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None of those options work well in my opinion. It’s too hard to explain to people to use an iCal link. I did it with 4 different people and exactly zero figured it out from my excellent ;-) instructions.

What cleaners typically appreciate is a table listing all upcoming and future booked dates in a calendar format, and a table of cleaning dates plus an indication about whether it’s going to be a back to back, or same day turnover where time is limited.

There are other desirable details such a length of upcoming stay and person count but that’s just a bonus.

Currently OR doesn’t give any way to create such a report. Which in my opinion leads to a risk of missed cleanings. OR has no way to aggregate multiple bookings into a triggerable email template.

I currently use a cleaner who refuses to use a cleaning app like resortclean. So as a workaround I have to manually maintain such a table and keep resending it along with screenshots of the ribbon calendar.

In the past I’ve had a cleaner who maintained her own calendar and all I needed to do was send her triggered emails at booking create and also at change or cancel. But she was very technically astute.

Thank you.

No, only the Portal Access requires the premium Property Manager feature.

You can read more about the various options for communicating with cleaners here:

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

Do I need a premium Property Manager account to share calendars and bookings with my cleaners?

Perfect. At least I know I am doing the right thing with that process. If I need modifications, I will need to let the guests know that modifications occur after booking.

If you're API integrated, VRBO doesn't currently support quoting. Instead, have the guest book at the current prices and then alter the charges afterward. Since it's a VRBO API integrated booking, you'll be able to manage the charges and payments directly in OwnerRez.

Quoting is one of the biggest requested features for API and VRBO is working on it, but we don't have an ETA on that yet.

Hi, Joe:

You can modify a quote in VRBO. See if this helps - https://help.vrbo.com/articles/How-do-I-edit-a-quote

The VRBO is not yet visible in OwnerRez because it has not been booked. It has not been booked because I need to add a $50 early arrival option. I can't add to the quote in VRBO or OwnerRez. What is the best way to deal with this?

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/expedia-ceo-and-cfo-ousted-amid-disagreement-with-board-on-strategy-stock-rallies-2019-12-04

I would guess it has some similar feature, but I do not think eco setting is what I want. Also nests do not work with zoned systems, to my knowledge - Honeywell does (zoned system is when there is one unit but it is zoned with separate thermostats for different floors). I have 3 stories in one of my cabins, and one of the units is zoned across 2 floors (the other unit is dedicated to the 3rd floor). I do not think nests do that.

I am not familiar with the Honeywell. We use Nest and can set it so that when no one is in the house the thermostat knows and reverts to an Eco mode that keeps the temperature within whatever bounds you set. No need to monitor. It happens automatically. It's also nice for those days when the guests leave at 10 in the morning and don't come back until 8 that night. The thermostat knows there's no activity and switches to Eco. Does Honeywell have a product that will do that?

The headline is used on the hosted website as a headline if it is set.

The short description is used for multi property websites in search results, and for Airbnb listings with API channel integrations, but the short description isn't used anywhere on the single property hosted website.

Well, it's a matter of whether the triggering event has the information for that type of fields. If you have a Refund type template, say, then you can't fire it on a Booking type trigger like "booking created". Because there would be no Refund available in that context to render into the template.

Booking is the standard type with most of the fields you'll use and then the others are relevant to specific items like payments/refunds etc. and add fields related to those specific things.

I haven't seen this discussion before, but I'll add some thoughts.

First off, I think Valerie's approach is probably going to work the best (ignoring the human husband part) for most folks. Fully automating this in a reliable way will be rather complicated, and worst of all will not be "set and forget", you'll have to monitor it and deal with issues when things stop working.

The original post was about a Honeywell 9000 thermostat, and it seems that they have an ability to register the thermostat (meaning make it connect to the internet using wifi) and then an app that should show current settings of all registered thermostats. So Valerie's approach of sending an email to someone can actually work... Send the email to yourself, and then at your convenience bring up the app on your phone and adjust the settings. This should be as reliable as the manufacturer's app, and not a huge inconvenience to the owner unless we're talking more than just a few units. Obviously if you manage 10 units this will quickly become a huge annoyance and you'd want a more fully automated solution.

I don't have specific suggestions about a thermostat manufacturer, but for anyone wanting to fully automate this you'll want to start by finding a thermostat that allows remote programming through something called webhooks. Or through a dedicated API, but in general webhooks should be much easier to get working if you don't have the software skill to write software to an API. I really don't know if there are many options (maybe zero) that would be accessible to anyone except for somebody with fairly deep software skills. I've done some quick searching online and there definitely are groups of people talking about how to do this, but they are all very technical approaches, some using plugins and special software.

Lastly, I think I've posted elsewhere in this forum about door sensors where I've described how to use IFTTT and webhooks, but if anyone is interested in more details I recently wrote up a word document that I could send. Just text your email and ask for it to 512 913 8609 (my cell) and I'll send it along. Or ask questions here... My document doesn't address remotely controlling thermostats, but it does show how you can install cheap door sensors (<$20) which will send you an email (or a webhook) using IFTTT. And they run off of batteries that should last >6 months and do not require any kind of a hub. They directly connect to the manufacturer's website, and from there you can access open/close history and do other interesting things.

You'll find this table useful:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-management-api-integrations-property-field-differences

Can someone tell me the difference between "Headline Description" and "Short Description"? Thank you!

Well, your case is different than Rich's since you're API integrated with VRBO.

When you're API integrated, VRBO won't remit any of the tax so there's no issues based on their forced rates like there are with platform bookings. Instead, they'll just collect whatever taxes you've got set in OwnerRez and pass those through to you to remit.

So just make sure the taxes are set correctly in OwnerRez for that property totalling up to the 10.875% and you should be good to go.

I also have a property located in CO and have had to do the same thing as Rich S, asking the guest to make an additional payment to collect the tax that VRBO (and in my case, Airbnb also) does not.

Ken T suggested using the Channel bridge to escalate the rates by whatever % is needed so that you don't need to send a special request for the outstanding tax due. However, that won't really be a good solution (in my opinion) because what that will do is increase your rates overall by whatever %, which means the guest will end up OVER paying the tax. VRBO will collect their tax % based on the inflated rates.

For example, let's say the nightly "rent" is $100 and the total tax due is 10.875% (the amount due for my CO property). VRBO collects 8.875% and I need to collect 2%.

$700 rent + $50 cleaning fee + 8.875% tax collected by VRBO ($66.56)

If you inflated the tax (and fees if taxable) by 2% it would look like this:

$714 rent + $51 cleaning fee + 8.875% tax collected by VRBO ($67.89)

Yes, you could then back out the 2% from the rent ($14) and fees ($1) to pay the 2% tax but the guest ended up paying $1.33 too much.

Perhaps this amount is not significant enough to make it worthwhile to continue sending a separate payment request for the 2%; I just hate asking guests to pay more than they need to for their stays.

Hello,

I know my solution is not as automatic/hands off as what has been requested in this thread, but I've created an email template/trigger to be sent to my husband on the day a guest checks out check the thermostats and door locks after each booking.

My husband can then quickly open the thermostat and lock apps and make sure they are set the way he wants them to be set while the house is empty before the next guest checks in.

Chris - I see what you mean, when I look at a 'refund' type of email template there is a special grouping (under insert fields) for refunds which doesn't appear otherwise.

Could y'all create an email template that has all possible insertable fields? That's the only one I'd ever want to use... For instance, when I'm playing around with a template it would be a shame if I were looking for a particular kind of field and I didn't see it just be I always start with the 'booking' template.

Not a huge deal now that I know it.... And another question, as long as I know what the shortcode is, will any field work in any template? I would imagine it does, and that the 'insert field' menu is just a convenience.

The difference between the types of templates is what fields are available and what events they can be triggered on. Booking type works for all of the custom booking triggers. But if you want to create a template for a payment receipt, that's got to be a Payment type of template so that those fields are included and can be referenced. And conversely, if you go to set a template for a payment receipt, only the Payment type of templates will be available there.

you can search forum for BDC or booking.com . I have recently posted my experience.

Hi. I’m just wondering what everyone’s experiences have been with CanadaStays.com and Booking.com? Pros and cons? I admit I didn’t even know they were options until becoming involved with OwnerRez. If you are listed with them do you feel it is worth it? If you are not listed with them, then why not? TIA

Yeah, so for I've never used anything except for the booking template. I'm still curious if OR considers them different in any way under the covers... I suspect there is no difference, meaning that I could choose any template as a starting point, and then after modifying all the information (email addresses, subject and body) and it would be indistinguishable from any other template I might have chosen as a starting point.

Booking templates usually pertain to anything to do with booking. You may want to define those for property and booking (guest) specific communications such as Welcome email, Door codes etc.

Payment one pertain to payments.

Most of your templates will be centered around booking.

Joe, there are services that will design a logo for you online. Fiverr is one, but there are others. Typically you can get something passable for as little as $5 but I've spent $100 or more when it mattered.

I'm not using a logo myself, I keep pestering my daughter to design one for me but hasn't been happening ;-)

Looking for somebody that can help with a logo. I have the idea in mind, but I have not worked in Photoshop for 20 years, let alone any other editor like that. If you can help, please let me know.

If you have a logo you are using in OwnerRez or with your STR - how did you create it - are you happy or sad with it?

Inquiries from VRBO and Airbnb are best handled in their own websites/apps, because they do not send us enough contact information for OwnerRez to be able to respond to the inquiry. Once the guest makes a booking, then more information is made available and OwnerRez can take it from there.

You can set up last-minute booking discounts in OwnerRez that can be passed through to the channels.

OK. So understanding "inquiry" is not an option with the ABB API, would be interested to hear from other ABB users about what booking option they've picked with the OR API and if they've had long enough to understand the results.

I'm trying to avoid a double booking between ABB & VRBO. Had one earlier this year and it was not fun to clean up.

I am currently using IB on VRBO. I'm wondering if anyone has picked the OR option for "only guests with verified government-issued ID and who have traveled on AirBnB, are recommended by other hosts, and have no negative reviews...." Seems like that would eliminate most instant bookings. Wondering if that would also make me appear as accepting IB in AirBnB's eyes, which would help my placement in results.