General Help and Questions

Sort by

• Newest Reply
• Newest Topic

I would suggest KISS method. cleaning fee should be flat because if you plant to use OTAs, they only support flat cleaning fee. What you can do is change max cleaning fee, and create a discount based on season and number of days to offset the fee, if you wish.

Generally, the fewer line items your quotes have, the more straightforward they are, the better. People do not like to have to decipher complex quotes.

exactly. Some suggestions are not very VR-related. Such amenities can be in property description.

I will not watch youtube, sorry. If you mean mutual ical syncs, that is there but not instant either. You can use it in a pinch but why. It is redundant if you use OR as master calendar.

sometimes simpler is better when it comes to VRs. techno gizmos can be cool and great and all that, but are u in business of testing new cool gadgets or you are in VR business? if latter, maybe consider option that already tried /tested/works in VR situation. I gather there are several already VR-proven locks that OR already integrates with, maybe pick one of those and call it a day>?

Airbnb- VRBO sync

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtcZ7YRMce0

They get an email. It is up to you to set up in a way that is secdep is not reserved, do not send them door code / address (i.e they cannot just show up). It can be all controlled by triggers. I do not send the door code until fully paid, and rental agreement is on file (I do not use credit card hold secdep) - all via trigger set up. Also as stated above you and guest get the email to fix their deposit, it is your job to follow up if need be.

I would not worry about Tripadvisor. If you get a booking once in a blue moon, it will be a minor miracle. There isn't "mutual" IB function between ABB and HA. I dunno where did you get that idea. each has its own IB, nothing mutual about it.
Better have one calendar (such as OR) as your MASTER. everything will sync to/from that calendar but I would suggest avoid syncing to each other (like ABB to VRBO and vrbo to Airbnb).

Where you have API, sync will be instant. Where you do not have API, it will be just to/from ical calendar sync. Frankly, I think you are overthinking it. The only 2 that can penalize your for double booking /cancellation are Tripadvisor (but chances of any booking are slim) and Booking.com.

So we already established that b.com has API, so that is instant. I would suggest NOt doing IB on TripAdvisor. Everything else will just sync to/from OR master calendar.

I have IB on my own site, ABB, VRBO, Booking. So far no issues. And I do not even have API with vrbo because I only have 3 properties.

Just looking at it. Amazing price for 3rd gen, on amazon. $229 for example. But not sure if it can handle check-in and check out times. There is smart lock and then there is a vacation rental smart lock...

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=august+smart+lock

mine looked greyish. But it seems "Holidays" with a blue box should be added to the legend at bottom.

Not sure. Here seems to be integrations with:

Alexa

Z-Wave: https://support.august.com/z-wave-plus-security-H1NJvLy0Of

AirBnBL https://support.august.com/airbnb-integration-faq-B1YAULkC_z

IFTTT: https://ifttt.com/augusthome

Maybe API? https://github.com/jmaxxz/keymaker/issues/5

API for HomeAway/booking.com/TripAdvisor.

For Airbnb, iCal sync and channel bridge. You won't need channel bridge for HomeAway because it's API but you will still need it for Airbnb.

Yes, we can push new listings for VRBO and TripAdvisor automatically via API. That requires a minimum of 5 properties.

We don't currently have a full listing push for Airbnb, but we can push and pull rates.

I would recommend a standard cleaning fee -- anything you do with custom logic like that would be only applicable to OwnerRez because the OTA's only recognize standard flat amount cleaning fees.

In most cases, you want to charge more for a shorter stay because there's less nightly charges to defray the cost of the turn. If you're really worried about a $90 fee, make it $50 and then add $5 to your nightly rates.

7 properties and 2 comboes (looks like 9)

I understand ABB & HA have a mutual instant booking function to avoid double booking

So the best practice at this moment is:

HA/VRBO api?

Booking.com api (I think)?

and for flipkey + AirBnB what?

where does channel bridge fit in now?

I forced the delete on that surcharge.

Holidays are blue.

If a scheduled secdep hold fails, OwnerRez'll send you an email notifying you that the deposit failed, and send the guest an email with a link to fix it. Usually people are good about fixing it themselves.

If you have 5+ properties you can use HomeAway API, and we recommend it for that exact reason -- much more automated that way.

You can add a custom instructions payment method and include instructions there for how to pay via bitcoin, venmo, zelle, etc., then record the transaction on the booking.

There's a difference between what people look for in a purchase vs. a vacation.

Not currently. Do they have an open API?

I'm new to the system. Can you push the information from OR to hosting sites for new listings ?

In setting up a cleaning fee/surcharge, I was hoping to have a base cleaning fee such as 1 day, and a small percentage for additional days beyond

In other words if I did say a 9% fee to capture an offseason booking, I only make about $30 for a $300 5-bedroom townhome. But if I charge $90 like I would for 3-4 days, it is almost ridiculous.

I was hoping to have a minimum cleaning amount (say $50-60), and then a 9% for additional days to reflect the additional cleaning from a lengthier stay...

Cannot seem to delete a surcharge: "AirBnB Commission/Extenuating Circumstances Charge"

(Was trying to consolidate a couple charges into a new "Admin Fee" surcharge)

getting error message:
Change 'AirBnB Commission/Extenuating Circumstances Charge' Settings
Please correct the errors below.
You cannot delete this surcharge because there are quote charges associated with it.

--->
But I deleted any quotes, so not get it...? Aren't such changes instantly reflected throughout the system?

I am doing a test booking on my page. When selecting the Calendar icon, the "legend" shows Blocked (red) and Selected (grey) days. But holidays are also grey and they are neither in the legend nor a selected day. Isn't that confusing to a Booker?

https://www.jimthorpevacationrentals.com/book

Soooo. they cannot give deposit and I keep their money? There is so many people running around maxing out their cards, that I am trying to grasp likely scenarios. They show up at my door having paid but no security possibly collected and I should do what?

good question. I am still in setup mode and trying to grasp all the kinks in working with both OTAs and direct booking.

I am hoping to use the latest functionality provided by ownerrez, but that is one of many details I am trying to fathom.

will you have API interface with vrbo? because if no, then you need to know there is a sync delay. I do not see much difference between booking and airbnb , with vrbo I have to run channel bridge after booking.

software cannot do anything if the card they provided is bad / overlimit. It will send them and you email saying that deposit could not be collected.

some may like to pay with bitcoins, etc. - such as via CoinBase.

Is it possible to include that on a hosted website or elsewhere? Anything that reduces possibility of chargebacks.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-methods#multiple