BiteSize: What is BdC going to do to help partners
From today's advisory update, the first announcement of what we can expect to see happen to assist Partners in the future
What is Booking.com doing to help with my financial issues?
As a large company with many partners to serve, we take our social responsibility very seriously. In normal circumstances, our teams proactively reach out to partners who are in financially challenging situations to discuss a tailored approach. But these are unprecedented times. We need to ensure we can keep on operating our business in the best possible way, so we can bring future demand and support to you as soon as you are ready to resume and grow your business again.
With more than 2.5 million properties worldwide on our website, it can be difficult to offer individual financial relief. That said, our financial department is gathering information on initiatives being developed by governments to reduce or delay tax payments. We will proactively inform you about any financial relief program that is applicable to your situation.
In addition, as countries begin to show signs of recovery, we will publish a Recovery Preparation Toolkit to help you get back to business and back to growth as soon as possible
Dear Barry thanks for this update.
Hope recovery starts very soon and people stop suffering from this deadly virus.
Stay healthy...stay at home.
all the best to you and all partners too.
This is my only job. And do not know how to be, and how to live on. God grant that everything ends quickly.Health to all.
Tot agree and we are the same as you. Our apartment is our only income. We have been asked to close by the Spanish authorities. We need some financial help from Booking.com so we can remain open. Stay safe x
Yes, of course we all need financial support from booking. com. All countries have closed.This year will be the hardest.Take care of yourself ! I hope they will help us.
Spain closed hotels campsites etc that could not offer full isolation and no shared facilities. We offered business and emergency accommodatio instead
It would really help if Booking.com decreased commission to help us pick up the pieces.
I agree with you.
agreed. Stop strangling the golden goose. We the hotel owners are in serious trouble, we have no income, end of. Some, many will not be here in as early as June.
How about bdc help and lower commission for a year when this reopens for those still here to help us get out of the massive debt we will be accruing. Personally, handing back to the keys to bank would be a blessing, no more blood being sucked from so many directions and NO help at all forthcoming.
Totally agree.
Totally agree. I think it will be June at least before Spain will let us trade again. Booking.com need to start sharing out their profits to its partners to help us stay open and keep Booking.com receiving money from our bookings in the future. Other platforms are helping financially surely booking.com can do the same.
Interesting to see how other companies are responding to the financial impact the emergency is having on their 'Partners'
AirBnB seem to be living their values and seem to understand what a "Partnership" actually means.
It's both impressive from a ethical point of view but also good business sense if your looking to the long term health of your business !
Hopefully Booking.com will demonstrate the same level of enlightened business practise
Regards and good luck to all
Jeremy
See below:
.... However, while I believe we did the right thing in prioritizing health and safety, I’m sorry that we communicated this decision to guests without consulting you—like partners should. We have heard from you and we know we could have been better partners.
Although it may not have felt like it, we are partners. When your business suffers, our business suffers. We know that right now many of you are struggling, and what you need are actions from us to help, not just words.
Here are some actions we are taking to help you navigate the crisis.
We will pay $250 million to hosts to help cover the cost of COVID-19 cancellations. When a guest cancels an accommodation reservation due to a COVID-19 related circumstance, with a check-in between March 14 and May 31, we will pay you 25% of what you would normally receive through your cancellation policy. This applies retroactively to all COVID-19 related cancellations during this period. This cost will be covered entirely by Airbnb. These payments will begin to be issued in April. Guests with reservations booked on or before March 14 will still be able to cancel and receive a standard refund or travel credit equivalent for 100% of what they paid. You can go to airbnb.com/250Msupport for more details.
We are creating a $10 million Superhost Relief Fund. This is designed for Superhosts who rent out their own home and need help paying their rent or mortgage, plus long-tenured Experience hosts trying to make ends meet. Our employees started this fund with $1 million in donations out of their own pockets, and Joe, Nate and I are personally contributing the remaining $9 million. Starting in April, hosts can apply for grants for up to $5,000 that don't need to be paid back. You can go to airbnb.com/superhostrelief for more details..............................
Totally agree. Air bnb are putting forward 10 million to help it’s partners. Think booking.com need to help us financially.
They have set dates ahead and refunded in full when we are open, they have compensation 25% of your 50% fee =12.5%, they only help superhosts with less than 3 properties, but we share our 2+1 on their platform, two people, two mortgages, only income, no help at all.
air bnpoo
yes very commendable by aBnB & also makes good business sense, you scratch my back I'll scratch yours.
Booking.com are helping by giving free cancellations to guests without asking their partners first!
Great Move ! Put your partners out of business
Sorry to vent, but really not sure where else to post this as no-one is returning my calls from Booking.com!!! Not only have the implemented free cancellations, but moved the goalposts on paying us fees when guests have already paid them for reservations. As a small business this kind of action totally floors our cashflow and adds to an already impossible position.
It really does not feel like a partnership - we all need to work together and at this time, big companies who work on commission must start looking to help those who they work with.
Being sent an invoice today with charges on it for BDC guests who cancelled because of the virus - and they all came through the system - really made me mad. Joined up thinking please!!! And when I'm down, dont kick me. It's hard enough trying to work out how we will get through this and survive!!!
Be human. Be nice.
no problem go for it., but they wont see this directly.
Typically what happens is the communities team will at some point see out posts, topics, and some not all comments.
Then aggregate the keywords, keynotes to go to daily/weekly feedback meetings.
That invoice is likely a mistake, simply use the extranet booking.com messages , contact options to message the relevant category. it will get sorted just may take some time.with the volume of work.
We are definitely all in agreement, none of this has been handled that way ewe would prefer. It has taken time for this and procedures to evolve and get put in place. and even then they don't seem to always activate on a cancellation request.
Kind Regards, Be Safe, Be Well.
Hello Barry,
would you know how to contact Booking.com management directly? I looked but could not find any email, phone, etc.
regards
David
That happened to me today. It was reservation for July under non-refundable conditions. Booking cancel it for FREE without asking me. What the hec?
We have just had hem as well with charges on for people who have cancelled. What topped it off for me yesterday I had a guest who was coming in July and paid a deposit. The balance was due but he said he wasn't paying and cancelled losing his deposit for July! booking.com then refunded it to him and sent me an invoice! Now I've had a called with them pleading me to refund someone in august who cant come...My reply Blanket NO to any request in the future we are not partners you treat us like dirt and then feel we should help you!
erm did I really hear that right?
A deposit paid by the guest directly to you and not via BdC, whio do not facilitate deposits but tell us to take them, then had the neck to refund out of their own pocket and then apply it as a deficit on your balance.
Oh hell no, now that's just low and they should not be entertaining that.
What part of a deposit is not clear to these selfish guests.
Since when are deposits refundable
that just makes my blood boil
PS: what percentage of the rate is the deposit? @Apple Property Group
30 percent !
Got this from the internet. This just proves that Booking.com need us and should be helping us out at this time so we can stay open for business in the future. So disappointed that they are not helping the people that helps to make their Hugh profits.
Global online travel company Booking Holdings generated approximately 15.07 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2019, up from 14.53 billion the previous year. Booking Holdings has become one of the key players in the global online travel industry as the company's revenue has seen steady growth over the past 12 years.
Good day
I just received my invoice and was just as disappointed like all of you. I'm also by airbnb and might not qualify for their criteria in receiving financial support as booking.com overshadow them with bookings and now Booking.com cannot even come up with a solution in supporting us. Initially I was impress with booking.com and then they started with all kinds of discounts to ensure an increase in your search on the internet generating the most bookings in the process. All in all now they leave us to the birds.
I have a mortgage to pay and being on a complex a levy fee and rate and taxes let alone the WiFi and DSTV etc. I will be doomed if Booking.com don't come up with a solution.
BOOKING.COM PLEASE HELP US!
We need you MORE then EVER. Besides hosting for an income we also love this industry of hosting and will be there for you aswell. I don't want to lose my guesthouse please! I love having it!
Regards Faith
watch out i already posted something similar and booking just removed it...I worked with airbnb in the past and switeched to booking and was happy with the partnership but there's force majeure like when your guesthouse or hotel burns down but this force majeure is for everyone and the only ones taking the burden are the accomodations, the 'valued partners'. For the guest it's a few hundred euros when they visit, for us all cancelled reservations put together it's future bankruptcy. A balanced reponse would be to do 50/50 so the guest pays half and the accomodation gets the other half, it's a global pandemia so why should accomodations get all the burden? I also beleive that in spite of the agreement with booking which didn't foresee such a worldwide crisis, partners should have been consulted and each partner should decide for themselves. Don't forget that guests always have the possibility to take a travel insurance and some do even cover the situation we're in now. I can only hope booking will see reaon and like airbnb will do something for his partners because like all relationships it only works when both parties talk to eachother...
my monthly commisions to booking are enough to pay someone fulltime, i don't ask that but as a partner i want to be hear and consulted....
Solution ? Every-one stop paying Booking.Com invoices until losses are shared 50/50 between host and guest ,commissions are lowered and businesses have some hope of surviving . Booking .com then removes listings due to unpaid invoices and loses their own source of income . Good luck with suing us for breach of contract - blood out of a stone .
Please follow and share as we try to get a group of owners together to see and listen to how booking.com are causing them financial harm and we ultimately would like to look at legal action against the free cancellation and fee's
https://www.facebook.com/groups/275171963475301/
I hope this COVID19 will have a solution soon and business will start again. Booking.com will obviously help us after the business started.
I need to join you. Getting support from booking.com is impossible these days. No one answering the phone, not responding to messages or with a long delay, but constantly sending emails that if we do not return money to our guests within 5 days, they will return it for us and then issue us an invoice. No consultation, no other solution or support available. Absolutely liquidation negotiations for all landlords. In such an exceptional and bad situation for all, booking.com failed as a partner. The highlight of all is that the risk-free bookings, which have recently been a great marketing tool for booking.com, and which we have used to a large extent, refuse to honor the booking itself and pay those bookings. We argue over every booking for several days and weeks and it is very stressful and tiring. I'm so indignant.
Hi
I would also like to understand what compensation or support booking.com is giving their partners for cancellations during this difficult time. As mentioned by others here - 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. It's a disgrace.
Natalie
Today, a new disillusionment. Booking forces me to return the money to a guest who has canceled a reservation and refers to a pandemic while his arrival is in July!!! In our country, all restrictions are slowly easing, since June we should operate in normal mode, worldwide pandemic is slowly declining, as it is possible that I have to return money now that the arrival is so long and the situation can change in any way. This shows the speculative behavior of guests who take advantage of the situation and booking.com supports it. Terrible. When this situation is over and we meet all our commitments, we leave the booking as a partner, such behavior is unfair and favors only the booking itself. Be ashamed
no there is no legal right to make you return as force majure has not been confirmed to be on those dates
Thank you, I think so too, but booking.com has a different idea. Incredibly
We are not Partners of Booking.com unfortunately
They don't understand what true partership means It's one of the weaknesses of their Business Model
We are more like Hostages than Partners !
The danger for them is that as soon as a viable alternative comes along with a more contemporary offer people will just migrate away from Booking.com
If anyone can recommend an alternative platform that geneuinely believes in a more equitable form of collaboration I'd be very interested to know.
There is a Market Gap that needs filling for someone !!
Booking.com will only change when 'Partners' de-list them and they start to lose revenue.
Hopefully some more enlightened management within B.com will take note and take steps to change their culture and fix this
Good day All
I just want to highlight a few facts. Booking.com indirectly enforce us to run specials and deals hence additional discounts on Genius inorder to increase our search on the internet. On top of it they don't even give a discount themselves on the commission in return. Doing all of this leave us with little income and nothing to safe for times like these. Now on the contrary they leave us all on our own.
I'm so shock and disappointed in Booking.com that couldn't even take the initiative to decrease the commission on the last invoice for the least to assist us. Every bit helps.
Lastly I had a booking for 6 days before lockdown. The guests had to leave the next morning and slept over one night. Booking.com let the guest modify the booking from 6 nights to one night after already booked in whereby I took the initiative to phone them on behalf of the guests so not to let the guests loose their commission which booking.com will take because I would've been only able to pay back what I get from booking.com minus commission. I hope that booking.com will atleast assist me with this FM incentives for this cancelation.
Kind regards
Thank you for working with BDC, that was the intro of a lot of BDC communications in the recent past. And even now in these difficult times they say and I quote “as a large company with many partners to serve, we take our social responsibility very seriously” and “we continue to work on new ways to support you, our partners”. I might have missed “the new ways to support our partners”, but possibly because I was just appalled learning that BDC applied for extensive financial COVID-19-support from the government in The Netherlands, where their head office is based. Possibly they were so busy applying for financial support for themselves (and don't forget the shareholders), they all forgot about us, their partners?
It's such a shame to hear all these stories. It amazing I just hope the Netherlands look at their huge profits over the past 2 years and think hard about given help as we are the people who help them to achieve that profit and get nothing in return from them when we need help. Appalling!!
We have been harassed by BDC and their enforced cancellation fees - I have never seen this rule before "Force Majeure/Forced Circumstances" and now they want me to give back money to guests for March - does anyone know if they have any legal ruling on this??
I feel the same as some of your comments that BDC don't care at all about us, their Partner Hub, what a joke! No dispensation, no communication and no respect of our rules!
Just had my April invoices tried to be taken out! although credits are issued, they still tried to take the full amount without credits. an absolute disgrace as there are no April bookings we would not have had this back for a long time.
I'm shocked that Booking.com haven't engaged on here to discuss the situation.
I'm not even sure they read any of these posts?
It seems that they are unlikely to proactively offer any financial help unless they are pressured to do so by 'Partners' complaining
That will only happen if they are sufficiently embarrassed into taking action
Contacting senior management direct through phone calls / emails etc or better still letters to the media, posts on social media etc is more likely to get a reaction
Will let you lead the way ??
Please send me BdC management contact details if you have them. very hard to find. all their emails are written from noreply mailboxes. Regards David
I tried that few years ago when booking.com delayed my payment for 20 days!! There are worse cases..so no response. I think only way to open court case
the problem is they hide behind EU regulations which state the client is entitled to full refund or voucher to be chose by the client...it's still not fair though
if our accomodation burnt down i'd understand but this situation is independent to both us and the client so a 50/50 settlement would be more fair....
Nope: incorrect, that's only part of one scenario.
Research , research , research first.
Package Holidays Versus DIY Holidays and EU consumer law.
BdC cant use that to hide behind or quote are it cant be applied to bookings for accommodation solely. The accommodation has to be part of a package deal, and the provider of said deal is to cover it and provide refund.
As most of us come under DIY holiday heading, the EU consumer law states that the provider terms & conditions apply.
What BdC are actually doing is using a section of the their partner T&C to get us to refund under ' exigent circumstances' aka Forced Circumstances , aka Force Majeure.... a force of god, natural disaster etc..
In principle that's ok and fine, but that part that is not fine is an automatic 100% refund. When there are alternative options and then if guest is inconsiderate, the default needs to be 50% refund, plain and simple.
I agree but what i wrote is what they tell me if i call them...
but i have sent numerous emails each time i get an email about an automatic refund but i just get standard emails back
they want to look like the good guys so clients will say oh you now booking refunds everything, well i prefer to look like the bad guy if it prevents me from going bankrupt....
i think it should be up to each and every accomodation but what can we do, booking is not going to dialogue and they do say that they consulted with representatives of accomodations, i wonder who is representing us there...?
Just seen booking are canceling without telling bookers or accommodation ! nice of them
Booking.com have behaved despicably. They have given guest FULL refunds even when we have negotiated a credit note with the guests. They then threaten and bully us to pay the refund with the credit card chargeback process.
They are NOT "partners" they are parasites. They wanted to mop up all the small hotels and holiday apartments from Homeaway and Tripadvisor but they treat us like large chain resorts with endless reserves, not tight cashflow restrictions and mortgages to pay!.
Just Yuk - booking.com - where's your loyalty?
Air you know who & b set dates that were well ahead refunded no questions, no negotiation, even when we are open!