Leaving Hostaway because of their booking fee?

Google Vacation Rentals Connectivity Partner

Status: Released 370 Votes
Shawn H
Mar 13, 2024 10:41 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 257 posts

Hello all! We have some exciting news (that happens to coincide with Vacation Rental Week 2024). Google Vacation Rentals is now self-service for all users! We wanted to get the word out as soon as possible, but more details are coming in a Product Update blog post later this week. In the meantime, you can read on for a few details and use the links to the current support articles for more information.

We thank those who participated in the Private Beta to help us make it a robust integration!

Please note:

1. Once you turn on Google Vacation Rentals, it's a 2-3 week wait on the Google side before your listing(s) start showing up.

2. Users are no longer required to have an OwnerRez Hosted Website (premium feature) to use Google Vacation Rentals. If you turned on a Hosted Website just for GVR, you no longer need it, unless you want to keep it. Instead, we have released a "The OwnerRez global landing page" option under the Google Vacation Rentals API settings. Prospective guests will be sent to this new landing page where they can see the quote details of the dates they've selected; they can change any of those selections before they click "Book Now," which will send them to the current guest quote acceptance booking form. It will also show any branding you have set up under Theming. Here's a screenshot below of what it looks like, generally.

3. If you have a hosted website and want to use it, you can. You are not required to use the global landing page option.

Support article links:

Google Vacation Rentals Overview

Google Vacation Rentals Setup & Connecting

Google Vacation Rentals Common Issues & Questions

Robert P
Mar 13, 2024 5:16 PM
Joined Aug, 2023 46 posts

Thank you for what appears to have been a Herculean task!

For those of us that don't have an OR Hosted Website, it would be really great to be able to view a 'live' preview of the landing page using a link on the GVR Integration page.

Or is there someplace else to view it that I have missed?

If this should be listed as its own Feature Request, please go ahead and move it.

Chris O
Mar 13, 2024 5:21 PM
Joined Mar, 2023 7 posts

We've pushed out a couple of tweaks.

Alin S, tdblanchard, NickV, Lauren J - please try again.

Notes:

  • "Taxes cannot be ordered" - the issue here was that OwneRez was considering taxes that were not applied to Google Vacation Rentals.
  • GVR does not support per-stay pet fees, but we've put in an ignore since Price Accuracy checks shouldn't be looking for those since you can't set number of pets on Google as a prospective guest.

Chris O - we're still looking into this issue. It may take a few days for us to formulate the best fix.

Thanks,

Shawn

by Shawn H – Mar 13, 2024 8:32 PM (UTC)

It seems some change you have made for others, resolved it for me as well. I was able to create a connection despite a few listing quality errors. Though I think the main issue was lack of 8 photos on some listings. I do feel that it shouldn't prevent creating the connection. Additionally I don't think it should default to included for all property mappings.

Shawn H
Mar 13, 2024 5:22 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 257 posts

Hello Shawn,

I’m using a hosted website with all my properties listed under one roof but prices display as unavailable on GVR for some of my properties even though dates selected are available. What can be the problem? Thanks!

 

Please write into the Helpdesk and we'll take a look.

Shawn H
Mar 13, 2024 5:30 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 257 posts

For those of us that don't have an OR Hosted Website, it would be really great to be able to view a 'live' preview of the landing page using a link on the GVR Integration page.

by Robert P – Mar 13, 2024 9:16 PM (UTC)

Great idea. One we're already working on!

Once you're listed on Google, and find a property of yours, you can click through to the landing page that way.

Shawn H
Mar 13, 2024 5:33 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 257 posts

It seems some change you have made for others, resolved it for me as well. I was able to create a connection despite a few listing quality errors. Though I think the main issue was lack of 8 photos on some listings. I do feel that it shouldn't prevent creating the connection. Additionally I don't think it should default to included for all property mappings.

by Chris O – Mar 13, 2024 9:21 PM (UTC)
Good to know, Chris. We'll continue to smoothen things to help further (for new and existing connections alike).
Alin S
Mar 13, 2024 5:49 PM
Joined Aug, 2022 44 posts

I removed the tax order to start the process. Honestly, I don't think i really care if the taxes are ordered or not

I added the order back out of curiosity, and the list quality analyzer shows these errors. You said "..OwneRez was considering taxes that were not applied to Google Vacation Rentals"..is there a list somewhere?

 

Completely unrelated and with 100% acknowledgment that what I'm about to say is not in OR control: GVR feels like Google hired a bunch of high schoolers (by that, I mean folks that don't have any knowledge of the industry) and then let them go nuts on designing and implementing GVR. The rules and regulations make zero sense. Is their product, so they have the freedom to build whatever they want; if I don't like it, then I shouldn't use it. Even so, i stand by what i just said

Alin S
Mar 13, 2024 5:52 PM
Joined Aug, 2022 44 posts

seriously...what am I doing wrong here for my posts to show up multiple times? every time I post, the page blocks on "submitting" for minutes...than multiple posts show up

Shawn H
Mar 13, 2024 6:05 PM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 257 posts

Hey Alin - it's not you. We're looking into forum posts lagging and wondering if it's this ginormous thread that's laggy. I deleted your duplicate post, no worries.

NickV
Mar 13, 2024 6:28 PM
Joined Jan, 2021 11 posts

 

@Shawn H- still gives me the same error.  

Robert P
Mar 13, 2024 7:40 PM
Joined Aug, 2023 46 posts

For those of us that don't have an OR Hosted Website, it would be really great to be able to view a 'live' preview of the landing page using a link on the GVR Integration page.

by Robert P – Mar 13, 2024 9:16 PM (UTC)

Great idea. One we're already working on!

Once you're listed on Google, and find a property of yours, you can click through to the landing page that way.

by Shawn H – Mar 13, 2024 9:30 PM (UTC)

I'm not patient enough to wait two weeks for the my listings to appear on GVR to do that!  Hahah ;-)

Jeremy and Caitlyn J
Mar 13, 2024 9:29 PM
Joined Feb, 2019 5 posts

Hi Shawn,

I've been monitoring all the comments all day on the OwnerRez FB Support Group as well as this forum and assumed that when integrated with GVR that I would receive the same Pet Fee error that everyone else has been receiving.  But to my surprise, I didn't receive the error.  Was it because of what you said earlier (below)?  Moreover, does the "ignore" mean that my $150/pet/stay will not be charged to the GVR guest?

  • GVR does not support per-stay pet fees, but we've put in an ignore since Price Accuracy checks shouldn't be looking for those since you can't set number of pets on Google as a prospective guest.
Paul W
Mar 14, 2024 10:31 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

I've been monitoring all the comments all day on the OwnerRez FB Support Group as well as this forum and assumed that when integrated with GVR that I would receive the same Pet Fee error that everyone else has been receiving.  But to my surprise, I didn't receive the error.

We rolled out some changes mid-day, in response to what we were seeing, to change the "pet fee" validation issues.  That is now no longer required.

Moreover, does the "ignore" mean that my $150/pet/stay will not be charged to the GVR guest?

Guests will still be charged a pet fee if they select pets during the booking process.

The issue was that Google has no "pet fee" type of setting, so there's no way to pass your pet fee from OwnerRez across to their system.  So we were throwing up a validation message in OwnerRez if you have a pet fee to exclude it for Google Vacation Rentals.  However, we realized that the pet fee doesn't matter because there is no way for a guest to select "bringing a pet" in Google Vacation Rentals interface, so there's no reason to validate against that.  In other words, there's no way for them to come from Google to your landing page with a pet selected and not see the right fee.  If they then add a pet on the landing page, then the fees will properly adjust, but they can't have it default to a pet fee because there's no pet option on Google.  So we removed the validation check.

Shawn H
Mar 14, 2024 11:08 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2021 257 posts

@Shawn H- still gives me the same error.  

by NickV – Mar 13, 2024 10:28 PM (UTC)

NickV, please write into the helpdesk about this (if you haven't already) and we can take a closer look.

Shasta Lakeshore
Mar 14, 2024 11:21 AM
Joined Sep, 2022 6 posts

Hello All,

I was ready to launch into adding my 16 listings to Google Travel but based on the traffic and issues...would you recommend I waits for some of this to be resolved.  I prefer not to be spend too much time on it.  Or are some of you connecting with no issues?  Thoughts?

 

Thanks

Dave and Lori
Shasta Lakeshore Retreat

Brendan C
Mar 14, 2024 11:25 AM
Joined Nov, 2019 23 posts

Just wanted clarification...when someone books on GVR is it the same as if they book on our personal website? In this case do I need to set up different triggers for automated messages to go out or will it automatically send as if they booked through my direct booking site?

Brie M
Mar 14, 2024 7:32 PM
Joined Feb, 2023 1 post

Just looking to ask about PriceLabs and the Google Price Accuracy Policy before going through the setup if it won't work. I did read the policy carefully.  Will the prices "push" from OwnerRez or do they need to be setup individually to match as I understand the importance of Accuracy

Ken T
Mar 15, 2024 10:47 AM
OR Team Member Joined Aug, 2019 1706 posts

Just looking to ask about PriceLabs and the Google Price Accuracy Policy before going through the setup if it won't work. I did read the policy carefully.  Will the prices "push" from OwnerRez or do they need to be setup individually to match as I understand the importance of Accuracy

by Brie M – Mar 14, 2024 11:32 PM (UTC)

The prices will push from OwnerRez.  The purpose of the new landing pages is specifically to ensure that the Google Price Accuracy Policy is complied with.

Paul W
Mar 18, 2024 6:54 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

I was ready to launch into adding my 16 listings to Google Travel but based on the traffic and issues...would you recommend I waits for some of this to be resolved.  I prefer not to be spend too much time on it.  Or are some of you connecting with no issues?  Thoughts?

Hi Lori, I believe that was a small blip type of thing a few days ago.  Definitely okay to move ahead!  We've recently been alerting users about even small blip outages that are only a minute or so as we continue to refine our sysops processes.  GVR itself does take time to wait on, but that's the same whether you connect now or in a month.  The time delay is how they ingest the property data, verify it and so on.  It's not a traffic issue.  Right after we announced it was live for all users, here on the forum, there were many hundreds of users that went and turned it on, but that didn't create any bottlenecks.

Paul W
Mar 18, 2024 9:49 AM
OR Team Member Joined Jun, 2009 848 posts

when someone books on GVR is it the same as if they book on our personal website? In this case do I need to set up different triggers for automated messages to go out or will it automatically send as if they booked through my direct booking site?

Yes, except that it will marked as Google Vacation Rentals as the listing site/channel on the booking.  It's the same as other referral-type channel integrations that send booking traffic directly to your website (or to an OwnerRez quote) from the channel.  I don't have a comprehensive list at the moment, but there is a small list of these like Houfy, FindRentals, etc.  When the guest goes to "book now" on that channel, the channel passes the guest across to your own website or creates an OwnerRez quote and sends the guest to the OwnerRez quote to complete booking.  GVR works the same way.  It follows the same booking process that a "direct booking" does, for practical purposes, but the listing site/channel is flagged as GVR so that you can track which guests came through there.

If you have triggers that target specific bookings coming from different listing sites, you should check to make sure the trigger conditions include/exclude Google Vacation Rentals as well.

PS. Please note that it's possible for a guest to come from GVR to your website but then click to other pages on your website before going back to book.  If they do that, the resultant booking will not show that they came from GVR because that tracking basically "falls off" as they click around.  We are working on a solution to fix this (to keep the tracking permanent even when they click around) but that isn't out yet.

Linda S
Apr 25, 2024 11:07 AM
Joined Jul, 2022 5 posts

We've been live for several months now on Google Vacation Rentals.  I had high hopes that it would be a valuable addition to our channel lineup.  But our experience so far is absolutely nothing.  Was wondering how it is working for others?  Is it just us that it has been a total bust for?