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Additional multiple phone numbers, email addresses and mailing addresses that guests enter at various times throughout the booking, payment and rental agreement processes. Only one of each is exportable now.
Which ones in particular?
It's unfortunate that all the contact fields are still not exporting.
The stories of the members of the OwnerRez community are as unique as the properties they own and manage. James and Ben from ArriveandThrive.co were drawn into this business with the goal of providing compassion and comfort at a time when people need it most. Let’s learn more about their journey.
Arrive and Thrive is the brainchild of its two founders, James Lucas and Ben Bledsoe. Both have deep roots in the entertainment industry, with James having performed on Broadway and The West End and Ben having multiple Gold Records in the music industry and having acted in film and TV. Both were involved in the real estate investment world and connected in LA where they wanted to find a project to work on together. Since profits alone aren't the primary driver for either of them, they wanted to create a project or start a business that meant more to them than just another flip.
James is from a small island near England and mentioned a time when his father needed to fly to London for a series of treatments, and a friend offered their apartment which was just blocks from the hospital for his family to stay at during this difficult time. He deeply appreciated the ability for his family to live nearby and bring his father to the apartment for meals and an occasional overnight stay. This was the spark that started their venture into short term rentals near specialist Hospitals around the U.S. and even one in London near the hospital that treated his father. We are now proud to serve travel nurses, travel doctors, families, caretakers, patients, executives, and insurance companies in each of our markets.
I love that it gives us the ability to grow quickly and serve an industry that has been underserved in the past. I also love hearing stories from guests about how our properties become their homes for their duration. We host people having and adopting babies, people going through difficult transitions, travel nurses chasing their dreams and helping people at every chance they get, specialist doctors who are at the top of their field, and depending on the market, we host a multitude of other guests including professional athletes, Olympians, etc.
Not all guests are in their best headspace when staying with us. That can make communication difficult sometimes, since it is our goal to provide the best experience possible. Also, Ben is still receiving the 4:00AM calls that come through multiple times per week and sometimes multiple times per night. His wife will deeply appreciate it when they add a call center for those calls.
After having interviews and demos with about 25 Channel Managers/Property Management Systems, we narrowed it down to 5 that all seemed like they could fit the bill with some having strengths in certain areas and others having strengths in other areas. After speaking with Ken at OwnerRez and seeing all of the tools that OwnerRez offered, all of the partner integrations that they have, and their deep understanding of the product and how it works, it narrowed even further. We used another Channel Manager before this and it was a truly awful experience. Terrible customer support, basic product with limited features... the minute our pre-paid year was up with that company we swapped to OwnerRez. OR allowed us to operate completely independently across any amount of platforms, collect customer data, schedule and charge refundable security deposits, market and communicate with guests through email and SMS, automate smart lock code changes, communicate with guests and cleaners, allow custom rental contracts with digital signatures, etc, etc, etc. It took us from a place where we were managing every aspect of every guest to where most of the process is completely automated or highly streamlined for us. And the customer support is better than any I've dealt with in any business I've ever been in.
When I set up the API connection between OwnerRez and Airbnb & VRBO/Expedia, the representatives from those companies said that OwnerRez is always the fastest to fix any patches that are put through by the OPMs. They said that it is one major reason OwnerRez is so well respected in the industry. The technical support is the best there is. I also LOVE that OR has an article or tutorial video for every single aspect of the software, so I am able to build out our business myself and only really need their support now on more complex questions.
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Thanks, James and Ben, for sharing your inspiring story. OwnerRez is honored to be a part of the valuable service you are providing!
Do you have a plan for your files📂as you contemplate World Backup Day?
OwnerRez does! Over the 1st quarter, we have implemented three new tools to help OwnerRez users avoid data theft and monitor, as well as access, their important business records and files, at all times.
As you can see, OwnerRez is committed to transparent communication, numerous redundancies (above what we've always done), keeping your data safe, and providing continued access to that critical data.
As we close out the 1st quarter, continue on to review our March 30th release with 21 updates, including Enhanced Guest and Booking Imports, Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) Additions, and SMS Messaging Refinements!
The ability to import and export your data into and out of OwnerRez is an essential tool for all vacation rental businesses. So, we have improved the Import and Export tools in these ways:
Learn more about importing and exporting OwnerRez data by reading our Importing Outside Bookings and Exporting Data from OwnerRez support articles.
Founded in 1996 in Amsterdam, Booking.com has grown from a small Dutch start-up to one of the world's leading digital travel companies. Listing your vacation rental on Booking.com can boost your property's exposure allowing you to expand your reach to potential guests.
OwnerRez reviewed our in-app Booking.com setup instructions and determined they could use some tweaking for clarity and completeness.
Learn more by reading our Booking.com Setup & Connecting support article.
The OwnerRez Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) is a robust tool that checks your listings for errors and makes recommendations for improvement. We decided that all API Channels should be available for selection from the Channels selection drop-down list on the LQA and quickly made that upgrade! Users can now select any channels on the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA).
Watch the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) support video for more information about this powerful tool.
After releasing the Vacation Rental Guides, we had a little polish to add to the area. Anytime we release a new feature, we watch it closely after release and always see things we want to improve upon quickly. So, we did a few small things to Guides to make the new area shine.
If you missed the announcement, these comprehensive guides aim to provide actionable insights on establishing and managing a successful vacation rental property, including advice on choosing the right location, furnishing your property, pricing strategies, and marketing tactics. Additionally, they can offer guidance on maintaining your property and handling guest communication and inquiries.
Have suggestions or ideas for new vacation rental guides? Want to contribute your own guide or add more information to one of ours? Please contact us. OwnerRez envisions the Vacation Rental Guides to be living, breathing resources that will change over time. We would love to add some regular contributors to the Guides area, so let us know your interest!
Short Message Service (SMS), a.k.a. texting, is a powerful and efficient way to send information directly to your guests, supplementing email. Additionally, OwnerRez's SMS Premium Feature also works with templates and triggers so that you can send automated personalized SMS text messages at scheduled times, providing even more value to your guest messaging workflow.
Add Additional Checksum Case for Vrbo Channel Bridge Canceled Booking When They Calculate Total Differently. We've added additional checksums for Vrbo canceled booking calculations imported through the Channel Bridge tool when totals were calculated in a different manner.
Allow Disabling Air iCal Even When Channel Connected. After a recent release, this wasn't happening as it should. This bug has been corrected.
Batch Lock Update Creates New Codes When it Should Reuse. We noticed that sometimes if users remove a lock from their account and then add a new one to that same property (i.e., a replacement), the system generated new (different) lock codes during the batch lock update process instead of reusing the old lock codes. This bug has been fixed to reuse already set lock codes on bookings when door locks are batch updated.
Change Photo Captions on Hosted Sites to Not Use <h1> Tags. OwnerRez Hosted Websites photo captions were using <h1> tags which could be an inappropriate lead and throw off Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and page validation tools. This bug has been corrected and Hosted Websites photo captions now use <figcaption> tags.
Clarify Changes vs. Charges on Premium Feature Turn On/Off Pages. The confirmation section for adding or removing the Premium Features process was too wordy and confusing. The text displayed in the confirmation section and the buttons have been revised for clarity.
Detect and show channel name (e.g., Airbnb) when applicable for the "Who will I be charged by?" section on guest forms. When channels handle payments (e.g., Airbnb) that was not reflected on guest forms (e.g., PoC (point of contact), payment/security deposit entry, legal/renter agreement. This has been fixed and now says the following language, "If you pay by credit card, regular payments for this booking are collected and managed by Channel Name. Security deposits or extra charges may be displayed on your credit card as...."
Don't Validate Quote Arrival is Future on Update or When Validation is Skipped. After the last release, this was still inaccurate when editing a quote to move it "to the past" or when the system tried to expire a quote as scheduled. This has been adequately fixed.
Fix Forum User Post Warehouse. OwnerRez does not display user profile pages of users if they have no public forum posts. We found an edge case where a user made a post on the OwnerRez Forum, but their number of posts was still listed as 0 and their forum profile was not viewable. This has been corrected.
Login Password Field Should Not Error on <> Characters etc. The OwnerRez system was not allowing users to use the < and > (and sometimes other HTML) characters in their passwords. This bug has been fixed.
Make the Default Renter Agreement Use the {PMINAGE} Field Code Instead of "age of 18" Language. The OwnerRez default system renter agreement had a default phrase about "I am over the age of 18" which instead should use the property minimum age field code {PMINAGE}, leading to duplicate and confusing language. This has been corrected to use the property minimum age field code {PMINAGE} in that section of the default system renter agreement.
On Stripe Connect/Reconnect Clear the Needs Permissions Flag. When users initially connected or reconnected a Stripe account for payment processing, the additional permissions alert didn't always clear. This bug has been fixed to correctly clear spurious permissions alerts when Stripe accounts are connected or reconnected.
Remove Payment Requirement on Hosted/Portal Certificate Generation. We realized that the label displayed on the Hosted Website section, "Certificate generation requires a card on file for verification. It won't be charged during your trial. Do that in your Account Billing area." was no longer necessary and was removed.
Tone Down Lynnbrook Classic Warning. We realized that the warning regarding Lynnbrook Classic was a bit much so we revised it to the following, "Lynnbrook Classic is a deprecated payment method. It has been superseded by a new Lynnbrook Group option which you can see at the top of the recommended processors list. Lynnbrook is no longer accepting new applications for Lynnbrook Classic, but if you have an existing Lynnbrook Classic payment method you can continue to use it."
Treat a Vrbo Channel Bridge Canceled Booking With Total 0 Charges as a Full Refund Even if There's Not a Refund Yet. We noticed some Vrbo canceled booking charges imported through the Channel Bridge tool were incorrect. This bug has been fixed, and any Vrbo 0 charged and canceled booking charges imported through the Channel Bridge tool will appear as a full refund even if the refund has not yet occurred.
Great interview! I love your OR hosted website, Beach Resort Services! I've been trying to figure out how to add photos (with links) centered like you did on your home page, but for the life of me I cannot get it to work within the OR system. How did you do it?! I'd so appreciate your help if you're inclined to share!
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In winter, I plot and plan. In spring, I move.
Henry Rollins' quote can best be interpreted as a metaphor for the different phases of life and the natural cycle of growth and progress. While winter can be seen as a time of hibernation and introspection, vacation rental owners wisely use this time to evaluate their business and determine what actions are needed to accomplish their goals, such as opening or optimizing their OwnerRez account to automate and streamline their vacation rental business.
The Spring Equinox marks the beginning of spring, representing a time of renewal and action. Spring is a vital time for vacation rental businesses as it signifies the start of the busy season when we experience a surge in spring and summer bookings.
But Rollins' quote can also be interpreted as a call to action, reminding us that the best time is now to spring into this latest product update detailing our March 22nd release with 15 updates. So let's hop in so you can discover all about OwnerRez's winter plans that have blossomed, including our new OwnerRez Vacation Rental Guides and the OwnerRez Read-Only Environment!
Unleash the full potential of your vacation rental business with our new OwnerRez Guides!
Vacation rental guides are invaluable resources that can assist property managers and owners maximize their rental income and deliver an exceptional experience for their guests. These comprehensive guides provide actionable insights on establishing and managing a successful vacation rental property, including advice on choosing the right location, furnishing your property, pricing strategies, and marketing tactics. Additionally, they can offer guidance on maintaining your property and handling guest communication and inquiries. By leveraging these OwnerRez Guides, property managers and owners can streamline operations and ensure guests enjoy a memorable vacation rental experience. We'll add more in the coming weeks, so keep checking back!
Have suggestions or ideas for how to flesh-out these guides with more information? Want to contribute your own guide or add on to ours? Please let us know. We see Guides as being a living, breathing resource that will change over time. We would love to add some regular contributors to our Guides area, so let us know your thoughts!
OwnerRez is committed to being your elite property management software (PMS) and channel manager, and that comes with certain expectations on your part and responsibilities on our part. That commitment includes transparent communication, numerous redundancies, keeping your data safe, and providing access to that critical data.
Part of that commitment includes implementing and providing a Read-Only Environment - a proactive and effective solution for our users that protects and provides continuous access to all their OwnerRez data.
The new read-only environment allows users to access their accounts without the ability to add, modify, or delete anything. Users are restricted from changing the data because it is essentially a close to real-time copy of the data in the main OwnerRez app. The OwnerRez Read-Only environment is also geographically distributed away from the main OwnerRez app's data centers. In the rare event of an OwnerRez disruption, users can navigate to Read-Only (https://readonly.ownerrez.com/), where the most current data before an interruption will be available.
The OwnerRez Read-Only Environment looks and acts just like OwnerRez, with several key exceptions:
Like our OwnerRez Status page, we encourage everyone to bookmark the OwnerRez Read-Only Environment. The URL to get to Read-Only is https://readonly.ownerrez.com/.
Learn more by reading our OwnerRez Read-Only Environment support article.
OwnerRez's channel management feature allows our users to market and promote their property rentals on many API Connected listing channels, including Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and many more. Rather than users uploading individual listings to each listing channel separately, the channel management capabilities save our users time and effort by enabling them to push their listings to multiple channels at once, increasing visibility and reach, and allowing vacation rental businesses to target different audiences across the various listing channels.
As each listing channel "push background service" has grown organically over time, it was time again to optimize these channel push listing services to sync more quickly and efficiently. Individualized channel push services for those channels that are push (not pull) benefit our users by optimizing their listings' changes and sync queue times.
Learn more about Channel Management by reading our API Integrations Overview support article.
The reviews are in and OwnerRez is a 5-star winner! But we don't need to tell you, our users, that. We're preaching to the choir!
Trustpilot is a review platform that's open to everyone and reviewers are encouraged to share their experiences to help others make better choices.
When property managers and owners are exploring potential Property Management Software (PMS), OwnerRez rises to the top. Some of these top-notch reviews are displayed at the bottom of the OwnerRez Home Page, along with links to those reviewing sites, and we have now added Trustpilot as a valued review source.
Potential clients can see the Trustpilot icon beside the other review sources on our home page.
And they can also filter reviews by review source on our reviews page.
Have a friend that is searching for Property Management Software (PMS)? Be sure to send them links to our Why OwnerRez? and Reviews pages and your own OwnerRez Affiliate Link!
Have something nice to say about OwnerRez and want to spread the word on Trustpilot? We'd love for you to take a second and tell the world via Trustpilot!
Add More Details For "Unsupported Currency" Badge on Property Mapping. When OwnerRez users clicked on any "Unsupported Currency fix it" links, they were taken to the property area, but there were no currency settings there. The link has been fixed to now link to the user culture page instead of the property info page, and a tooltip has been added stating that the <current currency> is not supported, allowing the user to correct that.
Adding a Quote Validation Does Not Take Into Account Property's Timezone. OwnerRez users received the following error, "Arrival date may not be in the past." when creating quotes due to timezone differences. This bug has been corrected to look at the property's timezone, not the account's.
Deleting a Disabled Template Does Not Actually Delete It. We identified a bug where a template was disabled but that template was not able to be deleted. We have added a delete button when editing a disabled template. Trying to delete will make the template disabled if deleting is not possible, and we have added a confirmation notification explaining when deleting a template is not allowed. Additionally, we have changed the label on the batch delete process to clarify why some templates cannot be deleted, and why they will be marked or left disabled instead.
Don't Push Bathroom Count to Airbnb Because They Rely on the Room Data Now. Since OwnerRez pushes Airbnb room data that includes bathroom information now, it is no longer necessary to push the bathroom count to Airbnb.
Fix Owner With Portal Access Grant Link to Team Index Location. This was an edge case where a Property Owner added by an OwnerRez user no longer had the expected OR access. This occurred due to a bug relying on the pre-Teams expectations for a portal user and that owner got converted into a new Teams portal user. This bug has been fixed and the Property Owner access is correctly granted.
Grants Weren't Deleted When User Was Closed. OwnerRez detected an edge case where users that were closed out and deleted of a Team Access account switcher still had access when they should not have had Team Access any longer. This bug has been fixed.
Hosted Site Test Label Shows HTTP Instead of HTTPS. It was pointed out that the hosted site test label displayed HTTP rather than the correct HTTPS. This bug has been fixed to display the correct label of HTTPS.
Return 401 Status Code for No Portal Permission Case. Portal Team Access users received incorrect 200 error status codes when attempting to access a valid URL they did not have permission to access. We have corrected this bug to return a 401 NoPortalPermission unauthorized response status code indicating that the client request has not been completed because it lacks valid authentication credentials for the requested resource.
Show Correct Channel Name for Other Feed Based Channels (vs. only Vrbo) on "don't show secdep" Setting on Channel View Page. Specific channel names (other than Vrbo) were not displayed on the "don't show secdep" setting for API Integrated listing channel settings. This has been fixed and the correct channel name now displays correctly.
Show No Results Message On Grid. When OwnerRez in-app tables (Reviews, Quotes, etc.) had no data, the header alignment display appeared incorrect. This bug has been fixed.
When an Airbnb Property Reconnect Occurs, Correctly Detect Whether the Property Was already Connected. When OwnerRez users reconnect a previously connected and published Airbnb property, the system will now correctly detect the property status as previously connected and published on Airbnb.
We love to learn and share the stories of the awesome members of our OwnerRez community. Denise from Beach Resort Services has a long history with Surfside, Texas and the property management industry - her family has been involved in this business here for over 45 years! You can see some of her amazing properties at beachresortservices.com and learn more about her story below.
My parents honeymooned in Galveston in 1957 and stopped in Surfside on their way home. They fell in love with it. We vacationed here every single year until we moved here in 1976. My mother worked for the only property manager on the island from 1976 – 1995. She and I had an opportunity to start a property management company in 1995 and here we are today.
Prior to working in property management, I worked as a secretary in chemical plants until my mother asked if I wanted to work with her here at Beach Resort Services. We grew up vacationing here. Started out coming a week at a time, then two weeks, then the whole summer and we finally moved here for good in 1976.
There isn’t much about the property management business that I don’t love. We are part of every celebration our customers have. Whether it’s a birth, wedding, birthday, spreading ashes or simply being with family & friends. We get to be part of it. We see our families grow up, we see their family dynamics change, health change and much much more. We are truly part of helping families make memories that will last a lifetime. We are part of people's lives all over the world. So, I would say helping families make memories is what I love about being a property manager.
CONFRONTATION! I hate controversy so I guess I would say anything that has to do with someone who is unhappy is what I dislike most.
So far we are in love with OwnerRez. We use it for everything including our website. We are constantly learning as we go. Like babies learning to walk, everyday is a new adventure. It has simplified our jobs so much. Before becoming OwnerRez users, we used a program I wrote myself in Microsoft Excel for almost 30 years. OR has saved us time but also money! We were working 4 people 40 hours a week and we are now working 2 people 18 hours a week. Glen asked me when I first started talking to OwnerRez what I was going to do with all my free time and I just laughed but… I am actually planning a trip this summer for myself & my family. I haven’t traveled during the summer since I’ve owned this business.
The most useful feature OwnerRez has provided Beach Resort Services is the on-line booking and payment option. I sit at home in the evenings and on weekends (we no longer work weekends thanks to OR) and when I hear my notifications going off I tell my husband “ChaChing, making that money”! My girls can stay at home with their families on the weekends and our customers have 24/7 access to booking and payments. I can’t wait to learn more about the accounting side of the software. I think this is where it will truly show us what we are spending and what we are making and better than that what we could be making.
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Thanks, Denise! Here's to another 45 years of success with Beach Resort Services in Surfside, Texas!
Alas no, other than "a few weeks." We shall see.
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Great feedback, Bernard. Thank you.
You should only need to enter a code (on the same device) every 30 days. If you are getting it more often than that, you likely have cookies turned off in your browser - fix that, and the problem should improve.
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This is a nuisance to me. I am using the computer at home -- login in more than once a day - and if I have closed the site -every time,
I must get a code.
Hi Paul,
Thanks for the feedback.
By "check-out" I mean the whole booking process, including the language issues. We already exchanged lengthily about this and it was always mentioned as something that was not a priority but on the list. I had hoped that being on the list it would mean it would be in the queue within a year or so but nothing on the horizon yet.
It gets into the equation in the sense that, a development from API is becoming necesary while for comparable costs I get it built-in from your competitors, including some market leaders. I had said it before, you are a great team and the core of OR seems perfectly engineered but it really does not look great at the front end, thus, does not deserve to be at the same rates as others, unless the additional people you plan to take on-board and your roadmap will take it to international (European?) standards in terms of multi-lingual and design (or customisation).
While looking at alternatives (if I have the courage of making the move), I will take Jake's godd suuggestion above and drastically reduce the amounts of properties and manage those on the side. Not ideal but simply cannot afford your rates; they are not adapted to those having that amount of properties.
Regards
Bernard
Hi Bernard,
Thanks very much for your detailed comments and concerns. A couple of comments...
- This rate increase is future-oriented in that we are planning for a couple of years, not raising it just because we think we can get away with it or on a whim. Some of our competitors, led by investors or outside shareholders, raise their prices annually or whenever they can get away with it. The approach is different, even if it doesn't seem that way on the outside.
- You are correct about the lack of localization (ie. multi-lingual support). We have known about this for a long time. 90% of our user base is in the US or Canada (or other English speaking parts of the world) so we have devoted resources to things other than localization. We have a hole here, and we know it (and care about).
- Along with the price increase, we have also increased our engineering team by 50% in the past few months and are still hiring more on the product side. Our velocity in 2023, already very good, will be increasing even more in the months to come. We have created an ambitious roadmap for the next 18 months.
- You mentioned the "check-out process". Can you elaborate on that? Are you talking about when the guest departs as "checking out"? Or do you mean the shopping cart type "checkout" experience when the guest is initially booking?
Hi Jake,
Thanks for the remarks. I do not manage so many properties (I would have been rich but gone crazy) :) but propose them for rental; that's partly why each property is not making big scores that largely cover the per property costs.
Looking at pricing another way does not change the issue. If I had the marketing trick at hand I would have used it to put more into my own pocket; not OR's. 300 bucks a month is still a lot of money.
For sure, rental management software helps gaining efficiency; OR is not the only one here. The consideration is what do we get for this total from their competitors. Quite a lot more in terms of refinement on the front end and ergonomy on both front and back end. A bit less in terms of support and speed. It all depends on each one's needs.
The thing is, the future rates will definitely give me the feeling of working for OR and it's not the point of doing business.
Have a nice day.
Bernard
@Bernard C,
Congratulations with managing 37 properties! The increase from $188 to $300 is $122/month or $3.03 per property/month.
Perhaps there are some marketing/other changes you might think about which would offset the total OR expense, or, perhaps, since you mention that most properties do not book, remove some from OR platform (that may be counterproductive as 1 booking would more than offset the costs).
I think that many of us (me included) initially looked at the overall amount and the % increase, but after I considered how much admin time I save, which I am focusing on revenue generating activities, I think that OR remains a bargain based on the capabilities it offers. I would much rather pay for software than to hire someone to handle these things manually.
Just my 2 cents.
Merci!
Jake
jake@whitemountainsgetaway.net
http://www.whitemountainsgetaway.net
617-680-3036
I already commented here but reading the others I'd like to summarize the effects of the forthcoming rates increase to my case.
So as to set the tone, OR is generally a great piece of software (I've tried some others before) and a very pleasant team. However...
As at date I have 37 properties on OR. Most of them are never booked because they are not of my central type of offer but because I display them for offering variety, I need to list them on OR. Therefore from the monthly $ 188 or so, it would suddenly rise to $ 300 monthly. This is a big amount to pay out every month and a huge increase of 60%. My business is into mid to high-rated properties which has the advantage of bringing big commissions amounts but the disadvantage of making just a few bookings per month possible because it's almost a niche market. The new rates would be a significant percentage of my total earnings; difficult to justify.
I have started looking around for alternatives and if among the top players we are seeing similar rates range and similar features, the others are far-more advanced on the check-out process and on handling multiple languages but on the other hand are missing features proper to WP integration.
Since the check-out & multi-lingual shortcomings are not being addressed by OR, I have the choice to go for a development from API, which represents extra costs or move. If I go for the API, I will have a super great tool but if I spend money on development, why not spend it on WP integration of another tool from the top brands? I am there in my reflexions and not decided yet but thought it would be good for the OR team to understand that the rates were the decisive advantage they had on others; it's no longer the case.
If this space is really to listen to their clients, then the above should ring a bell. If it's just a neo-demoratic trick to say that there has been prior consultation then the scheduled increase will go ahead without flexibility. This would tell a lot about what to expect from OR in the future; definitely not the flexible start-up it appeared to be in the past.
"À bon entendeur, salut!"
Hey Ella, I do remember you from years ago and then over those years here and there as our paths crossed... I sorrow that you feel OwnerRez has left you behind. 🍷😔 Please send me an email into the helpdesk and reference this forum so that they escalate it directly to me. I'd like to talk about your situation and where you are at this point in your vacation rental journey. We love our users - all of them, but especially our old-timers - and do not want anyone to leave because they feel left behind. I look forward to talking to you more directly.
Or leave, as another option, of course.
One of the main advantages here was to save money for guests, but with all the increases I now have to somehow figure out how to pass on these spikes to guests. That is exactly the opposite of what originally OR was meant for, for me.
@Jake
Thank you. I have been renting since 2008, I have four properties and I can do direct bookings. What I need from OR are the things that I have mentioned and not much more.
I know about savings versus big sites such as Airbnb and vrbo. I've been renting before Airbnb existed and before VRBO/HomeAway started to go crazy with all their fees.
Ella
@Ella,
I don't know what type of property you have, but you may potentially be able to grow your business by leveraging dynamic pricing and shifting more of your bookings to your direct site vs. OTAs. OTAs are great to get new customers, but once they have their first positive experience, and you have captured their email, phone, address info through the legal agreement, you can then market to them directly and offer lower pricing to them, while collecting more on your end by everyone avoiding the OTA fees. In my case I have set up pricing such that direct renters save 9-10% vs booking in AirBnB and VRBO, we make about an extra 5%
I can't stress how much money folks leave on the table by NOT using Dynamic Pricing! We tend to undercharge during high season and overcharge during slow periods, not to mention the demand and pricing differential for weekdays vs. weekends vs holidays!
Oh, and I forget to mention the seamless integration to the payment processor that OwnerRez offers. I started with Stripe, since it was easy to set up, and now use https://www.ascentpaymentsolutions.com/. Their application process is fairly involved, because they evaluate your financials, but once set up, the fees are lower vs. Stripe and others who charge a set ~3% of the payments processed.
As far as I can tell, OwnerRez caters for any short term rental owner from 1 property to those who have hundreds of listings and everyone in between.
Here is what I do use OR for: -- linking calendar FROM here to other websites (not vice versa)
- very few direct bookings, payments, security deposits via my payment processor, rental agreement and emails.
Thats it, I believe.
@jake
From the things you've listed here are the things I do not use (most of the ones that you listed)
Integration to AirBnBn, VRBO, Booking.com and others
Integration to dynamic pricing (PriceLabs)
Integration to locks for auto code generation (GetLynx)
Direct booking site
Guest communication (direct site and AirBnB; hoping VRBO will be enabled soon)
Thanks. Sounds like you're using features that not all need, yet joined many years ago for the features present then. I do not need most of the things that you use but would like to stick around. However, the price does not justify it. Again, to each its own, but I'm wondering WHO is OR catering to currently.
I first began with OwnerRez in 2014 when making decision to self manage our vacation rental cabin.
One property -- OwnerRez was just beginning. In 2018, my brother-in-law asked me to manage his cabin -
beside ours- for several years, 2 properties. He sold his cabin - so back to 1.
Also listed on VRBO (now Vrbo) which as of this year, has taken over monthly sales tax to the state.
I like having OwnerRez for the reports - the calendar - the messages - and complete control of photos
and sending links to guests.
I absolutely hate having to get a security code now in order to log in.
OwnerRez is a good site. Also host my website.
@Ella,
I have been with OR for a little over a year, have 2 condos which we rent separately and together (so 3 listings, technically).
I find OR brings tremendous value, despite the price increase, specifically:
I have not tried SMS messaging yet, and other features.
Overall OZ has been at the core of my short term rental tech stack and I could not run my business without this amazing software and the great email support from the team.
I don't consider my business large by any means. Right now this is a part time gig with potential for more growth if we decide to add more properties or manager others' listings. With this software stack, with Owner Rez being the central hub, it would be very easy for me to add 2-3 listings to help other owners grow their business profitable for them and me.
By the way, if anyone is interested, please contact me at jake@whitemountainsgetaway.net.
Perhaps after so many years of us backing up, giving great opinion and feedback on Facebook and everywhere else, the time for Little folks has ended? I'm not sure, since I'm seeing so many different opinions: who is it that or is now best for OR?
It does seem that it's changed, based on replies from quite a bit of others as well?
Perhaps that part needs to be clarified: which vacation rental owners is OR catering to now?
