Latest Activity...
what is advantage of igloo vs several types that OR already integrates with?
Right, they charge *us* $3/lock/month for all locks we would connect to the API. If they come up with a different model where they don't charge us, we're happy to integrate.
Here's the response I got from Igloo.
Great!
We charge $3 per lock per month for the API.
Regards,
In the last few days or week, I've noticed that each import I do from Airbnb via Channel Bridge is not correctly importing payments. Guests who have at least paid 1/2 their balance for future stays are reporting as having paid nothing yet. Previously the behavior of Channel Bridge import was to show that the balance had been paid on reservations that had been made on Airbnb.
Example reservation: ORB2098065 or ORB2119857 (among others)
Can this be resolved so that accurate information is imported into OwnerRez from Airbnb or is this expected behavior?
We are open to an integration, but as far as I know, igloo charges integration partners for access to their API. They're the only lock provider that tried to charge us to be able to integrate.
Our position is that integrations like this are win/win for both partners and shouldn't incur a charge. If there is a user charge for a lock subscription that is one thing, but charging a partner for API access isn't. If they are willing to change their policy and allow us to integrate without incurring a monthly integration fee we are happy to add that connection.
I'd recommend reaching out to them to see if anything has changed in their policies.
Any plans to integrate with these?
https://www.igloohome.co/
Got it! Thanks!
That's a good idea as I have the same issue. Multiple owners on one property.
There isn't currently a way to do this on the owner settings.
What you could do to work round that would be to create a custom owner statement email template (in Settings > Email Templates) that has both emails in the TO and use that for that owner when you send the statements.
Yep, you can do this with an optional surcharge that the guest can choose during the reservation process. More on that:
https://www.ownerrez.com/blog/add-ons-are-here--also-known-as-optional-surcharges
https://www.ownerrez.com/blog/enhanced-surcharges-discounts-and-add-ons
If they want something during their stay, there's no guest form for that currently. Instead, you'd edit the charges of the booking and then run a payment on the booking.
Yep, iCal is what you want here -- that will auto block off the calendars. We update every 30 minutes, channels tend to update several times a day but don't publish their schedules.
Each channel API integration also has its own separate method of updating calendars automatically, and those are up to the minute.
The limitation on Kaba is that you have to have your own Kaba account vs using an aggregator like A-Z Live or Secure Lodging Systems.
This is a limitation on the Kaba end. They don't provide accounts to smaller users but direct them to aggregators/resellers. And they are only able to grant access to an entire account, not to individual locks within it. So if you're sharing an account with others then you would have access to all of the locks in your account. If you have 10 or more locks they will help you break them out to your own account, but otherwise it's a sharing situation.
We're in talks with Kaba to see if there's a way round this -- either by them adding more permissioning or by us becoming a Kaba reseller and doing the permissions on our side, but no ETA on that yet.
We have 6 units not sure what PM mode means, will 6 be eligible?
Looks like the Kaba interface is only in PM mode with 10+ units? Any chance those of us with only 1 or 2 units will be able to get in on the act? Would make life so much easier. Thanks!
I'd like to offer my guests the option to buy extra items (t-shirt or coffee mug, for example) and/or an extra experience (the romance basket, for ex) during their booking process. Is it possible to "upsell" items during their booking?
there is a setting on these sites that allows you to sync with other sites to avoid this. But it might be iCal, but should eliminate most problems. I think Booking.com has it too.
I only have three units, so I need to use the channel bridge for syncing with vrbo.
I'm ready to add one of my units on airbnb, will the ical links that do the calendar syncing allow me to somehow block vrbo if a new rental happens on airbnb, or the reverse where I block airbnb if one rents on vrbo?
Or am I stuck needing to do this manually, which means if a booking happens when I'm on a plane or away from a computer I can get double booked?
Hey Chris Thanks for the quick response. I was getting Error Importing Payments. After trying a few times, and relogging into VRBO it looks like that fixed the issue.
Hello,
Is there a way to set it up so the owner statement is emailed to two owners (two different email addresses)?
Thank you!
Daniel
Yep, that field is built for telling guests which days are available to be booked, not for staff to see days that are blocked.
Have you considered giving the cleaners portal access accounts so they can see the calendar directly? https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/portal-access -- that may solve a lot of these problems by letting them view exactly what's going on, and let you send a bit less on the notification email, perhaps just one a few days before arrival that says "hey be careful there's a same day turn here."
Not currently, quotes are first come first served. It is on our list.
What is the error you're getting? If you log out of VRBO and clear your browser cookies/cache, then log back in and run channel bridge, does it work?
I was able to use channel bridge import from VRBO successfully in the past. However, I am getting Error today. I have multiple properties as well.
Tracy P said:
Good Day,I have several listings on VRBO/Airbnb - when i do the Channel Bridge connection and pull in bookings from a certain date, it doesn't look like all of them are coming through. Is there a place I may have missed the link for each property?
Also, it wasn't clear to me, but it states I should go in weekly and download bookings. Isn't that being done automatically?
Once I get API set up, is this all a moot point?
Lots of questions... newbie!
Good Day,
I have several listings on VRBO/Airbnb - when i do the Channel Bridge connection and pull in bookings from a certain date, it doesn't look like all of them are coming through. Is there a place I may have missed the link for each property?
Also, it wasn't clear to me, but it states I should go in weekly and download bookings. Isn't that being done automatically?
Once I get API set up, is this all a moot point?
Lots of questions... newbie!
My new cleaner wants to be alerted when a new booking creates "back to back" cleanings.
I don't think I can do this with existing OR custom fields in my normal new booking alert email, because the "Available Adjacent Nights" field does the opposite of what I need. That field has no content when there is no gap, it only has content when there are >0 adjacent nights.
I think a new field is needed that will have text like this:
- This booking DOES NOT require back to back cleaning.
- This booking requires back to back cleaning on arrival 7/4/2018
- This booking requires back to back cleaning on departure 7/8/2018
- This booking requires back to back cleanings on arrival 7/4/2018 and departure 7/8/2018
I see that I could create a trigger based on no gap, but that means I have to send up to three emails to my cleaner for new bookings
1) the new booking created alert that states the dates
2) if no gap prior to booking
3) if no gap following booking
I don't think I can combine 2 & 3 into a single email because the cleaner wouldn't be told where the no gap exists (prior or following or both)
Am I missing some easier way to implement this with existing OR triggers/custom fields?
Is there any way to have a choice to block calendar dates when you send out a quote??
Depending on where you are, you may be allowed to charge a fee for credit card payments (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oklahoma and Texas—and Puerto Rico prohibit passing these fees on to customers). My guests are mostly check payments but I offer credit card at an additional 3%. Owner Rez let's you automatically add a surcharge if the guest chooses credit card as the payment option. On the flip side, if you are in one of those states you are still allowed to offer a discount for other payment methods. In this case you could raise your rates about 3% and then offer a 3% discount for check payments.
Thank you so much!! Very helpful.
Airbnb's built-in "smart pricing" is pretty bad. I do not recommend using it. If you do use it, make sure your minimum amount is set pretty high or they will end up hitting it frequently.
FYI - on those "rule sets"... If you use Channel Bridge to push rates, we create those rule sets for you on the fly so that min. night rules are set to match OwnerRez over the course of the year. This includes where rules change for seasons or gaps.
Our upcoming API integration with Airbnb will do this automatically. No need for Channel Bridge pushes at that point.
