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OwnerRez was founded in 2009 as a long-term booking foundation for vacation rental businesses. Chris Waldschmidt and Paul Hynes, the two founders of the company, are software engineers as well as vacation rental homeowners and property managers. In 2007, they started their journey as vacation rental owners, but quickly found that the management options available didn’t quite cut it. They wanted tools that were simple, clean, and fast. After trying out a variety of property management software options, Chris and Paul decided the best solution was to create their own. That’s how OwnerRez came into the picture.
OwnerRez is a fast and flexible vacation rental software created to cover small homeowners as well as large property managers. As the founders explain on the OwnerRez website, “You need vacation rental software that fully manages your channel listings while focusing on your brand, your website, and your way of doing things.” Since OwnerRez was first created, Chris and Paul, along with their team, have continued to grow and improve the platform so that it can continue to be of value for property managers and vacation rental owners.
The software is designed to look simple and be easy to use, yet there are plenty of powerful functionalities under the surface. Automation is a main focus of the platform.
OwnerRez has seven main features:
You can access OwnerRez from the web, an Android, or an iPhone/iPad.
OwnerRez supports freelancers, small companies, and midsize companies. It isn’t as frequently used by large enterprises.
OwnerRez users can access support in online FAQs and forums. Other options are phone support, email, chat, and an online knowledge base with articles.
Training for OwnerRez is covered through various documents, webinars, and videos, as well as live online and in person.
OwnerRez is an elite partner of Vrbo, which means that it’s part of an exclusive group of top-performing Vrbo connectivity partners. Elite partners offer the highest-quality connection to Vrbo, and they have the most comprehensive functionality.
OwnerRez features a 14-day free trial. After this period of time has passed, it uses a per-property pricing system. The software starts as low as $35 per month for one property, but this only includes Channel Management and Digital Signatures.
If you want to have all functionalities (adding on Property Management, Quickbooks Integration, Websites, and SMS Messaging), then you have the option of paying an additional charge for each one. For one property, this brings the price per month up to $80.
Let’s say you have 10 properties. The price per month for Channel Management and Digital Signatures is $89. For all functionalities, it goes up to $188 per month.
For larger vacation rental businesses with 100 properties, the price starts at $325 and increases to $644 to use all of the features OwnerRez has to offer.
OwnerRez has an easy-to-use pricing tool on its website to show you the exact price you’ll have to pay, depending on the number of properties you manage. Check it out here.
Another thing to note about OwnerRez’s pricing is that there are no setup fees, booking fees, or contracts. There are also unlimited bookings.
One thing that sets OwnerRez apart is its 14-day free trial. Very few property management systems offer a free trial, and those that do typically only offer seven days free before charging for a subscription. OwnerRez also has upfront pricing, which makes it very simple to see how much it will cost. Unlike many other PMS options, OwnerRez doesn’t require you to request pricing.
Another thing that makes OwnerRez different from most property management systems is that it’s web-based, instead of being cloud-based software. The difference is that web-based apps use a single data center and treat each version of their software as unique to a user.
OwnerRez is very highly rated by users and widely praised for its excellent customer service. This really makes it stand out amongst other property management systems because typically, one of the most common complaints has to do with customer service.
Reviews on GetApp were 100% positive, with 100% of reviewers saying they would recommend OwnerRez to others. Out of 87 total reviews, it received an average of five stars. In fact, it received 86 five-star reviews and one four-star review. There were no three, two, or one-star reviews at all.
User reviews revealed that people who use OwnerRez generally have exceptionally positive experiences with customer service. There were many comments about the fast response times from customer support staff, as well as the detailed and effective solutions they offered.
Users also loved the huge number of helpful features included with OwnerRez. One reviewer mentioned the fact that a warning will typically pop up if you inadvertently create a clear conflict within the OwnerRez system.
Another aspect of OwnerRez that many users appreciated were the useful videos, tutorials, and articles that it provides for training and support. They reported that these materials were exceptionally helpful in showing them how to navigate the system.
One particular user said that it was easy to integrate their calendar and booking system into OwnerRez, and it was also simple to set up a secure online payment system for their customers. They also noted that OwnerRez provided the flexibility they needed to configure their nightly rental rates exactly the way they needed to.
Although OwnerRez received an abundance of praise in its reviews, there are a few negative points to go over as well. For example, some users reported that the program was flexible almost to a fault because it allowed so much room for user error. Others warned that it could take quite a while to learn all of the complexities of the system.
Some users noted that the integration process could be lengthy, depending on the number of properties. OwnerRez’s lack of a full accounting system was also mentioned in a few reviews.
One review complained of a double booking issue due to syncing taking up to an hour; however, this didn’t seem to be a common occurrence.