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Guests who can't be contacted

Sometimes it is vital to be able to get hold of a guest to advise them of unforeseen circumstances that will impact on their stay - with the view to agreeing with the guest on the best option re a change of accommodation etc. If a guest is uncontactable this is problematic for hosts. There must be provision for Hosts to cancel bookings where guest are uncontactable after a reasonable period of time - say 24-hours. This is in consideration of the fact that all guests have easy access to either text and or email  or both.

Not being able to contact a guest is a very rare circumstance but it can be enormously problematic for a host when this happens and some consideration should be given to host when this is the case.  


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Paulo - Commun… 1 year ago

Hi Holland House  

Hope you are well and thank you for the suggestion.

There are different scenations, with different procedures or actions needed, but in these cases my best suggestion would be to reach out to our Customer Service line, as our colleagues can attempt to reach out to the guest via the contacts we have available.

Although it might not be able to cancel the reservation solely because of not being reachable, we can make attempts to reach out to the guest.

Our Customer Service teams are available 24/7 in multiple languages, via message in the Extranet or via phone.

Best,

Paulo

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Dali 1 year ago

Costumer service is not available 24/7

It waa befoure few ywars ago but now it is unpoasiblw to contact Customera service.

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Ailyn Fernande… 1 year ago

Hello Holland House, I agree with Paulo, the best option is to contact Customer Service and ask for their assistance in contacting the guest in case you were unable to reach them.

I would also suggest that you set up your booking preferences so that guests need to leave a phone number or contact information in case you need to. 

I would also try sending your whatsapp or other virtual communication other than email or phone number as some guests prefer communicating through chat rather than phone calls.

Hope this helps.

Ailyn

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Isle of Wight … 1 year ago

I would also suggest that you set up your booking preferences so that guests need to leave a phone number or contact information in case you need to.

That is pointless now.

We can ask for a physical address - guests can type anything in - Booking.com do not require a complete address.

We can require that guests provide a phone number, but Booking.com do not verify it. In many cases, guests provide a landline (home) number instead of a mobile number, which means it is impossible to contact the guest once they are out of their home.

Guests must also provide an email address, but again, Booking.com do not verify this. In many cases, guests book using a work email address, often while they are at home without access to work email, so do not see any emails sent.

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Holland House 1 year ago

Unfortunately both suggestions entirely miss the point. What happens if neither the host nor customer services can get a hold of the guest (as happened to me) with guest not responding to emails and or text messages? The host is left with no option but to cancel the booking and meanwhile unable to discuss alternatives with the guest. Surely there must be some understanding for the host's position?

How about making it a requirement of a booking that all guests must be contactable by the method of communication that the guest has given, within a reasonable time frame of course, and please let's not just dump this problem back on the host.

As I see it in this day and age a guest cannot simply book and then become uncontactable... which was the central theme of my comment. It would be perfectly reasonable (and helpful) if Booking.com actually took this predicament on board and built in some protection for the host by making it a condition of booking that guests a) provide a means of contact and b) are contactable by that means of contact. Please - let's try and make it easier for hosts.

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Isle of Wight … 1 year ago

Don't worry, they'll pass this sensible suggestion on to their "specialized team" who will reply in 10 days .... but they won't tell you which 10 days these will be ..... could be in 3 years time .....

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Holland House 1 year ago

Hilarious - say no more, I understand the point you are making.

 

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Ailyn Fernande… 1 year ago

Hello to both.

Holland House  we will certainly share your suggestion with the team, we are always looking feedback and not everything works for everyone and in some countries, privacy laws and regulations need to be taken into consideration, so this would need to be addressed with several teams when it is brought up. 

Isle of Wight Vacations  unfortunately, most of these comments and suggestions are not up to us to decide or add into the system in a blink. They need to be considered and addressed with all the departments involved such as legal team, development team, IT team, design teams and a long list of teams in order to apply a change as we are a global company and not only one country´s law/culture/view needs to be taken into consideration. It does not depend on us to be approved and I really hope you try to understand that although we are always looking for feedback there are some things that we cannot change at the moment or in a near future as it depends on many stakeholders.

Do keep offering feedback and sharing your user experience and comments. As an Account Manager I can tell you that most of the issues partners encounter with us, have a workaround while we wait for the final change or sometimes are product of miscommunication, changes on procedures or cultural differences that can be easily addressed by externalizing them.

I encourage you (and all the community) to share/ask and comment respectfully on your different challenges so that this community helps Booking.com be a better partner to you.

Thank you and I will gladly assist and share my views and knowledge with you.

Ailyn 

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Isle of Wight … 1 year ago

unfortunately, most of these comments and suggestions are not up to us to decide or add into the system in a blink. They need to be considered and addressed with all the departments involved such as legal team, development team, IT team, design teams and a long list of teams in order to apply a change as we are a global company and not only one country´s law/culture/view needs to be taken into consideration.

It's rather strange that VRBO, TripAdvisor and AirBnB are also global companies that have the same considerations as Booking.com, yet they manage to resolve issues quickly, often within days, whereas Booking.com does nothing for years. Yes, years. Many of these issues have existed for 2 or more years.

I rate your response as 1/10. That is my experience of your response so is perfectly valid.

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Desmond Agbo 1 year ago

Hi, I got a commission invoice from booking.com in respect of a no-show guest for Villa Valhalla Lagos.

Guest never showed up. Between the time of the time frame, I lost my devices: laptop, mobile phones and money to bandits in north east Nigeria. Some people were killed. It was God that rescued me and I escaped. It was devastating. I couldn't think of anything. Kindly CANCEL THE COMMISSION. This occurrence is beyond my control. Please help forward to appropriate desk as I could'nt find a way to reach booking.com

INVOICE NUMBER 1579307630

ACCOMMODATION NUMBER 8798690

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Holland House 1 year ago

Ailyn,

Privacy Laws?  Legal team? There is nothing in my suggestion that has anything remotely to do with privacy etc - that is muddying the waters. This is a straight-forward, easy to digest, common sense policy suggestion.

Let's keep is simple. Guests (for common sense reasons) are asked to provide a means of contacting them and are expected to be contactable by their host within a respectable time frame - say 36 hours. How simple is that. I do not think I have to explain the multitude of events that might make it essential to contact the guest before arrival. At present if a host is unable to contact a guest - you know who gets hit with any financial consequences don't you?  - the host that is who, despite best efforts to avoid a problem. This is blatantly unfair and unreasonable on the host. I hope Booking com will see that this as a very sensible policy upgrade that will make the Host's job easier to satisfy the demands of the travelling public.