Booking.com

OTA = Online Travel Agency, which means those sites that sell the booking and take the payment for you.
Gettingthere
Posts: 236
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:33 am
Location: Devon
Contact:

Post by Gettingthere »

Having looked into this a bit more now. Don't you have to charge the service / cleaning / linen fees as additional to the quoted price? Doesn't the customer then get a bit annoyed to have these addional costs added after their decision to book?

And if you allow booking.com to collect the main payment, don't you then have to request the additional fees seperately via another payment method?
JP
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2015 7:16 am
Location: var france
Contact:

Post by JP »

The extra payment is clearly shown in bold when they do a search and see the quote. This fee is also collected by BC if they are handling the payment but you don’t pay commission on it.
User avatar
apexblue
Posts: 2249
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:58 pm
Location: UK

Post by apexblue »

How long does it take for listing to go live. Mine still being reviewed 9 days later.
It is better to remain quiet and have one think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt....

The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
User avatar
Cymraes
Posts: 519
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:31 pm
Location: North Wales

Post by Cymraes »

apexblue wrote:How long does it take for listing to go live. Mine still being reviewed 9 days later.
Mine was live within 2 hours - you need to ask what's going on.
JP
Posts: 61
Joined: Wed Jun 17, 2015 7:16 am
Location: var france
Contact:

Post by JP »

Mine was live within an hour and had my first booking within 24 hours.
Gettingthere
Posts: 236
Joined: Mon Nov 17, 2008 11:33 am
Location: Devon
Contact:

Post by Gettingthere »

I had my first guest to stay last week who booked through booking.com. UTTER NIGHTMARE. Worst guests I’ve ever had.

I blame myself partially though for accepting a last minute booking to arrive that evening! I didn’t do my usual getting a list of names or asking them to sign my holiday let agreement. Thankfully I did at least ask for a security deposit which just about covered the additional cleaning and damage caused.

So, lessons learned:
- don’t allow same day bookings (which is their default) - instead a minimum 48 hours giving me time to vet them a bit
- add some rules to booking.com (otherwise they won’t support you if you decide to reject a booking.)
- insist the guest fills in my own booking form and I have a list of names
- booking guest must be there at check in
User avatar
apexblue
Posts: 2249
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:58 pm
Location: UK

Post by apexblue »

Trying booking.com but ad says payment on arrival. Is this normal for new listings?
It is better to remain quiet and have one think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt....

The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
User avatar
CSE
Posts: 4414
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:34 pm
Location: Galicia

Post by CSE »

apexblue wrote:Trying booking.com but ad says payment on arrival. Is this normal for new listings?
Not what we know of. But if it is maybe it is because the owner/manager has not set up the listing payment requirement.

Our recent story:
We are a big supported of Booking, because we have found them to be very supportive. This recent experience has got us a bit apprehensive at the way their support could be going.
We just got a reservation, with no name to the credit card, only a number. Seeing that the reservation was not completed correctly we rejected it. This gives the guest time to correct the error. Almost immediately the person changed the details of the card number, again omitting the name to who the card was registered to.
Again we rejected the reservation.
Later the same day the details of the card was again changed but with no name once again.
It seems that on the next time this occurred the reservation can be annulled.
The third time another change again with yet another card number but with a name associated with it.
We are still uneasy about this reservation so contacted Booking.
This time they insisted the reservation was good despite concerns expressed by us about fraudulent cards payments, stolen cards etc.
We shall see what turns up In the mean time the deposit has been taken from the card.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
User avatar
apexblue
Posts: 2249
Joined: Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:58 pm
Location: UK

Post by apexblue »

[quote]Because we're dedicated to being a safe platform for both customers and partners, we've temporarily disabled non-refundable and prepayment policies. As soon as we can give you access to them, we'll let you know[quote]

On our ad. New?
It is better to remain quiet and have one think you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt....

The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have time.
rosebud
Posts: 625
Joined: Wed Mar 14, 2012 5:24 pm
Location: Steyning, West Sussex

Post by rosebud »

I listed on Booking.com for 8 or 9 months .... hoping it might generate some winter bookings

I had just one booking for 5 nights during that period.. over the Easter weekend.

There was no way of taking a security deposit (unless one arranged it independently) and the guests happened to be very messy..

After that I gave up on Booking.com but mainly because of lack of bookings
User avatar
Cymraes
Posts: 519
Joined: Tue Jul 07, 2015 3:31 pm
Location: North Wales

Post by Cymraes »

apexblue wrote:
Because we're dedicated to being a safe platform for both customers and partners, we've temporarily disabled non-refundable and prepayment policies. As soon as we can give you access to them, we'll let you know

On our ad. New?
All my available dates are still showing as non refundable
Jenster
Posts: 454
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:24 am
Location: Cornwall
Contact:

Post by Jenster »

apexblue wrote:
Because we're dedicated to being a safe platform for both customers and partners, we've temporarily disabled non-refundable and prepayment policies. As soon as we can give you access to them, we'll let you know

On our ad. New?
Yes I have this too, although I have only just set up the listing and it is not live yet. Confused - how do I take payments then? Can you send a payment link for cc payments through their messaging system or have access to guests email address?
User avatar
CSE
Posts: 4414
Joined: Mon Nov 06, 2006 3:34 pm
Location: Galicia

Post by CSE »

Jenster wrote: .... Confused - how do I take payments then? Can you send a payment link for cc payments through their messaging system or have access to guests email address?
It is simple and cannot see why you are confused. Suggest you read the Q&As
https://partnerhelp.booking.com/hc/en-g ... the-guest-
Or perhaps contact the offices?
https://partnerhelp.booking.com/hc/en-g ... oking-com-
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
Jenster
Posts: 454
Joined: Tue Mar 08, 2016 8:24 am
Location: Cornwall
Contact:

Post by Jenster »

casasantoestevo wrote:
Jenster wrote: .... Confused - how do I take payments then? Can you send a payment link for cc payments through their messaging system or have access to guests email address?
It is simple and cannot see why you are confused. Suggest you read the Q&As
https://partnerhelp.booking.com/hc/en-g ... the-guest-
Or perhaps contact the offices?
https://partnerhelp.booking.com/hc/en-g ... oking-com-
Yes I read that - the question remains how I take the cc payment in advance. Will their messaging system accept a payment link or will it block it as other sites do? Do I have access to the guests direct email address to send it? Or do I have to take the payment over the phone?
Hells Bells
Posts: 13173
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 8:42 am
Location: French Alps
Contact:

Post by Hells Bells »

Jenster apologies if I get this wrong, as things do sometimes appear different to different users.

If you have chosen to accept credit cards, there will be the option for a guest to add their card details during the booking process. In your BC dashboard you will than have access to these details to enter them into your payment system. If you need the CVC code to do this, you can also select this option in your dashboard or request BC to add this if it isn't there.
I then use Waveapps to manually input the card details by creating an invoice which then sends a receipt to the guest. You can copy and paste the encrypted BC email into the invoice from your dashboard.
Post Reply