Congratulations! If you've completed the OwnerRez Setup Wizard, you've already taken care of many of the most important steps needed to get your account up and running.
The Setup Wizard helps you configure the foundation of your OwnerRez account, including your properties, rates, fees, taxes, booking rules, existing bookings, guest messaging, rental agreement, security deposit settings, and damage protection.
So, what's next?
The steps below will help you review your setup, connect the rest of your vacation rental business, and start getting the most out of OwnerRez.
📋 Want to track your progress?
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Feel free to download this Post-Wizard Checklist, a simplified, interactive checklist you can use to check off each step as you work through the recommendations below.
🟩 Optional Download: Post-Wizard Checklist 🟩 You can keep it open on another screen while you work through your OwnerRez setup, or, if you're old-school, print it out and check things off by hand!
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Want an Extra Hand? Check out OwnerRez's Certified Advisors for additional assistance in setting up your account!
- Recommended Next Steps
- Build Out Your Guest Experience
- Bring the Rest of Your Business Into OwnerRez
- Keep Learning
Recommended Next Steps
1. Schedule Your Jumpstart Call
Your complimentary Jumpstart Call is a one-on-one session with an OwnerRez onboarding specialist.
Now that you've completed the Setup Wizard, your Jumpstart is a great opportunity to:
- Review what you've configured
- Make sure you're on the right track
- Discuss features you haven't configured yet
- Plan your next steps
Completing the Setup Wizard before your Jumpstart allows us to spend less time on basic setup and more time helping you with your specific needs.
Schedule Your Complimentary Jumpstart Call
2. Review Your Tasks
Based on the choices you made during the Setup Wizard, OwnerRez may have added a few items to your Tasks list that still need your attention.
These tasks are created when something requires additional setup or review outside of the Wizard. You may see:
- Review imported settings
If you imported a property from Airbnb and chose to review its settings later, you'll see a task for that property. Review the imported information to make sure everything is configured the way you want. - Connect your dynamic pricing tool
If you told us you use a dynamic pricing service, you'll see a reminder to connect it to OwnerRez. Once connected, your pricing service can automatically begin sending rates to OwnerRez. - Customize your Rental Agreement
If you want to customize your Rental Agreement rather than use the standard agreement as is, review and edit it before guests begin booking. - Connect a payment processor
If you configured security deposits but haven't connected a payment processor yet, you'll need to connect one before OwnerRez can process card payments or security deposits.
Note: If you plan to accept direct bookings or connect to Vrbo, you will need to configure a payment processor.
- Payment processor approval can take time, so we recommend starting this process early.
- Once approved, add your payment processor credentials to OwnerRez and make sure you're ready to accept guest payments.
📄 Support Article: Recommended Payment Processors
You may not see all of these tasks. The Setup Wizard only creates the ones that apply based on the choices you made.
We recommend completing any outstanding Setup Wizard tasks before proceeding with the remaining steps below.
3. Review Your Property Listing Content
The Setup Wizard gets your properties started, but take some time to review the complete Listing Content for each property.
Pay particular attention to:
- Accommodations
- Amenities
- Descriptions
- Guest Instructions
- Health & Safety information
- Location
- Photos and Rooms
This information is especially important if you plan to connect OwnerRez to listing channels. Once channel integrated, OwnerRez can become the source of truth for much of the listing information sent to your channels.
🎥 Focus Session: Listing Content: Accommodations, Amenities & Location
Run the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA)
After reviewing your content, run the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA). The LQA reviews your properties for missing or potentially problematic information.
- Red Errors should be resolved before connecting channel integrations.
- Yellow Warnings generally won't prevent a channel connection, but addressing them can improve the completeness and quality of your listings.
📄 Support Article: Listing Quality Analyzer
4. Test Your Rates and Bookings
Before going live, test your setup from a guest's perspective.
Create a test quote and/or use our various Rate Testing Tools to review the following. Most of these should have been configured during the Setup Wizard, but if you need to add or change one.
📄 Support Articles:
- Nightly Rates
- Discounts
- Surcharges and Fees
- Taxes
- Booking Rules
- Payment Schedules
- Rental Agreements
- Security Deposits
It's much easier to correct something now than after receiving a live booking.
If you're using calendar imports and exports, confirm that current and future blocked dates and bookings are syncing correctly between OwnerRez and your listing sites. Historical reservations can be brought into OwnerRez later if needed.
5. Connect Your Channel Integrations
Once you're comfortable with your property information, pricing, rules, and booking settings, you can begin connecting your listing channels.
OwnerRez offers direct channel integrations with Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and many other listing sites.
Channel integration allows OwnerRez to exchange significantly more information with the listing channel than a basic calendar connection.
Important: Review your setup before connecting a channel integration. Once connected, OwnerRez may begin pushing your rates, rules, availability, listing content, and other settings to the channel. If all blocks and bookings are not 100% accurate in OwnerRez, this could result in double bookings or other unintended consequences.
Follow the setup instructions for each channel you plan to connect.
📄 Support Articles:
- Channel Integrations Overview
- Airbnb Setup & Connecting
- Vrbo Setup & Connecting
- Booking.com Setup & Connecting
Build Out Your Guest Experience
Once the essentials are working, you can start customizing how OwnerRez communicates with and serves your guests.
Customize Your Guest Messaging
The Setup Wizard can activate several commonly used guest messages for you, but that's only the beginning.
Review your messaging and customize it for your business. You can create automated communications for different points in the guest journey, such as:
- Booking confirmations
- Rental agreement reminders
- Payment reminders
- Pre-arrival information
- Check-in instructions
- Departure reminders
- Review requests
Use Triggers to determine when messages should be sent automatically.
📄 Support Articles:
Note: We have many common Templates and Triggers pre-configured in a template library. You can add these examples to your account and customize them for your business.
📄 Support Article: Using the Template and Trigger Library
Customize Your Rental Agreement
If you enabled the default Rental Agreement during the Setup Wizard, review and customize it for your business.
Your rental agreement should reflect your policies, property rules, and applicable legal requirements.
📄 Support Article: Rental Agreements Overview
Configure Your Branding
Add your logo and business information and configure your Theme so guest-facing emails and forms match your brand.
If you'll be sending guest emails from your own domain, consider configuring a Verified Email Domain as well.
📄 Support Article: Theming Overview
Set Up Direct Bookings
If you want guests to book directly with you, OwnerRez provides several options.
Depending on your business, you can:
- Create an OwnerRez Hosted Website
- Integrate OwnerRez with an existing website
- Use OwnerRez booking, availability, inquiry, and review widgets
- Use the OwnerRez WordPress Plugin
Be sure to test the entire direct-booking process before promoting your website to guests.
📄 Support Articles:
Bring the Rest of Your Business Into OwnerRez
Once your core booking workflow is operating properly, consider bringing additional parts of your operation into OwnerRez.
Import Historical Data
Historical booking data isn't required to start using OwnerRez, but importing it can make your reports and guest history more complete.
Depending on the data you have available, you can import historical:
- Bookings
- Payments
- Refunds
- Inquiries
- Reviews
📄 Support Article: Importing Outside Bookings
Add Your Team
If other people need access to OwnerRez, configure Team Access.
Staff Members and Portal Users can be given appropriate access based on their responsibilities.
📄 Support Article: Team Access Overview
Connect Smart Locks and Other Integrations
OwnerRez integrates with many third-party services, including:
- Smart locks
- Dynamic pricing systems
- Accounting software
- Housekeeping and operations platforms
- Guest communication tools
- Business intelligence and reporting systems
You don't need to connect everything at once. Start with the tools that are most important to your day-to-day operation and expand from there.
📄 Support Articles:
Explore Premium Features
As your OwnerRez account becomes operational, you may also want to explore premium features.
📄 Support Articles:
These aren't required to get started, so you can add them when they make sense for your business.
Keep Learning
OwnerRez has a lot of functionality, and you don't need to learn everything on day one.
As you continue working in your account, these resources can help:
📧 Email Support: Contact the OwnerRez team whenever you need help.
The goal isn't to configure every OwnerRez feature immediately. Start with the parts of the system you need to operate your business, make sure those workflows are working correctly, and then continue building from there.