tried to process the credit card - it failed - marked it invalid
You then have to wait for BC sustem to request a new one from the client - they put in the same one you try again you do the same thing again.
By that time sometimes, the guest has not shown up - you now report this
BC do nothing. except eventually, when it's too late they cancel the booking
You have lost the opportunity to on sell your room.
They don't seem to be concerned about that.
All my recent "fake" boookings have been cancelled.
I have not received any compensation from BC under the Smart FLex system, which is supposed to guarantee payment.
I actually manage my business through a chanel manager which allows all OTA's to take inventory from one place. The other way I managed this problem was caancel all the bookings in my own system which then allowed me to take real bookings.
If you cancel in the BC system they will send you nasty notes and penalise you.
Not everyone will be able to do what I was able to achieve. It was lucky I realised quite quickly that there were annomolies in a series of recent bookings which didn't add up for my business.
We too received an award - I think most properties do - and yes it was a few steps up from last years award.
I still can't fathom why Booking think it is okay for guests to rate everything as 10/10 and then give a lower 8 or 9 as overall rate - this does not make any sense to me. It has happened twice in the past week and without any explaination.
Also we are really happy having achieved the rating we got as we have a diversity of product on our property, therefore attracting a diversity of guest, with very different expextations, sometimes unrealistic, and requirements. Meeting guests expectations is the key to success of course,but it starts with the guest being able to choose the correct product to suit their needs, which does not always happen, resulting in lower ratings.Much harder to please all the people all the time than a one cottage or identical product rangein a hotel.
Thank you booking.com. for keeping the records to reflect what the customers think.
Guests don't read what is already available to them so why would they make a point of going further to read extra info. Just this week, two cases of not reading: (1) I didn't know check in was between 2-8pm outcome they cancelled at 9pm becasue they were not going to arrive till about midnight. (2) I didn't realise there was no kitchen...it is clearly stated in the listing.
So my conclusion: Guests do not read passed (a) the room will take the number in my group and (b) the cheapest price.
We have been eco certified for a number of years, but it is not a deciding factor for guests. Our listing in booking.com does not reflect our environmental factors.
1, solar electricity
2. solar hot water
3. rain water tanks
4. our own waste water recycling plant.
5. Reverse cycle air conditiners/heat pumps.
6. Rubbish recycling centre
7. Reuse and recycle policy.
8, Reduced use of small amentiy bottles
9. Insulated building materials.
If there is a way for booking .com to help us attract more environmentally aware guests we would appreciate that.
You will notice if you search some large hotel that they do similar offerings. I'm confident you would be able to work something out to suit your seasons....it just might take some management - time.
What I did.
tried to process the credit card - it failed - marked it invalid
You then have to wait for BC sustem to request a new one from the client - they put in the same one you try again you do the same thing again.
By that time sometimes, the guest has not shown up - you now report this
BC do nothing. except eventually, when it's too late they cancel the booking
You have lost the opportunity to on sell your room.
They don't seem to be concerned about that.
All my recent "fake" boookings have been cancelled.
I have not received any compensation from BC under the Smart FLex system, which is supposed to guarantee payment.
I actually manage my business through a chanel manager which allows all OTA's to take inventory from one place. The other way I managed this problem was caancel all the bookings in my own system which then allowed me to take real bookings.
If you cancel in the BC system they will send you nasty notes and penalise you.
Not everyone will be able to do what I was able to achieve. It was lucky I realised quite quickly that there were annomolies in a series of recent bookings which didn't add up for my business.
Good luck.
We are experiencing fake bookings this week and Booking.com are not helping . It this a new wave of problem?
We are experiencing fake bookings this week and Booking.com are not helping . It this a new wave of problem?
We too received an award - I think most properties do - and yes it was a few steps up from last years award.
I still can't fathom why Booking think it is okay for guests to rate everything as 10/10 and then give a lower 8 or 9 as overall rate - this does not make any sense to me. It has happened twice in the past week and without any explaination.
Also we are really happy having achieved the rating we got as we have a diversity of product on our property, therefore attracting a diversity of guest, with very different expextations, sometimes unrealistic, and requirements. Meeting guests expectations is the key to success of course,but it starts with the guest being able to choose the correct product to suit their needs, which does not always happen, resulting in lower ratings.Much harder to please all the people all the time than a one cottage or identical product rangein a hotel.
Thank you booking.com. for keeping the records to reflect what the customers think.
Guests don't read what is already available to them so why would they make a point of going further to read extra info. Just this week, two cases of not reading: (1) I didn't know check in was between 2-8pm outcome they cancelled at 9pm becasue they were not going to arrive till about midnight. (2) I didn't realise there was no kitchen...it is clearly stated in the listing.
So my conclusion: Guests do not read passed (a) the room will take the number in my group and (b) the cheapest price.
We have been eco certified for a number of years, but it is not a deciding factor for guests. Our listing in booking.com does not reflect our environmental factors.
1, solar electricity
2. solar hot water
3. rain water tanks
4. our own waste water recycling plant.
5. Reverse cycle air conditiners/heat pumps.
6. Rubbish recycling centre
7. Reuse and recycle policy.
8, Reduced use of small amentiy bottles
9. Insulated building materials.
If there is a way for booking .com to help us attract more environmentally aware guests we would appreciate that.
Cheers,
Gina
You will notice if you search some large hotel that they do similar offerings. I'm confident you would be able to work something out to suit your seasons....it just might take some management - time.
You Opt in to the online booking payment system.
You need a POS machine.
Guests pay booking.com
Booking.com give you a VCC
you process this on your machine.
Well that is the process I use.
I also have the luxury of another system through my chanel manager where I can also process the cards held for the bookings.