Feature Requests

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Can anyone advise me how I add an optional Pool Heat charge to a quote?

I can see how to add a custom rate, but how do you make this mandatory or optional cost to the guest?

Any advise will be gratefully received.

Comments will be accommodated by a Notes feature that is planned for future development. At the moment, it hasn't been scheduled.

Hi Michelle,

Any decisions on the comment box? I enter the quotes into the OwnerRez software and I can't enter the comments they give, onto your system.

Claudia

Hi Jane,

Thanks for the suggestion. It's definitely something we're considering, and Damage Protection as well. We know a lot of owners have set up their own travel insurance.

One problem is the different vendors that are out there. Not all owners use the same travel insurance vendor so we'd need to integrate with several.

Which travel insurance vendor do you use? Travel Guard? CSA?

At the moment, you can always turn off the default travel insurance in OwnerRez and sell your own. Open one of your properties, go to Add-Ons and disable travel insurance. This will make sure it never shows up on your quotes. Then you could send your own offer to the guest offline.

-Michelle

I would like to have the ability for the owner/manager to offer (sell) Travel Insurance products to the guest under the owner's license, with commissions going to the owner/manger or whoever has the license.

Thanks for the reply Michelle.

Look forward to the upgrades. Loving the systme so far:)

Thanks,

Ed

Hi Ed,

Yes, that is a high priority on the dev roadmap. Many users have asked for scheduled emails like that (and other kinds).

We are in the process of doing a lot of work to the email system - retaining archives, showing actions, allowing templates, auto-responders, etc. It is going to take quite a few sprints to get it all finished, but we are working on it now. Scheduled emails will probably come at the tail end of those changes.

Hope this helps,

-Michelle

I was wondering if you coudl look into the possiblity of sending an automated email messge with the guest's check in information (lock box code, check in / check out times, general rules, etc.) at a set # of days prior to check in provided that the account is showing a zero balance.

Thanks,

Ed Nasi

I'll make sure this is noted down, but I believe that would have to be included. Not all users would want to have their email flow through our system so we'd probably need to include a forward of some kind or allow each user to turn it off.

Can you please still allow for the owner to get the email in their AOL, etc account? Or have the option to receive the email in the inbox, if other owners don't want the duplicate letter? I like to file the emails in my folders.

Thanks,
Claudia

We have a long-term goal to provide CMS with custom email addresses exactly as you mentioned. Something like [Your Name]@ownerrez.com. In order to do that though, we have to build quite a bit of email functionality around that to handle regular back-and-forth email conversations. At the moment, we only deal with incoming email as it pertains to inquiries.

The other thing we're considering is allowing you to specify the From Address on all of your outbound email. So your quotes would come from claudia@gmail.com or whatever your regular email is.

Currently, we set the Reply-To header on all guest email to your email address so that if the guest clicks Reply, the reply goes back to you.

This thread on the subject might interest you:

https://www.ownerrez.com/forums/general-help/sent-email-for-quotes

-Michelle

It has come to my attention that a booking quote, sent via OwnerRez, went into the spam folder. Plus, the guest didn't even know it was from me. So, they just deleted it. I know that you have added the Subject line to include the owner's name (or name put somewhere), but I almost missed this booking. Makes me wonder if this is why I have not been getting any bookings via OwnerRez, unless I followed up through my email.

Can we have our own email for OwnerRez, for starters? For example, the email would be coming back to them... CP9293@OwnerRez.com, not inquiries@ownerreservations.com? Is that what the guest sees, "inquiries@ownerreservations.com"?

Thanks,
Claudia

"Yes, you can extend/shorten the pending period at any time. Play with it a little so you can see how it works.

Add a manual booking. Then go into General Info and set a pending date. You'll notice that the booking shows as "pending" everywhere you see it. Notice the red spat at the top of the booking that persists between pages. Click the Remove Pending link (or go into General Info again) and you can see that you have options to remove it, extend it, shorten it, etc."

Great to know just in case the check doesn't come in on time..I didn't think about the check cashing part that you mentioned above but that could be dealt with the extending the pending
date you mention above.

Thanks, Silvia

You're right. That is unclear. The word "after" there means "after 7 days, this is what we're going to do" but it's not worded very well. We'll change that to "within".



No, we just assumed internally that 7 days was the least amount of time that a pending booking should have before being auto-canceled. If it takes the guest a day or two to put it in the mail, and they live across the country, it would be a minimum of 4 or 5 days before it showed up in your mailbox. You (the owner) then have to deposit it into your bank account and make sure it clears before entering the payment and removing the PENDING flag.

You're correct though - this is something the owner should be able to determine. I just ran this up the flagpole and was told that we'll be lowering the requirement to 3. Evidently, two other users have asked about the same thing.

To be clear, you CAN cancel the booking any time you want - even a few seconds after it was made. Just navigate to the booking in the control panel and click the Cancel link on the top right.



Yes, you can extend/shorten the pending period at any time. Play with it a little so you can see how it works.

Add a manual booking. Then go into General Info and set a pending date. You'll notice that the booking shows as "pending" everywhere you see it. Notice the red spat at the top of the booking that persists between pages. Click the Remove Pending link (or go into General Info again) and you can see that you have options to remove it, extend it, shorten it, etc.

-Michelle

Hi Silvia,

Yes, that is very clear and I think that would be the plan, should this begin development. When the quote changes statuses (to EXPIRED or to PREEMPTED), the email would contain an explanation with several solutions for each of those statuses.

-Michelle

I have another question - not sure what the customer sees but when I am in the check method window I see -

If the check hasn't arrived "AFTER" 7 days, the booking will be auto-canceled, shouldn't this say "Within" or "before". It almost sounds to me like the check should arrive after 7 days else it will be cancelled..?? or am I misunderstanding it?

Also is there a legal reason we need to wait no less than 7 days prior to canceling the booking?

Most of my renters are within the USA and up to now they are able to get me the checks in 4 days, I would like the option to make that lower than 7 days, I understand people that are accepting international funds (Canada or people in other countries with USA checks) need more time but that's why they can modify that to as many days they want. I personally don't want to hold up my dates for a check that may never arrive. As just happened to me and lost a bookings waiting for this check, granted this had nothing to do with your system but until you are able to send a response to the preempted action(?)/email. I would like the option to shorten the window. On the other hand if the renter is legit and can't for some reason get me her check until after the 4 days - what is my option - does the system allow me to go and extend the date per booking or it's not possible and I have to let the system cancel the reservation and we need to start all over again? Does the system allow you to resurrect a quote and/or booking?

Silvia

Michelle, I would like that..since I do get people asking for dates the are mid week and then others may request dates that include part of those dates. If one books it then the other booking may be lost with the pre-empted notification but if you even mentioned that other dates may be open and pointed them to the website of the owners choosing - the vrbo/homeaway/own website - it could be part of a signature.

Silvia

Michelle,

Could an email,(/action on the website since not sure where they would see the above events/status's,) be sent for different events?
If the quote expired means the dates are still open just that the quote provided may no longer be valid - could something like:
Please contact the owner again your previous quote may have changed - why? special ended, etc whatever possible reasons that a quote would change.
If the quote is preempted and the renter tries to rent - maybe something like:
Please contact the owner because the dates you requested may no longer be available. Why? Waiting on a check from another renter, part of your dates have been booked, maybe owner has a similar rental that is available for your dates, etc.


Not sure if I made myself clear and not sure if that is possible either.
Silvia

"You're right about the alert to the owners - it would be very useful to see if someone else crashed into the PREEMPTED warning and had to go away. Likewise, sending them an alert with "your current quote was just preempted but the same dates are open at our other [x] cabin"."

Or... sending them an alert with "your current quote was just preempted please email the owner and see if those dates are still available or if we have availability to another townhouse."

They won't know what preempted/expired means, as it is. This will encourage people to notify us, after receiving that screen. It might have expired, but the dates might still be available, they just can't book online, because it is EXPIRED. I, personally, would think the dates are no longer available and move on.

Claudia

At the moment, bookings block out dates with no exceptions. There is no way to create quotes for the same dates or to give new inquirers any hope of getting them. You have to wait until the pending bookings expires and is auto-canceled (or you manually cancel/remove it yourself). I don't believe we could implement what you're referring to because of the complexity involved, but I'll definitely pass it along for more review.

You're right about the alert to the owners - it would be very useful to see if someone else crashed into the PREEMPTED warning and had to go away. Likewise, sending them an alert with "your current quote was just preempted but the same dates are open at our other [x] cabin".

-Michelle

PS. I think this is one of the reasons the vast majority of our uses require payment by credit card and don't even bother with checks. It creates too many waiting games and complexities. Nowadays, anyone with a checking account also has a debit/check card too.

I was wondering, what happens now when a check is checked off as the customer wanting to pay by check? Does the system now treat it as a BOOKED transacation, thus changing status' to PREEMPTED? If so, can there be a separate status instead, maybe Awaiting check?

Some times customers change their minds, without telling us, and we lose out on other bookings. I am trying to figure out which is the best way of not losing a second person inquiring for dates we are waiting for the check.

Ideally, it would be nice to have the system create a status for these scenerios. We can let the potential customer know that we are awaiting a check from a potential guest. But, what if they asked first, a second party BOOKS using a check, and the first customer comes back a couple of days later, ready to book? I guess it goes back to sending an ALERT to the owner, that someone tried to book. However, ALSO, letting the potential customer know that a check is being awaited and we will notify them if it opens up again.

Thus, under this new status (awaiting?) have the screen come up stating this fact. Instead of it just being PREEMPTED and the dates are closed and booked. The dates are not always closed and booked when a check is "being" sent.

You know what I mean?

Claudia

Yes, that is on the dev road. It has not yet been scheduled for design yet.

-Michelle

HI - Didn't see this discussed elsewhere.

Is there a plan to add 'optional charges' to the Charges tab. In other words, allowing a guest to select via check-box what options (e.g. a tour) they wanted to add to their reservation?

Pawel

Great. :)

Claudia

Hi Claudia,

Yes, that makes a lot of sense. I like the idea of sending the owner an alert when the guest tries to view the quote but hits an expired or preempted roadblock.

-Michelle

Hi Michele,

Below is what happens when a person wants to book, after it has expired. Just like the Preempted status, can you please add more to what comes up...

"This quote expired and is no longer available.

What does this mean?

All quotes have an expiration date. If the quote is not accepted before the expiration date, the quote is no longer valid."

Many times, people will come back, after "expired" dates, and tell me they want to book, if it is still available. Someone that would want to do that and clicks on the link, they don't know that the dates may still be available. It appears that they aren't. Plus, I would not have any idea that they even tried to book.

Thus, can the wording be more along the lines of checking the calendar to see if the dates are still available? Or, "This quote expired and is no longer available - however, the dates may still be available. Please check with owner."

I don't want to lose those people. Or... sending an alert to the owner that someone tired to book and the deal expired. At least, owners could send them a note stating that another quote will be sent (or we change the expirationg date for them to book).

You know what I mean?

Claudia

Hi Claudia,

We don't currently support that, or have any immediate solution to making it work that way, so I wanted to leave it in the Feature Requests forum as something users (at least one!) wanted for the dev team to look at later.

I've already noted down that the wording should be changed to include asking the owner for different dates.

Thanks for the suggestion.

-Michelle

Did you see this one?

Claudia

Once something changes to preempted, due to someone else bookings, can you include our calendar on the page that comes up stating

This quote was preempted and is no longer available. --- Please look at our calendar at.... http://www.xxxxx.com and see if another dates works for you. Thank you. ** Or ** --- Please notify the owner and see if other dates work.

Sometimes, the requested date may be July 19 - July 21. Yet, July 20 - July 22 is booked. The guest that comes back looking for the original dates may be able to shift there date to make it work to leave on July 20. Then the owner gets the extra booking.

Thank you. Eventually, it would be better to come in the SEND TO, so the extra step doesn't need to be done. :)

Claudia