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I commented on this 2-1/2 years ago and I still think about it every time I look at the booking calendar but Ken says programatically it's not possible but I think anything can be programmed...!
Agree with previous poster... ability to set listing site calendar color would be very helpful... AT THE VERY LEAST AS INTERIM FIX PLEASE CHANGE THE 'MY SITE" COLOR TO BE DIFFERENT FROM AIRBNB.
Suggestion to have blocked dates in different color also would be EXTREMELY helpful for a quick visual view of property patterns.... not sure if blocked dates show up now
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Bumping this. Badly needed.
Hello, I would very much like to see this feature as I sent an email to guest last weekend and now see he didn't open it. I would like to resend it (will do a copy and paste) and just to be sure, will send it via Airbnb as well as his own email.
I would like to verify the email address on the server. Please give me your instructions and I can get this done.
Thanks
Suzy
Awesome! I would just appreciate it being part of the system - would be so helpful! And having a universal provider makes sense!
Hey Lisa, thanks for reaching out and requesting this - this is the correct place to do that! I wanted to mention that we have discussed (internally) adding an owner payout feature but are leaning towards using a general ACH/e-check provider instead of built-in ones from Lynnbrook or other specific payment processors. The reason is because we have thousands of PMs that need the payout feature and many don't use Lynnbrook. In order to create a ACH payout that works for all PMs, it would need to be something that all PMs could use. But perhaps we could build a way where you could pick your ACH provider? Thanks for the thoughts.
I know OwnerRez is always working behind the scenes to make things better for us users. I'd like to request that OwnerRez consider adding the payout feature through Lynnbrook so that owners could be paid directly from the system! Love OwnerRez - this would just be such a great benefit!
This is exactly what I've been trying to setup for a while. Thanks for the detailed breakdown!
There is actually a third scenario here: I'm not verified either (longer discussion, condo..no mailbox...working on it), and yet BDC DOES send the credit card info to OR. could be because the first thing I did when I set up the integration was (based on OR documentation) ask them to turn on the BDC feature that sends OR the CVV which they did. Pure speculation on my part, maybe enabling the flag to send CVV enabled the full feature of sending the credit card to OR. Coming back to my case, OR does have the guest credit card on file, so what I need to do is manually go to "Transactions" and "Collect Payment (Run Card)".
The feature that I would like, is a way in OR to automatically schedule the "collect payment" without me having to go, manually, to each booking and add the schedule payment part by hand. maybe add a third option in BDC channel Payments section
That being said, I had no clue this was my case. The first BDC stay for me was in Dec 22 (last month as of this writing). since then, i had 3 more, and yet no payment in my bank. It took me a couple of hours of back-and-forth with BDC customer support over their messaging system to figure out what is going on. CS was nice but wasn't super helpful/knowledgeable, they keep saying that they don't process payments in my case, which did started me thinking _I_ need to process those payments which i did. One CC got denied, email the guest...we'll see.
I was totally confused about this specific scenario, I didn't fully understand what was happening, and OR doc (maybe i missed something) totally missed this case. I really wish OR booking.com FAQ page would have a section on this case
I have a few questions about WiFi locks like the Encode... we are currently running about 50 locks on z-wave and have relatively few if any problems with them. Yes there is a zwave controller that needs to be placed on the property and accessed in some way but functionally they are doing basically the same thing... getting a guest code into a door at a specific time and removing it at another time. So for those that have wifi locks here are my questions...
1. I have heard that wifi locks consume a lot of battery unless you change them so they "heartbeat" and only come online every once in awhile to check for things. What has been your experience with batteries?
2. If you use the heartbeat how do you handle things like last minute guests, early checkins or late check outs where you need to adjust the booking and subsequently any restrictions you have placed on the code but you may not have a heartbeat connection to the lock for an hour or two? Does their UI tell you when the next heartbeat will be?
3. The "wrappers" or User Interfaces generally provided by lock manufacturers seem to be straight forward...and relatively simple. The 3rd party tools seem to be more purpose built to handle rental type situations... for example: How do you manage things like multiple locks that get a guest code (front door, back door, garage door) in a property and others that might be on a closet that is strictly for the owners or housekeepers? Are you manually adding the same code and restrictions to 2 or 3 or more locks each time there is a booking? Do you manually at the door lock add in codes for owners and housekeeper and not use a UI? Are you able to restrict the locks so that housekeepers only have access between 9am and 4pm daily and maybe not at all if there is an active guest code?
4. Are you doing other smart home type things when guests access the property? Set thermostats, turn on lights, monitor noise, etc..?
5. I don't have Schlage locks but can you tell me if they have the ability to let me know the first time that a door lock code is used? IE the guest has checked in? Many of the 3rd parties use this to send a welcome message to the guest... reminding them to report anything that is amiss, giving them contact information, etc...
I think I have used many of the 3rd party apps... Vera, Smartthings (not integrated), Lynx, RemoteLock, Brivo (integrated) and they all do the basics of getting door codes into locks and of course all of the locks can stand alone with manual intervention... it is the integration that is the hard part. In my estimation the 3rd parties have a lot of extra features built into them that drive up the costs. Features that I just wont use because I do it in OR already... (texting, emailing) or don't really think there is a need (webapps to unlock doors). I saw one the other day you could use text messaging to unlock your door.
I just want an integration that can take a door lock code generated by OR for a booking and put it on all of the guest locks for that property and a simple UI that can show me the codes that are on the lock and whether they are verified to be synch'd. IE has the lock confirmed that the code was accepted. If I need to make a change I make it in OR and if it impacts the lock restrictions they are integrated down to the lock. I'd like to say in realtime but I don't think that is the case with wifi locks.
You can just put a phone number into an SMS template and have OR send it out based on a trigger... we do this... Notice the to line has two phone numbers separated by a semi colon... This notifies those two phone numbers that the hot tub was used and is needing to be serviced. We base it on a trigger that uses a tag on the booking... basically if the booking has the hot tub tag send this notice to the 3rd party that they need to clean the hot tub.
There is a caveat... don't expect to see any responses come back to the booking... so if my hot tub guy responds "Not Able to Do It" you will get the notification from OR that there is a new text message and you can see the response... but you will not see the response on the conversation that goes with the booking. (I'm guessing this is because normally the guest is what would be in the to field and we've short circuited the to field for our own purpose.
Email is dead, most companies are now using text. Inboxes are clogged with BS work emails. LOL PPL on vacation steer away from emails, well not entirely, but for the most part, but the will ALWAYS read text messages because its built into the phone.
You can still use text messages for 3rd party alerts by using the 3rd parties phone number with the proper phone network, like this.
This is the email address used to send our cleaner a text message via the Vorizon cell network. Hope that helps
Ken T :
We are interested in Google Vacation Rentals !
Unfortunately, as you correctly pointed out, this would be absolutely dependent on the Vrbo API to support - and they've told us they don't have any plans to add it. :-(
I'd like to refresh the vote on this potential enhancement ... adding a tag to the booking criteria filter. If the contact is a VIP or Return, apply the discount. I'd use it for sure. Thanks!
Hi Tempo,
Thanks for bringing this issue to our attention. We have created a bug in our system to get this resolved.
Could the booking system automatically offer a list of alternative dates/prices if a guest enters dates that do not meet rules and requirements.
Something similar to booking.com would be great. (See pic).
The price structure with Jervis is more than RemoteLock. So it seems OR is working on an integration that is more expensive than what is currently available
If you're talking about the Jervis integration, that integration has been out for a while, and we didn't build that in-house actually. That integration was built by Jervis and is managed/supported directly by them. You would need to consult with Jervis on pricing. Great company there, and they have some cool features!
The Yonomi and other things I alluded to recently are integrations directly with lock brands. They do not involve third-party partners and would be direct to the lock maker like Schlage, igloo, Yale, etc. There would still be a monthly price for these direct-to-brand integrations however because each of these brands charge a certain amount for API/SDK access to their lock platform. But it would be very small compared to some of the third-party platforms. The third-party platforms offer a lot of other devices and have value-adds (ie. extra features) that OwnerRez would probably not develop, so you may still want to use a third-party platform. We are just exploring options for how to give direct lower-cost options to some of our customers that are trying to trim the fat and look for simple alternatives. Lots of balls in the air right now... 🤹
Interested in Beta
I upvoted as well. I am not sure if I made it before they shut down any more volunteers. I would be interested in Beta testing Hopper when that is ready as well.
Just a quick note about Hopper - we learned today that Hopper integration is delayed indefinitely. They are re-evaluating their direction on vacation rentals.
Yes, there's not a direct link to it from there. But this preview rates modal, is the same as Tools > Rate Checker in the main menu. And you can select any channel at the top.
The link under the Airbnb API dashboard is the exact same modal - we're just opening it with Airbnb already selected. But you can select a different channel if you like, or reach that modal directly from the main menu.
Maybe that is how it is supposed to work, but when using the "Preview for AirBNB" both cancellation field codes only show the custom policy which is for Vrbo, HomeToGO, etc. Also tested it and it inserts the "custom policy" into my AirBNB listing.
So instead of a feature, we have a bug? I am sending documentation to Help email.
Thanks, Ken!
This is not needed, because the booking cancellation field codes pull in whatever the appropriate cancellation policy is for the particular booking, whether that be from Airbnb, OwnerRez, Vrbo, Booking.com, etc. You should just use {BCANPOLLEGAL} and, with few exceptions, the correct policy will be automatically filled in.
This article may be beneficial to you:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/capture-additional-fields-on-checkout-quote-acceptance
You really mean this? I neverrrrrrrrrrr had any booking or even inquiry originate on IG.
Hey everyone, I looked into this a while back, and it's not possible for PMS or VR/STR software (like OwnerRez) to use this.
In order to have an "action button" on Instagram, you have to fall into one of three categories that Instagram supports:
Read about Allowed "action button" Business Types for Instagram.
We (OwnerRez) cannot sign up to be in one of these categories because we're about lodging and would not be approved. I actually checked - the signup process only allows business software of one of the above types. This is why you don't see any lodging/hosptiability vendors on the list. Only beauty/dining/food vendors like OpenTable or Appointy are there.
If you want this to happen, the first thing you would need to do is reach out to Instagram (Meta?) and petition them to allow lodging software (first) as a category, and then that OwnerRez be approved after they start allowing that category.
Thanks Ken,
I'll give it a try, but thus far, I haven't been able to achieve the desired result. I'll play with it some more and update if I still can't get it to do what I am trying to achieve
I'm not clear on what you're asking for that is not already possible manually?
To use your example - During peak season, we only want to allow booking of the Parent Unit A (keep the child units blocked)
So, during that time, create blocks in OwnerRez on both of the child units so they cannot be booked. Because of the mutual blocking, doing this would normally also block Parent Unit A. But, in these new blocks you create, select the "Don't block other properties" option:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/combined-properties-blockoff-lockoff#bypass
That will have the result you're looking for.