Newly listed on Booking.com

You can put deposit. Check booking settings

Not only people book for other people, they also use fraudulent credit cards. And then they dispute transaction and charge back is happening. It happened with me 4 times. Half the time credit cards are declined, and then you are stuck with reservation that has no ground. ANd then guests dont show up. Booking.com is not a good platform for private owners with couple of units. Its more suitable for hotels with multiple rooms

1 Like

Yes, it sounds like a mess. I suppose hotels would be set up to deal with this kind of thing. Thanks for the feedback, @Yana_Agapova, and everyone else.

You can note the amount of damage deposit on your listing.

I don’t know how the site works if they hold payment. My guests book and I receive a notification. I then call them on the phone (if in my own country) and go over all payments, rules, check in times, etc. BEFORE I invoice them payment. Booking.com writes your listing so it’s not like Air where you can list the things you want to communicate to the guest.

And remember, Booking is running commercials saying they offer free cancellation. Some guests think this means every listing offers it. So they book, and even enter in their credit card details (that you can view) and don’t bother reading your cancellation policy. When guest doesn’t understand the policy, I tell them I will waive my cancellation policy if they go online and cancel so I can reopen my calendar.

If they are bringing more than they put in reservation, then either tell them they need to cancel or charge for the correct amount of people.

I still vet all Booking.com guests. I will never ever in a million years just allow someone to instant book and not ask anything, and try to run their credit card on my own. My guests have to pay the invoice on their own. I will not enter the info for them.

I don’t ever run someone’s credit card for anything if the guest isn’t agreeing to it. Remember, VISA guidelines are that a merchant cannot use a cardholder’s credit card for damages if the cardholder didn’t give permission. And this must be done after the damages occurred. The only way you are safe with collecting damage deposit is to accept bank transfer or check. Credit cards are meaningless.

You don’t want chargebacks because then it will cost you just because a guest wants to dispute the charges.

I don’t get the fake credit card bookings, but I believe that is due to the market I am in. I am out in a tiny little town and not a huge international city. I have heard one of the reasons so many Booking.com guests use fake credit cards, is because they need a reservation for a requirement from their country, or something like that. I am not a well-seasoned international traveler so maybe someone else can explain why a foreigner needs to prove to their country that they have a reservation in another country. I honestly don’t recall the exact reason that I read about.

You can click on booking, invalid card details, the client has 24 hours, if no reply you can decline the booking

I agree it’s not the best platform, but I am making good money on it…(as an extra plaftorm)

I have a question.
Our appartment have a price that is the same between 1 to 4 persons and then extra for each person above that.

With booking.com I never know how many clients will come when they are booking for 1 to 4 (I can ask but I would prefer to know myself). How do you know how many clients will come?

Exactly , then you are stuck for 24 hours.
I had very bad guests with this site. Overall, its such a mess to deal with these kind of guests comparing to Airbnb.

1 Like

Thanks, @cabinhost,

That’s very interesting. You’ve clearly got the system working for you. Was this trial and error, or did someone help you out? So, I’m unclear on one thing.

Maybe I need to go and spend some time on Booking.com (ugh), but I’m unclear on a basic point. As I said above, my understanding was that the system was autobook, like Airbnb’s Instant Book option, and once the guest had booked, the host was stuck with him or her. And there was no ability to cancel after the event. Are you saying that’s not the case?

Everything was trial and error, and googling the hell out of the internet. When I listed almost 3 years ago, there were only two houses listed in the state of NC. And my account manager was absolutely clueless. He was learning along with me.

The system does not currently work for me. Actually I only started using it again to fill in last minute dates. When I first started I didn’t really care if someone booked short stays, broke up my weekends, etc. I was just trying to get bookings. So it worked for me the first year. But now my goal is to maximize profit and set 4 night restrictions during peak season, 7 night restrictions on Christmas and New Year’s, etc. I don’t even know how to use the site to do all of these things. I have called so many times to ask reps and they don’t even understand it all. It’s possible they know now due to so many more homes listed. Plus, I believe I am still on the old extranet. I have heard the newer version is much more user friendly. But I don’t even have the patience to try to learn right now.

Travelers who use booking.com A LOT are used to booking hotels just to put a hold on a room while they continue to look for something better. That is why they don’t read all the fine print sometimes. And it doesn’t help that Booking.com does not have a complete breakdown (including damage deposit) all in the same area on the confirmation. The damage deposit is listed off in the fine print section. They don’t apply tax to your cleaning fee…so you have to build the lodging tax into the cleaning fee.

I have had a couple of guests book who were completely unresponsive after I made contact. One time the reservation text did not go through to my phone (like it normally does). It wasn’t until after 4 p.m. when I checked the email on my computer that I learned I had a same day reservation. I about shit in my pants. My partner and I went over and frantically began cleaning…thankfully the place was already partially cleaned. We finished around 7:30 and were panting, dripping in sweat, etc. It was awful. Any minute I expected someone to pull up as I’m tripping over my own feet running up and down the stairs. At first someone with a thick Hispanic accent answered the phone and then hung up after I said I was calling about the reservation. The name on the reservation was Hispanic, so I know I had the right person. Then messages went to voicemail. I was so pissed later.

Well eventually I discovered that my listing miraculously switched to “no credit card required for last minute bookings.” So basically this guy just reserved for the heck of it. Didn’t have the decency to say they changed their minds…ignoring my phone calls. So I waited until the middle of the night to call (just to wake his ass up). He did answer…guess he must of thought it was an emergency - then he hung up on me…lol…

As far as being stuck with someone…Booking.com will tell you that you are except if guest is planning to violate policies such as bringing over the max, or bringing a pet to a no pet home. I did ask once if someone booked and said they were planning a bachelor party if I could cancel (even if guest was within max). The rep. said I couldn’t but I could only discourage the guest from booking. Well forget that. I later learned you can do a trick by marking the credit card as invalid. But like the others have mentioned…it will still block your calendar for a time period and then guest still has so many times to resubmit another one.

I recently reduced my occupancy from 6 to 4 on their site. I just don’t want to deal with the hassle of calling the guest and they have over 6 guests, asking them to cancel blah blah blah. People on booking.com really have a hotel mentality. Don’t get me wrong…I have had some wonderful guests from that site. But some feel like they are doing business with Booking.com versus you.

Hi @cabinhost,

Wow, thanks, that’s a lot of information. The take home message I’m getting is that booking.com are not fun people to do business with. Would you say that is fair?

I’m not sure what you mean by this. What system is that?

Ok, so if the reservation is automated and binding, what did you mean by vetting guests. Do you still have the option to turn them away somehow? Apologies if I appear clueless, I’m just trying to determine if booking.com is a reasonable option or not.

Yes that is a fair statement.

Booking.com might work better for people who don’t need to do any vetting at all, and they have minimal restrictions regarding length of stay, don’t care if Friday and Saturday are broken up, their rental does not attract guests wanting to bring extra guests, etc. Or maybe they only rent by the week, and working within the extranet is simple. The extranet (back end) is set up for hotels that typically only require a one night stay. But like I said…I have the old version and I heard the newer version is more user friendly.

For example…let’s say I have a 6 day opening for July, and I have a 3 night minimum stay. Well…I need to set the restrictions so that I can try to sell off the entire period without leaving random holes in the calendar. I don’t want someone taking the center 3 days, yet I don’t necessarily want to set up a mandatory arrival day if someone is willing to take 5 of those 6 days…I’ll deal with a one day hole. I need to maximize profit, and I just don’t understand their back end enough. The reps. were useless in the past.

Properties that are straight forward and basic are more well - suited. Since booking.com writes the listing, it is their decision to include what they want in the description. Potential guests see the pics of the backyard waterfall and have no idea that it doesn’t run during cold months. Or they don’t realize there are outdoor surveillance cameras…so they whine about it after they book. I tell them to go ahead and cancel if it is an issue. These are things I would typically go over with a guest before I accept a booking. You don’t have any freedom.

I vet after the booking and tell guest to cancel if they didn’t understand anything. I just want to move on and that way they can open my calendar back up. I tell them I won’t charge their card if they cancel immediately. IF you get a really bad feeling then you can mark the card as invalid. Or if you don’t get any response from the guest you can mark it as invalid. I only had to do that with my one and only Expedia reservation - never heard a word from the guest after calling and sending emails. The rep. even suggested doing that to re-open the calendar.

Sure it’s worth a try. But if you are in an area like some of the other posters where travelers are entering fake credit cards, etc. then you will find that out soon enough. IF you do not make contact with the guest right after booking…it’s likely they are clueless to many things.

Hi @cabinhost,

I definitely want to do pre-booking vetting. Even the minimal kind that Airbnb provides is a lot better than nothing at all. Would it be fair to say that you basically know nothing about the guest before he/she arrives? Do you even get a name? Though it seems you get a phone number, at least. Since you are able to contact them after booking.

I see. And booking.com doesn’t have a problem with this? And I expect you can’t do it regularly, in any case… Or can you? Plus, presumably the guest could come back and point out that the card is just fine. or the site could. And this is the only option to cancel a reservation?

I definitely prefer the Airbnb model. And they’re not the only ones using it, either. 9flats is very similar.

I’ve got a feeling that India is the sort of place where fake credit cards are plentiful. Call it a hunch. :smile:

It’s also possible, however, that booking.com is heavily used for Bombay, if only by people using hotels. I got that impression from looking at the site, anyway. And if so, someone posting a B&B listing might get a bit of the action. But it sounds like there are major downsides.

I am confused. What happen are booking for kids under 12 years. They are not on number of clients. Normally i charge for any kids above 2 and adults but already a few times that clients are coming with kids under 12 that are as guests. What do you do ? i understand wrong?

Yes, you cannot do any pre-booking vetting…only after the booking. You receive guest name and phone number. I cannot remember if you still receive their home address. I know you used to receive the home address and the email address. Now Booking.com uses a fake email like Airbnb does to try to prevent guest contacting you for a future booking. But I always get all my guests’ real email after booking anyway.

As far as marking card invalid…not sure that a Booking.com rep. would even bother to test out a card if guest claims it is valid. There are all sorts of reasons are card may not go through. Recently I was using my partner’s card to make an online order. It kept getting rejected over and over. It turns out the new bank (purchased the old bank) set restrictions that flagged the card if the purchase was not taking place near the home of the cardholder. Even if a rep. can run the card on their system…doesn’t mean that I can on mine.

Surprisingly Booking.com doesn’t really say much about cancelled bookings. I believe this is the norm because so many travelers book just to put a hold on a place. They invoice me after the guest stay. So basically I write them a check the following month for 15% of the nightly rate. There is no commission on the cleaning fee.

If guest leaves before end of their stay, you also do not have to pay a commission on that night. You get to keep the money. You just go in and edit the reservation.

Hi @cabinhost,

This is all very interesting. What do other people think?

It sounds like one can operate on booking.com, but one must be prepared to operate in a sneaky and underhand fashion, and not worry too much about bending the (nutty) rules. Kind of like Wild West territory. Or India.

(Incidentally, sneaky and underhand isn’t a criticism of you (or anyone else). I want to be like that too, but obviously I need more practice.)

Bottom line - if I decide I don’t like the guest, I pretend I can’t process their payment? I like it. Oh, and do you use Stripe?

I think I need to get my Underhand Hat out of storage. It’s collecting mothballs.

Feeling mildly pleased at the moment. Got a review from my fourth guest. I had pretty much given up on him, but it turns out he was just waiting till the last minute for some reason. Or he just didn’t get around to it. Us fledgling hosts need all the help we can get.

I haven’t yet needed to be underhanded marking a credit card as invalid. All of my guests have gone online to cancel if they didn’t understand all the details of the booking. I only marked one as invalid on Expedia - guest would not respond to my reaching out and the rep. even suggested I do that. Your place isn’t likely to attract a group wanting to party…so I wouldn’t be concerned too much with getting a bad feeling about your guests.

I use PayPal. I never run the guest credit card. I send an invoice along with instructions of how to pay using a debit/credit card. Guest does not need to have a PayPal account.

Very important: BEFORE accepting a booking request through Air, you must always to go to your booking.com calendar FIRST and close off the dates. Do not do it the other way around, as a guest could submit a reservation on Booking.com just seconds after you accept an Air booking for same dates. You will have a double booking and that will be an expensive nightmare.

Yes, I understand. But it’s nice to keep the option in mind. I don’t like the Instant Booking route at all.

Or have an automated solution to this. Though your method, though more manual, sounds safer than relying on an automated method. Having said that, manual does not scale. What about if you are listed on 5 sites?

I am listed on more than 5 sites, including my own website. I manually update all calendars. I don’t trust automation and sometimes VRBO, Flipkey, Air etc. will have a glitch in their system every so often.

Plus a site would have to sync in real time. Most sync after so many hours.

It’s a pain but I sleep better knowing the dates are blocked off when they need to be.

Hi @cabinhost,

Yes, I see. Presumably you have to be particularly careful of sites like booking.com that only offer an instant booking option.

I think they are some automation that can work.