Feature Requests

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Automations 3 replies

Chris Hynes
Dec 7, 2017 4:57 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

Good ideas! Do you know if any of those are integrated with https://zapier.com/? We don't have direct OwnerRez zaps, but I believe you can connect to an iCal or Google Calendar.

Text templates and triggers are on our to-do list for sure!

Automations 3 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Dec 4, 2017 1:58 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

1. Honeywell 9000 series WIFI thermostat integration ( to raise/lower temp or to switch of based ob booked schedule)
2. Brief text messages that can be scheduled upon booking acceptance, text door code, message after check in time, and prior to check out (reminders).
3. (dreaming here) MyEvolutionConnex bryant/Carrier wifi thermostat integration

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

Pedro T
Nov 27, 2017 1:22 PM
Joined Nov, 2017 51 posts

BlueMtnCabins said:

Sounds like outswitch does not work with homeaway?


unfortunately that's currently the case. To get HomeAway integration with Outswitch you have to go through RentalsUnited. Hopefully they get it soon.

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

Sam Westcott
Nov 25, 2017 11:30 AM
OR Team Member Joined Dec, 2009 240 posts

@Pedro -- thanks for the tip on Outswitch. We'll take a look. Young and hungry are typically the best partners ;-)

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 24, 2017 9:15 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

Sounds like outswitch does not work with homeaway?

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

Pedro T
Nov 22, 2017 2:12 PM
Joined Nov, 2017 51 posts

Please look into Outswitch. It's a flat fee based dynamic pricing tool. It's not as flashy as BeyondPricing or Wheelhouse but it offers powerful tools for dynamic pricing, the most useful of which is a matrix that looks at the immediacy of vacancies vs. occupancy rates to apply a multiplier to rents. It also manipulates my minimum night requirements based on gaps and seasons.
Currently it integrates with AirBnB, Booking.com, agoda and RentalsUnited. They could use more partners.
http://outswitch.com

My contact is Anton Croy
anton@outswitch.com

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 21, 2017 6:49 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

I do not have a contact per se, but an observation. when I stared with Wheelhouse, they had integration with Homeaway, Airbnb , tripadvisor and a few others. then apparently Homeway paused the integration. For a while on the WH dashboard there was a banner saying that they are investigating the problem and will update as soon as integration is restored. Now banner is gone, but so is Homeaway from the list of supported platforms. I have asked the question on Homeaway owners forum and had been told that there are "no plans" to restore integration with Wheelhouse. I think the reason is 2 fold: 1st, Homeaway is /will be rolling out their own dynamic pricing tool; 2nd, HA's fee is already dynamic, so 3rd party dynamic pricing potentially won't leave much room for the fee when it prices to market.

So I tried to use BP for my Homeaway properties. I find it wanting compared to Wheelhouse - some days were priced too low, some too high, I ended up turning it off for my 3 bd cabin and going back to manual pricing. I still have it on 4 bd, but it is hard to judge whether it is of any benefit - as I have been getting so few bookings via HA lately for that property.
if I were to choose, i would choose Wheelhouse.

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

Chris Hynes
Nov 20, 2017 7:25 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

We've looked into a couple, such as Wheelhouse and Beyond Pricing. What we heard was that they're all waiting on additional integrations till the new year.

If you've got a contact at one of those, we're happy to get talks started so we can work on the integration.

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 19, 2017 9:25 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

As far as I know, no. I use wheelhouse for my AirBNB and Tripadvisor listings, and when it comes to tripadvisor, I had to disconnect OR auto response with quote as I want to use WH set pricing, so I have to change my OR quotes to match the price set by wheelhouse..

Dynamic pricing 13 replies

Villa Serenity
Nov 17, 2017 7:39 AM
Joined Feb, 2017 3 posts

Does Ownerez integrate with any dynamic pricing tools.

Suggestion: displaying source of bookings on owner-facing bookings view 1 reply

Chris Hynes
Nov 12, 2017 9:53 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

We don't currently have a way to customize the ribbon display, but that would be very useful.

record number of charge backs - and what to do. 1 reply

Chris Hynes
Nov 12, 2017 9:49 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

We do currently use a signature method where they type their name and it's stamped onto the agreement, with copies sent to both the owner, guest, and also stored within OwnerRez.

Callouts with initialing is a great idea and is on our to-do list.

Suggestion: displaying source of bookings on owner-facing bookings view 1 reply

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 9, 2017 2:56 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

the calendar bookings view is my go-to page. Since now bookings come from so many places, i thought it would be neat if there was some sort of at-a-glance indicator on the ribbon (maybe before guest's name) where that booking originated 9AirBNB, VRBO etc). Direct ones do not need indicator.
Such as , if I am looking at the calendar, I see a color coded (property color) ribbon of guest's stay with guest name and number of guests in parenthesis. Would be great if somewhere there it also indicated 'AB' - for AiBNb, 'VR' - for VRBO, etc. or nothing is it was a direct-book.

record number of charge backs - and what to do. 1 reply

BlueMtnCabins
Nov 9, 2017 1:20 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

here is what one of the owners posted in Smoky mountains group as follow up to VRM Intel panel discussion:

""Something I thought I'd share about credit card processing after a panel discussion at VRM Intel yesterday. Processors are seeing record numbers of chargebacks. They recommend: do not take multiple cards for payments without due diligence (as in someone who books it uses one card and the final payment is made on another card.) It's preferable to have a signed rental agreement, but Docusign-type ones with a signature that's "stamped" onto your agreement is better than just an electronic one where they just click a check box. Also, they recommended you have guests initial the sections that say things like not pet friendly, no smoking property, age/number of guest restrictions, etc. Anything that could become embroiled in a chargeback case. It was also suggested you have your cancellation policy language located at the bottom of your agreement...right next to the signature and date. In a chargeback case, they suggested you have as much documentation as possible: dated emails and texts can support your case. Phone calls cannot. So whenever changes are made, make sure there is a always paper trail.""

with that, is it possible to make guest initial certain sections or pages of rental agreement as part of the process?

Add Long Term Rental Feature 10 replies

Chris Hynes
Nov 1, 2017 9:30 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

OwnerRez is oriented around short term rentals, but there's nothing keeping you from making longer term bookings in the system, or multiple one month bookings depending on how you want to do it. You can alter charges, schedule or record additional payments etc. and override built in rules on a quote or booking basis.

We have clients using OwnerRez for longer term bookings in the number of months, although I'm not sure if there are any doing multiple year bookings.

Are there any particular issues you're running into with the long term bookings? I'll either be able to point you to a solution or outline the limitations of OwnerRez for the long term, depending on the issue.

Add Long Term Rental Feature 10 replies

Conoly S.
Nov 1, 2017 8:49 PM
Joined Oct, 2017 1 post

My company manages both long term and vacation rentals. I understand this is a vacation rental software, but I need to operate two separate systems for my business, and it would be very helpful to add in long term properties to this software that I can track my tenants information as well and provide owner reports to those long term rental owners.

Tax Setting 8 replies

Chris Hynes
Oct 10, 2017 1:07 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

If you use the "simplify charges" option on the booking widget, it'll collapse the taxes to one for display there, but it still shows individual taxes on the checkout and emails.

Perhaps we should add an account wide "collapse taxes" setting so it shows one tax line for all guest facing interactions.

Tax Setting 8 replies

BlueMtnCabins
Oct 10, 2017 12:59 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1155 posts

I have 2 taxes - a 9.75% state and 3% county. I have one tax line item for total 12.75% and I break tax down into 2 parts and remit accordingly on my own. Showing potential guests multiple tax lines is not a good marketing idea imo.

Viral marketing idea 2 replies

Marina's Edge Re
Oct 5, 2017 5:52 PM
Joined Oct, 2012 206 posts

Not really sure yet. I think I'd do something like AirBnB does...offer $50 for every referral that books and offer the referral a discount because they were recommended by a friend (kinda like an affiliate program).

Viral marketing idea 2 replies

Chris Hynes
Oct 5, 2017 12:53 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

That looks pretty cool, although I'm not sure exactly what it does from their website.

How would we integrate? Discount codes or some such?

Viral marketing idea 2 replies

Marina's Edge Re
Oct 5, 2017 10:25 AM
Joined Oct, 2012 206 posts

Hey..
I've been thinking about this for a long time and I think I might know how to make it work. If I could automate the viral marketing for my vacation rental by rewarding people that refer their friends (and they book)...I'd have a viral marketing engine....

Here's some software that I just found that I think might work if we could figure out how to integrate it with OwnerRez!! https://upviral.com/

I'd love your thoughts on this.

Import charges and payments from Airbnb 2 replies

Daniel
Oct 4, 2017 10:39 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 18 posts

Thank you, Chris. That would be awesome.

Import charges and payments from Airbnb 2 replies

Chris Hynes
Oct 4, 2017 1:12 PM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

That's a good point! We'll add a listing site criteria on taxes so you can disable the city tax for Airbnb.

Report - Total Amount Charged Per Night 2 replies

Daniel
Oct 4, 2017 12:03 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 18 posts

I imagine it as a column graph.

For example, if a reservation was made for 10.01.2017 - 10.04.2017 for $900, it would show the average price per night:

10.01.2017 $300
10.02.2017 $300
10.03.2017 $300

and then, let's say it was not rented for two days, so it would show $0.

10.04.2017 $0
10.05.2017 $0

It could also show years in different colors so would see not just 10.01.2017, but also 10.01.2016 and 10.01.2015 and be able to easily compare the rates it was rented for or see if it was not rented and evaluate your performance.

I would use it as a guide to set up future prices.

Calendar view is also interesting idea.

Rent only.

Thank you, Chris. You guys are amazing!

Tax Setting 8 replies

Daniel
Oct 4, 2017 11:52 AM
Joined Jul, 2016 18 posts

Yes, but then it shows three taxes and it freaks people out. :) I know it's the same, I just think that it would "look" better. No big deal. Thanks!

Report - Total Amount Charged Per Night 2 replies

Chris Hynes
Oct 4, 2017 10:38 AM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

Hmm, that's an interesting idea, sort of similar to the occupancy report. Do you have an example you've seen?

A lot of questions in the details of what would be the best information ... How would it break down the amount? Is it showing average per period, like month or week or year? If so, how do unoccupied nights factor in? Or would it be better to show a calendar view where you see a cell for each night, with a value only if it was rented. Rent only or including surcharges and taxes?

Tax Setting 8 replies

Chris Hynes
Oct 4, 2017 10:37 AM
OR Team Member Joined Oct, 2012 1403 posts

The best way is to create one tax for each -- that way it will be broken out on reports etc.

Is there a problem with showing the individual taxes somewhere vs. the rollup?

Import charges and payments from Airbnb 2 replies

Daniel
Oct 3, 2017 10:59 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 18 posts

This feature is AWESOME!

The only problem I have is that Airbnb collects and remits city tax in certain areas. So if the reservation is made on VRBO or directly on my website, I have to collect and remit 10.725%. But if the reservation is made on Airbnb I have to collect and remit only 6.375% (Airbnb remits the rest). Since the report doesn't know which tax rate to use it makes the calculations wrong.

It would be great if there was a way to select the correct tax rate under the Taxes Section, before clicking on the Import button.

Thank you!

Tax Setting 8 replies

Daniel
Oct 3, 2017 10:47 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 18 posts

Our Total Sales/Accommodation Tax is 12.275%.

It consist of:
State Tax 2.9%
County Tax 3.475%
City Tax 5.9%

It would be great if we could set a combined tax of 12.275%, and then see a report that would show each of these three taxes separately - to know how much tax we own to each agency.

Report - Total Amount Charged Per Night 2 replies

Daniel
Oct 3, 2017 10:38 PM
Joined Jul, 2016 18 posts

It would be awesome to have a report that would show which night was booked in the past and for how much - it would give us a nice overview and help us to set prices for the future.