Paying deposits and the balance
Someone has posted a question: "hi there....can I pay a deposit to secure booking on your holiday home please and pay balance nearer time or does it have to be paid up front?"
I'm not actually sure of the answer to that, as Booking.com handle my bookings. Do Booking.com take a deposit from the customer, with the balance payable later, or do they charge them the full amount when the booking is made?
I have of course asked Booking.com this question, but just keep getting an automated reply ('For security reasons, we kindly ask you to follow the steps below so we can properly assist you:
• Log in to your extranet
• On the 'Inbox' tab, select 'Booking.com messages'
• In 'Contact us', you can choose to send us a message....' (That is exactly what I've been doing!)
hello and welcome to the partner forum.
Bookings settings are made entirely by you and not booking.com however paid up in full (no deposit)
You have the option to decide whether the client pays in full when placing the booking and you also decide whether you allow any sort of cancellation policy and decide what portion to refund depending on when the cancellation is done.
These settings are all done through the extranet.
I understand that the client is concerned with all the uncertainty and having a flexible cancellation policy helps but it is entirely up to you.
Thanks, jaybeegee.
I've edited the various rate plans and the cancellation policies, in Property / Policies on the extranet.
However, I can't find where to check and edit the deposit and balance policy, specifically what percentage is taken as a deposit and when the balance is due.
Although the page is headed 'Cancellation and prepayment policies', nothing there relates to prepayment, which I assume means 'deposit'.
Can you please advise?
hello Mike
To arrange the prepayment (deposit to secure booking) once you spelled it out in the Policies/T&Cs you will need to contact the guest directly to arrange payment. There is no calculation on the % payable. This is best done via the booking.com email portal so there is a record in case you will need to cancel the booking. Also you can set up a template to re-use each time. GL and let us know if you need more assistance.
jaybeegee,
Booking.com handle all the payments, so I can't contact the guest directly to arrange payment. Guests pay Booking.com, who then deduct their commission and pay me the balance.
Sorry, what is GL?