Using the Wordpress Plugin

There doesn't seem to be too much documentation on the Wordpress Plugin. I just installed and activated the Plugin on the site. I thought it would be simple and straightforward to use but, I have to truthfully say it is all a bit overwhelming the way the documentation is presented.

The website will have multiple properties on it for several vacation destinations. The first thing a visitor should see when they come to the site is a search box where they will enter their destination, check in date, check out date and number of guests (just like you see on VRBO and Airbnb)

The Plugin should return all properties that meet that criteria. Just like VRBO and Airbnb does.

Then the visitor needs to be able to select a property where they will see all the information that goes with that property, such as the price, security deposit, if pets are accepted, etc...

I want to start with that. Can anyone tell me how I would go about using the Plugin this way? How do I even invoke the plugin? I can't seem to find any documentation on the Plugin other than how to install and activate it on the website.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hi John,

The plugin is for rendering static property content on your WordPress site. It does not have support for searching, availability, or booking. To do those dynamic types of things, you will need to use widgets.

The recommended approach for what you want to do is:

1. Setup a page for each property on your site. Each property needs a unique page. On each page you can use the plugin shortcodes to display information about the property which is pulled out of your OwnerRez data, and widgets to display availability to booking / inquiry forms.
2. Set the unique URL for each property in OwnerRez. Each property should have a URL that points to its page on your WordPress site.
3. Setup a search page on your site and add a search widget from OwnerRez. Visitors to your site can then use the search page and widget to find available properties. When they click on a property it will open the unique page for that property on your site, where they can complete their booking or inquiry.

For a complete list of widgets see: https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/widgets

Shortcodes start with "[ownerrez type=", and should also have an "id=" before the closing "]" to identify the property you want to display. For a complete list shortcode types see: https://github.com/ownerrez/orez-wp#shortcodes Also, you can view some example shortcodes for any particular property here: https://app.ownerrez.com/settings/externalsites#tab-code

Note that there are some shortcodes that are called "widgets" but these are different than the OwnerRez widgets. The shortcode widgets are simply complex bits of HTML which render larger blocks such as picture slideshows or amenity lists. The naming is confusing, so we'll probably change that in a future release.

Thanks Joel for your input and suggestions. I'll work on putting together this approach.

@Joel -- I'm trying to display House Rules as their own segment on each of my property pages. I cannot seem to find a shortcode or widget that allows for this, nor can I figure out how to utilize the Custom Field (PXHRULES) that I have created in OwnerRez for this. Can you help me figure out how I can achieve this?

Hi Alece!

Although we don't have a widget or shortcode to generate the house rules, you should be able to put them into the property description, which should sync over via shortcodes if you have a WordPress site. Feel free to write into help@owerrez.com if you'd like us to take a look at your account.

@Suzee -- I understand it shows in the long property description section if included there (as I have it now). For aesthetics and readability, it's far superior to be able to separate out this information. Disappointing to discover so many shortcode and widget limitations in this regard. 

I asked about this before. We need to be able to access the manual and have it accessed by guests as a link.

Why? One of my properties has a 30-page manual.

My hope was that the Wordpess plugin would allow MORE features and ease of use in publishing properties.

I am finding that it is not being developed or improved. 

What is the future for the web from OwnerRez?