General Help and Questions

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Hi Glenn,

Disallow Gaps rules should take into consideration the Forced Gaps rules as well. Try changing the Disallow Gap to 4 nights and the Forced Gap to 1. The combination of the two might make it so someone has to either book the next day or 5 days later. You can play with Tools > Direct Rate Tester to see what the rules say.

Interesting problem!

Received a call today that worked out the replacement of the part. It was about 45 days out of warranty, very appreciated. When you get folks on the phone, they are very helpful.

Hi, I have a question for the community on changeover restrictions rules. What I want to do is someone simple I think, but I am not sure if the rules can support his or not. Here are my requirements

a) I enforce a minimum booking of 5 nights (I find this discourages the partiers)
b) I like to keep 1 night for changeover on both sides of the reservation. This makes it easier on my cleaning staff and in COVID times like this, it is a good practice
c) As my place gets a lot of interest, I want to shape my reservations by avoiding a gap that is less than 5 nights (the gap considering rule b)

So, for example if someone books with a departure of Jan 14th, nobody can book on the 14th (as per rule (b)). They could book on the 15th as there is no gap (considering rule (c)). But also considering rule (c) if they do not book on the 15th then they cannot book until Jan 22nd as that would create a gap less than 5 nights (which is unbookable according to rule (b))

Rule a is pretty easy - under length restrictions
However it seems I either have to choose rule b OR rule c under gaps under changeover restrictions. I cant seem to define my gap avoidance AND have a night padding on each side of the reservation

Anyone have any ideas on how to configure this?

Thanks in advance.
Glenn

We actually no longer support that particular functionality - you can see Chris' post is several years old.

where is this bedroom table? TIA

I now have 16 locks from RemoteLock - I used the Edgestate locks and am getting the "your lock is out of warranty" just in time... about 18 months later, I believe warranty is 12 months. Pretty disappointing, I guess being asked for $25 for a part when I have a reasonable reoccurring bill with them. The billing is a real pain also. I can't tell when a lock's plan is up for renewal. So for example, I can't see when the lock in question was actually installed.

I am not aware of a better service. I have seen great improvement in using the app and in the customer service but when I was at the remote location this weekend, I knew there was no way I would actually get to speak with somebody to help me. They have great staff when you can get them on the phone, but reliably of the lock itself is now becoming a concern. I have 16 locks so, it's not exactly a small investment. Anyone have better experience with a different vendor?

Sort of, but it's clumsy and not recommended. OwnerRez is not really designed as a bulk email marketing program. Instead, we recommend exporting your guest list from CRM > Contacts, or a specific sub-set of guests using the Booking screen, List view, Filter, and Export. Then, import the resulting Excel file into a bulk email marketing program such as Constant Contact or MailChimp.

Is there any way to do an email blast to past guests with OR?

You can do that if you're API integrated--the "channel mark-up" is an option in the channel's rules. I mark my Vrbo rates up 5% (to cover the PPB fee) and my BDC rates up 30% (to cover their 15% commission plus an extra 15% fee for putting up with their crappy platform and guests).

Almost all of the set-up is manual on Booking Dot Com's admin page, and it's an absolute PITA (the interface is TERRIBLE). That, plus the low quality of guest BDC attracts and the non-productivity of that channel in general, is why I've only bothered to set up two of my 11 properties with BDC.

I've hosted I think four guests from BDC. One of them left my property a filthy mess, and the other actually damaged things (nothing major, fortunately, but still). I was not able to collect from either guest (my listings were defaulting to "Payments By Booking," and I hadn't yet learned to collect CC info directly from BDC guests). I've since adjusted my BDC markup to 30% (to pay the 15% BDC commission plus an extra 15% "pain and suffering" fee for putting up with BDC). Ever since then, I've gotten exactly one booking that booked and then canceled a few days later (for travel next year).

I wouldn't bother.

We also decided to self insure. In 3 months we paid over 1K in ins premiums to RG. We had 1 claim ~150 because a guest broke a bedside lamp. The lamp was part of a set so we asked to have the set replaced since we couldn't get a single replacement that matched. RG denied it and stated they would only pay for the single broken lamp. Since they supposedly specialize in STR, they have to know that any quality owner would want to have a matching set of lamps unless you have a design aesthetic with complementary, but not matching, items. Even here, if a replacement complementary item could not be found they should replace both items.

Yes, this would be a useful enhancement. We too want to remind the guest to take trash cans out on a specific day.

Sometimes depending on when a guests books they get a barrage of emails that you don't necessarily want to send at the time of booking.
Could the Booking Field Trigger Criteria have more options for the Booked on Date?
Such as [Is Not] - [Today] or [Day of week].
Thanks
Richard

Yes, there's more to it than that. Please write in to the Helpdesk and we'll provide instructions.

Hi, I have my AirBnB account successfully added to the API and it is working well. I decided to add my VRBO account (HomeAway) to the API as well. I Have added the API channel, configured it as per the instructions and mapped it to my listing ID. The properties page says it has never synced and that it is "Sync Pending". I have tried to force a sync, but nothing happens. Am I missing something?

I have a guest that is staying 31 days and just got stuck paying twice the normal premium for damage protection because their stay exceeded the standard 30 coverage by one day. This was not the case with the past insurance provider that OR provided. I have filed a couple of claims with Rental Guardian and they find ANY excuse not to pay or only make a partial payment. When I was using CSA Travel via HA/VRBO, I NEVER had issues with them paying including missing or stolen items which Rental Guardian will not pay. I agree that it's looking better to just self-insure or go back to security deposits. OR needs to re-evaluate it's partnership with Rental Guardian.

I'm struggling with reconciliation batched bank deposits to the individual reservations in my accounting system. I currently use LynnBrook for taking payments and they don't provide an easy way to associate a batched desposit with the reservation invoices the deposit is associated with. Wondering is Stripe provides better access to data for doing this sort of thing or if anyone is willing to share their experience doing bank reconciliations for their stripe transactions.

The PAY fields are only available in context of a particular payment, for example for a payment receipt.

They're not available on booking level templates, as there could be multiple different cards on file for a given booking.

I had SMS set up using following template (below). Now I see that {PAYCCTYPE} {PAYCCNUM} are not rendering. I though I had those rendering before???:

Reminder about your final payment for your reservation at {PDISPNAME}. {BSPAMT} is due {BSPDAYSFN} on {BSPDATE}. If you paid by a credit card and you want your balance payment charged automatically, then no action is needed - card on file {PAYCCTYPE} {PAYCCNUM} will be charged on {BSPDATE}. If you want to pay by a different credit card, or to pay by other means, then please click link {BUPAY}.
Thank you ~ {MYFULL} ~ bluemountaincabins.com

Ken thanks so much for your reply! I love OR and can't wait to have this fixed.

FYI folks, we've heard from our VRBO engineering contacts, and this is an issue across the board, not just with OwnerRez. They're aware of it and have escalated it for an urgent fix.

In the meantime, if you can't wait, you can reach out to your VRBO PM support rep and ask them to switch OwnerRez off as your System of Record for this amenity - though that may affect other amenities also, it won't turn off the entire API.

We don't recommend this solution - if at all possible, just live with it for a few weeks until it's properly fixed.

I am looking to speak with somebody with an actual reservation for a property through booking.com

Does the API integration update descriptions and pictures?
Am I correct to understand I need to manually create the property in booking.com, then connect it? (Not a problem, just looking to understand).

Just in case you have not seen it, there is a thread in the unofficial ownerrez support group forum on facebook. I don't currently work with any owners that have hot tubs... :( but great problem for you to have and I bet it will be resolved pretty quick.

Still trying to troubleshoot this. I have selected Hot Tub on OwnerRez but it is not showing for any of my properties on VRBO. This is such an important amenity! I tried troubleshooting this with VRBO yesterday but it appears to be an OR problem. Please help! Thanks, Derel

Is this still the best strategy? Can I increase rates based on platforms at a flat rate per platform? (Booking.com would be increased for example?)

Thank you. I Found it and turned off. It's been a while since I set it up. I appreciate your promptness.

It's under Settings > Payment Methods.

Where do I find this? Thanks

Looks like you've set up a processing surcharge in your Check Payment method! That's what needs to be removed.

I'm confused by this.  I don't charge my guests a credit card fee.  To me, it's the cost of doing business. What do I need to do?

"As of this morning, it looks like you're still using our Processing Fee (or Discount) setting on payment methods."
Can someone explain this, please? Thanks.