General Help and Questions

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Please write in to the Helpdesk, with the ORB number of the booking, and we'll take a look.

Hi there,
You mentioned in this post that some sort of alert for repeat guests was coming soon. Does this exist yet? If not, is it on the horizon?

I'm trying to hold a part of a guest's security deposit but receive this error when submitting the release.
The booking was through VRBO.
I haven't done this before. Any assistance would be appreciated.

There aren't *automatic* tools, but you can import their data using our Excel templates:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/importing-outside-bookings

I am currently using YourPorter but an trying to switch to OR. I have imported my calendars from Airbnb and VRBO but I wondered is there an automated way to import direct bookings that were created in my other Channel Manager or do I have to recreate them in OR?

That sounds great Paul. Look forward to that addition.

@Chris: You're right about certain things like push notifications or camera integration (for cleaning checklists) though camera stuff can actually be done with regular web app. To bridge the gap on push notifications, we've kicked around the idea of having System Alerts go from email to text (or both) so that you get a text message instantly for certain things. That would help and make it so we didn't spend huge amounts of resources on a native app when 90% of what a native app would do is already in the web app.

@Jennifer: On the property rules. Find a property > drill in > Rules tab > Change button > scroll down.

Where do I change the check in and check out time that is used by {BCHECKIN} and {BCHECKOUT}?

With Airbnb channel messaging integration (and hopefully HomeAway--sorry, Vrbo--and others coming soon), I think the need for an app has increased greatly as I can foresee using OR in place of the native AB/HA/etc. apps and moving away from relying on email notifications and instead relying on app push notifications for things like inquiries/booking notifications/messaging notifications/etc. I know it's not a cheap/simple process, but there's a lot of value in it, especially now.

If you are already using our API connection, don't worry about it, you're already compliant.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-management-api-integrations-homeaway-common-issues-questions#price-consistency

I am hoping to learn from others on the best practices of creating owner statements.

I am currently doing them monthly. I am not sure the best way to deal with bookings that overlap dates.

When you generate statements, what "booked range" and "expense range" do you like to have selected?

What is Pricing Consistency with VRBO?

I received an email that went into why its good, why it's required, but it never defined what 'price consistency' means or gave any examples. If we have API integration, are we already compliant?

Interesting. I do not miss not having an app in the least. Have too many apps on my phone already. I think what OR has works just fine. JMO.

+1 for this!

When you are not using an API connection, but just iCal calendar feeds, OwnerRez creates bookings and blocks based on imported data send to us in the iCal calendar feeds you've imported. When a new event appears in the calendar feed that we haven't seen before, we create a booking; when that event disappears from the feed, we cancel it.

Unfortunately, the various listing channels tend to create events in the calendar feed that aren't really bookings. For example, when a guest starts through the booking process, the dates they've selected will be blocked off, even though they haven't completed the booking process and made a real booking. This makes a certain amount of sense, since you wouldn't want two people booking the same dates at the same time.

However, because of the way the iCal standard works, this leads to the kind of whiplash you're seeing, as "bookings" bounce in and out of existence.

To prevent this, where possible, OwnerRez tries to identify what's a real booking and what isn't. That's why we recommend using the setting to import "Bookings Only", not "All Events". This generally solves this problem.

Unfortunately, we can only do this if the channel provides some sort of status flag in the calendar feed from which we can determine which events really are bookings and which aren't. VRBO does. Airbnb also does, but it's not completely reliable. Currently, it looks like Booking.com does not.

This is one major reason why we recommend to use API connections wherever possible - they don't have this problem.

My calendar for one of my houses keeps blocking and then unblocking itself. People cannot book for one particular house for next May 1-June 29, 2021. I get 40 emails per day saying "calendar blocked" or "calendar dates canceled"

It is really annoying and I cannot fix the calendar to make this go away. What can I do?

Owner Rez says the issue is the Booking.com Calendar and Booking.com says the issue is the Owner Rez calendar. Ahhhhhhh

Please help.

@Lauren: Everyone does it different. Some due impose a cancellation flat fee (call it 100 bucks) or pass the Stripe fee on to the guest.

So how do you handle this with guests? Are you passing the fees on to them? Just got a booking with VRBO API that cancelled a day later. Incurred a $65 fee from Stripe.

Maybe define summer season and set turn over days for summer season only?

During the summer we do Sat-Sat/weekly bookings and then allow for shorter stays and open change over days after Labor day. Can I pick which weeks have change over restrictions ?
Thanks

Is there any update on this to have two different owners to be assigned to one property? I have several homes where there are multiple owners and it is not an LLC. Most software I have used you can input multiples and say how much a % they own so at the end of the year it makes accounting easier.

This would be a great addition. Especially, adding notifications! Now, we have to check periodically. Not ideal as we can miss questions, issues, inquiries, last minute bookings.

Anything in the works?

Thanks,
Claudia

I have had multiple experiences like this. A text feature would help solve a lot of this as guests either don't check their email, or open it and don't read the whole way through the instructions.

I have GA, and I can see people hitting widgets and website pages in real time. However, when inquiry comes into OR, I do not seem to find a way to see where the inquiry has originated. Is there something I need to adjust in GA or in OR to see that? I have same GA tracking ID set up both for my website and OR widgets.

send a triggered email to renters when there is 1 night left before/after their stay offering to take that night with discount.

What are the good ideas on the gap analysis? How are you filling the empty days? I have a 'typically' heavy weekend rental business. Looking for ideas.

I want to make the page with calendar and rates -- send inquiry -- Home Page
of the website -- the first page people see.
Too many call to say they can't find the rates or availability - because they don't use the tab at the top of the screen.
One lady has this as a block on her home page -- but I can't find a way to put it there like she has.

Hi! Are you asking about AirBnB or VRBO? Also, have you done the API integration with either of them?

If AirBnB, and you do NOT have API, then take a look at you listing and click on Booking Settings at the top of the page. Scroll down to "How Guests Can Book" to change your settings.

BUT - if you're asking about AirBnB and you are API integrated, you can not turn off IB. However, you can change to their most restrictive setting which will eliminate a lot of folks. Go to Settings > Channels > API Integrations. Once you're in the AirBnB connection and click on change, the second line lets you pick your policy. It's not foolproof, but it definitely helps.

Hi all. Is there a away to not allow Instant booking? An approval first?

Thanks,
Claudia