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I don’t get your point. Of course it was an issue with setting rates (which you do in the calendar) but how would I know it isn’t how they set it up intentionally or if it was a glitch or that it is only on the multi-calendar but not the individual one, especially when the rep responded that you have to open the Availability Window to all future dates for it to work?
But you’re right, I am the one who figured it out with no help from them (that is the point if you’ve been reading the last few posts).
Well I didn’t tell them the problem was trying to update multiple properties at once. I did tell the telephone rep I was using the multi-calendar and she did see that it was not possible to edit or add rates for dates not yet bookable (she backtracked and reversed her answer when the first thing I made sure to ask when we spoke was if it is possible to do that and she said “yes”). She didn’t think about it being an issue with the multi-calendar only (neither did I at first, until after I created this topic here). And even if you are only doing one property at a time, you still cannot edit the rates for dates not yet bookable using the multi-calendar.
The question is, why not? Is that their intention and if so, why? The idea of a multi-calendar is to make things easier for those with multiple properties, but does that mean they have to make another feature more difficult in exchange? Has no one with multiple properties who uses the calendar (I imagine tens of thousands) ever before had to set their rates before they are booked? And if it was not AirBnB’s intention but is a glitch, why not address it by now? This is what I’m pursuing with them now, but I am definitely not holding my breath.
This happens all the time. They redesign the dashboard or where they locate settings and suddenly you go into your hosting account and have to waste your time figuring out where they’ve moved something to, that they have renamed something, or find that they have added features front and center that are useless to you and removed ones that you use all the time.
When I first started hosting in 2016, the dashboard was pretty simple and uncluttered, now it takes 3 clicks to get to something that used to take one click. Every revamp has made it more complicated and less intuitive. For instance, why is there nowhere that says “Monthly calendar” ? Instead you can only get to it if you are on your listing page and click on “Calendar” at the top, or click on the name of the listing from the dashboard on the list to the left of the multicalendar. That is absolutely non-intuitive. I’ve read lots of posts from both experienced hosts who either couldn’t figure out how to access the monthly calendar when they redesigned the dashboard, or newbies who didn’t even realize there was a monthly calendar.
There is never any warning or explanation of the changes, either. It’s like gremlins came in your kitchen during the night and rearranged all your drawers and cupboards according to some bizarre organization concept and you have to spend 2 hours looking for where the vegetable peeler got put, only to find it stashed behind the roasting pan you only use twice a year.
I’m sure some of it is intentional, but I feel a lot of it is simply that the programmers are techies, not hosts, so have zero idea what we find valuable and what is not. None of these sorts of changes would be requested by hosts, there is obviously zero consultation.
And if it’s a glitch that resulted from something else they did, they would never know until hosts call reporting it, because the techies don’t use hosting accounts other than to pointlessly screw around with them. Seems just like busywork to me.
Yes! I feel that is the case too. And I do definitely leave feedback. It does perturb me when they introduce other (often unnecessary) bells & whistles without addressing some of the most basic and crucial glitches and issues.
I am used to this due to working with many different platforms for two decades, each of which changes interface, policy and procedure frequently but when it is pointed out to them and they still don’t address it that to me is inexcusable.
I have avoided using a Channel Manager for a while due to the high cost and my ability to develop a very efficient system on my own, but I am considering Lodgify, which also makes it easy to integrate with the new Google Vacation Rentals feature and also have our own independent site where we can take payment directly and hopefully without transaction fees as we must incur now even with direct bookings.
Do any of you use a channel manager with their own integrated website designer that allows for booking and taking payments directly and if so, are the processing fees included in the steep monthly cost for the channel manager itself?
I started using RentalBell a few months ago which is much cheaper but allows me to sync it to multiple platforms and the multiple platforms to it, without each platform communicating or syncing directly with each other, which prevents a lot of issues that can cause. The developer is great and has been very responsive, including my suggestions and glitch fixes regularly.
I can’t understand why the accommodation calendar is so clunky to use, it’s time consuming to block several days and even then it does not always work. A simple cross to block or tick to indicate available as in my own web site would make it so much easier to do. The very faint cross hatching is not clear either!!
I have OwnerRez (OR) and use their WordPress widget on my own site. I signed up with Stripe to process the credit cards because they allow a true hold on the credit card for the security deposit. No, OR does not include the credit card processing fee in their monthly fees.
I don’t think any channel manager would include the credit card fees in a flat rate monthly fee. It would be too big of an unknown in their financial performance because the user might process $0 or $100,000 a month.
