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damage deposit - collection method restricted by booking.com

Damage Deposit
Hi everyone  I am completely new to booking,com ( but a little experienced with ABB and Homestay) and woudl really appreicate your help
My listing is not yet activate (as I need to verify location), but am trying to get it as ready as possible so I can go live as soon as verfication has occurred
I have a question re the damage deposit.

I do not have a merchant credit card facility and dont' really want to go there.
My listing is set to booking.com charging guests on my behalf.
I understand that I need to collect the damage deposit myself.
On my listing when I go to policies, it states, "Currently, your property is only eligible to accept damage deposits through cash payments" and the ONLY options available for me to select are

You collect the damage deposit by: Cash
You collect this from your guests: Upon arrival
You return the damage deposit by: Cash
You return this to your guests: The day they check-out

However this will not work for me as I will not always be physically present when guests check in - and almost never physically present when they checkout. I have also read statments re this can no longer be added to  the fine print.
What I would really like to do - is collect the damage deposit by bank transfer 7 days in advance. I see other holiday houses in the same area as me are doing this. But if I can't add this in the fine print??

Concerned that if I send an email to guest asking for damage deposit up front when I am FORCED  to say in my listing i will take cash on the day this could cause problems...  ( If I were a guest and this happened to me I would be highly suspicious...)


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Aaltje B. 5 years ago

I think the only way you can solve the problem, for now, is to go just a tat higher with your total price, so you don't have to worry about the damage deposit.

Unless Leandri knows a better solution or other people of the forum.

If you don't want to wait for us forum team to answer, I would request info from the help team or contact them via the home tab at the bottom. (via extranet)

Hope you will get this sussed soon, and that you will become a favourite in Bookingdcom hosting world.

Enjoy your new guests!

Greetings,

Aaltje B.

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Rowena 5 years ago

Hi Aaltje,

Thanks so much for getting back.

I have contacted customer support who have given me conflicting information within the one thread which does little to reassure me. The best they could come up with was to ask for the deposit in advance when someone books. BUT when I asked if I didn't receive the deposit would I be supported in cancelling the booking they wouldn't give me a straight answer, which I assume means no. They them restated that until I I need to collect the deposit on the day of check in and return on the day of check out, which I had already stated is not always physically possible. - the whole point of my initial inquiry. Apparently once I have some good reviews they might reconsider, but I 'm caught in a catch 22. I do find it rather incredible that booking .com despite requiring hosts to manage the deposit themselves ( which is fine)booking.com then regulate the manner in which this occurs. I'm not prepared to rent out my home without a damage deposit in place - everything I have read on the forums supports my opinion/resolution re this. I successfully host on other platforms - I saw booking,com as a way of diversifying. Unfortunately unless they are able to become a little more flexible at a future date and genuinely accomodate holiday homes, I can't see a way forward. I just wont' verify my listing. A great shame, as I expended a great deal of time and energy creating my listing before this restriction re the damage deposit became apparent. I notice on the forums a number of other hosts have come to similar conclusions. Thank you again for the time you took to support. Good luck with your listing!

Regards

Rowena

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Aaltje B. 5 years ago

Hi Rowena.

I understand completely! And it is a shame that this big company can't take you much forward.

BDC may well be performing better when systems improve, so check this out at another time and don't delete all your hard work. You may be able to "freeze" your account for now.

You look like a master host already without me seeing much of your reviews. You have done your homework thoroughly and you have put the dots on the i. Fantastic!

I wish you lots of success with your other hosting platforms.

Best wishes,

Greetings,

Aaltje B.

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Richard Madden 1 year ago

Hi Rowena, I have the same issue and was interested to know if you got this resolved with booking.com.

You collect the damage deposit by: Cash
You collect this from your guests: Upon arrival
You return the damage deposit by: Cash
You return this to your guests: The day they check-out

Unfortunately I live/work overseas can only use this method when I return from time off, therefore I block out the other dates even though the guest house is available. 

I've been with booking.com since 2020 and at first had no damage deposit set up, my first 3 guests were fantastic, however the 4th trashed the place (family week stay). Afterwards set up taking cash damage deposits and had no issues since, but can only provide this service when I'm around, I also managed to get great reviews but still not able to set up receiving deposit payments into my bank account 7 days prior to arrival and return back into their bank account after check out.

Very interested how you got on with booking.com as I've had no success with them giving other options.

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Rowena 1 year ago

HI Richard,

No there was no solution with Booking.com so I did not end up using them and have made my listing unavailable.

I found STAYZ and Airbnb much more flexible in this regard, though they each have their own issues.

I'm no longer in the short stay market in general so not up with the various platforms.

Sorry could not be of more help...

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Richard Madden 1 year ago

Thanks Rowena, I’m thinking I might bail out of the short stay market and return to long term rental. A lot of work with very little or no profit.

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Mickael A Sebban 1 year ago

Hi,

Same for me. Spend a crazy amount of time setting things, to find out that not only I can t charge the security deposit via booking.com, but on top of that, they limit this to 300 $ ! 
as opposed to the $1500 I usually charge elsewhere. 
I guess I ll be looking for some other alternatives ...