booking

[Vlad20]

Hi fellows Hosts!!
I would like to have your help on booking.com site.

I listed my place on booking.com so far I had only negative experience. People are booking and then cancel at last minute.

My question is : is it only me or it is general issue with booking.com?

Your help is very appreciated!!!

Thank you!!!

[Lisa658]

@Vlad20

You need to change your policies.  Go to your extranet, click on "Property" then "Policies".  Set up your payment and cancellation policy to a specific timeline where you will no longer offer refunds.  We have ours set at 14 days for one property and 30 days for the other.  

This way you will weed out guests who are on the fence as it will cost them if they want to cancel last minute.  We have also set it up to collect full payment on the day that the booking becomes non-refundable.  Solved.  We get very few cancellations and the ones that do come through are mostly many months ahead where plans may have just changed.

You can also set up multiple pricing for a no refund policy at a cheaper rate and a refund window at a higher rate.  With the lower rate you can charge immediately and not offer any refund.

Hopefully that helps with your cancellation numbers!  Lisa

[Vlad20]

Lisa! Thank you very much for your advice.

The problem is that I do not take credit cards. Wire the money to my account? But I did not see that options there......

[Lisa658]

@Vlad20

No worries.  I think you can look at using "stripe".  Have not used it myself as we have a mobile eftpos machine.  I think you need to mark somewhere on the extranet that you need the CVC if you are going to use this system.  You also need to be aware that the credit card numbers are only on the site for a short period of time after the reservation is made before they disappear.  

I also think you can only access them 2 or 3 times before you are locked out.  They will come back closer to the date of arrival but I have never paid attention to when as the numbers for our guests are stored in a specific password protected place for each booking through our channel manager and we can access them at any time.  

If you do write down a guest credit card number make sure you keep it under lock and key.  Destroy the number once the guest has checked out and you confirm there are no damages to charge.  

I happen to love booking.com.  If you set your listing up correctly it runs itself and we have had really great guests from them.  Stick with it for a while and see how you go.  Don't give up just yet.

Lisa 

[Vlad20]

Thank you very much!!!
What is "stripe"?

[Lisa658]

@Vlad20

I have never used it but it does seem to be a name that pops up when people do not have a credit card machine so I can only mention it based on that.  Cannot personally recommend it as I have never tried it myself...  Read up a bit and see what you think.  I have heard that the fees are reasonable.  You can also offer guests the option to pay by paypal or direct debit to your bank account if they want to avoid processing fees.  Make sure you also add a 2% fee for processing their cards!  Lisa

[Link hidden]

[Vlad20]

Paypal or Direct deposit will work!!!!

Thank you very very much!!!!!

[Lisa658]

@Vlad20

I wouldn't count exclusively on paypal and direct debit as you will lose a lot of guests that way.  Guests want the convenience of entering their credit card number and knowing they have pretty much already paid.  I would also look further into stripe or some other credit card payment system because booking.com is introducing virtual credit cards if it is not already up and running.  This is where guests enter their card and booking.com gives you a virtual number that you can charge on the day the booking becomes non refundable.  Having access to all these features will really - I mean really - increase guest numbers especially overseas clients who may be subject to big fees for other payment methods.

Not having an option to pay by credit card on booking.com would kill our business so I would not hold high hopes for a new listing that does not have the option to pay with a card!  Cancellation numbers will be the least of your worries!  hoho....

Lisa

[Vlad20]

You absolutly right!!!!

I will try stpipe. I found this service already.

Thanks again.

Regards!!!!

p.s. If you happen to be in Moscow give me a call!!!!!

[Randolph1]

Lisa what channel manager do u use?