I agree with the previous poster Annaanna. Large advertisers need to be able to opt-out of this system. I have dozens of listings. I cannot work with the new Conversation system. If you've been listening to the feedback from this discussion thread http://community.homeaway.com/thread/4590?start=0&tstart=0  with over 600 replies it is overwhelming against this new system.

Maybe it "fights" phishing (maybe not), but HA / VRBO has already solved that.  If you enable it, VRBO texts you when you get an inquiry and HA can send the inquiry to another e-mail address (that is never used to respond, therefore can never be phished).  Make one, or both of these mandatory and the phishing problem is gone.

Paul, I hear what you're saying but as far as the quote above, not all of us use or pay extra for SMS texting on our cell phones or mobile devices and many of us rely on landlines still for business calls (or forward to cells when away).  Any solution that forces users to subscribe to SMS text services is not comprehensive or fair.

As far as the second point, when you say HA can send the inquiry to another e-mail address are you saying that would be the only address they send it to and then you respond from another address?  That e-mail address you specify is still an outside e-mail address which can be hacked or password discovered (although maybe less likely if not used for outgoing mail).  When my password was once breached they logged into my ISP's mail server to reroute my e-mails then delete from server so I never knew they existed, and I'm not so sure that means they wouldn't have been able to discover the password to the one used for incoming only, but again it is probably less likely since not used for outgoing or listed as a contact for you anywhere else on the Web.

The problem is though, how many homeowners or managers are going to set up a separate e-mail address on their own and be sure to conduct business this way without being told, and then if they don't be held liable for not doing that?  I think HA/VRBO is trying to devise a solution that does not rely on the customer having to take all the security precautions on their own, but instead a system that secures everyone, regardless of whether they go through the steps to set what you describe up.

Hi melissa,

Thank you for the chance to comment on the proposals. I'm very interested in this feature....but I had one problem ...  when I used the link to start the survey, I managed to input the first 2 survey questions...using "next" to get to the next page.....but then the survey *ended*...."thanking me for my input". 

I never got further....I never got to see the examples.  Can you send me a new survey link, please?   

Dear Melissa:

I tried to do the survey and chose "property manager" and the survey closed immediately. I believe that means that you will not lock property managers into this system. Please confirm.

Thank you for requesting feedback.

Excellent feedback and I couldn't have said it better. I appreciate that Paul immediately picked up on the obvious.  Calling something "a great solution for improved communications" does not make it "a great solution for improved communications". HA is not our rental agent; we don't need you to track or store our enquiries in an HA-run archive. We want to control it ourselves.

1. )    Solve the problem by making it absolutely clear on every single enquiry and on the website that guests should never, ever send Wires or Money Orders.  How hard is that? Instead you redefine the entire business with a complex system that creates a whole new set of problems -- for owners, property managers and guests. Invest your funds to educate the marketplace to not send wire payments or money orders, don't spend funds to build an enquiry system we don't want.
   
   
2. )    If you haven't gotten the message, we'll put it more simply.  You're over-engineering  a solution by using a bazooka to kill a fly. Have techno-types taken over your marketing services company? For visitors who don't understand the following -- never pay via wire or money order -- there will always be a scammer who will find a work-around.

1. And the bazooka doesn't work: It is impossible to format text:  Swlinphx -- you picked up on the most important issue in your 2nd post:  Each reply must be formatted individually and nothing is automated. We use over 100 automated formats to reply to queries, done easily in Word.  You cannot replicate it n the format HA is building.

• Example: I started typing directly into this comment box. Added points and had to  re-number them manually. So I started over in a Word document which is easier to format and decided to paste afterwards.  All the points, 1 - 6, numbered correctly in Word.  Format was perfect; each point showed as 1.) - 6.) 
• Look what happened when I pasted the comment into this box: the first 2 comments numbered correctly, 1.) and 2.). THEN it reverted to 1, 2 and 3 -- without the ')' sign.  The last 2 points simply went to " 1. " .  How would you like to answer/format/edit each and every reply wasting this much time?
• Bullet points appeared in the middle of a paragraph, which I removed so the reader can understand the email.

1. We must track inquiries within our existing system -- not an HA - controlled Inbox that is impossible to integrate and track.  Your current ‘analysis for owners’ demonstrates the point – in fifteen years, the analysis of inquiries produces a total of 2 data points: the number of queries and date. You can’t even remove duplicate inquiries to the same account. Please, no ‘great solutions’.

1. HA: Appreciate you're putting this out to your paying clients. Read the earlier discussions about your decision to remove all watermarking logos without notifying owners. Removing watermarks is not ‘a great solution to improve our listings’. As Paul implied, we're not naive.  Clearly, it was the only way you could integrate VRBO and Homeaway in order to raise prices to $1000 per listing.  If your primary concern is security, this is a much bigger problem for owners. Scammers can take screen shots of every single owners listing on HA -- 400,000+ -- and create scam listings on Craig’s List.

We too occasionally accept money orders, but only when there is ample time before the booking to ensure the money order is legit, not counterfeit. My understanding is that the problem with money orders is for renters. If a renter sends a money order to a scammer only to learn later that the propery listing is fake, they have absolutely no recourse. This is what can happen with fake Craigs List postings.

Also, thank you Mauirentals for bringing up the sore point that HA has removed all the watermarks from our photos, making it even easier for scammers to copy our VRBO or HomeAway photos to create fake Craigs List postings.