Latest Activity...
Another week, another update. Make that 22 updates. 😇
Let's run through it...
Ethernet is now an amenity that can be selected in addition to the others. It does not replace Internet or Wireless/WiFi. This is useful because some users want to point out that their internet handles Wireless/WiFi connection in addition to hard-line ethernet connections. Business travelers often look for the hard-line ethernet type.
You can now order properties explicitly in OwnerRez. For a long time, users have wanted to order by different types of fields (codes, internal names, external names). Forget all that... You can now specifically set the internal and external order of properties.
Head on over to the Properties menu, click the Display Order button and you'll get two drag/drop lists. Drag your properties around and click save.
Internal and external are exactly what you think they are - internal is inside of OwnerRez's control panel and external is what guests see on public facing features like websites or widgets.
When downloading renter agreements as PDF or showing them on HomeAway API, we now fully render your account information instead of the field codes. Before, the renter agreement might have shown "the owner {MYFULL}" but now it will say "the owner Joe Blow". This so that the agreement can show the owner info when the guest previews it as a sample, even before they go to sign later on. To be clear, we do not render any email address or phone number fields for privacy purposes.
You can now check the DNS records on your hosted website directly from OwnerRez. Wondering why an SSL certificate hasn't been generated or why the live domain name didn't map over yet? Pull up your hosted site, drill in and click the Check DNS button right there by the location fields.
This will show you what OwnerRez sees when we look at your domain name. We'll tell you whether it's configured correctly or something is off. If it's off, you'll see the IP address that we see.
Why get 12 months of spot rates when you can get 24 months instead? Our spot rate import (ie. with channels like Airbnb) now automatically scoops up 24 months of rates at a time instead of 12. To be clear, this is the manual one-time import on spot rates, not an API integration, dynamic pricing or anything else.
Listing Quality Analyzer (under the Tools menu) now checks longer time periods when analyzing rates even if min/max rules are set. This helps scenarios where rates are valid for longer periods of time but the min/max rules don't allow those rates to be used or applied.
On the Email History report, the To filter is now a type-ahead of guest names and email addresses. This allows you to quickly narrow down a guest by name or email instead of guessing or looking elsewhere.
Not quite sure how Katie's name is spelled? No worries, just type a few characters and see what comes up.
Speaking of guests, we also added a Status column to the guest Related Activity list. This helps clarify the type of bookings or quotes you're looking at, for instance when there are several cancelled. You can filter on it as well using the filter button above the list.
There are a lot of lists and options in OwnerRez. Your API integrations show a running log of Sync Actions for instance - we do this to give you transparency into the process. However, sometimes you're hit with information overload and can't find what you need because the information you don't need is in the way. To help with this, we added some filter options to the Sync Actions list on API integrations. Want to find where a sync with Airbnb recently error'ed? You can now do that.
We clarified the Tax Registration Number fields to point out that max length only applies to VRBO, not Airbnb. Speaking of Airbnb and taxes, check out this new tax article specifically for Airbnb taxes.
On the Email History report, we updated the Entity ID filter box to automatically strip extra text from the number that is entered.
VRBO reviews not downloading in Channel Bridge. VRBO changed the data format of their Reviews, under the covers, and Channel Bridge could not download them. This was fixed.
Booking total in Tax report. The Tax Summary report showed conflicting booking totals when bookings with no tax results were selected based on specific listing sites (eg. Airbnb) versus all listings sites. This was fixed so that all booking totals would show even if the taxable charges were zero regardless of the listing site selected.
Property URLs with hash fragments. On certain widgets, property URLs were improperly appending parameters after the fragment (ie. hash tag portion) which led to incorrect results. This is now being detected dynamically.
Search widget property culture. The Availability/Search widget was not honoring the correct currency and culture (ie. date format) settings as set on the property. This was fixed.
Adjacent days when arrival is passed. We fixed triggers to ignore the arrival side on adjacent booking criteria if the arrival date has passed. This was causing issues where an automated email would offer the guest a deal, or point out open days, after the stay had already started.
Seasons not saving. If seasons had old rule values configured from legacy rates, the season would silently error when saving. No error message would show but the season would not save. This was fixed.
Damage Protection settings not picked up from calendar import (iCal) settings. Some of our more proactive users will run Channel Bridge on new bookings before the calendar import (iCal) engine picks up the new booking - this is perfectly fine and Channel Bridge will create the new booking. However, the Damage Protection rule was not beiung picked up from the calendar import (iCal) settings since the calendar import hadn't run yet. We fixed this to check and detect if there are calendar import (iCal) settings when Channel Bridge runs.
Listing Quality Analyzer crashes. We fixed LQA to not crash when there are no rates or when there is an Airbnb channel configured but no properties on the account.
Include Notes option not showing. On the Stays By Date Range report, we fixed it so the Include Notes option is honored even if Include Custom Fields is not selected. Previously, they both had to be selected.
Unknown feedback filter on Emails History. We fixed a bug with filtering by Unknown feedback only on the Email History list. That now works as expected.
Hey, BlueMtnCabins! It's a product from Rental Guardian. Go to https://www.mastercancel.com/. I did a little digging and saw a price quote of 4.4% of booking total - but I'm not sure how they define "Booking Total."
It would be great to be able to send text messages and have them set up to trigger at a certain time. I always try to send a welcome text to my guest on arrival dates but sometimes get busy and forget to do so. It would be a great feature to have
Autumn J said:
Master Cancel Please!! Having this available has the potential to put users back in control of their business during this crisis. When looking at a way to stay competitive, be at the front of the pack Master Cancel is the best option. Please keep working on moving this forward. Users, if you haven't researched the benefits of Master Cancel please take a look and image the potential benefits.
Autumn J: Any idea the cost of Master Cancel?
Master Cancel Please!! Having this available has the potential to put users back in control of their business during this crisis. When looking at a way to stay competitive, be at the front of the pack Master Cancel is the best option. Please keep working on moving this forward. Users, if you haven't researched the benefits of Master Cancel please take a look and image the potential benefits.
As a relative newbie to OR, I'm struggling with getting everything set up and integrated. At least one of my channels only comes over with a block (HOUFY), so I'd love some additional integration. Also, because each platform is different, I'd love an editable booking workflow to ensure I'm not missing anything. (If you already have this, I'm sorry, I'm not seeing it.) I'd like to see the income split up into a rental income, with the housekeeping fees broken out.
And finally, an app would be awesome! I work on my mobile a LOT. Thank you!
Congratulations to the team !! Impressive
The official policies have not publicly changed, but we are running various experimental pilot programs in cooperation with VRBO engineers. Please contact the Helpdesk for more information.
Is it available to all or is there still property number limit?
Kelly C said:
An App please!!!
Better mobile interface or app.
I don't understand the cancellation comment. I need the original booking charge to not disappear when a guest cancels.
Whenever I click on any item in the list, I get a pop up that says,
File unavailable
Sorry, there's a problem with this file. Please reload.
Extremely pleased you have broken into the API piece we were very tired of VRBO holding our money and dictating to us about cancellations.
Our older users know that it took a few years for OwnerRez to break into the channel API integration game. We avoided using third party software and lobbied hard for the channels to work with us directly. It paid off, and a year ago we got our own direct API integrations off the ground. OwnerRez now has the best channel management features available in the vacation rental industry.
While many of our competitors offer channel management of some kind (many use third party managers), many of those competitors don't work to improve those features or keep up with the latest channel standards and features.
Here at OwnerRez, our foot has never lifted off the gas pedal. We meet with our channel partners monthly and keep up to date with all their latest features. For instance, we are about ready to release Cancellation Policies in OwnerRez. These allow you to define your own cancellation periods and percentages, coinciding with a new custom cancellations feature that HomeAway offers via API. We also recently added House Manual support and Custom Taxes for Airbnb.
And the results have paid off. Last month, in the middle of coronavirus hysteria, OwnerRez achieved Preferred Partner status with HomeAway.
Of the many vacation rental software apps on the market, only a select few have achieved Preferred Status. You can see OwnerRez now listed in the HomeAway partner directory. Elite status - here we come!
RE: cancellations... The fact that a booking is cancelled does not, inherently, change its financial information or whether it will be included or excluded on PM/owner statements. There are legitimate scenarios where cancelled bookings still remit money to the owner or PM - for instance, where the guest pays a fee or is only refunded 50% of the booking.
For cancelled bookings, you need to make sure you are fixing the charges and transactions to reflect what actually happened.
If the booking was 100% refunded, then remove all the charges or add negative line items to negate the line items that are there. The total amount should be 0 when you're done since the guest paid you nothing. If you sent a refund, record the refund. The final total amount should be 0 (and the guest balance should be 0) or whatever you actually kept from the guest. Then the owner/PM statements will also be correct. Merely cancelling the booking will not affect PM calculations on its own.
PS. We have an upcoming feature coming out here the cancel page will show you your cancellation policy (oh and we've added that as well) and allow you to refund/fix the charges all in one step. That will help reduce the confusion around this.
Gail C said:
Besides the above it would be extremely helpful if all financial data on cancellations were removed from reports. I am afraid to trust the totals when running reports. Or should I be (?) I was told before I had to manually remove it but im afraid I'll forget and itll be hanging out there somewhere. Great platform, thanks for being there and for incredible support! Gail ConyerIs there a way to do this? Normally, cancellations are not material. Right now, the owner is extremely confused because reporting they see includes cancellations (which were completely or nearly completely refunded).
Would love the ability to have the financial info be able to be pushed to quickbooks desktop not just the online version. Also having the email history all together with easier access for each guest would be handy.
An App please!!!
I would love my messages to guests to be able to be sent in app. If I send an email to a guest I would like it sent to their Airbnb/VRBO inbox in the app or desktop.
Option to schedule 3 payments instead of just 2
A phone app with text ability.
The ability to get guests to initial clauses in our Reservation Agreement, not just sign it.
An app or more mobile friendly site. Very hard to do anything from phone
An app
Do you guys have an app?
Good news everyone, it’s Friday!
If you’ve ever wanted to check out what dynamic pricing is and how it works, now is the time. Perfect Price is offering FREE dynamic pricing software for all of 2020. There are no strings attached to this deal, but if you’re interested you better act fast because the offer will be ending soon.
Cleanliness is next to godliness. VRBO has implemented a way for owners to disclose what measures they're taking to provide a clean and safe environment for their guests. Many vacation rentals currently clean with EPA-approved disinfectants along with offering contactless/keyless check in. This makes it more visible to travelers who are looking for that information.
Hey, speaking of covid, did you see where the CDC said coronavirus doesn't spread on surfaces? Maybe you don't need such a large forced-gap between bookings now! Time to drop that from 5 days down to 2?
The impact of coronavirus has made it abundantly clear that travel insurance is a must have. Due to this travel insurance companies are scrambling to meet the demand. Luckily OwnerRez offers a fantastic travel insurance policy that protects your guest against unexpected occurrences such as last minute trip cancellation, medical problems or weather interruptions. To be clear, travel insurance will not cover fear of traveling due to coronavirus, but it can help protect you if members of your group become hospitalized or are quarantined.
Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! 🎖️🏖️
Integrated email with history and reservation details.
I absolutely love OwnerRez both from functionality and support. I do agree the ability to send text messages is important. Also to be able to send the same message to multiple guests based upon where they are staying and when.
Thank you.
great survey
I scrolled to the bottom and realized there were more topics than just those initially visible.
I used the comment feedback to give details about my top items, which were SMS, Scheduled Triggers per hour, and forum upgrade.
