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If you have "send create triggers" enabled, it will send any ones where the create triggers have never been sent before for that booking OR there was never an email address in the system for that booking.
"send create triggers" sends create triggers and those by arrival that are due in the next 36 hours. Any others like the 1 day prior or day of arrival would not be sent.
What I'd recommend to do here is do disable your create trigger, then run the channel bridge on that file with "send create triggers" enabled. Then re-enable the create trigger. That way channel bridge will know that it tried to send create triggers at the time for those bookings and won't try again next time. Then manually send the create trigger on the new one. In future, as new bookings come across, the send create triggers would work for the additional ones.
Interesting thought on that. It would be good to show a bit of status there, but it's a little complex because it could be completely new or have come in via iCal and be getting populated with charges for the first time, or being updated with new charges, or not changed at all because it hasn't changed since last time.
Yep, we've bounced around the idea of having an email template area where folks can share their templates and anyone can click a button to import the template into OwnerRez. Similarly ideas on web design etc. And we do plan to add images and links... but that's harder than you'd think to do in a way that's not a spam magnet :-/
You're right though... lets just get started! I created a new forum here: https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/templateshare
There isn't a detection or trigger for that right now. You can run off a Date Range type Stay Report -- that'll includes the custom fields alongside the booking so you can see which ones are populated or not.
Right now we don't error on missing fields because there are a lot of cases where you might want an empty field value -- maybe it's a property trash instructions field that is applicable to one property but not another etc.
Great!
FYI you can also populate the values for all properties at once in the detail section of the property field.
You can't do that exactly but you can get close.
The system will check the second payment days on booking and if it's past the deadline it'll require everything up front. In other words, if you put second payment days at 60 days, and the guests books on day 59, they'll be charged everything up front. If they book at 100 days, it'll take 50% up front and 50% on day 60.
What you can't do right now is to vary up the days so the second payment is due at 14 days if over 60 days from arrival but due at 60 days if less than 60 days from arrival.
Okay - So I have just set up my email triggers for these
a) at create
b) 1-day prior
c) day of arrival
When use the channel bridge I'm grabbing about 30 past bookings along with one new one. Is it safe to leave the 'send create triggers' enabled? I hesitated this time since of course I don't want all those past bookings to get the initial 'at create' email, just the most recent one. The rest I had emailed outside of OR. The description implies they would be sent if they haven't been sent already (which they haven't). But maybe OR actually just would send for completely new bookings?
Unrelated to this, when I import bookings that were previously imported the message next to each booking is 'Imported' whereas it would be nice to see which bookings OR thinks are completely new versus updated bookings.
I think the OR community would benefit if there were a forum dedicated to sharing email templates and website design ideas. We're rarely competing (if ever) against each other, and I bet there are folks here who have way more experience who would enjoy sharing the content they've developed over time... I imagine this would work better with having the ability to add images, links and other rich text content, however even as the forum is set up today we could make meaningful contributions .... Chris/Paul what do you think ?
If my automated emails are expecting a custom field to be supplied for the booking (eg: Lock Codes) is there any way that I can detect the absence of the field being filled out for a given booking?
Perhaps this would be a new feature to trigger on an empty custom field with an email back to myself.
I don't see a custom field report, but that would be another way. Meaning a booking report that lists the contents of custom fields.
Without some kind of check like this I run the risk of assuming I added key codes to a particular booking when in fact I didn't.
Another idea would be to have OR implement a check when automated emails go out containing a custom field with a null value. I think it would be best to halt the sending of the email but alert the account owner about the failure to send due to missing information. But this would be a safety net and I'd prefer some method prior to the arrival date where I'd be reminded to supply missing custom booking field info.
Okay - In hindsight it's obvious how this needs to work, and it works perfectly for both Booking and Property codes.
I just got confused when creating the custom field and not realizing that their values of course need to be entered from the property tab.
This is the point where the time savings is becoming really obvious, thanks for building the custom codes in a robust way !!
If you want to go per booking, like a lock code that is unique per booking, then use a Booking type field definition. The per property field definition would be for a manual programmed lock where it's always the same.
Parking instructions that are different per property would be where you also want to use a Property type field definition.
So in this case, you would create one Booking type field definition called KABACODE or some such, populate that per booking, and then reference that in your arrival day instructions email.
Then create one Property type field definition called PARKINGINSTRUCTIONS, populate that per property, and then reference that in your arrival day instructions as well.
When the email template is sent, it'll look at the booking and property and substitute in the correct values for each.
Here's an article with step by step: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/pre-arrival-email-templates-triggers-custom-fields
Chris - I also don't see how custom fields can work on a per-property basis either.
I just wanted to make different parking instructions per property. So that I can have a single Arrival Day Instructions where the custom field is replaced with the parking instructions appropriate for the guest's booking.
It doesn't seem like this is possible on a per-property basis either. Hopefully I'm missing something but even though there are different types of custom fields for booking or property it seems they all act like account level custom fields.
Chris - I don't see how this can work ...
It looks like there can only be one value of the lock codes at any point in time per property. For this to be automated properly the field needs to be associated with the booking, so that I can create a value for keycodes for Property A on January 1st for a visit in March, and then created another value for Property A on January 10th for a visit in February, etc.
Maybe I'm missing something?
I personally am using Kaba and would like to have this integrated but that's not available yet, right?
So for now, I'd like to create key codes at the same time that I use channel bridge to import from VRBO and create the booking. That will of course happen in whatever sequence the bookings are imported. Then I'll use a trigger on the day before arrival to send the email. In case it's not clear, my keycodes get varied for each guest so that everyone knows that no one else can have codes that allow entry during their booked stay.
Just a quick THANK YOU for this feature. I've used other (more expensive) software that required me to create a new template for each property and for each communication that required property-specific info.
The custom field is life-changing and really sets OR apart.
Kudos.
Hi all! I can't seem to find this functionality and am hoping it exists.
We typically collect all monies in full up front for any booking that begins within the next 59 days. However, for bookings that begin 60+ days out, we only collect 50% of the total, and then we automatically charge the balance two weeks before they arrive.
I can't find in the RULES section how to set up these parameters. My only option appears to be to charge ALL UP FRONT or to do two payments, across the board, for every single booking.
Is there something I'm missing?
Thanks!!
Monica
There's a link on each booking (and quotes) where you can find all email sent for that booking. It's a shortcut over to the email list that filters just to that booking or quote. You can find it in two places - under the booking > email tab and in the top yellow bar:
Not sure how to determine "did I already send this guest the welcome email"?
I'm only sending emails manually at the moment until I get comfortable with the channel bridge importing and turn on some automation.
I'd expect that clicking on a booking would show the email history under Activity (near the bottom) but emails don't seem to show there.
I'd expect that clicking on the email menu link from the Overview under a booking would show email history, but the only emails I see are canned emails, not manually sent emails
The only place I can see an email history is from the email module, but that requires remembering a persons name and typing it into the filter which is harder to do.
Hopefully I'm missing something, otherwise this should surely be a feature request to have some easy way to see a full list of all email communications by booking and by guest. Especially for repeat guests it is helpful to see past discussions about children, experience with the area, etc.
Thanks - I added an entry to feature request since I think having automated reports would be very desirable.
Hi Tim,
To be clear, you still want the line items split apart internally, but you want the guest to SEE it as the same thing. If that's the case, we don't have out yet. That's the "condensed view" thing we've talked about before. No ETA on that yet. Doing the "show as rent" check will simply make the line item type be rent, but there would still be multiple line items when the guest sees it.
We've discussed internally and we may end up moving those damage protection settings to the channel only. It makes more sense to have that there then on the iCal. You either want it on a channel's bookings or you don't - no matter whether it was imported from iCal or channel bridge. No ETA on that yet though. If you need it removed, let us know and we can remove it from a booking. Send in a ticket for that.
Hi Rich,
You can create an email template and trigger to email the cleaner with a nicely formatted message but only for one booking (using the booking field codes). There isn't a way to do a single email for a list of bookings.
You can grant full admin access to other accounts if you use the PM > Portal Access feature. If you're looking for limited access (calendar, guest info only) you can do that in the same place.
I'd like to stop having my cleaning fee as a separate line item on quotes. I know I can manually edit quotes I create, though obviously if it was done automatically that would be great. I am particularly looking at the booking/quote widgets though. I thought this was possible to set it so that surcharges and rent are all combined into one line item? I could swear that the check box for "Categorize this as a 'rent' line item" was supposed to do this, but it doesn't seem to do anything. Am I missing something?
-Tim
We do an authorized hold of $500 as a sec/dam deposit (put on cc 3 days before arrival) and it doesn't show up on our quote but is a note in my email and in the contract so not had any problems with this being a problem in the quote phase.
Has worked well for us.
Wendy
My cleaning person isn't excited about using iCal, so wondering if there is any way to automate the periodic emailing of a table of bookings (current + future) for her.
Example: an automated emailed report with a table like this ....
Unit A
- Smith 1/2/19 - 1/4/19 (2A 3C)
- Sanders 1/4/19 - 1/11/19 (4A)
- Sampson 1/14/19- 1/17/19 (2A 2C)
etc
Additional Question
- do I need to contact OR support to have other users (eg: my daughter, partner, cleaning person) added to the account for access?
Airbnb and VRBO are the external payments so I don't charge or offer damage protection. I wouldn't expect iCal or Channel Bridge to charge for damage protection
To vary up the lock code value per property, the thing to do is create a custom field for the lock code at the property level and then populate it with a different value for each property.
Then when working with your email template, use the Insert Field button to insert that custom field, and it'll be populated with the correct value for the property.
Here's an article that walks you through this process (and also some other stuff with triggers): https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/pre-arrival-email-templates-triggers-custom-fields
I'm trying to personalize lock code email letters for different properties with out using any of the lock service. The same key code letter with the same code go to every listing. How do I separate each code for each listing.
Thank you,
Kelly
yes noticed the TI:) Thanks
Yep, we're working on it! Everything has to be rejiggered a bit so the numbers all add up.
We have released the TI update where guests can alter the amount, so that side is better now.
That's an interesting point... channel bridge could override the iCal setting if it is bringing in a booking. That's not quite intentional.
Do you want to have that applied or not? I can look into the bookings for you if something needs to be fixed.
The iCal and channel bridge items are correct.
The setting VRBO email address to the OR property email is for inquiries and lets you respond to an inquiry from OwnerRez. You can't quote from OwnerRez because they strip all links and contact info out until after booking, but you can at least respond to the inquiry.
For bookings, channel bridge will get the email address, so you don't need the inquiry forwards unless you are doing the autoresponders.
No automated emails will be triggered by the VRBO iCal as that doesn't include the guest email. However, you can trigger "on created" emails from the Airbnb iCal as they do include the guest email in their iCal.
