Ownerrez API and VRBO New Cancellation Policies (Jan 2024 & May 2024)

I was wondering what other hosts are experiencing with the new VRBO premier host and cancellation policies.  Starting January 1 2024, VRBO added two new criteria for premier host status: (a) Maintain a 95% or higher acceptance rate and (b) Maintain a 1% or lower owner-initiated cancellation rate.  I had one booking that came in a couple days before New Years Eve last year, and my cleaner wasn't available so I declined the reservation without ever taking payment.  Unfortunately in the OwnerRez->VRBO integration, VRBO considered this a cancellation and counted this against the "1% cancellation rate" criteria.  VRBO IPM support was completely unhelpful (They sent a ridiculous email stating that "Cancellation" and "Declines" are the same thing, contradicting their own documentation).  Eventually after escalating to the head of VRBO customer support and multiple phone calls and emails, they waived the cancellation penalty and reinstated my premier host status.

Now VRBO has a new policy effective May 23, 2024, where a cancellation will incur a 7-day temporary listing level suspension in addition to a cancellation fee.  Unfortunately the problem I had over new years just occurred again, a guest made a reservation request, then immediately followed up with an email that said they couldn't afford the price and asked me to cancel.  I never charged their card, cancelled the reservation, and VRBO marked that reservation as a cancellation even though it was never confirmed.

Does anyone know if you just ignore a reservation request in VRBO, does it mark the reservation as a declined reservation or a canceled reservation?  Or is there a better way to handle situations like this?

OwnerRez and Vrbo are both aware of the issue regarding request-to-book "cancellations."  If you do have a situation where you were penalized for rejecting a request-to-book, please reach out to Vrbo support to get this fixed, and if you run into excessive difficulties, to our Helpdesk as well.

Also note that any cancellation in OwnerRez for a Vrbo API booking of any type, has the ability to designate whether it was because of the host or the guest.

Hi Ken, thanks for the quick reply.

Can you clarify what you mean by "any cancellation in OwnerRez for a Vrbo API booking of any type, has the ability to designate whether it was because of the host or the guest."  Are you saying this is something I can indicate (host or guest) in OwnerRez at the time I cancel the reservation?  Or are you saying the API has the technical ability to set a flag that indicates whether it was a host or guest cancellation?

Yes, you can indicate "host or guest" in OwnerRez, and, the API sends that flag to Vrbo.

Note that this isn't dependent on who literally does the cancellation - that is always the host, as the guest has no ability to do so.  It's intended to indicate the underlying cause.  E.g. if the host cancels a guest because they failed to follow a house rule posted visibly on Vrbo, such as a requirement to sign the rental agreement, then, the cancellation is caused by the guest.  If the cancellation is because a pipe burst and the house is flooded prior to guest arrival, then that would be caused by the host (but you could talk to Vrbo and provide proof about extenuating circumstances).

Can you clarify where you select "host or guest" in the Ownerrez UI?  I don't immediately see it in any of the screen shots in https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/cancelling-a-booking

and don't recall being given the option when I canceled the most recent booking.

If you click "Cancel" on a Booking, you go to a screen with a bunch of options relevant to the cancellation, one of which is this:

Thanks, I found that option.  I must have selected "Canceled by Guest" because in the OwnerRez screen for that booking, it shows that it was canceled by the guest:

But in VRBO it shows "No Reason Specified"

Hi Kraig - The "Reason" area is a Vrbo specified field that can include values such as "Accidental", "Wrong Dates", "Owner Disagreement", etc. Currently, we don't have a selection for these items in OwnerRez. Vrbo does not offer a way to push the value to them through the API, so it will show as "Reason not specified".

I feel your pain! Now, whenever I get a cancel request from a VRBO guest, I always redirect the guest to VRBO customer support. VRBO then sends me a request, stating I will not be penalized for aa guest initiated cancel. VRBO integrated support are at best badly trained!

Generally speaking, you are always better off getting the guest to cancel. If they don't like their decision, they should be the ones canceling. This negates the entire issue.

In the case of "request to book," I don't think there's is a vrbo reservation so there is nothing for the guest to cancel.