It seems you have an issue with being remote. As you say, most guests are Google Map specialists and find you - but many guests come totally unprepared with zero research on the property or even the country.
Our problems are less than yours - but we suffer from one way syndrome, our town making a series of roads one way so if you go wrong a long loop around is necessary to get back on track.More amazingly, those who take taxis from the airport usually have their taxi driver phone us asking directions!
My suggestion would be to do airport transfers if you close enough to the airport. Not only do you pick up your guest and deliver them safely to your door, you get time to achieve a good rapport with your guest in the trip back. Lastly, it is a good alternative form of income - we charge €3 less than the airport taxi service and still turn a healthy profit.
May I just comment on the the last bit of your comment - the fact they gave you a bad review because THEY broke the rules. Weaponising reviews is a pet hate of mine and I have crossed swords with Booking.com before on their policy.
Basically - here was the reply I received for someone who posted a review that said we did not provide sheets (we obviously provide full bedding), the room was small (it is 25 square metres), and the pub across the road was noisy. (there is no pub across the road). I reckon the wrong review was submitted as it does not describe our accomodation - and their score of 5 harms us and looks ridiculous amongst the 10, 9.6, 9.2 we usually get.
Booking replied:
******************************************
Dear Neil,
Thank you for working with Booking.com.
Booking.com posts as many guest reviews as possible to make sure that potential customers can get a realistic picture of the property.
In our experience, displaying a mix of positive and negative comments adds credibility to your review set; publishing only positive reviews could seem suspicious and discourage customers from booking.
Comments are removed only if they go against our policies, namely:
• Contain profanity, sexually explicit or violent content, hate speech, discrimination, or threats
• Mention full names (first + last names), or include personal attacks relating to named personnel
• Promote illegal activities (e.g. drugs, prostitution)
• Contain content that is exclusively about a competitor and/or Booking.com, with no relation to travel
• Mention websites by name, include emails and/or addresses, phone numbers, credit card details
• Contain politically sensitive content
The review of this reservation, was not going any against of these policies, so we inform you that we can't remove it.
This will mean that this person who visited your establishment, broke the rules and makes up a bad review cannot have their review removed FOREVER because it did not contravene the above rules.
I strongly urge Booking.com to establish an arbitration service where reviews (which are vital to the property's success) can be looked at with consideration for the content other than those listed above.
Juancsandoval - Are you sure you don't have a business in Malta? ;-)
We sometimes have the occasion when you turn a tap on and there is no water only to find workmen outside digging up the road. We are never forewarned and they always seem to time it as guests are preparing for a shower in the morning or wanting to clean up after a day on the beach. We went through almost a day and a half when the entire town was cut off due to a major leak that was being repaired.
You can do nothing than immediately inform guests, tell them what you know and put out bottled water for them to use. The main thing is to keep your guest informed, so if you have a social network set up as we do with townspeople, we quite often get advised when someone in the know manages to post something useful on what the cause is and how long it will take.
We are in Malta and have an Environmental Tax of €0.50 per guest per night to a maximum of €5.00.
Regrettably the Booking .com software does not also take into account that this only applies to guests over 18 - so when we get 2 guests, 1 Adult and 1 Child the amount is calculated for two guests rather than just one.
Can you please bring this to the attention of the IT Department and ask if they can add it to their list of fixes please?
Welcome to the forum. I cannot answer all your questions, but will give 'best guess'!
Condo Hotel, not something I have heard of, however if you wish to reclassify it to something else you can talk it through with your Booking.com Account Manager who should be able to advise.
Be careful about keeping a guest's card on file as you are subject to Data Protection Rules and regulations of whatever country you are from. We use to copy and paste them and then delete on their exit - however we stopped this practice as it meant we had customer card records on our PC and if we were hacked that would get us in big trouble. We have since found that our Channel Manager securel keeps card details and we can sign on and request sight of them whenever we want to.
Check in and Check out times are available to the customer on booking as Booking.com have these details available - however you need to input them in the Extranet - see Property/Policies.
You can certainly waive cancellation fees - just insure you advise Booking.com within two days of the booking cancellation that you have done so otherwise they will assume you charged your cancellation fee and charge you commission.
If you have a Channel Manager you change it there and all channels get updated - including Booking.com
Otherwise if you only use Booking.com, you can amend their rates in calendar.
It seems you have an issue with being remote. As you say, most guests are Google Map specialists and find you - but many guests come totally unprepared with zero research on the property or even the country.
Our problems are less than yours - but we suffer from one way syndrome, our town making a series of roads one way so if you go wrong a long loop around is necessary to get back on track.More amazingly, those who take taxis from the airport usually have their taxi driver phone us asking directions!
My suggestion would be to do airport transfers if you close enough to the airport. Not only do you pick up your guest and deliver them safely to your door, you get time to achieve a good rapport with your guest in the trip back. Lastly, it is a good alternative form of income - we charge €3 less than the airport taxi service and still turn a healthy profit.
May I just comment on the the last bit of your comment - the fact they gave you a bad review because THEY broke the rules. Weaponising reviews is a pet hate of mine and I have crossed swords with Booking.com before on their policy.
Basically - here was the reply I received for someone who posted a review that said we did not provide sheets (we obviously provide full bedding), the room was small (it is 25 square metres), and the pub across the road was noisy. (there is no pub across the road). I reckon the wrong review was submitted as it does not describe our accomodation - and their score of 5 harms us and looks ridiculous amongst the 10, 9.6, 9.2 we usually get.
Booking replied:
******************************************
Dear Neil, Thank you for working with Booking.com. Booking.com posts as many guest reviews as possible to make sure that potential customers can get a realistic picture of the property. In our experience, displaying a mix of positive and negative comments adds credibility to your review set; publishing only positive reviews could seem suspicious and discourage customers from booking. Comments are removed only if they go against our policies, namely: • Contain profanity, sexually explicit or violent content, hate speech, discrimination, or threats • Mention full names (first + last names), or include personal attacks relating to named personnel • Promote illegal activities (e.g. drugs, prostitution) • Contain content that is exclusively about a competitor and/or Booking.com, with no relation to travel • Mention websites by name, include emails and/or addresses, phone numbers, credit card details • Contain politically sensitive content The review of this reservation, was not going any against of these policies, so we inform you that we can't remove it.
**********************************************************
This will mean that this person who visited your establishment, broke the rules and makes up a bad review cannot have their review removed FOREVER because it did not contravene the above rules.
I strongly urge Booking.com to establish an arbitration service where reviews (which are vital to the property's success) can be looked at with consideration for the content other than those listed above.
Juancsandoval - Are you sure you don't have a business in Malta? ;-)
We sometimes have the occasion when you turn a tap on and there is no water only to find workmen outside digging up the road. We are never forewarned and they always seem to time it as guests are preparing for a shower in the morning or wanting to clean up after a day on the beach. We went through almost a day and a half when the entire town was cut off due to a major leak that was being repaired.
You can do nothing than immediately inform guests, tell them what you know and put out bottled water for them to use. The main thing is to keep your guest informed, so if you have a social network set up as we do with townspeople, we quite often get advised when someone in the know manages to post something useful on what the cause is and how long it will take.
I am sending my address - put a slice in the post! Looks delicious!
Hi,
We are in Malta and have an Environmental Tax of €0.50 per guest per night to a maximum of €5.00.
Regrettably the Booking .com software does not also take into account that this only applies to guests over 18 - so when we get 2 guests, 1 Adult and 1 Child the amount is calculated for two guests rather than just one.
Can you please bring this to the attention of the IT Department and ask if they can add it to their list of fixes please?
Thank you.
Hi,
Welcome to the forum. I cannot answer all your questions, but will give 'best guess'!
Condo Hotel, not something I have heard of, however if you wish to reclassify it to something else you can talk it through with your Booking.com Account Manager who should be able to advise.
Be careful about keeping a guest's card on file as you are subject to Data Protection Rules and regulations of whatever country you are from. We use to copy and paste them and then delete on their exit - however we stopped this practice as it meant we had customer card records on our PC and if we were hacked that would get us in big trouble. We have since found that our Channel Manager securel keeps card details and we can sign on and request sight of them whenever we want to.
Check in and Check out times are available to the customer on booking as Booking.com have these details available - however you need to input them in the Extranet - see Property/Policies.
Hi,
You can certainly waive cancellation fees - just insure you advise Booking.com within two days of the booking cancellation that you have done so otherwise they will assume you charged your cancellation fee and charge you commission.