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Free StayFi Email Marketing For All OwnerRez Users 9 replies

Thanga P
Dec 8, 2023 11:14 AM
Joined Feb, 2022 1 post

I don't think this is an exclusive discount to OwnerRez users. StayFi announced the pricing change from Jan 1st and as part of the change, they introduced the free tier for email marketing and their StayFi pricing goes up to $15 from $10

Free StayFi Email Marketing For All OwnerRez Users 9 replies

Andrew and Brittney G
Dec 7, 2023 3:16 PM
Joined Oct, 2021 16 posts

I'm connected but it's still looking to charge me full price on stayfi's email marketing.  No mention of 200 contacts free, no discounted pricing. 

Free StayFi Email Marketing For All OwnerRez Users 9 replies

Paul H
Dec 6, 2023 2:01 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2019 362 posts

All OwnerRez customers now get free StayFi Email Marketing up to 200 contacts with exclusive discounts for larger lists! Also, get 50% off all other StayFi tools for the first three months with code OWNERREZ at signup.

StayFi is the leading WiFi, email, and text marketing solution for short-term rentals. Our integration allows you to import all your OwnerRez guest data and start using StayFi's specially-built email marketing tool to significantly boost repeat direct bookings and generate incremental revenue.

StayFi also allows you to grow your audience seamlessly with cutting-edge guest data capture technology that gathers essential guest information, such as names, emails, and phone numbers, through customized WiFi splash pages that showcase your brand.

Features

  • StayFi automatically imports any valid guest emails from OwnerRez into its email marketing tool.
  • StayFi will trigger occupancy alerts when the number of unique guests on the WiFi exceeds the number booked in OwnerRez.
  • Easily create your StayFi account by importing your OwnerRez properties.

StayFi Products/Solutions

  • Branded Splash Pages
    • Captures the information of every guest staying at the property, not just the booker
    • Allows you to redirect to any important information like your site, a digital guidebook, and more to improve the guest experience and leave the guests with an impression of your brand
  • Email & SMS Marketing Tools (vacation rental focused, includes automation abilities)
  • Rate & Review Screening
    • Campaigns sent through SMS (soon will include email)
    • Ask a customer for a review, and it screens the review so that 4 starts or less says "thanks for the feedback" and only 5 stars links them to leave the review on Google or their site.
  • Over Occupancy Alerts
    • Monitored via WiFi to prevent property damage from unwanted partiers
  • WiFi Downage Alerts
    • Improves the guest experience, allows you to fix any WiFi issues quickly
  • WiFi Uptime Monitoring

Pricing

Email Marketing is FREE for up to 200 contacts, then pricing starts at $7.50/month.

Already Using StayFi?

As long as your OwnerRez and StayFi accounts are connected, you'll automatically get Email Marketing up to 200 contacts for FREE.

Not Using StayFi Yet?

If you have not connected your account yet, you can do so by selecting StayFi from the Tool dropdown menu inside your OwnerRez account. Click here to go straight to the landing page to get started.

Fourteen Bug Fixes (and StayFi Email Marketing Free For All OwnerRez Users) 0 replies

Anne S
Dec 6, 2023 9:19 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Happy National Brownie Day! πŸ€Ž

Image by Yiannis Kamatsos from Pixabay

Before you start celebrating, discover all the sweet details (minus the calories!) of this product update from our December 6th release with 15 updates.

New Features

Free StayFi Email Marketing For All OwnerRez Users

If you missed the news, all OwnerRez customers now get free StayFi Email Marketing for up to 200 contacts with exclusive discounts for larger lists! Also, get 50% off all other StayFi tools for the first three months with code OWNERREZ at signup.

OwnerRez Stayfi Email Marketing

StayFi allows you to import all your OwnerRez guest data and start using its specially-built email marketing tool to boost repeat direct bookings and generate significant incremental revenue.

Check out Wednesday's Free StayFi Email Marketing For All OwnerRez Users blog post to learn more!

Bug Fixes

Don't Error on Guest Update if Door Code Update Fails -- Let the Email Handle It.  System services could error in an edge case when door code update failures occur. We have resolved this issue to notify users by email alerts when door code update failures occur.

Don't Error When Clicking on an Invite Link That Has Been Deleted. Deleted Team Access invitations generated errors when invitees attempted to click on the deleted invitation link. OR has fixed this glitch, and instead of an error, it will now display a message stating that the invitation has been deleted.

Don't Style the "If Pending Expires" Labels With Strikethrough If They Aren't Disabled. The If Pending Expires section in the Pending & Auto Cancellation of the Booking Rules incorrectly displayed labels with strikethrough text even if not disabled. We have corrected this bug, and labels in the If Pending Expires section in the Pending & Auto Cancellation of the Booking Rules will be displayed correctly.

Fix Announcement History to Not Show Future Scheduled Announcements. Following the November 15th release of Announcements (f.k.a. Dismissed Alerts), future scheduled Announcements were inadvertently displayed when users selected all categories. OR resolved this glitch, and future Announcements will not be visible until the scheduled time.

Fix SMS Attachments Caching Signed URL in Conversations. Users who received images via SMS attachments in Guest Conversations encountered an issue where the attachment URLs were expiring, and the expired attachment URL was inaccessible. We have corrected the problem to clone SMS attachments while performing the necessary validation checks.

First Name Input on Theming Edit Page is Labeled Last Name. The input label for the First Name field was incorrectly labeled as Last Name when users added a new or edited an existing theme. OR fixed this bug.

Handle Airbnb Message Webhooks That Don't Have Any Thread User Collection. Airbnb experienced a glitch where some message webhooks were missing guest information. OR has released a workaround that will gather guest information from a different source if this case occurs again.

Google Vacation Rentals Private Beta:

  • If Booking Lead Time is Not Met, Property Should Show Unavailable. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) incorrectly generated nightly rates in the search results for OR properties and allowed potential guests to click through to unpopulated OR booking widgets for properties that were not available due to booking lead time rules. OR resolved this issue by displaying OR properties as unavailable if the booking lead time rules are not met.
  • A General Percent Fee Should Apply to Flat Fee When Marked Non-taxable. OR discovered that when users set a taxable management fee as a percentage that applies to all and a flat non-taxable cleaning fee, the management fee was not correctly applied to the cleaning fee. We have fixed this bug, and taxable fees that apply to all will be correctly applied to flat, non-taxable fees.
  • Check-in Date Should Cut Off Max End Date on Validation. Users who configured multi-month recurring seasons and had a discount for specific arrival and departure days with a minimum night requirement found that the discount was not correctly applied in GVR results. OR corrected this glitch, and discounts will appropriately apply to multi-month recurring seasons.
  • Some ARI XML Messages Have Restrictions on Id Lengths Promotions, TaxFee. GVR promotion or discount names are limited to 50 characters in the Availability, Rates, and Inventory (ARI) XML messages. We have resolved this issue by truncating discount or promotion names exceeding 50 characters.
  • Calculate Length of Stays for Taxes. Users who set taxes to apply only under a certain number of nights found that GVR quotes were incorrect due to taxes not being included on quotes that should not have included taxes. OR fixed this glitch to calculate the length of stay taxes for GVR quotes correctly.
  • Discounts are Missing on GVR XML. Discounts configured to be applied only to GVR were not passed correctly to or displayed in GVR. We have corrected this bug to ensure that any GVR-only discounts will be correctly passed to GVR.
  • Simplify and Combine Date Logic. OwnerRez has combined and simplified the date logic for improved optimization purposes.

New Profile and Account Menus, Team Alerts Added, "Announcements," and Schlage Lock Updates! 5 replies

Jason B
Dec 1, 2023 4:07 PM
Joined Jan, 2021 58 posts

That is a part of this request.  I don’t want to duplicate it.   We skinned Winamp back in the 1990s.   It’s not new.  I don't think anyone would ever confuse settings with account-level vs profile-level.    It belongs right next to tools.   This was a bad call by the GUI team.   It is not a resistance to change.  I have worked in software / IT and development for 30+ years.   I love change when it makes things more efficient.   I launched some of the early e-commerce sites.   We would do A/B testing on feature changes like this.

New Profile and Account Menus, Team Alerts Added, "Announcements," and Schlage Lock Updates! 5 replies

Anne S
Dec 1, 2023 4:05 PM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Why not just let people SKIN their own menu that meets their needs?

by Jason B – Dec 1, 2023 8:59 PM (UTC)

Interesting idea, Jason. Why don't you submit a Feature Request with more information?

New Profile and Account Menus, Team Alerts Added, "Announcements," and Schlage Lock Updates! 5 replies

Jason B
Dec 1, 2023 3:59 PM
Joined Jan, 2021 58 posts

Why not just let people SKIN their own menu that meets their needs?

User Profile: My Short Term Home 0 replies

Paul H
Nov 30, 2023 3:38 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2019 362 posts

My Short Term Home is a vacation rental business that started out with traditional rentals and has more than doubled the number of listings they manage with the help of OwnerRez.

Can you tell us a little bit about your history?

I bought my first duplex when I was in college and slowly built a portfolio. In 2016, with 17 units, I discovered Airbnb and switched my 17 traditional rentals to short-term rentals. I now have 38 units and am planning to grow aggressively and really become a professional in STR.

What is your background?

I have a degree in business administration, but I decided to answer a calling to serve people overseas through a faith-based church planting organization that I co-founded and led as its CEO from 2006 to 2021. During that time, I got a master's degree in Christian Apologetics from Liberty Univ. I retired from the mission work in December 2021 and am now working exclusively on my real estate portfolio. I am about to publish a book on building wealth on limited income and have launched a personal brand around that same topic called "The Unexpected Investor" (@UnexpectedInvestor on social media).

Brian Tibbs Headshot

Were you always in VR or property management, or is this a 2nd/3rd career?

I was first traditional rentals, then pivoted to STR with the mission work in the middle. So I guess 3rd career. :)

Are you from the geographical area where your properties are located, or did you move there later?

The first half of my portfolio is in Boise, Idaho, which is where I grew up and went to college. The newest properties are in the Phoenix metro area where I now reside.

photo of a pool

If later, is there something that drew you to that area?

We love Boise in the summers and Phoenix in the winters.

What do you love the most about the vacation rental business?

For me, it's all business. Unlike traditional rentals, STR produces about double the rent and triple the cash flow.

women playing an outside game

What do you dislike the most about the vacation rental business?

I really am working hard not to rely on the OTAs for bookings. The success of the OTA technology adoption by the masses is a double-edged sword.

How do you use OwnerRez to manage your business?

OwnerRez keeps everything in one central place for easy management and reporting. It cooperates well with a diverse ecosystem of apps and services that make my life easier.

What is the most useful feature OwnerRez offers?

The APIs are key, but so is the automated rental agreement, messaging systems, guest coms, pm, crm, etc. It's all important, and the sum of all the parts is what makes it so effective for me and my team.

>>>>>>>>>

We love hearing how OwnerRez helps people manage their vacation rental businesses and wish My Short Term Home the best as they continue to grow and maintain their successful business.

Webinar 12/6: Focus Session - Managing Rates with Specific Date & Recurring Seasons 0 replies

Paul H
Nov 29, 2023 5:21 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2019 362 posts

On Wednesday, 12/6, join us for a live session with Adrielle from Onboarding as she discusses Managing Rates with Specific Date & Recurring Seasons.

She'll also have information on how our Seasons feature works with Dynamic Pricing.

The session starts at 1:00 pm Eastern and 10:00 am Pacific time. It is free to join, but you need to use the sign-up for OwnerRez Focus Session - Managing Rates with Specific Date & Recurring Seasons link to register.

You can find all of our past and future webinars on our Webinars page.

Spot Rates Grid Adjustments, Including Import and Export Template Updates, and Other Bug Fixes 0 replies

Anne S
Nov 29, 2023 9:20 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Why don’t people like jokes about Friday?

They’re week. πŸ˜œ OwnerRez knows you navigate Fridays like a boss, so resist that urge to start your weekend early by powering through our latest product update. It's packed with 14 updates that were released on November 29th, including some Spot Rates Grid Adjustments with updated Import and Export Templates.

Enhancements & Tweaks

Spot Rates Grid Adjustments

While most of our February 10th release of the Spot Rates and Rates Calendar enhancement was focused on the Calendar tab, it was time to turn our attention to bringing the Spot Rates tab to parity with the Calendar tab.

Here's what the Spot Rates tab used to look like.

Old OwnerRez Spot Rates Tab

The new Spot Rates tab includes the following changes.

  • The Gap column has been added on the right and will display either "Gap required" or "Use default," depending on your Property Changeover Restrictions.
  • The Set Rates button has been removed.

New OwnerRez Spot Rates Tab

Additionally, both the Spot Rate Import and Export Excel files now include these additional columns, just like the Rate Calendar.

  • Max Nights
  • Arrival
  • Departure
  • Changeover

Updated Spot Rates Export Excel File Template

Bug Fixes

Allow Mapping ACS Door and Elevator Floor in RemoteLock. OwnerRez has added RemoteLock Locks Property Mapping capabilities for Access Control Systems (ACS).

Clean Up Schlage Integration Errors Shown to User. When users attempted to manually set the booking door code to the existing numeric door code, they received an unhelpful generic Schlage error message. OR fixed this bug by updating the error message to notify the user that the access code is already in use and to enter a different code.

Disallow HTML Form Submissions on Hosted Website Booking/Inquiry Widgets. OwnerRez does not allow HTML input in the Comments/Questions field of the Hosted Website Booking/Inquiry widget, and if an HTML element was detected, both guests and logged-in OR users received an unhelpful error message. We have added an additional validation rule prohibiting HTML content in the Comments/Questions field of the Hosted Website Booking/Inquiry widget, along with an accompanying error message.

Don't Update Door Codes on Existing Bookings When Merging to a Guest or a New Vrbo Booking. New door codes were generated when a user merged guests or received a return Vrbo booking from a previous guest. OR has fixed this glitch so it no longer generates new door codes when guests are merged or when a user receives a return Vrbo booking from a previous guest.

Fix Bad Logic on Brivo & PointCentral For Deleting Active Codes. Deleting active door lock codes for Brivo & PointCentral connected door locks resulted in errors due to flawed logic. We have corrected the logic to delete active lock codes correctly if initiated by the user for Brivo & PointCentral-connected door locks.

Fix Expenses Filter on Booking. When filtering for booking expenses by their description only, expenses added to a PM-managed booking did not appear as expected in the search results. OR has corrected this bug, and filtering by PM-managed booking expenses by their description only will now correctly appear in the search results.

Fix Rare Case of a Vrbo Message Thread Interfering With a Vrbo Booking. A Vrbo booking confirmation message was not sent due to a rare case where the booking and message thread arrived in OR simultaneously. We have resolved the glitch by prioritizing the receipt of booking information.

Image Upload Should More Smoothly Reject Illegal Characters. Users who attempted to upload images with the vertical bar or pipe character (|) in the image file name encountered upload failures. OR fixed this bug, and the system now removes the offending characters during upload.

Make Airbnb Listing Importer Handle Text in Checkout Time. The  Airbnb Listing Importer tool was not correctly parsing the Checkout time of "hh:mm (next day)" text, leading to import errors. We corrected this issue by updating the Airbnb Listing Importer tool to include any text in the Checkout time field properly.

Remove Deprecated Vrbo API Amenities. The Vrbo API no longer supports the Lanai/Gazebo (covered) amenity or using the Shower and Combination Tub/Shower amenities together. OR has removed the Lanai/Gazebo (covered) deprecated amenity and will only send the Combination Tub/Shower if both the Shower and Combination Tub/Shower are selected amenities.

Return a 503 Instead of 500 From Our API When We Receive an Error From the Vendor API. It was observed that OwnerRez was returning 500 internal server errors mistakenly when vendor errors were encountered. We have updated the code to return a more useful 503 status code when receiving vendor errors.

Google Vacation Rentals Private Beta:

  • Track down and Confirm Multiple Rate Modifications are Being Sent Properly. Users of GVR-connected properties that created multiple rent-only stacked discounts encountered rate accuracy errors. OR has resolved this issue by verifying that the Direct Rate Tester and channel price apply discounts correctly, even when the discounts are stacked, to match the quotes for the requested dates.
  • Use Standard Push Calculation Logic for Service. OR was experiencing errors from GVR due to their calculation of quotes with dates that include specific times instead of standard OR logic that uses only dates. We have corrected this glitch by utilizing the Standard Push Calculation Logic for Service to consistently push and check for changes in the ARI XML message.

New Profile and Account Menus, Team Alerts Added, "Announcements," and Schlage Lock Updates! 5 replies

Anne S
Nov 29, 2023 9:19 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Can you run some reporting on how much people are using the Settings tab?   I would like to see it back next to Tools.  I am in that menu daily.  Not sure why it was nested and requires an additional click now.

by Jason B – Nov 29, 2023 4:27 AM (UTC)

Thanks for your input, Jason. We recognize that adjusting to the change may take some time and effort on our users' part. As we noted in the My Account Restructure and Menu Changes section, these changes were made to differentiate between account-level and profile-level areas and also in preparation for more extensive future design updates.

New Profile and Account Menus, Team Alerts Added, "Announcements," and Schlage Lock Updates! 5 replies

Jason B
Nov 28, 2023 11:27 PM
Joined Jan, 2021 58 posts

Can you run some reporting on how much people are using the Settings tab?   I would like to see it back next to Tools.  I am in that menu daily.  Not sure why it was nested and requires an additional click now.

Phishing and Email Security 6 replies

Cowtown Cabins
Nov 28, 2023 8:28 AM
Joined Jun, 2021 1 post

Thanks for the heads up!

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Anne S
Nov 27, 2023 3:00 PM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Thank you Ann!  I successfully batch updated all but one.  The one gave this error for ORB8517363:

 

 

Also, I see the template and trigger guide.  Thanks!  Thats very helpful.  I noticed in airbnb many guests don't provide their e-mail address and airbnb is eliminating the airbnb e-mails they used to provide.   

Is there a way to do a channel template so that the code is sent, as a message within airbnb?  Or are we limited to email communication only?

by Michael V – Nov 27, 2023 7:16 PM (UTC)

That's good news, Michael! I suggest that you reach out to the OR Helpdesk if you are not able to sort out the door lock code for ORB8517363.

This support doc, Request Airbnb Guest Contact Information, addresses gathering Airbnb guest emails. And yes, you can configure either an Email Template or a Channel Template to send guest door codes.

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Michael V
Nov 27, 2023 2:16 PM
Joined Mar, 2019 7 posts

Thank you Ann!  I successfully batch updated all but one.  The one gave this error for ORB8517363:

 

 

Also, I see the template and trigger guide.  Thanks!  Thats very helpful.  I noticed in airbnb many guests don't provide their e-mail address and airbnb is eliminating the airbnb e-mails they used to provide.   

Is there a way to do a channel template so that the code is sent, as a message within airbnb?  Or are we limited to email communication only?

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Anne S
Nov 27, 2023 9:39 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

I just setup the integration with one property as a 'test case'.  

 

I have two questions:

1.  Existing reservations don't seem to have door codes assigned.  Is this only for new reservations?  If so, Is there a way to proactivly assign codes to existing reservations?  (I set it to use last 4 of phone number).  I read you can see the codes on the booking pages but I am not finding them.  Can you share a screenshot where to find them on the bookings?

2.  Will I need to setup a template/trigger for this?  If so, can you please share the shortcodes so I can link to the code in the template.  A basic example would be helpful such as:  Hi XXX.  Please use the code XXX to gain access to the lock". 

 

Thanks!

by Michael V – Nov 27, 2023 2:28 AM (UTC)

Michael,

1. Yes, you can follow the instructions on the Batch Update Codes on Multiple Bookings section to add codes to your existing reservations. You can see the Door Codes set on individual bookings on the Booking Overview > General Info > Door Code.

Booking Overview > General Info > Door Code2. Yes, follow the instructions on Showing/Sending Codes To Guests to create your own Template and Trigger.

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Michael V
Nov 26, 2023 9:28 PM
Joined Mar, 2019 7 posts

I just setup the integration with one property as a 'test case'.  

 

I have two questions:

1.  Existing reservations don't seem to have door codes assigned.  Is this only for new reservations?  If so, Is there a way to proactivly assign codes to existing reservations?  (I set it to use last 4 of phone number).  I read you can see the codes on the booking pages but I am not finding them.  Can you share a screenshot where to find them on the bookings?

2.  Will I need to setup a template/trigger for this?  If so, can you please share the shortcodes so I can link to the code in the template.  A basic example would be helpful such as:  Hi XXX.  Please use the code XXX to gain access to the lock". 

 

Thanks!

Phishing and Email Security 6 replies

Paul W
Nov 22, 2023 4:18 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 posts

So, look for OwnerRez versus Owner-Rez?  What are other common names used by phfishers?

The primary domain name we use now is ownerreservations.com.  That, or any subdomain in front of it, like these, is fine:

app.ownerrez.com
www.ownerrez.com
api.ownerrez.com

We also own and manage others like these:

ownerrez.com
orez.io

So if you see those, that's correct as well.  That first one ownerrez.com is going to become the primary pretty soon, and everything will run under that.  There will be a very loud announcement when that happens.  You might have noticed that our email addresses have already switched to that.

It's the mangled versions of those that others buy and try to use like:

ownersrez.com (note the middle "s")
ownerres.com (note the trailing "s" instead of "z")
owner-rez.com (note the middle dash)

And many others.  This is another reason we are moving to ownerrez.com.  In addition to being shorter and easier to read, it matches our name exactly, so there's no room for confusion.

Phishing and Email Security 6 replies

KAY-FAR
Nov 22, 2023 1:04 PM
Joined Nov, 2022 7 posts

Wow!  I saw this posted on Facebook and had been wondering what this was about.  Thanks for the article.

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Anne S
Nov 22, 2023 10:47 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Feature Request for next Schlage integration update!! 

We have been having issues with our locks disconnecting randomly - seems to happen if the wifi goes out or has an issue. We only find out that the lock is disconnected once the guest arrives and... their code didn't get programmed because the lock was disconnected. 

It would be REAL helpful if there was an email or a notification that went out as soon as the lock experienced a connection issue so that we could troubleshoot proactively ASAP. Maddeningly there doesn't seem to be this feature on the Schlage app... but if OwnerRez could send out an email notification as soon as a lock had a connection issue, that would be extremely helpful in preventing very stressful guest moments.

If anyone knows of a better way to deal with this that currently exists, I'm all ears!

Thank you for the feedback DesertCompass. I see that you have already added this to the Schlage Encode Feature Request. That is a frustrating situation, for sure. Have you been able to troubleshoot your wifi connectivity issues?

You might want to keep an eye on our upcoming Igloohome and Hubitat integrations. Igloohome products are designed to work offline, using their "algoPINs" (short for algorithmic PIN). The Hubitat integration is unique because it is not a lock brand but rather a home automation hub for people with Zigbee or Z-wave devices (low-energy wireless communication protocol). 

Phishing and Email Security 6 replies

Katherine E
Nov 22, 2023 10:33 AM
Joined Sep, 2017 3 posts

So, look for OwnerRez versus Owner-Rez?  What are other common names used by phfishers?

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Kelly M
Nov 21, 2023 5:53 PM
Joined Apr, 2021 27 posts

Feature Request for next Schlage integration update!! 

We have been having issues with our locks disconnecting randomly - seems to happen if the wifi goes out or has an issue. We only find out that the lock is disconnected once the guest arrives and... their code didn't get programmed because the lock was disconnected. 

It would be REAL helpful if there was an email or a notification that went out as soon as the lock experienced a connection issue so that we could troubleshoot proactively ASAP. Maddeningly there doesn't seem to be this feature on the Schlage app... but if OwnerRez could send out an email notification as soon as a lock had a connection issue, that would be extremely helpful in preventing very stressful guest moments.

If anyone knows of a better way to deal with this that currently exists, I'm all ears!

Phishing and Email Security 6 replies

Rex C
Nov 20, 2023 6:48 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 71 posts

OwnerWebs was not phishing, that was advertising spam. They were not trying to get your credentials, just trying to sell you their website design service. 


However, that is an unauthorized use of the Inquiry system and we have blocked their domain from submitting any further inquiries.

Phishing and Email Security 6 replies

Creekside Stayz
Nov 20, 2023 6:17 PM
Joined Dec, 2020 3 posts

Like OwnerWebs contacting me?

More Instant OwnerRez Email Alerts Added, and Enhanced Channel Sync Action Filters 0 replies

Anne S
Nov 20, 2023 2:02 PM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Get ready to click and save on this Cyber Monday! πŸ’΅

But before you unleash your inner shopping ninja to conquer the virtual aisles, check out this product update that details our November 22nd release with 7 updates, including More Instant OwnerRez Email Alerts and Enhanced Channel Grids.

Enhancements & Tweaks

More Instant Email Alerts Added

After the September 20th release of the Immediate 2-Factor Authentication Email and SMS Alerts worked out so well, we decided that we should configure the system to send a couple more email alerts more instantly to help with user workflows. These new instant email alerts include the Forgot Password Reset and Channel Message Is Received (e.g., Airbnb, Vrbo) Alerts.

Additionally, the email alert subject for Two-Factor authentication (2FA) now displays the verification code at the beginning of the subject line for increased visibility on mobile devices.

2-factor Authentication Email Alert Subject Displays the Verification Code at the Beginning of the Subject Line

Enhanced Channel Sync Action Filters

Digging into the Sync Actions of your API-connected listing channels has been made easier by the addition of new Filter options.

Here's how the API-connected listing channel > Sync Actions tab > Filter appeared before, with only the option to filter by property.

Old OwnerRez API-connected Listing Channel Filter

The new API-connected listing channel > Sync Actions tab > Filter has multiple new filter options for filtering for the following.

  • 34 Listing Channel Sync Actions, including Listing Updated and Photos Updated, to name just a few
  • Limit the dates of the Listing Channel Sync Actions by selecting the Date after and the Date before
  • Filter the Listing Channel Sync Actions by Errors

New OwnerRez API-connected Listing Channel Sync Actions Filter

Users can filter their own API-connected listing channel sync actions by navigating to Settings > their specific API-connected listing channel > the Sync Actions tab > Filter.

Filter the API-connected listing channel sync actions by navigating to Settings > their specific API-connected listing channel > the Sync Actions tab > Filter.

Bug Fixes

Damage Protection Settings Page Should Scroll to Bottom When Showing Affected Bookings. Newly affected bookings were correctly listed on the Start Damage Protection Coverages page, but the display was incorrectly loading to the middle of the affected bookings list. We have resolved this glitch so that newly affected bookings displayed are correctly scrolled to the bottom on the Start Damage Protection Coverages page.

Include $0 Bookings in Booking Detail ADR Calc. The Booking Detail Report and the Booking Summary Report displayed different Average Daily Rent Totals calculations due to the exclusion of $0 bookings in the Booking Summary Report. OR fixed this bug by now, including $0 bookings in Average Daily Rent Totals calculations for both the Booking Detail Report and the Booking Summary Report.

Rate Calendar Changeover Modal Typo on Mobile. The Changeover Rule modal displayed a typo "Rule Rule" when users selected dates from the Rate Calendar and then clicked Changeover Rule in the Set menu on a mobile device. We have corrected the typo on the Rate Calendar Changeover modal to now correctly display "Set Changeover Rule for X dates" for mobile devices.

Send Delete to Integrated Locks That Allow it When Booking is Canceled. Integrated door codes were deleted from our system when a booking was canceled. Still, even if supported, we failed to send a delete request to the integrated door lock partner, which resulted in the codes remaining active on the lock. We corrected this glitch and, if supported by the integrated door lock partners, deleted door codes from canceled bookings will be passed appropriately.

Show Validation Message on Disable/Delete Property Fail. When users tried to disable or delete a property and encountered an error, those error messages did not display correctly. OR has resolved the issue, and any errors occurring during disabling or deleting a property will display a valid error message.

Search Messaging Template Bodies, Image Source Additions for Hosted Site Blog Sharing, New Zealand Holidays 2 replies

Anne S
Nov 15, 2023 12:41 PM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

Thank you for all these updates, team. I'm particularly pumped about being able to search templates by words in the body of the message! 

by Alece – Nov 15, 2023 5:34 PM (UTC)

Our pleasure, Alece! The ability to search the template body section is definitely a great update.

Search Messaging Template Bodies, Image Source Additions for Hosted Site Blog Sharing, New Zealand Holidays 2 replies

Alece
Nov 15, 2023 12:34 PM
Joined Jan, 2020 303 posts

Thank you for all these updates, team. I'm particularly pumped about being able to search templates by words in the body of the message! 

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Paul W
Nov 15, 2023 10:57 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 posts

Quick update here...  Keep your eye out for the weekly Product Update blog post, which will discuss this in more detail, but an update went out this morning that included some Schlage fixes:

  • Delete expired codes from lock
  • Make code length editable now that Schlage supports it (for locks with latest firmware)
  • Use guest name for access code name instead of ORBxxx number

Unveiling Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez, Accompanied by Some Creepy Crawly Fixes! 102 replies

Dror E
Nov 15, 2023 9:51 AM
Joined Jul, 2022 5 posts

Any update or ETA when the first entrance notification using a code would be added? 

New Profile and Account Menus, Team Alerts Added, "Announcements," and Schlage Lock Updates! 5 replies

Anne S
Nov 15, 2023 9:30 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 183 posts

There is nothing permanent except change.

Heraclitus

Image by Sebastiaan Heitkamp from Pixabay

Heraclitus, the Greek philosopher, believed in constant change. With our November 15th release with 17 updates, OwnerRez made some big changes, including a restructuring of the My Account area and the addition of Team Alerts. Not because we believe in constant change, but because we believe in continual improvement for our users. This is one of our largest releases this year, so hold on!

New Features

My Account Restructure and Menu Changes

Since the introduction of Team Access in 2022, users have been able to access multiple accounts with Staff access (and, before that time, Portal access). Before this change, the My Account menu/area had many things in it, some pertaining to the user logged in and some to the account. For users with access to multiple accounts, in-app navigation could be somewhat confusing (contextually speaking).

Additionally, OwnerRez made some of these changes to accommodate limited screen real estate on mobile devices in preparation for future and more extensive design updates.

Here is what it looked like before this update:

Old OwnerRez Combined Account/Profile Menu

They have been separated into their own menus to differentiate between account-level and profile-level items. These changes should help users instantly recognize what account they are accessing and see their profile items simultaneously. 

The Settings menu has been moved under the Account menu as part of these changes. Also, Team Access Staff members can no longer access the Account Billing menu option (Billing will not be an option in their Account menu).

Now, the top menu for that same account looks like this:

New OwnerRez Top Menu

The Account menu looks like this for account owners (if an Account doesn't use a Business name under Account Theming, the Account menu will say Account instead of the business name). Switch Accounts is available for users that have access to multiple accounts/portals.

The Profile menu (or My Profile menu) is now streamlined:

Some of the other items from the old My Account area/menu were moved to a new area under Settings called Advanced Tools. Team Access Staff Members do not have access to the Advanced Tools area.

The remaining items were moved/merged into the "?" drop-down in the top menu bar.

One we wanted to point out that was changed a bit was "OwnerRez Status." It was renamed "Service Status." It also now features a live status icon - if you see green with a checkmark, "all systems are go." If there is an incident, it will be yellow or red. Pretty cool!

Read the My Account Restructuring support article to learn more about the full changes.

Alerts (f.k.a. System Alerts) for Team Access Staff

My Alerts, formerly known as System Alerts, are alerts the system emails to you, the user. As a reminder, Guests do not receive these email alerts. My Alerts is now in the Profile menu (cross-linked from its old home in Settings for now).

On the My Alerts page, users can still do the following:

  • Disable Alerts button to turn off all Alerts (not recommended)
  • Change All button to de-select or select which Alerts to enable/disable.
  • Use the Action menu
    • Turn Off individual Alerts
    • Preview individual Alerts

OwnerRez My Alerts Page

Change My Alerts still operates the same way it did before, where you can turn on or off multiple alerts at once.

Change My Alerts

Now that you know where to go to get to My Alerts and see the same functionality is still present, the biggest news to share around this change is that Staff (set up under Team Access) can receive Alerts! (If you don't have Staff, feel free to scroll down to the next blog section)

As part of the My Account Restructure, the Team Access area has moved to Settings > Advanced Tools > Team Access.OwnerRez Advanced Tools < Team Access

Account users can "allow" Staff Team member Alerts at the time of invitation.

Staff Team member Alerts at the Time of Invitation

Or modify existing Staff Team members to "allow" them to receive Alerts by editing that Staff member's team access permissions.

Change Existing Staff Team Member Alerts

Account users can now turn on Staff Team member alerts for individual Staff Team members but cannot customize which alerts are sent; only Staff Team members themselves can customize their Alerts.

NOTE: If the user is a Portal user, and they are only a Portal user, they will not have Alerts in their Profile menu, as Alerts do not pertain to them as a Portal user.

Lastly, users with access to multiple accounts now select which account they want to use when adjusting the My Alerts settings. Below, My Alerts defaults to the account you own or the first account you had access to. To switch to another account, click/tap the drop-down and select the other account - in this example, Acme Vacations.

Learn more by reading the Alerts section of the My Account Restructuring support article, or stay tuned to the Alerts article that is currently under construction.

Enhancements & Tweaks

Announcements (f.k.a. Dismissed Alerts)

Announcements (formerly known as Dismissed Alerts) are an efficient way to communicate OwnerRez news and information. You're probably quite familiar by now, but if not, this is where they appear in-app:

Announcements were moved out of the old My Account menu to the "?" menu.

New OwnerRez ? Menu < Announcements

Before, "Dismissed Alerts" only showed those alerts a user dismissed themselves. That led to users not always knowing about everything that was announced if they didn't happen to log in while it was posted. So while moving it to a different menu, and renaming it, we made the area more helpful!

The Announcements enhancements include the following:

  • Announcements are displayed in reverse chronological order, with the newest announcements at the top.
  • Users can filter Announcement History by Category, with Partnerships and Product Updates being the default selection. You might be a user who cares to know about past incidents or webinars you may have missed. You can now change the filter to show those to review.

New OwnerRez Announcement History

Check out the OwnerRez Announcements support article to learn more.

Schlage Door Lock Updates

We received numerous comments and requests following the release of Schlage Door Locks Powered by OwnerRez on October 25th. Thank you for your valuable feedback. OwnerRez considered your input and made improvements to the Schlage Door Lock integration already to include the following.

  • Expired codes are deleted from the lock after expiration (taking into account any grace period configuration). There is a service that runs once an hour that will delete them off the lock. So it could happen right after expiration or up to an hour later, depending on the service's next run.
  • The door code length is now editable for locks with the latest supported Schlage firmware.
  • The access code name now displays guest names instead of the OwnerRez Booking ID (ORB########) in the Schlage Home app.

OwnerRez Schlage Door Lock Integration

Learn more by reading the Schlage support article.

Bug Fixes

Check Published Date Before Unpublishing Airbnb Listing. An Airbnb-connected property was delisted after failing three availability checks due to an OwnerRez user rapidly unpublishing and republishing the property. OR has resolved this issue and has optimized the listing status check process to prevent future unpublishing issues.

Default Phone Field to User's Country. As a followup to the October 4th Upgraded International Phone Number Input release, the system was always defaulting to United States, so we changed to detect country based on the browser being used. If the culture settings are different than the guest's, it will at least default to the user's culture settings instead of always United States.

Fix Additional Guest Phone Numbers Not Getting Saved on Quote Accept. Following the October 4th Upgraded International Phone Number Input release, additional guest phone numbers collected were not appropriately saved during the quote acceptance process when the guest selected a check or custom payment method. OR corrected this bug, and additional guest phone numbers collected during the quote acceptance process will be saved correctly when the guest selects a check or custom payment method.

Fix Check-in/out Time Formatting. Errors were caused due to formatting overrides of check-in and check-out times for non-US regions. We resolved the issue by fixing the non-US formatting overrides for check-in and check-out times and also now hide ":00" if the time format used contains AM/PM (or the culture equivalent) in field codes and a couple of other spots.

Fix Lynnbrook Deposits Import Handling of Chargeback "Reversals" (e.g., When the Host Wins a Chargeback Dispute). When the host successfully "wins" a chargeback, Lynnbrook adds an adjustment labeled "+Chargeback Reversal." However, OR incorrectly added these adjustments as a negative number, which is the opposite of what it should have been when the money was returned. We have fixed this bug, and any future "+Chargeback Reversal" will be correctly added with the fee insertion to include a description of: "Lynnbrook Group Fee ({adjustment description})."

Owner Statement Column Expense Attachments Count Should Not be Summable. It was discovered that the expense attachment counts listed in the Owner Statements Expense Attachments Count column were erroneously summable. We corrected this glitch, and expense attachment counts listed in the Owner Statements Expense Attachments Count column data type are now recognized as a text format.

Optimize Email List Report. Following the November 1st Email List Report Enhancements release that added Tags to the Email List Report, we noticed that the report was running slowly on larger data loads. It was solved by optimizing the Email List Report to handle those large data loads more effectively.

Remove Defunct Identifier Mapping for vacationrentals.com. OwnerRez has removed the identifier mapping configuration for the now-defunct vacationrentals.com.

Theme Selection on SMS Templates is Ignored. An account user with two phone numbers linked to their account set up a secondary account theme not associated with any properties and then created an SMS template with a trigger; found that when the SMS messages were sent, they came from the wrong phone number due to the SMS template set theme being ignored. OR resolved this bug, and the SMS template themes set will be sent from the correct SMS phone number.

Google Vacation Rentals: Private Beta

  • Channel Showing No Properties Label for Certain Users. Users with multiple active Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) properties had no properties listed in their GVR API integration. We fixed this glitch, and now the properties list will correctly display all active Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) properties.
  • Multiple Properties Without Property Link Page, Only Single Property Exposed Landing Page Fails. Users who created a specific GVR Booking/Inquiry widget and selected it as their GVR landing page experienced GVR landing page failures. OR solved this issue to now select the Hosted Website Book Now page as the GVR landing page for single properties and the Hosted Website property template as the GVR landing page for multiple properties.