I had mine listed on both and recently I ended up getting double booked because between the time I okayed the TripAdvisor and the traveler accepted the unit was instant booked on airbnb What did I do wrong? I thought the calendars were synced and this couldn’t happen.
you can’t have instant booking and be listed on another site.
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I figured that out. Dropped Trip Advisor.
I sm on instant book for a year, and I list on 2 more sites. Only once I was overbooked so I had to put people in our bedroom and stay with a friend.,From TA I only was booked once, and almost 100 inquires. That’s exhausting honestly. People from TA just keep asking me questions that have answers already in my listings. And then they never book.
Booking.com also instant book. But occurrence of booking simultaneously is very rare. That one time I just failed to block calendar.
T be able to manage all you really need to be on guard all the time, very prompt in blocking calendar. I succeed in doing it because it’s my full time job but if you have another job to keep up is almost impossible.
TA/FK throws in such a hefty fee and doesn’t show people an actual quote until after an inquiry. So, the fees scare them off. They also attach the deposit to the quote in such a way that it looks like any other rental fee, as opposed to a refundable item.
The biggest problem with them is that their preapprovals last for a WHOLE WEEK! So, you could approve someone to book and be in limbo on other sites that whole time. There is also no simple way of cancelling the preapproval.
That s not right! I did not know the whole story how people book through TA.
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I avoid Flip Key and Trip Advisor like the plague.
I will from now on. Now they are saying they are going to fine me $150 for cancelling. Plus the guest keeps calling me to try and get his refund because he can’t get them on their customer service line. I can’t get them on the customer service line either I guess this will all get resolved eventually, but what a mess.
@julia: I found Flip Key / Trip Advisor to be too easily ‘Drama Central’; besides the whole scene is one big hustle. Last week, I had my last guests from FK, and it was like a constant power battle with their ‘ringleader’, who insisted on telling me what I was going to do for them. Wrong castle lady.
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How about VHR? They have the same parent company, but seem to be a good bit different.
Guests from VRBO I have always found are a lot like AirBnBers; very nice people.
We listed on TripAdvisor about five months ago because it doesn’t seem wise to be tied to only one platform - which could cancel you at any time with no notice.
But we haven’t gotten a single reservation - in FIVE months! We’ve gotten three inquiries - two of which were very flaky and only one which sounded legit.
Their fees are so high it’s incredible. We have to up our rate way more than it is on Air just to get the same price. I want to tell those people to just go book us through Air!
It would really makes us feel a lot more secure if there was a decent, viable alternative to Air.