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Thanks for checking into this. I always strive to ask questions that stump developers!
In my experience you need to watch processors like a hawk and rebid your account every year.
I would like to see our community discuss this and say what their volume and average ticket is and what their processor is charging.
We should be able to get to the low 2% range given our large average ticket.
What you're suggesting—processing costs near 2%—would be incredible. Unfortunately, as a 30-year veteran in the payments industry, I can share that's not how it works.
To give you and others a bit of knowledge to help ease concerns and maybe even save some time and money, there are some essential things to know:
I'm going to give you some very in-depth information, but just in case this is more than you care to read, here's the TL;DR:
The real meat for those who care to know...
So what determines the cost you pay, and how do you keep your costs to a minimum?
I know this is a LOT of information, but I hope it's helpful for someone interested in understanding how this industry works and how to keep your costs down. Feel free to ask any questions. I'd be happy to be of support.
In my experience you need to watch processors like a hawk and rebid your account every year.
I would like to see our community discuss this and say what their volume and average ticket is and what their processor is charging.
We should be able to get to the low 2% range given our large average ticket.
Quick question - will OR integration of a property override the integration of the same property if it’s also being pushed by BDC to Google? Or will it show twice?
Great question!
We didn't know the answer, so we reached out to our dev contacts at Google, and they said the following:
...what you are referring to is typically what we refer to as clustering (i.e., different integrators giving Google the same listing and Google aggregating those listings in some way).
For our Google Hotels product, we do cluster identical listings into one listing and in the booking module for that listing we show the different integrators who have provided this listing and are available to book on.
For our Google VR product, we don't do clustering yet (we are aiming to do this sometime in Q3 or so), and so listings that are for the same property from different integrators will show up as duplicate listings in our search result page
Answer: they will show up as duplicate right now, but later this year they should cluster the results together.
In other words, if Booking.com or someone else pushes your listings and OwnerRez is also pushing it directly, your house will appear and then when the person goes to book, it will show them multiple rates in a table with Booking.com on one line and your own personal website on another with the rates next to both. The guest would be free to go to Booking.com or your personal website whichever they prefer.
(but not until Q3)
We've done some checking, and believe that you are mistaken about Vrbo not charging the 3% payment processing fee on the tax portion of your bookings - on the examples we've examined, they did. In addition, they also charged you a 3% fee for the guest's booking fee, which isn't even money you receive. If you are doing your own payment processing, Vrbo does not charge any payment processing fees at all. Of course you do have to pay your own payment processor fees, but in most cases it is possible to find an account provider with a lower rate - particularly if you are doing so much business as you describe, I'd think you could find something in the 2% range. This would save a great deal.
You are correct that most processors do not refund their processing fees in the event of a cancellation... but, not all. Again, with such a large volume that may be possible to get in negotiations, which is why we support such a large variety of processors.
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-processing-gateways-list
Hey OR team! In my Owners Portal (PM module), the owner dashboard allows financials to be viewed for the current and previous year as either the total amounts ("all time") or the amounts booked as of the current date. The latter allows for a truer apples-to-apples comparison of previous year financial data.
It would be SO helpful to have this same option when we run our own Booking Summary Report. However, there's no option to select that same type of "booked as of today" comparison.
Y'all deemed it a beneficial data-point for our homeowners to see. I'd say it's equally a beneficial data-point for us to be able to see across our internal reports as well.
Nope, still what Shawn said - Q3 of this year.
Everything is potential....
Melissa has this now.
Here are some nice parts about VRBO staying Merchant of Record:
On large five bookings (20k-30k) that gets expensive depending on how you handle refunds for cancellations. With VRBO as merchant, this goes away.
On large five figure bookings with we process over 250,000 a year in sales taxes that we pay 3% to collect. With VRBO as merchant, this goes away.
VRBO handles all the sales and lodging tax remittance and compliance.
@Jake I
FYI if you want to use the Lynx door code in a message, you need to use the code BXLYNXACCESSCODE
The "BDOORCODE" field will not work. OR creates a custom field BXLYNXACCESSCODE to store the data from lynx. If you go to the insert field screen, Booking tab, and search on Lynx it will pop-up for you.
Thank you Jake! I'm setting up my properties now!
There already is an open source option that was around $100 per unit per year when I found them a few years ago, but Lynx does provide value for what they charge. I have them on 6 properties and recommend them.
Terrific update! Looking forward to when this gets completed.
Any update?
The owner doesn't want the added administration, he prefers to be set up like Airbnb, where they handle the taxes and funds, I like it as well, we have it all set up the way we want other than the messaging issues with VRBO. He only wants the direct bookings coming through us. it's just easier for both of us this way.
@BlueSky Getaway,
Why would you want VRBO (or anyone else) to be the merchant of record? I don't see any benefit to giving them the financial control, except simpler administration, where VRBO and AirBnB is the same vs direct bookings.
Also, I think you save on the VRBO fees by managing the booking financials yourselft, and OR does a great job enabling that.
Currently I manage my own 3 listings, only, and don't manage others' listings, so my perspective is based on my experience.
Thank you for letting me know! I would rather keep them as the merchant of record, the owner and I only want our direct bookings to go through us. So I'm looking forward to when there's at least a choice to only API integrate for messaging only.
So very excited to hear this; having one platform to reply and receive messages is so time saving!
Will you have to be API integrated with VRBO for it to work? there are a few of us that do not want to API integrate with VRBO for various reasons and that would leave us out.
Hello - yes, Vrbo messaging will require being API integrated. This is based on Vrbo limitations. Vrbo is planning a method where they can stay merchant of record so maybe someday that can help ease the switch to going API. We don't know if it will be this year or not. Possibly not, with all their API work on Messaging and Reviews happening this year.
Will you have to be API integrated with VRBO for it to work? there are a few of us that do not want to API integrate with VRBO for various reasons and that would leave us out.
You could text it to them, as well. I do both typically so they'll check their email once they've read my text.
We use the Schlage Encode with RemoteLock managing codes, integrated with OR doing our automated messaging. It has worked pretty well for us.
What key code and lock system do you use? Are you happy with it.
Oh man. Can’t wait. Tired of having guest reaching about their door codes. Since it is the only communication that goes to their email instead of their message box so they don’t look for it by email.
You can do that using Custom Fileds of Type Booking and make them required. In this example, I use it for a number of adults but you can use for a person's name. Add as many fields as you need per number of adults.
Adding my voice to the chorus here. When emails automatically go out, guests like to respond with great information. That should be persisted to support recurring bookings and future communications with the guest.
This feature is needed! Thanks!
Thanks Jake
Tbh tho, $18 to set the codes a month is extortionate and unjustifiable. I did wonder why they were not being transparent with their pricing.
The upselling can be done via other means.
I’m probably going to wait for an open source type solution that I can install into my existing smart hubs.
Think Seam offer this but sounds complicated to setup.
All the best!
Nevermind!
I only have 3 locks and paying $18/lock/month, annually in advance. This is much more than RemoteLock and several other options.
The Lynx support has been excellent. They also offer messaging and other services (charging to early/late check-in/out, etc.) for an additional fee. I do not use those.
You can set up master codes for the cleaning and maintenance teams, and one time codes for folks coming in to do one time repairs.
Have been using Lynx since January, 2022 and at the time this seemed to be the best solution. The initial integration with OwnerRez has been one way from OR to Lynx through iCal calendar.
This new integration promises to pass the door codes from Lynx to OR. Typically (about 90%) those codes are the last 4 digits of the guest phone number, but not always.
Great news