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Defining a room as a King bed plus a single bed

I am about to change one of the rooms in our B&B to be a king sized + a single bed.... allowing the room to sleep a maximum of 3 people. The nearest in terms of Room Type I can find is "double plus extra bed" ok but not really correct plus I then get down to defining bed types and I can't define one of the beds as Single. Does anyone know where I'm going wrong.

Thanks

Brian


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Aaltje B. 5 years ago

This is unfortunately not the forte of BDC,

But if you take photo's and write on the picture what kind of beds you have in English it should be understood. In your description, you can start by saying what kind of beds you have. This is the first thing people are interested in when they book. And if your beds are new or old, firm or soft. extra long or small etc You can create your own concept.

I have one bed that I can split into two single. People can make a preference at the time of booking : like : guests want free parking and like twin beds.

This you can arrange in properties and policies by logging in to the Extranet , Have a browse.

hope you get it arranged.

Send us the end result, and see what it looks like.

Greetings

Aaltje B.

People often don't read anyway.

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Bangurekiliana 5 years ago

Allow me to thank you sincerely Aaltjeb with regards to your most valuable tips to my post of zero bookings and lack of training. You were most encouraging i must admit.

Regarding my photos BDC says I am at 85% and need to add more outside photos because guests want to see the whole thing. I am still to do that since I need to get hold of the photographer first. And indeed I now have more to show since my garden is coming up nicely following the rains.

I also take not of the strict cancellation policy tip as I was not doing that in an effort to attract guests. But like you rightly say if a guest is serious they are most likely to worry about being locked in with you. In fact chancers who cancel willy nilly are probably eliminated by a strict cancellation policy. Therefore thanks again on this tip.

The only thing I probably need to clarify is that you suggest using BDC to avoid the delays in communicating with hosts. Did I get that right? as well as the extra commission over and above BDC right? DPO advised and linked me to nightsbridge, South Africa saying they are very good since they deal with airlines. What;s your take Aaltje? Yes I know you also advised that Rome was not built in a day but I guess I was just anxious to showcase my apartments to genuine holiday makers and so before your wise counsel I was beginning to feel discouraged by zero bookings given that some facilities offering much less than what I am offering in terms of quality are always booked.This is why the channel manager issue became a point of interest for me. My reasoning was that if they get me bookings why worry about their charges but I think eventually that additional commission/middle man charge would be something that I feel. So maybe i should give the channel manager maybe one apartment for trial and see if it is worth it. What do you think?

The other issue I had not mentioned is the delay in receiving my Payoneer mastercard. The card only arrived today almost 2 months after i applied for it. That too was frustrasting me because I was wondering when I will access my money for hosting the Australian family. But I guess if activate it I can now access my money which is another motivating factor.

Finally your suggestion about writing over a photo sounds great. I was just describing my beds yet they are custom made and very popular in the local market for their comfort and design.

But sometimes BDC also confuse me by saying "you are almost there. Please complete your registration " when I am already listed and seeing my listings. Not only that while saying this on the one hand they congratulate me for getting listed and even give me feedback on my photos which they say are only at 85% suggesting that I have the small gap to close to hit 100% on the quality of my pictures. So I think I need to also focus on my pictures and change the photographer because out of the 85 photos I listed with BDC advised that 35 of them require further attention.

I also picked from your comment and photo above that guests focus on the beds a lot so maybe I must ask the photographer to take nice clear close up photos of my beds. I was focusing more on my state of the art super structure of the apartments like designer ceilings and down lights more than the beds..

I also want to thank KibokoafricaBDC for their feedback.

So now that I have my master card let me continue doing the right thing in the hope of getting a guest soon.

Kind regards

Kiliana ( Co host, Zimbabwe)

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Aaltje B. 5 years ago

Thats appreciated Kiliana.

I think it is a matter of trying out what suits you most and for all. If something doesn't work out, you can always change.

Also I wasn't understanding correctly, you are the co-host and you do the arrangements for e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g ?

Make sure that all you do between the two? owners is that you have very good agreements. I am not a lawyer, but just have your arrangements in writing.

Yes, about writing with BDC: We are a forum of hosts, just like you now. We share experiences etc. And hopefully, we will inspire the staff of BDC to act on our behalf. They face the challenge to set up this network to benefit everyone. A difficult task with all the different type of locations, cultures and different languages and people and different rules! But they have a wealth of experience being one of the longest existing platform working worldwide (?)

We do all the hard work as hosts, and we receive money for that. but the mediator or BDC get their commission. (which I read is going to go up in April)

If there is a serious issue happening within your unit / error or guest misbehaviour I would advise you to be in direct contact with BDC via the Extranet first instead of informing the forum. If you have questions or doubts afterwards of course you can share your thoughts within the forum.

You can now advise us too being part of the forum and share your nice experiences. Who knows you will attract someone from overseas to your property.

Make sure photo's do have a high resolution.

You can edit that for free in editing program via Pixlr. I use that a lot and it is not too hard to do.

The more pictures the better. And close ups are good too. I have tried to take pictures with cellphone in daylight and worked great too. transfer to computer and on the website of BDC

try to add some yourself. It is not hard.

Do you aim for the "higher - end" user or business user? Do you have your own business card?

There's so much to take in. Wishing you a great start!

Enjoy your guests,

Greetings,

Aaltje B.

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Aaltje B. 5 years ago

Hi Kiliana

Have a look at my property Quality Rural Stay Catlins New Zealand.

My hobby is photography so must admit, it is a joy to go out and take photos.

My desire is that BDC allows for easier photo arrangements, and to ADD text underneath the photos. (like Airbnb does) It's an incredibly handy feature with big benefits that eliminates many errors and misunderstandings.

Nowadays with google - translate, future guests can understand what it means, so no excuses of saying: "we don't allow since people don't know what you mean!"

I will keep waving my Dutch flag, meaning: efficiency. hahaha.

Since people often don't read only look at pictures and then book.