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Alexander, I sent you an email on July 3. Need a little more info from you to look into why they didn't upload. Will resend the email this morning.
Mike Chen literally grew up in the restaurant business and has worn hats as an accountant, real estate investor, property manager, real estate agent, and of course, short-term rental property owner and manager. His desire to have a place near one of his family’s favorite vacation destinations, Disney World, that he could return to year-after-year, led him to start FunStay Homes.
How it all began!
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle…. Oops! Wait a minute—that’s a different story…
Let’s try this again.
Our journey into investing in short-term rentals dates back to the spring of 2017, when my family and I visited Disney World, Florida, for the first time. Let’s just say, I won Father of the Year in 2017. It all started when my kids visited the Magic Kingdom and told me, “Daddy, this is the best place ever.” It dawned on me that I could purchase property and have an amazing time with my family here year after year, creating memories that would last a lifetime. The expenses would be offset by renting out the property when we were not using it. This is when we decided to take the plunge and invest in a short-term rental. We never expected this purchase to change our lives…. forever!! We now own 10+ STRs, and we’ve started our own booking company called FunStay Homes. In addition, I’m also a licensed realtor in Orlando, FL, specializing in helping people buy and sell vacation homes, specializing in the Orlando area, specifically, the Sunbridge and Windsor Cay Resort communities.
You can read my full story HERE on how we got started
I had been working in the finance industry for over 20+ years but never enjoyed working behind a desk and crunching numbers. My wife, Joyce, worked in the IT field for over 20 years; she also wanted to start her own career in real estate. We purchased our first home in 2005, and we realized investing in real estate was the best way to build wealth. I started my side hustle, investing in rental properties while working full-time as an accountant in 2011. My wife and I saved everything we could to come up with the down payment to purchase a rental property. We had an aggressive plan to buy 2 properties per year so we could quickly build a big enough passive income to one day quit our day jobs and do what we love: become full-time real estate investors and real estate agents. In 2016, our portfolio grew to 10+ long-term rental properties, and that’s when we realized we needed something a little more profitable, fun, and exciting. We decided to purchase our first vacation home in Orlando in 2017.
Every day is challenging, and hospitality is fun! My interest in serving people started at an early age, when my dad would take me to his restaurant on the weekends and after school because I was too young to stay home by myself. I watched my dad cook in the kitchen and my mom serve customers in the dining room. I started helping my parents at the restaurant at an early age and grew a passion for helping people and making customers smile. I wanted to make sure our guests had a great time and raved about our restaurant when they left. I don’t own restaurants now, but providing accommodations is the same concept with a lot more responsibilities, because you are part of creating lasting memories for your guests from all over the world.
The STR business is not passive income! You have to keep learning, adapting and pivoting. The industry is always changing, and you have to learn to deal with the ever changing expectations from your guests. There’s never a dull moment in STR.
At FunStay Homes, we use OwnerRez primary for integration across platforms and for increasing our private bookings so we can rely less on Airbnb and VRBO.
The most useful feature is the hosted website. We love this feature because we can integrate the backend and frontend all in one place. We get so many compliments from guests and clients saying how great our website looks. We stand out from the crowd with a dedicated beautiful website to showcase our homes for guests to book.
>>>>>>>>>
Thanks for sharing your story, Mike, and for making your dream vacations and the dream vacations of other families become a reality. You forgot to end your fairy tale-like story with… “and they lived happily ever after.”
So happy to hear this!
Fantastic news!
I am so looking forward to this .
I loved wheelhouse and was so disappointed when I made the move to OwnerRez that I had to say goodbye to wheelhouse for 6 months.
We are happy to announce our partnership with Wheelhouse, a powerful revenue management platform now available to OwnerRez users!
Wheelhouse is an advanced revenue management platform providing short-term, mid-term, and corporate rentals (as well as resorts & boutique hotels) a robust solution to maximize revenue & performance. With the mission "To help hospitality teams build enduring businesses,” Wheelhouse aims to serve as customers’ most trusted & valued financial partner throughout the entirety of their business journey.
You can find the pricing plans available here.
Get started with Wheelhouse by visiting the Wheelhouse website and check out the OwnerRez support doc for how to integrate OwnerRez with Wheelhouse.
Vrbo's still working on it... they say, hopefully later this year.
OwnerRez has been recognized as the #1 software company in the Vacation Rental category by GetApp, an impartial, independent software ranking organization. This ranking was based on end-user ratings in five key areas: ease of use, value for money, functionality, customer support, and likelihood to recommend.
GetApp’s recognition of our software in the software category is a significant achievement for us. It is a testament to our commitment to providing a high-quality, one-stop solution that meets the needs of property owners and managers.
We have always strived to achieve higher customer satisfaction, which is why OwnerRez has been a top-rated product on GetApp, with an overall rating of 4.9. We appreciate our users’ support and willingness to take the time to share their experience using OwnerRez with others.
See what some of our users have to say about OwnerRez on GetApp:
“I love the many functions it offers, the ease of use, the customer support and help section, along with the forum, the price is outstanding and after trying out ALL the other options first, I can strongly say I wouldn’t change a thing!” - Lacey C.
“Very supportive with gentle, tactful reminders on the implementation progress and the remaining time left to fulfill the Client’s portion of the implementation obligation. Always felt like we had a lifeline; we could call while migrating our data from another existing Owner Rez client.” - Ken M.
“I find OwnerRez to be very intuitive for me to use. After a couple weeks, I really felt like I could navigate and accomplish everything necessary to run my business.” - John K.
GetApp® serves as an ecosystem of user-generated and editorial reviews of software and apps for businesses. GetApp lists all vendors in their comprehensive directory so users can compare, sort and filter results to make the most informed decision possible. See GetApp’s Methodology here.
My property does not appear un nofie but OR says is syncing.
Hi Rob, did you follow the rest of the steps after turning it on in OwnerRez? If you don't know what I mean, go back to the Nofie integration in OwnerRez, drill in, and look at the Instructions tab. It will tell you where to go next and what to do on the Nofie side.
If you have already done these steps, contact Nofie by going to their website and clicking on the Need help? floating bubble bottom right.
Hi.
Where Do I find the help desk?
My property does not appear un nofie but OR says is syncing.
Please help!
Good question... when something is free, you are the product... so it would be nice to understand the model before investing time in the tool.
Does anyone know what the benefit to Nofie is? How are they making money?
It shows very high average nightly rate, I do not even have such a rate for any nights in my listing. Definitely not an average
If you are having issues with the Nofie integration, please write in to the Helpdesk with a clear description of the problem, so we can investigate and assist.
I'm not listed with either AirBnb or VRBO. I just manage my own website and have one paid listing site that I use. I imported my listing following the instructions laid out here on OR. My listing imported via my website address but now what? I cannot see any photos or info and the price per night is incorrect. How do we update our Nofie listing?
2 out of 3 of my listings synced. I cannot figure out why the third one will not.
Interesting platform and concept, but I'm curious where they are getting their data. My Nofie sync shows our average nightly rate as the MAX PRICE I have set in PriceLabs ... nowhere near the average nightly rate. YIKES! If I were a Nofie user and saw that rate as the average, I'd probably pass on by. My AirBnB and VRBO links show no data, but just links to those respective listings. (And as an aside, VRBO shows an average nightly rate of $188 and AirBnB shows $256 in their respective OTAs ... I'm guessing based on nights actually booked in the OTA? Not sure how they are calculating average nightly rate respectively.) But I'd want the true fact to show in Nofie that overall a direct booking is a better bottom line choice with the absence of the booking fees from the OTAs. Hmm.
I gave it 24 hours and this is what shows. Availability doesn't seem to connect to anything ... it just changes the buttons to "Check Availability" and the prospective guest will have to put in dates again wherever you're linking to (direct booking site or OTA site). No ratings coming through from any of the sites. To clarify, the link I put in for AirBnB and VRBO is the direct link from the OTA ... not something coming out from OwnerRez, right?
@jami B
"Will my internal housekeeper be required to pay for a subscription? Also, I don't want her solicited to do other cleans. How would we keep it closed to just our properties?"
Turno says:f you invite your cleaner to work with you through Turno, she will not receive offers from other hosts in the Marketplace by default, but she may apply to the Marketplace if she so chooses.
Turno says:
Your scheduled cleaning jobs themselves are only available to cleaners who you already have on your team!
If you release any offers to the Marketplace, these will not expose your full name or your property's address, and they are also not for a specific date. But at the moment, there is no way to block specific people from seeing your offers.
Nofie does appear to be largely US at present.
Generally, when you establish a new connection it's a good idea to wait overnight to see if it finished syncing. If it does not, please reach out to the Helpdesk so we can investigate.
Followed the instructions and properties are not syncing.
Is Nofie just US focussed?
We are excited to announce our Partnership with Nofie as a new first-class book-direct channel partner.
Nofie is the vacation rental marketplace that puts guests and hosts back in the center of the travel experience by empowering them with booking options. When you list your property on Nofie, you are able to showcase all your booking options, including your direct booking site as well as any third-party platforms you're listed on. After making the connection between guest and host, Nofie steps aside. The best part? Nofie charges no fees.
Nofie charges no fees.
Get started with Nofie by visiting here and checking out the OwnerRez support article for how to integrate OwnerRez with Nofie.
Our CEO, Paul Waldschmidt, recently sat down with Zach Busekrus from Behind The Stays Podcast to discuss the past, present, and future of vacation rental software.
Zach is the Co-Founder of Sponstayneous, a weekly newsletter that brings subscribers the best last-minute deals and upcoming steals on Airbnb. When COVID hit, he and his wife Gabby broke out of the lease on their 750-square foot apartment in Washington, DC to beta test the digital nomad lifestyle. Zach and Gabby have spent the past year living full-time on Airbnb — they've stayed in 50+ homes to date!
During the podcast, Paul and Zach discuss:
Listen below:
It's Friday, and we're talking all about cancellations...
But before you hit the snooze button, read this product update that's all about our June 28th release with 21 updates, including the adding your cancellation policy to guest quote and booking confirmation pages and new sales tax options for canceled bookings.
Airbnb's "Request to Book" feature allows guests to send booking requests to hosts, who then have the option to accept or decline the request based on their availability preferences and property rules.
OwnerRez has added even more flexibility for our Airbnb-connected users allowing them to determine whether they will accept an Airbnb guest "Request to Book" that exceeds their property maximum nights rule setting if their property is available.
Of course, we leave that decision up to our users, who can edit those settings by navigating to Settings > API Integrations > their Airbnb API Integration > Options.
As you'll notice, while we were adding this new setting, we took the opportunity to clean up the time options (Lead Time, Turnover Days, Days In Future) and put them together in a new "Booking Window & Duration" section. We hope this clarifies which time options are available for Airbnb.
Learn more by reading the Request to Book section of the Airbnb inquiries, quotes, special offers, booking requests, pre-approvals support article.
Notifying your guests about your cancellation policy is crucial for managing expectations, ensuring transparency, helping guests make informed decisions, and reducing the risk of misunderstandings or disputes regarding refunds or cancellation fees.
By displaying your Full Legal Cancellation Policy on both the Guest Quote Acceptance and Booking Confirmation Pages, OwnerRez hopes to increase your guest awareness regarding your cancellation policy.
On the quote acceptance page, the guest will be able to see your full legal cancellation policy clearly displayed right above the "Looks Good! Finish Booking" button.
And your full legal cancellation policy is displayed again at the bottom of the Booking Confirmation page.
Notice also that there is a line right below the cancellation policy explaining that refund percentages are relative to the total booking charges, not the amount paid so far. We added this because it is very common for guests to assume that the refund is on the amount paid, not the total charges.
Learn more by reading our Cancellation Policies Overview support article.
SMS Messaging is a powerful way to send information directly to your guests, bypassing email. The OwnerRez's SMS feature also works with templates and triggers allowing users to send automated personalized messages at scheduled times.
As deadlines move closer for new federal requirements requiring all businesses to have approved SMS Brands, national SMS carriers (T-Mobile, Verizon, etc) will begin blocking all SMS messages that are not compliant with these regulations.
OwnerRez has been hard at work with users to assist them in their SMS Brand applications to The Campaign Registry (TCR), including adding additional support for sole proprietors that had previously been unable to utilize SMS messaging.
Sole Proprietors can complete the SMS Brand application by selecting "I operate as a Sole Proprietor AND I do not have a government issued Tax ID (usually the case if you file taxes under your own SSN or ITIN)" in the Business Details > Registration Status section.
OwnerRez has been reviewing accounts to determine which users haven't yet completed their SMS Brand registration and reaching out directly to them by email. While this might seem onerous, please understand that we have invested a lot of time and resources into maximizing SMS delivery to your guests, and these Brand requirements are a big part of that deliverability.
Learn more by reading our SMS Overview support article.
Municipalities' policies on how hosts handle canceled booking sales taxes can vary. Some may require full or partial refunds, while others may have specific policies mandating the remittance of the full tax amount regardless of the canceled booking.
Only you, the user, can know your sales tax situation regarding booking cancellations, but OwnerRez offers new flexibility in how sales tax is handled in the event of a booking cancellation.
Users can now apply canceled booking criteria to their individual sales taxes by navigating to Settings > Taxes > your Taxes > Criteria > Canceled Bookings and can select between Still applies and Does not apply.Special note: Taxes can only be removed for bookings where OwnerRez manages the charges, such as direct and Vrbo bookings.
Learn more by reading our Taxes Overview support article.
OwnerRez offers a robust 2FA (Two-Factor Authentication) feature for all users that offers an extra layer of security to ensure that people trying to gain access to your OwnerRez account are who they say they are.
While 2FA was turned on and required for most users long ago, a small subset of users never logged out, never configured 2FA settings, and were flying under the radar. We have now force-logged-out those users so that they are forced to configure 2FA once and for all. As always, our intention here is not irritate but to provide security and protection of your account. In this day and age, no serious online business allows their users to log in unprotected, and OwnerRez is no exception.
Learn more by reading our Two-Factor Authentication support article.
Add Back Address Name Field on Check Payment Method. OwnerRez users were experiencing the error, "Check Address Name is required." when attempting to add manual “off-line” paper check payments because the Check Address Name field was not visible or available to complete on the manual payment method form. This bug has been fixed and the required Check Address Name field is now visible and available to complete on the manual payment method form.
Add Missing Booking.com Cancel Policies. If an OwnerRez user had their original Booking.com (BDC) cancellation policy set to Non-refundable (General), the booking would fail. We have upgraded Booking.com cancellation policies to now include the formerly-missing Booking.com Smart Flex Reservations program.
Allow Disabling a Template While Its Trigger is Still Active. Previously, OwnerRez users could disable a template even though the associated trigger (ie .the trigger that sends that template) was still active leading to triggers failing because the template was disabled. We have fixed this bug so that the system will now detect that the template is attached to an active trigger and alert the user that "You cannot disable this SMS (or channel template) because there are other active entities (like triggers or system messages) associated with it.
Cancel Unpaid DP Policies on Account Close. When OwnerRez users close their accounts there are a lot of processes that must occur in the background, including the review of any unpaid damage protection policies. We have retooled our account closing processes to ensure that billing-related (user and guest) items are turned off automatically, including looking for any unpaid damage protection policies. If any unpaid damage protection policies are still in place when a user closes their account, the unpaid damage protection policies will be canceled.
Certain Styles Bust HTML to Plain Text Conversion From Custom Field Transform to Airbnb Template. Airbnb templates do not support HTML (rich text) so OwnerRez attempts to convert the HTML to plain text. The LI HTML list element (bulleted lists) were not converting correctly so we fixed this bug to now convert HTML bulleted list elements to plain text asterisks (*).
Clarify {BCRE} to be Booked, Not Created. The {BCRE} booking "created date" field code was causing some confusion for users. The {BCRE} created date field is now the date that the booking was created in, or imported into, OwnerRez.
Don't Fire New Booking Triggers When a Vrbo Message Arrives on an Old Booking. This edge case occurred when a Vrbo guest messaged via Vrbo to notify the OwnerRez user that they had checked out of the property but the system picked it up as a new booking and sent triggered templates to cleaners and the owner, alerting them a guest was coming in last minute. We determined that this was due to our not yet having historic Vrbo message threads connected. This bug has been fixed and triggers will not fire unless the booking is in the future.
Don't Show Expected Deposit Date on Secdeps That are Just Held. When Stripe-connected users scheduled their security deposit holds, the resulting transaction displayed an expected deposit date in the Deposit column which is incorrect because the security deposit hold is not deposited in the users' accounts. This bug has been fixed and Stripe connected security deposit holds will now display the correct "not recorded" label.
Empty "Property" Field Causes 2 Errors Instead of One to be Shown. On the Import Vrbo Listing page, if users did not select a property from the Property dropdown list, they received two errors, the expected "The Property field is required." and the unexpected "Couldn't find listing number. Make sure the URL is properly formatted like [https://www.vrbo.com/12345678]" rather than the one expected error upon clicking on Import. This bug has been fixed to now only display the one correct "The Property field is required." error if the users do not select a property from the Property dropdown list upon clicking on Import.
Fix a Crash Bang Error on Attempting to "Watch" a Blog Post While Not Logged In. Users not logged in may have experienced an error after attempting to "watch" a blog post. This bug has been fixed and will now lead the user to log in so that they may "watch" the desired blog post.
Fix an Extremely Uncommon Error on Custom Field Imports. Users may have experienced errors when attempting to import custom fields and it was determined that the contents of the user's database must have generated duplicate keys which was very unusual. We have fixed this bug by logging what actions failed and correcting the user's database owner and property string dictionaries
Hosted Website Property Search Prop Rule Bypass. This edge case occurred when a Hosted Website multiple property search bypassed the property Booking Window rules (maximum days in the future that a property can be booked) with a date range that started before the end of calendar availability but ended after the property Booking Window rules (maximum days in the future that a property can be booked) making the property bookable. This did not occur when the property was selected from the properties page without searching and dates were entered manually. This bug has been fixed and any Hosted Website multiple property searches will validate and apply the property Booking Window rules (maximum days in the future that a property can be booked) for the entire date range of stay.
Make QuickBooks Batch Tool "Update Settings" Option Target Bookings That are already Syncing. The QuickBooks Batch Tool "Update Settings" option only synced bookings that haven't been synced yet but was not updating existing bookings with current settings like invoice date. This bug has been fixed to now update and sync existing bookings to match their current settings when users use the QuickBooks "Update Settings" option.
New Total Preview Doesn't Calculate on Booking Cancel When a Cancellation Fee Applied. When OwnerRez users set up some surcharges, including a cancellation fee surcharge, and future booking cancellations that had partial refunds of 50%, the new totals weren't calculating or displaying correctly after the cancellation fee was applied. This bug has been fixed and booking totals that received a 50% refund will calculate and display correctly after cancellation fees are applied.
Remove Pets Allowed Amenity. Since OwnerRez users already set Property Rules allowing pets, we determined that allowing users to add Pets Allowed to their property amenities was not only duplicative but could cause confusion for potential guests. This bug has been corrected by removing the Pets Allowed from property amenities and users should set their pet rules in their property rules.
Restrict Legacy API SpotRate PATCH to 1100 Days in the Future. Some API-connected users were attempting to set rates 10 years in the future and that was causing issues for the system. We have fixed this by implementing a maximum limit of 1,100 days of spot rates.
That's awesome, Chris! We definitely heard plenty of murmuring about the Vrbo issues this past weekend, and we're happy we could mitigate those problems for our users.
Can't wait to get the next iteration out with history import... coming soon!
Just wanted to say that you guys got this rolled out just in time!
Vrbo was having big issues this weekend.
Social media groups of Vrbo hosts were all atwitter (pun intended) about problems with Vrbo, and I was mostly unaffected, thanks to OR. :)
Teamwork makes the dream work...and OwnerRez is pumped to be a part of your team! 🙌
Let's celebrate the power of teamwork, and its undeniable impact on achieving your success, and OwnerRez's Team Access improvements in today's product update detailing our June 21st release with 28 updates!
OwnerRez has now added Broken link protection for all Hosted Websites!
Broken link protection is crucial as it ensures a seamless guest experience, boosts your website credibility, improves Search Engine Optimization (SEO) rankings, and prevents your potential guests from encountering frustrating dead ends or outdated information.
Our broken link protection is now enabled as a default and includes the page ID in URLs so that links won't break if the property name or individual webpage slug changes. Existing hosted website users might have noticed the ID numbers in their URLs before, but now we've created this feature so that users can manage it.
Users also have the ability to disable the Broken Link Protection by navigating to Settings > their Hosted Website > Change > Options > Broken Link Protection.
Interested in an OwnerRez Hosted Website of your own? Learn more by reading the Hosted Websites Overview support article.
Back in November 2022, OwnerRez rolled out Team Access and we continue to make improvements to the Staff Member Team Access feature!
In the past, Staff Member Access allowed complete OwnerRez access to everything in your OwnerRez account, including bookings, payments, emails, etc. Staff Members were basically a clone of you, allowing the Staff Member to see and do everything within your OwnerRez account. That could be risky since granting such a significant level of access would require a substantial amount of trust in your staff.
But now we've added the much anticipated Staff Read-Only Team Access permissions! The advantages of read-only permissions include enhanced security, data integrity, reduced risk, version control, and allowing for significant training without the ability for your trainees to make changes to your OwnerRez account.
Learn more by reading our Staff Member Access support article.
OwnerRez Support Videos are a rich resource for OR users and now you can easily share specific videos by first clicking on the anchor link next to the video you want to share and then copy the URL address to share with staff (or yourself for later).
Be sure to check out our regularly updated OwnerRez Support Videos for yourself!
OwnerRez has added more permission options for their portal users. Users can now grant increased booking and financial items to their Portal Team users allowing them to view the following.
Learn more by reading our Portal User Access support article.
What may have started off as an edge case or bug for one of our users soon became an important enhancement for our Stripe integrated users. After looking at it, OwnerRez determined that it was of the utmost importance to update the following international currency code options for our Stripe integrated OwnerRez users.
Any Stripe-integrated users previously using Romanian Leu (ROL) were auto-updated to the Romanian Leu (RON).
Learn more about this payment processor by reading our Stripe support article.
We love hearing about new apps and scenarios using OwnerRez and OAuth Apps lets developers create apps that can be granted access, with permission only, to OwnerRez accounts. If you're curious, we follow the OAuth 2 Authorization Code Grant: RFC 6749-Section 4.1 (web application flow).
But we realized that webhook errors were not providing enough information to assist in solving those errors. OwnerRez has added better search/filter options that offer more visibility and helpful information about any OAuth App on the grid, including a quick entity type/ID lookup tool for partners.
Additionally, the OwnerRez email alert now directly links to the failed entity as well.
Interested in learning more? Check out our OAuth Apps support article.
Added a Friendly Message on Attempting to Register WP Plugin With a Non-external Site Token. When users attempted to connect the WordPress plugin with a token that was not related to an External Site it would fail. OR has added a more friendly failure message with instructions on how to correct the error.
Allow Using Raw Card Billing Info on Multiple Stripe Accounts Even if it Was Originally Sourced From Vrbo 3DS Token. When OwnerRez users changed a property from one Stripe account to a different Stripe account, the credit card details received from Vrbo that included a 3DS2 (3D Secure 2.0, an authentication solution designed to protect customers when they shop online using credit or debit cards) token were no longer reusable. This bug has been fixed so that any Vrbo 3DS tokens can be reused whether the host/user changes their property from one Stripe account to a different Stripe account.
Changing a Custom Field Used in a Property Description Now Triggers a Channel Sync. Users that changed custom fields used in channel property descriptions were not updating correctly without a manual full sync. This bug has been fixed and any custom field changes will now trigger a full listing channel sync.
Consider Bunk Bed as 2 beds for Airbnb Bed Total. Airbnb counted bunk beds as only 1 bed leading to incorrect bed counts for OwnerRez users that are Airbnb API connected and had properties with bunk beds. This bug has been fixed to now match the same logic as Vrbo with a bunk bed equaling 2 beds for Airbnb bed counts.
Door Code Generated Should be Deleted When Booking is Canceled. This edge case occurred when a pending booking was subsequently canceled in OR but the integrated lock never canceled the door code. This bug has been fixed to now delete integrated door codes for pending bookings that are subsequently canceled.
Enhance OwnerRez Blog Comments to Match the Tooling of OwnerRez Forums Replies. While the top page dropdown selector for blog post comments worked correctly when users clicked on page 2 at the bottom of a blog post, users were taken to the blog post instead. This bug has been fixed and blog post comment navigation will now work as expected.
Fixed Error on QuickBooks Property Settings When Missing Rent Item. OwnerRez QuickBooks users experienced crashes on either both or one of their QuickBooks settings and connections if the configured Rent Item no longer exists in QuickBooks. This bug has been fixed and OR users should no longer experience crashes on either QuickBooks settings or connections if the configured Rent Item no longer exists in QuickBooks.
Fixed Host Fee Not Updating on Airbnb Transaction API. The Airbnb Host Fee was correctly displayed in the Expense tab of bookings, but the Host Fee was missing from the My Net Financials section of the booking Overview tab. This bug has been fixed and Airbnb Host Fees will now display correctly on both the My Net Financials section of the booking Overview and the Expense tab of bookings after users enable Airbnb Transaction Sync.
Fixed Hosted Site Blog Posts From Rendering Two H1 Tags. Although hidden and appearing correct, Hosted Website Blog Posts were rendering duplicate H1 headers which could negatively affect search engine and, perhaps more importantly, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) results. This bug has been fixed and Hosted Website Blog Posts H1 headers will now render correctly.
Fixed Portal Users Cannot See Tags When They Should Be Able To. Team Access Portal users that had permission to view tags, but did not have permission to view guest contact information, were not able to view any guest tags. This bug has been fixed to now allow portal users to view guest tags when they have permission to view tags.
Fixed SMS X-Ray Javascript Error. We noticed that the SMS (Short Message/Messaging Service aka Texting) X-ray button was not working correctly revealing a JavaScript error. This bug has been fixed and the SMS X-ray button now works correctly.
Handle Missing Surcharge in Airbnb Channel Rate Tester. If an OR user attempted to do the Airbnb channel rate tester with a surcharge that couldn't be matched, the Airbnb channel rate tester threw an error. This bug has been fixed to skip unmatched surcharges in the Airbnb channel rate tester and the Airbnb channel rate tester should work correctly.
iCal Should Respond With an HTTP 404 Error Code if User Account is Closed. This was an edge case where a former OwnerRez user had closed their OR account but the listing channel iCals was still publishing bookings within the OwnerRez system. This bug has been fixed and iCals of closed OwnerRez user accounts will now correctly respond with an HTTP 404 error code telling the requester that the requested page is not available.
If There Are No Reviews, Don't Set Up Hosted Site "Product" Metadata for Google Crawler. Even though the website displayed correctly in Google search results, users of OwnerRez Hosted Websites that have no reviews were receiving errors from the Google Search Console. This bug has been fixed and users of OwnerRez Hosted Websites that have no reviews should no longer receive errors from the Google Search Console.
Improvements to Team Access User Interface (Staff and Portal). OwnerRez does not allow a single email address to have both a Staff and Portal Team Access account but we needed to clarify that for our users. We have fixed this bug by notifying OR users that attempt to send an invite in-app to an email address that already has either a Staff or Portal Team Access account associated with that email address advising them to delete the other Staff or Portal Team Access account associated with the duplicated email address and to create a new Team Access invitation.
Look for Booking Correctly When Finding Air Other Account Thread. Multiple Airbnb accounts can have access to an OwnerRez conversation thread, such as a host and co-host. When OR was responding to a message, we responded from the last account that appeared on the conversation thread, which wasn't necessarily correct. This bug has been fixed to now respond from the user account attached to the booking.
Prefill Default Data for Property Import Excel Template. The Property Import Excel Template was incomplete, including not having the default minimum age of 21 prepopulated data as an example in the template, leading to subsequent import errors. The Property Import Excel Template has been updated now allowing for the Import Properties process to operate correctly.
Redirect Portal Login Attempts to the Standard Login if Non-portal User Credentials. Portal users that attempted to log into a portal that they were granted permission to were not able to complete the two-factor authentication (2FA) process and were experiencing login failures. This bug has been fixed to now display a warning with a redirected OwnerRez log in URL link with 2FA allowing portal users to complete the secure two-factor authentication (2FA) process login.
Send Webhook Failure Notice to Oauth App Developers Only After the Final (10th) Webhook Attempt. OwnerRez was sending webhook (automated messages sent from apps when an event occurs) failure notices after the first failure instead of the 10th failure (as originally designed) even if the webhook later succeeded which was confusing to OAuth (Open Authorization) App Developers. This bug has been fixed to only send webhook failure notices to OAuth App Developers after the 10th webhook failure occurs within a 24-hour period.
Several Improvements Around Airbnb Listing Publishing and Rate Push. If users experienced more than one Airbnb listing sync content error, any changes made (description, rates, rules, etc.) would not be fully pushed to Airbnb until later in the day. This bug has been fixed to detect availability/rate and listing/rule errors separately allowing for more specific Airbnb sync content errors that are easier and more efficient to clear.
Show Password Field on Lock Again if Needed. In some scenarios, some Kaba lock integrated OwnerRez users were not able to input their password because the password input field was not displayed on the Kaba lock configuration. This bug has been fixed and Kaba lock integrated OwnerRez users will see the password field and be able to input their password.
Split Serbia vs Montenegro in Country List. The country dropdown list that is available on most, if not all, OwnerRez address input forms was out of date. We have updated the country list for completeness and accuracy.
We are happy to announce our partnership with Orana Stay, allowing our users to engage and amaze guests after they book with a Digital Welcome Guide & Concierge.
At Orana Software, they prioritize providing exceptional guest experiences for your valued guests. They recognize the value of your time, which is why they developed a remarkable solution by integrating with OwnerRez. Their solution seamlessly and efficiently integrates the existing information you possess into your digital welcome books, ensuring a smooth and hassle-free process.
With their optional full-service offering, you can sit back and relax while they handle the setup, seamless integration, and effortless updates of your entire portfolio of properties. This comprehensive service allows you to save time and effort, focusing on other important aspects of your business.
To enhance the guest experience further, they have incorporated Trip Advisor and Yelp into their software. This integration ensures that your guests receive outstanding recommendations for local dining establishments and attractions automatically. By providing these valuable suggestions, you can be confident that your guests will have a memorable stay and enjoy their surroundings to the fullest.
Orana Software is dedicated to delivering exceptional solutions that make a difference in your guests' experience while simplifying your operations.
Please use the contact form on their website here to inquire about pricing.
Get started with Orana Stay by visiting the Orana Stay website and checking out the OwnerRez support doc for how to integrate OwnerRez with Orana Stay.
Hey everybody and happy Friday! Even though we're getting into the heart (and heat) of summertime (in the northern hemisphere anyway), there's no slowing OwnerRez down.
This week's June 14th release with 30 updates is a perfect example of that! Lots of great things to highlight in one of our largest releases of the year. We're gearing up for some other great things to come but please read up on the latest and greatest from this week to whet the palate!
For those who have wanted to use Kaba with OwnerRez but have fewer than 10 locks have waited a long time for this one to come to fruition. We have wired up to use Kaba's new API that allows those owners or PMs to integrate with OwnerRez! There's an added step or two to do it, but in OwnerRez you still connect under Settings > Door Locks and choose Connect Kaba/Oracode to get started.
On the Create screen, the previous connection method is still available by selecting the other radio button ("Entire site") but that still requires 10+ locks and receiving your site name from Kaba. But the new default selection is "My locks only" to utilize IHO (Individual Home Owner) mode. With that radio button selected, Site ID and API Token fields are available.
To get your Site ID and API Token, and learn more about completing the setup, follow the steps in the Kaba door lock support article.
Have you ever used the OwnerRez Channel Rate Tester under the Tools menu? We hope so, but it's now even better when using it to check rates on Airbnb. Previously we had to rely on a technique called screen scraping. When you would make a query, we would go to that listing on Airbnb and punch in the info and then "scrape" the results to return them in OwnerRez. Sounds complicated doesn't it? Well, it was, and not as reliable as we prefer things to be. Well, Airbnb has an API to do live quoting. So, we've switched Channel Rate Tester to use it. We also now show the expected fees that Airbnb would charge to Host and Guest for the selected dates.
Learn more about Rate Testing by reading the Rate Testing Overview support article.
Way back in 2018, PMs have been able to use custom email templates to send owners their owner statements. Well, along the way we've gotten lots of questions about how to modify the owner statement system default email that gets sent to owners. Many users would first look in System Messages and not see anything there. So we have added Send Statement to Owner as a system message to make it more clear.
Like all system messages, you can turn it off, change the message (which will create a Custom Template and link to it), or you can link up an existing template. Again, you can have any number of Owner Statement email templates
PMs can only override the default system message with one custom template. But PMs can still set which custom template to be used under each owner, if they so choose. On the preferences tab under the Owner, you can change preferred email from System Default (which is the message as set on the Owner Statement system message) to a custom Owner Statement email template you've saved.
Along the same lines, we have updated Owners under the Property Management premium feature to support more than one email address! You can have any number of email addresses saved on each Owner! This is going to be a huge help to PMs who have had to manually enter multiple email addresses on templates or used other methods to get around this previous limitation. In this example, I've already added 4 emails, but I can click the "Add Email Address" button to add additional ones as needed.
Once you add the needed email addresses for your owners and you click Save. Anytime you use the field codes {OEMAIL} or {BOWNEREMAIL}, all owner emails will be returned.
So, if you're a PM who had manually entered extra owner emails in templates and had to have different template versions just because of the need for a workaround, you can simplify your setups if you so choose!
Earlier this week, OwnerRez announced our new partnership with Monthly Rentals by Owner & American Snowbird, a new first-class book-direct channel partner.
Founded in 2003, Monthly Rentals by Owner and American Snowbird specializes in providing vacation rental property managers and homeowners with a quality, cost-effective listing solution, offering a unique platform that focuses on marketing properties available for extended stays of 28 days or more. The company meets the needs of a growing market of vacationers seeking mid-term and longer-term rentals and Snowbird rentals.
Learn more by reading the Monthly Rentals by Owner & American Snowbird Setup & Connecting support article.
Since I'm on the product team, I get to share upcoming product news every now and again. One of those things I'm really excited about is that we're working on overhauling the OwnerRez "Guest Forms." Good stuff!
In the meantime, because it's a large overhaul, we know we needed to handle cell phones differently on the current forms. The cell phone field is first and that way if people have one number, it's likely a cell phone and so will more likely be entered in the correct phone field.
This should also help on a go-forward basis with SMS messaging to be more successful. Many users use {CPHONEPR} which is the primary contact phone which before this change was considered the home phone if more than one number was entered.
A welcomed change until the new guest forms are ready!
Call it a bug? We're calling this one a tweak so we can provide screenshots.😉 Under theming, we noticed we were saving data inconsistently thus displaying things inconsistently. For example, there was a trailing slash saved on the Business URL (i.e., domain) acmevacations.com/. In other theming places, it was saved as a fully qualified URL (e.g., https://www.acmevacations.com). So, we've cleaned things up, including associated account and property field codes and we hope you see more tidiness in your theming and branding. Field codes-wise, MYURL, MYSOCS, and MYSOCM saw the main updates.
Before - Account Theme:
After - Account Theme:
This one should make those Vrbo users who are on their PPB (pay-per-booking) model and use optional surcharges in OwnerRez happy. We worked with Vrbo to get their blessing to remove Optional Surcharges (which are added after a Vrbo booking comes in) by the user upon request of the guest from the BUS (Booking Update Service) so Vrbo doesn't learn of them. The PPB commission fee will only factor in Automatic Surcharges that were applied on the booking at the time the guest booked.
OwnerRez continues to make improvements to Deposits!
We've added a new Processor column to the Deposits grid along with a link to the payment method (if applicable).
We've also added a Property drop-down selector to the Deposits Filter allowing users to filter deposits by property.
And we've added a Processor drop-down selector to the Deposits Filter allowing users to filter deposits by the payment processor. This currently includes Airbnb, Lynnbrook Group, and Stripe, when applicable.
Learn more by reading the Deposits Overview support article.
New changes to the Availability/Property Search Widget Rates Section now allow users to display a range of their minimum and maximum rates on their multi-property hosted website by selecting the Show range for min and max (eg. "350-499/night") button. Click Save. This is applicable to both Hosted Websites and the Availability/Property Search Widget.
Users can make changes to the Availability/Property Search Widget by navigating to Settings > My Website > their Hosted Website > Availability/Property Search Widget selecting the Show range for min and max (eg. "350-499/night") button. Click Save.
And the multi-property search will display the minimum and maximum rates as a range.
Users can also access the Availability/Property Search Widget Rates Section by navigating to their Hosted Website > Home and/or Properties pages and selecting the Show range for min and max (eg. "350-499/night") button. Click Save.
Users should note that setting the Availability/Property Search Widget on one of the Hosted Website pages does not affect the Availability/Property Search Widget on the other Hosted Website page.
Don't have a multi-property Hosted Website but still want to change the nightly rate price range on your single-property Hosted Website? This nightly price range displayed is automatically pulled from the property minimum and maximum rates but users can override these settings by navigating to either Settings > Pricing Preferences or that specific Property > General Info > Change > Calculation Overrides to change the minimum and maximum rate range displayed on the multi-property and single-property hosted website.
Keeping the OwnerRez support articles updated can prove challenging. We updated the Channel API - Property Field Differences support article to pull the table's data straight from the code base. When a property description field's attribute is changed in the code, the article table will automatically update!
Add (500 max for Airbnb) Note on Short Description Edit When No Airbnb Description Override. We added a note under Short Description on edit to clarify that even though the field accepts up to 10,000 characters, Airbnb only supports 500 max. If a user needs to have a longer short description for other channels, you can add the Airbnb description override and adjust accordingly.
Add More Details to Travel Insurance System Alert. Some helpful details were missing from the Travel Insurance System Alert email message sent to OR users. The email now includes the OwnerRez booking number (ORB...), Property, and Guest Name.
Add Support for RemoteLock "connector_lock" (TTLock). RemoteLock has recently added support for TTLock type locks and OwnerRez has added this to the types that are available to be mapped in OwnerRez.
Allow Payment Fees to Net Out the Payment to Zero. This edge case occurred where a validation didn't allow the creation of a payment with a host fee of the same amount (i.e. a $100 payment with a $100 fee), but on occasion, that is necessary for accounting purposes so OwnerRez allowed it.
Change "Airbnb Message" to Read "Channel Message" in More Places. After the Vrbo messaging roll-out, several users pointed out we still referred to "Airbnb Message" in some places where it should be "Channel Message."
Clarify That Rentalz is for Property Managers Only. Some OwnerRez users were disappointed to learn that the Rentalz API connection is exclusively for Property Managers only after they had started the API connection process. We had added information about that to our Rentalz support article but have added language on the Rentalz channel connection instructions and setup pages in-app to clarify that Rentalz.com is exclusively for inventory managed by a property management company.
Don't Show Booking Door Codes if the Lock is Disabled or Deleted. When users created a manual door lock associated with a property, then created a door code for a booking at that property but then deleted or disabled the door lock mapping, the old (and no longer correct) door lock code still appeared for the property. This bug has been fixed and the system will check to ensure that the door lock code is still active and not deleted or disabled when displaying door codes for bookings.
Emerald Coast By Owner Channel Integration Listing Link is Wrong. The Emerald Coast By Owner listing link was being duplicated resulting in an incorrect URL link in the ECBYO channel integration page. This has been fixed and the ECBYO listing hyperlink is correct.
Fix Address Label Not Changing to "City, Province, Postal Code" When Reloading Location Page. The address label on many OwnerRez forms was not displaying the "City, Province, Postal Code" label correctly when a country was selected from the Country drop-down list. This bug has been fixed and the "City, Province, Postal Code" label will display correctly for the related countries from the Country drop-down list selection.
Fix Conversation Link in Guest Record Dropdown. On the Booking Overview tab, there is a Guest Record drop-down. When applicable, the link to Airbnb Messages was broken so we fixed it to properly take the user to the Guest conversation view.
Fix Sync Pending Label for Airbnb Property in Limited Sync Mode. When users created an Airbnb-linked property in limited sync mode and then requested a full sync action, the property still had the Sync Pending label displayed even though the property was correctly synced. This bug has been fixed and any Airbnb-linked properties created in limited sync mode that then request a full sync action will display the correct Synced status.
Handle Case Where Vrbo Listing Import GraphQL Fails, and Don't Miscategorize Bedrooms. The Vrbo listing import was failing due to the use of public endpoints due to Vrbo having changed the endpoints on their end. OwnerRez has adapted the importer to correctly import listings with the new endpoints.
On Airbnb CB, Stop Looking for Recent Payouts if Airbnb Returns Multiple Empty Pages. Occasionally the Airbnb Channel Bridge (CB) would keep returning an empty page while continuing to attempt to download endlessly. This has been fixed and OwnerRez detects this issue and the Airbnb CB will stop attempting to download after the system recognizes a couple of empty pages.
Plug Trigger Send Holes Around Booking Import. OwnerRez recently discovered two edge cases where triggers could unexpectedly be sent around the booking import process. We have fixed this to no longer send deleted triggers when overwriting the booking import and added an additional check specifically for the “created” date type triggers and require those triggers if necessary.
Point Suitability Car LQA Warning to Location. The LQA (Listing Quality Analyzer) was pointing users to the wrong settings area if they had a warning for the note as entered for car suitability (which is under Property > Location (in the Nearby Places & Activities section)).
Prevent "Everything" Sync if Setup is Incomplete. Completing the OwnerRez property setup can take some time especially if users are planning to be API connected to Airbnb. OR has added additional warnings to alert users that they need to add their property Photos, Headline, Short Description, and Rates before they attempt to complete the Airbnb API connection process.
Smoothen Trigger and Autoresponders After Vrbo Messaging Release. After the June 7th Vrbo Messaging release, OwnerRez monitored the effects of any triggers and autoresponders that users had set up and adjusted to smooth out those automated tools.
Strip Non-printable Chars From More Places. Nonprinting characters, or formatting marks, were causing issues on property image captions and property descriptions resulting in display issues. We now strip such non-printable characters and formatting marks in those places on save.
Update bnbfinder Onboarding Instructions URL. The bnbfinder URL link on the OwnerRez bnbfinder setup onboarding instructions was outdated. OR has updated the URL to navigate to the correct bnbfinder document.
