Leaving Hostaway because of the 2% booking fee?

VRBO downloads now called HomeAway? Duplicating data?

MB
Mar 11, 2019 12:03 PM
Joined Dec, 2018 23 posts

Hi everyone. Are any other VRBO customers noticing that downloads are labeled "HomeAway" rather than VRBO? And because of that are duplicating data that has already been downloaded? I download bookings and reviews every Monday (and sometimes again on Thursdays). My downloads today are filenamed HomeAway rather than VRBO and all data is importing in duplicate.

Paul W
Mar 12, 2019 8:51 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

We are looking into this. A recent change to Channel Bridge was made to help with HomeAway logins and it looks like we may be classifying all VRBO stuff as HomeAway now. This is pending.

Rich S
Mar 13, 2019 10:22 AM
Joined Dec, 2018 301 posts

I use the channel bridge for downloading from VRBO - I have a new booking, should I be holding off on importing anything from VRBO until this gets resolved? I certainly don't want to have duplicate entries.... Actually, I guess what I should do is just check the spreadsheet that channel bridge creates and only import the very newest bookings so that no existing ones will be touched.

I'm sure that will work, but please let us know what we should/should not do about this ...

Rich S
Mar 13, 2019 10:33 AM
Joined Dec, 2018 301 posts

UPDATE - I don't see anything unusual in the spreadsheet that channel bridge builds, other than the filename created begins with HomeAway account instead of VRBO account. I'm going to hold off on importing in case y'all use that in some way...

Paul W
Mar 13, 2019 10:56 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

No bookings are being duplicated. That's not possible based on how our system validates dates and properties. You don't have to worry about bookings being duplicated. It's just an issue (possibly) with the channel name being called "HomeAway" versus "VRBO".

MB
Mar 13, 2019 11:06 AM
Joined Dec, 2018 23 posts

Paul W said:

No bookings are being duplicated. That's not possible based on how our system validates dates and properties. You don't have to worry about bookings being duplicated. It's just an issue (possibly) with the channel name being called "HomeAway" versus "VRBO".

I had to manually delete 10 reviews because they were duplicated.

Rich S
Mar 13, 2019 8:21 PM
Joined Dec, 2018 301 posts

MB - I found the same thing, I emailed them about it as well...

Paul W
Mar 14, 2019 9:40 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

Quick update - we got delayed with some updates going out the last couple days, but we are looking into this.

@Rich and MB: this would only affect reviews, not bookings. When I said no duplicates, I was talking about bookings. Reviews may be duplicating. We're looking into that part.

Rich S
Mar 14, 2019 9:54 AM
Joined Dec, 2018 301 posts

MB and I have conducted extensive research already into the issue, and we can confirm reviews *are* duplicating. We are continuing to monitor the situation and are ready to step up and help in whatever way necessary. We'll even bring the team pizza if this ends up being an all-nighter... And once you discover the duplication mechanism, we'd appreciate you applying the same thing to our rental income. Would be really helpful for our bank accounts.

;-)

just kidding, no worries

Paul W
Mar 14, 2019 9:59 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

Yes, we've seen that as well - on REVIEWS. Not on bookings. I am reiterating the point because there are many users asking about whether this affects bookings and it should not. We have not seen any evidence of bookings being duplicated, or any thing that is related to them (such as guests data or charges) so there is no need to wait on downloading bookings. REVIEWS - yes, we've seen duplicates and that will be fixed.

BlueMtnCabins
Mar 14, 2019 10:42 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1133 posts

and does not seem to be working. gave me error this morning. I am on VRBO

BlueMtnCabins
Mar 14, 2019 10:43 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1133 posts

I meant bookings

Paul W
Mar 14, 2019 11:22 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

@BlueMtnCabins - Are you seeing an error message? What about it isn't working, and is it Channel Bridge side or OR side? If you have a screenshot, send that in as a ticket. We have seen many Channel Bridge booking imports coming in this morning for bookings and they appear fine (no duplicate data, no other errors). Talking about BOOKINGS now, not reviews. If you're getting a Channel Bridge BOOKING problem, send in a ticket on that, but I'm guessing that is unrelated to the reviews issue.

BlueMtnCabins
Mar 14, 2019 11:27 AM
Joined Jun, 2016 1133 posts

The bookings download to excel via CB worked. however when i tried to import downloaded bookings excel, it gave me an error. I cannot recreate now (i am in the office, we do not have chrome) . I will retry when I get home and do a screen shot if error reoccurs and send to support.

Paul W
Mar 14, 2019 12:34 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

The duplication of reviews should now be fixed. The channel/file name may still show "HomeAway" instead of "VRBO" but the duplication issue should no longer be happening.

If you already have duplicate reviews, this fix did not remove them. You'll need to delete those manually. A fast way would be to filter/sort for the last couple months of VRBO/HomeAway reviews, select them all on the grid and delete. Then go back to VRBO/HomeAway and download the latest 100 reviews again and import them all again.

Let us know if you continue to see duplicates.

PS. We are looking into why the channel/file name is always showing "HomeAway" versus "VRBO" but that's being worked on as a separate issue.

BlueMtnCabins
Mar 14, 2019 7:34 PM
Joined Jun, 2016 1133 posts

working now (bookings)