General Help and Questions

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Please disregard my question. I turned on Book Now and went through the process of booking and the travel insurance selection was there!

Pretty cool!

Hi, I am really new to ownerrez but I think I am going to love it once I figure it out and get it all set up. My question today is that I have Travel Insurance enabled for my property. I thought that when someone requested a quote that the option for purchasing travel insurance would automatically come up.

I just went out and requested a quote but the option for purchasing travel insurance did not populate the quote. Any feedback?

TIA

Airbnb does not make guests' real emails available at all. You cannot see them in your Airbnb control panel yourself, so Channel Bridge cannot get them either.

What is available, is a proxy email address via Airbnb that they will forward to the guest. Once a booking has been made, this email is not filtered and any email can be sent to it, and it'll make it to the guest. After the booking is finished, the proxy email is disabled and won't work anymore.

Here's how to set up OwnerRez to send an automatic email to your Airbnb guests, to get their real email address:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/airbnb-request-for-contact-info-real-email-address-and-signed-renter-agreement

I just used Channel Bride for the first time with Airbnb. It did not scrape emails. Is that correct?
I thought it was supposed too
Scott

Another time this would be useful is for long-term stays. For example, if someone books my property for a month, I'd like to take a $400 security deposit instead of a $100 one. Not sure if the channels would support this, but if some or all do (or even for direct bookings only), it would certainly be a nice addition, especially in these current times (where we're getting some month-long inquiries).

Incidentally, I did have a monthly renter earlier this year and had some trouble collecting on the security deposit. The authorization still showed as open and available (it hadn't been released yet), but when I tried to claim it, the card was declined. I suppose for longer stays, an actual charged SecDep is probably preferable to an authorization-only hold. Anything that can be done in the software to assist with that?

Hey guys how can I trigger an email to go out on a Sunday for trash collection on Monday?

Ken we know you mean well but we need help now. Is there any community people who would be willing to do a little hand holding?
Scott

Thanks, Ken!

I've set up my rental agreement for guests to sign as part of the booking process. However, our HOA requires guests to sign a lease addendum specific to rules on common property. I usually send this with my check-in email to guests 7 days before booking - it serves as a good reminder of the general rules.

I know there is a way to create multiple legal agreements. However, I don't see any guidance about a way to require guests to sign a second agreement post-booking. Is this possible?
Thanks.

Yes! You can do that in the Rules tab of a specific Booking or Quote.

Is there a way to manually change it on a per-booking level?

Unfortunately, at present we do not have the ability for your security deposit to vary for the same property at different seasons. We've occasionally had people ask for this, but it's rare.

Can you write in to the Helpdesk about this issue? I took a look at your account, and some of your properties are on the API, and some aren't. The API ones should still do all the taxes, as Chris said, because you're doing your own charging of the guests. The other ones may be an issue, so we need to gather more information with you.

The whole message system was supposed to get a significant overhaul this summer, until everyone's schedule got all knocked out of kilter.

We do, however, have new resources working on doing training videos right now. Setting up emails is on that list.

Agreed. It would be so helpful if there were an if/then guest journey flow chart to show when which emails are sent to whom when. I have no idea of the flow of these messages, so it's tough to know what to include in which message.

Hey all,
I am no doe doe but I am having the hardest time understanding setting up emails. I am a visual person and this site has been written by engineers with very little visual or explanation of what is happening.
Would anyone be willing to zoom with me and teach me the basics?

Scott
919-358-4015
scottsguesthouse@gmail.com

Hi - I'm deep into setup of my account. I'm setting the rules for security deposit holds and am running into a problem. I take a much higher security deposit for summer holiday weekends to discourage damage from groups that aren't our typical guests (ie, groups of friends vs our normal family groups). Is there a way to do this with OwnerRez? I only see one place for the amount to hold.
Thanks.
Anne

Thank you for quick reply, Chris, but they don't. They collect and remit county and state taxes:

"We collect State Sales and Use Tax and State-administered Local Sales Tax for all reservations in the state of Colorado under 30 nights. The taxes are remitted by us directly to the state. We began collecting and remitting in Colorado October 1, 2019."

They do not collect city tax, though. I have the city taxes set in OwnerRez, but it doesn't show on Vrbo site - I pretended to be a guest and tried to make a "fake" reservation. Only county and state tax is being collected.

When you're in API mode with VRBO, they will pass all applicable taxes through to you -- basically the same as a direct booking.

You don't need to do any special configuration for that like you do with Airbnb -- just make sure the taxes are applicable to the HomeAway listing site.

I need to collect and remit our city lodging tax. Vrbo only does county and state taxes.

My listing are connected through API.

I figured it out on Airbnb where I set it up as Passthrough, but how would I set it up on Homeaway?

yep. April is blocked bc our area asked for it. and reduced airbnb availability to 90 days so essentially only 2 months booking window. Even that is moot as there are 0 inquiries

Like many of you, we are getting a lot of refunds from the Covid 19 pandemic. Is there anyone out there in this community who could talk with me about the correct procedure on both these systems. I have been on the QB interface for about a month now and continue to learn more about how it works--sometimes to my surprise!

Kathy Martin, Bookkeeper
30A Coast Vacation Rentals
kathymartin234@gmail.com

In effect you just did - anyone who finds it while searching for the same question, will now know the answer and that it worked for you. :-)

I understand.. Thank u for quick reply. Is there a way to mark this as "Resolved"? This topic?

Yes, exactly.

Ok yes I agree a hold. So just to clarify...I want to delete the $300 in the Surcharge section correct?

There isn't. But it is possible to configure the main booking display to also show open quotes, so you can readily check and see.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/main-bookings-display

Yes, you have doubled up on the security deposit. What you've actually done is configure a Security Deposit Hold:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/security-deposit-holds

And also a Refundable Damage Deposit:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/refundable-damage-deposits-rdd

You only want to do one or the other - we recommend the Hold.

I know in the "Rules" we can set a security deposit. I have it set to $300. However I am a little confused. I ALSO have it set up in the Surcharge & Discounts" for $300 for each stay. Am I essentially doubling the security deposit?

I ask because when I send a quote...the quote is confusing. It gives the total amount due..including security deposit 14 days prior to arrival. And that is my rules. So that is correct. However it also says that a $300 security deposit will be held one day prior to their arrival. So which is it? According to the booking quote it shows the total amount..including the $300 that is collected 14 days prior to arrival. But then it also says $300 will be put on hold a day before arrival. So this got me thinking that I have set this up wrong. I need to delete the $300 from the Surcharge and Discount section of my rates. I set that up across all my listings except for Airbnb.
Sorry it may be a little confusing since we can not attach screenshots in these forums.

I shall defer to your support ticket queue. ;) And yes, I do understand now. Thanks for clarifying.

Although I use PriceLabs, so setting rates/seasons in OR manually just isn't even on my radar right now... :P

Yes, I have been manually doing blocks before and after each guest. I missed one the other day in May, though, and now I have a same-day turn for a property there. :/