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1) Is it possible to be part of the beta for AirBnB transactions API?
The Airbnb Transactions API is still in testing right now. There is no private beta yet, and we plan to release it to all when it gets through testing. Should be out in Q1 so just a couple more weeks, or maybe the beginning of April.
2) just to be clear the suggestion about customizing the memo / description fields, I may not have used the correct terminology. What I meant is that in setting up the transaction structure (it can be on the same screen that one selects the accounts and classes) allow a way to configure the memo/description fields by using "Field Codes".
Yes, that's a great idea, and I understand what you mean. Field Codes are already a deep part of our system, used in many places, so it would not be difficult to code it. Like everything, it just needs to be planned out, dev'd and tasked.... and in line with current priorities/resources.
I love this thread and I can't wait for the first two points to be fixed. no more manual adjustments on my side.
my ask: the ability to tag the invoice. I created a tag group in QBO where the tags are the OTA's (AIrbnb, VRBO..so on) then I tag the invoices appropriately. this allows me to run a P&L grouped by Tag Group to compare Airbnb vs VRBO vs ...
hope this ask make sense,
Alin
Current messaging features only pull Airbnb messages that are part of a booking. When a guest has an issue and "Airbnb Support" sends a message, there is no way to see this from within OR. OR should pull in all messages in the Airbnb inbox, even those not associated to a particular booking.
While Owners can't set up their own payment processors, it is possible for you to set up individual payment methods for each property (or group of owned properties) so the owners receive payouts directly. That can be easily configured once each owner has been approved for a payment processing account.
I understand the confidential information relating to this, and you wanting the Owners to set up their own accounts. It is likely that this will be added to a future update of the Team Access system. In the meantime, would it be possible for you to do a video call with screen sharing, so that your Owner could type the credentials in directly without having to provide them to you?
https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/payment-processing-common-issues-questions#multiple-accounts
You pretty much nailed it - the 2 payments was built into the original code. We definitely understand that this needs to change, and it will, but it's a major rework effort that hasn't quite made it to the top of the list considering the large amount of work involved. It will eventually for sure, but, I do not know when.
Hi Ken,
thanks for the quick response. I understand we can set the %, the issue is that we need to charge 50% on most bookings as they are within 90-60 days, it's just the minority of bookings that are a few months out that need a different schedule and more than just 2 payments, which goes back to the purpose of the thread that we need to be able to schedule more than 2.
Having said that, I understand if 2 is hard coded, the coding lift to change may be substantial and therefore there is likely other things that are more important. I just wanted to make the business point that not being able to have more than 2 has some financial impact on the business.
You don't have to charge 50% when the booking is made, you just have to charge something. You could set it to 10% or even 1%.
Agreed, this would be a nice feature. One that AB&B could use as well. I only do request to book and no instant booking because of this.
Yes, this is a known need, and we do intend to do it, but it's not a top priority at present.
To add one more reason to create urgency for this request. Being able to not charge 50% when a guest makes a booking that is several months in the future and have this implemented as a process in the system will allow hosts to reduce their risk with merchant CC processors (Stripe) in my case and reduce the amount of risk withholding they make. They want hosts not to collect too much in advance because they are on the hook if we don't deliver on the accommodation.
Paul,
Thanks for the detailed reply.
1) Is it possible to be part of the beta for AirBnB transactions API? As you can see I have a lot of experience with accounting software and QB integrations. I haven't turned on QB yet as I am doing a review to make sure I have a good smooth and planned transition from my previous processes but will happily turn it on to help test the integration.
2) just to be clear the suggestion about customizing the memo / description fields, I may not have used the correct terminology. What I meant is that in setting up the transaction structure (it can be on the same screen that one selects the accounts and classes) allow a way to configure the memo/description fields by using "Field Codes". Another product that I used to sync AirBnB/VRBO transactions in the past added this over a year ago and it was really helpful to have more complete data in QB and it may not be a heavy code lift.
Thanks,
Manel
Are browser (at least Chrome) alerts also part of the same development path? I don't know how much of the coding is overlap between the two alert types.
As a related note, I don't know if it is a bug but my team member gets logged out of her home screen IOS app at least daily (it may be more often) even when checking the remember me box. I don't know if this a result of some setting in Safari or IOS (if it is it would be great to have some sort of note on how to address it) or if it is because the admin login seems to be different from team member log in (ie no 2FA for team member even though they have Admin role). Will the alerts still come if they are logged out of the app? If not, this issue will become more salient once the alerts come out.
Thanks you,
Manel
How does one know if their discount code is getting used? We don't! How can we run different promotions and know which one is most effective if we can't track the number of uses a discount code gets?
OR is not very friendly to marketing efforts, and this needs to change. Marketing is becoming much more important as competition increases.
This already exists, as a trigger option:
Many guests will extend their stay if they receive a discount for an unbooked night adjacent to their stay, and the owner/manager gets to increase occupancy and revenue. It's a Win win. Doing this manually is very time consuming. A conditional trigger that can analyze the calendar and ask the guest if they want to extend their stay or check in a day early would be amazing.
hichee.com provides comparison
Hi Ken,You make a fair point, thanks. I agree this isn't top priority, just nice to have.
Respectfully, as you note, it has been 4 years since this was requested, and in all that time it only got 8 upvotes. So it wouldn't be viewed as a high priority I'm afraid.
[Another topic was closed as a duplicate of this topic (https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests/rate-check-feature-direct-booking-cost-comparison)]
Yes - 4 years. I've added my vote to the other feature request.
A similar feature has been requested recently:
https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests/rate-check-feature-direct-booking-cost-comparison
I think it would be very useful to see the comparison of rates on various sites, so that guests have an assurance that they are getting the best rates and we can also use to ensure that our direct website rates are rightly priced.
It's almost 4 years since this feature was requested. Any ETA on when this could be made available.
Not 6 years but 4 years ago (Mar 2019) ... but that's a bad sign too. I am also looking for such a feature and I want to make sure that we combine the votes, if that makes any difference in getting such a feature implemented sooner.
Yes it is! Very similar. It could be a bad sign the feature was requested 6 years ago.
Is this feature request similar to this one:
https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/requests/price-comparison-widget
I'd also be interested in help evaluate the integration. I'm a software developer with over 15yrs industry experience and would love an opportunity to help bring this to market.
Cheers.
I would love to see the option to mark the rental agreement as received.
Currently I collect a rental agreement that also includes a guest list and since this is not the OR legal agreement, these bookings won't trigger emails that are sent once the form is completed.
(It would also be very useful for those onboarding to OR who have existing future reservations - I am in the process of manually setting triggers on about 100 upcoming reservations where the guest had already completed the rental agreement via my prior system).
Hey ken, I'm having problems with my monthly statement. I've sent in an email to help, but need to get this taken care of before I have to pay sales tax in a couple of days. email sent.
The links I sent previously discuss most aspects of that, but, if you need more specific assistance, please feel free to write in to the Helpdesk and we'll get you moving forward.
I agree with needing other payment options besides credit card. We have almost 70 condos and 99% of our snowbirds (which are all winter rentals) pay with checks or direct debit from their bank account. With credit card fees on the rise, more and more of our customers are opting to not use credit cards. They also fear scams. Currently, OwnerRez only allows cc payments. I am having to use other systems outside of OwnerRez if someone wants to pay with check or direct debit. I would love to give our customers the option of paying with check or direct debit from their bank account through OwnerRez. Having to juggle multiple systems for one reservation is a nuisance. Also, many of our elderly customers are on a budget with their social security. It would be nice to give them the option of paying a little bit each month, as long as they are paid up 30 days prior to their arrival. If we are stuck with credit card payments only, it would be nice to be able to add the credit card fee automatically when the guest goes to pay with credit card. I know the cc fee can be added to the charges as an "other surcharge" item, but I don't want to add that to the price quote, not knowing who will be paying with credit card and who will be using other payment form.
1) You can specify manual/offline/check payments via Ownerrez. It is under payment methods. There are more scams with fake checks than Credit cards bc credit cards can be disputed. I do agree the credit card fees are high., but they are the cost of doing business and actually a business expense for the owner/manager.
2) What I do is after the booking is made and the deposit is paid, the guest received a payment link which they can use to make as many payments as they want (every week? 2 weeks? every day? whatever!) for whatever amount so they can pay at their convenience as long as the balance is paid by the due date. No schedule is needed. here is a template:
Hi {CFIRST},
Please find an updated billing summary for your {BARR} - {BDEP} booking at {PDISPNAME}.
Charges: {BTAMT}
Paid: {BTPAY}
Owed: {BTOWE}
Here is the current list of charges:
{BCTAB}
Here is the full list of billing activity:
{BBACT}
The current balance is {BTOWE} due on {BSPDATE} which is {BSPDAYSFN}.
Payment link for your booking {BUPAY}, you can make partial payments at your convenience. You will get a receipt for every payment made.
Please let us know if you have any questions
I agree...many of our guests are looking to avoid the cc fee so we do not want to inflate our prices overall.
