Latest Activity...
On Friday, 9/6, join Tiffany Lawson and Robin Michael as they cover advanced settings for customizing your direct booking website with OwnerRez.
Learn about how direct bookings help increase your revenue and the four main ways OwnerRez can help.
The session starts at 1:00 pm Eastern, 10:00 am Pacific. It is free to join, but you need to use the sign-up for OwnerRez Focus Session - Direct Booking Websites Advanced Settings link to register.
You can find all of our past and future webinars on our Webinars page.
Before you start celebrating the American Worker đź’Ş on Labor Day...
Unwrap OwnerRez's labor of love as you dig into this product update revealing all the specifics about our August 30th release with 17 updates, including new Account Billing History Exports, the ability to add Inquiries with unavailable dates, and the good news that Vrbo has removed their 50 image limit!
OwnerRez prides itself on how much data users can export out of OR, but one area that users could not export from was OwnerRez Billing History. Now you can, and this new Account Billing History Export feature should prove valuable at tax time!
OwnerRez users can now export their Billing History, which includes all payments, subscription charges, and the following subtotals:
Export your Account Billing History by navigating to your Account dropdown menu and selecting Billing.
You can export your Account Billing History by selecting the format (Excel, CSV, or TSV) desired from the Export dropdown menu on your Account Billing page.
DNS settings for your Hosted Website and Branded Portal can be complex, and we want to help you, but we do not have access to users' domain registrar accounts. Users can write to our Helpdesk, but the domain registrar often needs to be involved anyway.
We now guide users in-app to "Contact your domain registrar first, if you run into any snags." (as we already did in our support documentation) to ensure a more efficient issue resolution as they can assist directly in managing the domain's settings.
Contacted your Domain Registrar and are still having trouble? Don't hesitate to contact the OwnerRez Helpdesk!
Some OwnerRez users handle offline inquiries for dates that aren't available (due to bookings or blocks) but want to record those Inquiries into OR to capture both the inquiry and associated guest contact information.
Even though users could intentionally type in unavailable dates in the Inquiry Date Picker, it didn't allow users to select unavailable (booking or blocked) dates from the dropdown calendar to reduce the possibility of double-booking accidents.
OwnerRez has improved the Inquiry Date Picker to allow users to select unavailable dates from the dropdown calendar.
The inquiry record will display Unavailable Date warnings, allowing users to capture the inquiry and associated guest contact information.
The OwnerRez Direct Rate and Channel Rate Tester tools had date picker calendars, but those date pickers didn't display availability, which was frustrating and could cause confusion if the dates selected weren't available and users received an unexpected error.
We've added live availability to the Direct Rate and Channel Rate Tester tools to the date picker calendars for more accurate results!
Users can use these tools by selecting either the Direct Rate Tester or the Channel Rate Tester from the Tools dropdown menu.
Users can now see their live availability displayed in the date picker in the Direct Rate and Channel Rate Tester tools!
Learn more by watching the Direct Rate Tester support video.
A generous number of images on your listings amplifies your property's allure, giving guests a comprehensive and enticing glimpse into their potential vacation experience.
But until now, Vrbo only accepted the first 50 images per property on their side. OwnerRez recently received word from Vrbo that the 50-image limit has been removed!
Check Airbnb Account OAuth Failure Status on Property Failure. When OR receives an OAuth failure status on an Airbnb API-connected property, we now force a check and validate the affected Airbnb account.
Don't Wrap Amenity Text With <p>When Converting Plain Text to HTML Unless There's More Than One Paragraph. Some amenity text was displayed on multiple lines, rather than one long line as expected when it was converted from plain text to HTML because the paragraph element (<p>) was incorrectly wrapping the amenity text. We have corrected this and amenity text will now only display on multiple lines when there is more than one paragraph converted from plain text to HTML.
Fix Deposits That Reverse Fee Amounts (Positive to Negative) on Refund Fees Which Created a Wrong Total. We noticed that OR deposits with fees and refunds were not displaying correctly. The system incorrectly showed a refunded fee as a debit adjustment instead of a credit, incorrectly displaying deposit amounts. The amounts stored under the covers were accurate. We've resolved this bug and adjusted fees will be correctly displayed.
Fix Error When Trying to View a Review Which Has No Listing Site and No Booking. A user who imported a review without an associated property and booking hit a crash bang and could not view the review. We thought we had fully corrected this issue before, but this additional fix should fully resolve it.
Fix Error With Batch Rule Copy for Pets Policy. Users who attempted to batch copy rules that did not have a pet policy set experienced errors during that process. This bug is fixed and the batch copy rules process will run correctly whether a property has a pet policy set or not.
Fix Issue Where Airbnb Host Fees Weren't Created When Transaction Sync Was Enabled and Transaction Fee Expense Was Disabled. Some PMs noticed that their Airbnb Host Fee was not generated when the Airbnb Transaction Sync was enabled but Transaction Fee Expenses disabled. This issue has been corrected and Airbnb Host Fees will be properly generated when the Airbnb Transaction Sync is enabled and Transaction Fee Expenses disabled.
Fix <p> Rendering in WP Plugin Short Code Amenity Tooltips. Users of our WordPress plugin may have noticed some amenity text was appearing in the mouseover/touch tooltip with <p> tags. We've fixed this glitch and amenity text will no longer include extra HTML elements in the tooltip text rendered using the WordPress plugin.
Fix "Watch this topic" Becomes Unchecked if a Forum Reply is Edited. When a user is logged into the OR Forum and comments on a post, the "Watch this topic" is by default checked. However, if a user edited and saved the comment, the "Watch this topic" checkbox became unchecked. This issue has been resolved, and editing replies to OR Forum topics will correctly keep the "Watch this topic" checkbox checked after editing and saving (unless the user manually unchecks it).
Fix Hosted Site Blog Paging. Some Hosted Website Blogs did not display correctly or act as expected when a user clicked on "Older Entries." This paging calculation bug occurred when users created multiple Hosted Website Blog entries and set the blog settings posts to display per page to a number lower than the total number of blog entries. We have corrected this bug, and Hosted Website Blogs will again display correctly and act as expected when a user clicks on "Older Entries".
Mark OAuth Failing Status on Airbnb API Integrations When We Receive an auth_revoke Webhook. When OR receives an auth_revoke webhook from an Airbnb API-connected property, we will add an OAuth failing status on that Airbnb API-connected property. Affected users will be notified by OR system alert emails as any failures will prevent them from completing deposit or transaction syncs.
Mark Vrbo Messages Unread Before Updating Warehouses. When historical Vrbo messages were automatically imported for new or existing listings, we assumed they were already read. But we were making that assumption too late in the process, resulting in inbox "unread" counts increasing even though there appeared to be no new unread messages. This bug has been fixed, so the inbox unread count should be accurate.
Send Address Along When Creating Stripe 3DS2 Payment Method From Vrbo Bookings. A user pointed out that the guest's cardholder address was missing in Stripe. This was due to the payment being authenticated via 3DS2. We've resolved this by ensuring the address is always passed from Vrbo to Stripe when it's a 3DS2 payment method so it can be stored under the "payment method" in Stripe for that booking.
We are excited to share that we have partnered with WYND to provide an integration with a device that detects both smoking and noise.
WYND Sentry revolutionizes property monitoring with cutting-edge features, combining smoking and noise detection. It ensures a smoke-free and serene environment. Real-time incident alerts empower rapid responses to potential issues, while in-depth incident reports provide comprehensive insights. With WYND Sentry, safeguard your investment, elevate security measures, and enjoy unparalleled peace of mind.
$15/Month, Hardware included! Click here for more details.
Get started with WYND by visiting the WYND website and check out the OwnerRez support doc for how to integrate OwnerRez with WYND.
Is there a webinar with Hopper Homes?
So all automated messages sent via OwnerRez would be sent via email, correct?
Hi Brendan C, that is correct.
On Friday, 9/1, join Steve Clark and Pamela Bogaczyk as they cover the basics of getting your direct booking website up and running with OwnerRez.
Learn about how direct bookings help increase your revenue and the four main ways OwnerRez can help.
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 - Direct Booking Websites Basic Settings link to register.
You can find all of our past and future webinars on our Webinars page.
Does Ownerrez have a "markup widget" so that an OTA with this structure can mean the same post-commission nightly rate for the owner? Putting everything on for a discount (-commission) doesn't really get my attention.
instant booking-
i wanted to know if I can keep my ABNB on request and have Hopper on insta book since there’s no issue with cancelling- vs ABNB.
Hopper sent me this email- I want to remain on request only for ABNB.
My understanding is that OwnerRez will block you to connect to instant book channels if you have Airbnb on Request only so you would not be able to be on request only on Airbnb and use Hopper at the same time. That said, I do recommend you to pass on your feedback to OwnerRez. If there is high enough demand, they may consider changing this block. Even if Hopper works on instant booking, we allow cancellations without penalties so hosts like yourself can still do their own verification checks on guests and decide to cancel without penalty in case the guest does not pass. Because of this we are a friendly instant book channel to someone that usually work on request only. We have passed this information on to OwnerRez but you can certainly do so yourself also to add some interest to this product change request.
We have a number of Canadian properties and would love to utilize your platform. Unfortunately we cannot set up in US funds. Looking forward to your expansion plans.
I keep getting this notification- using iPhone 12.
So all automated messages sent via OwnerRez would be sent via email, correct?
I have some questions before integrating with hopper. Does the host process the payments or is it collected by hopper and paid to the host like AirBnb does? Also, is the messaging sent via the hopper app or is it emailed to the guest?
Hi Brendan,
Hopper processes the payments (like Airbnb), we are merchant of record. We don't currently have a messaging feature but we unmask guest details (email, phone) once they book to make it easy to communicate with them.
Thanks
I have some questions before integrating with hopper. Does the host process the payments or is it collected by hopper and paid to the host like AirBnb does? Also, is the messaging sent via the hopper app or is it emailed to the guest?
Hello Newton Properties team,
For now we are focusing on the US and properties that process payments in USD. We do plan on expanding next year hopefully.
Hi Brock,
This might seem like a high commission but we do not charge a traveler service fee like other OTAs because in our tests that negatively impacts conversion. We want to get you bookings from the get go! Many new hosts increase their prices to offset the commission.
Hi Michelle,
I understand your concern about guest verification. One good thing about the Hopper guest is that they are mostly existing app users with booking history across flights, hotels, cars etc. We do unmask the guest details once they book so that you can answer questions and build a personal relationship.
Hi Matt,
New York is the market with the most bookings but we do have other PMCs in the North East signed up.
Hi Myke, Yes that is correct.
Kaye,
Thanks for sharing. What questions do you ask?
Happy Internaut Day! 🖥️
There's uncertainty about its celebration date, with some sources citing August 23rd and others August 24th. But before mounting your internet search to solve this mystery, investigate our latest product update summarizing our August 23rd with 15 updates with lots of handy enhancements, including the ability to add Header Anchor Links to Hosted Websites, helpful new field codes, and some nifty new mouse interaction improvements to the Rate and Ribbon Calendars!
Back in October 2022, OwnerRez announced that we'd added Header Anchor Link Added to Support Articles, and now they're available for Hosted Websites too!
Users can now add their own by navigating to Settings > Hosted Websites > their Hosted Website > the Webpage or Blog page they wish to edit and using the Rich Text editor toolbar to add linked anchors to their own Hosted Website.
You have been able to add links to other pages, but adding a link to an area on the same webpage or blog post is a little different.
You can add anchors anywhere on your website when entering text using the Rich Text editor. However, note that Heading 1-4 are the only heading sizes that work with anchors.
Add an Anchor to the specific section of your webpage that you wish to link to. Place your cursor in the first space to the left of the text you want to add your linked anchor and click the Anchor icon on the editor bar.
And the Anchor pop-up window opens. Add the Anchor name in the ID field, theme-parks in this example. Click Ok.
Then, highlight the text you want to create a link with and click the Insert/edit link icon on the editor bar.
And the Insert Link pop-up window opens. Note that your highlighted text is already in the text to display field, and select the correct anchor you added in the previous step from the Target dropdown Menu. Click Ok.
Users will see that an Anchor Icon has been added to the left of the text in the Rich Text editor. Click Save and Close or Save.
When the webpage or blog post is viewed online, those new links will be displayed in the URL address bar.
Users can link or share specific sections of your webpage with guests by clicking on the link on your webpage or blog post and copying the address URL.
Max Pets Field Code
Conveying a consistent description of the maximum number of pets allowed at your property could be difficult across all websites and messaging templates. Consistency in messaging requires careful attention.
We've added a new Max Pets field code, {PMAXPETS}, the maximum number of pets allowed by the property rules, that is part of the Property field codes.
Whatever pet rules are set in the property rules will appear when the Max Pets field code is selected. If your property rules have "Any number allowed" for pets, that will appear whenever the {PMAXPETS} field code is used.
Users can add text before or after field codes to flesh out and clarify their message.
For example, entering the text with the field code, "Maximum number of pets: {PMAXPETS}." would appear as "Maximum number of pets: Any number allowed." The same would also be true if users who do not allow pets at their property by using "Maximum number of pets: {PMAXPETS}" would appear as "Maximum number of pets: None allowed."
Segmented Contact (Guest) Address Field Codes
Maintaining Contact with your guests by postal (snail) mail offers that personal touch, stands out amidst all the digital clutter, and can foster lasting guest relationships. However, exporting Guest mailing addresses to a third-party automation solution (such as Zapier, IFTTT, etc.) sometimes proved limiting as the only field code options included single or multi-line addresses for guests.
OwnerRez has added more Contact (guest) address field codes for added flexibility, allowing users improved customization that's perfect for tailoring your postal communication.
These new guest address field codes include:
This means using the following guest address field codes,
Translates into a postal mailing address like this.
Don't worry, this update does not affect our pre-existing Contact address field codes, and the single multi-line Contact address field codes are still available. These new segmented address field codes will likely be helpful when users need part of the address.
Learn more by reading our Field Codes support article.
Looking for general information about OwnerRez? We've had search capabilities for a long time, but our search index never covered our website's "site pages" (e.g., Features, Why OwnerRez?, Getting Started). Now it does, and we've added it as a filter option so you can filter your search to the site pages only.
When using the OR search function, select Pages from the dropdown menu.
With that selection, your search results will be limited to the Site Pages, which have a page icon.
Additionally, we renamed "Articles" to "Support Center" in the search dropdown menu to clarify what it filters to.
Users can edit their rates on the Seasonal and Rates Calendars by double-clicking a cell, and the Set Rates pop-up will open.
But that's not all! Now, you can click and drag in either direction on the Ribbon Calendar, or double-click on a date, to create a quote, booking, or blocked-off time with the dates already filled in for you.
Add Back Missing Vrbo Listing Import Items. Users may have noticed that Vrbo has changed their listing format over the past couple of months, and OR has been working to adapt the Import Vrbo Listing process to work as effectively as it previously did. With this release, we have added back the suitability, house rules, occupancy rules, and check-in/check-out rules into the Import Vrbo Listing process.
Allow More Tags in the TinyMCE Editor for Hosted Sites. When users attempted to add customized scripts or iframe objects to the TinyMCE Editor, those objects were deleted. We've corrected this issue and customized scripts or iframe objects added to the TinyMCE Editor will no longer be deleted.
Base Tax Cash Report on Deposit Date if Available. While the Taxes Detail report has been tweaked since the Deposits feature came out, the report showed the wrong dates when users configured the report with the Calculation Method "Cash." It showed the payment date instead of the deposit date, and it should only show the payment date if there's no deposit date and the user selects Doesn't Matter or No for "Deposited." This bug has been fixed on both the Tax Summary and Taxes Detail Reports.
Don't Allow Deleting Properties That Are Connected. OR validates that properties must be unlinked from listing and hosted sites before disabling and provides the appropriate errors prompting users to disable their API connections, but errors were not displayed when users attempted to delete properties. We have resolved this issue by adding validation checks just as we do for disabling a property.
Fix Issue Where Listing Site Setting Wasn't Saving on Rental Agreement in Some Cases. Occasionally, renter agreements configured and saved to apply to all listing sites, then subsequently edited and saved to only apply to a few selected listing sites, were still applicable to all listing sites, and the inverse occurred as well. This issue has been fixed, and any renter agreements will correctly save applicability to the specified listing sites.
Fix Issue Where Upload Photos in Bulk "Saving..." Button Not Clickable. When users attempted to add multiple property images and clicked on the Save button without waiting for the images to be processed, the "Saving" button with the endless spinning animation appeared to be clickable even though it was not clickable in this state. OR has resolved this glitch by disabling the Save button during the image upload process and only re-enabling the Save button after the image processing is complete.
Fix Issue With Address City/State Processing When Adding Guests Via v2 API. Guest address, city, and state information was not correctly synced to OR via the v2 API. This bug has been fixed.
Fix Vrbo Historical Thread Import to Mark Imported Inquiries as "Read." When historical Vrbo message threads were imported, they were marked as "unread," which may have caused some user concern. OR has corrected this glitch, and historical Vrbo message threads will be imported and marked as "read."
Handle Attribute to Vrbo With Multiple Active Channels. Users with multiple active Vrbo channels experienced errors when attributing a booking to a specific Vrbo channel even though they were connected to multiple Vrbo channels. The batch attribute process worked fine though. This issue has been resolved, and now, if the booking's property is linked to a Vrbo channel it will use it. If multiple active Vrbo channels exist, but the booking's property isn't linked to any of them, we show a friendly message: "Can't attribute booking to Vrbo because the property isn't linked to an active Vrbo channel."
Show Created Date as Queued Date on Messages (Rather Than Sent Date). The Inbox history for emails, SMS, and Channel messages displayed the Sent date as the Queued Date, which could be confusing. OR has fixed this bug to now display the Created Date as Queued Date so that users will be aware if a message is delayed in sending.
Validate That HA-XML Type/Key on URL and Authorization Match. Previously, we didn't check against the type of "linked account," so one channel could technically POST a booking to another channel if they knew the advertiser ID (since we only verified that the channel type/key on the URL was valid, not that it matched the linked account). It's never happened, but we work to keep things very secure, so we fixed it.
Join us live with the Nofie team on August 29th at 2 PM Eastern and 11 AM Pacific time!
Nofie is empowering travel options for hosts and guests alike. Learn about Nofie, the free travel marketplace that offers guests all of their vacation rental options in one single search and highlights hosts direct booking platforms.
The session is free to join, but you must use the Nofie webinar link to register.
You can find all our upcoming and past webinars on our Webinars page.
Canadian Host, is there a way to make currency work? My properties are listed in $CAN but Hopper defaults to $USD. Is there any fix or work around to allow it to work?
So pumped about the new search filters for dropdown lists!!!! 🙌🏼
We are too Alece! 😁
Do we automatically get the free listing through 2023 by just signing up and integrating through OR? Or do we need to contact Bnbfinder?
Michelle,
I do the same. Although I do not use instant book at the moment, even when I do I control bookings. My cabins are booked direct and on VRBO. I have set up my payment processor (Bambora) to "authorize only" on booking. This means they charge only $1 which drops off later but validates the card. Upon receiving a booking, I require e-signature of my rental agreement which also asks the required questions associated with my OR booking custom fields. I review those answers and only if they are consistent with my requirements do I charge the guests card. If they are not acceptable I cancel the booking request or, if IB, the booking, citing cancellation due to guest request or actions.
So Instant Booking does not mean you have to lose control over bookings.
Hope this is helpful!
- Kaye
Pretty seamless sign up. Probably the easiest to date. Really hoping to drive some bookings.
Yeah, okay, I actually came across “Other” at the bottom of the drop-down, which I didn’t see before, and checked that, so now I’m all set.
I’ll be surprised if I get any bookings at all from them, however. Of all the platforms I’m signed up with via OR, the only ones I get bookings from are Vrbo first, then Airbnb, and then BDC every once in a blue moon.
The city drop-down must be optional. My location wasn't listed either, so I just left it blank and moved past it. No problem.
Scott- try scrolling down on that city menu,, at the very bottom is "other" but it does not always default to be easy to scroll that far.
