I had 3 guests arrive one in wheelchair, they didn't check beforehand. Even though all on ground floor not suitable for wheelchair, too small. Shower over bath, doorway issue. They caused damage to the property and left a very negative score and remark which b.com won't remove. I was advised to put something in my auto reply when a booking is made to cover myself. I'm not in UK, could be different there.
I've got a slightly different problem. I ask for 1st nights fee in advance 1 week before reservation however I've had 2 sets of guests not paying, not communicating. However if I cancel 3 days before the date of the reservation I'm unlikely to get another booking for that time anyway and have wasted quite a bit of time contacting them. I don't accept credit cards.
I've only just activated the deposit is required and Artvilla Bookings you are quite correct it's very confusing for guests and requires quite a bit of time to send messages explaining the policy and then to chase up non payments before the reservation is cancelled due to non deposit payment. Don't want to accept credit cards as cost will out weigh benefit as only a small place.
I don't think Booking.com is up to speed in NZ, that seems very weird if they want to keep hosts as I know there is quite a bit of unhappiness amongst hosts about not getting paid when they have done the work.
It really should be made very clear to prospective hosts. It should say 'Booking.com is unable to collect fees for no shows and cancellations in New Zealand at the moment'. Therefore hosts will know that they will be out of pocket if guest cancels or is a no show. It really wasn't made apparent to me!! New to this game am learning the hard way. Has cost me at least $1000 gross in less than a year and a lot of wasted time.
Thinking that prepay is the way to go, booking doesn't appear to pass guest payments onto host even when they have collected from their credit card (had a guest giving me a blasting on the phone) so that's just not going to work for me. I can't stretch to a CC payment system just for 1 unit so may have to find another partner.
I understand the need to ensure a good service for guests but booking goes too far the other way and not supportive or encouraging for small businesses. I dislike the automated messages as I know they are not upset that a guest has cancelled last minute etc etc. However I am as it's my livelihood.
Umm I did search hoping to save myself dome valuable time, but I ended up by posting. Not keen on dpending even more hours on some basic things that should be explained by an auto email at time of cancellation.
That's disappointing
I had 3 guests arrive one in wheelchair, they didn't check beforehand. Even though all on ground floor not suitable for wheelchair, too small. Shower over bath, doorway issue. They caused damage to the property and left a very negative score and remark which b.com won't remove. I was advised to put something in my auto reply when a booking is made to cover myself. I'm not in UK, could be different there.
I also hate that i can't change description of property as it does not make my property sound appealing.
I've got a slightly different problem. I ask for 1st nights fee in advance 1 week before reservation however I've had 2 sets of guests not paying, not communicating. However if I cancel 3 days before the date of the reservation I'm unlikely to get another booking for that time anyway and have wasted quite a bit of time contacting them. I don't accept credit cards.
I've only just activated the deposit is required and Artvilla Bookings you are quite correct it's very confusing for guests and requires quite a bit of time to send messages explaining the policy and then to chase up non payments before the reservation is cancelled due to non deposit payment. Don't want to accept credit cards as cost will out weigh benefit as only a small place.
Thanks for your response.
I don't think Booking.com is up to speed in NZ, that seems very weird if they want to keep hosts as I know there is quite a bit of unhappiness amongst hosts about not getting paid when they have done the work.
It really should be made very clear to prospective hosts. It should say 'Booking.com is unable to collect fees for no shows and cancellations in New Zealand at the moment'. Therefore hosts will know that they will be out of pocket if guest cancels or is a no show. It really wasn't made apparent to me!! New to this game am learning the hard way. Has cost me at least $1000 gross in less than a year and a lot of wasted time.
Thanks for your reply Leandri,
Thinking that prepay is the way to go, booking doesn't appear to pass guest payments onto host even when they have collected from their credit card (had a guest giving me a blasting on the phone) so that's just not going to work for me. I can't stretch to a CC payment system just for 1 unit so may have to find another partner.
I understand the need to ensure a good service for guests but booking goes too far the other way and not supportive or encouraging for small businesses. I dislike the automated messages as I know they are not upset that a guest has cancelled last minute etc etc. However I am as it's my livelihood.
Umm I did search hoping to save myself dome valuable time, but I ended up by posting. Not keen on dpending even more hours on some basic things that should be explained by an auto email at time of cancellation.