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When trying to delete a Custom Field Definition that is still been used in a property, OR goes to the login page instead of either showing an error explaining the field is in use, or delete the field in the properties and then delete it.

@Robert - Yes. That is a great stopgap measure in the meantime! Thank you.

Hi Georgie and Sarah,

I asked our devs to take a look at Vrbo's API documentation, and it does not look like Vrbo makes this information available via the API. Unless / until they support that, we'd have no way to pull that data in.

If you look at the guest record directly in Vrbo, it should show you their average star rating as well as the number of reviews they've received, but I don't believe there's a way to click into them. It's just a quick visual of star average and review count.

If Vrbo adds this information to the API at a later date, we can certainly consider adding support to pull that in, but I'm afraid it's just not possible at this time.

i LOVE the new Tag Automations introduced this past year!

Thank you to everyone at OwnerRez for this GREAT and very much appreciated development!

But...

I have a challenge/question:

I can apply a tag to a lot of things in OwnerRez.

Right now, I'm trying to create an automation which will assign the Tag "Guest" to a CONTACT when a booking is made.

As near as I can tell, the tag is assigned to the BOOKING, not the Contact. Is there some way to do what I want? Am I missing something?

Thanks anyone for your assistance!

Robert

@Katie - thank you for pointing us in the right direction to update this text in Form Messages. While the update text page allows us to include formatting (bold, font, line breaks, links), it does not seem that the destination actually allows for it: 

As the guest is unable to make changes on this screen (should the dates, number of guests/pets, etc. be incorrect), they will have to be directed to email us to make those changes on their behalf. (Bummer #1.) Being able to add our email address into that text box as a clickable link is needed to make this process as streamlined and easy as possible for our guests. Is there plans to make this destination text box accept the formatting added in the Edit screen?? 

Hi Alece, while my comment doesn't address the issue of being able to format and/or create links in the Form messaging... Would it help to just say "please email using the link at the bottom of the form."?

While not as elegant or straightforward (which is always better), the email address shows in the footer (on my Form at least) as a clickable link. So the email address is at least easily available for the guest to reach you in response.

You can continue using Converge as long as it’s working well for you. 🟡 We have seen automatic payment failures on some accounts, and Converge has not been able to troubleshoot or resolve those issues. If that happens to you, it’s helpful to already have an alternative processor lined up—ideally one you explore during your slower season so you’re not forced to switch under the pressure of busy weeks.

Lynnbrook was mentioned specifically because they’re willing to waive the monthly base fees. Their quoted rate of about 2.6% is indeed higher than Converge’s lowest tier of 1.90%, but Converge also processes some cards at 2.65% and even 3.35%, depending on the card type. Amex transactions above a certain amount often hit 3.5% in my experience.

It may be worth reviewing your 2025 statements to see what your true blended average rate turned out to be, so you have solid info for comparisons. That number is usually the most helpful when comparing processors.

Hello,

We have 6 properties, so a relatively small business. We switched from Stripe to Converge because Stripe was a nightmare due to the hold/long delay in paying us and an unreasonable amount of documentation required on an ongoing basis. We strongly advise any small business from using Stripe based on our experience.  Lynnbrook was not a good choice for us due to its higher cost. Use of Converge has been both an economical and seamless experience. We will continue with it until we are forced to change. 

Hey Rich,

I think you've already gotten this sorted, but I did want to drop a note for any other users who may stumble across this post.

When selecting a custom range, it's necessary to select the day of the month along with the month and year. If you only select the month and year, it will move back to the defaulted date range.

I agree that the inquiry process is confusing on Vrbo!

Think of inquiring guests as tire kickers- maybe they want a deal; maybe they wrote to ten hosts to see who replies, maybe they have special questions they need answered before being ready to book; perhaps they are just not serious.

Inquiries mean answering their questions and then directing them to book.

Which is a shame, because guests can still SEND inquiries, even if you're set to instant book. And then you're running around looking how to approve it for them. 

Hello,

We have had two VRBO bookings so far - one before the integration with OR and one after.

One of our main concerns is who would be coming to our property.

Before the OR integration we were able to see at least something about the guest who made the booking - average ratings and how many reviews they had been given on VRBO.

This gave us at least some sense of the guests' prior behavior on VRBO.

After the OR integration the booking includes nothing about the guest (besides the contact info) - this is not available even on VRBO.

Given the concern stated above, we are thinking about dropping VRBO from the channel integration, unless there is a way to get some sense of the guest rating.

Hey Haris! Just brainstorming some potential solutions: 

• Do you use the "Retry" setting on the trigger for these messages? These will only fire once an hour, so it does not allow for an option to "send immediately" for same-day bookings, but it will re-fire hourly to catch any same-day bookings that didn't yet receive the messages.

• Alternatively, you can modify the conditions in the template triggers for your standard messages to exclude same-day bookings, and set up a custom message flow for same-day bookings that will fire immediately upon signing the rental agreement. This way there's not lag/gap between messages and you can potentially combine multiple messages into one new comprehensive template specifically for same-day bookings, to streamline communications.

Hi,

I can't believe I'm the only one with this issue and support can't offer a solution so either someone here figured it out or I have to migrate to a different platform. Just onboarded 30+ listings coming from Guesty for Hosts as they are killing their support so it will be fun spending another sleepless night doing a cut-over.

We're hosting on AirBNB. Here is the process:

- 1PM scheduled channel message "Welcome" set to go out on the check-in day, with address, WiFi password, parking instructions etc.

- An hour later, 2PM scheduled channel message "PIN" set to go out with the door access code. This code is changed on every check out and is entered into the system when our cleaners are done, typically just before 2PM. For back-to back bookings it means we have about an hour before the next set of guests come in.

What happens for at least 10-15% of all bookings on AirBNB : the guest books after 3PM (sometimes even late at night) and needs to check in right away. Perfectly fine, we're ready at 3PM. Except the Welcome and PIN triggers don't fire if the booking is made after 1PM / 2PM, and apparently there is no way to setup any kind of trigger that would send those out immediately for those cases. And so here I am, getting calls from people who booked the same day and got to the house but didn't get the access code. If there was only some software solution to that issue so I can go to bed before midnight cut-off time, right? Guesty for Hosts worked just fine in this case and there is no reason why OR can't. If they have time to implement AI they have time to copy-paste their code into ChatGPT and tell it to fix this too, it should take about 2 days to test and push to production.

Is there any solution to this?

Thanks

I have a very short cancelation requirement and want to protect myself from a last minute cancellation on a future reservation which is $30,000.

Is there a way I CAN PURCHASE TRAVEL INSURANCE to protect myself should they cancel?  I do not require guests to purchase travel insurance.  

What do others do to protect themselves like this?

Thanks!

Hey Andree!

Could you please submit a ticket to help@ownerrez.com with the ORB#s for the bookings where the cleaning fee wasn't applied so we can take a look? Thank you!

Hey Nicole!

There isn't a spot on your end where you can check the date/timestamp of a change that was made to a property in OwnerRez. However, you can reach out to support and let us know what you're looking for, and we should be able to let you know what was changed and when. 

Hi Andrew!

It looks like the ticket you submitted has been escalated for further review to see if this is possible. Be sure to keep an eye on our Weekly Release notes to if/when a fix is released.

I’ve read that Airbnb is masking phone numbers but it seems like they are not masked for me. However if this rolls out eventually does anyone have any idea how to still collect numbers? I’ve thought about a WiFi contact info capture but that seems expensive to implement. 

thanks!

I'm a newer user here and want to download the ALL my contacts email addresses going back approximately 10 years.

The drop down offers a custom date range beyond the choices of 1 year or quarter, but when I change the start date year, it reverts back to todays date!  Aarg!  What am I doing wrong?  

When you integrate with Vrbo via their API, they treat you like the professional you are, acting as a listing site & passing the rest of the booking details to you. However, they take precautions to keep guest inquiries within the Vrbo system to prevent off-platform bookings. Notably, Vrbo "inquiries" cannot be directly converted into bookings. Guests can use instant booking after their questions are answered through the inquiry process.

The quote and pre-approve buttons in your Vrbo dashboard are non-functional.

When you import an inquiry into OwnerRez, it may appear that you can send quotes and edit charges, but guests cannot accept the quote directly within the inquiry. They can respond to your messages and agree to changes, but Vrbo will block any live links that would allow the quote to be accepted and converted into a booking.

Here are a few strategies for adjusting pricing for a guest:

(Note: The Vrbo ~15% booking fee will not be reduced in amount if you adjust the price down on OwnerRez after the guest books.)

1. Discuss and Refund: You can discuss a discount with the guest (via the Vrbo inbox or a quote). They book at the original price, and you adjust the charges and refund the difference if they paid 100% upfront. The downsides are that guests might be wary of not receiving the refund, and you could incur credit card fees on the refunded amount if you use Stripe or if the adjustment occurs after daily settlement by your payment processor.
2. Adjust Rates and Min Nights: Agree on a price with the guest, then adjust the rates and minimum nights for the booking period in your settings. The risk here is that once the new rates sync, anyone could book those dates. You and the guest must be online simultaneously; you make the changes, let the changes sync (10-15 minutes), and the guest books immediately. Note that if you use dynamic pricing, these manual adjustments will be overwritten during the next sync. This approach requires quick coordination between you and the guest.
3. Instant Book Adjustment: If you use "Instant Book," temporarily change your property rules to create a "pending" status. This allows you to process the price adjustments and then revert your booking rules back to their original settings

Or, if you are Request to Book: If you use the "Request to Book" feature, you can adjust the pricing on a booking request before confirming it. You and the guest agree on a price within the Vrbo inbox to make the guest comfortable with the request, then adjust the charges before confirming the booking.

I have a VRBO inquiry and they would like a last minute discount. I've looked all over for a place to modify the quote, but I can't seem to get it back to VRBO. I checked to see if I need to do this on the VRBO site and it tells me to modify in OwnerRez. 

Is this do-able? Can I modify a VRBO quote?

I have had a reply from the support team after submitting a ticket. Unfortunately, the functionality to do this isn't currently available.

They suggested I create a feature request and encourage others to upvote it so I'm sharing it here. Maybe others can share this too for me.

Link to the feature request.

Great questions, and thank you for asking them in such a thoughtful way. I completely understand wanting to be prepared and minimize disruption, especially when payments are involved.

Let me address your questions directly:

a) What happens if you ever start having problems with Converge in the future?
Even though Converge has been deprecated, it continues to function today, and many users are still processing payments without issue. If you were ever to run into a problem down the road, you would still have options. For example, you could:

• Process a payment directly through your Converge/Elavon portal

• Accept a check, bank transfer, or another offline payment

• Record those payments manually inside OwnerRez so your records stay accurate

The biggest potential pain point would be if a Vrbo booking attempted to process payment through Converge and failed. In that case, the booking may move into a “pending” status and could eventually cancel if no action is taken. This wouldn’t mean you couldn’t collect payment, but it may require some manual intervention to resolve.

That said, there will not be a sudden cutoff or a scenario where you have no way to charge guests at all. And if something did arise, you could always reach out to our team, and we’d be happy to help review options with you.

b) If you ever decided to move to a new processor, how long would it take?
In many cases, users are able to complete a new processor application and be fully live within about 1–2 weeks. The exact timing can vary depending on underwriting and documentation, but that timeframe is very common.

Stripe, for example, has a very quick onboarding flow where you can be up and running within about 30 minutes. However, since vacation rentals are a bit different from typical e-commerce, Stripe may later place a temporary hold on funds while they complete underwriting. In other words, the “waiting period” sometimes just happens slightly later in the process.

For what it’s worth, I personally manage a single property and have used Stripe for over five years. The only interruption I experienced was about a one-week review period where funds were temporarily held while I provided documentation. In my case, most of the payments were for future stays anyway, so it didn’t cause operational issues.

So yes, if you were willing to take a few manual steps temporarily, it’s very reasonable to expect that you could be fully automated again within two weeks.

And regarding your overall approach
Given that you only process around 30–40 transactions per year and Converge has worked well for you, your risk tolerance here is perfectly reasonable. “Deprecated” simply means we are no longer actively enhancing or guaranteeing long-term support for the integration. It does not mean it is shutting off today.

So if Converge continues to meet your needs, there’s no emergency or pressure to change immediately. At the same time, if you ever did want or need to switch in the future, we can certainly help guide the process and make it as smooth as possible.

And I appreciate you sharing your previous onboarding experience. Some processors do have heavier documentation requirements than others, and it can definitely feel bureaucratic at times. If you ever revisit that path, I’d recommend reaching out to the processor with any questions up front. If you’d like help connecting with Lynnbrook or any of our other processing partners, just let us know and we’ll be happy to assist.

If you have any follow-up questions at all, I’m here and happy to help.

Warmly,
Steve

Thanks for the writeup Steven - I saw that you and Chris both posted in the unofficial group.

I'm down to a single property (sold two others) and haven't had concerns with Converge that I know about. I get at most 2 bookings a day so I'm willing to take the risk of a problem (and obviously potentially losing a booking) as long as I have options to process payments manually.

Qs:

a) can you describe what steps I might take if I ever do start having problems in the future?  Even having a guest mail me a check could work I suppose, but some manual workaround using OR or Converge website could be my backup plan

b) if I'm willing to deal with manual steps, can I expect to have a new processor up and running in <2 weeks?

I'm willing to take a risk since I have very low number of transactions, maybe 30-40 annually, and given the long track record Converge might well never give me a problem anyway. 

PS - I've previously used one of your other supported processors and really didn't like them, I don't recall why but after signing up I quickly decided to switch to Converge/Elavon. Was probably about a misconfigured gateway and seeing very high processing charges combined with what to me was an arduous signup process that required more paperwork than me getting a mortgage. Elavon/Converge on the other hand needed a 30 min phone call and almost no paperwork.  

On January 5th, 2026 we sent an email to our customers that currently have Converge as a payment processor in OwnerRez.  Many have written back in our posted on other forums across the internet with questions and concerns.  I wanted to take a minute to explain a bit further why the decision has been made to deprecate Converge as a Payment Processor in OwnerRez.

Converge Deprecation Update
Converge has been available as a payment processing option in our platform for many years, and we know that some users have relied on it for a long time. After extensive review, we have decided to deprecate the Converge integration.

What “Deprecated” Means

“Deprecated” does not mean that Converge will immediately stop working or that you are required to switch processors right now.

Instead, “deprecated” is a formal way of saying:

• The Converge integration is still available for existing users

• You may continue using it for the time being

• However, it is being phased out and is no longer part of our fully supported feature set

This also means:

• No new users will be able to connect to Converge going forward

• We are no longer actively improving or enhancing the Converge integration

• Only limited maintenance may occur, typically for critical issues

And most importantly:

Because the integration is deprecated, future issues may not be fixed. There may come a point where technical, security, or platform changes cause the integration to stop working, and we cannot guarantee engineering support or ongoing compatibility for Converge.

So while nothing is breaking today, we want to be transparent that Converge should be considered a legacy option, and users should begin planning a transition to a currently supported payment processor.

Why We Made This Decision

Over time, the Converge platform has not kept pace with modern gateway technology and industry standards. The system receives very few updates, and the infrastructure behind it is aging.

Older processing technology can create stability concerns and may lag behind current security best practices. Since payment processing involves sensitive financial data, we place a high priority on working with vendors who invest in security, innovation, and platform reliability.

Additionally, we have invested a significant amount of time in collaborating directly with the Converge team to resolve bugs and enhance the integration experience. Unfortunately, we have not been able to establish a productive technical partnership. With our supported processors, we maintain active communication channels, share troubleshooting processes, and coordinate product development. That level of collaboration is essential to maintaining a secure and dependable payment solution inside OwnerRez.

Since we cannot guarantee the same level of support or responsiveness with Converge, we do not consider it appropriate to treat it as a fully supported integration going forward.

What This Means for You

If you are currently using Converge:

• You may continue using it at this time
• Nothing will immediately break or shut off
• However, future issues may not be resolved as quickly as they would be with a supported processor

We want to be transparent so you can make informed decisions for your business.

While you are not required to move away from Converge, we do recommend considering one of our supported payment processors if long-term stability, active development, and guaranteed support responsiveness are important to you.

Why We Often Recommend Lynnbrook as an Alternative
For those considering a switch, Lynnbrook is one of the processors we commonly recommend, and there are several reasons for that.

Like OwnerRez, Lynnbrook is constantly improving and modernizing their platform. They have an experienced engineering team that we work closely with, and the relationship is collaborative and responsive. Their API is one of the most robust we integrate with, which allows us to provide deeper insight and transparency into your financial activity.

For example, with Lynnbrook, you can see not only when a payment was processed, but also when it was actually deposited into your bank account. That makes true reconciliation easier, whether you are using the PM module, QuickBooks, or both. For many users, this level of clarity eliminates much of the guesswork.

Their pricing is competitive, and currently, they have offered to waive some of their fees for users who are migrating from another gateway.

A Note on Payout Timing

There has been some discussion in this post about whether Lynnbrook only pays at the time of guest arrival. Years ago, that was their only option, but that is no longer the case.  

Lynnbrook does prefer arrival-based payouts because this model reduces risk for both the processor and the merchant. Many clients also like it because it removes the need to hold advance funds in trust. In that sense, it works similarly to Airbnb, which can simplify both accounting and reporting when you compare channels.

However, Lynnbrook also supports funding at the time of booking. So you are not locked into one approach. If you prefer to receive payment upfront and manage those funds until arrival, you can choose that option instead. The decision is entirely up to you and your business workflow.

Multiple Options
As an existing OwnerRez user, you know we like to provide options for you to pick what works best for your business.  Even though we recommended Lynnbrook in the email that went out, if you have a conversation with them and do not feel like they are the right fit for your business.  There are many other processors and Gateways to choose from.  Most PMS's give you 1 or 2 options at most.  We provide many.  See the full list here:  https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-processing-gateways-list 

A Final Note & How We Can Help
We know that payment processing is central to your business, and we don’t make changes like this lightly. Several users have shared that Converge has worked smoothly for them for many years, and in many cases that’s true. A lot of that stability has come from considerable behind-the-scenes effort on our part to keep the integration reliable and secure. We’re glad that work has benefited you, even if it hasn’t always been visible.

However, continuing to maintain that level of engineering involvement for an aging and poorly supported gateway pulls time and resources away from improving other areas of the system that benefit everyone. It’s also worth noting that maintaining these types of integrations is expensive and labor-intensive, which is why many competitors only support a very small number of processors. And because we place such a high value on platform security and performance, continuing to rely on outdated technology eventually puts both at risk — something we’re not comfortable with long-term.

So while Converge may continue to function for now, we want to be transparent that it is no longer a direction we feel is healthy or sustainable for the platform as a whole.  Let's continue the conversation in this post.  If you have questions about your current setup or would like guidance on supported alternatives, our team is here and happy to help. 

Thank you, as always, for being part of the OwnerRez community.  

Hi, I need to send 2 different immediate emails that are differentiated only with 1tag but the system keeps sending both emails or only the incorrect one. How to set up triggers in such situation:

Conditions email 1:
Immediate when booking is created
Condition 1
Condition 2
Tag is None Of X

Conditions email 2:
....
Tag is Any of X.

Tag is based on a discount but triggers settings do not allow to chose option: Discount is 'None of' so as much as I could apply it as a condition for email 2, I can't use it to stop email 1 from being triggered (I tested it in a combination: email 2 Discount is Any Of X & email 1 Tag (based on discount) is None of X)

Thanks in advance for help!

Hi Nina,

I'd suggest writing this up in our Feature Request forum for visibility by others who may be interested. You can do so here: https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests 

This is a new one for us and I can't find any similar post.

We have always depended on OwnerRez to get the charges right unless we make a rate, surcharge or discount mistake.

In scanning through our 2026 bookings, I have found 3 booking without a cleaning charge. These booking were made in June, July and September. They were 3 different properties, 2 direct bookings and 1 VRBO. There were other bookings made 1 or 2 days before or after for these properties that have the correct cleaning charges applied. There is nothing special about these specific bookings. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Is there a place where I can see date/time stamps of the changes that have been made to my listings? Or a place to revert back to a previous listing/details?

 I just wanted to say 300% YES & THANK YOU! 

We have a Facebook account, & I just ordered a device to put my IPhone in a position to do “walk & talks” because our property is also an ecological experiment. 
That’s our brand- yours could be crafting, or flowers, or quilting.. People go places to do things, & if we show them the things we have at our places, they will come to our places to “do the things”. This also helps us get the guests we want. I am using Facebook, but I will expand to Instagram soon. We do not TikTok, one of us was NatSec, so that’s a no go. 

Get creative. 
The world is YOUR oyster. USE the platforms, because they are using you. 

Emily DG