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The 50-char limit makes this even more important.
And I have to respectfully disagree on the valuenof a shorter heading. Guest scan search results and title is the 2nd best way to grab them with the property features (photo is #1).
We experimented on our listings and we found engagement and click-thru much higher with longer titles. I believe this is mostly due to the markets we are in being so large. The OTAs, especially AirBNB, don't seem to really understand large vacation markets.
Guest profiles (avatars) for OTAs are different too. Vrbo more family oriented, larger groups than AirBNB. So we need different titles.
The problem is the custom expiring url for each guest guide book is still not being pulled into OR from touchstay. You can only use a generic unexpired link in OR messaging set as a fixed custom field in OR. All this makes the ability to pull OR fields into touchstay a bit pointless until this loop is closed.
Great if you only want to use touchstay messaging but I would rather keep all messaging in OR as it just gets way to confusing. The OR inbox is not fully unified anyway without adding another place to check if messages have been sent.
Thanks, Paul, for confirming the current functionality and laying out the best way to get this accomplished today. I've been pinging Joe Jones, TouchStay's COO about this feature for the last year. He's definitely aware that automating through thru the current API with OR would be VERY helpful. Yes, we can copy/paste each time we get a new booking, but it just adds 1 more manual step whereas automating it through the API would be AWESOME. Joe indicates that's still happening sometime in the future - just hope it's sooner than later. :-).
Mike
Hi Mila,
Each of your guide books has a live website link that you can share with your guests. For a fast and easy way to download all those links simply click the button and choose the download format. (screenshots below) If you have a single property and don't want to use the download option, head to the Invite and Share tab of each guide to find the Quick Share link. Touch Stay does not currently send the guidebook links back into OwnerRez. You will need to create your own email templates/triggers inside OwnerRez and then add your guidebook link/links. I would suggest creating a custom field code for your guidebook links, then just add the field code to your email templates. Here is a doc on field codes:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/custom-fields
We're actually planning to do more or less the opposite - when you change the checkin/checkout time to something other than the default, a tag automatically gets added.
Yes, this is already in the planning stages.
Not worth the time and energy on owers/mamangers end.
Over this busy season, and thinking about workflow, it would be very handy to be able to auto-assign tags to various items.
For example: Bookings to PropertyA would get tags of "Need Drivers License" "Need Parking Pass" "Must Send RA Addendum"
A rudimentary task system where we can then show items with these tags for task assignment. When complete, we remove the tag.
Another example would be if we do an AirBNB bad review, add that tag to the booking and the guest contact record.
Lots more power in tags, but I am sure you know that. Just putting my 2-cents for future features.
Chuck
Dori,
Several years ago we tried bookings. Has the EXACT same experience with them, so after 4 years NOTHING has changed, so history tells me its not going to change. LOTS of cancelations, poor guest quality, payment issues, all the same as you are describing. My advice, cut your loses, save your valuable time for a platform that really cares, they DONT! Good luck!
Hello,
I was looking for exactly what you were asking, did you find a solution? Did Touch Stay build the feature you were asking or if you found a solution, I will appreciate your help.
thank you
Mila
Would be great if we could add a tag, late check out tag for example, and the booking check-out time is automatically updated to the desired. Would save time and works well with smart locks that automatically reschedule the access code.
Would like to see this get some more effort. Been waiting for a while.
I agree about segments not needed at our level.
Likely we will do Zapier integration which will allow for Mailchimp plus myriad other email marketing solution options (e.g., Constant Contact).
Thanks Shawn. That would be a huge upgrade. I’ll keep my eyes peeled!
Likely we will do Zapier integration which will allow for Mailchimp plus myriad other email marketing solution options (e.g., Constant Contact).
There is significant ongoing work planned around messaging, which wouldn't necessarily be exactly this, but is related.
The only thing that a true app can do that our responsive website can't, is alerts on your smartphone.
And, Google has announced that they plan to add that capability to Chrome browser. So that would be a far easier solution to the need. No ETA on this of course, but hopefully they'll actually do that.
We use the automated inquiry and quote response. But we sometimes get inquiries with questions through our website. To respond on the Inquiry screen is a bit convoluted, having to select ANSEWR tab and then "Answer Again".
Couldn't we have an "Email Inquirer" button that would also have a drop down to sleet a template?
Chuck
If there is not an actual mobile app on the roadmap (and PLEASE let there be - PWA just does not do it - navigation is terrible). Can you at least consider an app that just does messaging and can perhaps pulls up booking info?
As you are rolling our more messaging features with AirBNB, SMS, and (hopefully soon) Vrbo, it would be helpful. Much of our interaction is actually messaging, in some way or another.
Chuck
Also very interested. Please let us know!
hello @ arriveandthrive.co
Interested. I think this integration could provide a lot of value!
We are building out an integration between OR and Mailchimp right now. Let me know if you’re interested in using it too and I can talk to our developer about getting you access to it. It would sync contacts and tags from OR to Mailchimp. We might look at an ActiveCampaign integration as well.
Since as is pointed out, a whole slew of other channel managers are doing it.
It's really a bummer that OwnerRez is not wanting to do this. Something I don't understand.
Quite a few connected partners with Google if it is so manual how is it:
Google is removing ad listings if you are a vacation rental and not in there program..
https://support.google.com/hotelprices/answer/11946834?hl=en&ref_topic=10062823
Approved connectivity providers
If you have fewer than 5,000 properties, we strongly recommend working with one of the connectivity providers listed below to get your properties shown on Google.
If you're already working with a connectivity partner that's not listed above, encourage them to follow the steps outlined in this guide. If you'd like to become a connectivity partner with Google, or if you think direct integration is the right path for you, follow the same steps to get started.
Our Custom Cancellation Policies integrate with Vrbo, so are limited to what they support - and they don't. We have asked them for this as well as some other additional customization options, and will implement them as soon as they allow, but, I wouldn't anticipate that happening in the near future.
Thank you Ken, I understand.
Our Custom Cancellation Policies integrate with Vrbo, so are limited to what they support - and they don't. We have asked them for this as well as some other additional customization options, and will implement them as soon as they allow, but, I wouldn't anticipate that happening in the near future.
Has this option ever been added?
I've suggested this to Airbnb also but I don't know if I'll ever hear from that black hole..lol. Anyway, I would love to have separate cancellation policies for our high season here in FL and for the off season. In high season I have a strict cancellation policy but I'd like to be more flexible in the off season so I can cater to business travelers. Any plans in the works for us to be able to set parameters for different cancellation policies based on the time of year?
I have two properties listed at BDC. Property A was verified right away. Property B is still in the probationary stage. (It is a mystery why A was verified so quickly and B was not -- no one at BDC seems to be able to answer that.)
What this means is that for verified Property A, BDC collects the payment and then sends the payout to me the morning after the arrival, ala AirBnB. This seems to work fine.
For Property B, BDC does NOT collect the payment -- because I am not yet verified. Yet, because I am not yet verified, BDC will not share the credit card info with me for bookings related to this property. Their advice is to collect the payment directly from the guest upon arrival.
So now I must send payment requests from OR directly to my Property B guests, but not my Property A guests.
I would love for this to be automatic, but the issue is that the OR settings apply to the entire BDC channel -- not to my individual properties. For example, my OR Credit Card Payment Mode is set to "Automatic" which works for Property A, but it really should be set to "Manual" for Property B.
So my feature request is to make channel settings assignable to each individual property on Booking.com rather than to the channel itself.
Any advice on how to deal with this moving forward? I suppose the only thing I can do is set up an invoice trigger for Property B bookings until I am verified for Property B?
As an aside for anyone contemplating ramping up on BDC... I am getting exhausted by this platform's problems far outweighing the return. Their verification process is mysterious and undefined; their tax rates have been incorrect and difficult to change since day one; the interface is not intuitive and downright misleading; the guests seem to cancel at a much higher rate than other platforms... I may not be long for this platform.
Yes, this is planned for the future.
