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Thank you! It's disappointing we cannot use the condition with the channel messages. Mainly because the support could then see it directly if we have an issue with the guest.
Hi Liz,
For the trigger that would send the agreement A, you would need to add a condition that says number of pets is equal to 0. This should only be sent if the booking doesn't have any pets included:
For the trigger that would send the dog agreement, you would want to add the condition number of pets is greater than or equal to 1. This should only be sent if there are one or more pets included in the booking:
You can link specific agreements to email templates so that it only sends one or the other. We have this support article that goes over how you can link a specific agreement: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/renter-legal-agreements#specific-templates
One thing to note is that this would only work in email templates. So when it comes to Airbnb bookings, since they don't send us their email address, you'd still have to send them the original agreement, and then if they have a pet, send them the dog agreement manually.
Thank you for the clarification on what the new notations at the top of the page mean; however, even if we assume check-ins/check-outs are at the normal times, there is no way to tell from the main Overview page whether a cleaning is a "turn," which is how we schedule the order of cleans when we have more than one check-out on the same day. Instead, you have to click into the Change/Move page to access this information, which is not readily available to the cleaning crews. The visual calendar that used to be at the bottom of the Overview page was very helpful with this, as well as allowing a guest to check-in early or check-out late.
I've had multiple AirBnB rental guests over the last couple of weeks tell me that the link to e-sign the rental agreement is not working. Is anyone else having this issue?
I agree with you 1,000%!! Yet what you are pointing out is only a fraction of the messes.
And I have to ask, too - what's with everything having to be green? There are other colors in the world. Colors help, and a skilled, talented UX designer will be able to introduce their usefulness along with all the other types of fixes of the messes created.
I really appreciate what Chris and Paul have started with OwnerRez and their effort to make the best property and channel management software, but more and more OwnerRez's UX (user experience) is growing increasingly sloppy, disorganized, and difficult to navigate. Really and truly. Every day it gets harder to get from point a to point b. I don't have time to go into it all in detail, I am just expressing my frustration. And it doesn't seem like they are actually listening to us users.
Just one example is - I get an inquiry from a guest via Vrbo, I respond, and then some time after they book. So I get an email notification that I got a message from them, so I click on the link to respond. I try to select a template for that, and the template I want doesn't come up because the interface limits my response to Vrbo. So I click on Activity Timeline, and that still doesn't allow me to respond because the conversation is limited to their initial inquiry, not including the booking they just made. So that leaves me to try to find their booking via their Related Activity. But only their inquiry shows there, too, not their booking. So that leaves me with having to either click on Contacts and find their booking via that interface or click on the calendar and navigate month to month in the future in order to find their booking that way. Tons and tons of steps!
And the new layout that they're all proud of totally sucks! Way worse than what they replaced it with. No easy way to get to where you can communicate with the guest. To email them you have to click on a tiny envelope icon on the far right. To message them otherwise you have to click on the three tiny dots way in the upper right and then select Activity Timeline from the menu that appears there. The horizontal menu puts "charges" and "transactions" in the right spot but the least important items right after that and then the most important items, such as Email and Messaging, far away or hidden in tiny places as I described. And the labeling is non-intuitive.
The best interface is what they relegated to "Activity Timeline," and the banner over it constantly reminds me that it's going to be gone soon - replaced with what, I have no clue. The Inbox sucks, as I described, but that's only part of it. If that is a unified inbox, I hate to experience what isn't unified, because the inbox is about as far from unified as I've experienced with any software.
I could go on, but I really can't right now. It just seems like it's all being winged - throwing up whatever they think will stick and very little of it is sticking. Really and truly, a skilled UX designer is desperately needed! If they have one, then they need to be let go of them and hire someone who really knows what they're doing to take their place. I could do a better job, and I have no background or practice in such work. All I know is that the basics of all this is being pulled all out of shape and making it harder and harder to use. Focus on the putting those basics together, get users to give you feedback as you go along before even going into beta, and play with the bells and whistles once those basics are in place.
4) Way too much unnecessary clicking when navigating. - not sure what you mean - seems subjective
Just have to chime in on this one, as it is a major frustration for me in OwnerRez. It is not subjective at all.
By any measure, it takes way too much clicking around to do anything in OwnerRez.
Just look at Changing Charges on a reservation or quote.
First you have to click 'Charges' to go to a 'Charges' screen. Why? It's primarily important information to every booking. It should appear in detail on the main Booking screen, and be editable there. But no. So click 'Charges'.
On the Charges screen, can you change or edit Charges? No. You have to click on 'Change' to be able to make changes, which means going to an almost identical screen except that this one is editable. Why? What does this serve? Why not just go directly to an editable screen in the first place? Or not have to click to go to a separate screen anyway?
To add a charge you click on a button, which brings up a menu, which allows you to select a type of line item. But when you select that type of line item, rent for example, does it appear under rental charges? No. It appears at the bottom of the screen, and has to be clicked on, and then dragged into position in the list. Why? If it's a rent item, it should go in the rental charges section automatically. But no, you have to click and drag it into place.
And even if that item has been defined as taxable, it WON'T be taxed unless it is dragged into position on the screen above the taxes! Why? What purpose does this serve except to waste time and cause user frustration?
Every item that one needs to add or change... click, click, click, and drag, click and drag... it's ridiculous.
And then you have to click again, OUT of OwnerRez to a calculator app to add up all the rental charges because the Charges screen doesn't show a sub-total of rental charges, or a sub-total of surcharges, or a sub-total of taxes, but you NEED that information to compare to the information being sent to you from a non-connected booking site. Click click click, back and forth. Even in and out of OwnerRez because it is lacking such a simple feature as displaying sub-totals.
And then you click 'Save', so you don't lose your information on a screen which doesn't save automatically, but should. And then you have to click BACK to the MAIN booking screen because all of the most important information isn't on that screen. It's buried under a bunch of extra buttons to click on!
If you haven't used other great, well-designed software, you may not have any understanding of how things could be SO much better.
Thank you! This worked.
Not sure I understand fully.
I elected ELAVON via COSTCO. Best rates plus dividends with Costco.
Was Converge the extension of ELAVON? I do not remember.
Why would I need ELAVON and STRIPE or LYNNBROOK?
Does LYNNBROOKE offer an invoice platform for owners?
Thank you,
Jan
Not sure I understand fully.
I elected ELAVON via COSTCO. Best rates plus dividends with Costco.
Was Converge the extension of ELAVON? I do not remember.
Why would I need ELAVON and STRIPE or LYNNBROOK?
Does LYNNBROOKE offer an invoice platform for owners?
Thank you,
Jan
I've noticed that in the few weeks, the servers seem to be dragging along. We are having trouble getting booking in and since that's pretty much the whole point of a PMS this is a pretty serious issue.
Any updates from Owner Rez?
A guest informed me today that the discount I applied to her quote was not showing up when she attempted to "Accept & finalize" her booking. Upon further review, the Confirm & Pay page is NOT matching the emailed Quotes. Furthermore, when the guest finalizes the booking and makes a payment, the discount does not auto-correct or get re-applied... it's like it was never added to begin with. This is not only frustrating (for the guest and property manager), but also a huge time waster to have to go back and manually apply a discount that was already applied when the Quote was made. Is anyone else having this issue? Rent/Cleaning Fee/Tax are still populating perfectly fine, but discounts ARE NOT.
Picture 1: screenshot of emailed quote, discount applied
Picture 2: screenshot of Confirm & Pay page, discount disappears
We do not currently show any Pet Agreement custom fields. The methods described earlier still apply.
You can set up a trigger and template to fire off a separate Pet Agreement if the booking shows pets are included, by using a condition.
Hi, When you say using conditions, do you mean something like
If Pet=0 send Agreement A
If Pet>0 send DogAgreement
If that will work, would you please share the actual format and fields of the condition to achieve this? I want to have two agreements: 1) rental agreement, 2) agreement including dog language. I have some specific paragraphs in the Dog Agreement which I ask them to initial. Currently, I am manually sending the dog agreemt seperately after the original agreement, but people are impatient with re-entering their information the second time. I'd like to just automatically send one or the other at the start of the process. I only use AirBnb, Vrbo, and now have a direct booking site.
Thank you,
Liz Newman
Hello,
I was able to create an email template having the links to sign 3 agreements with the BULEASE field.
However I haven't figure how to do the same at the channel level. I insert the field and I'm not asked to choose the Agreement I need to add.
The channel template for sending the Default Renter Agreement, has this field {BUFIXUP}, when I preview it is a link, Is there a way to create link for my other agreement to paste here?
Thanks
Hi everyone,
My name is Yulema
I'm new here and a new host trying to get my first place up and going.
I cannot use Safely for guest screening.
I want to do a basic screening for my guest prior to approve the booking.
Making sure their profile is legit. Verified ID, email, etc.
Asking the name and age of everyone in the group. To disclose pets, breed and weight. to disclose travel purpose/plan.
How do i do this at the channel level?
Hi, When you say using conditions, do you mean something like
If Pet=0 send Agreement A
If Pet>0 send DogAgreement
If that will work, would you please share the actual format and fields of the condition to achieve this? I want to have two agreements: 1) rental agreement, 2) agreement including dog language. I have some specific paragraphs in the Dog Agreement which I ask them to initial. Currently, I am manually sending the dog agreemt seperately after the original agreement, but people are impatient with re-entering their information the second time. I'd like to just automatically send one or the other at the start of the process. I only use AirBnb, Vrbo, and now have a direct booking site.
Thank you,
Liz Newman
I would love to have the property name added back to the expenses grid! I don't know all of the 120 owners by name.
All of the items that were in the old Yellow header have been tucked under the vertical 3-dots menu in the top right of the header by the ORB... booking number.
Thanks Shawn! That's good to know too. But it's still two clicks where it used to be one. Any chance that this Communications History could replace the 'Messages' section? Or make it a user selectable choice what appears there?
Another idea: Don't have the Avalara tab on the main menu unless a user actually has an integration setup with them?
Extension of Another Idea: Allow your users to customize the main menu. I don't use your insurance offering, so why would I want a tab for it there? I might want something else!
Extension of Extension of Another Idea: Allow your users to customize which 'cards' or sections appear in the Booking Overview Window! I understand you have lots of different customers with different types/sizes of business. What I would prefer isn't going to be what others may need or want. I get that. The ability to set display preferences may be a great feature to have.
Hey Megan. I found it within the booking overview here: Messages > History > Email (same for SMS, Airbnb, etc.)
All of the items that were in the old Yellow header have been tucked under the vertical 3-dots menu in the top right of the header by the ORB... booking number.
It sounds like the OP is asking how to remove the registration expiration date -- not the registration number...
Thank you.
One of our Dev's mentioned one another option in case you would rather not delete the registration number from the property description (even though it is only there for the hosted website feed). You might be able to add a little CSS.
> #registration,#registration + dl { display: none !important;}
A bug fix went in today to ensure the correct error message is displayed when users attempt to delete custom fields, discounts, and surcharges that are in use.
Ah! That is not very intuitive at all so good work finding that, Alece! And thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction. :)
But this is EXACTLY what I was talking about in the first post!
I am constantly referring to that email history screen! It used to be one click to get to it. Now it's buried FOUR clicks away!
What research with users said this was a good idea?
Meanwhile the Messages section of the page is blank! So frustrating...
I would swap that email history for the unused Messages section any day!
Ah! That is not very intuitive at all so good work finding that, Alece! And thank you so much for pointing me in the right direction. :)
Hey Megan. I found it within the booking overview here: Messages > History > Email (same for SMS, Airbnb, etc.)
Where is the email history now (used to be top yellow bar, far right)--where you see all emails that have been sent, if they are delivered and if they've been opened?
99 times out of 100, the problem is due to having 'Additional Rate plans' in Booking.com (BDC)
Booking.com (BDC) Additional Rate Plans are not compatible with API integration. Each property can only connect to one BDC rate plan.
Using multiple rate plans becomes problematic, even though they can be 'based on the standard rate', because none of the property or rate rules are carried from OwnerRez to those plans. This can result in bookings that ignore your minimum night stay rules and your overall booking window, etc. Even if you think you've set the rules for additional rate plans in BDC, the results can still be unpredictable.
We strongly recommend not using additional rate plans in BDC. You can delete the extra ones in BDC Extranet > Rates & Availability > Rate Plans
Here is a support document on the subject to provide more detail
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/bookingcom-api-rates-settings#additional-rate-plans
If no labels/indicators show a different time for check-in or check-out, then the booking is the normal check-in/check-out time.
The new design is highly dynamic. More indicators show at the top if things are not "normal".
For instance, here is a booking where the guest has late checkout. Notice that there is a "Late Checkout" tag up top and the "1 pm" time is shown in red above that.
So your staff should consider the booking "normal" check-in and check-out if there is nothing that says otherwise.
Much more coming to this design by the way! This was the first of several updates. The first goal was to migrate the old yellow page to the new layout we are using app-wide, and make it mobile-friendly. We will be prioritizing message, tasks, notes, and other things above the fold in the near future.
I hope they continue refining the new look. On a laptop there is SO MUCH "white space". It needs to be tightened up, IMHO.
I'll have to get used to the guest's contact info being sent to the bottom right corner.
