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I contacted support and sent screen shots and details earlier today.  No response yet.

Please write in to the Helpdesk with specifics so we can investigate.

This is a serious problem...I just found an Airbnb booking made 16 hours ago that has 2 "linked" guests on it and the trigger didn't run to send my renter agreement/guest contact info template because it "Did Not Send" and when I hover on that note it says "This trigger wasn't sent when this booking was created at May 30, 2024 5:33 AM because: No Airbnb thread found for this contact."  I had to preview the message and copy and paste it and send it manually to the guest.  This defeats the entire purpose of having templates and triggers and brings into question the reliability of the system.  I am now having to monitor everything closely to make sure messages are being sent.

Hi Ken, that's perfect!!! Thanks so much!!!

Sure!  OwnerRez can't set that up automatically, but, you can set bookings up manually with as many payments as you like.  Here's how:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/multiple-payments 

Wondering if there is anyway to set up for our guests to make more than 2 payments toward a reservation?  This is specifically to see if I can continue to offer the following that I routinely offered to guests (before converting to OR) that want to rebook the vacation week 1 year in the future, upon checking out this year.  We have historically allowed them to make the reservation with a small deposit if 1 year in advance, and then bill them in 2 additional payments at 6 months and 45 days prior to the next reservation's check-in date.  Is there any way to automate this option?  Thanks, Ted

So, I did a search in forums of this topic and found that OR doesn't support "replacing existing RAs" but updated ones can be uploaded to the "files" tab within the booking, for document retention. OR really should consider addressing this because I've had several RAs which required updates after they've been signed. Luckily, the guest and I let the issue(s) slide, but it could put me (the host) in a precarious situation legally, if there were litigating circumstances!

With that said...

Whats the best way to handle RA changes?

I've got a potential guest inquiry asking to bring a pet. "The boss" and I decided to allow this one time circumstance, due to the revenue it will generate over the upcoming holiday, but our RA would need to be modified as a result.

I have Adobe Acrobat...should I simply modify after its been signed and provide the guest with updated RA?...that seems to be the easiest solution, but what if the guest refuses to sign as a result of the current "no pets" rule listed on the RA? 

...or should I temporarily modify the RA template for this one time booking?

Thoughts?

I think this may be helpful?

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/property-management-common-issues-questions#multiple-owners 

We need this update as well.  We have properties that are owned by separate owners, they would each need a separate statement.

*You can create discounts or surcharges, without ordering, to apply only to GVR.  If you only use one percentage discount, you could determine to create a cleaning fee that is adjusted for the discount.

*For example, $100 cleaning fee and 20% discount across the board, make the cleaning fee for GVR only $125, then the discount of 20% take it back to that original $100.

Does GVR support surcharges that apply only to certain lengths of stay? Can I create a lower cleaning fee that applies to 1-6 day rentals and then a higher one that applies to 7+ day rentals that my weekly discount can then discount back down to the normal amount?

*You can create discounts or surcharges, without ordering, to apply only to GVR.  If you only use one percentage discount, you could determine to create a cleaning fee that is adjusted for the discount.

*For example, $100 cleaning fee and 20% discount across the board, make the cleaning fee for GVR only $125, then the discount of 20% take it back to that original $100.

Apparently, GVR doesn't support ordering surcharges and discounts. I asked OR about simply stripping the positioning data, but they said they don't want to presume how OR users want to run their businesses (I love OR to death, but man, sometimes I can tell I'm dealing with a company made up almost entirely of people who think in binary if-then statements like programmers instead of people who think like normal people who just want software that works ;) ), and besides, doing so would have the effect of applying discounts to all charges, including cleaning fees.

Oh yes, I remember this problem during setup. There is a discussion about ordering somewhere in the forum. In an ideal world, what I personally would like is for OR to strip the ordering GVR only

Joel,

Looking at all the recipients carefully, you are correct.  However, this is an entirely new behavior -- as of today, or so it would seem after carefully checking my inbox.  Before, I would just see one message recipient per booking

Hopefully this thread helps others who are surprised by what appears to be cross-threading at first.

Again, thanks for your help.

Antony

I just checked your account and looked at these messages. Initially this behavior might sound abnormal, but due to how Airbnb "message threads" work, it's actually expected.

In both cases, the Airbnb "message thread" has multiple participants, including multiple guests and multiple co-hosts. Who participates in a "thread" is completely controlled on Airbnb's side (I believe guests can invite other guests into their message threads... and there are other factors too I assume). 

The result is that, all three of the guests: S, K, and L, all saw the message posted by L because all 3 are participating in that message thread. Anything you post to L will also be seen by S and K. Think of it like "CCs" on an email.

Unfortunately, our "conversation" view is insufficient to convey this information. That's one of the many reasons we are working hard on our new Unified Inbox interface which will be behave like a real inbox and clarify these situations where many people are participating in one conversation.

Sigh. I will, I was just hoping to get a quicker answer if it's not affecting just me. It's been 4 days since I sent in my last help desk help request and I still haven't heard back.  As this issue is directly affecting customers I was hoping for a resolution a bit faster than that.

Mine are actually experiencing real errors. I wrote into the Helpdesk and was told that these errors are actually valid and I do need to make changes to avoid being delisted.

Apparently, GVR doesn't support ordering surcharges and discounts. I asked OR about simply stripping the positioning data, but they said they don't want to presume how OR users want to run their businesses (I love OR to death, but man, sometimes I can tell I'm dealing with a company made up almost entirely of people who think in binary if-then statements like programmers instead of people who think like normal people who just want software that works ;) ), and besides, doing so would have the effect of applying discounts to all charges, including cleaning fees.

One of the OR reps suggested I raise my cleaning fee to account for the weekly discount, but since my average length-of-stay is 3.03 nights per booking, that would have the effect of artificially raising the cleaning fee to an uncompetitive price for the vast majority of my stay or me taking a loss on it for longer stays, neither of which is a viable option for me.

I have had exactly 1 inquiry from GVR since it went live a few months ago, and to be honest, I suspect the whole GVR project is going to end up on the extremely lengthy list of often-popular products that Google has killed off over the years (https://killedbygoogle.com/), so I'm not really inclined to do much kowtowing to Google here.

I'm thinking I'll just exclude my weekly discount entirely from Google entirely until they get their act together and make their system work with how vacation rental owners actually handle fees and discounts. It just boggles my mind that Google provides zero ability to apply a rent discount only to the rental rate. Like, how did this product ever pass QA with that omission?

And of course there's literally no one at Google to even report this to, since Google doesn't believe in customer-facing support. So they may not even realize there's a problem here.

I guess I'll still have to create separate cleaning fee and pet fee surcharges that only apply to GVR (because they need to have no ordering information in them whatsoever, since OR won't strip them out on my behalf).

Anyone else have any ideas or suggestions before I spend an hour or two mucking with my surcharges and discounts? I can't be the only person this is affecting...

I recommend reaching out to help desk as this is extremely unusual.

Now all my guests are getting messages that aren't even from me, but from a host at a place that I co-host, with instructions for a property that they have never stayed at....

HELP!

Further to my message above, this error appears to be more than a display bug, because according to Airbnb the message from one guest was sent to two different guests from unrelated bookings.  Here is what Airbnb shows for the first example in my message above:

Possibly this is an Airbnb error, but it can definitely cause a lot of trouble if it continues....

Thanks Adria, in the end I just set up a Hosted Website for each property and gave each its own domain name.  Because I started with a multiple-property page, I'm now geting GVR error messages when I try to integrate via API with GVR.  I've sent in a ticket a few days ago to help sort that out, though I haven't yet heard back.

This morning I started getting messages sent by one guest showing up as having been from several.  This is a bug.

Here's what the message queue looks like. Three of the exact same message from three different guests at exactly the same time.

Actually only Lillian sent the message.  When I click on the message from Karen, I can see this:

As you can see, the title says it's a conversation with Karen, but all the actual messages are duplicates of my conversation with Lillian.

When I click on the conversation with Susan, I get the same thing.

This has been going on since last night.  Here's another example of one guest sending a message, but it's showing up as if the same message was sent by three different guests at the exact same:

Clearly a bug. FYI. 

Optional items shouldn't even be pushed up to Airbnb via the API in the first place.  Please write in to the Helpdesk with specific information and examples so we can investigate and determine what's going on.

I just realized as I was working through the tedious AirBnB integration that a SEASONAL OPTIONAL ITEM (NOT a SURCHARGE, but OwnerRez doesn't distinguish between the two - which is a HUGE failure for this software!) is being rolled into my nightly rate on AirBnB!!

Why?

This raises a whole number of questions...

1) Why is an OPTIONAL item which the guest can choose to ADD or not to their reservation being AUTOMATICALLY included on AirBnB?

Again, this is an OPTIONAL item. Including it in the nightly rate, with no choice being provided to the guest, is wrong, incorrect, and practically dishonest!

2) It is a SEASONAL item, that we ONLY charge for during certain times of the year, but it appears that it is being applied ALL the time! (Am I wrong about this? Is it only being applied seasonally? Someone please let me know this so that I can be talked a little bit back away from the ledge!)

3) Why am I... the owner of the property, the host, the one who makes the rules, and decides how and if I will rent out MY property NOT allowed to determine IF this charge should be included in the nightly rate shown on AirBnB?

4) This artificially raises my price on the AirBnB site against my competition who are NOT forced to do this.

5) Not only is this an OPTIONAL, SEASONAL ITEM for Winter Months ONLY, we have a DIFFERENT OPTIONAL, SEASONAL ITEM, for Summer Months ONLY. I don't see that being fed to AirBnB and added to the Nightly Rate! (Thank goodness!) But it demonstrates the ridiculousness of the approach! A Seasonal Optional Item which may not even be appropriate to the time of the booking is being forced on reservations, meanwhile the correct one for the season is not mentioned or available?

I have, for the last decade, charged guests separately and off site, for OPTIONAL items that they add after making their booking on a 3rd party website like VRBO and others, without any difficulty. I note that this can be done for a Credit Card Authorization Security Deposit with AirBnB bookings, so why not with OPTIONAL Items?

One of the MAIN reasons why I use PMSoftware and have for over a decade, is precisely because listing sites hell-bent on controlling my business don't offer the needed flexibility for me to run it as I need to in order to be successful. I SHOULD have the option to include an OPTIONAL item on AirBnB or NOT!

At the moment, the workarounds for this problem that I can see are...

1) Disconnect the API connection between OR and Air.

2) Explain that this is happening in my description. But that's not a good solution because it doesn't fix the issue that my listings are being made less competitive by an artificially increased price.

That's about it. Does anyone have any other suggestions or information for me?

Anyone who has been provided the iCal link indefinitely has access until if/when they decide to delete it from their system? 

Yes, that is correct.  The design thinking is that, as you point out, that data is publicly visible on your website and listing channels anyway, it is not a secret, so is not a privacy concern.  And since you might likely be using the same iCal feeds in any number of places, for example listing channels, allowing you to change or disable them would open up a whole host of problems best avoided.

Separating from long term property manager and no longer want them to have access to the calendar.  I understand it’s semi public by viewing on listing sites but I’d like the details to be unavailable via the cleaning software they use, etc  

Anyone who has been provided the iCal link indefinitely has access until if/when they decide to delete it from their system? 

No, this is not possible.  Can you explain your use case for why you'd want to do this?

Is it possible to change a default iCal export link?  I know I can use custom iCal links and that is not applicable, looking specifically to change the iCal default link. 

Thanks! 

Some of our clients have received multiple Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) listing issues alert emails in error.  These can be ignored for now, while we investigate the underlying issue.

If they give you trouble, I just got approved with an Elavon reseller who has lots of vacation rental customers on MCC 6513.  Pricing at:

interchange + 0.10% + $10/mo

OR

interchange + 0.05% + $35/mo

OR

interchange + 0% + $75/mo

I started receiving lots of emails from OR starting today about GVR channel. I can't make heads or tails of this, don't see any errors, so i'm wondering if this is some sort of OR internal problem since we have not changed anything in a long time

this is the email

Running List Quality Analyzer does not show any errors. A couple of warnings that have been there for a while

And clicking on the big green "Google Vacation Rentals" button from the email shows this page.

What is the deal with that warning box: "There are no active properties connected.." when there's clearly a property connected showing on the page?