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7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

Paul W
Mar 11, 2020 4:47 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 873 posts

To be fair to OP, this blog post is 8 years old. Much has changed in the STR industry over the last 8 years. Notice that Airbnb wasn't even on that list (it didn't exist yet). We need a new one of these.

7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

Ross C
Mar 10, 2020 4:56 PM
Joined Feb, 2020 17 posts

This depends on:

Your region

Your location

Your type of property

Your settings

Your price

Your min day settings.

Etc.

I get 6 BDC for every ABB here. But what works for you or for me may have little applicability to others.

7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Mar 10, 2020 4:01 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1182 posts

Ross C said:

To me, too far and away the best place is to be on the four major sites. FlipKey TripAdvisor, booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO. Plus you're hosted website.

There is no expense to me, because I add their commission on as an admin fee. Everything that comes to me from these sites is then pure Revenue.


BDC - gigantic flop.
TA - dead. Have not had as much as an inqury since last Dec.
Airbnb - so so
Vrbo - so so.
neither of those fills the calendar.


7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

Ross C
Mar 10, 2020 2:21 PM
Joined Feb, 2020 17 posts

To me, too far and away the best place is to be on the four major sites. FlipKey TripAdvisor, booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO. Plus you're hosted website.

There is no expense to me, because I add their commission on as an admin fee. Everything that comes to me from these sites is then pure Revenue.

7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Mar 10, 2020 10:33 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1182 posts

A lot of it is not accurate as far as my market goes. And some are missing.
For ex., my email newsletters that used to do quarterly and I have over 2K addresses on file resulted maybe in 3 rebookings ever in 4 years of doing it and 3 properties. Far from 'medium'. I basically stopped doing it. Mos email goes into spam anyhow.

Facebook GROUPS (not your own pages - VR dedicated groups and yard sale groups) are not mentioned and yet I get a fair amount of bookings from Facebook groups - more than from regional listings sites for sure.

Craigslist - only scammers use that.

Google / Bing - I have but cannot directly trace any bookings to it. I do have spikes in calls usually during high demand seasons when I am already booked, presumably from google.
I do not use Ad words.

7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

DORI W
Mar 9, 2020 11:23 PM
Joined Mar, 2020 1 post

I MAKE KEYCHAINS, LUGGAGE TAGS FOR OUR CONDO IN MAUI. I HAVE MADE THEM FOR OUR MTN. CABIN, ALSO. THEY ARE THEMED TO THE AREA, WITH A TAG WITH OUR WEBSITE ADDRESS. THEY ARE POPULAR WITH OUR GUESTS. I AM STARTING TO SELL THEM- THEY ARE CUTE! I SELL THEM FOR ABOUT $5 EACH. WE HAVE AN 98% OCCUPANCY RATE, AND THIS HAS HELPED ALOT! DORIWARNER@AOL.COM

Refunds have landed 2 replies

Ken T
Mar 3, 2020 11:12 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1704 posts

Can you write in a support request to the Helpdesk, with the ORB number of the booking in question?

Refunds have landed 2 replies

Annelise N
Mar 3, 2020 7:02 AM
Joined Jun, 2019 1 post

I've gone through this process, but no sign of the refund on my PayPal account.
Just wondering if it has happened or I just recorded it on OwnerRez

Custom holidays have arrived! 4 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Jan 29, 2020 11:50 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1182 posts

create a season instead?

Logos and Themes and Booking Files, oh my! 5 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Jan 28, 2020 7:49 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1182 posts

yes. i use these

Logos and Themes and Booking Files, oh my! 5 replies

Sloanish
Jan 28, 2020 6:31 PM
Joined Jun, 2018 165 posts

Is this still current?

OwnerRez Happy Hour Hangout in Orlando! 0 replies

Ken T
Jan 28, 2020 11:17 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1704 posts

Last November, we had our first OwnerRez Happy Hour Hangout in Scottsdale, AZ, alongside the VRBO Partner Summit. It was a great success, and a good time was had by all!

This year, we're looking at doing another OwnerRez Hangout alongside the VRBO International Conference in Orlando. This is held from a Sunday through a Wednesday.

As we plan for this, we'd like your input on when and where it should be. Please follow the link below to take our survey:

Orlando Hangout Survey

We'd like to meet with as many of you as possible! If the response is good, we may even hold multiple events to better suit everyone's schedule.

 

Custom holidays have arrived! 4 replies

Denise A
Jan 27, 2020 1:21 PM
Joined Sep, 2019 9 posts

Is there a way to have the holiday span a number of days? ie from xx/xx to xx/xx ?

I want to note spring break weeks for various schools. The more they overlap, the more in demand those days will be.

Thanks,
Denise

Export to CSV/TSV, custom listing sites and disable properties 4 replies

Ken T
Jan 7, 2020 2:04 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1704 posts

This blog post is from 7 years ago, so yes, it's a little out of date.

What were you looking to be able to do? If it's regarding custom sources, take a look at the support docs:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/custom-sources

Export to CSV/TSV, custom listing sites and disable properties 4 replies

E & R Vacation R
Jan 7, 2020 12:09 PM
Joined Jan, 2020 56 posts

This needs to be update, perhaps? I'm not finding the answer following the instructions.

Transition to RentalGuardian will go live on Monday Nov 18 2 replies

Chris Hynes
Dec 8, 2019 6:30 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1404 posts

We're working with RentalGuardian on getting an answer on the 30+ day bookings.

Transition to RentalGuardian will go live on Monday Nov 18 2 replies

Trident P
Dec 6, 2019 12:27 PM
Joined Feb, 2017 15 posts

I see that this new carrier will only cover reservations of 30 days of less. What are we supposed to do with snowbirds that stay 60 days?

Marcy

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Ken T
Nov 20, 2019 11:10 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1704 posts

Yes! Each property can have a different level of protection. Go to Settings > Damage Protection. That'll display a list of all your properties and the selected level for each, which you can change as desired.

Note that if you change the level of protection for a property, that will change the level for all new bookings / policies purchased going forward. It will NOT change the level already purchased for existing bookings.

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 20, 2019 10:36 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1182 posts

question: is it possible to select different coverage amount for different properties?
Such as , for my smaller property I may want $500 coverage; larger property $1500. Can it be set up that way?

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

William L
Nov 20, 2019 8:55 AM
Joined Mar, 2019 2 posts

Stop watching

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Paul W
Nov 20, 2019 8:51 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 873 posts

Cathy, you can turn it off on either API integrations or calendar imports in OwnerRez, specific to those channels. Go to the Damage Protection section in OR > Settings to get started and select a plan level.

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Paul W
Nov 20, 2019 8:49 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 873 posts

We (OwnerRez) can submit a claim for you at any time electronically, so no worries on that. We hope to have the full claims process be self-service in a couple weeks. Remember that, right now, any claims you have would still be TravelGuard based since those are the policies already purchased and filed. Practically speaking, no one should have RentalGuardian claims until a new booking that was created after Monday arrives/departs in the future. All your pre-existing bookings will continue showing TravelGuard ARDI information.

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Trident P
Nov 20, 2019 7:24 AM
Joined Feb, 2017 15 posts

I see the new rental company is now the one that is listed on new reservations coming in but is says there is currently no link to submit a claim. What is the timeframe going to be on the link being done?

Marcy

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 19, 2019 10:18 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1182 posts

#2 go to settings> Surcharges and Discounts > Add a surcharge. Call it maintenance fee or whatever you like.

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Cathy Gou
Nov 19, 2019 8:06 PM
Joined Nov, 2017 5 posts

How do we turn it off for other channels?
How do we add a surcharge (Maintenance Fee)?
We the host pick which plan we want?

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Paul W
Nov 19, 2019 7:58 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 873 posts

Hi Cathy,

Answers:

1) Yes, and also on bookings from other channels unless you turn that off.

2) The fee is shown in the table above where it shows the "Premium" amount

3) Yes

4) Yes if you want. You can turn it off for those channels, but we encourage it for all bookings including platform. The advertised coverage that VRBO and AIrbnb claim is different and not the same type of protection.

These answers and more can be found here:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/damage-protection-overview

All new Damage Protection program with RentalGuardian! 32 replies

Cathy Gou
Nov 19, 2019 7:46 PM
Joined Nov, 2017 5 posts

I’m a little confused.
1. We don’t need to do anything it will be placed on our listing that we get booked direct from us. (Not other platforms)
2. We the host will be charged a fee and how much?
3. But we can put it as maintenance fee and have guest pay for it.
4. Do we get charged for the bookings from AIRBNB and VRBO?

Airbnb API integration - come and get it! 8 replies

Paul W
Nov 19, 2019 10:02 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 873 posts

For others that are wondering, yes you can do that. On the API channel settings (under Settings) you can drill in and set each API to have specific time from now settings to limit when that channel takes bookings. There are some other rules there on the channel level as well.

Airbnb API integration - come and get it! 8 replies

NHvacahomes
Nov 19, 2019 8:23 AM
Joined Sep, 2019 6 posts

I figured it out. I was able to change the Aribnb Channel rules. Fingers crossed this works.

Airbnb API integration - come and get it! 8 replies

NHvacahomes
Nov 19, 2019 8:00 AM
Joined Sep, 2019 6 posts

I am very new to the API system. Airbnb is our least favorite platform because of the payout after guest check-in, lack of real security deposits (and many other reasons). I usually controlled bookings by reducing my booking window to 3-6 months into the future. But now that I have Airbnb integrated to my OwnerRez account I think I've lost that control. Is there a work around that? Thank you for your insight.