Listing our B&B with online booking service

For everything specific to B&Bs as opposed to holiday rentals.
aasta
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Listing our B&B with online booking service

Post by aasta »

Hello Everyone! We have so far avoided being listed with large booking companies such as Booking.com...But after a record year in 2017, our bookings are down this year by 30%, even though all our reviews are excellent and we are on Tripadvisor´s List of 25 Best Inns/B&B in Portugal...(or course, there is no ryhme or reason in this business!!).....so we are wondering if it is time to list with one of the Biggies....
does anyone have recommendations...gone a similar route and had to subcomb to the pressures of online resevation competition?
Thanks for any input!!
aasta
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

I've started listing with Airbnb.

The advantage is that you don't have anything to lose unlike booking.com which takes huge commissions and takes all your direct bookings away from you with its lowest price guarantee - and if you leave them, will take all the google searches for your place and say it's not available but another place is.

With Airbnb you don't pay anything upfront and don't have a high commission to pay as the guest pays it. You just pay a small processing fee.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

takes all your direct bookings away from you with its lowest price guarantee
No it does not, well not for us.
So what are the charges for AirBnB? How much do guest have to pay too?
What do you think Booking takes?
Who gets the most recommendation on travel forums, via sites like ViaMichelin route planner?
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

casasantoestevo wrote:
takes all your direct bookings away from you with its lowest price guarantee
No it does not, well not for us.
I just did a search for the name of your property on Google and there was a paid ad right at the top for booking.com and on the right a huge advert with online booking (just enter the dates) for booking.com and priceline. If you had online booking on your own website, no one would book there. Why do you think BC are taking out a paid advert with the search term of your property name if not to take your direct bookings from you? I'm not saying that your business isn't better from using booking.com as it's getting you lots of bookings, but my impression was that the OP wanted to just use the big boys to get some more business not completely dominate it.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

It does not mean that we get emails reservation forms, phone calls etc does it?
If you owned this property you would understand how it works for us. That is what was written.
As also stated Booking has a greater online presence than AirBnB. It should be added that it has a better name than AirBnB, which is often said under the same breath as unlicensed properties.
Example: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ ... -barcelona
http://portugalresident.com/time%E2%80% ... ee-for-all
The most important part of our post was the questions about costs etc. That is very important for a person who is in business. Can you now give an answer to them?
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

casasantoestevo wrote:It should be added that it has a better name than AirBnB, which is often said under the same breath as unlicensed properties.

The most important part of our post was the questions about costs etc. That is very important for a person who is in business. Can you now give an answer to them?
I don't think that booking.com does have a better name. They both have bad reviews. I can refer you to https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/trav ... -p8kk0djvp or https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/ ... tion-email or https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.booking.com

Airbnb charges the guest most of the commission so it really doesn't matter to the owner what they charge - except you get fewer bookings.

Everyone is different, but if the OP is currently getting lots of direct bookings from people using google search, then they will lose a lot of that direct business as people will book them on Booking.com instead.

You are with booking.com so you know what they charge you - about 15%?
AndrewH
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Post by AndrewH »

newtimber wrote:... and if you leave them, (BC) will take all the google searches for your place and say it's not available but another place is.
There is another current thread on this nasty practice, which relates to Sykes: viewtopic.php?t=28455&highlight=
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Newtimber. I have asked what does AirBnB reuqest you have not answered that.




However if you want to continue with the digging up the dirt of listing websites.
https://www.trustpilot.com/search?query=airbnb
See AirBnB are worse than Booking.
What I see of Booking is each property can specify their own reservation regulations. Great for our business but sometimes the guest gets confused as F****. That is their problem if the guest cannot read and understand the regulations.
Like this one
I booked a guest house in a village in Wales through Booking.com. After my booking I found out that there is no train or bus going anywhere near there and I would have to change the dates and arrive to the guesthouse the next day. I called the number that was on my booking and - guess what?- I couldn't change my booking. They would give me no refund for that day and according to the person I spoke to, there was nothing they could. Thanks Booking! Thanks for nothing.
They reserved without read the details on Booking.
Booking 60% excellent with 19% bad
ABnB (.com) 14% excellent with 73% bad.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

casasantoestevo wrote:Newtimber. I have asked what does AirBnB reuqest you have not answered that.
They charge owners 3% for processing the payments. I have no interest in what the guest fees are which vary according to the booking - if they are too high I get no bookings but lose nothing for listing with them but my time. They do not try to take my direct bookings and compete with my own advertising.

It depends on what the OP is wanting to achieve and their existing marketing strategy. If they currently have no online presence at all, then BC is going to be a good fit. If most of their business comes from online and they have online booking on their website etc and they advertise on Google, then BC is going to be a bad fit as it will compete with them.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Thank you. 3% is low. But I would never except the customer to pay a fee, because as a customer I would never would wont to pay a fee be it to a car hire, plane flight, shop purchase etc.
So that is where our business ideas really differ.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

casasantoestevo wrote:But I would never except the customer to pay a fee, because as a customer I would never would wont to pay a fee be it to a car hire, plane flight, shop purchase etc.
So that is where our business ideas really differ.
I wouldn't either but ABB has already had fees and are very open about them unlike TA/HA which hide them in the details. Customers view it as a membership fee to the Airbnb community. I've had 3 bookings with them in the past month (only recently joined) and whilst it's not going to provide the level of bookings than Booking does, as a supplement to my existing bookings it's great.
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CSE
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Post by CSE »

Seeing as most competition around here is on there.Most whole lets are not, but most of them are not registered.
I have also used the Booking.com app for reservation. Easy to use. And in general we have had great support from the Staff at booking. I am willing to pay the higher fees for Booking. But it would be a lot better if it was less.
Never try to out-stubborn your guests.
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oasiscouple
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Post by oasiscouple »

Just to add my little bit. This is the second year I have been with both ABB and BC for my B&B. To allow for the commission my price per night on BC is 55€ but on ABnB it is 45€. This year I have no bookings at all from ABnB and 14 bookings so far from BC. Also ABnB keeps telling me to reduce my night price to 22€ to get more bookings. No way!
Makes me wonder if guests prefer BC despite the higher price because of better confidence.
Honi soit qui peu y boit
aasta
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Post by aasta »

Thanks for all the feed back...have just looked at BC...and also at Tripadvisor. TA wants a concectivity partner to set up direct booking. They have a long list of partners...and so I do wonder if BC might not just be easier and it has the same commission rate as TA...Air BnB has not been an option for us, since they seem to prefer lower priced places....
Air BnB is supposedly implementing /expanding its categories and will have a category for B&Bs, inns and boutique hotels...sofar, as far as my research has revealed, this is currently only available in USA...does anyone know anything regarding this???
aasta
newtimber
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Post by newtimber »

aasta wrote: Air BnB is supposedly implementing /expanding its categories and will have a category for B&Bs, inns and boutique hotels...sofar, as far as my research has revealed, this is currently only available in USA...does anyone know anything regarding this???
You can go to Airbnb and look at your location and filters that you can apply and see what the price range is yourself and whether your place would "fit". I see that there are places ranges from £20 a night to £90 a night and you can select guesthouse and private room - not as easy as BC and not so many properties to choose from.
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