General Help and Questions

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Tomorrow or Friday we're doing a release that:

* Expands the inquiry workflow a bit (eg. allows for multiple email addresses and phone numbers)
* Exposes public guest forms for second payments and security deposits
* Adds custom fields at the booking level
* Bunch of other minor things

Lot of API work this release so not a whole lot in the UI for users to see beyond that.

Coming out in the near future (weeks to months):

* Notes - add them to inquiries, quotes and bookings and find them with the global search
* Custom email sending - schedule custom emails to fire at date/time or based on workflow events (eg. booking paid in full)
* Auto responders - the system will send quotes and inquiry responses automatically based on rules (ie. an inquiry is available and no comments are entered = reply automatically)
* Ribbon view
* Reports
* Public calendar form for sharing data by webpage (for housekeepers and websites) that also shows multiple properties and has availability filters (ie. think calendar widget but a full page and a lot more features)
* Moving all pages and forms to new design, optimized for touch/mobile

There's a long to-do list beyond this, but these are the top priorities right now.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Perfect. What is coming out in the next few releases? We love the system, hoping automatic emails a few days ahead of arrival date is soon...

I don't. We only include that line by default because many owners like to send a followup survey or review request after the guest departs.

For instance, TripAdvisor (which is powered by FlipKey) has a feature where you can send "Review Requests" to any person. You just enter their email address and name and FlipKey takes care of the rest. Then, whatever review they provide shows up on your FlipKey/TripAdvisor listing.

Another common (and free) tool to use is the Google Form tool that comes with Google Spreadsheets. More about that here:

https://support.google.com/drive/answer/87809?hl=en

This allows you to prepare a nicely formatted Q/A that then shows all the answers in a Google Spreadsheet for you to review later.

It is a goal of ours to include auto surveys and Q/A forms after the departure as a part of the OwnerRez email process, but for the time being it's been wait-listed on the priorities list.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

That was easy :)

Do you have a survey that you send out or examples of a survey we might use?

We may send you a short survey in the next few days, asking about your stay

Hi Marinas Edge,

Open the security deposit email template and click the "Use Default" button at the bottom right. That will pre-fill the body (and other fields) with what we automatically send if you don't a template on file.

Is that what you were looking for?

-Michelle

Do you have an example of a pre-populated security deposit email? My first booking of the season will be arriving next week and I want to have this functionality in place by then.

Thanks!

Thanks. I wil think about it. For now, I will continue to send my own quotes manually and just use the booking side of your system.

Claudia

Hi Michelle,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

As you know, we don't yet have the ability to include pictures in the email editor through an easy point-and-click image selector.

However, you CAN include images if you know how to edit and use HTML directly. Notice the HTML button on the email editor all the way to the right. That opens a pop-up form that lets you edit the raw HTML body of the message. If you know how to host and image publicly and reference it in HTML, you can do this already.

I'm willing to help you with this. Send me the email you use with images, and I'll show you how to prepare the HTML. It might be a little confusing to start but that will get you started in the right direction.

Eventually, we would like to include an easier point-and-click image selector so that you don't have to modify the HTML manually. If I'm being honest, though, that is not on the priority list at all. There dozens of other things that would take priority over that.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Hi Michelle,

We spoke of this a while ago, but I can't find the thread. Are we going to be able to include pictures soon?

I do not use your quote response, still, due to this. I firmly believe that it helps to have a picture or two where the potential renter remembers your house.

Thanks,
Claudia

Everything looks fine here in terms of sending emails. We had a hiccup with some sending two nights ago, but that was only for a few hours at night and everything went out the next morning. Nothing today that I can see. ~Sam

Has something been going on with Owner Rez today? Or is it my system? I received a booking at 7 am, today and didn't come into my inbox until 3 pm.

Thanks,
Claudia

Thanks! That would be great, if you can make it happen. It would help me a lot, for future Security Deposits. I would rather have a HOLD on their account than have to return a check. Also, not have to deal with having their private credit card information. :)

Yes, I'm going to check with the devs to see if we can remove that check. If so, the fix may go out very quickly. :-)

I don't understand this...

"Let me see if we can just remove that scheduled check"

What do I need to do?



** Nevermind. I read it wrong. I thought I had to do something. You will check if you can do something on your end. Thanks!

We plan on providing scheduled reminders for payments and security deposits where non-CC payers get reminders and/or can update their card info, switch to card (from check) and other things. At the moment, we're focusing quite a bit on the email and inquiry areas.

Let me see if we can just remove that scheduled check so that the form can be used by anyone (any booking without a reserved security deposit, that is). If it's easy, we'll try to squeeze it into one of the next few releases.

Is there a way to have this function for anyone? I would rather have nothing to do with their private information.

Also, can there be an alert that the Security Deposit is coming due, when the original payment was not paid via Credit Card?

Claudia

I'm sorry - you're right. That form checks first to see if a security deposit was scheduled, which isn't really necessary for the form to function. We should yank out that check. If they have no credit card on file at all, you'll have to call for the security deposit. Sorry for the misinformation. I believe the payment form (which works similar to this) does allow credit card payments for previous-check payers.

Hi Michelle,

This doesn't seem to work for someone that paid via check. Only gives me the option for ME to enter the information. When I enter the information on the browser, this is what come up on the screen...

"No security deposit is required for this booking.

Some fresh ideas...
Are you sure you're looking at the right booking?

If you copied the URL from another location (such as an email message), make sure all the text survived the trip."

If I go into the booking to look at Security Deposit, it states No Security Deposit it Required. I suppose because it was paid via Check.

Which brings up the point of having a message come or something stating that a Security Deposit is coming due, even if it is via Check. Since the system automatically does it for credit cards, it should let us know that the Security Deposit is due, when it is via check.

Claudia

Hi Claudia,

Yes, there is a way to do that.

There is a hidden security deposit form that the system uses whenever someone's security deposit fails. You can use that. To find the hidden security deposit form, do these steps:

1) Open the booking
2) Click on the Legal tab
3) Click on "Email a link to guest" link
4) In the subject body, you'll see a link showing where the guest can sign the renter agreement. Copy that link into a new browser window or tab.
5) Change the end of the link from "legal" to "securitydeposit/add" and click enter to load it. I'm referring to the part after the last slash.
6) You'll notice that it shows a form where they can submit a security deposit
7) Send this link to the guest so they can use it to submit a credit card security deposit

Again, this is a hidden form that is only usually emailed to guest when their automatic security deposit fails and the system is asking them to try a different card.

Keep in mind that this will reserve a security deposit *immediately* when they submit the form, so they should only submit the form when their ready for the security deposit to be reserved.

You can also call them on the phone and reserve their security deposit manually. To process a manual security deposit, open the Booking, click the Security Deposits tab, click on Reserve and put in their card info.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Hi,

Is there a way for the guest to enter their credit card information, if they paid via check in the original transaction?

Some people would pay the security deposit, via credit card. However, they would have to give me the information now, I believe. Or is there a way for them to enter the information without me getting involved? How can I send them the link to do so?

Thanks,
Claudia

The URL that we give you for each iCal feed determines what your calendar system will "see" in terms of your booking data. Each of our iCal URLs are unique - they each show all the booking data for that property from the first of the current month on.

If you want your calendar system to change iCal feeds, tell it "unsubscribe" or "remove" the feed that you gave it before and then give it a different/new iCal feed.

Remember that iCal is an export/import format, so if you want to unsubscribe or remove it from your calendar system you need to tell your calendar system to turn it off. There is most likely a button or switch that says to "unsubscribe" or "disable" the iCal feed that you hooked up to your calendar.

It is possible that some calendar systems may simply import all the iCal events into the existing calendar store and you have to manually delete all of them one by one. I hope that isn't the case, but it's possible.

How do I change which calendar I want it to go to?

Claudia

How do I get the all of my bookings out of my ical on my phone? I disabled the ical under property. However, it remains on my calendar, on my phone.

Claudia

* Correction, some are still on my ical, on my laptop. How do I get rid of those? On both laptop and phone?

Hi Claudia,

iCal is a text format. The housekeeper can't look at the iCal text itself - it's just a big file full of data. They need to import the iCal feed (URL) into whatever calendar system they use.

So if they use Yahoo! Calendar for instance, they can "subscribe to a calendar" and enter the iCal URL you give them.

Does that make sense?

I'll see if we can split up the names into multiple options. Thanks for the feedback. That makes sense that, for security purposes, you may only want them seeing part of the name and not the email or phone number.

-Michelle

That is great! Thanks.

I tried to look at my ical calendar after I did it, but I can't seem to find it on how the housekeeper, or anyone else would see it. It would it be the same view as the ownerRez calendar?

On my phone I saw it as a list. On that list, can we have it show, in the gray area, the day and date of arrival (displayed already) AND the day and departure date?

Also, can we separate the options of full name and email address to be 3 options... First Name, Last name, email address? I don't think I want them to have the email address of the guest, nor the last name.

Thanks,
Claudia

Hi Claudia,

Navigate to the property you'd like to share, click on the iCal tab and create a feed. During creation, you'll be presented with some options for what you'd like them to see. If you want them to see the guest name and party size, select those options. The 'description' shows the party size.

Then you'll see a URL to copy/paste. Your housekeeper can put that into her calendar system. Most major calendar systems accept iCal feeds. Sometimes, it's known as "subscribe to calendar" or "add internet calendar".

If your housekeeper uses any of these calendar systems, it will work:

* Outlook
* Google Calendar
* Apple iCal or iCloud calendar
* Zoho Calendar
* Yahoo! Calendar
* Cozio

And a lot of others.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

Hi,

How would I be able to use the ical for third party agents? This is for my housekeeper, for example. She would just have some information?

Where do I start?

Thanks,
Claudia

Great! Thank you!!!

Claudia

Hi Claudia,

We just released a minor update (a few minutes ago) that included this feature, among others.

Open a property, click on the Billing tab and you'll see a new section for Quote Expiration. You can use that to set the default number of days you want to see on a quote.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle