Double Booking because Sync Calendar did not Sync
Has anyone had problems with double booking because of the Sync calendar?
I just had a guest book my apartment at Airbnb, I confirmed everything with him and about 10 hours later I received a reservation for the same dates from booking. The minute I received the reservation I noticed the double booking and in less than 10 minutes of the booking I sent messages to the guest and to booking telling them of the system's mistake.
This is the second time this happens, the first time the reservations were 30 minutes apart, and since I had not spoken to confirm anything with the first guest (airbnb), and because I new it would be more difficult to cancel the booking guest I spoke with the airbnb guest and they agreed to cancel the reservation. Fun fact, the next day I receive a cancellation from booking for that guest, ended up loosing both reservations.
So, like I said I contacted booking because of the cancelation, and I have just received an email from them asking if I made other accomodations available for the guest (it's an apartment, not a hotel), and that if I did not have alternate accomodation for the guest they would book a similar one and that I would have to pay the diference.
Why should I pay if it was not my mistake?
Has anyone had similar problems? How did you solve it?
Hi Luana Oliveira
By design the Calendar sync is only useful to sync to Google Mail, Outlook mailbox calendar etc.
i.e. The calendar sync is not realtime nor 24/7. its usually a few times a day. So not suitable for what you are trying to do.
Please do not use it for operating two or more OTA channels, e.g. BdC & expedia.
If you want a solution for that then you needa Channnel Manager service (3rd party) such as beds24.com
Many have ventedo n here about this , but honestly its a misperception and misunderstanding of how it works. So its not really a case of BdC did something wrong at all.
I too made the same mistake early on.and quickly learned from it.
What I do and reccomend is simply contact the guest you want to cancel and briefly state there was a system issue and overbooked.
Then state you are cancelling the booking and an automated email will go to them for them to action by clicking on a link to complete the cancellation.
Now you might be thinking theres no guarantee they will and just turn up.... yes that is true, but it has worked for me.
When you engage BdC support then it can escaldae t oyou having to under the Terms & conditions to pay for alternative location. Yes its bullcrap but it is what it is.
Kind Regards
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