Messages, Holidays, and Seasons.
Note that the dropdown box text displays the number of properties selected.
The Property Multi-Select Tool filter text box only appears if there are more than ten options on multi-select boxes (or 15 on single-select boxes).
Sharing your website's URL with current and potential guests provides direct access to accurate information, fosters trust, and enhances their booking experience.
Why add the new {MYDOMAIN} field code when we already have the {MYURL} field code? Booking-type message templates that included the Company URL {MYURL} field code sometimes resulted in malformed URLs when configured to open in a new tab. The new {MYDOMAIN} field code displays your company web address minus the HTTPS prefix, e.g., fancyrentals.com, reducing the risk of malformed URLs.
You can insert the new {MYDOMAIN} field code in-app in messaging templates, renter agreements, theming sections, and more. We updated to this new field code in a few places in existing templates.
Learn more by reviewing our Field Codes support article.
Add Missing Guest Name Column to Vrbo Commission CSV Import Template. Vrbo has added the guest name to the Vrbo commissions spreadsheet, but that column was missing from OR's template on the import page. We have added the guest name to the Vrbo Commission CSV import template.
Booking Summary Report Not Prorating Evenly Across "Any stay in period" Results. The Booking Summary report was not prorating evenly across "Any stay in period" results after changing Group By and Columns, causing mismatches in prorated amounts. OR corrected this issue to ensure that the Booking Summary report prorates evenly across "Any stay in period" results.
Clarify Amount Being Charged/Credited and When it Will be Applied/Refunded When Turning DP on or Making Changes. Listing channel Damage Protection settings that were subsequently changed to exclude that listing channel displayed incorrect negative amounts to be charged. We resolved this glitch, and listing channel Damage Protection setting changes will display the correct amounts to be charged.
Clarify Booking Changed Alerts for Check-in/Check-out Time. Changed Booking email system alerts for early check-in times displayed confusing strikeout text for both check-in and check-out times. OR fixed this bug and Changed Booking email system alerts will display the correct strikeout text for booking changes.
Clarify That Rate Import is Not Supported When Airbnb Smart Pricing is Enabled. Airbnb Rate Imports are not supported in OwnerRez if Airbnb Smart Pricing is enabled in their Airbnb account; however, users were not properly notified of that limitation when they attempted rate imports for their Airbnb API-connected properties. We resolved this glitch, and users will receive proper error messages explaining that Airbnb Rate Imports are not supported in OwnerRez if Airbnb Smart Pricing is enabled in their Airbnb account.
Don't Show Only/Everything But Items on Trigger Editor if it's Actually All Mode. Only/Everything But Items were incorrectly displayed on the Trigger Conditions section when the condition was configured to the All mode. OR fixed this bug to display the selected conditions in the Trigger Conditions section correctly.
Door Lock Fixes for Multi-lock Properties. Some properties with multi-locks configured encountered door lock errors. We resolved this issue to ensure that properties with multi-locks configured will no longer encounter door lock errors.
Fix Cleaning Fee From Showing up Twice in Channel Rate Tester. Airbnb cleaning fees were incorrectly displayed twice on the Channel Rate Tester. OR corrected this glitch, and Airbnb cleaning fees will be appropriately displayed on the Channel Rate Tester.
Hosted Website Blog Posts Have Two OG Share Images. OR hosted website blog post shares included 2 Open Graph (OG) images, the user-configured OG share image, and a property image. We fixed this bug by only sharing the user-configured image for blog posts.
Hubitat Lock Integration:
Improve Integration With Schlage Door Locks. OR has improved the Schlage Door Lock integration to handle a wider variety of error states and be able to recover from them to match existing codes to bookings.
Make Quick Quote Instant on Ribbon Again. We encountered a code regression that resulted in the instant Quick Quote modal becoming unavailable on the ribbon calendar. We corrected this issue, and the instant Quick Quote modal is again available on the ribbon calendar.
When Adding New Guest/Contact, Province is Displayed Instead of State if United States is Selected. The Province label was incorrectly displayed below the state field as the default in the Add Guest modal form when the United States was selected as the country. OR resolved this glitch, and the correct associated label will be displayed when the country is selected in the Add Guest modal form.
Add Property Name to Received Alert Messaging. Some received system alert email messages did not include property names. OR corrected this issue to display property names properly in all received system alert email messages.
Apply Minimum Nights Rule When Arriving on the Last Night of the Season. Minimum night rules were not correctly applied to the last night of a recurring season that spaned from one calendar year into the next, allowing guests to book a property for fewer nights than configured in the season minimum night length restrictions. We resolved this glitch, and season minimum night length restrictions will be applied correctly.
Fill in Guest Last Name From the Airbnb Reservation Before Processing Booking, Brought up From Missing Data in Zapier Zaps. Airbnb bookings were not pushing guest last names from OwnerRez user accounts who had connected Zapier Zaps to pull guest information to another platform. OR fixed this bug by adding a slight delay to ensure that Airbnb guests' last names will be added to the OR booking before processing the booking.
Fix Sending of Airbnb Special Offers Through OR Messaging. OR experienced a code regression that no longer allowed Airbnb special offers to be sent through the OR guest quotes. We corrected this issue, and users can send Airbnb special offers properly through the OR guest quotes.
Handle Unexpected Errors Encountered While Using Vrbo Channel Rate Tester. Some users encountered unexpected errors during the Vrbo Channel Rate Tester process. OR resolved this issue to better handle unexpected errors during the Vrbo Channel Rate Tester process.
Settlement Process Will Adjust Expenses That Match With Fees. The PM Settlement process correctly adjusted host fees but failed to adjust associated expenses. We corrected this glitch, and the PM Settlement process will adjust associated expenses properly when the host fees are adjusted.
Stop Disabling Hosted Websites if DNS Records Do Not Match. Some hosted websites were disabled if domain name system records (DNS) did not match. OR fixed this bug, and hosted websites with mismatched domain name system records (DNS) will no longer be disabled.
Don't Pass Fee to Google Vacation Rentals if Season Criteria is "Only" + "None." Surcharges configured with the criteria of all properties with a season set to only but none selected resulted in Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) price accuracy failures. OR corrected this bug to ensure that any surcharges with a season set to only but none selected will not be passed to GVR.
Don't Send Hosted Site Updates to Closed Accounts. Hosted Website system messages continued to be sent to closed OwnerRez accounts. We resolved this issue, and Hosted Website system messages will no longer be sent to closed OwnerRez accounts.
Don't Void All Other Open Inquiries From the Same Guest When an Airbnb Inquiry is Received. Existing open inquiries from the same Airbnb guest were improperly voided when another Airbnb inquiry was received from the same Airbnb guest. OR fixed this glitch, and existing open inquiries will no longer be voided when another Airbnb inquiry is received from the same Airbnb guest.
Fix Airbnb Channel Messages Inability to Send When Guest Also has SMS Thread. Certain Airbnb channel messages and triggers encountered send failures when the guest also had an SMS conversation thread. We resolved this bug, and Airbnb channel messages and triggers will be sent as expected even if a guest also had an SMS conversation thread.
Fix Airbnb Publish Error Display. Airbnb listing publishing errors incorrectly rendered and displayed HTML markup language. OR corrected this bug to ensure that Airbnb listing publishing errors are correctly rendered and displayed.
Fix Blog Post Category Counts Showing Zero. The OwnerRez blog category counts incorrectly displayed zero posts for all categories. We fixed this glitch; all blog category post count displays are correct.
Fix Door Codes Populating in Templates for Unmapped Manual Locks. Phantom manual door locks (previously assigned but now unassigned from a property) continued to display the phantom or unassigned door code in messaging templates. OR corrected this glitch by filtering out the unassigned booking door code records.
Fix Hosted Site Blog Posts Not Being Displayed. Despite being correctly configured, some hosted website blogs failed to display public blog posts due to the number of posts per page setting. We resolved this bug, and hosted website blogs will correctly display blog posts as configured.
Fix Initial Guest Messages Not Showing in Conversation History. Occasionally, guest conversations did not display the initial or earliest messages from a guest in the Conversation History area. OR fixed this glitch, and initial or earliest messages from a guest in the Conversation History area will be displayed appropriately.
Fix Sorting for SMS Communication History. Grid errors occurred when users attempted to sort by the Communication History SMS tab Created Date column. We corrected this issue, and users can sort by the Created Date column in the Communication History SMS tab area as expected.
Fix Triggers to Work for "Adjacent Available Nights Status" and "0 days Before Booking has arrived." Due to recent changes in how OwnerRez handles property time zones, triggers configured with the scheduled time of "0 days Before Booking has arrived" and the condition of "Adjacent Available Nights Status" resulted in the trigger never running. OR fixed this glitch, and triggers configured with the scheduled time of "0 days Before Booking has arrived," and the "Adjacent Available Nights Status" condition will run as expected.
Handle Invalid Expedia Listing URLs. Some Vrbo API-connected properties displayed incorrect Expedia URLs leading users to an Expedia search results page instead of the correct Expedia listing. We corrected this issue by ensuring that Expedia listing links are correctly displayed.
Prevent Case Where Airbnb Listing Can be Connected to Two Properties. A user was incorrectly able to link two properties to the same Airbnb listing by deactivating and reconnecting both properties in swift succession. OR fixed this glitch to ensure that before activating a property for an Airbnb listing, there is not already another active linked property attached to that Airbnb listing.
Show "Coming Soon" Channels in LQA. "Coming Soon" API integration listing channels are now available for selection in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) Channels multi-select tool.
Show Correct Currency From Account Culture Settings on Booking Cancellation Page. During the booking cancellation process, the security deposit hold release settings for properties with non-US culture settings erroneously displayed US dollars instead of the correct currency, even though the refund used the proper currency. We corrected this bug and configured culture settings will be properly applied to the booking cancellation page.
Fix Google Vacation Rentals Integration to Allow for 99 Distinct Date Ranges. Users with multiple seasons (20+) that are calculated as rate modifications by Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) encountered errors, preventing them from becoming API-connected with GVR. Very recently, GVR increased their XSD schemas to the current 99 allowed seasonal date ranges, so OwnerRez has updated our applicable schemas of Tax, Discount, RateModifications, ExtraGuest Charge, Taxes, and Fees to allow for 99 distinct date ranges.
Fix Guest Form Page to Use Hours Instead of Days. While it did not affect pending bookings, the guest booking form page incorrectly displayed the word days instead of the correct word hours. This typo was corrected, and the guest booking form page will display the correct word of hours.
Fix SMS Communication History. Users encountered SMS communication history failures due to missing sender thread participants. OR corrected this issue, and SMS messages will now include the sender thread participants to ensure that SMS communication history will display as expected.
Fix SMS Number Registration Bug. Users experienced an error while attempting to register a new SMS number in their OR account. We resolved this glitch, and SMS registration can now be completed.
Fix Setting Owner on Portal Invites. Due to a code regression, some users could not configure owners on Portal invites. OR fixed this bug, and users can configure owners on Portal invites.
Fix Vrbo Import Crashing on Long Room Notes. Due to a 60-character limit in OwnerRez bathroom notes, Vrbo property listings with bathroom notes over 60 characters experienced Vrbo Property Import failures. We corrected this issue by allowing 60+ bathroom note characters from Vrbo Property Imports into OwnerRez by truncating characters over 60.
Update QuickBooks Authentication Status After Disconnect. Disconnected QuickBooks accounts were not marked as disconnected in OwnerRez, which caused errors. OR fixed this glitch by verifying QuickBooks accounts and deleting/deactivating any disconnected ones in OR.
Update QuickBooks Name and Logo in a Few Places. OwnerRez has updated the QuickBooks name and logo on the Integrate with QuickBooks in-app page to match their current name format and logo. We have also updated the connection screenshots on the QuickBooks - Setup & Connecting support article.
If we integrate with pricelabs for our pricing, does this affect things on GVR? I read the Google Price Accuracy Policy but I'm not understanding whether or rates are just transferred from ownerrez to GVR ike they are with other channels or if there is anything special I need to do?
Also, I turned on the GVR integration but it says "2 properties don't show in this list because they aren't connected" why would this be?
Caitlin,
Nightly rates are pushed to GVR from OwnerRez directly, regardless if you are integrated with dynamic price tools (e.g., Pricelabs) or not, so no, you don't need to do anything special to address that.
Without looking at your account, I suspect that your "2 properties don't show in this list because they aren't connected," indicates that your GVR listings are not yet live. See the Waiting for Google to go Live section of the Google Vacation Rentals Setup & Connecting support article for more information. Due to the manual onboarding process by Google Vacation Rentals and the large number of OwnerRez GVR integrations, we are seeing slightly longer integration times.
Toni, if you are still experiencing this, I suggest you reach out to the OR Helpdesk directly for this issue.
Since GVR redirects through our website, when we get a booking, in the Overview tab will it show the Listing Site as "My Website" or "Google Vacation Rentals"?
The listing site will display Google Vacation Rentals.
If we integrate with pricelabs for our pricing, does this affect things on GVR? I read the Google Price Accuracy Policy but I'm not understanding whether or rates are just transferred from ownerrez to GVR ike they are with other channels or if there is anything special I need to do?
Also, I turned on the GVR integration but it says "2 properties don't show in this list because they aren't connected" why would this be?
I think my listing is active although I haven’t seen it online. It does show active on OR. I tried to pull a full synch and I’m getting this error message
Since GVR redirects through our website, when we get a booking, in the Overview tab will it show the Listing Site as "My Website" or "Google Vacation Rentals"?
I intergrated with GVR 3 weeks ago and it still shows pending. Why is that?
Toni, as we stated in our GVR Overview support article, "Users can expect a delay of 2+ weeks before their properties go live on Google Vacation Rentals due to a manual onboarding process by Google Vacation Rentals."
With all of the new GVR API integrations, it is possible that going live will take longer than expected. For reasons unknown, some users have had luck with checking the status of their GVR API Integration.
This is exactly what I did and it worked! Simply click "Check Status" under the "Actions" tab on the far right. I did get a warning message the first time after I clicked it, but when I closed out of it, it still went live. I no longer get that warning message and everything is working fine.