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Deposit payments for future bookings

Is there a way to take a deposit from a guest when they book rather than making them pay the full amount up front? With our other booking channels (Tripadvsior Homeaway) if the guest is booking months in advance they have the option to pay 20% at time of booking and the balance 4 weeks before they arrive. I am sure The fact that they have to pay the full amount at the time of booking when using booking.com even for bookings months in advance is putting potential customers off.


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Chris 5 years ago

any answers?

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Katerinka12 5 years ago

If client books several months ahead, he can cancel his reservation later, even if the host practices strict cancelation.

From your comment above, it means that client pays 20% (at least). And the balance is 80%, right? 4 weeks before they arrive. While on Booking majority of hosts practice 0-14 days only.

I can see some difference in terms of days before the arrival and percentage of payment, but there is no radical difference. The guest doesn't really pay the amount "in full", when he has an option to cancel it.

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Hakahanabb 5 years ago

You have a valid point but this is b.com who actually are receiving payment upfront and have the luxury of transferring payment to an interest bearing investment account whilst you must wait until the 16th of the month after guests have left and receive no interest. Problem here is that if the advanced booking is only for a day or two and is cancelled by the guest you may have lost out on a guest looking for accommodation in excess of two days. This where b.com come in with their we are trying to find a guest to fill this period and payment is only guaranteed on the cancellation policy which is another kettle of fish.