General Help and Questions

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I've looked through the forums to see if anyone else has asked these questions, and I don't see it, so I'll ask.

Question 1: When I manually create an inquiry, it has a space for "comments" however these comments show up in the email when I answer it. I thought those comments were just for me to see. Thank goodness I scrolled all the say down and saw them, so I could manually delete them. If the guests can see that field in their email message, what is that comment section for?

Question 2: In answering a manually created inquiry, a quote gets created and appears at the bottom of the email. However, after I hit "send email now" I'm confused as to why the system urges me to send the quote again in a separate email, after I've just sent the quote in a reply. Am I making sense?

Thank you!

I made an owner statement with the wrong date on it and now cant seem to delete that statement and start over. Any ideas?

Hi,

(See QUESTIONS at bottom)

Anyone have a good handle on the accounting/correct way to be handling taxes relative to Quickbooks?

Here's my understanding:

A) There is a Financial Report available in VRBO that lists "Gross booking amount", "Deductions" and "Payout"

B) For each booking, VRBO deposits the "Payout" amount into my bank account (Gross booking - Deductions)
example: Gross booking amount = $243.81
Deductions = $7.31
Payout = $236.50

C) At tax time I run a report on the total funds received as 'Gross bookings'

NOTES
I'm pretty sure I am required to pay Sales Taxes on the Gross booking amount. In other words, I can't just import the payments I receive in my bank account, but instead I need to record each booking transaction in Quickbooks with two accounts. A positive account for the gross booking amount, and a negative amount for the deductions. I'm not mentioning cleaning fees because they are included already in the Gross booking amount. Mentally I'd like to think about paying taxes only on the cash I end up with in my pocket ***BUT*** I don't think that's how sales taxes work. I have to pay tax on the full amount paid by the guest, which includes the deductions that VRBO keeps and the (pass thru) amt I collect and pay to my cleaning service. And all this gets more complicated when I start using AirBNB and bookings in OR itself.

QUESTIONS
1) Is my understanding correct?
2) Suggestions for how to automate this (without using OwnerRez)? EG: I imagine I can import the Financial Report from VRBO in some way to cause the Gross bookings and deductions to be associated with each transaction, resulting in the correct Payout amount

PS - I'm not currently interested in using Quickbooks Online. I have other businesses that are tracked in Quickbooks Pro and don't want to have to reinvent my accounting practices... Just need advice about how to practically handle tax time each quarter.

Sounds good. Does the "smoothening" include:
Multiple (N) payments and/or "Simplified quotes" (merging amounts and removing details - like the option in the quote widget)

After manually inputting all my lock codes for this year I look forward to multi-lock support!
SMS and Housekeeping are also on my wishlist.

Can't wait for the updates.

Thanks

-Tim

That's a great read, JTVRs! Thanks! Lot of great advice there.

We do share our roadmap but only with the context and understanding that the roadmap is not fixed and changes frequently. The current (closest) items are:

- HomeAway API (nearly done, watching last pilot users, etc)
- Auto-release for security deposits
- PM updates
- QB updates
- QoL ("quality of life" smoothening for a bunch of small things)
- Door lock updates (adding Kaba, supporting RemoteLock's newer API)

After that:

- SMS (templates and trigers)
- Housekeeping module

I was thinking IPO 😊

I know lots of companies don't like to share what they are working on....but you guys seem pretty open about those things. I know that channels have been taking up most of your development time over the past few months, and I just thought I'd see if you wanted to comment on what's next in the pipeline, what's coming later this year, etc. Is there a priority list of upgrades/features? And, understanding that dates are extremely variable, especially when it comes to software rollouts, can you share any timelines?

Thanks,

Tim

Read this today, pretty useful

http://blog.uplisting.io/the-ultimate-guide-to-hosting-on-booking-com/

Once you have PriceLabs set up, they'll update Airbnb and OwnerRez rates automatically: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/pricelabs

Our VRBO rate push is manual, so you'd have to do that manually from time to time.

We're going to release HomeAway API integration in April which will let you hook up the channel in OwnerRez and have all of the rates push automatically at that point.

I just pushed rates for two properties to VRBO. Do they automatically re-push nightly? Do I have to manually initiate a re-push periodically?

I manage all of my rates through PriceLabs, so I'm hoping changes there will auto-magically find their way to PriceLabs and VRBO/HomeAway.

The default templates will go out automatically when the related event happens, like a payment receipt will be sent for payment or a booking confirmation will be sent when a direct booking is made.

Is there a specific one you have questions about the description on when it is sent?

Yes and No. As pointed out, SOME VR's listed on Booking, VRBO, etc will appear with links to book through those sites. Also, some VRs will appear with no pricing or booking links. This has nothing to do with categories we can choose on our Google Business pages, rather it appears to me to be some kind of mis-labeling by Google. These VR's all seem to be categorized as "hotels" based on the business information listed. Either way, Google hasn't truly started to roll out VR search. They are just sprinkling VRs into their hotel search results.

How do you make the default (non custom) templates work? As in going out when something happens?

Ebay has a minor presence in vacation rentals. Just spent a few minutes last week looking. There seems to be B&B, hotel, and VR variations

For example:

https://www.ebay.com/b/Vacation-Rental-Travel-Lodging/16123/bn_18947656

Not get as far as how everything hooks to booking, paying, website, etc...

Could be something else but I can't find it by googling. If anyone knows, drop a link. We'd be happy to look into it. That'd be great to get another major player in the mix.

You have to create a custom template for the trigger to send. Just create a new custom template and copy/paste the same content from the "Send Review Request to Guest" system template. You can see what the content is for that by clicking Create Template next to the system template (but not saving it).

well , once this is in, I will try to ask some favours re my priority and less than 5 properties ;-)

I thought this was different maybe,, Yes my VRs shows up with some slider with dates and number of people ( maybe because I am on Booking) but clicking on those does nothing.. Just says 'see website"

Sorta kinda yes maybe but not yet. 😉

The last of our pilot users was onboarded this week and we're past all the paperwork steps. We expect to make the public announcement next week or the week after, but we haven't given out hard ETAs because we don't want to dash expectations if it's still a few more weeks.

Couple things...

First, there is a large line of waiting users to jump on the API. So even if you're ready and willing, there will be some delay in queuing everyone and getting an assigned HomeAway integration specialist and all of that. HomeAway has been very quick and thorough so far in this process, so it's been an easy experience on that side. But there are things that have to validated and verified so that the APi works.

Second, getting the 5 property requirement waived is going to be a secondary priority for HomeAway to getting the larger PMs onboarded. While they have shown willingness to allow smaller accounts to use the API, their focus is probably going to be on getting PMs hooked up first. So if you have 4 or less properties, expect to wait longer as well. And we don't have any guarantee that you'll get API anyway, so please keep low expectations for now!

Google Hotel Search is maybe what you're talking about? That's been out for awhile. They now have a new landing page for it here:

https://www.google.com/travel/hotels

They show vacation rentals there but only if your VR is already listed in an OTA that Google Hotel Search integrates with. We (OwnerRez) have looked into integrating with Google Hotels directly but they only worked with known OTAs that have access to certain travel agency software/specs. Booking.com and Expedia both integrate, so if you're on those, your VR's will show up in Google Hotel Search.

Rumour also ha sit that so far it only shows VRs listed on OTAs which kind of defies the purpose. Is there any way to integrate direct?

So I contacted VRBO, to ask to waive 5 property requirement. here is their reply:
"The gist of the response is that we cannot grant an exception nor integrate with ownerez at this time because we're currently working with them on developing the integration, so it's not currently possible. Here's what the team had to say:

Since Owner Reservations is still in development, let’s hold off on creating a project. They can try again when the PMSC API development is done but unfortunately I don’t have an ETA. Since they are an unsegmented owner account, I’d recommend that they stay in touch with Owner Reservations on when their development and piloting with us is completed. Once done, they can come back and try again."

So basically they say that YOU will know when integration is ready... is it? TIA

Thank you, Paul. That sounds great!

I am now trying to work my templates and triggers.

But I am baffled that triggers don't seem to let me work with the existing templates?

1) I am here: https://app.ownerrez.com/triggers/add

2) I am trying to send the "Send Review Request To Guest" email template 1 day after "Booking Has Departed"

3) But that template not available in dropdown and screen says "Only custom booking templates in the email template settings can be sent by this type of trigger"

How do we time the sending of an email like this? It certainly doesn't seem to have a built in time... Am I missing something major for triggers for your predefined email templates???

Yes, for sure. That's a big hole right now and one we plan to fix soon. Whether the booking is imported, direct or API, the guest list needs to identify probably-matches for repeats. Email and phone are no-brainers.

There are predefined emails that go out on events like the booking confirmation email, payment receipt etc: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/email-templates

For the custom triggers on things like pre-arrival welcome letters or post-departure review requests, there are no predefined triggers -- that's up to you to define. They are simple to add something like "7 days before arrival, send this template only if the booking is paid in full": https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/pre-arrival-email-templates-triggers-custom-fields

For channels in particular, you really only need one trigger, a "thanks for booking/please sign our renter agreement", something like this: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/airbnb-request-for-contact-info-real-email-address-and-signed-renter-agreement

Thank you, Paul. I'm now using that merge feature you mentioned - very helpful!
Will the future update be able to recognize a guest who booked through VRBO as a repeat? (imported from Channel Bridge)

I do not plan (when I start) to let the codes to my smartlock go to any guest until check-in. There is a national scam going on I read recently where people pretend to be guests, get the code and then get into the unit, steal/vandalize and then leave. It doesn't prevent damage if the code is not active until check-in, if you are not verifying those who show up!

I have decided to use multiple checks on potential guests - OTA reviews of them (no negative or perhaps only if at least one positive), SafelyStay which will do a background check on the booking guest (not a credit check!), require an ID, verify the ID against the credit card when they show up, and eyeball them.

When they present themselves at the Property for check-in, they will be directed to press a Ring Video doorbell, which alerts me. I live in the neighborhood so I will either meet them in person or over the Ring Video.

I will verify the people against the ID, check for things like trying to sneak pets in, how many people show up, etc. If the doorbell doesn't work, they can call my cell. That gives two contact methods in case of problems. Once verified, THEN they get the code!

I have a RemoteLock and love it!!

There are two analog models that generate codes without the need for wifi (RL2000 and RL4000). I've had the RL2000 for a year and it's been so convenient for guests to enter the key and enter the house. In my home's area, we're prone to afternoon thunderstorms during the summer months so the electricity/wifi often gets knocked out temporarily which is why I wasn't keen on having a wifi based lock.

There shouldn't be a concern about scammers because the lock code is only good for the dates/times you designate. If a guest arrives at 9am but the lock was programmed to coincide with the guest's reservation at 4pm, they can't get into the home until 4pm when the lock will recognize the code. I once had a guest who forgot something in the home after they departed and I had to generate a new code for them because their original one expired.

And now RL integrates with Airbnb and HomeAway/VRBO so that when a reservation is made via those platforms, a lock code is automatically generated and included with the guest's booking information.

I decided to purchase a Schlage lock with touchpad for my personal home because my kids keep losing their keys. I like the model that I selected because the touchpad numbers won't wear out - while this might not be a problem for rentals since new numbers are continually generated, the touchpad for your home should be made of materials that won't wear down so that one could figure out a code based on the worn out numbers. The RL4000 also has this type of touchpad.