Newly listed on Booking.com

What about pre autorization the credit card before they should come. In case of no shows I can charge the client all the booking

There is a time limit on that, I think it is between 5 and 8 days.
Then I would need to the pre-authorization 8 days before arrival.

I just want the 30% upon booking. If they book 6 months ahead, I already have some of their money. :slight_smile:

You can do both

Charge 30% as you do and 5 days before arrival pre autorization of 70% (as you are allowed by booking.com) so you are sure if they don’t show that you charge the 70%

Isn’t a chargeback a possibility in that case?

Yes, that is another option.

But I will first try to get the money by transfer 30 days before arrival.

Well you have a proof that the client book so in a case of charge back you can fight the chargeback.

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I have most of the client booking a few days before arriving so I can’t make pre payment by transfer

Yes, you can always fight it. But often times an online booking confirmation is not proof enough (to the credit card company) to say that the card holder booked, and that the cancellation policies were presented to the guest in a way that meets VISA’s requirements.

My old Booking.com manager and I had a discussion about this and many hotels were having to eat the chargebacks. He said it was rampant.

This is one reason why I have the guests pay the invoice themselves, even though I have their credit card information.

You are in a really tough spot with not being able to collect the money upfront.

What is a Booking.com manager in this context? Just curious.

That was back in day when one person from Booking.com was assigned to be the contact person for people who listed vacation rentals in my state. When I first listed there were only two other homes in the state listed…the rest were all hotels. He would be the equivalent of what you call an “Airbnb idiot” except you were stuck with the same idiot until that person quit, and then you were assigned a new “idiot.”

Now that the site has grown with more whole homes listed, I am assigned to small customer service dept. based out of Atlanta.

Yes, and I require a proper check in.
I make sure I have the information on their ID, so I can go to the police and report a fraude if they do not pay, or chargeback.

It will not get my money back, but if the guests turns up at a police check or customs at some time in the future, they will have a big problem.

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Hi @cabinhost,

I see. Thanks for the explanation. :slight_smile: I thought it might be something like that, though it sounds like an unusual level of customer service for a rental site.

Well I didn’t receive any “high” level of personalized customer service. The guy would always say “I am learning along just like you are.” - meaning he was learning that hotel policies can’t necessarily apply to the different needs of whole house rentals. It was frustrating. He was just a kid in his twenties reading scripts and trying to “educate” me on what was best for my business. Same old. sigh…

Hi @cabinhost,

Was that better or worse than calling up customer service and getting Joe or Jane Random, as you presumably do today?

It was on the same level of frustration. It was nice that someone was familiar with your property, but at the same time Booking.com policies are geared towards hotels.

And I was not allowed to write my own listing description. I would try to stress the importance of “why” it was important a guest knew this or that information beforehand. Or trying to tell them to list "my guests’ interest in distances to major attractions was a hassle. They would have you list the top three on your “application” but then they would choose which ones they thought were best. They also would order which pic would be my main one.

Some U.S. hosts were lucky enough to get American description writers. I was in the group where the foreign writers use generic words so they translate well. They also use “bird’s eye” distance to say how far away you are from a major attraction. It’s deceiving.

I finally went through a customer service rep. who was willing to listen. I am very persistent. I re-wrote the entire listing description using the maximum number of words I saw on similar listings. I also included my city in the description several times (this is what they do for SEO purposes) - and then I told them it was not fair to deny my mention of a major attraction within less than 30 miles if these other places are allowed to mention attractions within 30 miles. She finally did have the “writing” or content dept. update some of it.

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Sounds as if in some ways Airbnb is better than Booking.com. At least they don’t presume to dictate (or not much) what you put on your listing. It’s also a bit surprising that they would bother. I mean, what difference does it make to them?

I see Airbnb moving towards the Booking.com format.

In what way? In the sense of dictating content?

Yes. And Air has adopted a similar policy to Booking.com’s where the host is responsible for paying the difference if a guest needs to be relocated. I think Air (my own conspiracy theory) may eventually get rid of the “extenuating circumstances” policy and it’s the host’s responsiblity to relocate a guest to a comparable property even if the pipes break. This is why I refuse to take part of any “incentives” that Booking.com offers to link to my checking account. Expedia has a similar policy.

It seems Booking.com has gotten stricter with new sign ups and not allowing hosts to charge ahead of time, etc.

But Air is worse in some ways because my Booking.com guests aren’t entitled to a full refund because they get sick or they have their flight cancelled. This is where Booking.com is the middleman and Air is playing judge with your money. They both have their pros and cons for sure.

I’m not following this bit. What does it mean to “link” to your checking account?

Yes, I think we can all agree that’s a terrible policy. Let’s hope it doesn’t become widespread. Sometimes it seems all these sites are learning different abuses from each other.