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Non-Refundable reservations

What is the use of offering a Non-Refundable reservation when the guest can still cancel the booking on their end? It would be easier for hotel partners if the guest cannot cancel their booking through the reservation page and instead have them call customer service to request the cancellation of their booking with the request the hotel partners to accept to waive or not the room charges, this will avoid to pay unnecessary commissions to booking.com in case the guests cancels directly through their app or reservation page.

For those that may not be aware, if the customer cancels through their reservation page you will still pay the commission on the full amount even if you decide to waive the room charges as a courtesy to your guests. 

In case you do waive the fees, you will need to dispute the charges through the invoice page prior to submitting your monthly commission invoice. 

 


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M Adamopoulou 5 years ago

Hi! San-Francisco and welcome to the forum.
"With a non-refundable rate, guests pay the full price if they cancel, make changes or don’t show up.

Adding a non-refundable rate to your property can reduce cancellations and help you secure guaranteed payment for reservations."
Reading this in booking.com I understand that booking.com guarantees payment.
Am I wrong???

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San Francisco 5 years ago

Yes, Booking.com guarantees payment but if you agree to waive the charges with your guest then booking.com will still charge the commission to the vendor and you have to dispute afterwards the waived charges with the accounting department. It would be much easier if the guest cannot cancel through their app and reservation page any non-refundable reservation, less headache for the vendors and it will force the guest to call customer service. Booking.com is very lenient towards the customer and could be more helpful with the vendor.

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Aaltje B. 5 years ago

I agree San Francisco.

But if you have a strict cancellation policy? Does that not help?

Greetings

Aaltje B.

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M Adamopoulou 5 years ago

As I understand non-refundable reservations are only for one night reservation.

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San Francisco 5 years ago

Even if you have a strict cancellation it does not solve the problem of the guest who can still cancel on their own without contacting booking.com customer service, you will need to follow up on the issue of the commission. This means more work for the hotel partner instead of making it easier. Booking.com still needs to work closer with their vendors to make certain procedures easier for their partners.

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pibomarco 5 years ago

Not sure that I agree.

If you offer a cancelation to the guest via extranet "Request to cancel" you are waiving the fees and commission will not be charged for this booking when the guest accepts your request.

The point of non-refundable rate should be that you DON'T waive the cancelation costs.

If they cancel without contacting booking.com or my property without any notice in advance I wouldn't waive the cancelation cost. Most guests that would try to get a refund, they will contact property or BDC first before canceling non-refundable booking.

r
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Robinhooker 4 years ago

How come a customer can cancel a NON REFUNDABLE RATE BOOKING but Booking.com refuse to let me collect my money, but they still charge me commission ?????? rob

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pibomarco 4 years ago

Can you explain how did they refuse to collect the money for canceled booking?

How do you usually collect the money? Via "Payments by Booking.com", via Virtual BDC card or do you charge guest credit card?

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San Francisco 4 years ago

We collect the money with the guest credit card at the time of booking and process the full amount the day we receive the reservation in our PMS system. If the guest cancel they still need to pay 100% the room charges regardless they cancel on their end. You can waive but you will still pay the commission, therefore, you have no reason to waive the cancellation fee. Booking.com will back you up if they dispute the charges, the guest is well aware they cannot cancel their booking without loosing the total room charges.

n
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Najdan Nikolic 6 months ago

For some reason when I choose non-refundable option for my property, I just vanish from search :) like my property doesn't exist anymore. Once I switch back to refundable Booking list me again in search. Does anyone have same problem?