OwnerRez closed out 2024 strong - with some powerful new features, including Google Vacation Rentals Request-To-Book, Lynnbrook Group Security Deposit Holds, Airbnb per guest/pet/night surcharges, and the ability to run reports on disabled properties! These and much more rounded out a busy 2024 - read on to see how things shook out in December.
New Features
Google Vacation Rentals Request-To-Book
Since the release of OwnerRez's Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) channel integration, you were limited to using the Instant Book (IB) mode if you were using the OwnerRez Global Landing Page (a.k.a. Public Booking Link). With our December 18th release, you can now configure your GVR channel integration to use the Global Landing Page with the Request to Book (RTB) mode.
If you want to change the booking mode of your GVR channel integration, navigate to Settings > Channels > API Integrations > your Google Vacation Rentals channel > Change > Mode > select Request to Book and Save.
Explore all the listing channels available through OwnerRez.
Airbnb Per Guest/Pet/Night Fees
Setting up Airbnb surcharges ensures fair compensation, covers additional costs, attracts responsible guests, and increases revenue while maintaining transparency, enhancing guest satisfaction, and protecting your property.
However, configuring those additional Airbnb per guest/pet/night surcharges was limited to per stay only—until now. As part of our December 18th release, OwnerRez now supports additional Airbnb per-guest, pet, and per-night fixed amounts or percent of rent surcharges or fees.
You can now configure per-guest and per-night surcharges by navigating to Settings > Pricing > Surcharges > + Create Surcharge. In the Description > Category, select Additional Guest Fee. In the Surcharge > Applies section, select Per Night in the Applies section and configure the guest Multiplier. If you want this additional guest surcharge to apply to Airbnb only, add the Condition "Listing Site > is > One Of > Airbnb."
Airbnb per-pet and per-night surcharges are also supported now. You can configure that by navigating to Settings > Pricing > Surcharges > + Create Surcharge. In the Description > Category, select Pet Fee. In the Surcharge > Applies section, select Per Night in the Applies section and configure the pet Multiplier. If you want this pet surcharge to apply to Airbnb only, add the Condition "Listing Site > is > One Of > Airbnb."
Other supported Airbnb fixed amounts or percent of rent surcharges include per-person, per-night community, management, and resort fees.
Be sure to check out all of the listing channels available through OwnerRez.
Lynnbrook Group Security Deposit Holds Wide Release!
Security Deposit Holds protect property managers and owners from potential damages or rule violations, ensuring that guests are accountable for any damage without requiring upfront payments, fostering trust,t and safeguarding assets.
Many users have asked why Lynnbrook Group only supported Refundable Security Deposits. Lynnbrook Group heard the calls and found a way to support more on their end. Beginning December 18th, 2024, Lynnbrook Group introduced support for Security Deposit Holds for all. This new feature allows users to place a security deposit hold on their guests' credit cards, as with all other credit card payment processors.
Rest assured, Lynnbrook Group still fully supports Refundable Damage Deposits. This update just adds the option to use Security Deposit Holds, which are controlled at the property rules level.
Thinking about switching to Lynnbrook Group? Check them out or any of our Payment Processor options.
Disabled Properties Available in Reports
Including inactive or disabled properties in OwnerRez reports provides a fuller picture of your portfolio, tracks performance history, highlights trends, and empowers you to make informed decisions for your vacation rental business, especially as you prepare your year-end reports.
However, disabled OwnerRez properties could not be included in Reports without first reenabling them, running the reports, and then disabling them again, which was a real hassle for users. As part of our December 18th release, you can now include active and/or disabled OwnerRez properties in Reports.
Learn more about all of the available OwnerRez Reporting options.
LocalOTA Added as Official Channel
In case you missed our December 2nd announcement of OwnerRez'z Integration With LocalOTA, we're excited to announce our partnership with LocalOTA as a new first-class channel partner!
LocalOTA is a white-label travel software provider dedicated to empowering travel businesses, from individual hotels and home rentals to Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) such as visitor centers and international OTAs similar to Airbnb and Booking.com, making LocalOTA a versatile choice for enhancing local travel offerings.
Learn more by reading our LocalOTA support article.
Enhancements & Tweaks
QuickBooks Booking Fee Expense Categories
Integrating QuickBooks Online with OwnerRez can automate accounting, enhance accuracy, save time, and provide seamless financial tracking for your vacation rental business. With our December 4th release, we've added support for QuickBooks Categories, such as channel, credit card, and commission fees, to bookings that will automatically map to your QuickBooks accounts and the OwnerRez Line Item Pivot Report.
Learn more about QuickBooks Categories by reading their support article: Group products and services into different categories in QuickBooks Online.
To configure your QuickBooks categories, navigate to Settings > Financial > your QuickBooks integrations > the Deposit Settings tab > and click the Change Deposit Settings button. In the Fees Expense Account, select "Use different expense accounts depending on the fee category (channel, credit card processing)." Then select the QuickBooks Expense Account for each Fee Category and Save.
- Channel → Booking Fee
- Credit Card Processing → Bank Charges
- All other types → Commissions & fees
Then, on the individual Bookings > Transactions > Fees sections, you see that those OwnerRez Fee Categories are mapped to your QuickBooks Categories.
Those categories will be properly synced to your QuickBooks account, in this case, $12.20 for the credit card fee.
You can also add the category when recording fees and expenses to individual bookings. Here is an example of recording an expense to an individual booking by navigating to that specific Booking > Expenses > + Record Expense > Category.
You can add a fee category to a specific booking's fee by navigating to the individual Booking > Transactions > Fees > + Record Fee > Category.
PM users will note that Booking fees and PM expenses will have the same category.
Field Code Tag Lists
Tag a guest. Tag a booking. Tag a property. So many possibilities! As part of OwnerRez's December 18th release, tags and field codes can be used together. Now, you can use field code tag lists to display a list of all the tags associated with a booking {BTAGS}, blocked-off time {BOTTAGS}, guest {GTAGS}, inquiry {ITAGS}, owner {OTAGS}, property {PTAGS}, or quote {QTAGS}.
Are you wondering how you can use these new field code tag lists? They will be a great addition to message templates and iCal exports. Do you offer a Pack n-Play or a high chair to guests with young children? Do you offer extra pet supplies? Wood for the firepit? Did your potential guest request an early check-in? Here are just a few ideas.
- Include a list of all the tags associated with a booking by including the booking field code {BTAGS} tag list in your Notify Cleaning Staff About Special Preparations Needed for an Upcoming Booking for them to prepare for an upcoming reservation.
- Include the booking {BTAGS} or blocked-off time {BOTTAGS} field code tag list in your iCal Calendar Exports for cleaners, maintenance teams, and owners.
- Other ideas:
- Include the inquiry {ITAGS} field code tag list in your template and trigger when responding to potential guests with the Reply to inquiry with a bookable quote.
- Include the quote {QTAGS} field code tag list in your template and trigger when responding to potential guests with the Quote Follow-up to Guest Who Started a Book Now on Your Personal Website.
We're sure you have some really creative ideas about how to use these field code tag lists. Share them with the OwnerRez team—we're excited to learn from you!
Airbnb Listing Import
Importing your property listing content from Airbnb directly into OwnerRez is convenient and efficient. With our December 18th release, the Airbnb Listing Import tool now retrieves more listing content and is designed to be more future-proof than ever.
Initially, a change made on Airbnb's end caused issues with the OwnerRez Airbnb Property Import tool. This led to a complete rebuild of the tool, which is now built against Airbnb's official API, ensuring a more reliable and robust future.
Manually Record Automated Deposits
Deposits are an essential feature of OwnerRez, referring to the payments or payouts recorded in your account. This process is automated for many users, with daily payouts recorded from platforms like Airbnb, Lynnbrook Group, and Stripe.
Sometimes, automated deposits may be delayed or held up for various reasons, causing a transaction to remain in an undeposited state. This causes even more problems for PMs who want to make Owner Payouts based on deposited funds only and QuickBooks users hoping to sync deposited transactions.
Users could manually record non-integrated deposits, but automated deposits could not be recorded until our December 18th release. You can now manually record your deposit, even if it was initially supposed to be made automatically.
Notification Culture Alignment
OwnerRez email and push notifications provide timely updates on bookings and messages, eliminating the need for constant manual checking, keeping you connected across devices, and enhancing productivity for your vacation rental business.
With our December 4th release, OwnerRez has normalized your Culture settings, such as date formats and currencies, to ensure they are accurately reflected in your Notifications.
Import Spreadsheet Property Data
Importing data into OwnerRez ensures accurate guest booking records, streamlines your operations, improves accuracy, enhances reporting, and facilitates centralized management of your vacation rental business.
OwnerRez has updated many Excel Import spreadsheet templates to accept more property identifiers: property names, IDs, or internal codes.
Updated Excel Spreadsheet import (and one export) templates with more property identifiers are now included on the following Import spreadsheets: Booking, Custom Fields, Expenses, Inquiries, Owner Property Mapping (PM only), Review, Seasonal Rates, and Spot Rates; and the Review Export spreadsheet.
OwnerRez's API for Apps is available to partners and users who want to communicate with our software. We added both living_area and living_area_type fields to our API v2 Property View Model as part of our December 4th release.
Learn more by reading our OAuth Apps support article.
Bug Fixes
December 4th Release With 20 Bug Fixes
Add Google Vacation Rentals Headline Override for Global Landing Page. Despite a correctly configured Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) property description headline override, the Global Landing Page headlines incorrectly used the hosted website headline. OR fixed this bug by using the configured Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) property description headline override for the Global Landing Page headline.
Add Notification When Booking.com Room is Not Mapped to OwnerRez Property. Unmapped Booking.com (BDC) rooms in OwnerRez or BDC generated unuseful internal error messages. We've resolved this issue by sending email notifications to users advising them of unmapped BDC booking events.
Fix Calendar Widget to Show Rates Beyond Two Years if Set to Do So. Calendar widgets configured to display nightly rates failed to display rates past two years in the future, despite being configured that far into the future and the Max Days Before Arrival on the property rules allowing bookings. OR fixed this glitch to ensure that calendar widgets display nightly rates failed to display rates past two years in the future if configured that far into the future, and the Max Days Before Arrival on the property rules allows bookings.
Fix Changeover Check Marks Property as Available. This issue arose when our system did not support a user's changeover restrictions, resulting in one of their properties being incorrectly marked as available instead of unavailable. We corrected this bug to support these changeover restrictions.
Fix Creating Multiple Quotes When an Airbnb Special Offer is Extended and the Guest Subsequently Requests to Book. Occasionally, multiple quotes were generated when an Airbnb special offer was extended, and the guest later requested to book the same property. OR resolved this glitch to ensure that multiple quotes are not generated when an Airbnb special offer is extended, and the guest later requests to book the same property.
Fix Google Vacation Rentals Channel Booking Status. Since Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) bookings are essentially direct bookings, the status displayed on the GVR channel page failed to display when the last booking came through GVR, which was misleading. We corrected the status on the GVR channel page to display when the last booking came through GVR.
Fix Not Fully Paid Booking.com Errors Due to Rounding Errors. Due to rounding errors, some Booking.com (BDC) bookings were not fully paid, resulting in guest system payment reminders being sent. OR fixed this bug so that rounding of less than $1 will not generate guest system payment reminders being sent.
Fix Property Share Availability Widget to Display Correctly for All Properties in the Share. Availability/Property Search widgets for Property Shares were not correctly filtering for maximum rooms. We resolved this issue to ensure that Availability/Property Search widgets for Property Shares will filter and display the search results correctly.
Fix to Show Google Error Message After Failed Login Attempts. After a failed login attempt, the text displayed on the OwnerRez login linking your Google account was unclear to our users. OR fixed this bug, and the text displayed after failed Google login attempts will be more apparent to users.
Fix Showing PointCentral Authentication Errors. PointCentral authentication errors were inadvertently hidden when users attempted to connect their PointCentral door locks. We corrected this issue to ensure that only valid PointCentral door lock authentication errors will be displayed.
Fix Tax Mode From Being Unknown for Airbnb. Some taxes configured in OwnerRez were incorrectly passed to Airbnb as an unknown tax mode. OR resolved this bug, and taxes configured in OwnerRez will be correctly passed to Airbnb.
Fix Travel Insurance Form to Use Default Country for Address and Phone Number. The guest booking travel insurance form's default country and phone internationalization inputs were not working correctly. We corrected this issue to ensure that the default guest country and phone internationalization inputs will work as expected on the guest booking travel insurance form.
Fix Triggers Cannot be Skipped. Triggers selected and configured to be skipped on the Trigger Forecast page were not skipped as expected, and the templates were incorrectly sent. OR fixed this glitch, and triggers selected and configured to be skipped on the Trigger Forecast page will be skipped as configured.
Fix Triggers Running Multiple Times in Some Cases. Due to a code regression, we found that some triggers incorrectly ran multiple times following a status change. We corrected this bug, and triggers will run as configured to send templates.
Fix Vrbo Reviews Channel Bridge Export for All Properties. The Vrbo Reviews Channel Bridge tool was not functional due to a change on the Vrbo side. OR resolved this issue, and the Vrbo Reviews Channel Bridge tool should work again.
Handle Booking.com Passthrough Tax. This edge case occurred when a Booking.com (BDC) API-connected property had taxes configured, but those taxes were not collected and marked to be collected separately at the property after the guest check-in. We corrected this issue by collecting the configured taxes from the guest at the time of booking and marking them "paid at property."
Handle Guest Names With Unicode Characters for Google Vacation Rentals Reviews. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) guest names that include Unicode characters were incorrectly truncated on guest reviews. OR fixed this bug, and guest names with Unicode characters will be displayed correctly on guest reviews.
PM:
- Fix the Ability to Revert Excluding Expenses. The ability to revert or restore excluded expenses and display the Owner/PM sections on individual expenses was inadvertently removed from the PM v2 upgrade. We corrected this snafu by restoring the ability to revert or restore excluded expenses and display the Owner/PM sections on individual expenses to the PM v2 upgrade.
- Fix PMv2 to Properly Apply Tax Property Owner's Configuration Settings on Bookings. Some PM v2 property owner tax configurations were not properly applied to bookings. OR resolved this issue to ensure that all PM v2 property owner tax configurations are correctly applied to bookings.
- Restore Snapshot Access in Statement Preview. The Owner Statement preview snapshot access was inadvertently removed from the PM v2 upgrade. We have corrected this glitch and restored it to the PM v2 upgrade.
December 18th Release With 29 Bug Fixes
Add Better QuickBooks Error Messages. We have improved QuickBooks error messages to be more informative and user-friendly. These error messages now accurately show the specific QuickBooks error or indicate if their subscription has expired, helping users resolve issues more effectively.
Add Confirmation Check When Disconnecting Google Account. No confirmation check was displayed when users disconnected their Google account. We have added a confirmation check for users who disconnect their Google accounts for security purposes.
Add Glamping Hub Link Formats to Channel Property List Page. Similar to most other OwnerRez API-connected listing channel pages, we have now added Glamping Hub property listing links to the Glamping Hub channel property list page.
Add Listing Site Column/Filter to Quotes Grid. While the ability to filter by listing site and listing sites was displayed on the Inquiries grid, listing sites were not included in the Quotes grid. OR resolved this issue by including the ability to filter by listing site, and listing sites are displayed in the Quotes grid.
Clarify Airbnb's New Listing Discount Booking Eligibility Includes Canceled Bookings. While Airbnb's New Listing Discount booking eligibility includes canceled bookings, that fact was not made clear in-app to users. We have added additional in-app language to clarify that Airbnb's New Listing Discount booking eligibility includes canceled bookings.
Fix Airbnb 0.01 USD Transactions. Some Airbnb deposit transactions erroneously included single Airbnb transactions of 0.01 USD and also included a host fee of 0.01 USD. Since those 0.01 USD deposit transactions are a net zero change, single Airbnb transactions of 0.01 USD, including a host fee of 0.01 USD, will be skipped.
Fix Error in Conversation View When Message Failed to Send Due to Channel Error. Due to channel errors, some channel message send failures resulted in Conversation View errors. OR corrected this glitch, and channel message send failures will be correctly displayed in the guest Conversation View.
Fix Error When Message Failed to Send Due to Unsupported Attachment in Inbox View. Sometimes, message send failures due to unsupported attachments, resulted in errors in the Inbox view. We resolved this issue, and message send failures due to unsupported attachments will no longer result in errors in the Inbox view.
Fix Extra Entries in Some Dropdowns on iOS Devices. Even if they should not have been available, iOS devices (e.g., iPhones, iPads, etc.) incorrectly displayed all items in some in-app dropdown menus. OR corrected this glitch, and iOS devices (e.g., iPhones, iPads, etc.) will only display available items in in-app dropdown menus.
Fix Log Out Everywhere for Team Access Users. The Safeguards > Lost Device? > Log Out Everywhere process failed to log out Team Access users from all devices and browsers. We fixed this bug to ensure Team Access users can complete the Safeguards > Lost Device? > Log Out Everywhere process correctly.
Fix More Channel Logos Not Loading on Booking Channel Tab. Some listing channel logos failed to load properly on booking channel tabs. OR corrected this glitch to ensure listing channel logos load properly on booking channel tabs.
Fix "Movie Theater" Room Type Spelling. The "Other Rooms" dropdown menu "Movie Theater" room type item was misspelled and has been corrected.
Fix Overwriting Reservation Data When Booking.com Request Errors. Booking.com (BDC) reservation summary data were erroneously overwritten when OR attempted to pull full reservation snapshot, but received a transient BDC request error. We fixed this bug, and BDC reservation summaries will no longer be overwritten when OR receives BDC request errors.
Fix QuickBooks Airbnb Payments Category. Airbnb payments were not always exported to the correct QuickBooks category. OR resolved this issue, and Airbnb payments will be exported to the correct QuickBooks category.
Fix Sending of Airbnb Special Offers. Airbnb Special Offers were not working or sent correctly. We fixed this bug to ensure that Airbnb Special Offers are working again and sent correctly.
Fix Surcharge Percentage Check in Listing Quality Analyzer for Google Vacation Rentals. The Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) continued to check for and display percentage surcharge warnings incorrectly. OR has resolved this issue, and the LQA will no longer check for and display percentage surcharge warnings.
Fix Tag Automations That Trigger for Security Deposits. Tag Automations configured to run when booking security deposits are created or updated were not running correctly when guests scheduled their security deposits. We fixed this bug to ensure that Tag Automations configured to run when booking security deposits are created or updated will run correctly.
Fix to Remove Extra Dollar Sign in "Pending New Card on File" Notification. The "Pending New Card on File" push notification displayed an erroneous dollar sign, $. OR corrected this glitch by removing the dollar sign from the "Pending New Card on File" push notification.
Fix to Show All Form Types in Grid Filter for Form Messages. The Settings > Branding & Legal > Form Messages > + Create Form Messages dropdown list was missing some Booking Type forms. We fixed this bug to ensure that all Form Message types are included in the + Create Form Messages dropdown list.
Fix to Show Bookings From Other Participants on Property Share Calendar Widget. Bookings from Non-owner Property Share participants were not displayed on the Multi-Property Ribbon Calendar widget. OR resolved this issue, and the Multi-Property Ribbon Calendar widget will display all Property Share bookings.
Fix Vrbo Late Thread Trigger Send on Create Booking. This edge case occurred when a trigger erroneously sent Vrbo channel and email templates even after the conditions were satisfied. We corrected this glitch to ensure that triggers send templates as configured.
Reimplement Airbnb Property Import Tool via API Authentication. Due to changes made on Airbnb's side, the OwnerRez Airbnb Property Import tool was not working correctly, resulting in property import errors. OR fixed this bug, and the Airbnb Property Import tool is working correctly again.
Remove Google Vacation Rentals Property is Syncing Notification. Although it usually takes 2-3 weeks for a Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) property to become an active GVR listing OR was sending a "GVR Property is Syncing" notification to users before the property was actually live, leading to confusion and frustration among our users. We resolved this issue and will no longer be sending users a "GVR Property is Syncing" notification.
Remove Obsolete Airbnb Accessibility Amenity "flat smooth pathway to front door.". The Airbnb accessibility amenity "flat smooth pathway to front door" is now obsolete and has been removed. Any properties and property photos with the "flat smooth pathway to front door" accessibility amenity have been updated to the "home step free access" accessibility amenity instead.
Remove Unsupported Booking.com Booking Detection From iCal. Since Booking.com (BDC) no longer supports distinguishing between bookings and other types of blocks in its iCal feed, we have removed the "Bookings Only" option from the iCal feed settings in OwnerRez and notified affected users by email.
Remove "Via" From Listing Site Column in Inquiries Grid. The word "Via" displayed on the Inquiries grid listing site column title was determined unnecessary and has been removed.
Rename "Deposit Status" Condition to "Payment Deposit Status." The "Deposit Status" and "Security Deposit Status" trigger condition statuses were easily confused by users, so we have renamed the "Deposit Status" trigger condition status to "Payment Deposit Status."
Rename "System Alert" to "Notification" on Communication History Email Tab Filter. The Communication History Email tab filter has been updated to display the current "Notification" text instead of the old "System Alert" name.
Show Field Name on Condition Display in Grid When There's Only One. The text "equal to 1" in the Trigger grid Conditions column confused users, requiring them to open each specific trigger to determine the actual condition. OR fixed this issue by displaying the single trigger condition in the Trigger grid Conditions column.