OwnerRez wishes each and every one of you the happiest of holidays!
We hope you can spend special time with loved ones and enjoy the season. But we still have one last product update for the year to unwrap! Our December 20th release with 20 updates has a couple of special gifts for our users, including the restoration of Staff full admin permissions, Team Alerts tweaks, a new Multi-Property Hosted Website Dynamic Photo Layout Option, and much more! 🎁
New Features
Multi-Property Hosted Website Dynamic Photo Layout Option
Multi-property Hosted Websites now have the option to configure their photo layout option to a Dynamic photo display similar to Vrbo and Airbnb.
Here's the legacy property page photo layout:
And this is the new dynamic property page photo layout:
The first 5 property photos are now featured full-width. The page tabs are shifted below the photos and the booking/inquiry widget also shifted below to make room.
When you click/tap on any of the 5 photos, it brings you to a Photo Gallery where any property photos tagged to rooms or amenities are organized at the top in a tab view. In this example, the Amenities tab is selected and shows photos that are tied to a supported amenity (see below for full details). If there are groupings, they will show at the top as thumbnails. In this case, there's only one group of Amenity photos (Workout Room).
Rooms, Exterior, and Amenities tabs will show if any rooms exist of the applicable type:
- Exterior: Backyard, Entrance To Home, Exterior, Front Yard, Outdoor Common Area, Outdoor Space, Patio, Courtyard, Neighborhood, Porch, Rooftop, Terrace
- Amenities: Hot Tub, Gym, Pool, Art Studio, Bar, Beach, Bowling Alley, Casino, Event Room, Movie Theater, Music Studio, Photography Studio, Restaurant, Spa, Sunroom, Theme Room, Wine Cellar
- Rooms: any others not above
If you click or tap on a photo in the Gallery, it will open up the Carousel view that is used in the Legacy layout.
Current multi-property hosted website users can change their photo layout from the legacy style to the new dynamic layout by navigating to Settings > My Website > their Multi-property Hosted Website > <property name> > Content tab > Photo Layout > Dynamic. When new hosted websites are created they will default to the Dynamic layout (and can be reverted to the Legacy layout.
Enhancements & Tweaks
Advanced Tools Access Expanded and Team Access Moved to Account Menu
Following the November 15th My Account Restructure and Menu Changes update, Staff Team members could no longer access the Team Access area.
OwnerRez has moved the Team Access area into the Account menu drop-down for quicker access and restored Staff Team members (that have "full admin access" permissions) ability to add or manage Portal users.
Here's what the Account menu looked like before:
And here's the new Account menu with Team Access included:
While Staff Team members can still no longer manage account billing or other team staff members, they can now access the Advanced Tools area (Settings > Advanced Tools). Lots of Staff users were used to accessing these items when they were located in other spots in-app, so it was a must-fix!
Learn more by reading the Team Access - Overview support article.
Team Alerts Tweaks
After the November 15th Alerts (f.k.a. System Alerts) for Team Access Staff release, OwnerRez wanted to smoothen and clarify some of the Team Alerts design.
First, we improved Team Alert email footers to define which account sent the Team Alert.
Secondly, on the staff add/change page, we clarified what allowing or denying Alerts really means:
Read the Messaging - My Alerts support article to learn more.
Channel Send Booking Confirmation Tidying
OwnerRez users can determine whether Channel Booking Confirmation Messages or regular emails are sent to guests in the API connection's Email configuration section. But we removed the option on certain API channels, when that channel is "merchant of record (MoR)" (i.e., Airbnb, Booking.com, TripAdvisor).
Users can still configure the non-MoR API connections to send the default Booking Confirmation system message used for direct bookings, or create a separate template and trigger for channel bookings by navigating to their specific API connection> Change > Email. But we did update the wording of the 2nd sentence to help clarify what's possible.
The selection made will still appear in the specific API connection expanded rules.
If users deselect the Send Booking Confirmation in the Email section of the applicable API, the expanded rules after saving will reflect that.
The Channel booking > Messages > Automatic Messages > New Booking - Guest Notification will display hover tooltips stating, "Skipped because channel handles confirmation."
Another version that will show when necessary is: "Skipped: Disabled in booking rules"
Payment Method Currency Display Added
Payment method currencies have been in certain places to help users who have multiple payment processors due to handling multiple currencies. One place is on the Deposits grid, filter, import areas, and the Credit Card Processing History Report.
When users manually record a deposit, the payment method currency is again displayed along with a helpful tooltip upon hover.
The payment method currency is now displayed in the Credit Card Processing History Report export.
First-class Channel Partners Request to Book Updates
Airbnb requires hosts to offer Instant Book on Airbnb if hosts provide it on other API-connected channels. We worked to make sure we were enforcing that requirement with all the new first-class channels that have integrated with OwnerRez over the last couple of years. But we also determined that none of those channels even offer Request to Book (RTB) mode.
To clarify which first-class channel partners do not offer RTB mode, OR will display the disabled RTB radio button with strikethrough text and a tooltip explaining that the channel doesn't support RTB upon hover.
The other big thing to note on this one is we converted Florida Rentals back to a basic integration from the full bookings integration. Florida Rentals users were so accustomed to receiving an inquiry from prospective guests and handling it themselves instead of allowing users to instantly book that Florida Rentals had reverted the work they had done a while back, but we hadn't reflected that in OwnerRez.
Vrbo New Messaging API Version Implementation
Since our June 7th Vrbo Messaging Added to the Inbox (Public Beta) release, OwnerRez users have been able to experience native in-app OR Vrbo messaging.
OwnerRez has now implemented the latest available Vrbo Messaging API version, including updated date and time parameters. OwnerRez is always proactive in ensuring that Vrbo messaging is up to date, even if users don't notice any changes.
Check out our Vrbo Messaging support article to learn more.
Bug Fixes
Clarify CB Merge Conflict Message for Airbnb. Messages displayed for Airbnb Channel Bridge merge conflicts were unclear. OR has clarified the merge conflict messages related to Airbnb Channel Bridge.
Don't Error on Schlage Code Gen for Guests With No Last Name. Schlage door locks generated errors for guests without a last name in their booking information. We fixed this bug, and Schlage door locks will correctly generate door lock codes whether the guest has a last name in their booking information or not.
Fix Issue Where In-app Dates Weren't Editing in the Correct Format. Certain dates within the app could not be edited in the correct format. OR has corrected this glitch to edit in-app dates in the valid format.
Fix Issue With Excel Importers Parsing Value Resulting in Unexpected Results When Formatting is Applied. Some OR Excel import templates were attempting to format certain cells/columns incorrectly automatically, which resulted in import failures. We fixed this bug in Excel Importers by updating the parsing to disregard formatting for non-numeric columns.
Fix Regression Where Owner Blocks Couldn't Create Code for ByLock integrations. Users who used ByLock door lock integrations encountered a software regression that resulted in owner blocks no longer generating door lock codes. OR resolved this issue so that ByLock door lock integrations properly generate owner block door codes.
Fix Regression Where Searching by Phone Number Without Country Code Wasn't Working. We encountered a regression of the October 9th Upgraded International Phone Number Input release that resulted in the system not retrieving the correct guest record in users' search results if the phone number was entered without the associated country code (e.g., +1 for the US). We fixed this glitch so that users can successfully search for and retrieve guest records without the associated country code.
Handle Co-host Payments in Airbnb Transaction API. Airbnb co-host payments were incorrectly appearing as refunds in the Airbnb Transaction API. OR has resolved the issue with co-host payouts, and they are now correctly added as payments to the Airbnb Transaction API.
Hosted Site Requests To/Error Should 404. Hosted Websites that could not be found were returning unhelpful error messages. We corrected this bug to produce a more practical "404 Page Not Found" error.
Rate Calendar Shows Wrong Season in Tooltip. We noticed that sometimes the tooltip displayed the wrong season when hovering over a day in the Rate Calendar. OR fixed this glitch to ensure the correct season for the corresponding rule is displayed upon hover in the Rate Calendar.
Show Cancellation Policy/Rate Notes Using Both Mode on Hosted Websites. Rate notes, along with the associated Cancellation Policies, were not properly displayed on some Hosted Websites when using "Both" mode. We resolved this issue so that Rate notes and associated Cancellation Policies will be correctly displayed on Hosted Websites.
Up Dining Seats Max to 89. The OR Property Accommodations Dining Room settings only allowed for a maximum of 39 seats. The Property Accommodations Dining Room settings has been increased to allow a maximum of 89 seats.
Up Surcharge Increment Maxes to 49. The maximum limit for surcharge multiplier increments has been increased to 49.
Google Vacation Rentals Private Beta:
- Fix Issue With Rate Modifications Showing for Unavailable Seasons as Applying All the Time. Google Vacation Rentals (GVR) was incorrectly applying and stacking expired discounts for unavailable seasons due to merge mismatching on the computing of rate modifications. OR corrected this bug, and rate modifications or discounts will be correctly applied to GVR property rates.