Yes, full payment was made to Booking.com and so I will not recieve payment until September anyway. The guest only asked to reschedule in March to September, not for a refund. They have made no contact with me since. Only through this lawyer, who is very threatening and demanding. This is some of what he wrote:
"It depends on you, not on Booking.com. I have just spoken to Booking.com to double check and they have confirmed to us that we had the right to get the full reimbursement in March and that if you agree for the total refund they are more than happy to go ahead. Moreover I have confirmed that the money has already been sent to you, so you are not telling the truth on this. Booking.com will be writing to you too.
I am writing to formally request that you confirm to me in a maximum of 72 hours whether you agree or refuse to reimburse the 100%. If I do not hear from you in the next following 72 hours, I will assume that you refuse to it so we will be forced to claim it legally."
Personally, I recieved this response from Booking.com:
"Legally there’s no reason to refund the guest. I have informed this to the guest. As an agent I will ask if it is possible to please offer a change of dates, as this could highly help, but as my previous colleague informed you and as I informed the guest, a refund is not within any forced circumstances framework."
It may be a scare tactic, but it is extremely disturbing!
I have had the lawyer of a guest contact me, demanding a full refund. In March, I already allowed the guest to reschedule to September. Now, I have received several threatening emails fro their lawyer, stating that they will take me to court to recover a full refund.
What are my rights under my Strict Cancellation Policy? I know that I have the right to override the Cancellation Policy however, this does not seem fair to other guests that have cancelled without refund and the manner in which their legal counsel has demanded this has not been kind and they are demanding my fiscal number and tax details.
Additionally, as their booking is now, not until September In have not yet recieved any payment from Booking.com for this reservation. So, am I right in thinking their legal case should not be targeted at me directly and instead through Booking.com?
I am only a small personal property owner. It would be nice if I could rely on my larger "partner", Booking.com, to help handle these legalities.
Likewise, we have a small traditional house in The Netherlands with no TV but all the comforts. We have a review average of 9.2. Now, we also have a "Quality Rating" of 3/5 stars (likely due to our lack of TV and small size - a huge part of why guests enjoy our place!) But apparently we should be lucky to have a star rating because not everyone does.... I'm not impressed...
Wow! MikeEvans, thank you! I didn't know this option existed. Perhaps it is new? I have a property in the Netherlands and had some guests last year theat smoked inside and left the house smelling of marijuana. I contacted Booking.com to see if I could leave a complaint of their misconduct and their response was that I could report them to police. Smoking marijuana is not illegal in the Netherlands so this was not the appropriate response. I simply wanted to notify them so that perhaps this would be noted on their account so that future hosts would be aware that they are not respectful of house rules. This is good news that they seem to have changed this. :)
You can call Booking.com and they will help the guests to find an alternative and process the booking cancellation for you. You can find your local Booking.com phone number by clicking on the "inbox" tab and selecting "Booking.com messages". On the right column of the page, under "Need some help?", scroll down and the local support team contact number will be there. :)
Then always go through your calendar and make sure it is up to date and has your calendars synced to avoid the problem happening again :)
Yes, full payment was made to Booking.com and so I will not recieve payment until September anyway. The guest only asked to reschedule in March to September, not for a refund. They have made no contact with me since. Only through this lawyer, who is very threatening and demanding. This is some of what he wrote:
"It depends on you, not on Booking.com. I have just spoken to Booking.com to double check and they have confirmed to us that we had the right to get the full reimbursement in March and that if you agree for the total refund they are more than happy to go ahead. Moreover I have confirmed that the money has already been sent to you, so you are not telling the truth on this. Booking.com will be writing to you too.
I am writing to formally request that you confirm to me in a maximum of 72 hours whether you agree or refuse to reimburse the 100%. If I do not hear from you in the next following 72 hours, I will assume that you refuse to it so we will be forced to claim it legally."
Personally, I recieved this response from Booking.com:
"Legally there’s no reason to refund the guest. I have informed this to the guest. As an agent I will ask if it is possible to please offer a change of dates, as this could highly help, but as my previous colleague informed you and as I informed the guest, a refund is not within any forced circumstances framework."
It may be a scare tactic, but it is extremely disturbing!
I have had the lawyer of a guest contact me, demanding a full refund. In March, I already allowed the guest to reschedule to September. Now, I have received several threatening emails fro their lawyer, stating that they will take me to court to recover a full refund.
What are my rights under my Strict Cancellation Policy? I know that I have the right to override the Cancellation Policy however, this does not seem fair to other guests that have cancelled without refund and the manner in which their legal counsel has demanded this has not been kind and they are demanding my fiscal number and tax details.
Additionally, as their booking is now, not until September In have not yet recieved any payment from Booking.com for this reservation. So, am I right in thinking their legal case should not be targeted at me directly and instead through Booking.com?
I am only a small personal property owner. It would be nice if I could rely on my larger "partner", Booking.com, to help handle these legalities.
Any assistance would be appreciated.
Likewise, we have a small traditional house in The Netherlands with no TV but all the comforts. We have a review average of 9.2. Now, we also have a "Quality Rating" of 3/5 stars (likely due to our lack of TV and small size - a huge part of why guests enjoy our place!) But apparently we should be lucky to have a star rating because not everyone does.... I'm not impressed...
Oh actually, upon checking, I can see that this is still not an option for me so I guess it hasn't been rolled out for everyone yet :(
Wow! MikeEvans, thank you! I didn't know this option existed. Perhaps it is new? I have a property in the Netherlands and had some guests last year theat smoked inside and left the house smelling of marijuana. I contacted Booking.com to see if I could leave a complaint of their misconduct and their response was that I could report them to police. Smoking marijuana is not illegal in the Netherlands so this was not the appropriate response. I simply wanted to notify them so that perhaps this would be noted on their account so that future hosts would be aware that they are not respectful of house rules. This is good news that they seem to have changed this. :)
You can call Booking.com and they will help the guests to find an alternative and process the booking cancellation for you. You can find your local Booking.com phone number by clicking on the "inbox" tab and selecting "Booking.com messages". On the right column of the page, under "Need some help?", scroll down and the local support team contact number will be there. :)
Then always go through your calendar and make sure it is up to date and has your calendars synced to avoid the problem happening again :)
Go to the Property tab, then "Facilties and Services" and it should be at the top of the page. :)