Trip Advisor laying down the law?

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
limousin-cottage
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Trip Advisor laying down the law?

Post by limousin-cottage »

https://www.tripadvisor.com/RentalInsig ... Qgby79L5gA


:roll:

I hope the link works. Just popped up on Facebook. Thoughts?
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kendalcottages
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Post by kendalcottages »

From what I can tell, this is written entirely from the point of view of an owner cancelling a booking, with absolutely no regard for when it's the other way around (which I would imagine to be more than 90% of cases)... :roll:
Kendal Holiday Cottages Ltd., Kendal, Cumbria - between the Lake District & the Yorkshire Dales.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

kendalcottages wrote:From what I can tell, this is written entirely from the point of view of an owner cancelling a booking, with absolutely no regard for when it's the other way around (which I would imagine to be more than 90% of cases)... :roll:
Yes, exactly. They actually expect us to accept that it's ok for guests to book and cancel willy nilly, but on the rare occasion the owner might have to do so, they come down on us like a ton of bricks! I realy want to respond with an appropriate comment on their page, but can we??
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Post by limousin-cottage »

And how patronising is this??


#5 It could mean the end of your listing on TripAdvisor sites

''We want to provide the best possible experience for guests using our site so if there are repeated cancellations, we’ll have no choice but to remove the listing. No one wants that, especially when it’s so easy to avoid cancellations in the first place''.

So easy to avoid cancellations???
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Cymraes
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Post by Cymraes »

'd be more impressed if they'd actually proof read it.

Section 3 is a copy and paste of Section 1 rather than what it should be covering.

I get nothing from them now which isn't breaking my heart.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

Cymraes wrote:'d be more impressed if they'd actually proof read it.

Section 3 is a copy and paste of Section 1 rather than what it should be covering.

I get nothing from them now which isn't breaking my heart.
Same here. Dont know why I stay listed tbh.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

limousin-cottage wrote:
Cymraes wrote:'d be more impressed if they'd actually proof read it.

Section 3 is a copy and paste of Section 1 rather than what it should be covering.

I get nothing from them now which isn't breaking my heart.
Same here. Dont know why I stay listed tbh.
Oh yes! I didnt even notice the error LoL 😂
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

A lot of portals say
repeated cancellations, we’ll have no choice but to remove the listing.
or similar.
Repeated cancellations can mean that you are tying to circumnavigate the reservation system on said portal. If that is correct the said portal will be loosing money.
As an owner one should not really need to do "repeated cancellations" unless things like natural/man-made disasters befall your location.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

casasantoestevo wrote:A lot of portals say
repeated cancellations, we’ll have no choice but to remove the listing.
or similar.
Repeated cancellations can mean that you are tying to circumnavigate the reservation system on said portal. If that is correct the said portal will be loosing money.
As an owner one should not really need to do "repeated cancellations" unless things like natural/man-made disasters befall your location.
Granted, but it also says at 1/ that if you cancel a booking you will have to pay a 'substantial fee'. And that its 'easy to avoid cancellations'. Really. Something untoward could happen in the property for one thing. Someone could make an instant reservation on Airbnb, and someone else could come along and book the same dates on Booking.com, before you have even received the first notification. Apart from that, how much is a 'substantial' penalty?
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Post by Joanna »

Exactly why I never enable instant bookings!

The OTAs are so keen for us to take them and yet won't hesitate to punish us if it results in a double booking.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

Joanna wrote:Exactly why I never enable instant bookings!

The OTAs are so keen for us to take them and yet won't hesitate to punish us if it results in a double booking.
Do the letting sites give you an option not to choose instant booking?
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Post by greenbarn »

limousin-cottage wrote: Something untoward could happen in the property for one thing. Someone could make an instant reservation on Airbnb, and someone else could come along and book the same dates on Booking.com, before you have even received the first notification.
Surely all these OTAs are looking for ways to prevent you from using any other platform? It’s in the interests of their investors, and they are the only people who matter.
Actually, I don’t believe that the investors in the OTAs are the only people who matter; I believe that guests and owners are the only people who matter, which is why I won’t prostitute myself to use any of the OTAs.
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Post by CSE »

limousin-cottage
I was responding to your comment about item 5 you was suggestion it was patronising. I disagree with that.
The bit covered in item 1 is true. Is a bit wishy-washy.
They do not state what the substantial fee is. Neither do they state how much is for them and how much goes to the guests. There are no checks on what the guest is loosing, monatary wise. No checks that the guests are not covered by insurnace either.
There is nothing in this whole process that allows the property owner to cancel if there are exceptional circumstances.
I agree it is rather one sided, but I would encourage you look at other portals to see what is in the contract. I note that this is not a contract just some unfriendly advise!

Here is Bookings contract for accommodations. It may vary a bit in different countries due to local laws. This one is for Spian.
https://admin.booking.com/hotelreg/term ... =en;cc1=es
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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Post by Joanna »

limousin-cottage wrote:
Joanna wrote:Exactly why I never enable instant bookings!

The OTAs are so keen for us to take them and yet won't hesitate to punish us if it results in a double booking.
Do the letting sites give you an option not to choose instant booking?
We use TA and ABB and don't have instant booking enabled on either. I don't know about the other OTAs. There are consequences if we turn down a booking request - we're moved down the search results and such like. We only use them to fill gaps no more than 3 months ahead and we're quite expensive on there so don't get many enquiries anyway.
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Post by limousin-cottage »

Thanks everyone. Unfortunately I don't have the luxury of being able to do away with OTA's. I don't have any one site that provides me with more than a handful of bookings. :cry: I will look into the pros and cons of not accepting instant bookings though, on the various sites. I would synchronise calendars, but there wasn't any one of them which could be synchronised with all the OTA's I use.
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