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DISAPPOINTED TO HEAR OF COMMISSION ON CLEANING FEE

I received an email from Booking.com advising that cleaning fees (and all other additional charges) will now be commissionable - what an unreasonable position! I am really disappointed at Booking.com's decision, which means that my operational costs will go up.

I pay 18% commission, plus 10% discount for mobile registrants, plus occasionally participate in promotions that Booking.com says will increase my business. I was willing to add marketing strategies because at least one of my operational costs was commission-free. Now this one commission-free source of revenue is gone...

How do you feel about this new pricing? I know I will be forced to reduce my commission to BDC, remove the mobile discount, and reduce/eliminate promotions. It would have been more reasonable to charge commission IF the number of extra charges exceeds 1.

Really disappointed in BDC on this move...

Chantal

 


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Mkapacs 4 years ago

It's horrible mistake by Booking.com. It just make us hosts to look another way and move away from booking.com in long term because the commissions eating all profit and no point of being in business. Good luck B.com extorting from us more than available!

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pibomarco 4 years ago

Let me know when you find a better way, because you won't get that many bookings anywhere else. Leading portals are (Booking.com, AirBnB, Expedia and that's about it). 15% is eating all your profit? I guess you will need to revaluate your business practice then.

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Weigelt 4 years ago

I think the posting is entirely valid. To charge a commission on cleaning fees just doesn't seem right. If BDC continues this policy, they should explain their rationale. (On the other hand, I don't like the inclusion of cleaning fees anyway.) Charge guests what you will, cleaning is your responsibility, not theirs. In some countries, hosts put a very low base rate, the when you go to their site you see an enormous additional cleaning fee. In my opinion, this is unethical.

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Chantal 4 years ago

Booking.com encourages us to offer discounts through a multitude of customized discount packages. So although I paid a commission of 18% (visibility booster) I increased my expenses by offering a 10% discount for mobile reservations, and recently, a June special - 15%; the offers worked together to give the guests great discounts. So it's NOT 15% that's eating into my profits. This business model worked because it increased my occupancy levels significantly. I charge 10% tax, though we pay 16.5% tax in my country (I picked up the balance). The profit margins you think are so great, are in fact, marginal, but I could manage.

Cleaning fee cannot be included, as I had ONE apartment only, so I have to pay day's wage to a cleaner when someone leaves. We have a 9.9 rating (70 reviews) because we are generous with our welcome offerings, and our cleaning process is thorough. After the cleaner leaves, I often clean again ahead of a guest's arrival, when the apartment has been vacant for a few days. This is light cleaning (dusting, sweeping) and laying out our welcome basket & beverages. If I had several rooms or properties, I could afford one full-time cleaner. That cost could be incorporated into the accommodation fees. But at U$30 daily fee for cleaning services, it's just not practical to take that cost from accommodation fees. You may think, well why not just clean the apartment yourself? Hosts' circumstances differ. I'll just say - my domestic responsibilities are significant, so that's not an option.

So now that these additional charges are commissionable, I will have to remove the discounts for guests, and reduce visibility booster. Also, I will seek more local direct business.

For those of you who expend a mere 15% in expenses - great for you. I guess Booking.com will treasure your responses of support for this move. Maybe we'll soon face 25% commission like other platforms, and you'll still think it's 'great' and additional charges 'unethical'.

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pibomarco 4 years ago

They are service provider, and for their services they charge commission. From my point of view (as a traveler) additional cleaning service is like paying extra for shipping when you want to order something.
And as you stated Weigelt, probably this was the main reason why they also commissioned the cleaning service, because some hosts were exploiting this feature to pay less comission for the booking. So we shoudl be thanking to those unethical fellow hosts.

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pibomarco 4 years ago

10% discount for mobile reservations is a nonsense to me.
My score is 9,4 with 900 reviews (cleanliness just 9,7). I only use GENIOUS program -10% (all G guests) and -15% for valued GENIOUS bookers. I've put higer rates when I activated this program, am I at lost? No, I even gained more. Which platforms take 25%? I know expedia wanted 20 - 25% comission and I lol-ed. I said, sure no problem, so I gave my rates on expedia 20% higher then other platforms.. After a year they've contacted me that they'll reduce the commission back to 15% in my area.

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JasmineCottage 4 years ago

If some hosts are indeed putting in a very low base rate and large cleaning fees, BDC should deal with it. They've got all the data and it should be straightforward to sort out.

To use it as an excuse to charge everyone commission for cleaning is the unethical action in my view.

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pibomarco 4 years ago

It's "unethical" when a host put a cleaning fee service (any amount) although he hasn't got one, just for that reason to save 15%.
The more in question should be that taxes (VAT, city tax,..) included in the base rate are also commissioned. That's more debatable in my view.  
 

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JasmineCottage 4 years ago

It's a good point - how can BDC tell if a cleaning fee is genuine or, as you say, if someone is doing their own cleaning and adding a fee to save the commission? I read somewhere that BDC took this decision because big hotel chains were adding bogus local taxes.

The end result of all this is that we've had to increase our cleaning fee to cover our costs AND the BDC commission. That makes all the other channels (TripAdvisor, Airbnb) more competitive so it'll end up being BDC's loss.