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We have addendum agreements for special events. For this, we use Docusign, inside their platform they have an option not only to electronically sign but you can request the signer to attach an IMAGE or in this case an ID. This allows guests to attach their photo right into the legal agreement, that way we have it stored in a file. It is super helpful however we would love to have it all inside OwnerRez!

There isn't any kind of task list in OR itself, but I have some email triggers that email me a reminder to do things like send guests a welcome message on the booking platform (I've found that with Airbnb, guests often don't see the emailed welcome letter as they are expecting all messaging to come through the Airbnb platform instead), contact guests who haven't signed my rental agreement, etc.

The set-up is a little unintuitive (you create a new email template and put your own address in the To: field instead of the template defaulting to the guest's email address) but it seems to work for my needs.

Thirding this! I love that OR offers electronic signing of rental agreements, and ID verification would really be the capstone of risk reduction and chargeback defense.

I do ask guests to send me a photo of their ID, but occasionally I get a guest who is a little concerned about exposing info to a stranger via email. Honestly, I'd rather have a trusted third party service that maintains secured servers and a strict privacy policy verify the ID and just tell me pass/fail anyway than have to worry about handling guests' PII myself.

I've seen this offered a few other places -- I thought I saw that Guesty offered it, but I can't find it now, but maybe it was another software provider. I've also seen a couple of third-party options; one was clearly a high-volume option and when I contacted them, they had a huge minimum requirement and so it wasn't feasible, but I just found this one on a Google search: https://safelystay.wixsite.com/safely/property-managers -- they have an API that OwnerRez could hook up with. I'm sure there are others.

I'd love it if the system would either enforce that name on the card, the name on the ID, and the name of the person signing the rental agreement matches or flag bookings where there isn't a match so I can investigate further.

At the very least, though, I'd almost rather have OR give guests a way to upload or email ID directly to the system so I can keep it inside OR instead of having to sift through emails in my personal inbox to find the right one. But integration with a third-party ID verification system would be even better!

Yes, I know it is still there. Just not as convenient. ; )

It's still there! Just moved to a different location -- go to Tools > Email History.

It's still there! Just moved to a different location -- go to Tools > Email History

Yes Monica, Most of us are missing that and hoping for a reinstatement!

Just adding my vote to re-instate the email tab. I checked it often to make sure I had not missed a note from one of the OTA's.
Thanks, Sherene

Following. I would love to see an easy way to collect ID's from Ownerez!

I am not sure what you are trying to do. But you can do "third party alerts". I know there is one when booking is created. I personally do not use but you may want to look into it.

Hello,

I am new to OR, using the free trial period. I'm wondering if there is the ability to add reminders on a booking for specific tasks that should be scheduled for a future date? I've looked through the Support area and don't find anything about the ability to add a reminder to a booking.

This would not be a reminder email, but a reminder set for a specific date so our staff will be alerted that something needs to be done on that booking.

Thanks!

Not airbnb, but yes to vrbo. You need to set up an auto responder in case the dates are "available" . The response text should be plain text with no links. Specify listing sites that it applies to as VRBO and Homeaway. Here is my sample.

Hi {CFIRST},

Thank you for considering {PDISPNAME} for your vacation.

The dates you are inquiring about {IARR} - {IDEP} are available. Please see information about renting our cabin:

~ {PDISPNAME} is a private vacation home, rented out by owners (not a management company or an agent).

~ NO smoking ~ NO pets (no exceptions!) ~ NO house parties ~ NO bachelor / bachelorette parties ~ NO student / school / chaperoned groups.

~ Must be at least 25 years of age to rent, and be present during the entire stay; No third party rentals. Minors under 18 can only stay with parent, legal guardian or responsible adult, and must never be left at the property unsupervised.

~ No occupancy above {PXOLIMIT} persons (which includes all children ages 0 and up), with maximum {PXMAXADULTS} adults (over 14 years of age). We price per property per stay, quoted rate is the same whether one guest is staying or {PXOLIMIT}, but we do not permit over limit occupancy. If you have more than {PXOLIMIT} people in your party, ask us if we can suggest another cabin to better accommodate your party size.

~ Property is not reserved in your name until deposit (or full balance) is paid and booking is accepted. Availability is real-time and may change after this email is sent.

~ Rental Agreement signed by primary Guest and valid photo ID are required if you decide to book. If the required is not returned to Owner within 72 hours from booking acceptance, we reserve the right to cancel your booking and issue a refund of any amounts paid.

~ If you are booking more than 30 days in advance of your check in date, you will need to pay a deposit plus site fee (if applicable). The balance will be due 30 days prior to check in.

~ If you are booking 30 days or less prior to your check in date, the full balance (rental amount plus {PXDEPOSIT} Rental deposit) is due immediately (payment by credit card may be required).

~ 60 day cancellation policy (full refund if reservation cancelled by renter 60 or more days before the scheduled check-in).

~ We recommend obtaining Trip insurance for your trip if your stay is during winter months, or if you are concerned about possible Cancellation.

~ The exact address, driving directions and check in instructions will be provided after balance is paid and few days prior to check in.

~ Deposit will released/refunded within 2 weeks after check out provided there are not damages, Agreement violations, and no excessive cleaning required. It may released be sooner depending on satisfactory post-departure inspection.

~ Check in is {PCHECKIN} ET and check out is {PCHECKOUT} ET unless pre-arranged otherwise with the Owner IN ADVANCE. Late check outs may be subject to docking of the deposit.

~ Owners reserve the right to install and operate security/image capture devices on the property outside of the cabin for the express purpose of securing the property, driveway, entryway, parking, dwelling and its contents and ensuring adherence to occupancy limits and NO PET policy.

~ Complimentary WI-FI is available via satellite service (Typical speed up to 12 Mbps. Connection speed and availability is not guaranteed).

~ Our cabin is on well and septic. Guest understands that they be charged above and beyond the Deposit amount if prohibited items are flushed & clog or damage plumbing or the septic system.

~ Our cabin has front and yard with fire pit. NOTE: yard is NOT fenced and surrounded by natural landscape, small children should be always supervised by a capable adult.

~ All roads leading to the cabin are paved.

Regards,

Victoria and Todd over at bluemountaincabins

I think you are conflating 2 terms.
1. Damage deposit (traditional) - amount added to the total as non-taxable , and refunded by you after stay if everything checks out. I define this as additional flat fee (in my case $300, non taxable, shown below tax item on quotes). Once stay is done, I manually issue a "refund" for that amount that goes to guests's cc.
2. Security deposit. This is a credit card AUTHORIZATION (no money is actually collected). Usually set up to activate about 2-3 days prior to stay. If you do not have guests cc info in the system, an email goes out reminding them to enter their cc infor for the purpose of holding a sec dep. After stay the sec dep authorization is released either manually or automatically. Note in this case NO money changes hands. This amount is NOT shown on quotes to the guest.

It looks like you may have defined BOTH (either intentionally or unintentionally).

I use #1 on all direct bookings. I use #2 only on booking.com bookings by manipulation "rules" on a given booking. If you do not use booking.com and want to only use traditional refundable deposit, you need to follow #1 set up and disable automatic sec dep that is described in #2

?

Hello All,

We wold like to create a secure form to send to guests to retrieve their ID for verification purposes, has anyone had luck with this or suggestions?

Now that you have been with Costco for some time is your experience still positive? Is the rate consistently the same or does it differ? We use Lynbrook and pay 2.39% but we do not accept American Express. We are executive Costco members, too.

To do this, go to PM > Portal Access. There you will be able to create an additional account and grant it admin access.

I would simply like to add one additional user. So my business partner can search, investigage and complete projects with their own email address and password?

I am just not getting this security/damage deposit thing. Brain has hit a brick wall. So baby talk me thru this.

There are two System Messages that relate to obtaining the deposit:

Send Security Deposit Reminder to Guest
This email sends the guest a reminder that their security deposit is due.

Send Security Deposit Request Form to Guest
This email asks the guest to authorize or schedule a security deposit with a link to an online form where they can enter their payment information.

I have actually modified the first message that reminds the guest their deposit is due. I've also gone into my Surcharges & Discounts and set up the deposit and I verified that it shows up on a quote and is not taxed

Where I'm clueless is finding the trigger for this. Do I have to set up the trigger?

Also - why are there two different System Messages. Wouldn't we want to remind the guest that their deposit is due and at the same time give them the Request Form?

Finally, for those guests who've paid me using PayPal, how does the CC hold work for the damage deposit?

EDIT: I am more confused now. Had a booking thru OR this weekend and when I quoted the reservation it showed as collecting the $250 as a Surcharge (because I set it up as a surcharge - so I get why that showed up). But then it also said it would be collecting the security deposit 3 days before arrival. So where does that come from?!?

I went in and removed the surcharge for the $250. But I still don't know where to find the security deposit info. And, still don't understand different between the two system messages and if/when they are triggered.

Like I said - baby talk, please. :)

Hi - What may be the best way to answer the inquiries that we receive on airbnb and vrbo. I would like to centralize it into ownerrez but I am not sure where to begin setting it up. Thanks

That report still exists. It's under the Tools menu now.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I could have sworn there used to be a menu at the top of the booking area called "Emails" and you could see a comprehensive list of all the emails that had been sent, in chronological order, most recent listed first.

Am I making that up, or has it disappeared?

Thanks in advance!

@MB: This intrigues me. I currently use Lynnbrook, but I am a Costco Executive member. I’ve certainly been satisfied with my experience with Lynnbrook, and I do like the fact that they are intimately familiar with the vacation rental industry and are available to stand in my corner should a problem occur, but money is money — especially now that I will be processing a significantly increased volume via the HA API integration.

Lynnbrook expressed a willingness to revisit my fee structure with them in the future if I start processing a higher volume (they seem open to things like interchange plus pricing, etc.), but as I only just switched over to the HA API, I’m not there yet.

What have you seen for the difference between the Lynnbrook and Costco rates?

I do not use the same email for OR that I use for HA or Air. Seems to work fine for me. ;-)

Thanks so much for the detailed answer! I currently use Stripe, but will talk with my bank tomorrow.

Sheron

There is no restriction on the number of properties to use Lynnbrook. You can have 1 property and many users do.

There is a lot of confusion around this topic. Lynnbrook used to recommend using a different processor for users with very low processing volume because there are minimum costs to having a real underwritten merchant account, and Lynnbrook has to pass that cost along to the merchant. Since the Stripe's and PayPal's of the world have "no monthly fee" accounts, they figured that users would be better suited using that instead of being irritated by a $10 or $15 dollar monthly charge if the account was not being used (where it might be $0 with a Stripe or PayPal).

However, with our urging, Lynnbrook is not longer saying that and is now creating merchant accounts for any and all users regardless of processing volume or number of properties.

We highly recommend using a real merchant account (doesn't have to be Lynnbrook, but we do recommend them) instead of a general "aggregator" account such as Stripe, PayPal or Braintree. Yes, there may be a small monthly fee for a Lynnbrook account, but squeezing every last cent out of your bank account is not a smart approach when selecting a credit card processor.

In recent times, Stripe and the large aggregators have become very hostile to VR businesses, they do not refund fees when you issue refunds and they can freeze funds at any time based on "security" algorithms. When disputes or chargebacks occur - and they always do eventually - the Stripe/PayPal aggregators are not in your corner and will do nothing to help you through it. They treat vacation rentals "products" like any other good or service which means a guest can be a No Show and get their money back since "product was not delivered". Try calling Stripe or PayPal on the phone and see who's willing to talk to you or take your call seriously. There are other misc. benefits like getting gross deposit to your bank account (fees taken out at end of month) which helps with reconciliation.

It's well worth paying a few bucks per month to have a good processor who understands the VR industry and has real customer support. As your business grows, you get the added benefit of commanding better rates.

Am I able to change the email address in my profile or will it interfere with Airbnb, VRBO?

Thanks. It would not work for me then as I have only 2 properties.

Thanks. I will check into it.

Yes, it does help. Thanks! I will give them a call.