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re-booking rip-off.com

A new great guest experience appears to be allowed by booking.com - it starts with someone booking a place for a couple of days then cancelling - then re-booking exactly the same room time / dates and getting it for £10 less - hey spead the word people this is bound to make guests more happy - on behalf of all the hosts  on here and reading this - thank you so much to booking.com for this service because you know we love being worse off 


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Katerinka12 5 years ago

Hi Richard,

How exactly does it work? Why the price would change? And what basis for it?

Will they play such games and stay in the same house with angry host? (correct me if I am wrong, you have guest house, right?)

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Richardloram 5 years ago

Ha - as ever the wise head - I am not angry - just get annoyed then it has gone - soon as guests arrive they all get the best treatment and advice - I don't hold these things - just annoyed they can happen to us. The actual price went down by £10 - second time they booked - this is the second time it has happened - no big deal - just annoying

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

I meant any host, that could be angry and it's not wise for the guest to stay in the same house. I was referring to theoretically any host.

Why the price went down second time they booked? My prices stay the same if someone cancels and books again. Unless I myself to change them. Did you write to Booking about it?

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Richardloram 5 years ago

gets better first one who cancelled then re-booked got a £20 discount - same everything - both guests were from Poland - as stated before I hold nothing against the guests who rip us off - I am not impressed that booking.com have a system which facilitates this. Has anyone else had this experience ??

No I did not write to booking.com - nothing happens in my brief experience if you do - and I doubt they are going to change a computer software issue for one very very smalll client of theirs.

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fluff 5 years ago

I assume you are on the Genius scheme with BDC. This allows a person, new to BDC, to make two bookings, cancel them and then qualify for Genius discount.

We had the same thing happen and it's been mentioned by others here.

Solution?

Dump the Genius scheme and have full control of any discounts/promotions you wish to offer.

The one that annoys me is BDC rarely check card validity, it's left to us to check. I had one today, booked a two week stay, cancelled it and rebooked same with a different start date. Card invalid on both bookings, no money and a waste of time. (I do wonder at the mentality of people that do this)

A simple automated card validity check before the booking can be completed would seem obvious.

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Richardloram 5 years ago

thanks Fluff - useful info -I have always found the 'Genius' - status abit of a strange one - percentage wise - more of them cancel than non 'genius' guests. Wasn't aware I was on that scheme but will have a look - so far cost me £30 - no big deal

I don't have any card facilities as such - maybe I should - I trust booking.com to take payment - and so far to be fair they have been great - if the card is invalid they cancel the booking - however they do this without telling me or the guest why - which woud help things (I don't think would breach any confidentiality) and on this site it very secure I imagine. On the one occasion it has happened to me - the guest rang me up panicking thinking I had cancelled it on her. I had to ring up booking.com to find out her card had expired - it happens. She said she had tried to put in the new card details but booking.com wouldn't accept it - maybe she didn't give it time or call them anyway I said I would take cash payment less booking fee - this way I have taken what I would have got and it is up to them to pay booking.com. In the end all went well - I guess it is different for different people - I have a background of handling dangerous people and situations - so little wories me.

You have got me thinking about a card reading machine though as I am starting to sell local art and music. Soon to rent bikes when the weather gets better - so thanks for that

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

Fluff,

Thank you for that info. I didn't know things could be so easy. I hope guests do not read this forum :)

Richard and everyone, just look at "your Genius report". For the past year 50% of my bookings come from Genuis guests.

So, I guess before canceling Genuis program someone has to think about Discounts vs. Number of bookings.

As for me, the Genius program is working, in the end of the day. They use aggressive marketing.

Also, you can offer discounts to guests from certain countries only. May be it will be helpful to you.

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

"I am starting to sell local art and music"

Try Artfinder, it's a good site to sell art worldwide.

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Richardloram 5 years ago

HI Katerinka - so far I have only 12 of my 110 bookings have been by 'genius' guests - all have cancelled bar three !!! The three I have hosted, have stayed the same time as other guests and paid about £20 less than other less 'genius' guests - so the selling points of the 'genius' program are pretty lost on me.

I am also not a fan of discriminating against certain countries and charging more / less accordingly - I would be pretty pissed off if someone did this to me when I was travelling. I am unsure why you anyone would do this but I am open for enlightenment.

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

Seems like Genuis is not working well for you.

In the end of the day all our guests get the same discount irregardless where are they from, how did they pay, etc For example, my basic discount is 15%. Genuis guests are 15%. Genius guests from certain countries are 15% as well.

The reason why I use Genuis program is that Booking advertises them aggressively. I believe they send more marketing materials, promotional emails and give special discount marks on the price to guests from certain countries (we can't check all countries what prices do they see if they log in from specific country), and that means you have preference to come out in search better. From time to time I experience several bookings in few days from Japan. Then after some time several bookings from USA. And then UK guests will follow. That means Booking runs campaigns from country to country. And you are in charge of your own final price and adjust it to the same rate, but you can get the benefit of Booking marketing.

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Richardloram 5 years ago

Hi Katerinka - well not for me at the moment - clearly. Anyway I am intreagued - what makes you discount some countries and do all of your rooms have a 15% discount and who would be paying a full price ? Thanks for your useful insights as ever - Richie

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fluff 5 years ago

We also had a high percentage of Genius bookings so it was a peep-through-your-fingers decision to cancel it, driven by the problems.

For the 4ish months it's been gone our fully paid reservations are up on the same period of the previous 12 months. We have definitely had less actual reservations but also a very small fraction of the late cancellations and no-shows and our commission, on balance we're good so although BDC has a lost the extra 10% cut they have charged their commission on a larger turnover.

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

The logic here is my full price is my final price after all discounts. End price is something that acceptable for me. If I will just advertise the price and not use any discounts, it will not be very beneficial. If you add some discounts than Booking will advertise you more and more. Your performance will be higher in terms of search and visibility. Booking doesn't share what exactly they do, but behind the scenes they run advertising campaigns and add your property on price comparison sites. Booking has network of sites. For example, I have never added my properties on Agoda, but Booking added. That's because of those discounts.

Also properties with discounts have human factor. Women love discounts and more likely to book properties with discounts just to satisfy that feeling "I got a Good Deal" :)

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

Did anyone get this email today? I honestly don't remember how "I told them to help me with my revenue" ("revenue" was bold in letter, so that's the point). May be I mentioned revenue on survey or inside extranet. As you can see, the more you participate in discount programs, the more marketing and exposure you get from Booking.

Dear Partner,
You told us that you really wanted more help with your revenue, so we’ve been working hard to come up with a solution.
Based on your excellent feedback, we’re excited to announce the launch of this brand new opportunity that will help you do exactly that:
Get global marketing exposure when you set up a Getaway Deal this June
Open your property to customers from all over the world when you offer discounts on stays in June (valid April 2 – June 30). You'll be featured on international emails, push notifications, and popular affiliate websites. You'll also get a special label on Booking.com and have your discounted price appear on price comparison platforms like Google.