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Up to Discussions in Managing Inquiries
8293 Views 28 Replies Latest reply: Dec 9, 2011 11:47 AM by info@stayattremblant.com RSS
mtbcondo Contributor
mtbcondo
27 posts since
Feb 18, 2011
Currently Being Moderated

Feb 18, 2011 12:55 PM

replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

Why is it that after 200 plus inquiries, I still get the same ads and junk in the signiture line of my inquiries from vrbo.com?

 

This junk is forwarded to my potential guests when I hit the reply from my phone or computer or whatever I'm responding with and probably confuses them because it says things like "increase your bookings" etc etc, stuff that only I should be reading,

 

The only way to delete it is to reply via a computer at home and highlight it and delete it every time I reply to an e-mail inquiry, this is a huge inconvenience, is there something I'm missing or a way to not get this in my inquiry e-mails anymore?

  • Contributor
    ravetildon
    62 posts since
    Mar 1, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Mar 1, 2011 10:00 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    I dont' liek it either. I just delete it.

  • smiley Contributor
    smiley
    Currently Being Moderated
    Mar 15, 2011 12:57 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    I delete it before sending my response, too.  And then feel embarrased if per chance I was in a hurry and forgot to delete it

    Wish vrbo would stop including it with every inquiry.

  • community-editor HomeAway Employee
    community-editor
    14 posts since
    Dec 7, 2010
    Currently Being Moderated
    Mar 25, 2011 4:14 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    Tim,

     

    Thanks for your input on the signature line of VRBO emails.

    I have passed along your feedback!

     

    All best,

     

    Meredith

  • gin Contributor
    gin
    25 posts since
    Dec 16, 2010
    Currently Being Moderated
    Mar 25, 2011 6:25 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    I agree it is annoying.   I hope Meridith can stop it.  

  • New Member
    martha
    2 posts since
    Apr 1, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Apr 1, 2011 10:43 AM (in response to mtbcondo)
    replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    I have been furious about this since singing up with VRBO.  I have had  to seek out a computer when I have been traveling so I will not have  that 'crap' on my response.  I find it totally unprofessional to simply  reply via my phone as I cannot delete that mess.  This has become a real  source of anger and frustration to me!  VRBO needs to listen and  correct this behaviour.

  • sfvacationhut Community Ambassador
    sfvacationhut
    576 posts since
    Dec 31, 2010
    Currently Being Moderated
    May 1, 2011 6:22 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    Great idea!  I, too, find that extra signature to be dreadful, but I never thought of writing to VRBO and asking them to get rid of it.  I hope this works.

     

    Many of us would love to do a quick reply from our smart phones.  We might be out for the day and unable to get home to respond with a quick "Yes, it's available, and here's the price" for another 12 hours.  And speaking for me, personally, in my android phone, I am using gmail, and there is no way for me to edit the fields and delete that stuff, when I am replying.  So if I want to delete that signature, so it's not visible to a guest, I have to get home to the computer to make the response. 

     

    Hope VRBO can fix this!

     

    Thanks for posting the question.

  • jeffbailey Community Ambassador
    jeffbailey
    89 posts since
    Jun 3, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Oct 30, 2011 6:20 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    What kind of smart phone do you have?  There are ways to reply to an email and delete the original email, but it can be a little tricky.  On an iPhone you press and hold and then a menu with appear that contains "Select All". Press that and then press Cut.

     

    Also, you might be interested in an iPhone/iPad app that makes it really easy to respond to inquiries from HomeAway and VRBO.  It's called Vacation Props and its available in the App Store.  It will generate an email response to an inquiry using email templates that you customize and seasonal rates that you configure.  See the links below if you're interested.

     

    Jeff Bailey

    http://www.fourthframe.com/FourthFrame_Technologies/VacationProps.html

    http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/vacation-props/id452612798?mt=8

  • dava Contributor
    dava
    67 posts since
    Mar 2, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 1, 2011 6:22 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    MyVRMS is a service that can help you automate the reply to the inquiries you receive with a picture of your property, quote for the requested dates, custom text (calling out your properties best features), and property restrictions (if you choose). You can turn it on/off as needed, if you choose to respond yourself while close to a computer. We dont include any junk content in the email, only your information and contact data. The email is sent with your email address, so the inquirer simply responds to the email and it goes directly to your inbox. This solution gives answers to the renters questions fast. Are you available and how much is it?

    If your interested in learning more, send me an email; dava@myvrms.com

  • loscuatrotulipanes Community Ambassador
    loscuatrotulipanes
    175 posts since
    Oct 7, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 2, 2011 5:18 AM (in response to mtbcondo)
    Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    Hi Guys,

    A few semi-solutions...

     

    1. If you use Outlook: Tools>Options>Preferences>Email Options: Under On replies and forwards, in the When replying to a message drop-down list, select Do not include original message.

    2. If you use Gmail: Mail Settings>General>Conversation View: Turning Conversation View Off turns off threading (consolidating one email + response together). It does not, however, eliminate the original message. Gmail does not have a feature for this. You can suggest a feature to them here: http://mail.google.com/support/bin/static.py?page=suggestions.cs

    3. If you happen to be using an Android or Blackberry, simply uncheck the Original Text box or select Delete Original Text respectively (I don't know of any setting that makes this the default so you have to do it on a message-to-message basis). If you are using an iPhone, the easiest thing you can do is hold down your finger on the original message. This does a 'select all' -- then just start typing and it removes the original message/signature/any junk you may find annoying. Almost all other smartphones have an option to "delete original text" or "clear field" -- Blackberry and Droid have announced a setting for this feature will be offered in coming versions.

     

    Lastly, I keep VERY close tabs on my reservation rate (the percentage of inquiries that convert into actual bookings) and personal, prompt, informative correspondence is of the utmost importance. If you are often on the road and don't have the time/capacity to respond fully to your rental inquiries, I like to recommend using an auto-reply that says something to the effect of "Hi renter! I'm on the road this afternoon but it looks as though we do have availability and I'll get back to you ASAP." If you can include some useful links of interest for them in the meantime or perhaps give them a call instead, you're 5x more likely to seal the reservation. On average 63% of vacation rental inquiries don't make it past the first point of contact.


    Matt is the author of Obsessing Over Your Reservation Rate, how vacation rental owners can double their bookings simply by converting more of the guest inquiries they already have!

  • pcb-randy Contributor
    pcb-randy
    88 posts since
    Oct 31, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 5, 2011 4:58 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    I like to reply to the guest with the original email received from VRBO so there is no questions about the original request by the guest (names, dates, comments, etc.).  It also lists my property so they know exactly who is responding to them.  It establishes the start of a chain of emails that gets exchanged between me and the guests.  This way there is never a question about any of the facts of the reservation and what has been exchanged between the two of us.

     

    VRBO does not want you to use this email to respond to your guest.  They want you to use their services so that they can track your interaction with your guest.  It is a big pain to remove all that trash that they put in the email that comes after the important guest information.  A suggestion to VRBO - give us an option to not recieve all that extra trash!  If they must send it to us, send it to us in another email that has nothing to do with a specific guest.

     

    If you use HomeAway, they have made it even harder to remove all their trash before responding to a guest!  It is all about control for VRBO & HomeAway and NO control for us (their customer)!  Just like they have now changed the guest review process and now require guests to create a travel account before they can enter a guest review for us.

     

    Randy

  • info@stayattremblant.com Community Ambassador
    info@stayattremblant.com
    374 posts since
    Aug 25, 2011
    Currently Being Moderated
    Nov 22, 2011 4:04 PM (in response to mtbcondo)
    Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

    With the busy Holiday and Ski season coming, I'm finally getting some leads from HA / VRBO.

     

    Notwithstanding that guests don't bother to look at my calendar any more (HA has enabled guests to "cheat" and send multiple enquiries -- but this is a different issue), I find myself spending a significant amount of time removing the crap that HA/VRBO has put in the e-mails before replying to guests.

     

    We all should be aware that the link back to our property has all sorts of tracking information in it from HA/VRBO.  Here's an example of what the link under your property number looks like:

     

    http://www.vrbo.com/98497?cid=E_OWNERINQUIRY_DB_O_20111114_propertyurl_text_LPROP

     

    It is possible that this URL allows HA/VRBO to track information about your guests (geography, time of reply, etc.)  It may be just for statistics or it could be more nefarious. 

     

    For my part, I have also started editing this URL to its simplest form:

    http://www.vrbo.com/98497

     

    Please VRBO/HA -- get rid of the crap in the e-mails.  It is driving me crazy.

    P.

    • pcb-randy Contributor
      pcb-randy
      88 posts since
      Oct 31, 2011
      Currently Being Moderated
      Nov 22, 2011 4:32 PM (in response to info@stayattremblant.com)
      Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

      I see you have some guest reviews.  Have you heard what the HomeAway site has now done to the guest review process?  Your guests will now have to set up an account with HomeAway before they will be able to enter a review for your property.  So if your guest reviews slack off this winter season, it could be because of the new process.  I know of three reviews that I have lost since they implemented this process a month or two ago.

       

      You would think that since we pay HomeAway and VRBO to list our properties, they would treat us like the customer.  They keep making changes that negativly impact our business.  They have decided that they will do everything their way because they just don't care what we have to say!

       

      They need to get rid of all the crap at the bottom of the inquiries and stop requiring guests to open an account just to provide a guest review!  At the very least they could give us an option if we want to receive the crap and give the guest the option if they want to set up an account.  I don't think we are asking to much from them!

       

       

      Randy

      • New Member
        martha
        2 posts since
        Apr 1, 2011
        Currently Being Moderated
        Nov 22, 2011 5:08 PM (in response to pcb-randy)
        Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

        We have not been able to beg a review from anyone since June.  Now we know why  We had also summized that people were sending out mass inquiries, but thought they were doing the old copy and paste.  Does anyone at HomeAway/VRBO have any idea how much effort an owner has to put into a reply - even those that ask the most lame questions like 'it is available' or our most recent one for a 4 BR home, 'what is the rate for 2 people'.   We are told to answer these emails ASAP, but they make it less and less user friendly for the owner.   Exhausted with their lack of customer service.   

        • victor.nawrocki Contributor
          victor.nawrocki
          77 posts since
          May 21, 2011
          Currently Being Moderated
          Nov 24, 2011 7:01 AM (in response to martha)
          Re: replying to VRBO Rental Inquiries with (vrbo's) junk signiture info in the e-mail

          HomeAway has dumbed down the inquiry process so that they can raise their inquiry rate (effect: you think they are doing their job). It is as simple as that!  What this does to the consumer is make us look insignificant - our TIME is theirs to waste! "Don't select a property on how you like it - select on how CHEAP you can get it."  Then once the customers select you, well, then the fun begins.  They STILL LOOK! Why, because HomeAway has created a lack of respect for owners!  Our time, Our Home, has become a generic commodity.  It is like the clearance aisle where these people can pick over the remains. Even their FAQ's tell guest to not respect the owner, we may be frauds! IMAGINE!  You don't have to here it is!   Guess what? HA says even if the property is on their site it may be a fraud! Create respect for us HomeAway. NOT FEAR!

          Legitimate.JPG

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