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Guest wanted to cancel her booking on Booking.com and book directly with me at a reduced rate


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Lisapatrick 5 years ago

Recently I had a guest call me and wanted to pay me directly because she said that she was having a problem with Booking.com's banking details and expressed an interest in paying me directly(BK.COM handles my payments). I explained that they were usually very helpful at resolving these types of problems and I do not do direct bookings only via Booking.com. Then I sent her a message later to check that she had been able to contact Booking.com and resolve her issue but she didnt reply. Shortly thereafter the booking was cancelled.

What should I have done?

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fluff 5 years ago

It depends on your own set up and preferences on handling of bookings and payments. If you do not want direct bookings then you will have to put up with people who prefer direct booking not wanting to book with you as they expect better value directly. (No commission to pay)

The opposite is also true, if you did not want any OTA bookings then you would miss out on potential guests that prefer that method.

We use both methods and actively promote direct bookings to the maximum as our preferred method.

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Lisapatrick 5 years ago

Booking.com does such a great job of payments but you are correct, the long term payback for our accommodation will be better as there will be no commission to pay. :-) thanks