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My channel manager just integrated with Booking.com and I was wondering if anyone is on there? I read old threads here but it’s from 2017 or later. I would like most up to date info about the site.
Currently I am on Airbnb and VRBO with the bulk of my guests coming from Airbnb.
Do you like the site in general? Do they accept payments for you? Do they have decent customer service?
Yes, yes and yes.
JF
That’s all good to know. What other sites are you on and do you feel Booking.com is performing well for you?
Airbnb & VRBO.
BDC actually provide the bulk of our guests, been that way since last summer.
JF
That is very helpful. Thank you.
Agree with @JohnF
Aside from the commissions, bdc are excellent in my experience. But managing Airbnb instant book and booking.com calendar gets nerve wracking occasionally
Spring for a channel manager, less grey hairs etc
JF
I agree. I was just going to say that.
Do you like the site in general? Do they accept payments for you? Do they have decent customer service?
No, yes, yes.
My expensive listings get booked mainly on Booking.com, while I removed my cheapest ones because I would only get weirdos / semi homeless / prostitute clients. There is no “host guarantee” nor deposit management on Booking.com, and you don’t have an opportunity to write reviews of the guests, so the weird ones get really relaxed about expressing their weirdness.
For the folks who have experience on booking.com, do they also attract people who book long-term stays of 2 weeks and more? I always thought they do more hotel length stays but I might be wrong.
The “host guarantee” with Airbnb isn’t worth a flying feck to most hosts, so in reality it is nowt more than a marketing ploy to entice folks who know the square root of feck all about running an STR to become hosts.
Security deposits are simple on BDC, although if you use Payments by Booking then there is one additional step involved, as in you need to either take it in cash or charge the guests card on arrival.
Both BDC and VRBO are far more professional platforms, and as such do require hosts to take a bit more responsibility for their business. No bad thing from my perspective.
If you prefer the huggy huggy, we’ve got your back bullshit that emanates from Airbnb, then BDC or VRBO probably aren’t for you.
On the other hand, if you’re prepared to treat your STR(s) as a revenue generating business then both BDC and VRBO will make you money.
JF
In the case of bad behaviour you can report this to BDC using the “Report guest misconduct” button and it stays on the guests history. If you go to the actual guest reservation page, then click on their name you will see a potted history of their time on BDC, when joined, number of stays, average review rating etc. It also states whether the guest has been a subject of a misconduct report. I’ve cropped the personal info about the guest from the image below.
Only if someone wants to book that length. It’s worth noting that the maximum bookable stay on BDC is 30 days, their default setting. If you wish to reduce that, a quick call or message to CS and it’s done.
JF
We use Beds24. It’s not the easiest to set up but it works well and their support and support forum is decent. Once you start playing with it, you realise that it’s a pretty powerful tool, but for now we only use it for channel management. They also have a WordPress widget to integrate search/book into your own web site. I’ve been mucking around with that when I’ve had time and it too works well.
It’s also pretty cheap, around €22 per month for both apartments on Air, BDC & VRBO.
JF
I have been using IGMS and I think it’s great. It automatically schedules cleanings, sends automatic e-mails to your guests, saves templates to frequently asked questions, automatic reviews, etc.
They are also going to be adding a pricing tool very soon. If you’re interested here’s my referral code: https://www.igms.com/software/30-bonus?afmc=78