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How do I overlap my booking widget and a picture of my property?

I am using google sites to build my website. I am leaving three examples of how i'd like it to look.

https://www.azure-properties.com/

https://www.lindsborgvacationrentals.com/

https://www.haustay.com/

How do I overlap my booking widget and a picture of my property? I am using google sites to build my website. I am leaving three examples of how i'd like it to look.

https://www.azure-properties.com/

https://www.lindsborgvacationrentals.com/

https://www.haustay.com/

Thanks Ken. I always appreciate the quality OR customer support. 

There are absolutely situations where Worldline/Bambora is the best possible choice, and maybe that's you - so, if you like them best, keep them!  That's why we support them, and all the rest - each one may not be right for you, but it's right for somebody.   :-)  

Hi Ken,

Very helpful. Thank you.

I suspected that the Stripe agent didn't completely understand what I was asking. So it's good to hear that my payment structure can work with them. However, I'm leaning away from Stripe because of the lack of service and ability to negotiate rates... 

But Lynnbrook is adamant about not releasing funds until check in...I will keep trying but I just received another email back stating this. 

Why should I switch from Worldline/Bambora if it's working and still seems to have the lowest rates for me? 

Thanks,

Kara

I use stripe.  I pull a payment of $1 at booking and a 2nd payment of the rest.  

Stripe ... does not appear (according to their customer service) to allow for my payment method of 50% to reserve and balance pulled automatically 30 days prior to stay---basically they don't keep the payment info on file to pull that 2nd payment.

Hmm, we have lots of clients using Stripe to do exactly that.  I think their agent was confused.

The various payment processors we support have lots of variety as to options, features, and cost, and there is no one right answer for everyone.  That depends on your business practices, financial strength and history, and many other factors, so it's best to do your research and choose whatever suit you best.

While Lynnbrook's default plan does indeed retain the funds until arrival (as Airbnb does), that is not always a requirement - I know some of our clients receive the funds right away (as with Stripe).  That may be something you can discuss and negotiate with Lynnbrook based on their underwriting, and actually that's one of the reasons we like Lynnbrook - with Stripe it's one-size-fits-all, which is quick and easy for many clients but for others, having someone you can negotiate with can achieve a better result.

I have always been using Stripe.  I am happy and it is easy.

I looked at others briefly but didn't ever make a change.  Lots of other items to worry about.

I've been using Bambora for credit card processing for direct bookings and VRBO since that's been integrated with API. No issues and it worked perfectly.  At the time I signed up with them through OR, I did the research and found the best rates for me. 

In October 2023 I got a message that Bambora was changing to Worldline. No big deal. I had some issue reconfiguring, so I went back to the OR suggested processors page for other options. In doing so, I see that Worldline/Bambora is best for Canadian customers. I am in the US. I don't know why this is recommended for Canadian customers...but anyhow, I see that Lynnbrook is suggested by OR. 

After contacting Lynnbrook for fees/rates, etc, they casually mentioned that they keep the money until check in (like Airbnb does). That's a no go for me. Why should they keep my money and earn interest on it? I have guests book over a year out.  They mention auditing and acquitions but those are non issues, I have an accountant and there is no need for this. Curious why OR recommends them.

Stripe is a bit more expensive, and does not appear (according to their customer service) to allow for my payment method of 50% to reserve and balance pulled automatically 30 days prior to stay---basically they don't keep the payment info on file to pull that 2nd payment. This is necessary for me, as I don't need the hassle of chasing that final payment. 

I'm looking for alternatives----what are other vacation rental owners using for payment processing these days? I suppose I can stick with Worldline (formerly Bambora)... 

Thanks!

Kara

I have gotten zero bookings from HomeToGo in the two-plus years I've been with them. Very recently I went to my listings on their website and discovered major issues, including advertising my units' prices at two times higher than they are. I emailed a detailed message to them about this, and I got no response. So a week later I resent them the message, and I still got no response. But a few days later I got a notice from a bill collector falsely claiming that I owed HomeToGo money for a booking that never happened. So I forwarded that message to HomeToGo and asked them what was up with that, and they didn't respond to that, either. Pretty mean-spirited and crooked.

Nevertheless, over the years I have signed up with all the platforms that are available through OwnerRez, about ten of them, in addition to Airbnb, Booking.com, and Vrbo, and I have gotten zero bookings from any of them. I honestly don't know how any of them stay in business. I do get bookings from Vrbo, Airbnb, and Booking.com, however. I get the most business from people finding my website in a Google search, then Vrbo, Airbnb and Booking.com, in that order.

From the general testing we've done we're not seeing any impact to the API connection between OwnerRez and Airbnb, Please let us know if you notice any oddities.

Any changes we have noticed, seem to be strictly UI changes on Airbnbs end.

~Caleb

Our OwnerRez Hosted Websites are already optimized for discovery and indexing by the major search engines, such as Google.  This can be expected to take time, but there are commonly available tools that can assist in that process, such as Google Webmaster Tools.

We have not found any commercially-available SEO services to provide any useful value, but, if you do desire to engage such a service, they generally want to place entries in the HEAD area of your website.  This is accessible on the Head tab under the Theme & Layout button in your Hosted Website settings.

It is not normally possible to compete in the search engines against the vast advertising power of vacation rental listing channels such as Vrbo and Airbnb - your website normally builds repeat business from guests who first find you via the channels, and then book directly for later visits.  Ordinarily, you will rarely if ever have guests who find you via a simple Google search.

However, we have had some clients find success in the search engines in smaller markets, through creating unique and relevant local content on a Custom page on their Hosted Website.  This might be a regularly-updated calendar of local events; an index of local attractions with links out to their own websites and links back to your site from theirs; reviews of local restaurants; or many other possible ideas.  Google places a high value on this.

Hello all,

I wonder how your experience is with HomeToGo. For us, it was a horrible experience. Extremely low quality guests, bookings with stolen cards, mixed up bookings (although the guest cancelled his booking with us, we were not informed about this). 

We want to be in a variety of platforms competing with Airbnb, Booking.com and VRBO but this is not the way how it should be. 

Hi there, my hosted website went live about 2 weeks ago, and I'm barely ranking on Google.

When looking at Google Search Console, I'm only showing up on result #22 for an obscure keyword (the keyword is "brooklyn escape," which is the name of my domain).

My goal is to rank on the first page for keywords a typical searcher might try, e.g.: "rental property brooklyn," "short term rental 2br brooklyn," etc.

I'm willing to put in the work to get this done, but frankly I'm not sure where to begin.

Still waiting for OR to lead us out of the dark about this. 

I don't seem able to accept the early release and also do not see the 'Listing Editor' mentioned in the video. It seems we haven't gained any additional functionality through the app, which I suppose isn't surprising with an API connection. Anyone else noticing this?

Yes, please OR staff, inform us about this!

- How does or will this interface with OR?

- If I sign up for Early Access, will the API feeds from OR affect whatever modifications are made on the Airbnb side?

Please inform us about OR's interaction or lack thereof on this important update!

I'm also curious about the updates as seen here:
https://www.airbnb.com/release/host

You can opt-in to the 5 new features here:
https://www.airbnb.com/early-access/overview

1. Earnings Dashboard
2. Co-Host Payout Updates
3. Co-Host Messaging
4. Compare Prices
5. Pricing visibility

I'm always hesitant to opt-in to these things because sometimes you cannot reverse them and then there's conflicts with platforms like OwnerRez that need time to update their API etc...

Curious to hear what everyone thinks/suggests!

Hello to everyone in the OR community,

I have been studying the new release from Airbnb and working on my listing to make sure I'm up there on every level (and thankfully I am a Guest Favourite rental and Superhost). 

What does everyone think about it?  I would like to hear your views.

And a question for Owner Rez:  I understand that all the features that are available to individual hosts on the Airbnb App may not be available to hosts and property managers using a Channel Manager or PMS.  Can you give us any feedback on this as regards OR and how it is likely to impact the opportunity for us to make our listings stand out? 

We have 1, soon to be 2 large rentals in TX. We have Airbnb, VRBO and our own direct booking website (and recently added booking.com). With there not being a OR integration with TA, is it even worth listing there? Pricelabs doesn't have direct integration with them, so it doesn't even look like we can utilize our dynamic pricing - can just set our weeknight and weekend rate and then everything would have to be managed separately - hopefully there is at least an ical integration. 

I haven't heard of anyone booking a vacation rental thru TA, but didn't want to rule it out if other have found it to generate stays. 

Thank you, 
Brooklyn 

In two of our properties we offer only basic cable service (major networks, mostly) and advertise it on the listings. Those properties have all Smart TVs so guests can stream their entertainment by logging into their own streaming apps. My listings say:

"NOTE: This house includes a basic cable package. If you want to watch premium channels or services such as Netflix or Prime Video you will have to stream them on your mobile device."

My guest instructions packet & check-out instructions contain a reminder to the guest to sign out of all of their streaming accounts before they leave.

So glad code can now be seen without opening  the message. 

As far as I am concerned, this has just been a nuisance.

Bump.

You can see a video about integrating with Houfy here:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-management-api-integrations-houfy-setup-connecting

Houfy is mainly self-directed and self-promoted, by you. It functions as a free website. Houfy does not market their site, promoting the site is up to you. Some host are successful with Houfy bookings.

ABnB is getting thin these days in our area. I'm looking at Houfy and would like to see how others have experienced using their platform.

Do you have any tips on integrating them with Owner Rez? I searched the site and really found nothing.

The Whimstay team is still working on the integration. It should be before year-end at the latest, but probably sooner than that.

Do you know when you expect Whimstay to be connected?

Has anyone left Hostaway to go to Owner Rez?  The inbox with OR is a big issue.  Impossible to keep track of guest communication. The calendar display on Hostaway and so much for information like blocked times pricing for all properties in one spot, plus Google Vacations.   Just curious if there were other reason why people left Hostaway?

Hello Caleb, I read the article and still found it difficult to understand how it really works or how it can be integrated into each other's website.  However, thanks for the tips from a colleague. Because of my location it's really not going to be worthwhile for me. 

Hi,

First and foremost we have an article on this subject here that I recommend giving a read, let us know if you have any questions about any specific points:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/property-sharing

That being said, I also reached out to a colleague who has a property or two in a share for any personal advice they may have and this is what they had to say:

"You should only join a share that is specific to their area and their kind of rental property. we also had a requirement in our share that you had to have a link in your OwnerRez website to the property share to encourage everybody to be cross referencing everybody else."

~Caleb