General Help and Questions

Sort by

• Newest Reply
• Newest Topic

Yes, that's correct.

For anyone else who stumbles onto this topic looking for the same answer, you do the following:

- Open the booking
- Click on the security deposit tab
- Click the "Change Scheduled One" button
- Adjust the amount you want to be reserved
- Click the Save button

Is there a way to change the Security Deposit amount, after the person has booked and paid for the booking? I was just looking and noticed that I would like lower the Security Deposit on a Return Customer. I forgot to do it before, when I quoted him. Now, I can't find how to lower it before it is due.

Thanks,
Claudia

** Never mind. I found it. It is under Schedule. I thought I needed to enter the credit card info, but I see that it is already there and I can change the amount easily.

Thanks!

Yes, exactly. The only ones we have a fixed rate on (2.95% flat) is MasterCard, Visa and Discover.

So, there may be an extra fee, as AMEX has?

Claudia

MasterCard, Visa, Discover and Amex can all be accepted by our Woodforest/SecureNet merchant accounts. Diner's Club is owned by Discover so that's included as well UNLESS you're talking about Diner's International which is a bit different. JBC, Euro, CarteBlanche I BELIEVE can be added in as well though those have entirely different applications and fee structures.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Hi,

Are the below cards accepted from WoodForest?

carteblanche, dinersclub, discover, eurocard, jcb, mastercard, visa. I know that they also accept AMEX, but there is an extra cost to use AMEX.

Thank you,
Claudia

At the moment, we're restricting use of APIs only to integration partners. We have done a ton of work on it but there's a little further to go until we can release that live to the public. There's a lot of functionality in the system - we have to be really careful how solid the APIs are before opening that up. Thanks for your patience. ~Sam

Excellent! Thank you!!!

Claudia

FYI - that fix went out in tonight's release. Also, the security deposit and payment pages now show the URLs you can use for public forms. Just copy that URL and give it your guest for payment or security deposit. ~Sam

I can't wait!

Speaking of APIs, with all the work you've done on APIs is there a way to access the data through the APIs so that I can build a set of custom reports?

Tomorrow or Friday we're doing a release that:

* Expands the inquiry workflow a bit (eg. allows for multiple email addresses and phone numbers)
* Exposes public guest forms for second payments and security deposits
* Adds custom fields at the booking level
* Bunch of other minor things

Lot of API work this release so not a whole lot in the UI for users to see beyond that.

Coming out in the near future (weeks to months):

* Notes - add them to inquiries, quotes and bookings and find them with the global search
* Custom email sending - schedule custom emails to fire at date/time or based on workflow events (eg. booking paid in full)
* Auto responders - the system will send quotes and inquiry responses automatically based on rules (ie. an inquiry is available and no comments are entered = reply automatically)
* Ribbon view
* Reports
* Public calendar form for sharing data by webpage (for housekeepers and websites) that also shows multiple properties and has availability filters (ie. think calendar widget but a full page and a lot more features)
* Moving all pages and forms to new design, optimized for touch/mobile

There's a long to-do list beyond this, but these are the top priorities right now.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Perfect. What is coming out in the next few releases? We love the system, hoping automatic emails a few days ahead of arrival date is soon...

I don't. We only include that line by default because many owners like to send a followup survey or review request after the guest departs.

For instance, TripAdvisor (which is powered by FlipKey) has a feature where you can send "Review Requests" to any person. You just enter their email address and name and FlipKey takes care of the rest. Then, whatever review they provide shows up on your FlipKey/TripAdvisor listing.

Another common (and free) tool to use is the Google Form tool that comes with Google Spreadsheets. More about that here:

https://support.google.com/drive/answer/87809?hl=en

This allows you to prepare a nicely formatted Q/A that then shows all the answers in a Google Spreadsheet for you to review later.

It is a goal of ours to include auto surveys and Q/A forms after the departure as a part of the OwnerRez email process, but for the time being it's been wait-listed on the priorities list.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

That was easy :)

Do you have a survey that you send out or examples of a survey we might use?

We may send you a short survey in the next few days, asking about your stay

Hi Marinas Edge,

Open the security deposit email template and click the "Use Default" button at the bottom right. That will pre-fill the body (and other fields) with what we automatically send if you don't a template on file.

Is that what you were looking for?

-Michelle

Do you have an example of a pre-populated security deposit email? My first booking of the season will be arriving next week and I want to have this functionality in place by then.

Thanks!

Thanks. I wil think about it. For now, I will continue to send my own quotes manually and just use the booking side of your system.

Claudia

Hi Michelle,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

As you know, we don't yet have the ability to include pictures in the email editor through an easy point-and-click image selector.

However, you CAN include images if you know how to edit and use HTML directly. Notice the HTML button on the email editor all the way to the right. That opens a pop-up form that lets you edit the raw HTML body of the message. If you know how to host and image publicly and reference it in HTML, you can do this already.

I'm willing to help you with this. Send me the email you use with images, and I'll show you how to prepare the HTML. It might be a little confusing to start but that will get you started in the right direction.

Eventually, we would like to include an easier point-and-click image selector so that you don't have to modify the HTML manually. If I'm being honest, though, that is not on the priority list at all. There dozens of other things that would take priority over that.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Hi Michelle,

We spoke of this a while ago, but I can't find the thread. Are we going to be able to include pictures soon?

I do not use your quote response, still, due to this. I firmly believe that it helps to have a picture or two where the potential renter remembers your house.

Thanks,
Claudia

Everything looks fine here in terms of sending emails. We had a hiccup with some sending two nights ago, but that was only for a few hours at night and everything went out the next morning. Nothing today that I can see. ~Sam

Has something been going on with Owner Rez today? Or is it my system? I received a booking at 7 am, today and didn't come into my inbox until 3 pm.

Thanks,
Claudia

Thanks! That would be great, if you can make it happen. It would help me a lot, for future Security Deposits. I would rather have a HOLD on their account than have to return a check. Also, not have to deal with having their private credit card information. :)

Yes, I'm going to check with the devs to see if we can remove that check. If so, the fix may go out very quickly. :-)

I don't understand this...

"Let me see if we can just remove that scheduled check"

What do I need to do?



** Nevermind. I read it wrong. I thought I had to do something. You will check if you can do something on your end. Thanks!

We plan on providing scheduled reminders for payments and security deposits where non-CC payers get reminders and/or can update their card info, switch to card (from check) and other things. At the moment, we're focusing quite a bit on the email and inquiry areas.

Let me see if we can just remove that scheduled check so that the form can be used by anyone (any booking without a reserved security deposit, that is). If it's easy, we'll try to squeeze it into one of the next few releases.

Is there a way to have this function for anyone? I would rather have nothing to do with their private information.

Also, can there be an alert that the Security Deposit is coming due, when the original payment was not paid via Credit Card?

Claudia

I'm sorry - you're right. That form checks first to see if a security deposit was scheduled, which isn't really necessary for the form to function. We should yank out that check. If they have no credit card on file at all, you'll have to call for the security deposit. Sorry for the misinformation. I believe the payment form (which works similar to this) does allow credit card payments for previous-check payers.

Hi Michelle,

This doesn't seem to work for someone that paid via check. Only gives me the option for ME to enter the information. When I enter the information on the browser, this is what come up on the screen...

"No security deposit is required for this booking.

Some fresh ideas...
Are you sure you're looking at the right booking?

If you copied the URL from another location (such as an email message), make sure all the text survived the trip."

If I go into the booking to look at Security Deposit, it states No Security Deposit it Required. I suppose because it was paid via Check.

Which brings up the point of having a message come or something stating that a Security Deposit is coming due, even if it is via Check. Since the system automatically does it for credit cards, it should let us know that the Security Deposit is due, when it is via check.

Claudia

Hi Claudia,

Yes, there is a way to do that.

There is a hidden security deposit form that the system uses whenever someone's security deposit fails. You can use that. To find the hidden security deposit form, do these steps:

1) Open the booking
2) Click on the Legal tab
3) Click on "Email a link to guest" link
4) In the subject body, you'll see a link showing where the guest can sign the renter agreement. Copy that link into a new browser window or tab.
5) Change the end of the link from "legal" to "securitydeposit/add" and click enter to load it. I'm referring to the part after the last slash.
6) You'll notice that it shows a form where they can submit a security deposit
7) Send this link to the guest so they can use it to submit a credit card security deposit

Again, this is a hidden form that is only usually emailed to guest when their automatic security deposit fails and the system is asking them to try a different card.

Keep in mind that this will reserve a security deposit *immediately* when they submit the form, so they should only submit the form when their ready for the security deposit to be reserved.

You can also call them on the phone and reserve their security deposit manually. To process a manual security deposit, open the Booking, click the Security Deposits tab, click on Reserve and put in their card info.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Hi,

Is there a way for the guest to enter their credit card information, if they paid via check in the original transaction?

Some people would pay the security deposit, via credit card. However, they would have to give me the information now, I believe. Or is there a way for them to enter the information without me getting involved? How can I send them the link to do so?

Thanks,
Claudia