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I use Channel Bridge with VRBO. When I get a new booking, an entry is made to OR to block my calendar. The entry uses only the first name of the customer. This syncs with my QuickBooks and creates a customer there with only a first name.

Later, back in OR, I download/upload the booking via Channel Bridge and the customer information gets filled in. This also syncs with my Quickbooks but instead of adding to the customer that was created already, it creates a new customer.

So I have a bunch of orphaned first-name-only customers in QB. Any way to avoid this?

TIA

That's an interesting idea! Could be good for security purposes too -- no need to generate a code now for a booking next year.

We'd need to come up with a way to handle downstream implications though. Right now there's an assumption that if a booking will have a code, it always has it generated. Some folks have triggers on booking create that will send out codes, and it wouldn't be populated at that point with this option.

I suppose we could make this be default to creating codes on booking creation, and then add a new option for "wait until X days before arrival to generate code". If you chose the option, then it's on you to configure your triggers to match.

We're not aware of any issues with the travel insurance. Please send full details to the Helpdesk so we can investigate.

Guess your forum software doesn't allow images/attachments, but I'm on a (grandfathered?) VR Pro plan that's $12/month plus $5 per lock. It allows 200 users+guests.

The Business plan allows 100 users and 300 guests for $9/month+$9/lock.

The Enterprise plan allows unlimited users+guests for $12/month+$12/lock.

I'm not quite at the point of needing to upgrade but if I continue to add properties, it'll be a potential issue for me. OR could help this by making when the guest data is transmitted to RL a configurable option--say, "assign a code 14 days prior to stay," and only send the data to RL at that time.

Hopefully by the time I start getting to where 200 guests is an issue for me, you'll have gotten this implemented... :)

I am not able to access the trip insurance policies for any of my bookings right now. When I have a cancellation, I like to send them a copy of their policy along with their cancellation notice. Currently an error page comes up when trying to access this. Do we know if this is a temporary glitch, just a me glitch, or if I need to contact someone about the problem?

Hmm. Do you know what the enterprise and other pricing levels are?

We used RemoteLock for awhile. Our challenge was in their pricing model for the number of properties that we have. They do charge by lock (the first element of their pricing) but you also need to keep in mind the number of active "guests" (second element of their pricing)that you will have in their system at any given time. Their pricing structure does not link the locks to the guests... and at their lowest price level (with OR integration) you get 150 guest users, next step up is 300 and then Enterprise is unlimited. With each step up in price level you pay that fee per lock even though the issue is tied to the total number of guests that are needed. The important consideration here is guest count this is at the account level not the lock level so in our case with 30 locks it meant we could only have approx 5 future reservations per lock because the booking goes to their system at the time it is created. We have many more than 150 active bookings in our system at any given time and for us to step up to even the next level it would have made our lock management more expensive than our entire OR system. For us it was a surprise, so if you are going to do RemoteLock make sure you understand how many reservations/bookings ("guests") you will have open at any given time. We are currently testing alternatives as electronic door locks are not going away in this world of contactless checkin.

Hi, Chris - Sent you an email with more info. :)

Properties > [Property] > Rules > Change > Booking Window section > Require arrival of at most:

I've read through the attached - but likely because I'm so unfamiliar with OR - I can't get follow along to the instructions on how to add guest names/ages.

Wondering if anyone would be kind enough to do a little more hand holding/basic walk through as to how to set this up for direct bookings and Airbnb. On Airbnb - the guest has to put in the names (no ages) of each guest - but not sure how to get that into the RA. On the direct booking - the # of guests comes through - but there's nothing that forces them to fill in the names of each person - and not sure how to get that into the RA

https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests/template-fields-for-agreement-info-guest-needs-to-add

Careful going back.... Credit card processors often don't refund you the fees anymore. On a $300 security deposit, you're going to eat about 10 bucks. That's on each and every booking.

your message right there says "refunded" - I don' think the average renter is going to read beyond that and figure out what category of booking they fall into to determine how the deposit is made (hold verse charge).

Can you send an in BOLD/CAP line during your message, outside of the contract language, to only those that are direct explaining it's a hold?

"Rental Security Deposit of $300 is required; it will be released or refunded within 14 days after check-out if there are no damages, rule violations or excessive cleaning required (See the Rental Agreement for details)."

"REFUNDABLE RENTAL (DAMAGE) DEPOSIT in the amount of $300 is required:
If Rental (Damage) Deposit is included in the booking amount, it will be shown in the quote.
- Alternatively, for Direct bookings or 3rd party site bookings that do (did) not collect Rental (Damage) Deposit, Owners may require a Rental (Damage) Deposit:
--via placing credit card hold authorization $300 prior to the start of stay; or
--by other means of payment (such as bank transfer) $300 prior to the start of stay.

- The Rental (Damage) Deposit must be received by the Owners and cleared by the bank / credit card processor prior to granting access to the Property.
- Owners will return or release your Rental Deposit (as applicable) within two (2) weeks after check-out, less any damages or excessive cleaning fees, provided the following provisions are met:
...........

I'd caution you on going back to the traditional hold - you'll be charged by your CC processor that can add up. What language are using right now to inform? can you copy paste here

I am doing cc sec dep hold on direct bookings. What I have noticed is that about every 3rd renter is expecting a "refund" even though nothing was actually charged as a deposit but it was card hold only. I have it explained in detail in reply-to -inquiry quote email, rental agreement, FAQ etc. yet every week I seem to be getting text/email asking "when will my deposit be refunded". People do not seem to understand the concept of credit card HOLD. I am about to go back to traditional refundable deposit. Anyone has that same issue and how do you deal with that?

Yes, the trigger looks at both Booking and Guest tags (as well as Property tags as well).

So something that applies to the guest in general like "ID received" that should apply to future stays you'd put on the guest. But something that applies to that particular booking like "flight info received" or something like that -- that would go on the booking.

Here's a discussion of how to collect and include guest names and ages:

https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests/template-fields-for-agreement-info-guest-needs-to-add

We really don't recommend using initials as you describe, but again, there's a discussion on how to do something like it in this thread:

https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/general-help/rental-agreement--is-there-a-way-to-make-guest-initial-every-pa

Curious what others are doing. Ken's been kind enough to walk me through the rental contract uploading process. However my contract as structured requires an initial on each page, and some information filled out such as name and age of all guests not just the one booking, CC info, as well as other contract info.

Does anyone not have their contract embedded in the auto email, but instead link to either a fill-able PDF the guest can print off and sign/initial - or perhaps a e-sign 3rd party host? This would apply to both direct bookings as well as OTA API bookings

ah perfect, thanks. Do you know where it is?

That helps! This is my first time using JS.

One thing to note here - I set up cross-domain tracking using google tag manager. Not sure if this is the best way to go about it yet.

For reference, I'm using Wix (I would recommend it so far) so in the tracking tools menu, there is a field to enter custom scripts within the body tag.

On pages that host widgets, I entered the script from 1) just after <body> and placed script 2) at the end just before the </body> tag.

You can also set a Booking Window of max 365 days in the future. There are settings for that in the property rules. This will make it so that your calendar is always blocked beyond 365 days from now.

Some answers:

1) The first bit of JS can go anywhere you already a script tag (or you can add a new one).

2) The second bit of JS goes after both GA and the OwnerRez widget code, so it can reference them both and link them together.

I added an example page to the bottom of the article: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/cross-domain-widget-analytics -- does that help show how everything should lay out?

No worries. So you'd still have to do reconciliation to account for the bank account transactions pouring in from Vrbo and Airbnb.

What OwnerRez's QB Sync does (right now) is create sales transactions in the form of invoices and "received payments" in QB that correspond with bookings and payments in OwnerRez. Each booking is automatically turned into a matching invoice in QB and each payment likewise.

Then, what you have to do, in the bank transactions area, is "bring in" the deposits and match those to the paid invoices that were created in QB. This is required because those deposits often do not match to the penny what is in the invoices and payments. For instance:

- a single deposit from Airbnb or your CC processor can include multiple booking payments that is deposited into your bank account in one deposit

- a deposit from Airbnb or your CC processor can have fees removed before the send you the deposit

In both of these cases, you need to create a Bank Deposit record in QB that matches to what you actually got and then matches to invoice payments that were made along with an adjustment for the fee that was taken out. Then, that Bank Deposit record will match to the penny the bank transaction that shows up.

We plan on updating our QB sync to provide more of this automaticaly but just haven't had time to work on it yet.

2.1) I assume you're putting "window.OwnerRez = { skipLoadDefaultWidgets: true };" within the script tag? It doesn't quite read that way.

2.2) Where are you putting:

ga(function(tracker) {
window.OwnerRez.loadDefaultWidgets(tracker);
});

In the header after GA code? beginning of widget?

Thanks for your help, Chris!

Hi Paul, hope y'all don't mind if I piggyback on this thread...

I am in the midst of trying to figure out how to run my accounting. I have QuickBooks Online, as of very recently, and I do not yet have it linked to my OwnerRez account. Thus, the income that QB registers is that which comes from VRBO, AirBnB, and Stripe for my direct bookings, into my business checking account (linked to QB).

If I were to integrate my QB to OwnerRez, would it run the income accounting as you laid out above, in that the income isn't realized until the booking actually arrives, or would I then need to reconcile the bank registered deposits with what comes from OwnerRez? Or would it automatically create the liability account thing and reconcile itself?

Also, would OwnerRez account also for financials from VRBO and AirBNB or only the direct bookings?

Thanks so much!

We don't have the ability to do that, but there's an easy workaround - set your default rates to something uncommonly high.

That way, most folks won't book the rates out past what PriceLabs sends you, and if someone does - hey, free money!

Pricelabs provides a rolling 365day spot price. Is there a way to have OR unblock each day the new day that has the pricing?

For instance - right now Jan 26 2022 shows a Pricelab spot price that reflect my min rental amount. However Jan 27 is below that (and every other day after) as there is no information from PriceLab updating.

I don't want anyone to see rates for the days past the Pricelab pricing - but also don't want to go in and open my calendar a month at a time in blocks - can you set OR or open blocks as they roll into the 365 day window?

Not yet. We've been hunkered down on messaging, website and PM stuff since then. We do plan on working on QB updates throughout 2021, but no ETA yet.

The difference in model is basically that income isn't realized until the booking actually arrives and the money is held in liability accounts until then. The way it works now, there is a single QB "invoice" created for each OwnerRez booking and then payments are mapped to payments on the QB invoice. It works, but there are accountants who advise doing the other model instead.

You don't need to manually work with the widget URL's. Instead:

1) Set up your OwnerRez account for Google Analytics: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/analytics-tracking

2) Customize your site's GA code to track visitors cross domain (from your site through the widgets to the resulting booking): https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/cross-domain-widget-analytics

I'm having a hard time understanding my web traffic info and guest interaction with my website. The widget URLs are hard to digest and make it hard to track anything with the default settings. Does anyone have any suggestions for setting up Google Analytics and Widgets?

Is there a way to change the way widgets appear or add a note to the URL?
/widgets/a3eb5a9907d5466fa9b746b3eb83452978?seq=ml"