Booking.com worse than AirB.
After Air arbitrarily cancelled all our reservations at beginning of last year and then blamed it on a “computer glitch” while doing very little to help us hosts or the guests, we wanted an alternative, as all our eggs were in the Airbnb basket. Accordingly we opened an account with Booking. We have had bookings with them that we probably would not have got otherwise as it seems that they are more geared to hotels and motels rather than private homes. That is not necessarily a good thing as some guests expect a hotel experience, but in spite of that, we have had 5* reviews. The major difference between the two platforms is that we as hosts are responsible for taking payments directly, but Booking never divulge the cv# on the credit card, so it is up to us to get the details when guest arrives. The Airbnb payment system is so much easier. The other difference is that Booking does not permit us to write a property description and the listing procedure setup is very long-winded and does not make a lot of sense probably because it is geared towards European terminology and facilities rather than US.
The main reason we just closed our account was because we got a booking from a person whose address was in a seedy part of town about 40 miles away and the booking was for 5 days, which would rule out a wedding where the guest would not want to drive home after drinking. for example. To us this was a red flag and we suspected an eviction as the reason. At least with Airbnb we ask guests’ purpose of their visit, which helps ensure they have made a good choice. I spent about ten minutes doing some research and found that this person had at least four recent evictions involving law enforcement. Also had a criminal record mainly for drug offenses, but one for theft which involved a guilty plea and restitution order for over $1300 We do not want that kind of person sharing part of our house. I was convinced that person was the very same who had booked, but before cancelling I wanted to make sure 100% so I messaged them asking for the name of the second guest as a couple of the drug cases named a husband as co defendant. She responded back that although reservation was for two guests, it was just her and her children. Our listing clearly stated no children and this is for safety and liability reasons. That, of course gave me a good reason to cancel and demand cancel fees be waived. It took me over an hour and half to find the phone number for Booking as when hitting contact it goes to another menu with more questions and no matter what you hit it leads to another menu etc, etc. When I eventually got through I started out by giving my name and account# along with the name and booking # of the guest. The rep asked ,“and what relationship are you to this person?” I replied that I am the host and they are the guest, to which the response was, “What is Host” I reiterated that I am the host, but it was obvious that the rep did not know the meaning of the word. I realize that had I said I represent the “hotel” I might have been understood better. The rep was very hostile and argumentative throughout but did reluctantly admit that guest had checked box stating 2 adults and children 0, whereas listing stated no children. I told him that even if she came on her own I would not let her in, as there was extensive criminal history and because of evictions would be concerned that she would not leave. Rep stated that this was not reason for cancelling and I asked him is he would be comfortable having a stranger in his house who had a theft conviction and he said “I am not answering that”. I was put on hold for about ten minutes, after which he returned and told me he would call me back. I then received a call from Barcelona, Spain with the same person telling me they are sending an email which needed my response. Within a few minutes I got it and it was really asking me to approve a change of booking dates. I wrote back that I want the booking cancelled, period and any bill for penalties would be strongly contested and I want my account closed out immediately as I would not be doing further business with Booking.com after this. I did get an email confirming cancellation. My listing is still showing on their site, but showing no availability. Maybe it takes a few days for listing to be removed, we will see.
Main reason I closed account is because of the difficulty in contacting someone, and because of their unhelpful, hostile attitude.
Today it got even worse as Booking.com accepted another booking for arrival today!
Also guest requested large bed and smoking. We have a Queen and do not allow smoking.
Contacted Booking.com and received an email informing me that they would try to find guest alternative accommodation but would bill me for any difference!
I wouldn’t depend on THEM to shut down your booking! You need to go online and shut it down.
And you will probably have to make sure your bank won’t let them take any money out of your account.
Umm, no. Your settings allowed the guest to book today, not BDC’s fault, yours.
Yup, that’s how it works. Sounds like you signed up to a platform and a) didn’t read the small print and b) didn’t take the time to ensure your settings were correct.
Sympathy meter barely flickering…
JF
No it is NOT my fault as I had cancelled my account verbally and in writing and the listing showed Closed on all months. It also showed Smoking not permitted. Booking .com are in violation as they should not have accepted ANY further bookings.
Sorry to learn its my fault for being the victim. I have posted on this forum so as to alert other hosts of what to look out for should they enroll with Booking.
Good advice, but have been on the site and cant figure out how to do that as it seems that one can add rooms but not delete them. There is no provision for closing an account from the site itself. I would have to rely on my emails to prove that they were notified.
Victim… seriously?
You signed up to a platform and didn’t have a scooby how to admin it, that’s the bottom line.
If you’d taken the time to work out how to use BDC then you’d have known how restrict availability, it is not rocket science.
Eesch… some folk.
JF
If you had taken the time to read the post you will see that:
- My listing stated no children.
- On beds, it stated double bed, but it is actually a Queen but that’s what you get when boxes are checked instead of description allowed.
- Very clearly states “No smoking”
- Calendar showed as “closed”
Obviously some guests have the same intelligence/reading capacity as yourself. Like you say… some folk!
Not to pass any comments on the OP’s experiences pretty much all my bookings are via BDC now with only one AirBnB in May versus about 10 on BDC. My experiences with BDC have been fine. I have had a couple of guest issues such as double booking caused by a failure to sync the AirBnB calendar with BDC so that a BDC guest booked a night that was already booked on AirBnB. BDC called the guest and arrange another place for them which kept them happy.
My main complaints about BDC are 1. their commission is quite high so I have to raise my nightly rates to take that into account and 2. while guests can review you, you have no idea of what your guest’s previous experiences were and you cannot review them - only comment on their reviews if they choose to make one.
Still without BDC since about August last year I would be running my apartment at a loss instead of the tidy profit I am making.
I’m also not commenting on the original post because I don’t read anything that doesn’t use a single paragraph.
Neither is using paragraphs.
However, it does seem that this forum is getting very moany at the moment. This isn’t a place to whine and winge. We’re here to help each other not just slag off OTAs.
Rigsby, thank you so much for sharing this STR nightmare. You’ve clarified alot of questions I’ve had about Bookings.
It isn’t a matter of taking the time to read your post- a half page post that isn’t broken up into paragraphs with spaces between them is incredibly difficult to read and most people won’t read through it.
When I wanted to close my listings on BDC I realized I can’t do that by himself, but I have to contact customer service and demand my listings to be closed or deleted. I don’t know if something has changed within the last 2 years because I am not listing on BDC anymore.
don’t like booking at all(
- Log in to your Booking Extranet
. - Click on CALENDAR
. - Close listing (see image)
. - Learn how to use PARAGRAPH SPACING (see how easy?)
. - Don’t expect sympathy from most on this forum, where the non-regulars are always in the wrong.
.
Had already tried that but error msg to the effect that cannot close listing with pending reservations. Even though it did not show any pending reservations.
Ok well that leaves you with one option - their help line, etc.
We have been on all major platforms for years (including Booking.com). Unfortunate that you had a bad first experience but we can tell you that EVERY platform has pro’s and con’s. Booking.com is similar to their Expedia counterpart: High commission but reaches travelers from all over the world. It was started for hotels but began featuring vacation rentals about six years ago. The point is if you take the time to learn and experience you will come to appreciate the strengths of each and be aware of the weaknesses. That is why we diversify because each site has advantages over the others. And yes, it takes a lot more work to be on every major site (and some minor ones too) especially with multiple rentals and when each site is always growing and changing policy and procedure.
We’ve had all sorts of experiences with them and other sites, but just as many positive ones as negative – if not more. Again, nothing is a matter of “this site = GOOD, that site = BAD”. Surely you know that a site as huge and well established as Booking.com (one of the “Big Four” of vacation rentals) must be good enough to be so popular and endure so long. But I would not sign up with any major site with a good reputation if you are going to judge it within the first few weeks, or even months, or give up after one bad experience. With that logic if you had had any of your bad experiences with AirBnB or another OTA right off the bat you would have assumed they were a bad site to use too.
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