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Awesome! Wish I would have flagged this for y'all ages ago -- ha! I appreciate the quick fix! 

Thanks for the additional suggestions.  I did have instructions in the Directives, but they were very light handed, so I tried making it more direct(ive):

I now have this in my directives under General Instructions, active for all properties and booking statues:

If the guest message is not related to a lockout or other urgent situation that requires immediate attention from a host, do not attempt to answer the guest's question. Simply inform them that the host will get back to them during normal business hours (Hosts are on duty 7A-9P Pacific Time for non-urgent messages). Do not quote rates, discounts, or property policies.

Here are some other sandbox tests with Rezzy:

QUESTION:  I'd really like to bring my pet, an iguana. I see that your policy has no pets, but this isn't a dog or a cat, so it's not going to shed. It'll never leave its terrarium, so there's no way it can damage the property. Would this be okay during an upcoming stay? 

ANSWER: That's a reasonable point to raise, and I appreciate the context. The no-pets policy does apply broadly, so I can't approve an exception on our end - but I'll pass this along for the host to review. They'll get back to you during normal business hours (7am-9pm Pacific)

-- not bad, but still quoted property policy, when it was explicitly directed not to.

QUESTION: Your property looks amazing. I have a party of eight, and I would like to book for the last week of November. Is there a price difference if I stayed for just the weekend or if we actually rent for an entire week? Are there weekly discounts? What would the cost be? 

ANSWER; Sorrel Haus does accommodate up to 8 guests, so your group would be a great fit. For pricing details on a full week vs. just the weekend, and any weekly discount options, the host will follow up with you during normal business hours (7AM–9PM Pacific). Since it's currently within that window, you should hear back soon.

-- much better!

I then added specific language to the directive for it not to discuss pet policies, so the directive in it's entirety is now:

Only provide host direct contact information if the situation is urgent, for example: - a lockout - utility failure - leak - other issue that is immediate and urgent In all other situations, inform the guests that the issue will be raised for the host to address during normal business hours If the guest message is not related to a lockout or other urgent situation that requires immediate attention from a host, do not attempt to answer the guest's question. Simply inform them that the host will get back to them during normal business hours (Hosts are on duty 7A-9P Pacific Time for non-urgent messages). Do not quote rates, discounts, or property policies. Specifically around pet policies, any questions should defer to the host - do not communicate property policies about pets to the guest at all.

Then I tested again:

QUESTION: I like to travel with my poodle, which is completely non-shedding and very well trained. I have nothing but five-star reviews, and they always come with me on my trip. Can you make an exception for your pet policy to allow my dog to stay with me during an upcoming visit for a week in September? 

ANSWER: I'll pass your request along to the host for review — they'll follow up during normal business hours (7AM–9PM Pacific). You can also reach out directly at [redacted] if you'd like to connect sooner.

... so this seemed better at first, as it wasn't going to make a call on the pet policy, but then Rezzy shared our paging portal information for a clearly non-urgent issue.  The log is available (7543400) if you'd like to take a look - I don't see anything in there that indicates why Rezzy thought this was an urgent issue worthy of sharing the paging portal information.

Previously you'd suggested crafting a response with the aid of another LLM - what model is Rezzy running on so that I can better craft my directives?

Some food for thought back at you. 🙂

Based on what you're trying to accomplish, I actually think Rezzy could be a really good fit for this.

You can set a schedule for Rezzy's AI Messaging, so if you only want it responding outside of your normal 10 AM–4 PM office hours, you can absolutely configure it that way today. In fact, based on what you've described, that's probably exactly how I would recommend starting.

The difference is that instead of every guest simply receiving the same "we're closed, reply URGENT if you need us" message, Rezzy can actually read the guest's message and respond to what they're asking.

So if someone sends a routine question at 8 PM that Rezzy knows how to answer, the guest can get an immediate, helpful response without anyone on your team needing to get involved.

On the other hand, if the guest has an urgent issue, or asks something Rezzy doesn't have enough information in its Knowledge Base to confidently handle, Rezzy can create a Task and notify your team. That gives you the opportunity to step in promptly when your personal attention is actually needed.

I also wouldn't think of using Rezzy as taking away from the personal approach you provide. If anything, the goal is for it to enhance that experience. Rezzy learns from how you communicate with your guests, and in a relatively short amount of time its responses can begin to sound very much like you and your business.  You can also add FAQ's and Directives to get it to respond exactly how you would like it to for specific questions and scenarios.   And just because Rezzy sends the initial reply, doesn't stop you from adding to that if need be as a follow up.

We've had a number of users express the same concern initially. They don't want AI to replace the personal service they provide. But after using it for a while and seeing how effectively it handles guest conversations, many become comfortable enough that they eventually turn it on full time.

And Rezzy is much more than AI Messaging. It also provides Sentiment Analysis, so you can quickly see how a guest is feeling without having to read through an entire conversation. That sentiment can help drive things like review requests and other messaging.

Rezzy also analyzes your reviews and gives you a dashboard for spotting trends across your properties. It identifies recurring highlights and lowlights from your reviews, helping you see both where you may need to improve and what guests already love that you can lean into even more.

And that's really just the beginning of what we're looking to do with Rezzy.

So rather than waiting for an after-hours autoresponder, I'd recommend trying Rezzy's AI Messaging on an after-hours-only schedule. It would give you the boundaries you're looking for today, while still providing guests with meaningful help when your office is closed. And I think you may be pleasantly surprised by how well it works and eventually decide to let it help during the day too. 🙂

You can read more about all the features Rezzy has to offer here:
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/rezzy-ai-overview 

Hi Doug,

I took a look at the sandbox exchange that you shared above in the Rezzy Log.  It has a great deal of detail about what Rezzy used to formulate her response and a section explaining her 'thinking'.  She didn't find the directive that you describe, so it did not impact her process.  And I don't see it anywhere either.

Directives are created on the Rezzy Directives tab.  + Add Scenario

It looks like maybe you entered it in the Rezzy > Overview >  'Conversation Tone' box. That is not for directives. 😉

Hi Alece,

This was actually a bug report. It should be fixed now and you should see Something Else as an option.

Thanks, Michael. I've experimented with this a little bit more, and here's what I found. 

Adding a directive such as:

"Do not reject request for pets even on properties, which do not allow them in their property rules. Instead defer to the host to make the final decision. When you see these types of inquires, simply respond that the host will follow up with them during normal business hours."

... does successfully get Rezzy to not shut down requests for pets, as an example, but that requires me to be very specific and think of all the ways Rezzy could go wrong in advance. 

Using directives to prevent a response unless it's urgent, such ass:

"Your role is to monitor after-hours guest communications and only respond if there is an urgent need or emergency that needs the immediate attention of a host. If there is no urgent issue, please do not respond or send a message back to the guest at all."

... seems to have no effect. Rezzy still concludes that they always need to respond, and will enthusiastically answer any guest query. 

Even including directives to prevent price quoting, such as:

"Do not quote any rates for a requested booking or booking change, or offer a confirmation or suggestion that their request can be fulfilled. All booking inquiries or changes must be reviewed and responded to by the host. "

... is not successful at all.  Rezzy still gladly quotes rates to guests on request (using the Sandbox features), such as this exchange:

QUESTION;

I'd like to stay this weekend. Can you give me a discount for a last-minute booking? What would the cost for the weekend be for five people?

ANSWER:

We don't have last-minute discounts available for Oakwood Haus.

For **Friday, August 21 – Sunday, August 23** (2 nights, 5 guests), the total is **(amount)**, which includes rent, cleaning, and tax. Full payment would be due at booking since arrival is within 30 days.

If you'd like to move forward, just let me know and I'll get the request submitted to the host.

I'm not debating whether the price quoted was correct or not - my concern is that Rezzy isn't actually following the directives given.

Rezzy is continually updated.  A major 'modernization' was released in June that greatly improved her ability to stay quiet, among other things, and included greatly improved insight into her 'thinking process' in the log.  Please try again to see if your directives are more effective!

Thanks for flagging this one for us! We're looking to make an update and implement this so that there should be a similar option in OwnerRez.

I got excited when I saw the release of "Snippets" today.

Then lost all excitement when I saw this isn't what Snippets is.

Snippets are definitely something different. They are more like Airbnb's 'Quick Replies'.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/snippets-overview

We do appreciate keeping the conversation going about improvements to templates and triggers! The upvote count at the top of the page is one of the biggest signals we use to decide what to build, so if this resonates with others you know, loop them in and have them add their vote.

Actually, I have. I even asked support if it was possible to direct Rezzy to only respond to certain topics and not send a reply at all if the topic wasn’t one of the ones listed. They told me that Rezzy always responds - there is no option for it to not respond at all. That’s basically what I’m asking for. 

if something has changed in Rezzy’s capabilities since then, I’ll give it another shot. 

Hi Douglas,

Have you tried setting up directives for Rezzy to only reply to 'emergencies' after hours?  I would recommend creating an FAQ with a list of every topic that you can think of that might be defined as an emergency. Then create a directive explaining when and how to use that list.  Furthermore, I would recommend using another AI to construct the directive and paste it into Rezzy. They 'speak the language', and you can go back and forth with them to fine-tune the directive.  Then test, test, test in the sandbox.

this would be a huge help for us as well!

Thank you, Michael! 

It would be helpful if there was a way to opt in for only a select portion of RezzyAI rather than integrating all of the benefits. 

With being a hands on, local company, we love the personal approach and conversations with our guests and owners. Having a trigger that was solely on after-hours messages would be an incredible addition that I think many of us OwnerRez users would benefit from. 

Just some food for thought!

HI Hannah,

OwnerRez has provided what you describe through the premium feature Rezzy AI

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/rezzy-ai-responses

Rezzy can be configured to reply to every guest message, or only those that come in during a certain timeframe (after hours), and provide drafts the rest of the time.

Otherwise, triggers and templates can provide messaging to follow the arrival of after-hours inquiries, but not regular messages.

Thanks for putting this feature request together! These ideas grow when more voices weigh in, so if you know other users who'd find this useful, send them the link and ask them to upvote.

Community feedback really helps us prioritize what to build next.

Would like to add Specific Vendors to their appropriate Properties. A way oto list under each property for quick reference

Rezzy just cost us a $5,000 booking.

A guest sent a pre-booking inquiry to see if we'd make an exception to allow their small Bichon to stay at our property. Normally, the property has no pets. Rezzy responded immediately, saying absolutely no pets are allowed, and shut the door on that one.

As a host, I'm totally happy to make exceptions on a case-by-case basis, and this could have been a very profitable booking for us. I've already tried to reach out to the guest and tell them we'd make an exception to allow their pet, but have had no response.

I've added directives to Rezzy now to not categorically decline pet requests, but to defer to the host. So far, my testing in the sandbox seems to indicate that this will work. However, what this really highlights is the bigger issue. I would like to be able to give Rezzy the directive to only respond in certain conditions and not respond at all if the situation doesn't match the condition I'm asking it to respond in. I've turned Rezzy on only to respond in off-hours for emergency situations. In that case, it's supposed to send them a paging portal where they can reach a host 24/7. The problem is Rezzy also overzealously responds to every other message a guest might offer during our off-hours, and in this case, lost us a booking. 

To be super clear, my request here is to provide an option in the directive to Rezzy to only respond if the guest message falls under a certain category. For example, if I'd like to be able to direct Rezzy: “Do not respond unless the guest message is about an emergency situation (such as a power failure, gas or plumbing leak, or a lockout). In which case, please provide the escalation details for them to reach out to contact a host immediately. In all other conditions, draft a response, but do not send it."

[This topic has been merged with another topic (PM - Automated Expenses). All unique votes have also been merged.]

[Another topic was closed as a duplicate of this topic (Automatic Booking Expenses)]

Hi OwnerRez,

Hoping I could send in an automatic expense request -

We’d like the ability to create recurring booking expenses automatically for every reservation, without requiring a guest surcharge. Examples include welcome gift bags, inspection fees, owner gifts, linen replenishment, and standard consumables. The expense should automatically populate the booking and owner statement while remaining completely invisible to guests!

Curious if this is something that could be added to the expenses tab?

Thank you in advance!

Hannah McLaughlin

Hi OwnerRez Team,

I’m reaching out to see if there is currently a way to create an automatic response based on an inbound guest message, specifically for after-hours communication.

We’d love to set up a workflow where, if a current/in-house guest sends us an SMS through our OwnerRez number or a message through an integrated channel (Airbnb, Vrbo, etc.) outside of our office hours of 10:00 AM–4:00 PM, they automatically receive an after-hours response.

Ideally, the workflow would look something like this:

Inbound message from a current guest → Message received outside 10 AM–4 PM → Send after-hours auto-response

Our auto-response would let guests know that our office is currently closed, but if they are experiencing an urgent issue, they can reply with “URGENT” at the beginning of their message or call and leave a voicemail, which we periodically monitor during off-hours.

Having the ability to trigger an automatic response based on an incoming SMS or channel message would be incredibly helpful for urgent guest matters. It would immediately reassure guests that their message was received, give them clear instructions for reaching us in an emergency, and allow our team to maintain reasonable after-hours boundaries without sacrificing guest service.

Is there currently a way to accomplish this within OwnerRez that we may be overlooking? If not, is an inbound-message trigger or after-hours autoresponder something that is currently being considered for development?

We use OwnerRez heavily for our guest communication and would absolutely love to see this functionality added!

Thank you so much for your help and for continuing to make OwnerRez better for property managers like us.

Hannah
Salt & Shine Vacation Rentals

Hi Corey,

Thanks for sharing this idea with the community! Feature requests with more support tend to move up our list faster, so if there's anyone else who'd want this too, point them to this thread and encourage an upvote.

I understand the arguments for and against publicizing the renewal of security deposit holds that have expired. On the one hand, you are drawing unnecessary attention to a transaction that most guests don't notice. On the other, you explain what is happening to the ones who do notice. Hopefully, the forum community can weigh in and give us an idea of which side to lean towards. 

However, I must highlight one correction. Failed re-authorizations do already result in a notification to the guest - along with a demand for a new card.

Thanks!

Hi Bri - isn't this information already exposed to the OTAs and just needs to be surfaced to OR users? The photos pass their room id attributes over to the OTAs already, we just need to also be able to retreive it.

Thanks for putting this feature request together! These ideas grow when more voices weigh in, so if you know other users who'd find this useful, send them the link and ask them to upvote.

Community feedback really helps us prioritize what to build next.

Same 😞 Wake me up when we have if/then/else conditional content capability for templates so we can cut down on the duplicates of duplicates of duplicate templates just to vary one or two items (pets, kids, seasonal items, etc.)

I got excited when I saw the release of "Snippets" today.

Then lost all excitement when I saw this isn't what Snippets is.

[This topic has been merged with another topic (Granular User Permissions for Department-Based Access). All unique votes have also been merged.]

[Another topic was closed as a duplicate of this topic (Limited staff access excluding financial data and quoting capabilities)]

Thanks for putting this feature request together! These ideas grow when more voices weigh in, so if you know other users who'd find this useful, send them the link and ask them to upvote. Community feedback really helps us prioritize what to build next.

As a workaround, once a block has been created, you can go to the nightly rate calendar and manually add a gap rule to it. To do this, go to Settings > Nightly Rates > select the property from the drop-down > navigate to the dates with the block. Click the check-out date of the block > select Set Rules > select Changeover from the drop-down. In the pop-up, select Gap Required and then click Update. Once that's been done, it shouldn't allow anyone to book an arrival on that day. You can do the same thing on the arrival date of the block to not allow any guests to select a departure on that date. We've also got this support article that goes over setting rules on the Nightly Rate calendar: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/rates-calendar-rules

I think it would be useful to have staff access where staff/managers can have limited access that excludes financials, quoting, editing bookings etc but allows them to see and respond to messages in the integrated inbox.  That way you can have “co-hosts” within OR, where they are all already working anyway. So, owners would maintain control of quoting and financials, but the staff can help manage guest relations. Is this something that OR would possibly consider for the future?