General Help and Questions

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It seems smbyo inquiry passing last name in place of 1st maybe? Not a big deal. Just something to check.

Q1) Is there any way to create a trigger that fires when a guest is past due in making a payment to VRBO. OR would need to know the due date for the unpaid payment along with the total due and total paid amounts.

Q2) Since VRBO started collecting some but not all taxes in CO, I have to submit an additional payment request on all bookings. It's calculated at 8.5% for town and village taxes, based on my nightly rate plus any special fees (admin + cleaning) that I've set up. This could be tricky because once the payment request is submitted in VRBO it then appears to be part their subtotal that includes nightly + special fees. I don't currently have a way to receive payments in OR, so I have to submit the request from VRBO, but would be nice to have OR alert me if this hasn't happened as it should.

Currently I just have an informative email that gets sent to guests telling them to expect the payment request.

Two way iCal sync for booking calendars is included in the base plan.

Channel Management refers to deeper integrations like API where you can push photos/descriptions/amenities and get bookings automatically. Some channels have a 5 property minimum for API so we also have a channel bridge tool for Airbnb and VRBO that lets you push rates and import full booking details with no minimum properties.

Those three buttons are different selection modes -- Toggle, Range, Columns.

Toggle is a simple click to select a day, click to deselect a day. This is the default mode on mobile as range selection is tougher there.

Range selects a sequential range of days as you click and drag (default on non-mobile).

Columns selects a range based on day of the week as you click and drag, so you can select all Fridays and Saturdays in the month.

Range and Columns do work on mobile as well as desktop but they're a bit more fiddly than Toggle mode which is why Toggle is the default on mobile.

besides, you cannot charge their cc without explicit authorization even if you happen to know it. You have to ask for it and they have to authorize you to use it for damages.

names, phone, email , number of people - yes. CC - no.
You can also set up ownerrez to trigger an email to the renter once booking get created on OTA (such as vrbo or airbnb) and is imported to Ownerrez to 1) electronically sign rental agreement (assuming you have one, if not - make one) 2) enter their address-phone-email- 3) further communication, automated welcome emails, door codes etc can be set up to be auto sent to renter via ownerrez.

Would Channel Bridge also import phone numbers, personal emails, and CC #s from other booking sites? I recently had an Airbnb booking and the guests did deliberate damage to the home totalling over $4000. Because they placed their booking through Airbnb we did not have access to their CC info and therefore could not charge them for the damage.

Thanks Chris - it's a huge improvement !!

What does the Toggle button do?

Very cool to be able to drag/select a full week and then update all rates together.

@Becky - if you are like me and have fewer than 5 units on a site like VRBO, then the Channel Bridge (which is an extension you use in Chrome) is a way to sync all of the booking information from VRBO back into OwnerRez.

It is a manual step, but I don't find it overly complicated, in fact it helps ensure that I do take a look at all bookings around the time they get made. I personally use (and like) the instant booking from VRBO and if I didn't have the added step of using Channel Bridge I would be tempted to just ignore new bookings because I literally wouldn't have to do anything.

In practice, using the Channel Bridge is easy, after it's installed in Chrome you just
a) click on the extension
b) click to download bookings
c) once downloaded you go back to the OwnerRez website and click on Tools/Channel Bridge and click okay a few times

If you skip this step your booking in OwnerRez will still have sync'd some information from VRBO, like arrival and departure dates, but other information like guest email, guest name and I think even charges will be empty in OR.

So in summary when you're talking about auto-sync, OwnerRez let's you automatically sync the most basic information about a booking using their iCal sync. That doesn't require any interaction on your part, and happens within about 30 minutes. But OwnerRez went beyond that and provides you with the Channel Bridge which lets you do a 100% complete import from VRBO to OwnerRez so that you have the most accurate records in OwnerRez possible.

I personally love Channel Bridge, it works reliably and I have all of the records of my guests in one place that I control, not VRBO.

My key takeaway is about the direction ... Expedia is trying to grow the pie, and if the way they do it today isn't working, well tomorrow they will likely tweak things. Overall I don't see anything negative about getting more visibility, other than my hoping that the quality of guests doesn't drop. I'm fortunate to be at a high priced resort where partiers simply don't go in general, but I still keep in mind that my entire business depends on the units not getting wrecked by a careless guest.

Sounds like that's what I need. I can learn to use the site and software over time, but I'm not techie enough to just jump right in.

Re: Channel Management - Is this a feature that goes beyond syncing booking calendars, or is it required in order to have my different listing calendars sync whenever a booking is placed?

No, Concierge is separate. The Hosted Website is your own website advertising your properties, allowing guests to directly book with you without having to always go through some other channel (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.)

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/hosted-websites

Concierge service is our staff directly helping you get your OwnerRez account set up and configured.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/concierge-setup-overview

@Rich, just wanted to let you know we've released an update to the rate calendar to make it more resilient. It'll now prepopulate with the existing values and only overwrite if you update them.

You can also use the range or column options to select a set of days and change them all at once.

We don't currently have an "increase x% option" but that's a great idea!

Does concierge service fall under the category of the premium feature of "Hosted Website"

Good morning Ken and thanks for the info. Can you please clarify what is included in the Channel Management add on? I was of the impression that all of my listing calendars would auto sync through OwnerRez. Am I misunderstanding this? I admit without hesitation that this is new territory for me and I don't yet have a good understsnding of everything.

The {PINSTCHECKIN} field code is a built-in field code. It pulls from whatever is in the Property > Guest Instructions > Check-In Instructions field.

If nothing is showing in your email template (or wherever you dropped the field code) are you sure you are previewing a property that has Check-In Instructions entered?

Not at the moment, no. We're working to add that ability, hopefully in the new year.

Several different things here...

1. API docs start here (there are a lot of them):
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-management-api-integrations

2. Channel Bridge docs start here:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-bridge

3. Importing and exporting calendars is completely separate from Channel Bridge. Look here:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-management-calendar-import-export

You have to manually set up the calendar syncs - but once you've done that, they'll run automatically and take care of blockings dates appropriately thereafter without you having to do it. Channel Bridge will collect information about the bookings that isn't included in the calendar sync, but the bare fact of there being a booking on a particular date is handled by the calendar syncs on their own without manual intervention once they're set up. They don't run instantly, but it's very rare for them to be out-of-sync by more than an hour.

4. If you are using API connections to HA/VRBO and Airbnb, then your rates will be automatically updated - so yes, your PriceLabs rates will flow through without you having to do anything. If you aren't using API connections but are using Channel Bridge, the rates will be updated whenever you run Channel Bridge to do that, but not automatically on their own. PriceLabs always updates your rates in OwnerRez automatically.
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/pricelabs

And yes, this would have been better in a new thread. But right now our system doesn't have a way to do that. We'll be reworking that in the future.

I was wondering if when an automated email or any email gets sent to a guest, does it also get sent to the inbox of the AirBnb/VRBO app? The messaging system I am coming from had that feature. The guest would get an email as well as push notification in the respective app.

This might be a simple question but it is stumping me this morning and I can't find any documentation to explain.

On each property there is a "Guest Instructions" tab where we can enter our Check-in Instructions for the property. I'm trying to figure out how we can include those instructions in an email to the guest.

I found this macro/merge code: {PINSTCHECKIN}

The first time I entered that code (thinking it would pull the information from that page on the property) no information was included when I previewed the email.

So then I went to Settings > Custom Field Definitions and tried to create a new field for {PINSTCHECKIN} but it didn't like the { } brackets.

Can anyone tell me what the purpose of the "Guest Instructions" tab is per property and how we should include those instructions in an email to the guest?

I know this response is completely out of the context of the original post of this thread.

But, would you be able to direct me to something that explains the API or ChannelBridge and how i can automate the calendar being blocked simultaneously on VRBO or Airbnb when a booking is made? I installed ChannelBridge but it looks like I have to manually export calendars to sync them inside OwnerRez. That's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a sync that occurs auomatically. If someone books via VRBO or someone books AirBNB it blocks those dates on the other calendar (preferably instantly) without requiring me clicking anything.

I did get Pricelabs integrated and my listing from OwnerRez into Pricelabs. I assume now I can make the price calendar in OwnerRez sync with VRBO and Airbnb... but, again, I want them updated at the same time and without requiring any human interaction.

Please feel free to push my reply here to a new thread - or direct me on where I can find info on how to do this.

Thanks!

Thanks for your support! And yes, PriceLabs does integrate directly with OwnerRez - with no additional fees. :-)

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/pricelabs

I also find this crazy. I have 10 airbnb listings all with igloohome locks. I am going to be adding my listings to VRBO and found OwnerRez which I think can help sync my pricing through pricelabs.co

I use igloohome locks and like the auto generated codes that sync with checkin and checkout times.

It's absurd Igloohome is wanting to charge you a $3/listing access fee to their API. So I sent them an email just reinforcing how crazy that principal is. After all -- they would benefit from OwnerRez having the API seeing as they would now gain access to lots of new clients who may not have seen an igloohome. Having it integrate with your system would mean more uses for their lock across a lot of different platforms.

Click on the booking in your calendar, which will bring you to the main overview screen for that booking.

Then click on the Transactions tab and scroll down. You'll be able to see the Security Deposit status - if it's been scheduled or the hold put in place, how long it will last, etc.

Becky, I send you an email with some examples of the two types of website.

Basically, Widgets are a free feature that's included with the base OwnerRez rate. They can't stand alone; they're snippets of code that you can plop into your own website, designed by you and hosted somewhere else, so that it can tie into the OwnerRez system and display calendars, do instant bookings, etc.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/sites-widgets-overview

The Hosted Website is a full website hosted on our servers that displays your property information that you've entered into OwnerRez. it automatically includes the widgets for calendars, instant booking, etc. The website is able to completely auto-generate from your OR account information and, assuming you've provided everything relevant, you don't even need to make any customizations or changes to it. But you can if you want to.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/hosted-websites

Pretty much - yup. Or long after they should have left.

We're planning to make time-setting possible in a future development. Maybe sometime next year.

I am looking for where to find the deposit hold information and I can't locate it. How to I know my guest has provided this information so if there is damage I will be able to make the charge?

I can answer the 2nd question. You can use all ownerrez widgets in your own website hosted anywhere. I created my website way before ownerrez started offering their own websites and I just used embedded ownerrez widgets. Widgets are included in base cost.
You can see my website example using ownerrez widgets smoky-mountains-cabin.com/RVL

I have just signed up for the two week trial on OwnerRez. I have so many questions, but the first one is regarding the premium add on of the professional website. What does this encompass? Is a professional website provided with his cost, can we use tools from OwenerRez to build our own website, or does this just refer to hosting an already existing personal website?

So a post check-out email that I send on the day of check-out would be sent while they are still there? I would want to send it a few hours after they have checked out. I wouldn't want them to think I am rushing them out of there.