Feature Requests

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I love OR and it's robust features, reliability and everything in between and use it seamlessly across 6 properties.  VRBO messaging, to me, is the ONLY thing it's missing.

That said, I use Hospitable for the VRBO messaging since VRBO app is TERRIBLE (really, just a terrible platform altogether but I digress...) but I was wondering if OR has pursued an API relationship with Hospitable that might be faster than working with VRBO.

The thinking/flow would be something like this:

VRBO message from guest >> Hospitable >> OR CRM

It might not be as fast as a direct API connection between VRBO and OR but it would do the trick.

Has that been explored as potential workaround?

Yeah, it's a big problem. I'm looking at paying an additional $500/mo for Hospitable's inbox or switching to Guesty. 

I fully agree!

I've been watching this topic go no where for a while. The fact that so many other management systems DO HAVE Inboxing for VRBO, etc. makes me wonder about pointing the finger at VRBO as the route of the problem. 

I am considering dropping OR because of the Inbox difficulties and up charges to get basic reporting & SMS. I don't like the extra charges for the basics, it feels dishonest. 

Craig

There are plans to develop what's commonly referred to as a "unified inbox", but there are a very great number of pieces to that, as well as serious support concerns if we're handling all your email in both directions.  I'm not personally convinced that function would be as useful as many of our clients believe that it would be, but we'll find out - it will happen eventually for sure.

As far as other systems that "integrate" with Vrbo internal messaging, our understanding is that they do this unofficially by what amounts to screen-scraping.  Not only is this inherently unreliable, as Vrbo could change their screens at any time, it is also fundamentally more complex.  Since Vrbo has announced their willingness to set up a proper integration designed for that purpose some years ago, it makes much more sense to just use that and do it right.

Of course, nobody anticipated that it would take as long as it has.  But at any given time, it's "a few more months".  So we continue to wait for it.  Hopefully not too much longer!

I moved from Guesty because of all glitches and poor support, I'm happy with OR overall and the support is superior,  but really do miss guesty's inbox, the ability to sms and auto message to VRBO at no extra charge.

I rarely use OR inbox unfortunately it just doesnt do what I need, I have Google voice # and get my notifications there, and then check my email, Airbnb and VRBO and answer directly in their apps. Or my GV#, I hate that I'm paying extra money to text a guest just to check their email and not to respond to the sms auto number. I feel it's all over the place and not truly unified.

Hey Joel -- 

Since I shared my previous Zap links, here's an update. I consolidated things into one Zap (combining those actions as you described them): 

Create contact in OpenPhone with when booking created in OwnerRez »

It's still not 100% correct, as something with the Guest Lookup continues to error out (though it works fine when testing). For some reason, on every new booking, it sends an error that says, "Guest:Id:181738969 not found". Literally the same ID number every single time -- which isn't even correlated to any guest or booking I have. I cannot figure out where it's pulling that number from, and don't know if there's an issue with the Zap trigger or what. (Have you successfully used Guest Lookup on other Zaps??)

Agree, there are several PM systems that surface VRBO messaging and have for some time. Seems like there's a distinction between the systems I'm aware of that do this are not Integrated partners, but rather, VRBO natively invoices the customers versus how OwnerRez is integrated and we invoice the users. Might be related. But, Hospitable, iGMS, Guesty for Hosts, and some free tools I've used are pulling it off. Clearly a agap.

It does seem strange that with OR status as an Elite connectivity partner with VRBO cant get it but Guesty, Hostfully, etc... have it - unless they are kludging it together in some way?

Just spitballing a possible workaround, but I get VRBO messages sent to me via email, what if there was an OwnerRez email inbox I could forward those emails to and then they would be added to my CRM inbox. This would actually be great for other non-integrated message sources as well to get everything added to one unified OwnerRez inbox. I'm new to OwnerRez so maybe this is something that has been mentioned already.

Not really... Vrbo has said they are working on it for a year now.  When it's done, we'll implement it at our end as a high priority.

Would it be possible for OwnerRez to do a temporary integration with VRBO existing messaging system? Why Hospitable and other PMS companies are able to integrate with VRBO but not OwnerRez?

Not really... Vrbo has said they are working on it for a year now.  When it's done, we'll implement it at our end as a high priority.

Is there an estimated or target time frame for this functionality?

Would be great to be able to use custom fields in Airbnb guest messages, not just airbnb bookings and emails.

Unfortunately, while in theory it is possible for OwnerRez to add whatever amenity options we wanted, they're largely useful only insofar as the major listing channels support them.  And, for these, they don't - what we offer is what they support.

The million dollar question!

Short answer is that VRBO doesn't allow it for OR at present.  Someone else with a better scoop on it can elaborate but there was supposed to be some movement on it recently (i.e. VRBO telling OR that they're working on it).

I just moved over from Guesty for Hosts (formerly YourPorter).  I've always been able to see and respond to VRBO messaging through that channel manager.  Why isn't OwnerRez able to do it also?

Only two of our properties (of 8) have central heat.  So, if we choose central heat, that isn't accurate.  However, if we leave it unchecked, then guests think we do not have heat at all.

Our request would be to add propane stove, propane fireplace, floor/electric heat, fireplace w/wood as other heating options and not just in the fireplace section.

This would be a really good feature to have. I think the reason a lot of items don't get more votes is that the request falls down the page of requests and then people don't see it to vote on it. I'm replying to keep this request higher on the list so more people can see it and, hopefully, vote for it.

The Helpdesk gets a ton of support tickets along the lines of "Why did booking X do Y when I have it configured for Z", when the reason is that booking X is on a particular channel that can't do Z and is therefore configured for Y.  So, while there are a potential infinity of possible flexible options, we tend to lean away from doing them unless there is strong demand and clear need.

Longtime users can of course list dozens of things like this that are already possible, and we certainly could be persuaded to add yet another one.  Again, that's why the voting.  :-)

Cancellation policy by season would be huge for our home. We have people who want to book a year and a half out and I do not want to have a 60 0r 90 day cancellation policy for them but I do want that for our off season.

I tend to think that would create a good deal of confusion, but, I'll leave it here as a suggestion to see what the community thinks of it.

Hi, Ken. Interesting... why do you think it would cause confusion? The cancellation rule would be associated with the booking and be noted in the renter agreement. Unless I'm missing something....

It would be really great if OR would integrate with Ring cameras (and others) in order to allow and schedule turning on and off notifications.

Conops is during a stay I don't want Ring notifications of people coming and going, but day of checkout and checkin it is useful to have notifications to help keep informed of when the guests arrive or check out for scheduling cleaning, as well as while the property is vacant for security.

I think you already can, using a Book Now widget configured for contact us only?

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/css-magic-widgets#book-now-inquiry-widget-remove-dates-size 

I tend to think that would create a good deal of confusion, but, I'll leave it here as a suggestion to see what the community thinks of it.

I'm surprised there are not more than 14 votes for this feature.  I think people don't know what they don't know.  This would be a money maker.  I've had two incidents in the past few months where guests show up thinking they've completed the booking process but didn't.  I was able to accommodate them so I did end up getting the bookings.  If I hadn't been able to accommodate them they would have been very disappointed and possibly dissatisfied with the service resulting in negative reviews.

That’s awesome. Thanks for the update Ken. 

That is awesome. Thanks for the quick update here.

We rarely release ETAs for development, and when we do, they tend to end up taking longer than expected... so no, it'll be done when it's finished.  But since we're actually working on it, it'll get done within a few months at most.

Integration with Google Vacation Rentals is in active development.

Integration with Google Vacation Rentals is in active development.

You may have noticed that Google Vacation Rentals is listing OwnerRez as a connectivity partner:

https://support.google.com/hotelprices/answer/11946834?hl=en

This is legally true (we've signed agreements), and should prove that we're serious about this integration to any doubters ;-) ... but, no, it does not mean that the integration is actually working and available quite yet.  As previously noted, it is in active development - towards the end, in that we're doing integration testing with Google, but we need to work through that process before even a beta release.

On that note, we have dozens if not hundreds of clients who have asked to participate in the beta.  We will reach out to those who are selected, which will be based on various technical reasons so as to thoroughly wring out all aspects of the integration as much as possible.  But, because the demand for this feature is so great, rather than doing a large-scale beta, we'll move into wide release as quickly as seems prudent.  So, if you have asked to join the beta and aren't invited, please don't take it personally.  :-)