Well, I didn't think I'd be making a posting this quickly, but here goes!
I've been corresponding (in French) with a German woman and her family, who expressed an interest in our apartment for one week in November. When they finally decided to book, I asked them to send me a cheque for 630 euros (linen hire, breakages deposit and rental). I've just received a very shocked e-mail, telling me that isn't the way they do things, that they are willing to pay me 72 euros now, and the rest after the holiday - if I don't accept their terms, then I'm to consider the booking as cancelled. (I never regard a booking as confirmed until the deposit has been paid, in any case!)
I wondered if there are real cultural differences in the way that bookings are handled, and how other people deal with them? We're quite new to letting, but have let to guests from several different countries, and none have objected to our normal terms - 25% deposit, the rest 8 weeks before the start of the holiday. Our apartment is on a complex, with many of the apartments owned by Maeva, I can't believe that they let people stay for holidays without having paid in full, and paid a breakages deposit.
My inclination is to let this booking go - whilst it would have been nice, our out of season prices are quite low so we don't exactly need the money.
What do others think?
Maggie
Bookings from different countries.
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Christine Kenyon
- Posts: 623
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 10:58 am
- Location: Glenridding, Ullswater Valley, Lake District, UK
- Contact:
Hello Maggiem. I too am new to forums and didn't think I would be an "active" member so quickly!
I think you should regard this booking as cancelled. I am not aware of any country where you would expect to pay for a holiday after you have had the holiday.
I have recently booked holiday cottages in Tenerife and La Gomera. Both were owned by Germans (who were extremely helpful and hospitable). They requested a deposit with the remainder payable a month before we arrived. I would think this is about the norm.
The problem we have is that in the UK we don't have the Euro (it would make life easier!) and no facility for credit card payments. In these circumstances we do sometimes take a booking on trust and ask for a cash payment on arrival.
Hope you find a booking to replace your enquiry.
Cheers
Christine
I think you should regard this booking as cancelled. I am not aware of any country where you would expect to pay for a holiday after you have had the holiday.
I have recently booked holiday cottages in Tenerife and La Gomera. Both were owned by Germans (who were extremely helpful and hospitable). They requested a deposit with the remainder payable a month before we arrived. I would think this is about the norm.
The problem we have is that in the UK we don't have the Euro (it would make life easier!) and no facility for credit card payments. In these circumstances we do sometimes take a booking on trust and ask for a cash payment on arrival.
Hope you find a booking to replace your enquiry.
Cheers
Christine
Hello,
Thank you for your quick reply.
I've just finished sending an e-mail saying that I'm sorry but can't accept their offer. The issue of the euro wouldn't be a problem for us as we have an account with Credit Mutuel, so could have paid the cheque in there. Any costs would have been borne by us, not the guests.
I've no regrets over cancelling the booking, I suppose I just wanted some reassurance that we weren't being unreasonable. I'd be interested to know how many places would accept their terms i.e. holiday first, then payment.
Maggie
Thank you for your quick reply.
I've just finished sending an e-mail saying that I'm sorry but can't accept their offer. The issue of the euro wouldn't be a problem for us as we have an account with Credit Mutuel, so could have paid the cheque in there. Any costs would have been borne by us, not the guests.
I've no regrets over cancelling the booking, I suppose I just wanted some reassurance that we weren't being unreasonable. I'd be interested to know how many places would accept their terms i.e. holiday first, then payment.
Maggie
I list on a couple of internet cottage sites. One has warned about the number of scams around. One is for longer term lets where they overpay then do a shuffle around with refund cheques leaving the owner out of pocket....
Re payment - we had guests from Holland and they transfered money directly into our bank account, I'm sure we didn't incur any charges for this.
I use Paypal (www.paypal.com) on ebay and haven't found any problems with this. I was thinking of offering this to guests as they would be able to pay by credit card without me having to set up some complex system. Anyone tried paypal for bookings?
I'd certainly be wary of folk paying after their holiday!!!
Re payment - we had guests from Holland and they transfered money directly into our bank account, I'm sure we didn't incur any charges for this.
I use Paypal (www.paypal.com) on ebay and haven't found any problems with this. I was thinking of offering this to guests as they would be able to pay by credit card without me having to set up some complex system. Anyone tried paypal for bookings?
I'd certainly be wary of folk paying after their holiday!!!
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John Borg
bookings
As my holiday accomodation is located on the small Meditteranean Island of Malta, all of my bookings come from overseas clients, mainly Germans, Swiss, French and British.
My normal practice is to ask for a 30% deposit to confirm the booking, payable by swift transfer, by far the most practical and secure mode of payment.
I have never come accross anyone who objects to paying a deposit. If the booking is a last minute, closer than 4 weeks away, I will always ask for full payment. This is because if the person cancels at the last minute, there is no way of renting the property to someone else.
I just think that the person who did not wish to pay till the end of the holiday must have been a time waster.
My normal practice is to ask for a 30% deposit to confirm the booking, payable by swift transfer, by far the most practical and secure mode of payment.
I have never come accross anyone who objects to paying a deposit. If the booking is a last minute, closer than 4 weeks away, I will always ask for full payment. This is because if the person cancels at the last minute, there is no way of renting the property to someone else.
I just think that the person who did not wish to pay till the end of the holiday must have been a time waster.
'Anyone tried paypal for bookings?'
We've used Paypal for bookings from Australia and the US - the downside is the charges, but we'd already stated that we would pass those on to the customer, and they didn't object. As one person had to register with Paypal, they would only let her send a limited amount of money at a time, so the full payment arrived over several days. It wasn't a problem to either of us, we just exchanged lots of chatty e-mails at the same time. It certainly seems to be the best way to take money from further afield.
I'm grateful for the responses, at least we know that we weren't being unreasonable.
Maggie
We've used Paypal for bookings from Australia and the US - the downside is the charges, but we'd already stated that we would pass those on to the customer, and they didn't object. As one person had to register with Paypal, they would only let her send a limited amount of money at a time, so the full payment arrived over several days. It wasn't a problem to either of us, we just exchanged lots of chatty e-mails at the same time. It certainly seems to be the best way to take money from further afield.
I'm grateful for the responses, at least we know that we weren't being unreasonable.
Maggie
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Stephen
- Posts: 141
- Joined: Sun Sep 19, 2004 4:33 pm
- Location: Northumbria/Cumbria Border / Florida
- Contact:
I have just taken a booking from a German family for our cottage here in the UK ,they asked for my bank details so that they could transfer the payment but I was a bit suspicious with all these scams going about, so I asked them to send me an International Money Order which they did, they even asked if they could send the money by Western Union but it was too expensive !! they were obvioulsy genuine but you have to be carefull.. Mind you I have never ever heard of anyone paying for their hloiday afterwards !!! sounds dodgy to me..
There is another forum which discusses Scams etc in detail but is only for Florida Villa Owners www.top-forums.com
Regards
Stephen
There is another forum which discusses Scams etc in detail but is only for Florida Villa Owners www.top-forums.com
Regards
Stephen
Last edited by Stephen on Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Welcome to the forum, all! 
I haven't heard of someone offering to pay after a holiday. Would they be paying the airline for their flights afterwards too?
It sounds like a scam, you did the right thing.
About receiving payments, I get most of my bookings from North America, Aus and NZ, and they have to send money in pounds. They can do this in three ways:
Bank transfer (aka wire transfer, electronic transfer):
They have to go to their bank and request it, and usually costs £12 when sending to the UK. The sender specifies whether they pay half, all or none of this. Most people pay half and I get £6 deducted by my bank. It takes between 2 and 14 days to arrive in my account.
You do have to give the booker your bank details, which may be a risk, I don't know. They get enough information to pay money in, not to take it out. I'm a trusting sort.
Bank draft (or money order):
They have to go to their bank or order it, it is a cheque in the currency of your choice, which they then mail to you. Time taken depends on the postal service. It costs roughly $20 from the States, but varies from bank to bank. Money orders can be obtained from places like American Express bureaux and Thomas Cook.
PayPal:
They can make a secure, credit card payment online. Sometimes they have to be authorised by PayPal, and this means they are first billed a dollar. When this dollar appears on their statement, it has a 4-digit code with it. They give the code back to PayPal and they're authorised. This is to check they really are the card-holder. But this does not apply to everyone. I think it may be Europeans who have to go through this and not Americans. Not sure about this.
From your end you need to open a PayPal account, which is free.
PayPal charges a 3.9% commission for international transfers. (It's 2.9% for an internal US transfer). I offer to split this with the sender, so I add 1.95% to their rental rate. When the money reaches your PayPal account you can transfer it at the click of a button to your bank account, and there is no charge. Yes, no charge! From a bank!
I prefer PayPal as a payment method and I think it is the most convenient for renters too. But there is a certain resistance to using a credit card online. And some scare stories circulate about PayPal, but I don't think they apply to such a straightforward transaction. I've never had a problem anyway.
I haven't heard of someone offering to pay after a holiday. Would they be paying the airline for their flights afterwards too?
It sounds like a scam, you did the right thing.
About receiving payments, I get most of my bookings from North America, Aus and NZ, and they have to send money in pounds. They can do this in three ways:
Bank transfer (aka wire transfer, electronic transfer):
They have to go to their bank and request it, and usually costs £12 when sending to the UK. The sender specifies whether they pay half, all or none of this. Most people pay half and I get £6 deducted by my bank. It takes between 2 and 14 days to arrive in my account.
You do have to give the booker your bank details, which may be a risk, I don't know. They get enough information to pay money in, not to take it out. I'm a trusting sort.
Bank draft (or money order):
They have to go to their bank or order it, it is a cheque in the currency of your choice, which they then mail to you. Time taken depends on the postal service. It costs roughly $20 from the States, but varies from bank to bank. Money orders can be obtained from places like American Express bureaux and Thomas Cook.
PayPal:
They can make a secure, credit card payment online. Sometimes they have to be authorised by PayPal, and this means they are first billed a dollar. When this dollar appears on their statement, it has a 4-digit code with it. They give the code back to PayPal and they're authorised. This is to check they really are the card-holder. But this does not apply to everyone. I think it may be Europeans who have to go through this and not Americans. Not sure about this.
From your end you need to open a PayPal account, which is free.
PayPal charges a 3.9% commission for international transfers. (It's 2.9% for an internal US transfer). I offer to split this with the sender, so I add 1.95% to their rental rate. When the money reaches your PayPal account you can transfer it at the click of a button to your bank account, and there is no charge. Yes, no charge! From a bank!
I prefer PayPal as a payment method and I think it is the most convenient for renters too. But there is a certain resistance to using a credit card online. And some scare stories circulate about PayPal, but I don't think they apply to such a straightforward transaction. I've never had a problem anyway.
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat
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hfielding
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RobinClapp
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Tue Sep 28, 2004 12:55 pm
- Location: Lakes Region New Hampshire, USA
- Contact:
Bank Transfers
I had a last minute inquiry recently. They had mentioned wiring the funds. So I checked with my bank and got the rules. But my husband and I were nervous about giving out our bank account information.
Our tenant decided against coming in the end because he was busy with work. We were happy not to have to make that decision.
Should we be worried? I don't like last minute inquiries, we had a bad tenant this year so we are trying to screen our tenants better and last minute gives no time to check them out.
Robin
http://www.LakesidePromise.com
Our home is in New Hampshire, USA. I have never had anyone outside the USA. Can anyone say whether New England is a destination that appeals to those abroad?
Our tenant decided against coming in the end because he was busy with work. We were happy not to have to make that decision.
Should we be worried? I don't like last minute inquiries, we had a bad tenant this year so we are trying to screen our tenants better and last minute gives no time to check them out.
Robin
http://www.LakesidePromise.com
Our home is in New Hampshire, USA. I have never had anyone outside the USA. Can anyone say whether New England is a destination that appeals to those abroad?
Lakeside Promise is our dream home titled after our wedding day which was held by a lake.
paypal
Hi everyone,
We've been using paypal for over 18 months now, and find it an excellent means of accepting deposits. We ask for 30% upon booking and when that is received we ask for the flight details. If we get those, we feel fairly sure that the client will probably turn up ! We live on site, our rental studio is on the roof of our villa, and at no inconvenience to us are able to collect the balance upon arrival. It has worked so far. Regarding the extra cost of using paypal, between you and me, we have added 5% onto our tariff to compensate !
We've been using paypal for over 18 months now, and find it an excellent means of accepting deposits. We ask for 30% upon booking and when that is received we ask for the flight details. If we get those, we feel fairly sure that the client will probably turn up ! We live on site, our rental studio is on the roof of our villa, and at no inconvenience to us are able to collect the balance upon arrival. It has worked so far. Regarding the extra cost of using paypal, between you and me, we have added 5% onto our tariff to compensate !
Re: Bookings from different countries.
Hi,
I'm a German renting vacation rentals in Paris. I work especially on the german market and this since 15 years.
It's absolutely normal to pay a vacation rental ( and a security deposit) before checkin. Even german vacation rental owners do so when they rent to germans.
In 15 years I had just 2 inquieries asking to pay after their stay.
Probably this are persons trying to cheat us.
Martin
www.france-paris.fr
I'm a German renting vacation rentals in Paris. I work especially on the german market and this since 15 years.
It's absolutely normal to pay a vacation rental ( and a security deposit) before checkin. Even german vacation rental owners do so when they rent to germans.
In 15 years I had just 2 inquieries asking to pay after their stay.
Probably this are persons trying to cheat us.
Martin
www.france-paris.fr
Maggiem wrote:Well, I didn't think I'd be making a posting this quickly, but here goes!
I've been corresponding (in French) with a German woman and her family, who expressed an interest in our apartment for one week in November. When they finally decided to book, I asked them to send me a cheque for 630 euros (linen hire, breakages deposit and rental). I've just received a very shocked e-mail, telling me that isn't the way they do things, that they are willing to pay me 72 euros now, and the rest after the holiday - if I don't accept their terms, then I'm to consider the booking as cancelled. (I never regard a booking as confirmed until the deposit has been paid, in any case!)
I wondered if there are real cultural differences in the way that bookings are handled, and how other people deal with them? We're quite new to letting, but have let to guests from several different countries, and none have objected to our normal terms - 25% deposit, the rest 8 weeks before the start of the holiday. Our apartment is on a complex, with many of the apartments owned by Maeva, I can't believe that they let people stay for holidays without having paid in full, and paid a breakages deposit.
My inclination is to let this booking go - whilst it would have been nice, our out of season prices are quite low so we don't exactly need the money.
What do others think?
Maggie
Welcome to the forum, Martin!
As you are German, perhaps you can help...I would really like to know what are the top search phrases in German for finding a rental property. We have been discussing this over here but have not had any input from a fluent German speaker yet.
THIS THREAD, ON GERMAN SEARCH PHRASES AND LISTING SITES, CONTINUES HERE:
viewtopic.php?t=209
As you are German, perhaps you can help...I would really like to know what are the top search phrases in German for finding a rental property. We have been discussing this over here but have not had any input from a fluent German speaker yet.
THIS THREAD, ON GERMAN SEARCH PHRASES AND LISTING SITES, CONTINUES HERE:
viewtopic.php?t=209
Paolo
Lay My Hat
Lay My Hat