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Sergei - Community Manager

COVID-19 update: April 8, 2020 

Hi everyone,

Earlier today more updates were shared with you around the work our teams have been doing to help you retain as many reservations as possible in these challenging times, to ensure you have seen them we wanted to post a link to them from here as well. You can read more here

As always, for the most up-to-date news and information, please continue to check our dedicated landing page in the Partner Hub. The #coronavirus tag is also available to help you find more information from fellow partners.

Thank you again for your ongoing support, 

Sergei and the Community Team


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BrookAve 3 years ago

 

Hi Sergei,

 

There is one important option missing from the section on ' Force Majeure Guest Agreements '

i.e. Option 4-  Offer Partial refund

 

That has to be an option especially for non-refundable rates booked.

 

I have had several cancelation requests and in the last 2 weeks , early part I received an email stating the 4 options including offer 50% refund.

 

Yet some how that email is no longer being sent out to partners to select the 50% refund.

 

We need that on by default for all bookings especially Non-Refundable bookings. not just random bookings.

 

If it does not happen and a guest tries to cancel a non-refundable booking it will be denied and then offer the guest directly a 50% refund once BdC have made a payout for that period.

i.e. the original booking stays in place as if guest stayed.

Thats  the only current workaround.

However as I discovered last week some BdC support staff are taking it upon themselves to second guess this partner decision and instead offer 100% refund. without authorisation .

 

That nonsense has to stop. Do not offer anything to guest when the Partner has already made it clear to the guest NR rates will will only be 50% or change dates, or credit.

 

Kind Regards, Be Safe, Be well

 

 

 

 

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pibomarco 3 years ago

If borders are closed, guest can not or are not allowed to come, charging them is sensless from my point of view regardles of the polices of the property. Either a full refund or change of dates is reasonable. As a guest I would be outraged if my booking would be charged in such situation.

 

P.S. I had 60+ cancelations so far and I issue a full refund with no hesitation.

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michael beeston 3 years ago

Hey Pibomarco............Easter Greetings from Australia..........we have had 75 cancelations with All the properties............!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!! but full refund always............Lets hope it gets better and not damn worse...........Could  it get worse (I dont think it can).......we have ZERO bookings for the next Three months so far !!

 

Time for a few Champagnes for sure !!!! or maybe something stronger....BE SAFE.Michael.

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Bravington Apartment 3 years ago

pibomarco,

Wouldn't you make a non refundable cancellation because you have a sort of insurance?

 

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michael beeston 3 years ago

Good afternoon Sergio.....From Michael ( The Pinnacle Apartments Surfers Paradise) in Australia.

I see that BDC has paused the PPP during this terrible tragedy effecting us ALL in the Hospitality World (awful),,Good news But could you/the Administration Team look at the REVIEWS on our Property Website.Due to this Pandemic we are beginning to lose ALL of our booking reviews after two years...........If this Pandemic lasts another 3/6 months some of us will have No Reviews left and that is what Guests look at when they book.

Normally we lose some and are replaced by on-going bookings and REVIEWS  BUT now as you are well aware NO BOOKINGS therefore NO REVIEWS.

Can BDC look into this dilema for us ALL and at least "pause" the loss of reviews for the following 6 months..This would be a great help for the FUTURE bookings.Pls come back as soon as possible with a reply...Greatly appreciated /Many thanks  Michael.

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Anonymous
3 years ago

Hi michael beeston! Thanks for sharing your ideas in the Community. Our product team is aware of this situation and they are working on the possible solutions. Meanwhile we have altered the criteria from 5 to 3 for the minimum number of reviews needed to have a score displayed. And we extended the review window from 28 days to 90 days to collect more reviews. Besides we have stepped up messages to guests to encourage more reviews and more free text feedback.

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Bed And Beach … 3 years ago

Hi,

I'm one of the partners affected by the wave of cancellations. We are located in Spain. We have refunded some guests and also offered some others whose bookings weren't refundable anymore to pospone their dates until anytime before end of April 2021. Despite our effort to find an intermediate solution, as we didn't want our guests to lose the money they had paid, Booking.com has forced us to refund these guests the full amount they have paid without even discussing it. We are pretty upset about this since we find we've been bullied to issue refunds.

Then, on April 8th, we have received an email from Booking.com stating the following:

Force Majeure Guest Agreements

We are also working to help you protect the revenue from reservations made before Monday 6 April, when our Force Majeure conditions still apply. If guests are seeking a cancellation, we support you to explore their alternative options with them, as outlined below.

For these reservations, we expect you to respect the inability of guests to stay as intended. We ask that you, to the satisfaction of the guest, arrange:

  • new dates for a future stay through Booking.com (different rates may apply), or
  • a voucher issued by you for a future stay, for the value paid by the guest or a higher amount at your discretion, or
  • a full refund of any prepayment/deposit.

We will not charge commission in cases where the reservation is cancelled due to Force Majeure.

 

Exploring alternative options with our guests is what we have been trying to do with zero support from Booking.com. Please don't say you're supporting us in this because it's not true. We understand you have to protect guests and your business but we haven't received any support as partners. Not sure how this experience has been for other partners but this is how it has gone for us.

Regards.

 

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Riad SHIRAZ 3 years ago

Hi Bed and Beach,

I absolutely agree with you.
No support from a "so-called partner."
I have no knowledge of the legislation, but are refunds that have been made without our consent legal?
Also, some of my travellers tried to change the booking dates in September but were unable to do so. It was impossible for them to book.
So, are we really partners of Booking.com?
We need to ask Booking.com to reconsider their measures for cancellation requests.
Airbnb offers to contact my customers to inform them that their cancellation request will be made under OUR cancellation policy and that it is best to postpone their stay.
What does Booking.com do ?

Regards 

 

 

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Insta Properties 3 years ago

hey guys,

it looks Booking.com do not know the process for the clauses they placed in force. 

I have mentioned (on last week forum) the invoices they sent to me without consulting the ones that were RISK-FREE CANCELATION (for which I did not get any payment at all and Booking is the one who has to pay for the amount I have lost). I have disputed the invoices that were with RFC and guess what they approved it but they have only deducted their Commission but they do not mention the outstanding amount that I need to get paid BY Booking.com for the CANCELLATIONS made with the RFC clause they had in place.

I have tried calling them several times but the call does not go through.

is there another way to get in touch with them? anyone who can help me here...

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Bravington Apartment 3 years ago

`Hi Sergei,

I had a few cancellation by booking.com for the month of June and July asking me to refund the guest in total in non refundable bookings.

Could you please let me know why this is happening? They are applying Force Majure in the months of June and July and forcing me to refund. I have not authorised this.

Also I would like to know if we will be compensated by booking.com for all the non -refundable reservation that we have to refund, the guest have to choices and they should have insurance to cover their decisions, or booking.com to cover them as you are the ones who are giving us the choices to make our reservation non-refundable and after you are taking our choices away.

Thanks 

Eva

 

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Natalie Welsh 3 years ago

Hi Sergei

I would also like to understand what compensation or support booking.com is giving their partners for cancellations during this difficult time. Airbnb are supporting hosts in compensating them 50% of cancellations (inline with their cancellation policy). They are also providing financial support (grants) to Superhosts. 

Given the size of booking.com (Priceline) group, I am still shocked and disappointed there has been NO support offered to either long term partners or small businesses that rely on reservations and booking.com as their main source of income. 

I really did expect more to be honest. I also think it is extremely unfair to place the onus of responsibility on the host/partner to deem what refund to provide the guest (if it all).

If feels very much like booking.com are shirking away from any responsibility and to ultimately come away from this looking like they are impartial to the guest and protecting their brand, while partners are taking the hit.

Natalie

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Craigmoniecottage 3 years ago

Hi Natalie

It is always the partners who take the hit, never B.Com

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Bravington Apartment 3 years ago

Hi Sergei, 

Thank you for the link. I have already read it. On it still doesn't answer my questions.

I still do not understand why booking.com is cancelling my June and July non refundable bookings and they are asking me to refund the client (guest)

Regards,

Eva

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pibomarco 3 years ago

as far as I know you can decline this request for bookings in the month of June and July or you can offer the change of dates as a good gesture.  

 

Nonrefundable, so what. Pandemic, war, natural disasters.. that's a common sense that nonrefundable bookings can become refundable in such extremely rare situations. Ask your government for help not freeloading on guests that are not able or can't come to your property because of the closed borders etc..

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Bravington Apartment 3 years ago

booking.com has cancelled non refundable bookings on June and July without any consultation and they are asking me to refund the booking.

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Riad SHIRAZ 3 years ago

Dear Sergie,

I've just been looking at VIDOC-19 update of the April 8, 2020 

Suspension d'un cas de force majeure , I quote :

 

We are committed to supporting you as best we possibly can

-our Force Majeure conditions do not apply to bookings made from Monday 6 April onwards.

Do you really think we will receive reservations after that date?

 

Force Majeure Guest Agreements for reservations made before Monday 6 April

We ask that you, to the satisfaction of the guest, arrange:

1 - new dates for a future stay through Booking.com 

2 - a voucher issued by you for a future stay

3 - We will not charge commission in cases where the reservation is cancelled due to Force Majeure.

1- Two of my clients tried to make a reservation for a later date. They informed me that no dates were available on the Booking.com calendar. 

2- Until now decisions have only been taken by booking.com to refund our customers.
Why Booking.com would not take the responsibility to offer customers vouchers.
This is exactly where Booking.com should show the support we expect from them.

3- If a reservation is cancelled due to Force Majeure, we will not receive any payment !What commissions are we talking about? 18% of 00 ?

 

 Booking.com should reconsider its commitments by becoming more involved with its partners.
Until now, Booking has made the decisions on claims alone without consulting us.
 It is now up to you to take responsibility for converting the amount paid into a travel credit for a future stay for any cancellation requests.

Best regards 

 

Pascale

 

 

 

 

 

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Janefryer 3 years ago

Just tonight I actually received a phone call from booking.com to say a customer wanted a full refund on a non-refundable booking.  I said No, but suggested I would be happy with a change of date or we go 50/50% on the loss as it was neither person's fault.  I had already corresponded with the guest to this end.  Just received an email saying I had agreed to a full refund.  Balderdash!

Had another guest cancel without any consultation at all.   Not sure how.

I am on a pension, moving out of my home in France to cheap accommodation in order to supplement my pension for high season. I am not a big business and without at least some extra income, I cannot pay my annual bills.  I cannot get any help from the government.

To whom is booking.com being fair?   Added to which they lied.

Mortified !

 

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Bravington Apartment 3 years ago

Janefryer, It happened to me in at least 12 of my non refundable bookings. I have tried to contact booking.com and I didn't get any answer. I have not refunded the money, so know booking.com is calling me demanding the refund as I agreed to the cancellation. I NEVER agreed to a full refund. I tried to come to an agreement with the guest but booking.com went ahead and cancelled it for me.

I have received an email, asking me to refund the money otherwise the money will be taken off my with interest!!!!!

What do you call this??

I don't know what to do, but I am so frustrated and angry as booking.com won't listen and they will penalised you with big bills, this is so unfair and I am a little fish in the sea. No one will listen

Eva

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Janefryer 3 years ago

Oh dear Eva,

I of course know how you feel.  I have written to customer services and they dont reply. I have sent messages through the extranet box and they just send an automated reply. 

I cant believe they dare to take interest !!  That is just unbelievable.  They steal our money and then want interest on it.  I dont get my money till the guest has been so I have never had it.

I have already paid for alternative accommodation for the summer and I dont think they will refund - maybe carry over to next year but its not helping me now.     Most of my bookings are not until June onwards but I am sure booking.com are going to cancel them..for sure.

I am now weighing up how much worse off I would be if I gave up the rental lark altogether and found some local work cleaning and staying in my own apartment.  A lot less hassle  and why would I want to give booking.com business after this.    Not just that, do we want the calibre of person who would leave us with nothing, come stay in our home another time?   Makes you think!

Be strong,

 

Jane

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Lucia percovich 3 years ago

I can not figure out how to CREATE A VOUCHER for a future stay. The only option I see is to fully cancel or change the dates. Please detail how to do this. It says you have the option to do it but then you cant do it anywhere.

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Bravington Apartment 3 years ago

booking.com will issue the voucher if the guest agreed to it, you will have to write to them as there is no way to contact them