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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
Yes, we've had this ability for a few months now:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/property-availability-rules#changeover
Has any progress been made for this? I am inquiring if it was developed yet or it is still in the works. Perhaps I missed an update there. It would be very helpful. Some hosts manage multiple units, therefore, manually blocking can become troublesome and human error can happen (causing a same day turn around). Thank you.
That seems a bit on the high side for Ascent, from our experience. Perhaps there are financial issues that raise your rates - have you asked Ascent why their rates are so high, point-blank? They're usually willing to negotiate, or at least explain.
Failing that, we support a great many other processors that you can talk to:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-processing-gateways-recommended
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-processing-gateways-list
And in most cases, changing processors is not terribly hard:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-processing-gateways-changing
Hello all, I've been using Ascent now for a few months (simply at the recommendation of OR), and have been less than impressed with them, mainly (but not solely) due to the fees they charge. After all is said and done they are keeping over 4% of my total transaction amounts each month. It is my understanding that Stripe charges only a 3% flat fee... can anyone using either Stripe or Ascent chime in and let me know if your experiences have been similar?
The 3rd party alerts and CRM list can only display whatever data is available to OwnerRez. If you are just using iCal calendar imports from Vrbo and Airbnb, the first name is all you get (and not always that much.)
You can get the rest of the data by running Channel Bridge manually, but of course by then the 3rd party alerts will have already been sent.
The only way to really fix this issue, is to use our API connections. That way, you get all the data upfront, to be included everywhere it's useful right away.
Whenever we receive a booking, the 3rd party alert and CRM list only includes a first name. Is there a way to make sure the last name is included on the 3rd party alert and CRM list?
Not shot down exactly, but there's no easy way to do it, so I wouldn't anticipate it anytime soon.
This might be happening because OwnerRez is adding whatever payments are in OwnerRez to the invoice which in turn pays off the invoice and removes the payment options on the QB side. But that would only happen if you had already entered payments in OwnerRez. If the booking has no payments in OwnerRez, then no payment data would be going across. Can you provide a screenshot of what the invoice looks like with/without being synced from OwnerRez?
Appreciate the heads up. Will do my best to make it clear with the guest. Is this on the table/horizon with VRBO or has been shot down by them already ?
Thanks Ken, I'll follow up via email
I'd double-check on that with them. We don't have any specific integration, but that doesn't mean they can't be used - we integrate with Authorize.net which is used by thousands of banks.
My concern is, our interface doesn't support that type of "surcharging." If they add the fee to the client, then there isn't any way for it to be displayed or disclosed to the client. If you tell them the price is $1000, you'll charge $1,000, and OwnerRez will send them a receipt for $1,000 - but their credit card bill will show a charge for $1,050 because the processor tacked their fees on top. This might lead to issues down the road.
Clear View Merchant Consulting came to see us yesterday with a unique CC processing system. They offered to charge us a flat fee of $45/month for processing. The actual CC fee is passed on to the card holder as a fee (convenience, processing, reservations, etc.). When I asked what is the percentage being passed on they said about 5% (kinda high). They also said they integrate with OwnerRez but I didn't see ClearView as an integrated payment processor. Anyone have experience with ClearView or a similar system. TIA!
Not that we're aware of. There is also no way for OwnerRez to know if a guest purchased the insurance from Vrbo - we've asked about that.
Going to bump this with a related question.
I have the damage wavier turned on, and the fee added, for VRBO guests. However, in addition to this damage protection they are also being offered one from VRBO. I want to make sure customers don't buy two different damage protections - or at least are 100% clear that's what they are doing. Is there anyway to turn off the VRBO damage protection offer?
That makes perfect sense, thanks Ken
The pet field will only appear if you have properties that allow pets, regardless of the setting. Could that be the explanation?
If not, please send in a request to the Helpdesk and we'll look into it.
Yes, the QuickBooks sync is designed to go the other way and transfer transactions from OwnerRez to QuickBooks. As far as I know we're not turning off payment options during the sync -- that may be something happening on the QuickBooks side. I'll double check and see if we are changing that somewhere.
clicking the children option on and off will effect the appearance. The pet option however doesn't do anything, nothing appears on the inquiry widget once selected. Anyone else getting this?
We use Quickbooks payments to collect rent via ACH and credit card payment. OwnerRez does not see these payments. It looks like I need to manually add all the payments I receive to OwnerRez. Also, every time I sync a booking, it turns off the payment options on the Quickbooks invoice. Am I missing something? Thanks!
Click Properties, General Info, click the word "Configure" which is to the right of "Security Deposit" in the top section called "General Info."
This just takes you to "Rules" - which is another way to get there. Click "Change" at the top, scroll down to 'security deposit' and you should be good to change as you like.
Please remind me how to change the security deposit for a property?
Yep, no worries. I just moved it from the Feature Request forum to General Help.
That is good to know. Is there a way to remove this suggestion
For anyone else reading this, just FYI - all changes to your OwnerRez properties, rates, etc are automatically synced to the channel after a period of time.
It depends on the channel how long that period is, and it depends on the content. For channels like Airbnb and TripAdvisor, changes are pushed across in near real time. Some things are done in 15 minute delays to catch multiple changes and avoid thrashing. Other channels like Vrbo have immediate updates for rates and availability, but photos can take half a day.
There is never a time, when changing something in OwnerRez, where manually pressing the Trigger Full Sync button is required or it won't go over. Everything goes over eventually, given enough time.
Provide ability to trigger a full sync for each property defined to a channel.
Reason: For instance, we have 26 properties, I modified a discount which violated some AIRBNB rule. After fixing the discount I had to manually click TRIGGER FULL SYNC for each of the 26 proprties
It would be fine to either merge the customers in QB if they have the same information, or at the very least, allow me to initiate the sync between OR and QB. That way, I can wait until the customer info is fully filled out (ie after the Channel Bridge update) before sending it to QB to create a new customer.
Thanks
Hi Dori,
Not really, no. 😟 I understand your process, and it makes sense that this would be creating new customer records in QB. By default, our system does not delete old customer records because we don't want to possibly delete a customer record that was used elsewhere. However, we could do some additional checking and add some cleanup. Thanks for the suggestion.
I am at the opposite end of the spectrum from PacViewLodging as I am only a ‘little guy’ who is now down to one property. However, I do have a great interest in home automation (for both personal home and my vacation property). I have a Vera Zwave device at the vacation rental that has been working for many years and it nicely controls all my lights, my pool, and the 5 separate outdoor locks.
As per the earlier part of this discussion, I did end up going with RL to manage one of my five locks on the property (the main door one) because of the OR integration with it. Yes, I would have liked all my outdoor locks to be managed, but RL has a crazy scheme (as mentioned by PacView) that charges per lock and it is $6 per lock. So, managing the main door is my tradeoff of $6/month vs $30/month. The convenience of the integration is work the $6/month for me even though I only have the one property.
The integration works the way that PacView says. During an OR booking the code is generated and sent to RL immediately. You can see the booking and code and dates on RL and you can also see that it has not yet downloaded the code to the lock. This is to avoid overloading the lock … which I believe mine has a 50 code limit from Vera… from being overloaded. At the 3-day mark, RL downloads the code to the lock. The integration from OR -> RL -> Vera is impressive. Any changes in OR (even in check-in times) are cascaded down to the lower systems almost immediately. Even if RL has updated Vera (within the three days) changes are cascaded down. If the Vera is down, RL keeps trying and will warn me up update failures. This works out well within my messaging strategy to my guests as I use the OR generated code at certain trigger points. I have little (or no) reason to ever change it.
As I said in another post, I would love to work with OR to develop its own API to update the lock through Vera. The API works flawlessly from RL so it certainly exists and works well. I am just not technical enough to understand it. I know because it is a lock you need to go through the Vera servers with authentication to update it and RL has certainly implemented that well. If OR had an API for Vera it would be nice to avoid the monthly fee to a third party. However, as I can imagine from OR’s perspective, it really depends on how many people have a Vera that controls their locks and if it is worth it.
