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What 1.9% is this??
Some properties on Booking.com have a page for Calendar Sync, others don't. Even if it is there, the Booking.com calendar system is broken and will not sync properly with other OTAs like AirBnb / TripAdvisor. Block manually. I don't know if it's any better with a Channel Manager - I have developed my own software to work like a Channel Manager and mostly works ok, although sometimes Booking.com still sends no data ....
Hmmm .... I've had a couple of cancellation requests online, but BDC have never called me. I set non-refundable via the calendar when I'm setting the pricing. I think, but not 100% sure, that some properties have a setting somewhere that allows a "non-refundable rate" - I'm guessing the "terms" or the way this works might be different to how it works when you set non-refundable in the calendar. I recently had a guest book and then cancel within 10 minutes - their booking is showing as £0 and "Risk Free", so if BDC don't find another guest, they pay us anyway ....
All of the properties we own and/or manage have very interesting names .... like Number 12 or Number 184 .... works fine for us and guests because they can see other property numbers and makes it easy for them to locate our properties ....
Some of the properties we manage have separate rate plans available (the options available to each property seem to be a bit random) - we don't use any of these - just the basic pricing in the calendar
In Property > Policies we set payment terms to Flexible 60 days, and the cancellation within 60 days is set to 100% and the No Show is set to Same as cancellation fee
So, any no show or cancellation within 60 days of arrival, we (should) still get paid
When setting the prices in the calendar, there is a tick box for Non Refundable - we tick that.
We are backing away from all the complex discounting schemes - if we do use a discount, we will set it to Non Refundable
We see no reason why we should expose ourselves or the owners of properties that we manage, to fraud, no-shows, or late cancellations that cost us all money
A friend of mine took over a property from another owner and managed to take over the Booking.com account too. You and the current owner will both need to contact Booking.com to make the necessary arrangements. It can take a long time. If the Booking.com listing has a lot of good reviews, then it's worth keeping, otherwise, it's not worth bothering with - just do a new account.
I'm not a hotelier, but I am a host. We provide self-catering properties.
We use Payments by Booking.com - so Booking.com collect the payments for us, and eventually transfer the money to us, less their fees. When we set the pricing in the calendar, we tick the box for Non-refundable. If the guest cancels or doesn't show, we still get paid. When the guest makes a booking online, they must pay at the time of booking. No more fake bookings, no more nonsense, job done!