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How can I refuse guests from the country?

we noticed that guests from one country behave as a rule awful. Violate the rules of residence, poor personal hygiene, rudeness. How to limit the booking of people from a certain country?


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Leandri Klopper 5 years ago

Hi Ercando,

Unfortunately there is no way for you to restrict who can book at your property.

Search the forum a bit, there are lots of theories as to why.

Best of luck!

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Robert 5 years ago

Hi Ercando,

Very interesting topic! We also have problems with one asian country which makes a lot of problems and mess in our apartment. The interesting fact is that some people don't know how to use some gadgets. Is that poorness or some other reason, I don't know.

I contacted Boking.com and they says to me that we don't have an option to make limit for the guests from some countries not to make reservation in oour object.

But I think in the future they have to make mechanism to set limit to people from some countires because they think they can do everything when they pay reservation. But that is not true. On that way we can maybe reduce some problems we don't need to have!

Thanks a lot for this interesting topic which is very useful!

Best regards,

Robert

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Leandri Klopper 5 years ago

Hi Robert ,

I think you have an intriquiging idea of the Mechanism that limits reservations to specific countries though I severely doubt that they ever will. Because you don't blame a nation for a few people's bad behaviour.

Can you just imagine all the social/religious/race/discrimination etc issues that would arise if you just want bookings from exclusively X Y and Z? Even if you can justify not wanting to take bookings from A B or C, people will take offense and you might end up in Trouble. Legal trouble. And in true Booking.com spirit, Booking.com will have a Massive clause in the contract which removes their responsibility should we want to restrict our business to specific countries. They will not be held liable.

So I think it's a pipe dream. Me, I want as many foreigners as I can get! Other people feel like they have had experience with one country and they are done with them.

Because it's each to his own, Booking.com won't create the feature.

Just my 5 sents though :-P

Keep well!

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Robert 5 years ago

Hi Lenadri,

Thanks a lot for respond.

We are careful people. We are not in this business only for the money. However, you have to be a man and behave like a man. I am not polite man who will make divisions between people.

But in our case you have to know something (I hope you will not be angry, this is only comment, not criticizing): we invest quite a lot of money in this business. We try to be simple, but nice and helpful people. But when you have 3 reservations from the same asian country who behave similar, what a man can think about that people?

But guests have to think that they are representing their countries and behave accordingly. If they behave so rude, what is conclusion? Simple, bad people and it is finished. We have our rules which are normal and similar with other rules in other objects. Guests are under our roof in our apartment. That means that they have to behave wiith our rules. I think a lot of people think like we think.

We are serious people in this business. We consider our work very serious and we do not really want to have a job or even deal with people who do not value our rules and our efforts. When someone cause damage of few hundred euros, what you can do in that case? We have nothing to do with such a group of people.

I hope you understand what we have opinion like this.

Thanks a lot with this comment!

Best regards,

Robert

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Baronray69 5 years ago

I also have asked if I could block certain countries. I only have 1 letting room and for June and the first week in July , I received 13 nights reservations through Booking.com. Of these, 3 nights were taken up, 2 were cancelled because of a bereavement, which was no problem. However, of the balance, 2 were no show and the others cancelled at short notice. Whilst these were showing as sold, I had to refuse 2 other requests.

I have a booking in July for 4 nights from a couple from one of the country's of the previous bookers, so I'm not holding my breath. I will be pleasantly surprised if they don't cancel and arrive.

Any relevant comments?

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Robert 5 years ago

Hi Baronray,

Thanks a lot for your comment! I also noticed that people from some countries are causing problems for us with reservations and then cancellations. I noticed in last few weeks that people from some countries are making reservations and on the end they not arrive. I contacted Booking.com and they said that numbers of mobile phones are not valid like the official e-mails.

It is not clear to me whether this is what some guests are playing or trying to do something. What people can think in these situations? Nothing. They reserve and not arrive and maybe in other case other guests are seeing that we are sold and they don't have opportunity to reserve in our apartment.

This is a new kind of problems. But people from the same countires. I know that a lot of people making reservations on more objects to see which is cheaper and then cancell. A lot of people are making plans for a year before season. That is not possible because it is long period to make plans. They reserved year before season and then few weeks before arrival they just cancell.

Thanks a lot for this useful comment!

Best regards,

Rober

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fluff 5 years ago

I believe there is another way. I have not tried it myself, again a certain Asian country, I didn't go ahead because after a string of appalling guests from unsaid country I suddenly had the pleasure of a run of excellent guests from the same source. Some luck in the draw methinks.

Anyway, the upside down method. Raise your normal rates enough to discourage bookings from that country, then create an ongoing promotion returning those rates to normal BUT don't make it available to that particular country. ;-)

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Baronray69 5 years ago

It's not a problem if the booking is received but then cancelled a few weeks before, freeing up the dates and I feel that Booking.com has to take some responsibility for this because their TV advertising positively encourages people to cancel when they make statements like"cancel, you can always book again" intimating that it's no problem and no charge.

Our side of the deal we are in a no win situation.

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Allan Fitzgerald 5 years ago

I dont think it matters where you live(Blackwood House is in New Zealand), the late cancellations are now a fact of life, because it is so easy to do so.

NO shows really can annoy, and we really can not blame the OTA's no matter how upset we might be.

As a traveller, I think part of the problem, which is accentuated with social media is this.

You make an online reservation, and within 24 hours you get bombarded and tempted with other offers of accommodation in the same town or city .

These cheaper / perhaps better offerings are so tempting, which can be so easily accepted, rather than sticking with the initial choice.

Air B & B, has impacted massively with our bed and breakfast, seems to be, this is what we have to now accept.

Thanking you from New Zealand

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Ginascott57 5 years ago

Interesting discussion.

It is illegal to descriminate against people for race, religion or colour or anything else for that matter in this country. As a tourism accredited operator we understand this.

We have a few guests who do not know how to use bathrooms correctly, but most are okay. It is a case of putting up with a few not so nice guests because most are really good guests. Same guests are very messy, not clean n the kitchens, leave rubbish on the floors, it is very annoying for our cleaning staff.

The rudeness mentioned is sometimes just a different way of speaking - more direct perhaps and then there is the interpretation or lack of knowledge of the English language. But then I only speak one language, have a little understanding of a few more, but have been around long enough and travelled extensively to cope with the differences in people. I might not like they way they adress me but I try to understand the message.

Educating guests is a difficult one. I have had "travel bloggers" here and have had the whole discussion with them and suggested they should start writing about expectations of the provider to some of these people.

These same guests have no idea about staying in an Eco Certified accommodation and conserving water, electricity and recycling/sorting rubbish.

As there is limited space to mention everything relevant on the listing in b.com, about a property before they book, they are choosing purely on price and how many people they can squash into a room/apartment. But that is another story, and Safety on the roads is anothe one.

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Deb Fribbins 5 years ago

If you have a problem with a specific nationality because of the odd guest. i suggest you look at Airbnb where you can vet the clients before you accept them.

In my 3 years only I have found mostly good and a few bad in every Nationality. It is what makes the world go around. So long as they are not terrorists making bombs in my apartment you take it or leave. I have had Australian Grey Nomads who have taken cutlery when they packed up. A man who just got out of jail and wanted space with his girlfriend before going to face his family. I have people on Dirty Weekends and newlyweds. 80-year old that met on RSVP. A girl who was on the run from her abusive boyfriend. All Australians I have also had Muslims. Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Hindi, Buddhists, Indians, Chinese, Vietnamese, Mauritians, Polish, Russians, French, English and so much more.

I find if I spend 10-20 minutes chatting to them first and being kind and friendly giving them advise of where to go and what to see I have not had an issue. I love meeting gorgeous people.

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Info 5 years ago

Hi Baronray

With regard to cancellation and no show, the easiest way to deal with this is to have a cancellation policy in place, ie first night non refundable deposit, if cancelled within 2 weeks of arrival then the full amount will be charged. This stops a lot of the problems and also it gives you cash flow during low season as you are taking deposits.

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Baronray69 5 years ago

See my previous comment, I have just received yet another cancellation. I have had 2 x 4 nights from Russia, 2 x 1 night no show from Ukraine, 1 x 3 nights from Saudi Arabia and 1 x 1 night from Canada.= 14 nights.. These bookings were from 12 June to 14 July, all cancelled at the last minute, leaving it virtually impossible to refill these dates. Is there a "trend" here.

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Allan Fitzgerald 5 years ago

From my experiences the' no show & cancellation policies' all sound fine, until you try to instigate them.

The mobile phone numbers are often the credit card numbers can be cancelled just whenever they like.........especially if they thought you might try and retrieve funds.

The hotel chains have similar difficulties, but as they have numerous rooms, it doesn't impact to the same degree.

An earlier comment, about having guests respect your property, suggesting having a conversation with the guests after first greeting them on arrival, does go a very long way.

This forum is good.

Cheers

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Leandri Klopper 5 years ago

Hi Robert

You wrote: "But in our case you have to know something (I hope you will not be angry, this is only comment, not criticizing): we invest quite a lot of money in this business. We try to be simple, but nice and helpful people. But when you have 3 reservations from the same asian country who behave similar, what a man can think about that people?"

Absolutely no offense taken. Every person is entitled to act upon their own experience. For instance I know of a partner who doesn't want bookings from a specific country as there is one guest who keeps booking on different names and they all turn out to be fake.

You seem quite content on your opinion, and that's all that matters at the end of the day. As long as your business runs smoothly then all is good and well in the world.

Keep well!

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Rojas950 5 years ago

hello everybody..i had a guest from my own country (spain) which i had to ask b.com to block him from future reservations... didnt follow any of house rules and left it a dissaster..no problem with b.com to block him...but we can not block a whole country,race,religion etc etc..wouldnt be fair for the rest...

i have a non refund policy after a reservation is made 2 months prior..

Many people make reservations just to get a visa or entry permit and cancelled afterwards or dont show at all

cheers.

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AG Lodging 5 years ago

Recently, Booking.com introduced 2 new options that may help in these cases. Althoug you can not block all guests from particular country (discrimination is not allowed), you can do the following:

- for particular guest: report guest misconduct. Go to reservation of that guest, and mark its bad behaviour.

- for all guests from particular country: if you are at Genius program, you can now offer extra discount for some countries. This will attract guests from the countries you do like and want to come.

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Ercando 5 years ago

Dear AG Lodging!
experience in applying large discounts is very sad in our country. Checking, to put it mildly, unfortunate guests, from which it is then difficult to get rid of. we concluded that a relatively high price is a certain filter from unwanted guests

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Ivana Radic Mi… 4 years ago

I've been hosting on b.com for almost a year now and I'm still not eligible for non-refundable and pre-payment policies which leaves me with no options for securing myself from no-shows and last-minute cancellations.

As for stopping guests from certain countries, I understand that this can be an issue regarding anti-discrimination policies. But I also had similar experiences with guests from a particular country. I'm almost certain that the problem is in cultural habits such as dropping garbage and food all over the place, ruining the towels and cooking utensils, using the kettle to cook things other than water, violating the non-smoking policy, etc.

I find that there's no use in blocking the person who booked the apartment since e.g. there were three other guests with him who can always book again. And should I add that this is a post-festum option available only after all the damage is already done and you as a host are left with the terrible mess for which you need at least a few days to resolve? this means you have to close the property in order to fix everything back. To set a damage deposit is not an option because you will probably get fewer reservations in the future and if there's no pre-payment option you should be happy to get payed at all after the guest arrives.

my overall conclusion is that b.com is doing a great job advertising my property but basically no other useful services for hosts especially in the beginning (very long beginning!) when no prepayment and non-refundable options are available.

 

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Emanuela Longo 10 months ago

I guess you could theoretically se the prices very high and then add a country specific discount for every other country (at least those where realistically your guest could come from) to reduce it to your actual price. That way those from that specific country would see much higher rices and therefore probably won't book