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June Product Update - Push Notifications, Mark Inquiries as Spam, Search Widget Amenity Filters, Airbnb Amenities, Design Update

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Summer is here, but that never slows OwnerRez down! Dive into our June product update, where we explain all the exciting changes made in the four June releases.

New Features

Introducing Alerts as Push Notifications

Many of our users are often on the move and need to receive notifications without relying solely on their email inboxes. The OwnerRez user community requested, and we delivered.

Enabling push notifications via the OwnerRez Progressive Web App (PWA) will allow you to receive them across all of your devices—iPhone and Android (as well as Windows or Mac). It might work fine on Linux, although we didn't focus any efforts there.

Here's an example of a new booking notification on an iPhone.

Here's an example of a new booking notification on an iPhone.

And here's an example of a new booking notification on an Android phone.

Example of a new booking notification on an Android phone.

Your OwnerRez Push Notification experience may vary depending on your device, operating system, and browser. 

Get started by reading our Push Notifications support article.

Automatic Spam Detection and Ability to Mark Inquiries as Spam

Receiving unsolicited and irrelevant spam inquiry messages can be frustrating for OwnerRez users. These messages often promote other PMS competitors or irrelevant services.

OwnerRez is now utilizing a spam-checking service to evaluate inquiry comments for spam detection. The spam-checking service we are using is a highly respected enterprise-grade company that has been around for a long time and is used by millions of websites every day. Its filters are trained by all who use its service, so it will only get better at this for OwnerRez users over time.

Not only is our partner evaluating the inquiries received, but you can also mark Inquiries as spam manually if need be. You can mark unwanted inquiry spam messages by navigating to the specific Inquiry > Overview >, clicking on Mark as Spam, and selecting OK on the subsequent pop-up.

Mark unwanted inquiry spam messages by navigating to the specific Quote > Overview > and simply clicking on Mark as Spam.

You can also mark inquiries as spam in the Inquiries section of the app by selecting an individual inquiry from the list and selecting Spam (or Not Spam) from the Mark As dropdown menu.

Mark inquiries as spam in the Inquiries section of the app by selecting an individual inquiry from the list and selecting Spam from the Mark As dropdown menu.

As you can see, you can also mark an inquiry 'Not Spam'. So, if one is automatically flagged incorrectly or you accidentally flag one as spam, you can reverse that flagging.

By default, you will not see spam inquiries in the main Inquiries list or be notified of them by email. That's the entire point of this feature—to prevent users from being bothered by spam. If you want to find spam and double-check for false positives, change the filter on the Inquiries list to Spam: Yes.

Will this release filter out Vrbo spam? No. The Vrbo API does not support spam filters at this time (Vrbo handles spam filtering on its site). It will not check general types of messages like SMS or Airbnb. It only checks inquiries received directly through your website and widgets.

New Filters Added to the Availability/Property Search Widget

Potential guests often have specific criteria or property features they are looking for during their vacation rental search process. In addition to the regular Bedroom, Bathrooms, Guests, Location and Tag Group filters that were available on the multi-property Availability/Property Search Widget, OwnerRez has now added Amenity Filters for popular property Amenity Features, including Accessibility, Business, Dining, Entertainment, Family, Kitchen, Location, Outdoor, Parking, Pool & Spa, Popular Amenities, and Safety Features.

Multi-property Hosted Website Amenity Filters for popular property Amenity Features

To add your Amenity Features, navigate to your Hosted Website > Properties webpage > Availability/Property Search Widget > Change Settings > Filters > Amenity Filters.

To add your Amenity Features, navigate to your Hosted Website > Properties webpage > Availability/Property Search Widget > Change Settings > Filters > Amenity Filters.

Are you considering a new website for your vacation rental business? Check out OwnerRez's Hosted Website options!

Additional Airbnb Amenities & Check-Out Instructions Added

OwnerRez continues to enhance our API connections each month. This month we added new amenities that can now be pushed to Airbnb from OwnerRez! These expanded amenities for all new and existing Airbnb API connections include additional property details, entertainment, outdoor, and sports features pushed to your Airbnb listing. Check-out tasks was also added.

Users previously had to input some of these details directly into Airbnb but can now enter them in OwnerRez instead. These new amenities are only pushed to Airbnb if they have been added to a property in OwnerRez.

New OwnerRez Property Type details include the number of floors and the year the property was built.

New Property Type Amenties pushed to Airbnb

Any Check-Out Tasks added to OwnerRez property amenities are also pushed directly into your Airbnb listing's Checkout instructions.

Airbnb Checkout instructions example

New entertainment amenities have been added to OwnerRez for Airbnb. These include arcade machine, home theater, life size games, theme room, and playroom. Additionally, new outdoor amenities have been added to OwnerRez and pushed to Airbnb, including children's bike, playground, and sun lounger. Furthermore, new location sports & adventure activities have been added to OwnerRez for Airbnb. These include batting cage, bowling alley, climbing wall, hockey rink, mini golf, skate ramp, and laser tag.

New Entertainment amenities added in OwnerRez and now pushed to Airbnb include arcade machines, home theaters, life-size games, theme rooms, and playrooms. New Outdoor amenities added in OwnerRez are now pushed to Airbnb, including children's bikes, playgrounds, and sun loungers. And new Sports features amenities added in OwnerRez, now pushed to Airbnb, include batting cages, bowling alleys, climbing walls, hockey rinks, mini golf, skate ramps, and laser tag. 

Items added to the Check Out Tasks section of Amenities will only be sent to Airbnb; no other channels support them. Check Out Tasks will also be displayed on OwnerRez Hosted Websites.

Check Out Tasks will also be displayed on OwnerRez Hosted Websites.

And don't worry, if you set those already in Airbnb, this release will not overwrite your previously set Airbnb amenities. They were imported into OwnerRez.

Haven't yet made the API integration leap? Learn all about OwnerRez Channel Management options!

Vacation Rental Structured Data Added to Hosted Websites

Our OwnerRez Hosted Websites are highly optimized for speed and performance in several ways. And with our June 12th release, they're even better!

We've added Google Vacation Rental Structured Dataa standardized format for providing information about webpages and classifying their content. This structured data allows potential guests to see more about your website, such as the name, description, images, location, rating, reviews, and more, in search results. In other words, more Google juice! We all need more of this to maximize our SEO (search engine optimization).

Vacation Rental Structured Data Added to Hosted Websites

Learn more about OwnerRez's Hosted Website options!

Breezeway Free Safety Course & Discounts For All OwnerRez Users

Did you see that all OwnerRez customers now get a free Breezeway safety course and product discounts? Host like a pro with top-tier operations, guest experience, and safety for short-term rentals. Automatically sync your property details and reservation data from OwnerRez to easily coordinate cleaning, inspections, and maintenance.

To learn more, navigate to Tools > Ops & Safety by Breezeway.

Check out the Breezeway blog post to learn more!

New Design Progress

OwnerRez continues to update in-app design elements, the general user interface, and the overall experience.

Are you a fan of old-school keyboard shortcuts? Many of us are! OwnerRez has added a few new in-app keyboard shortcuts to trigger global actions that will work on corresponding in-app pages.

  • / - Open the in-app Search flyout (as long as you are not using a rich text editor or input element)
  • Ctrl + / - Open the in-app Seach flyout menu at all times
  • Ctrl + Alt + F - Moves cursor to the Select Ribbon Calendar Property Filter (available if more than one property)

The Quick Quote (on the Tools menu) and the Bookings > + Create Quote pop-up windows have been redesigned for a cleaner and fresher look. Instead of two individual arrival and departure date selectors, it now has one combined and outlined input date selector.

OwnerRez Quick Quote Date Selector

Four Tools menu items, the Direct Rate Tester, the Channel Rate Tester, the LOS Checker, and the Rate Checker, received some love with our June 5th release. 

OwnerRez Tools Menu ItemsThese four important Tool menu items used to open up in pop-up windows. Now, they open as full pages, allowing for increased visual space and more readable results!

For instance, the Rate Checker displays all dates without scrolling across your screen to see the rates.

OwnerRez Rate Checker

The LOS (Length of Stay) Checker can now display all rates on one page with less horizontal scrolling if you collapse the left navigation menu.

LOS (Length of Stay) Checker Results Display

The Find or Create a Guest pop-up window also got a refresh! At the top, the Create or Update Guest record is highlighted by a subtle grey background, and many of the guest fields now have icons rather than text labels.

The Find or Create a Guest pop-up modal also got a refresh! At the top, the guest record is highlighted by a subtle grey background, and many of the guest fields now have icons rather than text labels.

Finally, the Status column warning and error icons in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) results were updated with more rounded icons.

The Property and Status columns warning and error icons in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) results were updated with more rounded icons.Keep your eye on the New Design 2024 support article to stay updated on upcoming design changes.

Enhancements & Tweaks

Inquiry and General Trigger Improvements

Following our February 14th release of Inquiry Triggers, OwnerRez wanted to continue improving triggers. With our June 12th release, we've added new condition statuses for inquiries and bookings, the option to create your trigger in a disabled state, and Trigger Grid display improvements. Let's review!

New Condition Statuses

  • Phone Number on File Status: The Phone Number On File Status Condition is available for both inquiries and bookings! How could this new condition be used in your trigger? Now, you can target new inquiries or bookings that include a phone number, allowing you to send an SMS automatically! Don't worry; if no phone number was included in the inquiry or booking, the trigger won't be able to send your message.

The Phone Number On File Status Condition is available for both inquiries and bookings!

  • Inquiry Source: Inquiry triggers now include a multi-select Condition called Inquiry Source, which allows you to select multiple options to target where your inquiry originated from, including listing channels, email, in-person, phone, and widgets.

Inquiry triggers now include a multi-select Condition called Inquiry Source, which allows you to select multiple options that target where your inquiry originated from, including listing channels, email, in-person, phone, and widgets.

  • Inquiry Status: The Inquiry Status condition now includes all inquiry statuses (Quotable, Unavailable, Rule Violation, Missing Contact Info, and Missing Info), allowing you to select multiple values in just one trigger instead of creating many duplicate triggers. Before this release:
    • Both the Missing Contact Info and Missing Info were included in the Rule Violation condition. You now have additional options to drill down into your specific inquiry messaging.
    • We had an "Available and Quoteable" option in the Inquiry Status, but it was labeled as "Quotable" on the Trigger grid and elsewhere. The "Available" status didn't mean anything on its own, so we changed it to "Quotable" if the dates are available and the inquiry passes all other information and property rule checks.

The Inquiry Status condition now includes all inquiry statuses (Quotable, Unavailable, Rule Violation, Missing Contact Info, and Missing Info).

Create a Disabled Trigger Option Added

Have you ever wanted to create a trigger but not activate it until later? Now you can do that! When creating a new trigger, check the "Create this trigger in a disabled state — I will activate it later" checkbox.

Create a trigger in a

This checkbox is unchecked by default and is only displayed or available when creating a new trigger, not when editing a previously created trigger.

Triggers Grid Updates

As part of this release, we've updated the Triggers Grid.

  • The Type column (as well as the Filter > Type options) will now only display Scheduled for scheduled-time triggers or Event for immediate triggers.
  • The When column was renamed to Description.
    • If a custom trigger text description exists, that will be displayed.
    • A general description of when the trigger will be sent is displayed if no custom description exists.
  • The Description column has been renamed to Action and displays the template name that will be sent.
  • A column named Conditions has replaced the individual Listing Site, Property, Season, and Tags columns and now includes trigger Condition information when you click on the link on each row.

Trigger Grid Updates

Listing Sites Channel Filter Added to Custom iCal Exports

Some OwnerRez users remain only iCal connected to some listing channels (mainly due to Merchant of Record (MOR) issues) that receive booking calendar conflicts, making it difficult to issue refunds or make any changes to existing bookings.

OwnerRez has added a new listing channel filter to apply to your custom iCal Export! You can apply this listing channel filter to your custom iCal by navigating to your specific Property > General Info > Calendars > Calendar Export tab.

At this point, you can either create a new custom iCal Calendar to export by clicking on the + Export Calendar or edit your current custom iCal by clicking the pencil icon.

You can either create a new custom iCal Calendar to export by clicking on the + Export Calendar or edit your current custom iCal by clicking on the pencil icon.

In the Create or Edit Calendar Export page > Criteria section, you can include or exclude specific Listing Sites.

In the Create or Edit Calendar Export page > Criteria section, you can choose to include or exclude specific Listing Sites.

The Listing Sites section defaults to All, and the Items to Include section defaults to All events, but you can select Bookings only if desired.

Still on the fence about whether API integration is right for you? Check out all of your OwnerRez Channel Management options!

New Delivered Email Status Added

Ever wonder if a guest message was delivered to your guest's email host (e.g., Gmail, Outlook, etc.)? OwnerRez has added the Delivered status for emails, meaning that your email was delivered to your guest's email host.

When you view an individual email Activity, you can see if your email was delivered to your guest's email host.

When you view an individual email Activity, you can see if your email was delivered to your guest's email host.

The Delivered email status is also displayed in the Feedback column of your Communication History grid.

Delivered email status is also displayed in the Feedback column of your Communication History grid.

Unfortunately, we cannot know if your guest saw your email message, as spam rules or other post-delivery filters may hide it. Following the instructions in the Email From/Reply-To and Verified Sender support article may alleviate some issues of your emails being flagged as spam.

Are you utilizing all of our messaging tools? Check out all the OwnerRez Messaging tools we offer!

Hosted Website Video Icons Added

A direct booking website empowers property owners with control, revenue, guest communication, branding, data access, and sustainability. With our June 12th release, OwnerRez added video play icons to hosted website videos.

Video icons added to to hosted website videos.

We also improved "back button" behaviors when viewing photo galleries/carousels by adding browser history markers, resulting in a smoother user experience.

Haven't gotten around to setting up your direct booking website? Check out OwnerRez's Hosted Website options!

Map Search Icons Added to Channel Property Listings

Locating your property listing on the map view of some of the most extensive listing channels can be difficult. OwnerRez has added map search icons for your Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, and Vrbo/Expedia API-integrated property listings.

To view your property on the map view of these listing channels, navigate to Settings > Channels > API Integrations > your Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, or Vrbo/Expedia API Integration > Properties tab > and click on the Map Search Icon.

To view your property on the map view of these listing channels, navigate to Settings > Channels > API Integrations > your Airbnb, Booking.com, Google Vacation Rentals, or Vrbo/Expedia API Integration > Properties tab > and click on the Map Search Icon.

Are you API-integrated yet? Check out all of your OwnerRez Channel Management options!

Damage Protection Clarifications

As OwnerRez continues to refine our Damage Protection premium feature, we've updated the Existing Bookings enrollment process section and now clearly display the amount due at the time of Damage Protection enrollment.

During the Damage Protection enrollment process, no selections to the Existing Bookings will be made by default, and you will be required to make that selection yourself.

During the Damage Protection enrollment process, no selections to the Existing Bookings will be made by default, and you will be required to make a selection yourself.

If your Existing Bookings selection results in a balance due, any amount due will be clearly displayed when you agree to your new or updated Property Protection Program.

If your Existing Bookings selection results in a balance due, any amount due will be clearly displayed when you agree to your new or updated Property Protection Program.

Check out OwnerRez's Damage Protection and Other Insurance integration options

Whimstay Damage Protection Opt-out Option Added

Did you know that Whimstay offers Damage Protection through RentalGuardian, just like OwnerRez?

We recommend that you retain the built-in OwnerRez Damage Protection program for all bookings, no matter the channel the booking came through (because it is the only way to ensure that you are covered equally and consistently on the owner/manager side), but we understand that you might feel comfortable with Whimstay's option and feel that it's redundant also to have the owner/manager side coverage.

Now, you can opt out of Damage Protection for your Whimstay guests by navigating to Settings > Financial > Damage Protection > Change > Channel Opt-out > Exclude these channels > and select Whimstay from the Channel dropdown menu.

Opt out of Damage Protection for your Whimstay guests by navigating to Settings > Financial > Damage Protection > Change > Channel Opt-out > Exclude these channels > and select Whimstay from the Channel dropdown menu.

Of course, you must complete the Damage Protection agreement to confirm these changes.

OwnerRez Damage Protection that excludes Whimstay.

Learn more about OwnerRez Damage Protection and Other Insurance integration options

OwnerRez Messaging Threads Sandbox Implemented for Partners

As a followup to our May OwnerRez v2 Messaging API Metadata Optimizations release, and in preparation for future non-channel direct guest messaging threads through partner Artificial Intelligence (AI) integrations, OwnerRez has set up an "OwnerRez Messaging Threads" sandbox for partners.

Confirm Password Fields Added for New Users

Have you ever mistyped a new password during sign-up and couldn't remember what you initially entered? It's happened to the best of us. To combat this, we've added confirm password fields for all new OwnerRez and Team Access accounts. 

What is a confirm password field? It's that required second field when creating a password to ensure that both the password and confirm password fields match.

Confirm Password Fields Added for New OwnerRez Users and Team Access accounts.

We've already required users to complete confirm password fields on the in-app Change Password (My Profile > Change Password) process, so this change shouldn't be new for most of us.

Listing Channel API Integration Merchant of Record Enhancements

Some listing channels (Airbnb, GlampingHub, Got2Go, Hopper Homes, Whimstay, etc.) remain the Merchant of Record (MoR), meaning they charge your guest on your behalf and directly pay you, the host.

OwnerRez has updated the API Integration process for listing channels that remain the MoR for clarity.

Listing Channel API Integration Merchant of Record Clarifications

Want to learn more about vacation rental payment processing? Read our Choosing a Merchant of Record for Your Short-Term Rental vacation rental guide.

Bug Fixes

June 5th release with 18 bug fixes

Airbnb Max Guests Capped at 100. Airbnb property listings with a guest maximum of 100+ received errors from Airbnb as their guest maximum is 100 or less. We have resolved this issue by capping Airbnb property listing maximum guests to 100.

Fix "Back to all messages" Link When Viewing a Message. While clicking on the browser backlink worked, clicking on the in-app "Back to all messages" link when viewing a message resulted in errors. OR fixed this bug, and the in-app "Back to all messages" link will work as expected when viewing a message.

Fix "Do not retry" Trigger Retrying Same Day. Some triggers configured with "Do not retry," incorrectly sent messages on the last day of the cut-off. We resolved this glitch, and triggers will not send messages configured with "Do not retry." 

Fix Error in Processing Booking Fees on New Bookings and Transactions. Some Refundable Damage Deposits (RDD) stored the RDD payment fee and then created the booking fee when the RDD was returned, resulting in booking fee errors on new bookings and transactions. OR corrected this issue to properly process booking fees on new bookings and transactions with RDDs.

Fix Error When Deleting a Booking Fee. This edge case occurred when a user attempted to delete a booking fee, resulting in an error. We resolved this glitch, and users can delete booking fees as expected.

Fix Error When Searching OwnerRez Website in the "All" Area. When attempting to search the OwnerRez website with the dropdown menu configured to "All," no search results were returned. OR fixed this bug, and users can search the OwnerRez website with the dropdown menu configured to "All" as expected.

Fix an Error That Sometimes Occurs When Accessing a Record With the Wrong Team Selected. Account users with access to multiple team accounts sometimes encountered issues where the wrong team was selected when accessing a record. We resolved this glitch to ensure that account users accessing multiple team accounts will no longer encounter this issue when accessing a record.

Fix Issue With Forums Authentication. Users logged into and authenticated on app.ownerrez.com were inadvertently asked to log in again when they attempted to access OwnerRez forums. OR fixed this bug, and users logged into and authenticated on app.ownerrez.com can access OwnerRez forums without logging in again.

Fix Multiple Guests Being Created for Vrbo Messages. The OwnerRez system associates Vrbo guests with bookings, so if no booking is managed through the integration, it automatically creates a new guest. However, some Vrbo API-connected properties experienced the creation of multiple guests after completing their Vrbo API connection, resulting in duplication in the inbox and contacts. We corrected this issue to ensure Vrbo API-connected bookings do not duplicate guests added through the iCal import process.

Fix Phone Entered on Guest Forms as "Mobile" Saved as "Other" Under Contacts Upon Form Completion. Phone numbers entered in the mobile phone field of the guest forms were incorrectly saved as an "other" guest contact phone number during the guest booking process. OR fixed this bug, and guest phone numbers will be saved and displayed correctly.

Fix Regression Where Review Recorded Date on Reviews Grid Was Always Showing Today's Date. OwnerRez experienced a code regression where the Review Recorded Date on the Reviews Grid incorrectly displayed today's date, regardless of when the review was recorded. We corrected this glitch to ensure that the Review Recorded Date on the Reviews Grid will display the date the review was recorded, not today's.

Increase Booking.com Availability Push Frequency. Since Booking.com (BDC) does not offer a last-minute availability check, we have increased OwnerRez's availability push frequency to BDC.

Increase Cap for Line Item Pivot Report. Clients with large numbers of properties encountered data cap errors when attempting to run Line Item Pivot Reports, forcing them to split the report. OR has increased the data cap to accommodate those clients so they can process large reports properly without splitting them.

Prepopulate Property Filter When Clicking Bulk Recalculate Charges to Active Properties Instead of All. Rather than defaulting to any active properties as expected, the property filter defaulted to all properties during the Bulk Recalculate Charges process. We resolved this issue, and the property filter will default to active properties only during the Bulk Recalculate Charges process. 

Properly Display Airbnb Account Issues for Channel Integration. Airbnb account issues displayed in-app had a font that was too large, and if there was no description, it was displayed as "null." OR fixed this bug to properly display Airbnb account issues with the correct sized font; if there is no description, it will not be displayed.

Remove Obsolete TripAdvisor Description Fields. OwnerRez determined that some property description fields and field mappings are no longer supported by the TripAdvisor API. Those unsupported description fields will no longer be synced to TripAdvisor.

Remove Property Actions from Property Sidebar Menu. Not a bug, but some clean-up. OwnerRez moved the Property Actions submenu section into the Property General Information area quite some time ago. We've removed the Property > Action submenu heading to reflect that initial change accurately.

Update {MYTWITTER} Field Code Name and Description on the Account Tab to Refer to "X." Following the April 2024 release of New X (Twitter) Icons Added, we've updated all associated X (Twitter) field codes, including account, profile, hosted website tooltips and the Field Codes support article.

June 12th release with 14 bug fixes

Add Thread IDs for Inquiry/Quote API Endpoints. As a fast follow-up to our May 2024 OwnerRez v2 Messaging API Metadata Optimizations, release, OwnerRez has included thread IDs for inquiry and quote endpoints.

Don't Allow Users to Delete Contact Associated With Their SMS Number. Deleting contacts associated with a user's SMS phone number results in message failures because that contact is the "participant" in every SMS conversation with any other guest. Therefore, we no longer allow users to delete contacts associated with a user's SMS phone number.

Fix Blank Tools Menu Bottom When Third-Party Tools are Hidden. When users hid all three third-party apps in-app in My Preferences (My Profile > My Preferences > Tools > Hide), the Tools menu displayed a bottom border line with black space under it. OR resolved this by detecting when all three third-party apps have been hidden by users and hiding the bottom border in the Tools menu.

Fix Defaults When Adding Additional HA-XML-based Channels. Some HA-XML-based channel listing property default information pushed was incorrect. We corrected these issues by sending correct property default information, which now includes house rules and correct rate adjustments and no longer includes personal account names.

Fix In-app Link Color. Following the June 5th In-app Design Updates release, the color of in-app links was unintentionally changed to a lighter green. OR updated the in-app link colors to be back the same color as the green of the OwnerRez logo.

Fix the "Open Menu" Text When the Menu is Collapsed. OwnerRez experienced a code regression in which the text "Open Menu" was displayed on two lines when the menu was collapsed. We fixed this bug, and the text "Open Menu" will be displayed on one line when the menu is collapsed as intended.

Fix Phone Number Search on Booking Grid Error. Searching for a phone number while on the booking grid resulted in errors. OR resolved this glitch to ensure that users can search for phone numbers while on the booking grid as expected.

Google Vacation Rentals:

  • Add Support for Per Guest and Per Guest/Night Taxes. Per guest and per guest/night taxes configured in OwnerRez did not pass correctly to Google Vacation Rentals (GVR). We corrected this issue, and per guest and per guest/night taxes configured in OwnerRez will pass correctly to Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) and will no longer generate warnings and failures in the Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA).
  • Handle Departure Day Restrictions. Seasons configured with departure day restrictions did not pass correctly to GVR. OR fixed this glitch to ensure that seasons configured with departure day restrictions will now pass correctly to GVR.
  • Evaluate Listing Site Criteria for Taxes and Surcharges/Discounts and Only Display Applicable Errors on LQA. The Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) was erroneously generating and displaying listing site surcharges and discounts that were not applicable to GVR as errors. We've updated the LQA to only evaluate listing site criteria for taxes and surcharges/discounts and only list GVR-applicable errors.
  • Remove Credit Card Payment Method Required Check for LQA. The LQA incorrectly generated and displayed credit card payment method errors for GVR listings, as GVR does not require credit card payment methods. OR fixed the LQA to remove the credit card payment method required check.

Relax New Auto-spam Checking on Inquiries. The June 5th release of the Ability to Mark Inquiries as Spam Added proved a little too aggressive as users encountered legitimate inquiries being marked as spam. We resolved this issue by relaxing the new inquiry auto-spam check level for the time being.

Update Inquiry Instructions to Clarify That Channels Don't Send Emails to Guest. To clarify that some listing channel inquiries (Vrbo, Airbnb, booking.com, and TripAdvisor) do not provide guest email addresses, we've updated the in-app inquiry instructions, Automatically Import your Inquiries into OwnerRez.

Update Tools Menu Service Status Icon. Following the June 5th In-app Design Updates, we noticed that the Tools Menu Service Status icon was a different style than initially intended. OR corrected the Tools Menu Service Status icon to a similar solid version as we had before to ensure its prominence.

June 19th release with 10 bug fixes

Adjust Vrbo Channel Bridge to Handle Payment Schedule Info Better. When attempting to run the Vrbo Channel Bridge (CB), some users found that while running the CB for specific bookings was successful, running the CB with date ranges failed to update Vrbo booking payment schedules. We resolved this issue to ensure that the Vrbo CB process will update Vrbo booking payment schedules.

Fix Crash on Inquiries Grid When Sorting by "Read" Column. Some users reported encountering a crash when sorting the inquiry grid by the "Read" column. OR fixed this bug, and users will be able to sort the inquiry grid by column correctly.

Fix Crash When Updating Airbnb Guest With Missing Last Name. Merging or updating Airbnb guests without last names sometimes resulted in errors. We corrected this glitch to merge or update Airbnb guests without last names without errors.

Fix Disconnecting of a GVR Listing With LQA Errors Present. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) listings with Listing Quality Analyzer (LQA) errors couldn't unmap properties with errors until the errors were corrected. OR fixed this bug to now allow GVR listings with LQA errors to unmap those properties from GVR.

Fix Error on Hosted Site Property Page When Property Has No Address. Following the June 12th release of the Vacation Rental Structured Data Added to Hosted Websites, OwnerRez experienced a code regression that resulted in errors on hosted website property webpages if the property had no address. We resolved this glitch, and properties with no address will no longer result in errors on hosted website property webpages.

Fix Error on Property Share Widgets if No Property URL is Found. Following the May 15th release of Google Analytics Added for Property Shares, OwnerRez experienced a code regression that resulted in property share widget errors if no property URL was found. OR corrected this issue, and properties with no URLs will not cause property share widget errors.

Handle Credit Payment Data From Channels. Merchant of Record (MOR) listing channels sending negative commission amounts (e.g., credit payment data) sometimes resulted in errors. We fixed this bug to ensure that MOR listing channels sending credit payment data will no longer result in errors.

Handle Large BDC Booking Sync Data. OwnerRez has optimized Booking.com (BDC) booking sync data, which includes BDC bookings with extra-large sync documents.

Handle Missing Guest Name on Airbnb Thread. Some Airbnb message threads were missing guest names. OR resolved this glitch by using the Airbnb guest's first name from the reservation confirmation when the message thread is missing user names.

Provide More Helpful Errors for Widgets That are Set up Incorrectly. Incorrectly configured widgets displayed unhelpful error messages for users. We have added more useful error messages to assist users to correctly configure their incorrectly configured widgets.

June 26th release with 5 bug fixes

Fix Back to Messages Link on Channel Messages. OwnerRez experienced a code regression that prevented the channel message link to a previous page from working correctly. We fixed this bug, and the "Back to messages" link works now.

Fix Issue Where Disabled Properties Were Being Billed for Premium Locks. Premium lock billing included disabled properties, leading to continued billing for unnecessary premium lock charges. OR corrected this issue by now excluding disabled properties from the premium locks billing.

Fix an Issue Where Airbnb Channel Messages With Attachments But No Body May Fail to Send. Some Airbnb channel messages with attachments but no body content encountered sending failures. We resolved this bug to ensure that Airbnb channel messages with attachments without body content will be sent correctly.

Fix Regression Where Host Messages in Inbox Grid Were Not Displayed as From Host. OwnerRez experienced a code regression that resulted in messages not being correctly displayed as being from the host in the Inbox grid. OR fixed this issue, and host messages will be displayed correctly in the Inbox grid.

If Error During SMS Brand Registration, Show That it Failed and Not "Pending" to User. Errors encountered during the SMS Brand Registration process due to incorrect data input incorrectly displayed a blue "Pending" callout, even though the brand submission failed. OR fixed this issue to instead display a red "Rejected" callout with the text, "We were unable to submit your brand due to a validation problem. Please contact support for assistance."

17 Comments (add yours)

Ventura County V
Jul 15, 2024 2:47 PM
Joined Mar, 2022 121 posts

Lots of quality updates, thank you!  With regards to the structured data for the hosted sites, will this also apply to those using the property information widgets on their own sites?

 

Thanks,

Ryan

Bill D
Jul 15, 2024 3:11 PM
Joined Jun, 2024 5 posts

Thank you for all the updates!

Paul W
Jul 15, 2024 4:14 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 837 posts

Lots of quality updates, thank you!  With regards to the structured data for the hosted sites, will this also apply to those using the property information widgets on their own sites?

Hey, Ryan!  No, this only applies to hosted website pages (and specifically pages that are "property" type).  It would not apply to widgets at all because those aren't standalone (ie. crawlable) web pages.

If you are using a widget, you would need to add the "Vacation Rental" schema data to your own web page, which OwnerRez has no control over.  Does that make sense?  Widgets are not standalone web pages; they are hosted inside web pages.  You can only add schema data to standalone (ie. crawlable) web pages.

Jacinda N
Jul 15, 2024 4:22 PM
Joined Jul, 2023 1 post

SO EXCITED to see the push notifications! Thank you so so much!! Game changer!

Perfectly Hosted
Jul 16, 2024 9:19 AM
Joined Jul, 2020 1 post

Love the continued updates.  For future update, can you please add a request to be able to send out a message to a guest on a certain day of the week?  For instance, every Monday, an email goes out to an existing guest reminding them to put the trash out for Tuesday pick up....

Ken T
Jul 16, 2024 9:43 AM
Joined Aug, 2019 1707 posts

Love the continued updates.  For future update, can you please add a request to be able to send out a message to a guest on a certain day of the week?  For instance, every Monday, an email goes out to an existing guest reminding them to put the trash out for Tuesday pick up....

There's already an open feature request for this, that you can vote up:

https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests/trigger-for-exact-day-of-week-trash-reminders 

Anne S
Jul 16, 2024 9:48 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 139 posts

Love the continued updates.  For future update, can you please add a request to be able to send out a message to a guest on a certain day of the week?  For instance, every Monday, an email goes out to an existing guest reminding them to put the trash out for Tuesday pick up....

Thank you, Perfectly Hosted! Yes, the Trigger For Exact Day of Week Trash Reminders feature request is popular. Be sure to add your vote!

In the meantime, review the "Day of the Week Tasks" support articles detailed in the After the guest has arrived section of the Trigger Examples support article.

Gareth and Chastidy B
Jul 16, 2024 3:43 PM
Joined Aug, 2021 6 posts

In the Check out instructions for Airbnb I am sure you mean Hot tub "Cover" instead of "Lover" :)

Anne S
Jul 16, 2024 4:41 PM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 139 posts

In the Check out instructions for Airbnb I am sure you mean Hot tub "Cover" instead of "Lover" :)

Haha! Good eye, Gareth and Chastidy! Even though we are hot tub lovers, I edited the image for those that are not. Thank you for pointing that out!

Gareth and Chastidy B
Jul 16, 2024 5:08 PM
Joined Aug, 2021 6 posts

Is there a place that owners / hosts in Airbnb can view the result of the Check Out Details to see what it looks like or is that only visible to guests that book and have a confirmed reservation and not just by viewing the listing ? Just asking since I have configured mine in OR and would like to see the result.

Gareth and Chastidy B
Jul 16, 2024 5:13 PM
Joined Aug, 2021 6 posts

Is there a way when selecting Beach Essentials in OR that the custom text / manual wording would be displayed in stead of the stock Airbnb Language.

For instance we offer beach towels but not blanket, umbrella or snorkeling gear and don’t want guests to call us on it. Top screen shot is OR and bottom is Airbnb

Anne S
Jul 17, 2024 9:10 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 139 posts

Gareth and Chastidy,

Unfortunately, no. Airbnb doesn't display amenity instructions pre-booking and has its own definition of what is included in the Beach Essentials amenity.

If you're not providing all of the Beach Essentials as specified by Airbnb, we recommend that you either deselect the Beach Essentials amenity within OwnerRez or add what beach essentials you do provide to the guest pre-booking within your House Rules.

You could contact Airbnb support to see if that's a valid way to alter the inclusions of an amenity.

Anne S
Jul 17, 2024 11:18 AM
OR Team Member Joined Sep, 2022 139 posts

Is there a place that owners / hosts in Airbnb can view the result of the Check Out Details to see what it looks like or is that only visible to guests that book and have a confirmed reservation and not just by viewing the listing ? Just asking since I have configured mine in OR and would like to see the result.

Gareth and Chastidy,

Other than being part of the guest process, we are not aware of any way for you as the host to view the Airbnb guest check-out details display. We recommend that you contact Airbnb support.

Trianglebnb
Jul 27, 2024 1:54 PM
Joined Nov, 2023 7 posts

I agree, I have many uses for this function (pool maintenance, etc)!! Also just setting the time off a few hours for a message to go out so if you are working at 1am (like i do often), it does not go out to them until 9am.

Trianglebnb
Jul 27, 2024 2:03 PM
Joined Nov, 2023 7 posts

Is anyone else having trouble with the SMS push notifications not coming through to your devices? We have claimed the devices and it worked for awhile but then stopped working. We reclaimed them again yesterday and now nothing again.  

Chris L
Jul 29, 2024 1:35 PM
Joined May, 2017 207 posts

Is anyone else having trouble with the SMS push notifications not coming through to your devices? We have claimed the devices and it worked for awhile but then stopped working. We reclaimed them again yesterday and now nothing again.  

I've had them go off and on. Sometimes they appear to stop working for a bit and then start up again. I've reported it to help@ownerrez.com but they just gave me the standard "turn them off and back on again" response and didn't seem to see any errors on their end. Interestingly, I think they have worked 100% reliably on my Windows desktop (I turned them on there), so it may be an issue with mobile (I'm on iOS).

I wonder if PWA notifications are buggy. OR is the only PWA site/"app" I've ever seen notifications enabled for. The PWA is frustratingly annoying, especially on slow/spotty connections--sometimes a page doesn't load, and then at least on iOS, there's no way to force it to reload or even to go back sometimes, short of force-quitting the "app" and trying again. With as prominent as OR is these days, it really is high time for them to hire a real mobile app developer and just build a proper app with a real mobile UI...and while that should be part of the core offering, yes, I'm even willing to pay an extra amount per month for it if need be.

Paul W
Aug 18, 2024 1:34 PM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 837 posts

Is anyone else having trouble with the SMS push notifications not coming through to your devices? We have claimed the devices and it worked for awhile but then stopped working. We reclaimed them again yesterday and now nothing again.  

I've had them go off and on. Sometimes they appear to stop working for a bit and then start up again. I've reported it to help@ownerrez.com 

Just noticed this comment.

Yes, we caught a bug that affected a wide range of push notifications and fixed it a week or so ago. A few weeks before that, we put out an update that made push notifications stop working correctly. This was found and fixed. If you have any problems at all with push notifications, please let us know.

I wonder if PWA notifications are buggy

I don't know if I would say "buggy" exactly, but definitely annoying.  There is a decent list of things we've been unhappy about, like:

  • Not grouped in the notification tray with other OR ones (ie. 15 push notifications by OR gives you 15 separate lines, at least on Android)
  • Doesn't "pop" up by default on Android until you go back into your notification settings and tell it to "pop" them. Without changing that setting, they just kind of appear in the notification tray.
  • The presentation is different than notifications from native apps like the favicon and text options look different (again, least on Android)

With as prominent as OR is these days, it really is high time for them to hire a real mobile app developer and just build a proper app with a real mobile UI

We keep talking about this internally. It's not really about the cost of building the native app, but about being able to present the entire UX within the native app just like the web app.  From a business standpoint, it's frustrating to use a native app that doesn't do everything the main web app does.  Often, they aren't even close.  The mobile app does some minor sub-set of features (each of which are stripped down), and the settings are nowhere to be found.  We already have a wide range of features, and we don't spread ourselves thin by building a secondary UI that keeps growing and growing in its own right.

Our three approaches for building a native app are:

  1. Build a native app that hosts the PWA inside it so that the entire UX is preserved, but we gain the native app features (better notifications, app store placement)
  2. Build a "OR Messenger" type native app that only focuses on inbox and guest interaction, purposefully ignoring everything else. This provides better notifications for things where notifications matter more (ie. messaging) and doesn't attempt to be the rest of the system. Clear purpose.
  3. Build a native app that does a stripped-down subset of each of the top 8 verticals, don't attempt to do anything else.  For settings and the full UX, point to the web app.

#1 is the holy grail but may not be possible. #3 is our least favorite approach. No ETA on any of these things.