5
Level 5
Level 6
191 points earned
49 points left
Badges received
First post
Conversation starter
Contributor
Snap
About you
Fan
Upvoted
My comments
Of equal interest - to me... is how I got involved with "Risk Free" - I have no memory of emails explaining it or indeed signing up for it on the Extranet... mind this would not be the first time something like this has taken place.
It took several conversations before "no arrivals/departures" on a given date but guests could book through that date, was made available to me, the option having apparently been "switched off" when I joined!
I am now thoroughly confused!
Well this is getting interesting... I have only had one booking marked "Risk Free" all year - and they turned up, so I had no reason to "test" the system.
Pibo is right that VCC is Booking.com substituting their own card for the customer's one... I get a lot of these but thought this was just done at the normal basic commission rate....
Pibo's post seems to be something else entirely - costing an extra 1.2% I notice - but if Pibo gets the sort of numbers of no shows he indicated earlier the extra commission could be money well spent.
Fortunately we get very few no shows, so I think I'll avoid Risk Free bookings!
I make my own marmalade (to my own recipe) after clearing a bowl of it on their toast at breakfast many guests comment on it when reviewing us.
If they have shown their appreciation and commented - many ask what brand it is so they can buy it in the shops - then I quite often give then a jar to take away with them... I have some regulars who claim they have to come to get their "fix" of the marmalade LOL.
I have to say the story raises many questions - not the least being - how many people go out for the evening in Ireland with a sledgehammer...?
Over the years however we have had milder versions of the same story - a room booked by a mother for her daughter and friend for the weekend... aged about 16/17... when they arrived we phoned the mother who clearly could not see any problem... I had to stand guard both nights to stop them bringing boys they had met in town into the house....
Similarly... we had a family arrive and discovered later when mayhem broke out in one rooms that the parents had gone out to leaving two boys aged about 12 and 10 alone in their room, the older boy was practising his "chinese burns" on his brother... the parents got it "both barrels" from me on their return......
Unfortunately the idiots are out there...
Update on this - apparently this 8% discount is international (UK and Europe certainly) and circa 18,000 accommodation providers are affected - Expedia are retaliating by price matching on all properties involved.... stand by for a price war in all countries involved as people not getting the 8% discount drop their price to compete..... just what we did not need!
Well fluff, I guess only time will tell... I would be concerned from your point of view however, if they are funding this 8% discount then places taking the VCC system - that are local to you - will appear that much cheaper than yourselves on the rooms that qualify.
... and of course, prices appearing to drop from a few accommodation providers can easily lead to others following suit to remain "competitive"...
More news fluff - I have just finished with the Booking.com Help Desk people (who apparently knew nothing about this!).
Booking.com have apparently launched an 8% discount promotion (funded by them) to encourage people to book and pay immediately via the Virtual Credit Card system - and this is being put on the "front page" of everyone's site...
So anyone not wanting to pay up front will be disadvantaged and effectively any price I quote to someone enquiring direct could be undercut... but apparently (nobody seems to know for sure!) only on the cheapest rooms until the end of August.
So parity with other OTA's will be compromised since they will see the price net of 8% when price matching...
Whether all countries are involved and all types of accommodation - nobody appears to know....
I thought Brexit was a big enough c**k-up until I came across this.