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This happened because of the consolidation we did to bring Vrbo and HomeAway to one channel instead of two. There was an edge case where the matching logic on channel bridge wasn't merging them correctly.
We just released an update that'll fix that, and updated those bookings to use the correct Vrbo listing site (rather than the legacy one).
Why would some of my bookings come into the OR system with a Listing Site of VRBO (legacy) and others come in with a Listing Site of (VRBO)? What's the difference in these two?
I have noticed that I have a trigger set for "Everything But VRBO" and the VRBO (legacy) bookings apparently do not follow the same rules as the VRBO bookings...
Thanks for your insights.
EDIT: The OR guys are ON IT!! Dev team looking into it.
Thanks for the feedback! We always do try to give a heads up well in advance when we make a change that could affect your rates or rules. In this case, unfortunately, we didn't factor in that case where there was an exclusion for Vrbo and not HomeAway, so we didn't get the issue into our notification queue.
I apologize again for the mixup here.
Copy thanks Chris, that makes sense. As a suggestion for the future, maybe give us all a heads up next time a change like that is coming so we can prevents such issues... I spent the better half of my morning trying to figure this out and fixing the problem it created, not to mention temporarily deactivating my VRBO listings in the interim.
Yes, this weekend we rolled out an update that merges all of the Vrbo/HomeAway family of channels into one Vrbo channel. We'll have more details about that in the changelog tomorrow.
I looked into your settings and I see what happened here -- before the update, you had criteria on the taxes for "everything but Vrbo". Since Vrbo and HomeAway were separate, that wouldn't exclude for HomeAway bookings previously. After the update, that criteria started applying to all bookings through the Vrbo API channel, since they're all now treated as Vrbo.
Looks like you've already fixed this in your settings by removing those "everything but Vrbo" criteria. I double checked the taxes feeding to Vrbo and they are included in the feed currently.
Just got a booking last night via VRBO API and low and behold there was no tax charged... I know my setting had been correct because just 2 days ago we got another VRBO booking and the tax was included... I hadn't touched any setting since then.
Now I'm also noticing none of the verbiage I see anywhere on OR has "Homeaway" like it used to, it's all now just "VRBO", including in the places where we select "apply to booking sites" ... I suspect this recent change had something to do with the tax debacle I'm experiencing also.
Did OR just make some changes and not make it abundantly obvious and clear to owners... or did they announce the change and I just missed it?
Same error msgs here.
These are intermittent network hiccups and can be ignored, unless you specifically see something wrong in your Vrbo listing.
I started to receive said report looks like daily. The latest has this:
ERROR Failed to retrieve Listing XML File at https://fast.ownerrez.com/haapi/haxml/ora7ccdcf175x/listing/{listing ID}
for both listings.
Is there anything I need to do?
Sure - the OwnerRez Widgets are driven by the data in your OwnerRez account, so if PriceLabs is connected and pushing rates into your account, that's what you'll get in your Widgets.
I am interested in getting a Wix website for a more updated look on my website. I have had the OwnerRez hosted website for the last year and a half. I am trying to make sure everything will work and flow smoothly. If I use the Wix website and add the calendar, availability, Book Now widgets etc are we able to still use Pricelabs and have OwnerRez push the rates to the website? Is there anything I am not thinking of that I would need to add to have everything flow nicely? All this is new to me. I have someone helping me build the website.
No, gaps are not created/enforced on blocks.
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/property-availability-rules#changeover
Hi !
Do blocked dates also have the gap rule applied? If I Block out 3 days and have a gap rule of 2 days am I also preventing bookings from the 2 days before and after the gap?
Thanks
Tracy
Thank you, I accidentally disabled the widget. I do not think any of those options can be done with this builder, bummer... :(
The problem here is that you've got a double iframe situation going on with the widget. Because of how it's set up in your page builder, the embed is an iframe that keeps the OwnerRez widget from being able to access the outside page and see the URL parameters there.
Two ways to fix this:
a) if you can have the webpage builder transfer the querystring arguments ?or_arrival=2021-10-02&or_departure=2021-10-09&or_guests=8 from the outside page into its iframe, then we'll be able to access them
OR
b) if you can change the webpage builder to render the widgets out directly on the main page vs inside an iframe, then we'd be able to access the parameters directly
Also FYI, when checking this I noticed you've got a disabled OR widget on your main Cabins page.
If I get a visitor to site from a Smokies Common Widget referral, I thought that dates /guests will be prepopulated in widget on my page? Example:
1. person searches smokymountaincabinsbyowner.com and enters Oct 2 - 9 , 2021 and 8 adults in the search widget;
2. properties with matching availability are shown
3. Guests selects my property (Appalachian Escape) and clicks on it.
4. Guest is taken to MY website property page where I have availability/book widget for my property
5.
Expected result: Widget on my property page is prepopulated with dated Oct 2 -9, 2021 and 8 adults
Actual result: Widget is NOT prepopulated, and guest has to enter dates and number of people again.
NOTE: I see property widget prepopulating for one of Alliance partners, example: https://rentalcabinsingatlinburg.com/star-dancer-cabin/?or_arrival=2021-10-02&or_departure=2021-10-09&or_guests=8
Is there something wrong with widget set up under my property??? TIA
I know there are Changeover Restrictions to prevent a check-in or a check-out on specific days (like Christmas). While I don't care if guests check in or out on these days, I would like to prevent a flip so my cleaning crew does not have to come in on holidays.
Is there a way to set this?
Relatedly, is there a way to set a Changeover Cushion? What I mean is: I would like to ensure some bookings have at least one night between them (again, to give my cleaning crew extra time during certain seasons or around specific dates such as Christmas). I can't find anything like this, but I'd be surprised if there isn't a work-around.
Thanks!
It's certainly recommended that you do. Normally you can import the property listing data using this tool:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/listing-content-import
Working through this checklist will help bring in your booking data as well:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/setup-checklist
Hi I’m on a free trial, if I already have a website, vrbo, Airbnb and trip advisor listing do I need to fill all the content info in etc?
It does that by default. What are you seeing that would suggest otherwise? Please send the information in to the Helpdesk so we can investigate privately.
Is it possible for OwnerRez to pull full AVS data and card security code match data from authorize.net?
Got it, thanks Ken! I must have completely misunderstood what that setting was for lol
That's because you set your Arrival Restrictions in the API settings to only allow bookings that end within a few days from now, which blocks off the rest of your calendar.
All of the sudden today all 3 of my ABB and VRBO listings are showing the entire calendar unavailable. I have API with both sites and my OR calendar is accurate. I've just done a full sync and that didn't help. Any suggestions...?
You'd want to do both - you can remove it from your Vrbo account using their control panel, and then also disable it from your API in OwnerRez, which will allow you to disable the property entirely and stop paying us for it. :-)
How do I remove it from VRBO? Do I remove it on VRBO side or just disable on OR side? Thanks
You can send them to the email addresses listed here:
https://app.ownerrez.com/inquiries/instructions
If you format the fields correctly, OwnerRez can parse them into an inquiry:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/inquiry-parsing-for-custom-emails
Really interested in this as well. I thought I saw it somewhere in help/support but, apologies, cannot locate it either.
Yes, Airbnb does remove all URLs from their internal messages - but only for guests who have not yet booked. Once a guest has booked, the URLs aren't removed, so you can use the link to get the Rental Agreement signed at that time.
However, generally we recommend using the email method as well, just to make sure.
I have a question regarding using the CRM (specifically with the AirBnB channel but perhaps others as well). Perhaps someone has a work around or can advise me on a better approach.
Since going with the full API for my listing sites I am really enjoying the channel communications through CRM. Back in the day, when a booking was imported from AirBnB, I sent out regular emails for things like instructions, rental agreement link, etc. Some guests had trouble with the regular email. I like that we can create templates and use them in the AirBnB CRM now and that this goes through AirBnB messaging. However AirBnB removes all URLs from the message. Case in point, my standard "Please sign Rental Agreement" gets the OR link to the rental agreement blocked.
As anyone determined an approach to use CRM (with AirBnB.. or others) that preserve the links? Or are will still relegated to email for this approach.
Glenn
