Tessar

Using Whatsapp I provide my guests with the daily weather forecast and I also ask if their accommodation is good, and if they require anything from me to make their stay even better. Based on the feedback I get from my guests they appreciate this gesture greatly.

I moved to Payment by Booking.com on 8 June and I can honestly say it has been such a relief to no longer deal with the admin / cancellations / failures to pay deposits, etc., which took up so much of my time. I have not had a single cancellation since moving to this payment scheme since the guests booking are serious about their decision and willing to pay. There is an additional cost though but I am willing to pay this just to have the extra time for more important matters.

Great news! Today Booking.com posted a message on the Extranet that they are providing 'Payment by Booking.com for South Africa! The message is on the Finance page.

Has anyone used or is considered using SnapScan? It's a Standard Bank payment App for small and medium businesses. I haven't tried it but would appreciate feedback if anyone on this group chat has any experience with using it.

Booking.com doesn't support South Africa with a payment option so we are left with two options, a) credit card which is hugely expensive and unaffordable for most guest house / bnb hosts, and b) EFT deposit /cash on arrival. I have experienced a 65% cancellation rate due to non-payment of the deposit despite repeatedly requesting the deposit via the Booking.com Etranet. The process is painfully slow. Here is the problem. Booking.com counts the 12 hours from the time I send an email to the guest requesting the deposit. So, if a reservation is made at 21.00 and I respond at 08:00 the next day the countdown starts at 08:00. The problem is that Booking.com has not automated the request for a deposit for cash only South African hosts.

I propose that Booking.com provides a template for hosts to upload their banking details so that an automated message is sent to the guest the moment they book requesting the deposit within xxx hours.

If you support my proposal please add a comment as these messages are read by the Booking.com extranet team. The more positive comments we receive the more likely we will receive a positive response from Booking.com