BBC Radio 4 seems to really have it in for rental owners :-(

How to communicate with your potential renters - how to turn site visitors into enquiries, and enquiries into bookings.
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Normandy Cow
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BBC Radio 4 seems to really have it in for rental owners :-(

Post by Normandy Cow »

Yet another episode of You and Yours concentrating on holiday scams (on Friday).

I won't go into details now (you can listen on iplayer), but once again they stressed that holidaymakers should NEVER pay by bank transfer as it is "not safe".
Rental owners should always provide the option to pay by credit card (and not by Paypal).
Gee thanks BBC for your vote of confidence in the 99+% of homeowners who are honest. We now have to pay extra to prove this.

So, my question is:
I don't want to sign up to HL or other similar Book Now options (only because I don't want to wait until after the guests have arrived to get my payment), and if they shouldn't use Paypal, how else can I take credit cards and how much will it cost?
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Post by snoozeboy »

You can send them a Paypal request to pay using their credit card.

I'm not sure if the feature was the same one as this one aired a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01rr7rk, 26.40 into the programme.


The programme seemed very badly researched. They did ask advice of someone from Association of British Travel Agents. This person made no mention of the obvious solution of using a credit card via Paypal, a facility which all owners have available to them, even though they may not offer it.

Of course, it's not in a travel agent's interest to promote direct booking via the owner, so maybe it's not a surprise that ABTA didn't mention a simple solution to a serious problem. The programme was a poor reflection of the BBC not to realise ABTA's conflict of interests.
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Post by pambon »

It's getting to the stage that those of us with small one bedroom rentals will be asking for COD :cry:
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Normandy Cow
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Post by Normandy Cow »

Snoozeboy:
It was very similar, almost following on from the earlier program (which I'm sure was only a few days previously).

But they did mention that Paypal does not have the same level of protection as a normal credit card transaction so that should not be used either.

I'm really fed up with the whole thing. In 10 years of renting our property (average 40 weeks occupancy p.a.) we have never made a profit, mainly due to the fact we took out a mortgage and have hefty repayments, and our house is apparently worth less now than it did when we bought it even though we have installed new kitchen and bathrooms.

So every little extra expense just chips away.... :(
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Normandie
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Post by Normandie »

If only Your Holiday Matters could have hit the big time...


And I'm aware of how difficult that would have been for the participants to achieve. But even so, if ever there was an idea whose time had come...
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Post by booboo »

What a shame! If it isn't hard enough for people to make a little money. I have my own options on why they are promoting this but then again I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist :D

Sorry I know this does not help!
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Post by Mouse »

I don't have a villa paypal account, or credit card facilities. I've been asked a couple of times over the years but I always explain that as a single unit owner it just isn't worth the cost. I then explain what they would pay extra in charges and offer them proof of my existence and longevity in the business. So far I've not experienced any problems.

usually the ones who want to pay by CC are doing it for the reason of lack of cash...no-one really has an issue with trust as we've been on the OD site for years and can prove it.

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Post by Normandy Cow »

Can anyone advise me how to take credit card payments without using Paypal or HL Book Now?
(Bearing in mind that I am in the UK and do not have a French SIRET number or whatever it's called)

Thanks!

EDIT:
Slapped wrists, I've done a search on here and am now off to look at Paybox....
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Post by French Cricket »

I think Mouse's approach is the right way to go. If you're honest and straightforward and you provide potential guests with a 'package' of proofs that you are who you say you are (or if you offer to provide it) I don't think you'll have a problem. We specifically address all of this on our website and offer to provide even more backup info to prove who we are, but nobody's ever requested it.

Most people aren't paranoid. They'll take stuff like this with a pinch of salt and trust their own reasonable judgement. Just like we all do.
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Post by snoozeboy »

booboo wrote:I have my own options on why they are promoting this but then again I am a bit of a conspiracy theorist :D
I listened and it was a follow up to the previous programme. They mentioned that ABTA have a campaign about to start, to highlight this kind of fraud.

Of course, travel agents have suffered over the last few years due to the internet allowing both direct holiday lets and easyjet etc. to offer direct booking and to bypass the previously all powerful travel agent.

Their campaign is to promote the risks in people's awareness to encourage them to book with travel agents, in my view.
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Post by CSE »

Normandy Cow wrote:Can anyone advise me how to take credit card payments without using Paypal or HL Book Now?
.
Just ask your bank. However you have to also ask to take payments without the card being present.
Our Spanish bank managed that but it took 2steps, first the machine was installed then months later the authority to take payments with out card being present. I would hope the UK banks would work quicker.
The charges will be what your bank asks for. Do not take AEX or Diners Club, they are far too costly.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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Post by newtimber »

You don't have to use your own bank. If you are just going to take cards on-line, the sites that do this (for example secure hosting.com) can get preferential merchant card rates.
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Post by wallypott »

I use payboxmail, but I am pretty sure it is working out more expensive than Paypal now I have the lower paypal rate. Basically there is a €300 charge for using the facility from paybox, then there is the % bank charge per transaction, and depending on whether it is foreign or domestic it is more or less expensive.

That said it is very quick and efficient and you can do refunds, but not for free.

It did take a very long time to set up though, and required a SIRET number.

I know LV manages to get pretty much everyone to use it, but I still find the French prefer to pay by cheque if at all possible.
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Post by Essar »

Holiday Rent Payments
Homeaway use a service called HolidayRentPayments this is a Dublin based organisation part of the larger Yapstone Inc.
They take individual owners as well as large groups; I don't know what they charge but I understand that it's easy to call their payments system from your own website or even integrate it for the more techie crew.
(I don't use this service).
I don't have the time at the moment but it would be interesting for someone to investigate.

Quality In Tourism
For those who are VisitEngland starry-starry-eyed; Quality In Tourism, their assessors, offer a members discount with one of the big UK banks for card processing services which is as cheap as PayPal through HL. Of course you have to pay QIT for the privilege of being told your excellent/crap on top.
(I am VE accredited, but in the process of leaving).

Wufoo
I use my own forms for taking payments through PayPal using a service offered by Wufoo, this is a US based service and it costs me about £25 a month. This includes processing all payments and unlimited forms design; I designed all my own for Reservations, Enquiries, Call-backs, and Payments. The integration is simple, the form design quite intuitive. Of course I get the PayPal HL discounted rate for these payments.
You can see this here.
(I am not an affiliate).

FreeToBook
I also use FreeToBook which also allows guests to quote, book and make payments on-line; this is free to use but is not easy to set-up and manage, the integration is straightforward using widgets. FTB process the payments (free) and use PayPal for card processing, again I get the reduced PP HL reduction for using PP. You can see this on my Home page - "Quote & Book".
(I am not an affiliate).
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Post by Beachcondo »

Mouse wrote: usually the ones who want to pay by CC are doing it for the reason of lack of cash...
Another reason might be that you have a travel insurance with cancellation coverage when you buy with certain CCs. That's the reason why I try and pay my travels with a certain credit card.
Pessimists only get positive surprises.
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