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I follow a forum with discussions on vrbo/ha hosts who get occasional Expedia bookings. And that it often is not a clear or smooth experience. I get the feeling Expedia (Orbitz, etc) is not exactly seamlessly integrated like the others (vrbo, ha, etc)

How does OR work with Expedia and those other sites? Any setup/tracking advice?

Hi Paul & Chris,
I'm glad this was resolved. Thank you for keeping on top of it.
You guys are working on an API connection with AirBnB, is that correct? How is that looking?
If this occurs in the future the only option will be the channel bridge, which requires the property management module with an additional fee, is that correct?

Thanks again.

There isn't a way to do that currently, but it's something we've kicked around internally. It's difficult to create a scheduled time for that. We'd have to say trigger off of "middle of the stay" and a certain day of week. Other users have use cases for this too, so it's on the radar.

Yes I need this really bad. Anyone figure anything out?

It appears that - at least for the moment - the guest info is showing again in the Airbnb calendar feeds. Maybe they were testing the waters to see what the backlash would be? 😉

Pedro, you can just manually enter the name and contact details to get initial emails sent, like we have to do with VRBO. Talk about a dumb step backwards on ABB!

Hi everyone, we wrote a blog post about this here:

https://www.ownerrez.com/blog/airbnb-bookings-no-longer-showing-guest-name-phone-and-email

Previously I was sending the greeting when the booking was created. If I change (the Airbnb one only) to be triggered on the event "When booking payment is added", will that cause it to be sent when the channel bridge is run?

Randy

We had set up an automated greeting email which went out to Airbnb guest's platform email whenever a booking came in. I just did a test booking to see how it works now. When the booking first syncs with OR, it comes into the OR calendar with just the OR booking number and 0 for the number of guests. The calendar is properly blocked off. I did channel bridge to get the double blind guest email to communicate with. Unfortunately the trigger didn't send out the greeting email automatically after I did channel bridge. Is there a setting which will make that happen or will we have to manually go in and send the greeting message from the booking?

Any plans on automating the Channel Bridge Import process? Would be awesome if it just happened seamlessly then all this would just go away :)

So we MUST now do the channel bridge thing for messages to get sent to AirBnB guests, is that correct?

OwnerRez can still send messages to Airbnb guests via the @guest.airbnb.com email if it's on the booking. The difference is that that email address no longer comes in via the iCal. Now it'll work the same way VRBO does -- once you populate the info via channel bridge, it'll send the create triggers and then any subsequent emails will still go out automatically (since the email will be on file).

Chris, please clarify: AirBnB removed contact info from the iCal export? Is Ownerrez no longer able to send messages to AirBnB guests without the channel bridge?

Earlier today, Airbnb rolled out a change to their calendar feeds that removed all information except for the dates. Name, email, and phone have been removed, which is why OwnerRez interpreted that as missing and sent the notification email.

We rolled out an update to handle the new format a bit ago, so you won't see any new "missing" emails from this issue.

I'd recommend contacting your Airbnb rep to register a complaint -- removal of contact info from iCal is a huge step backward in functionality for Airbnb.

In the meantime, you can populate all of the same contact info and send create triggers as you did via iCal using our channel bridge tool: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/channel-bridge. That uses a direct log-in to your Airbnb account so it's not affected by the missing info in Airbnb's new iCal format.

Yep! You can look in the Emails tab in OwnerRez to see the exact FROM and dates to look for on emails sent to her.

I received a warning OwnerRez email that Airbnb bookings that had previously been synced are now missing (on the Airbnb side.) However, nothing has changed on that calendar and my bookings are still intact. Is there an issue with the API?

Thanks!

Chris, Thanks so much for checking. Good to know they are making it to Gmail.
She has been thru spam etc. and it looks like she has not gotten anything new since January.....!
I have even had her looking for things sent from inquiryspot.com Is that correct?

I see them going out and sending correctly to gmail with no rejections on her part.

Have her check the spam and promotions folders -- gmail recently rolled out an update that changes their categorization logic, so they may be hiding those emails. If she doesn't see them right off, have her search for the property name in her gmail -- it'll probably come up and show which folder they are buried in.

My cleaner got all my emails last year - but she is not getting any this year? Still shows they are being sent. Still the same address. Just not coming thru. Any ideas?

Yes its a real tax. I'm trying to get away from spreadsheets / google calendar and have all my bookings in one software. I need to have the ability to export in reports every quarter (as OwnerRez provides) as I have to remit to the mountain and remit to Revenue Quebec.

Works great right now in my spreadsheet set up but I'm adding a second property in that area and would love it if stuff was more automated.

Thanks!

It is practically useless. The way Expedia displays listing (similar to b.com - with some cockamamie description made up of some property amenity key words but no real description) and inability to see full calendar there means that there are very few if any bookings that ever originate on Expedia.

What is the Expanded Distribution Network?
Expanded Distribution puts vacation rental listings in front of travelers who might not have considered a vacation rental. HomeAway believes that by growing awareness of the vacation rental industry, we can attract countless new travelers to our listings.

Today, travelers searching for accommodations on Expedia and other leading online travel sites almost exclusively choose from hotels and rarely if ever see vacation homes as an option. Distribution to some of these sites will increase your exposure to travelers drastically, especially those who never would have considered a vacation rental.

The Expanded Distribution Network includes Expedia Distribution brands (Travelocity, CheapTickets, Orbitz, & Expedia), as well as Trivago, KAYAK, CandaStays, TravelMob and other affiliates that specialize in vacation rentals.

Eligible listings will be automatically enrolled in the program. Currently, the following types of listings are eligible for the Expanded Distribution Network:
Pay-per-booking and subscription listings with Online Booking (with online payments) and in good marketplace standing.
Integrated listings must be enabled on HomeAway’s latest listing and booking integrations in order to be distributed to Trivago and KAYAK.
You will be charged the same commission that you are charged on HomeAway for the total rental amount, any fees (such as cleaning or pet fees), and any additional payments.

How will I know I received a booking request from a particular brand or the Expanded Distribution Network?
HELP QUESTION
If a traveler books through the Expanded Distribution Network, who will they contact if there is an issue?

Is the Royalty part a real tax? Or could it be a taxable surcharge? If it was, it would factor into the calcs below.

Other option would be to add that factor into the tax %'s. So you'd have GST at 5.17% and QST at 10.325% and then the amounts match up.

Thank you for your quick reply! I can't include the percentage in the tax as the "tax is taxed!" ... I know, weird but my reality. :)

No, there isn't currently a way to have tax on tax or a subtotal. You'd have to include the percentage you want in the tax itself.

Hello!
I'm trying to see if there is a way to have my first tax totalled before moving on to my next tax items.
Example:

Nighty Rate $150.00
Royalty 3.5% $5.25
Total: $155.25

GST 5 % $7.76
QST 9.975 % $15.49

Total $178.50

Thank you!

This was my experience as well. Tried twice to give them my money, apparently they didn't want it. Never received a response from them.

Thank you, thank you! I was trying to do it under seasonal rates like a dummy.

You are able to drop widgets (similar to ours, but from others) into OwnerRez Hosted Website pages. So I would look into various javascript-based chats and embed that into your site footer. That would bring up a chat window (or option/handle) that shows on every page for your website.

Use either the Seasons or Spot Rates to override the property rules. Spot Rates override everything, then Seasons, then the property default. So if you have a season already set up for the months in question, open that season and put 5 night minimum on that season.