Jarratt, if account advisors are passing feedback internally, why aren't they saying that they're doing this? Why aren't they contacting us to ask for more details? I've reported the bug that prevents me adding new properties - if you have passed feedback about this to someone, they will need to actually see it to understand it and find out what's causing the bug - how can they see it if they don't know where to look?
When you talk about people not being fair to your colleagues, your colleagues are not being fair to the "partners". Problems and bugs on this scale should never happen. These problems should not last for months or years, but they do.
You're trying to support the best you can? No, you can all do better. Take the problems seriously, contact the people who report the problems, find someone at Booking.com to investigate properly so that they can fix the problems properly.
So .... Damage Deposits by Booking.com is still a "pilot". They reserve the right to change terms and to impose charges in the future. For now, this is fine - providing that BDC notify guests that they are liable for damage and will be charged. If so, this should help prevent damage so should protect the next bookings - after all, damage deposits are primarily a deterrent in order to prevent damage and ensure the next guest is not affected. We'll have to see how this works though ........
The terms at the moment are:
"The following terms apply to the Damage Claim Handling Process (as defined below) between the Accommodation (hereinafter the “Partner” or “You”) & Booking.com (hereinafter “Booking.com” or “Us”).
Booking.com is launching a Damage Claim Handling Process pilot (hereinafter the “DCHP Pilot” or “DCHP”) , with a number of Booking.com properties in several countries across Europe, Asia and Oceania, according to which Booking.com proposes to act as an intermediary for the handling of potential damage fee(s) due to damages caused to your property by Guest(s) (hereinafter “Damage Fee(s)”), according to the DCHP communicated to your guest(s) (hereinafter the “Guest(s)”). By implementing the DCHP on your behalf, Booking.com will not require the upfront collection of a deposit, but a claim process will be initiated instead (according to the conditions below), which might result in the Guest(s) being held liable for the damage caused, and be required to pay Damage Fee(s).
Please note You can opt-out from the DCHP pilot at any moment - However, you agree and acknowledge that in such a situation, and if your Property has been booked through our platform during the time you were part of the DCHP pilot, then the booking will be subject to the present Terms.
By accepting Booking.com to handle the damage claim process, you are accepting the following terms:
Booking.com will inform the Guest(s) that:
they must keep your property and its content(s), including all furniture, electronic equipments, fixtures, fittings and effects (hereinafter the “Property”), in, on or at the Property in the same state of repair as at the start of the stay, and shall leave the Property in the same state of cleanliness and general order in which it was found when they arrived.
they are responsible for the safekeeping of the rental property and its contents, therefore they must remember, among others, to lock all doors and windows, and ensure that the Property is safe upon their departure.
in the situation where any breakages, damage(s) or loss(es) occur in the Property, the Guests should report it to the Partner, and request them to make a claim under their reservation, as soon as reasonably practicable, but always up to 14 days after the Guests’ checkout.
they are responsible to reimburse Booking.com/the Partner for the damage(s), breakages or loss(es) caused to the Property and its contents (as defined above) by the Guest(s), according to the DCHP, limited to the amount You agreed when signing up to the DCHP, and in any case to a maximum limit of 300 Euros or the equivalent in local currency.
Exclusions to claiming Damage Fee(s) may include general cleaning, ordinary wear and tear, theft of cash and securities, and non-physical damages like smoking fines and breaking House Rules. Exclusions also include any type of bodily injury or proprietary damage to Guests personal belongings or others, any kind of criminal activities, secondary/consequential loss, third party liability as well as any damages that might be caused by an event of force majeure.
You also acknowledge that the DCHP is in no way an insurance policy set up by Booking.com to cover damages caused to your Property by the Guest(s).
If you wish to initiate a claim process for these types of incidents you will need to handle the claim directly with your Guest(s), as these types of incidents are not covered by the DCHP.
You agree that in order to initiate a claim, you will need to connect to the reservation page on the extranet, and initiate a claim via the right side menu “make a damage deposit claim” button, where you will be required to complete a certain number of information (such as which item has been damaged, what is the exact damage, what was the initial cost of the item that has been damaged, etc.)
You will also be required to provide evidence(s) of the damage/loss, as required on the extranet platform. Please note that without providing any evidence to the damage caused to the Property and/or its contents, Booking.com will not be in a position to be able to communicate your claim to the Guest(s) for potential agreement.
Please note that you should not share any personal data or private information when formulating a claim through the platform, unless it is strictly necessary in order to support the claim at stake.
In the situation where the Guest(s) do not agree with and/or reject the claim initiated, and/or do not confirm the damage(s) done to the Property and/or its content(s), you give Booking.com consent to review all communications between you and the allegedly responsible Guest(s) via the Booking.com Platform. In this situation, Booking.com might hold the right to not charge the Guest(s). Booking.com decision is final and not subject to appeal.
You agree that Booking.com will only intervene as an intermediary between You and the Guest(s), and will not in any way be responsible or liable for the claim, and will only intervene if no agreement is reached between You and the Guest(s).
You agree that You will be able to initiate a claim and request Damage Fee(s) from Guest(s) for the damages caused to the Property and/or its contents (as defined above), from the check-out date and up to 14 days after the end of the stay.
In any case, you agree that by entering into this DCHP Pilot, you will not be allowed to charge the Guest, even though you might already hold the Guest(s) payment details - and that Booking.com will be the only party to be allowed to charge the Guest(s), in the situation where the Claim will find itself successful.
You understand that for the time of the pilot phase, Partners will not be required to cover the additional costs of Booking.com collecting the money from the Guest(s). However, Booking.com might reserve its right, in the future, to charge the Partners to cover such costs - in such case, Booking.com will provide beforehand by way of notification the details of such costs.
To make sure Guest payments are protected and that Partners are properly compensated for the potential Property and contents’ damage(s), we require that all of Damage Fee(s) be handled through Booking.com.
If You, the Partner, tries to abuse the DCHP, and/or submit a fraudulent claim either by yourself or in collusion with the Guest(s), Booking.com will investigate the case and if any violations are found, Booking.com reserves the right to:
suspend Partner participation in the DCHP pilot;
suspend Partner payouts related with any ongoing and/or fraudulent claim process;
suspend or terminate the Partner Agreement contract on a basis of a violation of our General Delivery Terms.
These Terms shall be exclusively governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the Netherlands. Save as set out otherwise in these Terms, any disputes arising out or in connection with these Terms shall exclusively be submitted to and dealt with by the competent court in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
We may from time to time update and adjust these Terms, subject to prior communication (e.g. email or system notice) to You. Any updated or adjusted version shall replace and supersede the existing (current) version with such effect as set out in the notice of update/replacement."
Here's another bug. Pricing disappears from properties.
2 weeks ago, I noticed the calendar on some properties said "Price is missing" - nobody could book. I thought it was strange. We don't normally forget to put pricing in, so didn't know what had happened. I put the pricing back in and opened the calendars again.
Last week, same thing on 3 more properties. "Price is missing". Nobody could book. Except this time, I knew that I had checked pricing for the whole of 2022 only 2 weeks earlier - and now, it was all gone - disappeared. Definitely a bug.
I reported it via the Extranet. BDC support replied saying "add your pricing to open the calendar". Wrong answer. Yes, I know we have to add the pricing (again) to open the calendar (again) - but I was reporting a bug. So again, round and round in circles with BDC support.
BDC support is probably the worst support I have ever known. Staff who don't read or understand the problems. Different support people replying to every message, and they don't read what was sent before. Refusals to acknowledge the bugs.
And the worst thing with BDC support? "If you have any questions, we are here for you."
When we report bugs in the Extranet, the BDC staff that reply often do not read or understand the problem. Look what I posted 2 years ago (above) - nothing has changed.
On 10th November 2021, I reported a bug that is preventing me from adding new properties to our group account. I can start adding the property, I get to the page where we tick the boxes to accept the terms, then click the button to complete the property registration, but get an error message saying "It looks like something went wrong. Please try again".
I reported this but BDC support replied giving a link to "how to add a new property" - wrong answer. I know how to add a property - this is a bug that prevents us from completing the property registration. BDC support then ask for property IDs, but there are no property IDs until the registration is complete. I include screenshots of the error message, more details, but still BDC support don't read or understand. Round and round in circles with BDC support in the Extranet.
Our Group Account now has 7 "Properties in progress" showing 90% complete with a "continue registration" link. None of them will complete because of this bug.
Eventually I phoned BDC. Normally, BDC support by phone is just as bad as via the Extranet. I got lucky this time - the person I spoke to took time to look at all the messages in the Extranet and apparently spoke to other BDC staff. Apparently this is a known bug.
It is now 13th December and still no news on when the bug will be fixed and still cannot complete the registration of these properties.
These options will depend on each partner. Newer partners may be restricted to cash only and may have to ask a million times for bank transfer as an option. If cash is the only option available, switch to AirBnB / VRBO / TripAdvisor.
If you get the option to take damage deposits by bank transfer, you will need to contact the guest to ask them to pay. The easiest way is to use a message template for your Booking Confirmation message and put your payment information in there. Remember to ask guests to provide their bank details for the refund - you may need to chase them several times for payment and also for bank details for the refund. IMPORTANT - the guests that complain most are the ones who don't give you their bank details for the refund.
At the moment, I haven't seen a catch - and we can set the damage deposit amount.
The real benefit of the damage deposit is to act as a deterrent - guests look after properties in order to get their deposit back - they don't care that you've paid £1000 for a telly, they care about their £100 deposit.
The aim of using a damage deposit is not to claim for little bits, but to prevent damage that costs money and may cause problems to the next guests.
The real test now will be to see how things go. We hope that we won't ever need to claim on a damage deposit, but .......
This problem has still not been resolved. The bug is still there.
I phoned BDC and luckily got through to someone who spent some time to understand the problem. It's a known bug, it's on their list to deal with .......
You've taken payment using Payments by Booking.com haven't you? And you set it to non-refundable, right? If so, you get the money whether the guest turns up or not.
If you haven't done this, you can try charging the guest - you might be lucky, you might not. Most likely you'll get nothing. Oh, and on top of getting nothing, your calendar will have been blocked, preventing a genuine booking, and you might still be liable for Booking.com fees. But that's the risk you take if you don't use Payments by Booking.com and non-refundable .....
Jarratt, if account advisors are passing feedback internally, why aren't they saying that they're doing this? Why aren't they contacting us to ask for more details? I've reported the bug that prevents me adding new properties - if you have passed feedback about this to someone, they will need to actually see it to understand it and find out what's causing the bug - how can they see it if they don't know where to look?
When you talk about people not being fair to your colleagues, your colleagues are not being fair to the "partners". Problems and bugs on this scale should never happen. These problems should not last for months or years, but they do.
You're trying to support the best you can? No, you can all do better. Take the problems seriously, contact the people who report the problems, find someone at Booking.com to investigate properly so that they can fix the problems properly.
So .... Damage Deposits by Booking.com is still a "pilot". They reserve the right to change terms and to impose charges in the future. For now, this is fine - providing that BDC notify guests that they are liable for damage and will be charged. If so, this should help prevent damage so should protect the next bookings - after all, damage deposits are primarily a deterrent in order to prevent damage and ensure the next guest is not affected. We'll have to see how this works though ........
The terms at the moment are:
"The following terms apply to the Damage Claim Handling Process (as defined below) between the Accommodation (hereinafter the “Partner” or “You”) & Booking.com (hereinafter “Booking.com” or “Us”).
Booking.com is launching a Damage Claim Handling Process pilot (hereinafter the “DCHP Pilot” or “DCHP”) , with a number of Booking.com properties in several countries across Europe, Asia and Oceania, according to which Booking.com proposes to act as an intermediary for the handling of potential damage fee(s) due to damages caused to your property by Guest(s) (hereinafter “Damage Fee(s)”), according to the DCHP communicated to your guest(s) (hereinafter the “Guest(s)”). By implementing the DCHP on your behalf, Booking.com will not require the upfront collection of a deposit, but a claim process will be initiated instead (according to the conditions below), which might result in the Guest(s) being held liable for the damage caused, and be required to pay Damage Fee(s).
Please note You can opt-out from the DCHP pilot at any moment - However, you agree and acknowledge that in such a situation, and if your Property has been booked through our platform during the time you were part of the DCHP pilot, then the booking will be subject to the present Terms.
By accepting Booking.com to handle the damage claim process, you are accepting the following terms:
Booking.com will inform the Guest(s) that:
Exclusions to claiming Damage Fee(s) may include general cleaning, ordinary wear and tear, theft of cash and securities, and non-physical damages like smoking fines and breaking House Rules. Exclusions also include any type of bodily injury or proprietary damage to Guests personal belongings or others, any kind of criminal activities, secondary/consequential loss, third party liability as well as any damages that might be caused by an event of force majeure.
You also acknowledge that the DCHP is in no way an insurance policy set up by Booking.com to cover damages caused to your Property by the Guest(s).
If you wish to initiate a claim process for these types of incidents you will need to handle the claim directly with your Guest(s), as these types of incidents are not covered by the DCHP.You agree that in order to initiate a claim, you will need to connect to the reservation page on the extranet, and initiate a claim via the right side menu “make a damage deposit claim” button, where you will be required to complete a certain number of information (such as which item has been damaged, what is the exact damage, what was the initial cost of the item that has been damaged, etc.)
You will also be required to provide evidence(s) of the damage/loss, as required on the extranet platform. Please note that without providing any evidence to the damage caused to the Property and/or its contents, Booking.com will not be in a position to be able to communicate your claim to the Guest(s) for potential agreement.
Please note that you should not share any personal data or private information when formulating a claim through the platform, unless it is strictly necessary in order to support the claim at stake.
In the situation where the Guest(s) do not agree with and/or reject the claim initiated, and/or do not confirm the damage(s) done to the Property and/or its content(s), you give Booking.com consent to review all communications between you and the allegedly responsible Guest(s) via the Booking.com Platform. In this situation, Booking.com might hold the right to not charge the Guest(s). Booking.com decision is final and not subject to appeal.If You, the Partner, tries to abuse the DCHP, and/or submit a fraudulent claim either by yourself or in collusion with the Guest(s), Booking.com will investigate the case and if any violations are found, Booking.com reserves the right to:
Here's another bug. Pricing disappears from properties.
2 weeks ago, I noticed the calendar on some properties said "Price is missing" - nobody could book. I thought it was strange. We don't normally forget to put pricing in, so didn't know what had happened. I put the pricing back in and opened the calendars again.
Last week, same thing on 3 more properties. "Price is missing". Nobody could book. Except this time, I knew that I had checked pricing for the whole of 2022 only 2 weeks earlier - and now, it was all gone - disappeared. Definitely a bug.
I reported it via the Extranet. BDC support replied saying "add your pricing to open the calendar". Wrong answer. Yes, I know we have to add the pricing (again) to open the calendar (again) - but I was reporting a bug. So again, round and round in circles with BDC support.
BDC support is probably the worst support I have ever known. Staff who don't read or understand the problems. Different support people replying to every message, and they don't read what was sent before. Refusals to acknowledge the bugs.
And the worst thing with BDC support? "If you have any questions, we are here for you."
When we report bugs in the Extranet, the BDC staff that reply often do not read or understand the problem. Look what I posted 2 years ago (above) - nothing has changed.
On 10th November 2021, I reported a bug that is preventing me from adding new properties to our group account. I can start adding the property, I get to the page where we tick the boxes to accept the terms, then click the button to complete the property registration, but get an error message saying "It looks like something went wrong. Please try again".
I reported this but BDC support replied giving a link to "how to add a new property" - wrong answer. I know how to add a property - this is a bug that prevents us from completing the property registration. BDC support then ask for property IDs, but there are no property IDs until the registration is complete. I include screenshots of the error message, more details, but still BDC support don't read or understand. Round and round in circles with BDC support in the Extranet.
Our Group Account now has 7 "Properties in progress" showing 90% complete with a "continue registration" link. None of them will complete because of this bug.
Eventually I phoned BDC. Normally, BDC support by phone is just as bad as via the Extranet. I got lucky this time - the person I spoke to took time to look at all the messages in the Extranet and apparently spoke to other BDC staff. Apparently this is a known bug.
It is now 13th December and still no news on when the bug will be fixed and still cannot complete the registration of these properties.
These options will depend on each partner. Newer partners may be restricted to cash only and may have to ask a million times for bank transfer as an option. If cash is the only option available, switch to AirBnB / VRBO / TripAdvisor.
If you get the option to take damage deposits by bank transfer, you will need to contact the guest to ask them to pay. The easiest way is to use a message template for your Booking Confirmation message and put your payment information in there. Remember to ask guests to provide their bank details for the refund - you may need to chase them several times for payment and also for bank details for the refund. IMPORTANT - the guests that complain most are the ones who don't give you their bank details for the refund.
At the moment, I haven't seen a catch - and we can set the damage deposit amount.
The real benefit of the damage deposit is to act as a deterrent - guests look after properties in order to get their deposit back - they don't care that you've paid £1000 for a telly, they care about their £100 deposit.
The aim of using a damage deposit is not to claim for little bits, but to prevent damage that costs money and may cause problems to the next guests.
The real test now will be to see how things go. We hope that we won't ever need to claim on a damage deposit, but .......
This problem has still not been resolved. The bug is still there.
I phoned BDC and luckily got through to someone who spent some time to understand the problem. It's a known bug, it's on their list to deal with .......
You've taken payment using Payments by Booking.com haven't you? And you set it to non-refundable, right? If so, you get the money whether the guest turns up or not.
If you haven't done this, you can try charging the guest - you might be lucky, you might not. Most likely you'll get nothing. Oh, and on top of getting nothing, your calendar will have been blocked, preventing a genuine booking, and you might still be liable for Booking.com fees. But that's the risk you take if you don't use Payments by Booking.com and non-refundable .....