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The specific requirement as I understand that either a) cancellation policy should be located within the rental agreement next to signature spot or b) there should be some sort of disclosure (maybe abbreviated policy) on checkout form that they have to agree to before proceeding. yes know they e-sign the rental agreement, and for example my rental agreement is 6 pages, so if cancellation policy is on page 2 (or next to signature or where they initial), it may not suffice. In essence it appears that renter has to proactively acknowledge the rental agreement (by putting signature/initial under it or having to click thru it on check out form). As you know I am in Say No group as well as others and it does appear that all these 'walled gardens" esp AirBNb created "book now, don't read anything cancel later" mind-set, and when renter changes their mind they expect to get their money back no matter what. we have to be protected in this new reality

Looking at those requirements, it seems like the electronic signature on the rental agreement should suffice. It actually calls out specifically the electronic signature as valid, as well as written notice through email (which they get with the renter agreement signed email/pdf). Is there a new component of the credit card requirements that changes that?

In terms of a custom field, what you'd want is a Booking custom field, required during checkout. Here's an article on that: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/capture-additional-fields-on-checkout-quote-acceptance

What you could do is this:
- Create a form message for "Quote Acceptance - Step (2) Enter Guest Info Page" and below the default, put in your cancellation policy.
- Create a booking custom field called "Cancellation Policy Acceptance" or some such, make it required, and give it a description referring to the cancellation policy -- "Enter your initials to confirm that you agree to the cancellation policy above"

I recently discovered that erentallock code was allowing check in at least 2 hrs prior to official check in time. i.e I had guest let themselves in at 1PM whereas my check in time is 3PM. I checked and I have 1 hour grace period defined (I.e it should be possible for them to check in at 2 PM , but why 1 PM?)

Long story short, apparently there is an increased number of chargebacks in the VR industry lately. I have been doing some research and here is what I came across - new credit card requirements (from Apr 18, 2018) re cancellation policy (which have to be in place to prevent frivolous "I did not know" chargebacks). My question is - how to add a field to the check out form with abbreviated cancellation policy disclosure so that they cannot claim they did not see it within the rental agreement. I have defined a field but right now having a brain malfunction. should it be a "property" or Booking" type field, and how to make it display on the check out form?

Required Disclosure

All of the following:

That the Merchant agrees to hold the reservation unless it is cancelled according to the agreed cancellation policy
The date and time the stay or rental will begin
The Merchant location where the accommodations, merchandise, or services will be provided
Cancellation policy, including, but not limited to, the following:
Date and time by which the Cardholder must cancel the reservation to avoid a penalty
Amount the Cardholder must pay if the reservation is not properly cancelled by the deadline and the Cardholder does not claim the accommodations, merchandise, or services within 24 hours of the agreed time
That, if the Merchant cannot honour the reservation, the Merchant will provide the agreed accommodations, merchandise, or services, or comparable accommodations, merchandise, or services at no additional cost to the Cardholder or as agreed by the Cardholder
Location of Disclosure

Either or both:

Merchant website or application, both:
One or more of the following:
In the sequence of pages before final checkout, a "click to accept" or other acknowledgement button, checkbox, or location for an Electronic Signature
On the checkout screen near the "submit" button
A "click to book" or other similar confirmation button
Not solely a link to a separate page (In the Europe Region, this may be a link to another website only if the link forms part of the “click to accept” acknowledgement and refers to the cancellation policy)
Written notice provided through mail, email, or text message

There isn't currently an auto email that goes out because of all of the different reasons that might cause the charges to be changed.

Instead, the best thing to do is to make an email template for the current billing summary and then go to the booking and do an "Email this guest". Here's an example template: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/template-receipt-billing-summary

Several times I receive request to shorten / lengthen future reservation. While OR sends and auto-email to the guests stating how dates changed. While OR does suggest to recalculate charges, I do not see anything that sends updated charges table to the guest. is that something missing in my set up? I had to send updated charged (for example, for one more night or one less night) manually.

Send the file to help@ownerreservations.com and I'll have a look.

I ADDED all my bookings in the template thats generated by ownerRez, but it came back as an Error. Not explanation why.

We answered this on a support ticket but just wanted to circle up here in case anybody else has the same issue.

The problem in this case was that the OwnerRez calendar import was set to "bookings only"... but the Evolve calendar link sends everything as blocked-off time (even though it is theoretically a HomeAway link that can send bookings).

Changing the sync to "all events" solved the issue.

My calendar isn't syncing with Evolve again... I updated my Evolve calendar a few days ago and the new booking isn't being pulled into the OwnerRez calendar. As I understand it, the Evolve calendar link is a Homeaway / VRBO link so I'm not sure what the issue is, but I really need my calendar to be accurate, so I don't accidentally double book. Help?

Thanks!
Monica

Thank you so much for the update ! :)

Ah, ok, something to work on. Thanks!

There are stay reports for either a single day or a date range.

The stay reports would be great if you could enter a date range.
A single day doesn't really do enough.

Upload link would be fine.

A couple of months ago, Facebook added a new restriction. You now can't add an app to your page unless you've got at least 2,000 followers. We're looking at ways to get round that restriction or get a certified app through FB, but currently you have to hit that amount of followers to be able to add tabs.

That's a great one! Could be just as simple as a file upload link for now and then define some types and organizations later.

Yep! You can still filter for canceled bookings in the list view, but the way you filter has changed a bit from the last post. To change a filter, click the Filter button. Then filter booking status to show canceled.

Yep, it's the later of 30 days before arrival or the final payment. In other words, if they book more than 30 days out, they can take the insurance later up to 30 days before arrival. If they book inside the 30 days they can purchase insurance at check out or the same day they book, but not later than that.

The other exclusion on last minute is that the insurance won't cover storms in progress at the time of purchase. If the guest purchases the insurance before the storm is named, that's fine. But after the storm is named it's an excluded item.

I think it must be at last a month prior to arrival.

booking means booking for actual people, on the day of check in. ex: booking May 27 - May 30, booking has arrived would be May 27. Blocked off time is just that - calendar block (like you block for maintenance, there is no actual booking), and blocked off time starts . if you blocked off may 27 - may 30, the blocked off time started will be May 27.

I would like to include the link to purchase travel insurance however I can't figure out how close to check-in they are able to buy it. Does it have to be done AT CHECKOUT or can they do it AFTER they pay for their rental?

Thanks
Monica

Just wondering if there is updated info on cancelled bookings. Thank you!

Hi all.

I'm trying to install facebook widgets following the instructions but when I try to install static html: iframe tabs I get an error message that my page does not have permission to install.

Can anyone help?

Thanks,
Beth

To set min nights and max guests, go to the Rules section of each property and look near the bottom of that area.

Good afternoon.

I wonder how I can set the minimum nights to 7 and max guests to 8.

How can I do it?

thank you!

Sophia

I'm starting to set up my first automated emails. Check in instructions, thank you for staying, etc.

My first question is:

What is the difference between "Booking has arrived" and "Blocked Off time has started"?

Is there a good forum thread or blog post that discusses setting up these emails?

Thanks!

being able to send the link to the guest where they can upload the copy of their ID and that gets automatically added to the booking under "files".

As far as listing goes, Houfy can import your HA or AIRBNb listing

You can import rates into Houfy with the spreadsheet