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The Reinhold Guesthouse Bali
AT THE HEART OF CANGGU FOR OVER 9 YEARS
Bringing young people together is what we’ve done since opening the Reinhold Guesthouse in Kerobokan in 2009. Now we enjoy personal referrals from satisfied guests who stayed with us during past years.. We are proud to act as a point of connection for motivated travelers, many just like you.
Bringing young people together is what we’ve done since opening the Reinhold Guesthouse in Kerobokan in 2009. Now we enjoy personal referrals from satisfied guests who stayed with us during past years.. We are proud to act as a point of connection for motivated travelers, many just like you.
Good point M Adamopoulou
here is the latest conversation with BDC staff on the subject of anonymous reviews:
Booking.com
3 February 2020 - 15:09:42
Dear Partner,
My name is Lina and I will be assisting you today. We can only remove reviews in certain situations. Naturally, reviews are based on guests’ subjective opinions. To remain unbiased, we only remove reviews if they are deemed irrelevant or offensive. To respect our customers’ privacy, we give them the option to leave an anonymous review. We understand that it is unpleasant to receive a negative review, but from our experience a mix of good and bad reviews, make the property look more liable and sets a realistic picture to the future guests.
Whenever you need us, we're always here.
--
Lina R.
Booking.com Partner Support Team
Ask a question or search by keyword at our Partner Help Centre
Our reply to Lina ::
Dear Lina,
-thank you for your response
My name is Reinhold, co-owner of the Reinhold Guesthouse in Bali.
Our query may be somewhat outside of the ordinary ; first of all , although we referred to a particular review, we did not ask for the removal of that message.
Here are the facts:
After receiving a confirmed booking via Booking.com, ( for 2 nights ) the booker,- ( not the guest for whom the reservation was made) contacted us and informed us that the reservation was not for her, but for her local ( Indonesian ) Driver.
The Driver, who only spoke Indonesian, arrived late at night, was shown to his dormroom and informed by our ( local ) staff that breakfast was included in his reservation cost. ( and available between 07:00 and 11:00 every morning )
That evening was the one and only time we personally made verbal contact with the guest, as we became aware that he left the premises in the early hours of the morning and returned very late at night. We never had the opportunity to meet the lady who booked the reservation.
After his two nights at our premises, the guest disappeared early in the morning, without checking out.
Now, the problem in this case is the following:
1)) The day after the (Driver) guest disappeared from our premises, the Lady who booked his accommodation, posted a review to our site ( with a rating of "1" ), ** our average rating is over "9" **
2)) The review in question was posted "anonymously", which leaves open the door for speculations and ( maybe "wrong" ) conclusions about the identity of the writer. --- In our opininion, this is unfair to us as the operators, and also to those of our guests who had chosen not to post a review.
Because, in the case of an anonimous review, we can only "assume" the identity of the writer by way of checking through the list of guests who had stayed with us, and who had chosen not to post a review on our page, and then look back at and consider our individual rapport with them.
By the way ( please understand this ) we have NEVER had an "ANONYMOUS" guest staying with us; all guests leave their identity behind when they depart.
On the other hand, it appears that Booking.com allows the "booker" of the accommodation full "anonymous" rights to offer evaluation on a service, or services, that they personally never encountered.
Kind regards from Bali
Reinhold and Raghiel
Hi Isle, -- we only follow the policies laid out by booking.com
https://partner.booking.com/en-gb/help/reservations/can-i-cancel-reservation
Sorry Isle, we overlooked your earlier comments
No, we did not pay commission on the booking, because the female partner ( after hours of communication with her ) finally cancelled the reservation.
The other problem was, - we are talking about the 31st of December, when all accommodation places were flat out, ( so were the Booking.com telephone lines)
Late evening on the 30th of December we sent full information ( and our request for cancellation ) to Booking.com,but never received a reply.
Our original question is quite simple :: can we ( as accommodation providers ) refuse to accept a guest on valid grounds without being penalized ?
Hi Isle, great talking with you. We accept your suggestion, - but... have you ever dealt with village police in the Bali outskirts?
Hi Barry, great talking with you
Here is a silly question:: Have you ever encountered the opportunity ( like in our case) to argue with a 6-foot-8 tall "body-builder" from Africa in Bali?
Greetings from Reinhold and Raghiel
Thank you for your thoughts.
In our case, the situation was not quite that straight forward.
1) The guest's partner booked the reservation on his behalf, but under her name. She also paid online with her card.**** online payments are paid out by booking.com to the accommodation provider on, or before, the 15th day of the month following the guest's departure date ***
2) The Booker was informed by Booking.com that the reservation for her partner was accepted from the 1st January to 12th January, before she realized that her partner would travel to Bali already on December 27.
At that time, we could not accept any further reservations, as there were no longer rooms available in our guesthouse, - but we offered to assist the guest in finding alternative accommodation in our area for the 4 days before commencing his booked stay with us, on 1st January.
3) Due to last minute cancellations, we were able to arrange sleeping facilities for the guest at our premises for the 4 nights, at a reduced discount price.
4) On the morning of 31st December, - after having encountered several verbal confrontation with the guest, we tried to contact Booking.com's assistance in order to cancel his reservation ( which would commence on the following day) but all communication channels were overloaded, because of the busy festive season traffic.
-- and here starts the "tricky " part.:( and it is quite complex, - you will see )
5) After a lengthy conversation with the guest ( in the morning of the 31st Dec.) , he reluctantly agreed to move to an alternative Guesthouse, - but only if we pay him the full amount (in cash) associated with his reservation, which was paid for by his partner through her bank account.
aa) as per Booking.com's policies, only the person who initiates, and pays for - the reservation request can cancel it. ( a beneficiary guest can not ) Any refunds would be deposited back into the account from which the reservation was paid for.
ab) During the later part of the 31st December, we finally were able to reach the guest's oversea's partner, who informed us that she had broken all communication with her male friend ( our guest) , because of personal issues.
At that stage our Management's position was like this::
** after a reservation is confirmed by Booking.com, a Guesthouse or Hotel are not permitted to request cancellation of that booking
** the guest himself could not cancel the booking, but appeared willing to move if he receives cash payment from us
** the "booker" who made and paid for the reservation, objects to any further communication with us in regards to the booking. +++ Booking.com communicates directly only with the person who makes the booking, - not with any beneficiary guest +++
** communication channels with Booking.com were overloaded with traffic on that day, and not reachable.
** the guest in question, during the day, verbally attacks staff and management.
+++ remember, it is the 31st of December,- only one night away from the day we officially would need to honor this reservation +++
=================================
During the whole of the New Year eve's afternoon, we exhausted all communication channels in order to reach to booker, who finally agreed to cancel the reservation, and receive a full refund.
But that was not the end... Although the booker successfully cancelled the booking and received the refund, -- the guest himself did not know that his reservation was cancelled by his partner. ( --remember -- the booker had stopped all communication with her partner ) We contacted Booking.com to ask that they please inform the beneficiary guest of the cancellation, but because of privacy laws, they could not do that.
(((Good story ?? )))
Refusing to accommodate a guest after arrival.
This is from our recent experience ::: The female partner of a male guest booked his 15 day accommodation with us, and then cancelled same, - only to re-book a day later ( because of a miscommunication between the two -she claimed )
On the day of re-booking, the room they wanted was no longer available for the full 15 days, but.only for 11 days.
The lady booked 11 days for her partner,( and prepaid online ) and we offered to assist him in finding alternative accommodation for the four days, either at our property, or, if necessary, at any of the nearby Guesthouses in our area.
It turned out that we received late cancellations and were able to make a room available in our Guesthouse for those 4 days before his paid reservation took effect.
What House management and staff learned during the first 3 days was that the guest completely disregarded our house rules, cluttered his room floor with takeaway food scraps , containers and empty bottles, and the guest's refrigerator and bathroom had to be scrubbed twice each day. Strange females were brought into the house during the night, without permission.
Indonesian females are by nature short in size, and politely shy. The male guest in question was a 240 pounder, 2.1 metres tall, and a Martial Arts trainer.
During the first 3 days of his stay we decided that it would be impossible for us to honor his 11 night stay made via booking.com. -- We contacted Booking.com's different offices and were told that, unless the guest himself ( or the person who made the booking) would cancel the reservation, we were in no position to refuse the guest.
We spent the whole 4th day to communicate with booking.com, -- and especially with the guest's partner, who made the booking, practically begging her to cancel her booking without penalty charge.
After we finally succeeded in receiving the cancellation request from the lady, we arranged alternative accommodation for the guest and also provided a free taxi for his trip to the other guesthouse.
Our question is:: In an extreme case, like the one described above, is the Accommodation provider ( at his discretion ) permitted to refuse a guest's access to the premises.
What are our obligations towards Booking.com, and with regards to guests, when the Guesthouse Management is faced with making a decision as to whether to protect their staff and the comfort of other guests, or be tolerant to unethical conduct by a single guest?
Thank you
Reinhold and Raghiel