Our Channel Management feature is extremely powerful and can greatly simplify your channel advertising. Learn how it works by reading our Channel Management Overview article.
The most fundamental part of channel management is knowing which listings are which between a channel (eg. Vrbo, Airbnb) and OwnerRez. Whether you're running Channel Bridge, importing reviews, forwarding inquires or doing other things, OwnerRez has to know what your listings numbers are and the corresponding property for each in OwnerRez.
Why this matters
Here is a visual illustration of the problem. The picture below shows the same properties on OwnerRez and VRBO.
On the left side, the OwnerRez properties show a clean name, ID and code. On the right side, Vrbo shows the listings with similar names (or possibly marketing headlines) and listing numbers that are completely different. In real life, these are the same physical properties.
As the owner or manager of the properties, you understand which ones go together just by looking at them, but OwnerRez does not. Even if you named them exactly the same in both OwnerRez and the channel, OwnerRez would still not be able to match them up because sometimes the listing number is used instead of the property name when syncing data back and forth.
The below screenshot shows a Vrbo listing next to the same property in OwnerRez. The names match but the listing/property number do not.
Channel data always includes the listing number (eg. 194109 in the example above) but not the listing name (eg. "Tiny Terrace"). So OwnerRez is left to figure out which property 194109 is.
To solve this problem, we created an "Identifier Mappings" page where you can set which listing number goes with which OwnerRez property.
Setting the mappings
Go to Settings > Channels > Identifier Mapping in OwnerRez. You'll see a large list of channels.
These are all the channels that we support mappings for.
Find the channel that you want to map, and click the "Map" button on that channel. A page will load showing your list of OwnerRez properties and, next to it, a column showing the corresponding listing number for the channel. If this is the first time you have come to this area, no channel listing numbers will be showing. If you do see some listing numbers, they may have been entered for you because of some other operation or import you did in OwnerRez.
Click the Change Mappings button at the top and let's get started.
This is a very straightforward page. For each property, enter the corresponding channel listing number and then click Save. There is nothing else to configure or enable. Once you enter your listing numbers, you're all set. If a property has no corresponding listing for this channel, leave it empty.
Common problems and questions
There are a couple of common problems that users tend to run into when setting Identifier Mappings. If you have a problem or question, check out the below sections to see if one of these sounds familiar.
If it's something else other than what we have below, shoot us an email and we'll let you know what's going on.
Multiple listings for the same property on the same channel
For various reasons, some users have multiple listings on the same channel for the same single property. If you have multiple listing numbers, enter all the listing numbers together with a comma separating them.Different brand names for the same channel
Some large international channels own and operate different brand names (ie. domain names) under the same roof. The largest example of this is Vrbo which operates Vrbo.com, Vrbo.com and VacationRentals.com in addition to dozens of other regional names. We have channel options available for each variation so that you can enter the correct listing number relevant to each brand. Make sure you are entering the correct listing number for each brand. Don't put a Vrbo listing number into the Vrbo mappings page.Where is TripAdvisor?
TripAdvisor operates multiple VR brands but, in reality, only has one vacation rental system under the covers. Even if your listings appear on multiple TripAdvisor websites, there is typically only one listing number for each TripAdvisor listings. For that reason, we have a "FlipKey" channel option where you can put in that TripAdvisor listing number. We call it FlipKey because that is, historically, what TripAdvisor has called their vacation rental division. Note that our API integration for TripAdvisor uses the regular TripAdvisor name.Listing numbers versus unit numbers
Some channels support the concept of "units" within a listing. OwnerRez does not support units. Each property in OwnerRez represents a uniquely bookable entity. If your physical house has 3 virtual units within it, those 3 units should each be a separate property in OwnerRez and each have a listing on the channel. The listing number is the only thing you can enter in the Identifier Mapping area.
Property Mapping Warnings
When mapping properties to an API connection, OwnerRez displays key warnings or errors that may prevent you from connecting those properties. The Property Mapping Warnings and Layout includes hyperlinked text for each warning or error that users can click to resolve.
Users can check to see if they have any Property Mapping Warnings by navigating to Settings > Channels > API Integrations > their specific Listing Channel > Change Property Mappings. You probably won't see any if all your properties are included for a specific API connection.