General Help and Questions

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Hi Janice,

We currently do not automatically flag guests as repeat based on email, phone or other things. Booking and quote records are only linked to the same guest record if they happen to be linked by you in the interface. It's a big hole in our guest system and we have an update coming to plug it. The update will make it so that - by default - existing guest records are re-used if the email or phone is the same. We will probably do a similarity check on address as well.

You can already merge guest records yourself in the Guests menu by selecting multiple records and clicking the merge button. You can also go the other way and split bookings out to different guests by opening a booking > guest record > associate with different guest.

The repeat label shows if the current guest record (ie. that you are looking at) is associated with another booking in the system.

Was this progressed yet Chris?

JTVR - this forum annoys me that it's impossible to attach screenshots or files. If you like, email me at ownerr@rsiegmund.fastmail.com and I'll send some screenshots of my triggers.

1) I agree, it would help if the help documents had better examples. I have 5 time-based and 2 booking-based triggers.

2) I have NOT had to use any of the premade/Custom templates myself, I created my own for everything I wanted. Those Billing Details would be changed dynamically depending upon the particular booking involved. Meaning this .... if an email is sent about Booking #1 that code will have details for Booking #1. But when an email is sent about a different Booking #27 that code will be different, and have the content from Booking #27.

3) You don't edit field codes for checkin/out times. Click on a booking, then Dates, then Change Dates and you can change them there.
If you want to see all of the field codes, just create a new template email and insert whichever ones you like and then click on preview. There are hundreds of codes, some about the booking, some about the property, etc. It's all super flexible, especially the custom codes, but they are a tiny bit awkward to setup the first time because first you create the code (where you have to pick the correct type of code) and then you have to update the code (in different places depending on the type). Again, if you (or anyone else) emails me I don't mind sending a couple quick screenshots or getting on the phone to talk.

JTVR - if you have a different email address you can book using that address as a test. I did that myself on VRBO with a small fee that they took a small amount out of, but it worked to satisfy me. If you don't have another email address I guess do it from a friend's email?

For testing triggers you can create fake bookings directly in the same manner (not using your hosted website)

Remember to look at emails on phones, tablets and computers. I found oddities on my android phone where I needed to eliminate long links and tables.

Glenn, try going to the support tab and searching there... it will find forum posts and bookings (based on last name and maybe booking ID)

https://www.ownerrez.com/support

I did the same search previously though and got the answer that webhooks are not generally supported, only in special cases.

Hi
Is there a way I can have 2 user log ins into my OR account - with separate log ins?

I am mostly interested in using Email Templates & Triggers to handle bookings from OTAs, and from my hosted website. Not planning to do quotes (as of this time). Questions:

1) I am in Settings > Triggers and it is empty. Are there no suggested defaults or is there an article somewhere on a good set of representative triggers that should be considered for the major OTAs? Is this supposed to be empty?

2) A little baffled by the Custom Email Templates. For example, the first is "Send Confirmation To Guest" and the Billing Details is represented by the variable/field code? {BBINFO} which defaults to

"The total charge for this booking is $1,234.00 of which $123.00 has been paid. A separate email is sent for each payment that is made, listing the details. Any payments made by credit card will appear on your bank statement as Acme Vacation Rentals."

How do I change these Billing Details? Say to add my own text or modify what appears? Update the variable {BBINFO} ? Where do I update it?

3) When a booking comes in - say from AirBnB, how exactly is the email template/trigger know which property was booked so the field codes/custom field codes are populated?

4) How do we edit existing field codes - not custom field codes - such as Check In or Check Out time?

And how can I see ALL the existing field codes - again, not custom field codes.

OK

I would like to test everything I have set up, to see what clients see, etc. I realize I cannot really test something like airbnb/HA yet, but I would like to do a complete booking cycle for one client using my (or any sample) hosted website

All the actual emails, set up triggers, their deposit & payment, sending/accepting agreement - signing it, etc. etc.

?

There's a batch delete button on the calendar import now. Go to the property, then calendars, then open the calendar import you want to delete bookings for, look down where it shows the log of syncs. There's a delete button above it. There's also a batch delete on the main bookings list view.

Is their a delete function for bookings yet? I have duplicates and blocked imported dates I would like to clean up.

Is there a way to search these forums? It might help with a lot of repeat questions.

For example, I am curious if there is any mention of webhooks with OR. Rather than pester with a question that might have already been answered, I would like to see if there are any discusions on it.

Glenn

I talked to the Remotelock team and apparently Zwave is not a lock that they can send through the API yet. Not sure if they will resolve this or not.

On a side note, I have a number of locks on my vera zwave. It grabbed all the locks and therefore I got a large charge as they charge for lock requested. I canceled my account with them (for the reason mentioned above and the fact I was charged a lot). I put in a request to refund my money. After several requests (and responses saying "sure we will refund") it is not going on three months and my account is still gone and no refund. I am still working on it. The remotelock people are friendly, but do not seem to be able to deliver.

It would be great if OR natively allowed us to program the lock through an api directly. I think it can be done with Vera and Zwave, but I would think the API would be complex. Of course I would be willing to be a tester if OR ever wanted to do that. I just don't think a lot of people have Vera/Zwave, (which is admittedly a more techie lock solution than the pre-packaged - simple-to-use stuff you get from August lock, and other home depot / Rona purchased hardware).

Gelnn

Hmmm....

Encountering the same. Any ideas from the OwnerRez team?

(Maybe there's just a delay in syncing info over; I'll try again in a few hours or tomorrow and see if it works then.)

Hi, is there any way to export an iCal feed that *only* contains my direct bookings through OwnerRez?

On a third-party service I'm syncing my listings to, this would let me add OwnerRez bookings to the service without ending up with a bunch of duplicated stays.

What is the criteria OR uses to label a guest as a Repeat? I've not been able to figure out the pattern on my own. For example, below is a screenshot of a guest who booked direct for her 1st stay, and now has 2 future stays booked but doesn't have the repeat label on her info.

Also with Channel Bridge, will the system label as repeat guests those who booked via an OTA for their first stay and then book direct for subsequent stays?

I send a different email template to repeat guests than I do for first-time direct bookings, so it would help to know this when they request a quote/booking. I'm probably going to add a custom field definition asking if the person has stayed with us before. But since the repeat guest label already exists I thought I should find out how it works.

https://ibb.co/jRmf2Fk

Awesome THANK YOU! That makes perfect sense!

Julie, I have built my site on sitelio using OR widgets and sitelio template . the plus is, that sitelio is simplified ( I personally hated when i had WP site), while at the same time allowing SEO, schema code , blog, etc . You can take a look at smoky-mountains-cabin.com

Julie - the fact that you know what html and css are means you have much more knowledge about website building than the average person, and
I could have written your last post myself. You have the same questions and background as I do it seems.

In my opinion, getting a beautiful and modern looking website is going to have two essential parts. Professionally shot/edited photos and a modern/responsive platform.

I can't offer any suggestions about how to interact with the OwnerRez website, but I'm sure the OR support team or maybe other owners can answer your questions.

A few thoughts for you and anyone reading this...

1) I can't tell from your post whether you are still deciding whether to adopt the OR platform. If you are, I can share my experience as a new user (about 4 months) that it's been a terrific tool for me. Has taken a little learning curve, but I'm finding that all of the infrastructure is quite well done. I love the email Templates - this morning 5 different automated emails were sent to guests who are about to come, have just arrived, are leaving today or continuing their stay. No way could I do this manually, would take way too much time each day. All of these emails are detailed and personalized to the particular unit they are renting. Took me a lot of time to develop my email content, but now it's essential set in place and I don't have to think about it. Huge time saver. And the fact that my bookings/past guests are all safely in a system outside of VRBO and AirBnb means I will eventually have a large database for marketing. In any case, without being too pompous, I have a lot of experience developing systems like these and OR's is well done. And the team supporting it is responsive and I think headed in a great direction. So feel safe jumping in if you haven't already.

2) About the website, feel free to call me 512-913-8609 if you want to talk about alternatives. I'd say for 80-90% of new users they probably should use the OR provided website, because doing your own in another system is like the wild-wild west, there are lots of pitfalls related to *who* does the hosting and *which* platform you pick and there are no guarantees about key things like SEO, page response time, and suitability for viewing your page on phones, tablets or computers. I'm happy to talk about the various other platforms that are out there since I recently looked at them and picked one, and I find that I usually learn myself from talking with others.

Julie - Can you just use a Lodgify template and add OwnerRez widgets with it? I use Wix with OR and enjoy having the flexibility of design. You can see the OR widgets on my site at HighviewCabins.com. I'm always tweaking my site as I learn more about Wix. They have great video tutorials, too.

Thank you all for the responses. The example sites above all seem to be built off the same template, with only basic modifications. Are there any other layout choices? Is it based on a WordPress platform? If not, how does the owner interact with the template? Website building has changed a lot from the days when I was hand-coding with HTML and CSS, so I want to know what the guts look like and what my learning curve is going to be.

But mostly I'm interested in the design element. For example, Lodgify offers 19 different templates, with 4 different layouts, all of which are beautifully modern. https://www.lodgify.com/vacation-rental-website-templates/ (make sure you click "load more") They're clear about what they offer, they have visual representations, and it's attractive to me as an owner because I feel like I know what I'm going to get, and I know it's going to be attractive to my potential guests.

Now, there are features in OwnerRez that I want that Lodgify doesn't have, so it would be a no brainer EXCEPT the main point of me choosing a software is to market my property via my website, and encourage direct bookings. A gorgeous website *is a must* or the whole thing is a wasted effort to me. And ideally, working with that website will be relatively easy - but right now I'm finding it difficult to even learn HOW to interact with that website if I use OwnerRez, and that's a real bummer. (yes, I've seen the support page. Text-only walking me through links I don't have access to yet is not very informative. Screenshots of the interface of the website builder - or whatever it is - would at least provide a clue)

One of the speakers is from wheelhouse, the dynamic pricing company

The wording will now go based on the first payment/second payment rule, so it will show "or any amount in between" only if there is a second payment allowed on the quote. Also fixed the spacing on the "pending for" text.

How's everything look on your end?

@Julie, did you have a look at the sites in the first comment above? That'll give you an idea of the design options you have built in. And then you can also customize it via CSS for further detail.

Any specific questions about what you're looking to do?

Ahh, so lets trace this back. Best way to see what happened is to hit the Search Emails link in the top right of the booking area for that booking.

So looking at the history of the booking, the secdep was automatically scheduled and processed. HOWEVER -- that auto processed secdep had an error during processing: "The bank did not approve this request. Details: D01 - Denied by customer's bank (DECLINED)". So since the hold failed, the system sent out the security deposit fail and reminder emails with links for the guest to update their card. Then they did, and everything's good to go.

In terms of the rule, it's not going to double it from the rule -- that rule simply means whether it creates the scheduled security deposit in the system or not. If the guest goes to the link again and there's a secdep in place they'll get a "A security deposit has already been reserved for this booking." message and not be able to reserve another one (unless you release the existing one).

The reminder emails are a fallback for if you don't have an auto scheduled secdep -- for example you created a booking by hand and forgot to schedule the secdep, or something like that. Or if you have PayPal. But if it's an auto scheduled, that will override the reminder emails.

The only reason it was different in this case was because the auto secdep actually tried and failed.

working now (bookings)

This copied from his email.

I did last year. He brought like 20 VR authors and company leaders online last year, eg, NoiseAware. I did them all. VERY educational.

Honestly, I was not interested in his offerings. But this equivalent to going to a $800-1000 conference, no joking. March 21-24

................
Register here... https://airbnbmasterysummit.com

His email:
the Airbnb Mastery Summit 2.0 is officially OPEN for registration! If you were lucky enough to be one of the 10,000 people to attend last year’s AMS 1.0, you know the wealth of knowledge that it contained so be sure to claim your FREE TICKET HERE once again.

Same great format; brand NEW speakers and interviews. The speaker lineup is not one you will want to miss. We have 17+ of the world’s leading experts in Airbnb, Real Estate and Business to share their knowledge specifically with the AMS 2.0 attendees.

Some of the amazing speakers joining us include Nicole Curtis from HGTV’s ‘Rehab Addict’, Chip Conley - Hotelier & New York Times Best Selling Author, Peter Lorimer from Netflix’s ‘Stay Here’ and many more!

Similar to last year, the AMS 2.0 is a 3-Day Virtual event that can be accessed from anywhere in the world! It will be streaming LIVE online March 21st-24th!

The duplication of reviews should now be fixed. The channel/file name may still show "HomeAway" instead of "VRBO" but the duplication issue should no longer be happening.

If you already have duplicate reviews, this fix did not remove them. You'll need to delete those manually. A fast way would be to filter/sort for the last couple months of VRBO/HomeAway reviews, select them all on the grid and delete. Then go back to VRBO/HomeAway and download the latest 100 reviews again and import them all again.

Let us know if you continue to see duplicates.

PS. We are looking into why the channel/file name is always showing "HomeAway" versus "VRBO" but that's being worked on as a separate issue.

Sorry Paul - I meant that I asked/emailed VRBO/Homeaway about getting access.

I'm about to add a 3rd unit when I get some free time, probably next week. So I was excited to see the comment about having a 'self-service' option for people with <5 properties.

In the meantime, the channel bridge works splendidly, I like the fact that there is an intermediate spreadsheet created because it gives me a place to check before updates get applied.

In any case, I've had no problems whatsoever with BOOKINGS and the issue with duplicated reviews is minor for me. I haven't even bothered to delete them but I imagine that will be easy when I get around to it.

@Rich S - did you email us (OwnerRez) about the 5 unit minimum or the channel (VRBO)? Wondering if that ticket got dropped since you said crickets for 3 weeks. If you emailed the channel, are you sure it wasn't TripAdvisor that you emailed which is already live and working for API? We do tell people to email pmsupport@tripadvisor.com but they tend not to answer quickly if you don't meet the 5+ requirement. TripAdvisor is pretty hard and fast about it. The HomeAway/VRBO side isn't open yet; only pilot users are on that.

The bookings download to excel via CB worked. however when i tried to import downloaded bookings excel, it gave me an error. I cannot recreate now (i am in the office, we do not have chrome) . I will retry when I get home and do a screen shot if error reoccurs and send to support.