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For now, I've created a duplicate listing and sync'd their calendars.  The duplicate is only on BDC while the primary is on ABB and (eventually) VRBO.  $7/m workaround, but for now it'll have to do.

Great idea.

I should point out that we do have an open API:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/api-overview

So Airdna is welcome to integrate with us whenever they please, we'd be glad to have them available.  Feel free to suggest this over at Airdna.

I should mention that, if you are using direct security deposits and making your guests sign our Agreements as we recommend, then in a sense you are independent of the channels.

Yes, it is possible for the channel to side with a guest in a dispute, just as they can do a chargeback via their bank.  But if you have a signed agreement, you can sue them in small claims court and win in front of a real judge, who trumps everything else.

Thanks Paul - 

1.  Not having ACH by channel bridge is fine.

2.  A "PENDING" status is fine.  Most of my bookings are 4-6 months in advance, so pending a few days is no problem

3.  As my bookings are 4-6 months in advance, the chargeback on an ACH won't be possible by the time they check in, so this would be a preferred payment method for my properties.

Well, that is the requirement that Airbnb imposed on us, in order to allow us to do Request-to-Book at all.  Their system, their rules I guess.

Are you sure that other systems allow RTB in Airbnb but IB on other channels?  Do you have a specific example?  Perhaps they have changed their policies and we can also take advantage.

Understood, though unfortunate.  Yes, Lodgify is one I can attest to from first-hand experience.  At 8am this morning (Pacific), before I started migrating to OR, I had an API connection to Booking.com which was IB by it's very nature.  I had VRBO and ABB as IB.  This was for my "Resort" property. 

Up until two weeks ago on my "Oasis" property I had AB&B and VRBO as RTB and Booking.com as IB.  Two weeks ago we decided to go back to IB and I put ABB on IB.  VRBO I put on IB a few days ago, I think that may be a new feature for them as I don't recall seeing it before.

Booking is geared towards hotels, so it does not allow an RTB function.  That's the crux of the problem is that if I want to be on that site, I can't keep a higher level of control on the platforms where the userbase is more "party focused" and people will rent a space and think nothing of having 50 people come over for a wedding reception/brunch.  AB&B's party prohibition is completely ignored.

Edit: I was with them since May of 2021 and on Booking from probably August or September on.

Well, that is the requirement that Airbnb imposed on us, in order to allow us to do Request-to-Book at all.  Their system, their rules I guess.

Are you sure that other systems allow RTB in Airbnb but IB on other channels?  Do you have a specific example?  Perhaps they have changed their policies and we can also take advantage.

email goes to vrbo renter's blind disguised email and ends up in vrbo portal, has nothing to do with spam . Maybe see what available features already do what you need them to do b4 asking for thge new ones. Seems like you are not utilizing full functionality or OR. If need be, you can always take screen shots and upload to vrbo portal. That happens like once in 5 years when you really need to do it. 

What you're saying is you're sending emails to VRBO's masked email address it delivers for guests that wind up in their VRBO messaging inbox?  Is that correct?

After the booking is created and you've captured the guest's real email address through your rental agreement how do you proceed?

email goes to vrbo renter's blind disguised email and ends up in vrbo portal, has nothing to do with spam . Maybe see what available features already do what you need them to do b4 asking for thge new ones. Seems like you are not utilizing full functionality or OR. If need be, you can always take screen shots and upload to vrbo portal. That happens like once in 5 years when you really need to do it. 

Very easy. 

1. Set up text-only template of type "Inquiry". In my example it is called AVAILGEN

something like this (of course content can be yours but remember - has to be text-only)

Hi {CFIRST},

Thank you for considering {PDISPNAME} for your vacation.

The dates you are inquiring about {IARR} - {IDEP} are available. Please see information about renting our cabin:

~ {PDISPNAME} is a private vacation home, rented out by owners (not a management company or an agent).

~ NO smoking | NO pets (no exceptions!) | NO house parties | NO bachelor/bachelorette parties | NO student/school/chaperoned groups.

~ Must be at least 25 years of age to rent, and be present during the entire stay; No third party rentals. Minors under 18 can only stay with parent, legal guardian or responsible adult, and must never be left at the property unsupervised.

~ No occupancy above {PXOLIMIT} persons (of any age 1 day and up), with maximum {PXMAXADULTS} adults. Our quoted rate is per property/stay and it is the same whether one guest is staying or {PXOLIMIT}, but we do not permit over limit occupancy. 

~ Property is not reserved in your name until deposit (or full balance) is paid AND booking is accepted. Availability is real-time and may change after this email is sent.

~ Rental Agreement signed by primary Guest and Valid Photo ID are required if you decide to book. If the required is not returned to Owner within 48 hours from booking acceptance, we reserve the right to cancel your booking and issue a refund of any amounts paid.

~ If you are booking more than {QSPDAY} days in advance of your check in date, you will need to pay a deposit plus site fee (if applicable). Balance will be due {QSPDAY} days prior to check in. 

~ If you are booking {QSPDAY} days or less prior to your check in date, the full balance is due immediately. 

~ Cancellation policy: {QCANPOL} No refunds for unforeseen or unfortunate Events outside of Cancellation policy cutoff, under any circumstances, including but not limited to: weather, storms, fear of travel, work/life events, change of plans, change of travel party composition, evacuation or hospitalization.

~ We recommend obtaining Trip insurance for your trip if your stay is during winter months, or if you are concerned about possible Cancellation.

~ The exact address, driving directions and check in instructions will be provided after balance is paid and few days prior to check in.

~ Deposit will released/refunded within 2 weeks after check out provided there are not damages, Agreement violations, and no  excessive cleaning required. It may released be sooner depending on satisfactory post-departure inspection. 

~ Check in is {PCHECKIN} ET and check out is {PCHECKOUT} ET unless pre-arranged otherwise with the Owner IN ADVANCE. Late check outs may be subject to docking of the deposit.

~ Owners reserve the right to install and operate security/image capture devices on the property outside of the cabin for the express purpose of securing the property, driveway, entryway, parking, dwelling and its contents and ensuring adherence to occupancy limits and NO PET policy.

~ Complimentary WIFI is available (Connection speed and availability is not guaranteed).

~ Our cabin is on well and septic. Guest understands that they be charged above and beyond the damage Deposit amount if prohibited items are flushed & clog or damage plumbing or the septic system.

~ Our cabin has yard with fire pit. Yard is NOT fenced and surrounded by nature, small children must be always supervised by a capable adult. 

~ All roads leading to the cabin are paved. AWD/4WD and/or snow chains may be needed during winter IF there is snow/ice on the ground.

2. Set up auto responder with following

3. set up similar for unavailable responses. 

Though I do appreciate the Highlander reference on the integrations page.

I am totally with you on this. Emails have a chance of going to spam as well. Not to mention that if you have communications done off the OTA's platforms, then when it comes time for them to review an issue due to a guest complaint or bad review, there's nothing the OTAs can use to support your case.

That's the whole point.  I don't have to use my email AT ALL if I can message direct from OR to VRBO.  A single place to interact with guests across the two most popular platforms.  Consistent communications.  Add to that that a lot of folks, particularly in the younger generations, prefer app communications over general email.

Need it?  No.  Nice to have?  Absolutely. 

Actually it does have an Airbnb requirement, if you are IB on vrbo, you must be IB or Airbnb. If you want to have Airbnb on RTB, you have to change others to RTB as well. 

I'm coming from Lodgify where (as of this morning) I was instant book on Booking.com (only option they offer) and request to book on VRBO and AB&B.  If it were an ABB mandate, you'd expect it to be enforced with all their PMS partners.  Right now, I can't have one of my properties on Booking because of this.  I can't allow that one to be IB on ABB or VRBO because the demographic using those sites would book it for a party 9 times out of 10.  Booking, while providing me very few bookings, has all been a much different and more professional clientele.

As far as I know from researching close to a dozen PMSs over the last 9 months, OR is the only one with this requirement.

how do you get autoresponder to show up in VRBO inbox from inquiry?  good hack... 

This is one of those "nice to have", but not "need to have" things IMO. Been integrated for years, and see no need for this. If it is there - fine, not there - fine. If traveler contacts pre-booking, autoresponder responds into vrbo inbox. If they still have more questions, I just do "reply" from my email inbox (which also ends up in Vrbo portal  email). Post booking all comms are via OR. Vrbo does not need to be in-between. 

Zapier is a platform to integrate systems that otherwise would not talk to each other directly.  For example, you could have an integration (which they call a "Zap") to log facebook messages into your CRM.  For a while I had it pulling bookings from my old PMS and importing them into the accounting software I was testing.  You could integrate OR with MailChimp to put all of your guests emails into a mailing list, for example.

There are others pre-built that share your instagram posts to facebook or auto post things from an RSS feed to your facebook page.

A lesser known competitor is "IFTTT" which stands for "IF This Than That" which is basically how Zapier works.

To compare it to OR, Zapier/IFTTT function on "Triggers" that kick off a specific task once triggered, much like when you setup a message to go out two days before a guest arrives.

Hope that helps explain what it is.

why ? It is a bit redundant since we have pricelabs and beyondpricing already available that integrates. Some owners do not even list on Airbnb. 

Actually it does have an Airbnb requirement, if you are IB on vrbo, you must be IB or Airbnb. If you want to have Airbnb on RTB, you have to change others to RTB as well. 

I was asking for HW integration. What is zapier?  I visited the website and could not understand what it does. I have configured OR top send me email/text to change tstats

1. ACH as method of payment not applicable to channel bookings rule. or even 1st payment (deposit)  by CC, balance by ACH if it is in advance booking.  

2.  every owner can set rule how many nights in advance they want to accept ACH (like I only accept check 37 or more nights out from arrival). In that case they can allow sufficient time for the renter to correct the bank situation and either resubmit or pay by other method. 

3. Understandable, but most guests do not know that they can do a c/b via ACH. Many do know they can do it via CC (and way too easily - no proof required). 

Lynx can be connected using iCals but they do not have an API integration.

Once you link the iCals, you will start seeing reservations inside Lynx as they sync. However, it can take up to an hour for the first full sync to complete. iCal links will bring over the check-in/check out dates of the reservations.

If and when Lynx does become an official partner with an API integration, this will allow reservations to sync over instantaneously. This also allows for other information to transfer over like the guest information. It's completely up to Lynx how this will work though, and it appears they do not plan to build this full integration at the current time.

I recommend reaching out directly to Lynx for any further questions. Plus that way they know someone else is wanting the API integration.
 

Here is the support article from their site with setup instructions for OwnerRez users: https://support.getlynx.co/hc/en-us/articles/360058099612

Thanks for the feedback on your ACH needs.  We've looked at ACH/eCheck before, but it's complicated with many of the flows that we support.

Some thoughts:

• What do you do about channel bookings such as from Vrbo where you are the merchant of record and the guest's card passes through to OwnerRez?  ACH wouldn't be possible in that case.  Just ignore the ACH option and require CC?
• What happens when an "insufficient funds" issue happens with ACH?  With credit cards, the funds are guaranteed instantly.  Even if the guest cancels their credit card, the bank will still honor the approval of what was approved.  ACH can be initially approved and then bounce a few days later.  How did Vacation Rental Desk handle this?  The payment would have to have some kind of "pending" status until you knew the approval was locked in for good.
• Chargebacks are actually still possible with ACH.  Many people don't realize this, but all USA banks that are part of NACHA have to return funds that are disputed if the dispute happens against the ACH within 60 days.  I could be off on the exact number of days, but it's something like that.

If's still possible to support of course, but we've punted on it before because of these issues and bigger priorities.

Your feedback is welcome!

For direct bookings (including Vrbo bookings, which as an integrated partner are effectively the same as direct), I just confirm with the guest that "the extra night will be $X, shall I go ahead and extend?" and once they say yes, then I just extend it and charge their card at that time. I don't make them manually go in and submit payment themselves, since I already have their card on file.

I agree that the process/UX could be a little smoother all around, though.

I have Ecobee in several properties and Nest in a couple others. This would be fantastic. Nest is a pretty closed system, but Ecobee seems amenable to open access of various types. If OR isn't able to devote resources to this, maybe there's a third-party integration that could sort of help facilitate automation such as this?

Says that OR is integrated, but I don't see how on OR to set that up.

On a prior provider, I was able to have direct bookings through Booking.com and still keep Air B&B to an "ask first" setting.  Why is this not possible with OR?  AB&B does not have any requirement for this (and really shouldn't be able to force this upon us).

Thanks,
Ryan

I use Lynx to manage my thermostats.  Set min & max temp as well as prevent users from running the fan constantly (prevents excessive wear and tear).  Also have an out building set to turn off daily at a certain time.  All tstats have freezing and overheating prevention configured as well.

Had it setup to adjust the temperature prior to a guest's arrival, but that didn't work as well as I'd like.

Yes, actually, there's a way to do this now.

We've added Tags as criteria on Triggers.  So, if you create a "Problem Guest" tag, you can set that in the criteria to not send that email to bookings with that tag.

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/tags

Hello! Was just looking at this and wondered if anything had been developed or added. Was also thinking a report of the “guest has problem” list would be useful. 😊