6 ways Booking.com helps protect your holiday rental business

We want you to feel confident about every booking you receive on our platform. That’s why we invest in products and processes to protect you financially, give you peace of mind and keep you in control.

To demonstrate that commitment, here are six ways we’re working to protect your property – and your business.

1) Damage programme

Most guests treat their surroundings with respect, so the chances of them damaging your property are low. That said, occasionally accidents happen.

We understand that collecting damage deposits from guests before they arrive can be complex, adding operational hassle for you and causing friction for guests. 

That’s why we launched a new programme to facilitate damage payment requests* on your behalf – at no additional cost. Unlike a damage deposit, no money is collected from the guest upfront. Instead, in the event that damage has occurred at your property during a guest stay, simply report it to us and we will ask the guest to pay on your behalf. This means you can skip the need to collect and return damage deposits, without leaving yourself exposed.

*Booking.com facilitates damage payment requests via Payments by Booking.com up to a maximum amount of €/$/£500.

2) Partner Liability Insurance 

To help you welcome guests with confidence, we automatically enroll all eligible residential or home-like properties into our third-party Partner Liability Insurance programme as soon as they are listed on our platform.

That means every reservation you receive through Booking.com will have protection against liability claims from third parties up to €/£/$1,000,000 – covering unexpected incidents like:

• Bodily injury – for example, if your guest breaks their arm slipping in the shower and holds you responsible.
• Third-party property damage – for example, if your guest accidentally leaves a tap running and causes water damage to your neighbour’s apartment below.

Please note that damage to your own personal property is not covered as part of Partner Liability Insurance.

3) Request to Book 

One of our newest tools that really places your needs at the forefront is the Request to Book model. Designed to give you full control over your booking requests, this system means potential guests cannot instantly book but must instead request a reservation.

Request to book is currently a beta version available in a limited number of countries including Australia, the US, Italy, Germany, the UK, France and Spain. 

4) Reporting guest misconduct 

The vast majority of Booking.com guests are reliable, thoughtful bookers. But in the unlikely event you do find yourself facing misconduct from guests, it’s easy to report it to us so we can take action. You can even report incidents up to seven days after check-out, giving you plenty of time to fully assess any damages.

After reporting guest misconduct, you can also choose to block the guest from booking your property again in the future. If you have multiple properties listed on Booking.com and block a guest due to misconduct from any one of them, the guest will automatically be blocked from all your other properties, too.

5) House rules 

To help you find the right people for your property, you can set house rules that guests must read and agree to before they stay – offering you a way to set clear expectations and boundaries from the start.

Examples of rules might be:

• Noise limits – letting guests know when they need to keep noise levels down to avoid disturbing the neighbours.
• Extra visitors – setting limits on parties or additional visitors to help you control how many people are staying in your property at any one time.
• Pet guidelines – clarifying whether your accommodation is pet friendly and, if so, whether there are restrictions such as the size of pets allowed or areas that are off limits to animals.

6) Fraud prevention

We’re continually working on your behalf to develop the teams, tools and processes needed to keep your property – and your business – secure. That means having always-on systems to guard against fraudulent reservations and payments. But it also means offering you effective safeguards and support to protect your account details against a variety of cybercriminal techniques including phishing and social engineering.

Learn more about the common signs of phishing and social engineering strategies. And always report a threat if you suspect you may be the target of a cybersecurity attack.