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Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Sheila
Mar 23, 2020 7:48 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 2 posts

Thanks, Paul... Can guests who have already purchased standard insurance for upcoming trips upgrade to CFAR or is this only offered on a moving forward basis for new reservations?

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Paul W
Mar 23, 2020 7:44 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 posts

@Sheila: You can't make CFAR required at this time. The guest would have to select it.

@Solterra Beach V: The purchaser (ie. traveler) must be a US resident to buy CFAR. This is a hard and fast requirement at the moment. We are checking to see if there is a program for Canada, but nothing at the moment. The address of the destination (ie. property) doesn't matter - it can be outside the US. Also, NY and WA state residents are excluded unfortunately.

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Luxury Solterra
Mar 23, 2020 6:54 PM
Joined Aug, 2019 15 posts

Is there any chance this can be extended to those outside the US?

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Sheila
Mar 23, 2020 6:47 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 2 posts

This is great news! Can guests who have already purchased standard insurance for upcoming trips upgrade to CFAR or is this only offered on a moving forward basis for new reservations?

Also, will we have the option to make CFAR a requirement like (I believe) we can standard insurance?

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Paul W
Mar 23, 2020 6:23 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 posts

Deb's Beach Cond said:

Does the CFAR cover cancelling for the co vid 19 virus at 100% or 60%?

This depends on entirely when the TI policy was purchased. If it was purchased back before covid-19 was a known event and thus "unforeseen" then it might. On the other hand, if they cancelled because of the scare alone and not because their travel was restricted (ie. government mandated curfew, STR shut down, airline stopped flying) then it may not. So it depends entirely on the time of purchase and the trigger event both.

But CFAR will cover 60% if the standard side does not work regardless. CFAR always works no matter the trigger event or reason.

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Susie T
Mar 23, 2020 6:09 PM
Joined Oct, 2017 8 posts

yay... thankyou for being so responsive to our needs!

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

OPCD TX
Mar 23, 2020 5:55 PM
Joined Aug, 2019 24 posts

YOU GUYS ROCK!!!! THANK YOU

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Deb's Beach Cond
Mar 23, 2020 5:55 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 6 posts

Does the CFAR cover cancelling for the co vid 19 virus at 100% or 60%?

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Lydia B
Mar 23, 2020 5:42 PM
Joined May, 2019 159 posts

THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) travel insurance is now available! 36 replies

Paul W
Mar 23, 2020 4:34 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 posts

Due to the coronavirus scare, we've had a zillion requests in the past week to provide a Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) option on travel insurance.  We've had CFAR on the backlog for awhile, but the requests over the past week were overwhelming.  So we listened!  We dropped everything and got it out!

If you already have Travel Insurance turned on, you don't have to do anything to get CFAR.  CFAR now rides along as an option in the guest form.

And we've changed how the guest forms look to call out Travel Insurance much more clearly with a bottom "No, I decline" option to force the decision.

In the case of adding on travel insurance after the fact, CFAR also shows there and will smartly detect if it's available and show the guest the correct language and options accordingly.

If you want to turn on travel insurance in your account, you can do that at any time under Settings > Travel Insurance.  Read our support article about travel insurance and remember that properties need to have an address on file in order for travel insurance to work.

Enjoy!

Updated from RentalGuardian on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) 2 replies

Ken T
Mar 20, 2020 11:11 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1704 posts

OwnerRez changed insurance providers last November. Any policies purchased after November 18, 2019, will be with RentalGuardian, which is what the guidance mentioned above relates to.

Polices purchased prior to November 18, 2019 are from AIG Travel Guard, as you noted. We have received no guidance from them, which isn't a huge surprise - the reason we changed companies was because AIG was exiting portions of the business. We were informed that their existing policies will be honored as issued, but what that means in the current circumstances is anybody's guess.

Unfortunately, we have no better recommendation than to attempt to contact them for a definitive answer. Since we attempted to replace AIG's product with another similar product form RentalGuardian, it is likely that their response will be similar to what RentalGuardian is doing, but the only way to know for sure is to ask them.

Updated from RentalGuardian on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) 2 replies

Valerie R
Mar 20, 2020 11:05 AM
Joined Sep, 2019 122 posts

Hi Paul,

Is this company the same company that our guests are purchasing insurance from when booking through our OwnerRez system? When I look at those documents they say "AIG Travel Guard" on them.

I have a guest who purchased a policy through her booking in OwnerRez from "AIG Travel Guard" in October 2019. I'm trying to find out if the travel cancellation coverage on that policy will pay for her canceled booking. Do we have any information on this company's stance on Covid-19? I would try to call them but I am sure it will be almost impossible to get through.

Updated from RentalGuardian on COVID-19 (Coronavirus) 2 replies

Paul W
Mar 16, 2020 9:27 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 posts

Many users have asked about Travel Insurance coverage and what the official policy is.  It has changed a bit as time has progressed.  RentalGuard and InsureStays have put out an official FAQ at this link:

FAQ's – Coronavirus (COVID-19) and Our Travel Protection Plans

Take a look and read that top to bottom.  There is some very good information in there to know.

Additionally, we here at OwnerRez are working quickly to see if we can get the Cancel For Any Reason (CFAR) product added in the next few days.  No promises or ETA on that but we've been cleared for take-off on the carrier side to add it.

In addition, here are some additional important reference numbers:

  • Nationwide Claims & Coverage Questions:
    • Within U.S./Canada: (833) 610-0736
    • Outside U.S./Canada: (843) 494-5909
  • RentalGuardian Support: (888) 885-5550

 

7 ways to promote your vacation rental 16 replies

Paul W
Mar 11, 2020 4:47 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 875 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 1185 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 1185 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 1185 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 1185 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 167 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