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How do you get your reviews on OwnerRez to publish on Google? I've never had it properly explained to me.
Stay Better Vacations is doing something (actually, pretty much everything) right, maintaining a 5 star rating on Google and a near-perfect 4.9 rating based on close to three thousand reviews on their website! The same meticulousness co-owner Stacie employed as a teacher for 18 years is serving her well as a property owner and manager.
In my previous life, I was a school teacher for 18 years. The last few years of my career I started dipping my toes in owning and managing a few vacation rentals. Soon my portfolio grew, which made me realize there was a strong market for a boutique-style management company and I should explore doing this gig full-time. I then retired from teaching (my resignation letter was one sentence) and began growing the business by bringing onboard my friend Pam who had experience with real estate, marketing, and hospitality. From that moment we became a guest-focused business aimed at providing the best experience for both our guests and owners.
Teaching, which requires juggling many balls and demands!
Variety - one day is never like the previous or next. Constantly adapting, reinventing, and being creative on how we approach new challenges or how we can do things better!
Staying consistent with whatever is thrown our way - creating a happy experience for all types of travelers and accommodating all our owners so we are meeting their expectations. Ensuring our cleaning team meets our standards to ensure good reviews and guests satisfaction.
It touches all moving parts! Integration has been key...Operto, RueBaRue, Lynnbrook, Point Central, Calendars syncs. It's a one stop shop that we'd be lost without.
Website and API Integration with Airbnb and Vrbo. We get so many compliments on our website - we love this feature and are always so excited when there are updates or new tools being offered.
Thanks, Stacie and Pam - first for educating our future generations, and now for providing them with amazing vacation rental options!
We hope you have guests enjoying National Road Trip Day on their way to your properties...
Before they arrive, squeeze in some time to peruse our latest product update, providing comprehensive details of this week's May 24th release with 13 updates.
As we continue to improve the SMS Brand Registration process to work within the ever-changing regulatory environment, we are now in beta with a new Sole Proprietorship Campaign option. Not everyone operates as an LLC or Corporation, so Sole Proprietorship is becoming another option for users who operate as one, allowing them to properly register their SMS Brand for approval with The Campaign Registry (TCR). The TCR works with North American mobile operators and companies in the messaging carrier business to register Application-to-Person (A2P) text messaging Campaigns.
If you're a sole proprietor and have previously been unable to utilize SMS messaging and have questions about this option, contact us for assistance.
Learn more by reading our SMS Overview support article.
Many partners and prospective partners alike work to provide solid API integrations for OwnerRez users through our APIs, particularly the newer OwnerRez v2 API. One upcoming partner asked if we could include latitude and longitude geographic coordinates in the v2 API to provide property locations (depending on OwnerRez user preferences). We obliged and that info is now available!
Learn more by reading our API for Apps Overview support article.
Don't Generate Door Lock Codes for Quote Hold Blocks. This edge case occurred when a user sent quotes using the hold dates option to block the calendar, holding it for guests to complete the booking, and experienced door lock code failures (and received corresponding OwnerRez system alerts) for each quote. We have fixed this bug to no longer generate door lock codes for quote hold blocks.
Don't Include Autogenerated Range Descriptions for Surcharges on Long Stays to Avoid Description Limit Issues. This was an edge case where a user received a "The field description must be a string with a maximum length of 384." error. Due to the length of stay duration of this quote (over six months), the generation of the Rent description field exceeded the character limit of 384 characters. We fixed this bug to truncate quote description fields so that they no longer exceed 384 characters.
Don't Try to Create Door Codes for a Booking That Will Be Canceled. One user experienced a door code being generated even though the booking was already canceled. We have fixed this bug to no longer generate door codes for canceled bookings.
Fix Broken Link in Card Processing History Deposit Column. Some users experienced links not working correctly when they clicked on the link for credit card processing information in the Deposited On column in the Deposits section of OwnerRez. This bug has been fixed and in-app links in the Deposited On column in the Deposits History section now work correctly.
Fix Guest Selected Check Payment Method Isn't Saved. This impacted users with offline payment methods, such as check or custom payment. For a while, if a guest chose one of those options as payment during the checkout process, the payment method selected did not save property on the Booking overview tab (i.e., the offline payment method was set to None). It didn't affect payment processing because that was handled offline as usual, but the type wasn't stored for reference by the user. This bug has been fixed to carry through the selected offline payment type by the guest on quote acceptance.
Fixed Host Fee Display on Booking Overview Tab Wasn't Updating. After enabling the Airbnb Transaction Sync, 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 Unicode Characters In Messages Could Cause Guest Body Snippet to Fail. Some users that included Unicode characters (An international character encoding standard providing a unique number for every character across languages and scripts.) in their SMS and Airbnb messages experienced message display issues. Unicode characters are now validated, and SMS and Airbnb messages will be displayed correctly.
Handle Case Where Airbnb Property is Disconnected From API But User is Still Connected. An OR user disconnected and reconnected their property on the Airbnb app but could not reconnect fully and experienced an Airbnb permissions error while attempting to reconnect the property in the OwnerRez app. We have fixed this bug to trigger a full sync allowing the property status to change to Inactive and allowing users to change the property mappings to reconnect the property to Airbnb in the OR app.
Remove Yahoo Maps From Property Location and Field Codes/Messaging. Yahoo Maps service closed a good while back, and the option to link to a property location in Yahoo Maps has now been removed from the OwnerRez property location page, field code options, and message templates.
Respond to API Quote Tests With a 400 Error Instead of a 500 Error if the Details Are Not Quotable. To return more useful errors, OwnerRez is now responding to API Quote test errors with 400 Bad Request response status codes (The server cannot or will not process the request due to something that is perceived to be a client error.) rather than 500 Internal Server Error response codes (The server encountered an unexpected condition that prevented it from fulfilling the request).
Skip Surcharge/Discount in Houfy Rate Feed When It Should Never Apply Based on Criteria. To enhance the Houfy rate feed speed, OwnerRez determined that property surcharges and discounts could be skipped in the rate feed if they have never been applied.
I've been using them since I started hosting two years ago and I am extremely happy with their service. Thanks for getting the API integration up and running.
Hi Steve,
Files that are uploaded manually by yourself to your account are able to generate a public link and send to guests via templates. We have a small guide on that process here - https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/email-templates#files
However an important note is that files a guest uploads through POC that is in a booking's Files tab won't have the button to generate a public link.
~Caleb
Do guests have access to the uploaded files?
The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary.
Vidal Sassoon
Sassoon's quote reminds us that there is no substitute for hard work in this world of ambition and dreams. As many vacation rental owners and property managers head into their busy season, this powerful quote serves as a reminder that success is born from relentless dedication, perseverance, and the willingness to put in the hours. But before you get back to work, take some time to read our latest product update detailing our May 17th release with 15 updates that includes a new Airbnb Message failed alert and updated property search widget!
For those API-connected with Airbnb, ever experience an Airbnb message failure and do not know why? That's frustrating! Now it's clearer! Similar to the system alert message for SMS message failures, we have added a system alert message notifying users of Airbnb message failures.
If an error occurs when sending an Airbnb message, OwnerRez will send a system alert detailing the Airbnb-provided reason for the failure allowing users to correct their original message and resend if necessary. Note: users can disable (or re-enable) the alert under system alert settings at any point.
Under the Guest conversation, we now display the Airbnb message failure reason instead of just "Failed."
As well as under the message in Communication History (Tools > Communication History).
Learn more about Channel Messaging by reading our Channel Templates support article.
Our users understand the power of direct-booking websites, whether it's an OwnerRez Hosted Website, a website that uses OwnerRez-powered widgets, or a Property Sharing website. Well, we have made three improvements to the Property Search Widget to make it more powerful (er, smarter):
Learn more by reading our OwnerRez Hosted Websites and Property Sharing support articles.
Add Breakpoint for TinyMCE Toolbar on Mobile. An intrepid OwnerRez user alerted us to a bug in the rich text template editor menu bar layout that occurred on the OwnerRez Progressive Web App (PWA) on a mobile device only. This bug has been fixed, and the rich text editor menu bar will wrap and display correctly.
Clarify Team Member Edit Requires Primary User Login. We clarified the wording of the permissions banner in the Team Access area: "Team users may not create or edit staff members. You must log out and then log in directly as the primary user: [email address]."
Don't Allow Bookings to be Deleted With Voided Expenses. The system allowed users to delete bookings with voided expenses, which could cause future problems. We have fixed this bug to no longer allow users to delete such bookings and show an error explaining why.
Don't Error in Cases Where We Have a Door Code for a Deleted Mapped Property. In this case, a user experienced a door code error for a deleted yet mapped property via RemoteLock. This bug has been fixed to no longer produce door code errors in these instances.
Fix Booking Channel Page Grid Caching Bug. This edge case occurred for a user when they reviewed a booking's channel tab and clicked the link to see the details. It was missing information because it cached the grid item, which didn't have the requested details. This bug has been fixed to correctly display the booking's channel tab details.
Fix Case Where Invalid CSV Parameters Sent to API are Generating 500s Instead of 400s. This edge case occurred when a GuestView Guide integrated OR user experienced non-useful 500 errors, "An error has occurred." when attempting to connect their guide with GuestView. We have fixed this bug to return the more useful 500 error message, "Invalid format for "propertyIds'. Comma separated values of Int32 expected."
Fix Hosted Site Page Grid Disable/Delete/Enable Buttons. In a recent update, we added Edit mode to more grids around the system. We found that the Edit mode buttons (Disable, Delete, Enable) weren't working correctly on the Hosted Websites grid and fixed them.
Fix Regression Where Custom "File" Fields Didn't Allow Uploading New Files. There was a regression where users could not upload files to their owner, property, or account custom fields. This bug has been fixed.
Handle Case of Airbnb Reservation Change When Tax Rate No Longer Applies. This was an edge case where an Airbnb booking reservation criteria had changed, but no tax rate was applied to the booking. This bug has been fixed, and the system will calculate and add the correct tax rate when Airbnb booking changes are made.
Increase Field Definition Description Length. The character length max for Field Definition descriptions was 256, but in some cases, some users required more characters, so we have increased the Field Definition description maximum length to 2048 characters.
Show Friendly Error on Portal When Owner Has No Properties. When an owner was granted portal team access but the OwnerRez user failed to map properties for that owner, the owner received a "no access to owner dashboard" error message with a link to contact OwnerRez. We have updated the error message to display the more useful and friendly "Looks like you haven't been granted access... contact the person responsible for access." message.
With sync turned on to AirBnB does that also change the processing of the payment to our processor, or does AirBnB still control that part?
Jim,
Even after you enable the Airbnb Transaction Sync, Airbnb continues to be the payment processor and controls all Airbnb transactions.
With sync turned on to AirBnB does that also change the processing of the payment to our processor, or does AirBnB still control that part?
Well done! You guys are the best.
OwnerRez celebrated National Technology Day today! Did you?
Technology has revolutionized how we manage our vacation rental properties, and Property Management Systems (PMS), like OwnerRez, have become the essential tool for property owners and managers. In today's product update, summarizing our May 10th release with 18 updates, we'll explore this week's technological advancements that OwnerRez has for you, including our new Back to Top button!
So subtle--but it's there! We know that some of our Support Center articles are long...really long. There's a lot of information and we want them to be as helpful as possible. Sometimes you need to get to the top of the article to start over or link to other sections.
We added anchor links a while back (for easier reference later), and now we've added a floating "Back to Top" link on all Support Center articles, Blog Posts, and Vacation Rental Guides. You don't even have to make it to the bottom to use it!
When users scroll down any individual OwnerRez Support Center article, Blog Post, or Guide, the subtle floating "Back to Top" button appears near the lower right corner.
Here it is on desktop!
And here it is on mobile!
Continuous improvement--that's what we're all about here at OwnerRez!
We should mention that this feature may depend on your browser version and settings, so the YMMV (your mileage may vary) applies here.
Houfy's mission is to connect people with places and its name is derived from "HOUse For You." Houfy promotes direct bookings without platform fees and without any restricted communication between OwnerRez users and guests.
Houfy asked that OwnerRez use specific webhook endpoints to include availability and rates to assist their channel integration, and OwnerRez was happy to help. We are strong advocates of the #DirectBooking movement, and Houfy is also.
Adopt Billing Info Created on Non-Stripe When Using Stripe. OwnerRez users experienced issues when changing from non-Stripe payment processors to Stripe. After being used once on Stripe, the system thought it was from a different Stripe account and stopped attempting to process it when it was actually from a non-Stripe account. We have fixed this bug to recognize the correct payment processor for future transactions after changing from non-Stripe payment processors to Stripe.
Allow PWA Rotation Consistently. Some users were experiencing rotation issues with the OwnerRez Progressive Web App (PWA) when trying to go between portrait and landscape and vice versa. We have fixed this so the PWA should rotate consistently when needed on iPhone and Android devices. You may have to delete and reinstall the PWA to see a behavior change.
Clarify Message on Reauth of Wrong Stripe Account. The error message displayed was unhelpful when users attempted to connect or reconnect an incorrect Stripe account. We have clarified the message displayed when users try to connect or reconnect a wrong Stripe account.
Don't Change Air Tax to Percent if it Would Cause a Rounding Error. A few Airbnb API-connected users experienced tax errors due to incorrect rounding. This bug has been fixed to no longer change the Airbnb tax to a percentage if it causes rounding errors.
Don't Keep Trying to Reauth Secdeps After Release Days. An OwnerRez user experienced a bug where a security deposit was never released or reauthorized because their payment method was disabled a couple of months ago, but when the user reactivated that payment method, the system then attempted to reauthorize the security deposit long after the guest's departure. We have fixed this bug that will block any attempts to reauthorize regardless of status if it's beyond the auto-release days.
Fix Bug Preventing Removal of SMS Feature if Campaign Registration Got Stuck. A user who needed to turn off the SMS premium feature couldn't and saw an error. We helped the user and put in a catch to handle it in the future.
Fix Default Input Values in Rate Calendar Modal. The rate calendar worked fine, but we noticed some warnings about some strange HTML on the browser console. We have corrected the rate calendar modal default input values to fix the warnings.
Fix Issue Where 'No matching records' Shows on Expense Grids When There are Expense Records. When expenses were added to a booking (either manually or automatically), the label 'No matching records' would appear at the bottom of the Expenses section of the individual booking. This bug has been fixed and will no longer appear when expenses are tied to a booking.
Fix Issue Where Photo Captions That Begin With a Period Do Not Display Properly in the Hosted Website Full-screen Image Carousel. When users created photo captions that began with periods, lag or freezing was experienced on the full-screen image carousel and sometimes the photo captions did not display. To fix this, periods and certain other characters at the front of the caption are ignored when opening the image in the full-screen carousel view.
Fix Issue Where Team Access Portal List is Not Showing Everyone That Can Actually Access One's Portal. This was an edge case where a user with access to an OwnerRez portal did not appear in the list of users with access to that portal. This has been fixed so all portal users will display correctly in OR account portal team lists.
Fix RTL Currency Import for Airbnb Transaction Sync. Airbnb Transaction Sync had difficulties normalizing any currency that runs from right to left. We have normalized the Airbnb Transaction Sync to validate such currencies, including Arabic currency.
For Vrbo, Convert Crib/Child Beds in Rooms to Travel Crib Amenity Since They Don't Support Child Bed/Crib Beds in Rooms Anymore. Vrbo supports only a pack-n-play or travel crib as a crib amenity, so we have converted all Vrbo Crib/Child Beds in rooms to the travel crib amenity.
Import Seasonal Rates Success Message Should Display Rate Count Updated Not Properties. Seasonal rates imported would display an import success label indicating that only 1 property was updated even though more than one property seasonal rates were updated. The seasonal rate imports worked correctly, but the import success label was incorrect. This bug has been corrected so the import success label displays the number of seasonal rates updated.
Optimize API Long Running Queries for Consumers Who Include Field Values. Some API users who were including field values experienced long-running and slow queries depending on the combination of criteria. We have optimized the query to run faster despite field value criteria.
Optimize CalendarSync Runtime by Storing Response Content Hashes. We're always tidying things up behind the scenes and calendar syncs were becoming too inefficient and so we now store more responses to help future calendar syncs out.
Update bnbfinder Logo. We updated the bnbfinder logo in-app.
Ohhh, the highly coveted magic quadrant! Congratulations! When I was in the IT world, we focused on companies in that upper right quadrant when we were doing RFPs.
We are happy to announce our partnership with Lynx to provide our users a one-stop-shop for property automation!
One-Stop-Shop for Property Automation: Pre-Programmed Hardware, Installation, and Management Dashboard for Smart Devices like Locks, Intercom, Noise, and Thermostats. Guest Portal with your brand and ability to Upsell Services. Open doors, activate intercom, summon elevators, set temperature, crash a party with noise alerts, and offer contactless self-check-in with digital keys - across 300 smart device brands all in one dashboard syncing with OwnerRez. All Room Automation controls and upsells are available with your company's brand in the guest web app.
Take a look the Lynx pricing page here. Smart Locks start at $6/unit/month.
Get started with Lynx by visiting the Lynx website and checking out the OwnerRez support doc for how to integrate OwnerRez with Lynx.
OwnerRez recently captured the trifecta of software reviews for 2023, being recognized for the following:
This chart shows OwnerRez head and shoulders above all our competitors in customer satisfaction and right near the top of usability, earning the top overall position in vacation rental software according to Softwareadvice.com
This chart shows the top Channel Management tools at a glance. Capterra uses exclusive data and reviews from people like you to build their software shortlist. On the left side, you'll see the popularity score and on the bottom is the rating score. The goal every year is to be in the upper right of this chart and look where we are again!
We are also proud to announce our mention in Capterra Value Report: A Price Comparison Guide for Vacation Rental Software which highlights the most valuable vacation rental software products based on user reviews, that have received high ratings from users in terms of Value for Money and Functionality, along with the breakdown of the starting cost and relevant pricing details for each product. OwnerRez is recognized as an outstanding product with a Value For Money rating of 5 out of 5 and Functionality ratings of 4.9 out of 5.
If you’d like to see how OwnerRez stacks up against the competition, you can use GetApp’s comparison tool here.
Software Advice is the leading online service for businesses of all sizes navigating the software selection process, providing free, personalized software recommendations that meet their business needs. Software Advice features objective research by industry experts and reviews from validated users, saving buyers time and resources. Software Advice is a Gartner company. Learn more about their methodology here.
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.
Capterra Shortlist is an independent assessment that evaluates user reviews and online search activity to generate a list of market leaders in the software space that offer the most popular solutions. Have a look at the Capterra Shortlist methodology here.
These achievements are largely based on reviews from our customers, so we’d like to thank you not only for being loyal OwnerRez customers, but also for taking the time to share your experience using OwnerRez with others. If you're inclined to share your experience using OwnerRez to help others make their vacation rental software decisions, please do so at this link.
The host fee is no longer created when the booking is created. It is instead created when the Transactions are synced. The same fee is now called "Airbnb Reservation host fee"
Since we activated this feature, all of the new bookings have $0.00 for host fee. This is where we see the AirBnB host fee.
I figured out that if I manually go into the $0.00 host fee to see the details, the details are correct. I then edit the details then just save it without doing anything, the amount is corrected.
How do we get this fixed to be automated?
Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out.
As seen in our weekly product update blog posts, success is not just a result of one significant action or event but a culmination of consistent, persistent, and intentional small efforts initiated over time. Milestones in the product life of OwnerRez are reached every week - much of the time due to the feedback and support of our users. Read more about our latest milestone (including a graduation!) in this week's product update covering the May 3rd release with 14 updates.
OwnerRez has graduated! At least Zapier has determined that our Zapier Integration should graduate from the public beta phase to a complete Zapier Public Integration.
OwnerRez wants to thank our brave OR users who helped create hundreds of zaps to accomplish all sorts of practical processes for the OwnerRez community and assisted us in earning this Zapier milestone.
Curious about what Zapier can do for you? Check out these Trigger & Action "zaps":
No worries if you've never used Zapier or aren't super comfortable with it yet! Zapier can be used to move info between your web apps automatically so that you can focus on your other important work. The OwnerRez Zap Templates can quickly help you to get started. Below are some creative Zaps that other OwnerRez users found useful and that you too can easily utilize:
Now that the OwnerRez Zapier integration is out of beta and users continue creating more innovative zaps, look for more helpful ones in our Zapier support article.
The OwnerRez v2 API continues to get better and better! Bedroom, Bathroom, and Maximum Guest Counts have now been added. While this will be helpful for others, we added it to help our friends at Wheelhouse! That's right; in case you missed it, we announced earlier today that they are underway with integrating their dynamic pricing platform with OwnerRez! They are targeting to release the integration later this summer. We look forward to this being available to those users who have patiently awaited it.
Learn more about this topic by reading the API for Apps support article.
Airbnb Listing Import Now Supports Airbnb Alias URLs. Users trying to import Airbnb property listing content using the Airbnb alias URLs (e.g.,https://airbnb.com/h/acmecabin) were experiencing errors because our importer was looking for a formatted link with the room number: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/12345. This has been adjusted to follow the more "vanity" (or alias) link through to the standard Airbnb URL to import successfully.
Property Import Now Supports Airbnb Alias URLs. Airbnb has been using 64-bit listing numbers for new listings and the OwnerRez property import/export tools were truncating them, so we fixed that. We also updated to export the full listing URL instead of just the listing number. This bug fix also included tying in from the bug above and now the property import spreadsheet also supports full Airbnb URLs and not just listing numbers.
Canceling a Booking With a Partial Refund Creates Duplicate Expenses. When PM users canceled a booking with a partial refund, they ended up with two sets of refund expenses on the booking. This bug has been fixed to handle partial refund expenses properly. The affected PM users have been notified about those canceled bookings.
Expired Security Deposits Now Clearly Indicate if Reauthorization Failed. This was an edge case where a user experienced a failed security deposit upon reauthorization due to insufficient funds on the guest's credit card. The security deposit hold status was initially active and valid, but the booking transactions tab noted that the security deposit reauthorization was declined repeatedly and failed in the OwnerRez booking. This bug has been fixed to now display a grey "Expired" label in the status item (instead of the green succeeded) and to change the status text to "Originally succeeded, but reauthorization failed."
Fixed an Error When Viewing a Canceled Booking at a Since Deleted Property. Users would experience an error when viewing canceled bookings at a deleted OR property. This bug has been fixed, and users can now view canceled bookings from their OwnerRez deleted properties correctly.
Fixed an Error When Viewing a Hosted Website Blog Post. Users were experiencing errors when viewing Hosted Website blog posts. This bug has been fixed and Hosted Website blog posts will now render and display correctly.
Fixed a Validation Failure When a Refund is Attempted on a Stripe Payment at a Property That has Changed Payment Methods. We found that users were experiencing credit card validation failures when refunds were attempted for properties that had changed payment methods to a new Stripe method. This bug has been fixed and refunds will now process correctly despite any modified payment methods.
Fixed Save Button Gets Stuck in "Saving" State if Attachment Upload Fails on Record Expense. When PM users uploaded a file with no extension, an error was correctly displayed. However, if the user attempted to fix the error by removing the incorrect file, the "Save" button would not revert, instead displaying an infinite spinner "Saving" icon state, forcing the user to reload the page. This bug has been fixed.
Increase Maximum Upload Size for Channel Bridge Exports. Users were finding that their Channel Bridge (CB) exports were receiving errors due to their CB file size being too large. OwnerRez has expanded the upload file size to be able to import larger CB export file sizes.
Properly Show 'Days Ago' Relative to the Security Deposit Reauthorized Date in "Reauthorized" Alert. Reauthorized Security Deposit email alert 'days ago' for "Reauthorized On" was displaying relative to the departure date, not the date of reauthorization. This bug has been fixed for that line of the Reauthorized email alert.
Validate Season Minimum Nights Setting is Less Than Maximum Nights. When users created a season and set the minimum nights to a greater number than the maximum nights, they were not receiving an error to correct this conflicting rule. Users should not be able to do that, and we have added validation to prevent a user from setting things this way.
"Mapping" is an automated process that occurs within OwnerRez when a booking comes in from Airbnb. We look at the line items Airbnb lists for that booking and "map" them to the surcharges configured in OwnerRez. If there are no surcharges in OwnerRez, or we can't find a good match we add the line item as an "Other" type.
Usually this is invisible because the description of the line item is all you need unless you are tracking expenses and owner revenue, than it can become a problem. However, if you were to create a surcharge in OwnerRez subsequently that did match the line item from Airbnb, you could run Channel Bridge (prior to enabling transaction sync) and we'll do the same "mapping" process all over and pick up the newly configured surcharge. We plan to build new tools to support adding surcharges in OwnerRez AFTER adding them in Airbnb (again, mostly useful for new account connections, since we encourage everyone to configure their surcharges in OwnerRez and let the API integration sync those to Airbnb).
Resolutions are a different beast entirely. We have some thoughts about those, but nothing specific to share at this time.
Thanks Joel,
How do you map surcharges? I don't have any in AirBnB other than resolution payments - is there a way to map resolution payments to surcharges in Channel Bridge? Will there be a way to map resolution payments to specific surcharges with the new Sync?
Once you enable Transaction Sync, Channel Bridge no longer works. That's why we warn you to ensure you've run Channel Bridge as far as you want before you enable the feature.
The surcharge warning is there because without Channel Bridge, it is not possible to re-map unknown charges from Airbnb with new surcharges created in OwnerRez. This is primarily a concern for new accounts, but can also be a concern if you've added a surcharge in Airbnb, and not in OwnerRez.
We plan to remove the second warning once we have more tools in place around new surcharges.
In regards to AirBnB sync, I understand what is meant by running "Channel Bridge" first but the warning message asks to make sure Channel Bridge is up to date AND "please make sure you have configured your surcharges". What does that mean and what about the surcharges changes or is not changeable after the Sync is turned on? I'm not sure there is any detail in regards to that in the detailed instructions. Thanks!
This is a great feature for New Arrival/Departure Rules, however can you clarify what Channels this works on and will be enforced?
Is there any caveat to doing this where it would accidentally black hole a particular channel from availablity.
If I understand your question correctly, any Arrival/Departure Rules changed on the Rates Calendar will override Seasonal rules for API connected channels. This does not take into account any dynamic pricing tools connected as rules set on those may override what is set in OR.
Savvy Vacation Rental Management sprang from the marriage of entrepreneurship and hospitality. Learn the story of how the owners grew their business from renting out spare rooms to managing several rentals across multiple states.
Savvy Vacation Rental Management started as a side-gig back in 2015... Mat and I were starting to rent out spare rooms on Airbnb for fun; a new and different way to earn extra money. We both had enthusiasm about the sharing economy and finding ways to create value from under-utilized assets. It was easy and lucrative, so we leaned into vacation rentals a bit more and bought our first property in Nashville, TN in 2018. It was a home run, so we started telling our friends about it, and they wanted to get in on the action. One by one, people asked us if we could manage their short-term rental or help them buy their first one. We said yes and focused on figuring out how to make the most out of what we had, whether it was a 500sf studio apartment or 5,000sf luxury villa. We learned a lot along the way and continue to learn more every day. Today, we manage dozens of vacation rentals across various states and love every minute of it!
My background is in hospitality. I started out in Orlando, FL and eventually moved to Las Vegas, NV—both world-renowned tourism destinations. I developed a passion for the guest experience and practiced different ways to go above and beyond for guests regardless of the industry I found myself in, whether it was restaurants, hotels, nightclubs, events, or even multinational casino resorts. Once I started learning about real estate and commercial development, vacation rentals popped up on my radar and I soon realized it was a perfect match. All the profitability and longevity of owning property paired with the warm, personal touch of hospitality... I had found my home.
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I love the unpredictability of the job. There's something new happening every day... a new challenge, a new opportunity, a new guest, and a new experience with each check-in. In this business, it's impossible to get bored and I learn something new every day.
NIMBYs! Those people who go out of their way to disparage the industry as a whole because of some personal preferences and clouded opinions about the impact of VRs on the community. We're starting to see a lot of regulation crop up around the country, much of which is baseless and rarely influenced by facts or data but instead by the people who speak the loudest and most consistently on the public forum. It takes an open and objective mind to look at the VR trend from many different angles and make an informed decision about how to move forward considering all stakeholders. I'm not seeing a whole lot of that going on lately.
At Savvy VRM, we use OwnerRez to keep a pulse on nearly every aspect of our operation. Particularly helpful is the robust workflows for managing inquiries, quotes, and bookings to track conversion and pacing. And with an infinite number of custom messaging options, there's no message we can't send quickly and easily using their Templates and Triggers functions, which helps us increase communication efficiency and get the right info to the right people at the right time.
OwnerRez provides many useful features that we love to take advantage of, for example the easy plug-and-play hosted website option to start capturing direct bookings quickly and easily. When we first got started, we were only listing on Airbnb and Vrbo (separately) and we didn't have a solution for offering a direct booking option for guests who were asking us about it. With just a few clicks, we were able to set up a hosted website custom branded to our company, and start accepting reservations. The pre-built templates and workflows they have make for a seamless setup, from contact form to rental agreements and even professional payment collection pages.
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Thanks, Mat and Michael! We love your story and how following your passions has led to such great success!
This is a great feature for New Arrival/Departure Rules, however can you clarify what Channels this works on and will be enforced?
Is there any caveat to doing this where it would accidentally black hole a particular channel from availablity.
Thank you for implementing this! I have enabled the feature and see my most recent Air B&B booking showing as paid. This saves me a good amount of headache when I do my monthly invoicing, having to manually update all of the month's AB&B bookings.
That's great to hear!
Thank you for implementing this! I have enabled the feature and see my most recent Air B&B booking showing as paid. This saves me a good amount of headache when I do my monthly invoicing, having to manually update all of the month's AB&B bookings.
Woody Woodpecker, the cartoon character created in 1940 by Walter Lantz (his birthday is today!), is an anthropomorphic woodpecker known for his distinctive laugh and mischievous personality representing the American spirit with his irreverent and independent nature.
Unlike Woody's frenetic pace, today's look at the April 26 release with 21 updates represents OwnerRez's version of a more tempered and orderly (not crazy energy! π€ͺ) but still a briskly-paced development process for the improvement of our software!
We'd love for you to be like Woody and take a deep dive and speed through this product update covering several new features, including the long hoped-for Airbnb Transaction Sync (i.e., no more Channel Bridge necessary!), along with API additions for Integrated Websites/Third-Party Website Designers, and new Hosted Website header/menu options!
Access to complete booking financial transactions is essential. For Airbnb bookings, as most know, they are the merchant of record, and so not all financial info about the booking was natively available in OwnerRez...until now.
We know Channel Bridge is effective but also time-consuming depending on how many bookings a user has to process and how often they prefer to have Airbnb bookings up to date. And users who didn't Channel Bridge regularly, or at all, wondered why OwnerRez showed a balance owed for their Airbnb bookings, even though they were API-connected. Users could see the total booking amount and Airbnb reservation host fee, but no payment or refund transactions were in OwnerRez without running Channel Bridge for those bookings.
We're very excited to announce that those users who are API-connected to Airbnb can now access this powerful new feature. Enabling Airbnb Transaction Sync will automatically bring in booking transactions, including payments, refunds, and any Airbnb Resolution Center settlements. Also, deposits (Tools > Deposits) will be auto-created when Airbnb notifies OwnerRez of funds being released.
OwnerRez users can enable Airbnb Transaction Sync anytime by navigating to Settings > API Integrations > Airbnb > Enable Transaction Sync. Once you complete the steps and enable, the Transaction Sync enabled date will show on the Airbnb Channel settings page.
NOTE: Before enabling the Airbnb Transaction Sync, OwnerRez users should run Channel Bridge to import all booking transaction info up to the Transaction Sync turn-on date you select during turn-on/opt-in.
Learn more about this much-welcomed new feature by reading our Airbnb Transaction Sync support article.
Did you know that OwnerRez has an API available to partners and users who want/need to integrate and communicate with our software? This is how dynamic pricing companies like PriceLabs send rates and housekeeping services like Turno organizes cleaners with your OwnerRez account.
These additions to the OwnerRez v2 API will allow partners and app builders to get property listing content like photos, amenities, bookings, descriptions, etc., to build integrated websites (without having to only use our WordPress Plugin). They can now use their content management systems to pull your live OwnerRez properties' listing data. We also created a new webhook that notifies these partners and app builders when properties change so that they can update your website promptly from their systems.
The v2 OwnerRez API for Apps has been updated as follows:
Learn more by reading our v2 OwnerRez API for Apps Overview support article.
We added In-App Global Alerts a couple of months ago, but have you ever wondered where to find dismissed or expired alerts? Wonder no more! Dismissed Alerts are now available by navigating to the My Account section. The quickest way to get to it is from the upper right My Account drop-down menu, like so:
Each dismissed alert will be displayed as they were initially, along with the date that the user dismissed or we expired that alert.
When users select Read More, the original alert will pop up.
Users can click/tap on Close (or click/tap anywhere outside the pop-up) to exit the pop-up.
The Dismissed Alerts History List is just one more demonstration of OwnerRez's commitment to transparency, security, numerous redundancies, and providing access to your critical vacation rental business data.
Are you one of those who hate it when links don't automatically open in a new tab? If that's the case, then this update is for you! Some guests may habitually always right-click (or Ctrl + click) to open links in a new tab, but many do not. Hosted Website menus and pages now can be set to always open in a new tab! Pssst...some of us are probably more excited about this than others but users can now add this option while editing existing or adding menu items or pages to their OwnerRez Hosted Website. Navigate over to Settings > Hosted Websites to check it out!
Users can choose the option to Open in new tab on the Menu & Location section/tab of each new or existing page.
Be sure to hit Save! Remember that this is not a global Hosted Website change, so users must edit and choose the "Open in new tab" option for any existing item/page. And it's ok to mix and match--whatever suits your fancy!
Considering a direct-booking website for your property? Learn more by reading our Hosted Websites Overview support article.
Ever get carried away with your website project and then decide that maybe you went too far? It can happen, especially with your OwnerRez Hosted Website! OwnerRez has a fix for that by now allowing users to reset their Hosted Website Theme Header back to baseline.
Users can reset their Hosted Website Theme Header Template by navigating to Settings > Hosted Websites > Header Layout > Pick a new template.
On the Hosted Website Template page, users can Reset to original Header Template.
Want to learn more? Read our Hosted Website Customizations Headers & Menus support article.
This enhancement was added for many of our first-class channels - ECBYO, FindRentals, FloridaRentals, getawayGoGo, Golightly, GuestSmiles, and Houfy all now link over automatically making it easier to find/see your listings on these channels. To do so, navigate to the settings for each API channel; if a property is mapped and properly configured to that channel, you can now click the hyperlink for each connected property in the Listing column on the Properties tab.
We plan to add this in the future for HomeToGo and our other newer first-class channels.
Learn more about our first-class channels by starting with our Channel Management Overview article.
Late last year, we overhauled what was known as "Batch Mode" on grids. The Batch terminology didn't make sense to some and the selection behavior was not intuitive so we changed things up and moved to refer to it as "Edit." Well, those changes have worked well and it was time to apply the changes to more grids around the app. So, we made a couple of additional tweaks and have now applied Grid Edit Mode to over 55 grids in OwnerRez. A reminder of what this looks like, roll that beautiful Grid Edit Mode footage!
We realized that our Vrbo Channel Configuration Instructions were somewhat terse. We updated the Vrbo API Configuration Instructions tab with a few extra steps and links to helpful support articles, and a link to the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) which we encourage all users to leverage often, when first setting up or when making changes to properties, settings, or channels/listing sites.
Considering integrating with Vrbo? Learn more by reading our Vrbo API Overview support article.
Canceled Booking Alert Email Should Indicate the Actual User Who Did It. We recently fixed blocked-off time system alerts to accurately reflect the Owner if they canceled the Blocked-Off Time. We realized that we also needed to fix canceled booking system alerts so that they accurately indicate the actual user that initiated the booking cancellation.
Don't Throw a Validation Error When Creating Quotes at Night in Pacific Time Zone. When generating a quote past midnight for a property located in a different time zone with a future arrival of today, an error would occur stating "arrival date may not be in the past" even though it's not yet tomorrow at the property timezone. This bug has been fixed, and the generated quotes will now correctly recognize the property time zone.
Don't Reactivate Listings on Airbnb Account Reconnect if There's an Identical Listing Already Active. A few OwnerRez Airbnb Integrated properties had their disabled (and identical) Airbnb listing inadvertently reactivated. This bug has been fixed to no longer reactivate the inactive listing on an Airbnb reconnect if another active Airbnb mapped property listing exists.
Fix Caption Area on Image Zoom on ownerreservations.com to Not Overlap Image. The automatic image-carousel pop-up on www.ownerrez.com was on top of the bottom portion of the image because the bottom image caption bar was overlayed on top of it. In addition, in the case of tall/large photos, the entire bottom portion of the image was cut off, regardless of the image caption bar. This annoying bug has been corrected and the image caption bar will display correctly on the automatic image carousel pop-up. You can see the fix by clicking/tapping on any image in this product update!
Fix Team Invites From Losing Property Selection Upon Creation. Some OwnerRez users experienced the loss of property selection settings when creating a team portal invite. This bug has been corrected and any property selections made when creating a team portal invite will now save correctly.
Hosted Websites Blog Index Does Not Render Intro or Conclusion Content. HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and/or text added to a Hosted Website blog post Intro section were not rendering correctly when published. This bug has been fixed and any HTML and/or text added to a Hosted Website blog post Intro section will now display and publish correctly.
If a Security Deposit Expires or is Voided For Any Other Reason, Such as Card Canceled, Don't Throw an Error. An exception error would occur if the credit card used for a security deposit hold was voided, expired or voided. This bug has been fixed and will now display the more friendly and helpful error, "Your card's expiration month is invalid."
Remove '5-star' From Remaining Automatic Review Alert Titles and Subjects. Even though some Airbnb API-integrated users have turned on Automatic 5-Star host reviews, reviews don't have to be 5-star if manually scheduled. OwnerRez has cleaned up all automated host review system alerts to no longer default to include the label of `5-star' in case it was a lower-star review.
Remove Legacy Channel Fields. OwnerRez realized that Airbnb no longer supports the Registration Number and Registration Date fields under each property's Description. And Vrbo no longer supports Location Description, Registration Number, or Registration Date under each property's Description. These fields have been removed from the API feeds to Airbnb and Vrbo.
Selecting "Check" Method on Change Booking Does Not Display in the Overview. When users changed a booking's details and selected the "check" manual/offline payment method, the booking overview displayed "Offline Payment Method: None" despite the user saving the "check" manual/offline payment method. This bug has been fixed and the selected "check" manual/offline payment methods display after saving as they should on the booking overview tab.
Switching From a Raw Stripe Method to Non-Stripe Method Fails to Process Second Payments. When OwnerRez users switch from the Stripe payment processor that used the raw method, meaning that a guest's credit card details are securely stored within the OR system, to another non-Stripe (and tokenized method) payment processor, future payments or security deposits would fail to process even though OwnerRez has access to the raw guest credit card details. This bug has been fixed to now update the proper validations and to only throw a validation error message if specific details are met.
Validate No Direct Links in SMS/Airbnb Templates. Back in 2020, OwnerRez added a validation check upon the saving of an email template to block users from accidentally adding links to specific bookings instead of generic links but SMS and Airbnb templates could still experience the same link problems. So we added the same prevention checks to handle SMS and Airbnb messages. We also updated the "Insert Field" button to instead display "Insert Field/Link" in SMS and Airbnb templates because that button can also insert links and not just fields.
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On Tuesday, 5/2, join OwnerRez and PointCentral as we discuss the impact of smart home technology in the vacation rental market.
We know that managing staff, assets, and owner relationships are critical to success. PointCentral's enterprise-grade smart home tech makes it easier than ever to manage thousands of properties, operate more efficiently, secure and protect assets, and add value to the owner and guest. You can seamlessly control guest lock access, thermostats, noise monitoring, water monitoring, pool and lighting controls, and more from one central platform. Improve your workflow so you can focus on delivering a high-quality experience. Join us to discuss the importance of smart home tech!
The session is free to join, but you must use the PointCentral webinar link to register.
You can find all our upcoming and past webinars on our Webinars page.
