Profile picture for the user m
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Ready to Leave Booking.com

My experience during the past year with BDC has been very mixed. First of all, I don't get many bookings through BDC. Perhaps that's because I have to charge more on BDC than I do on other sites, due to their exorbitant 15% fee. My lowest prices are on Airbnb, because they only charge 3% (and provide insurance for that price). I had one guest break a bed, and BDC refused to help me collect from the guest. In fact, the guest sent me a credit card number, so I could charge the cost of the bed, and BDC blocked the number from getting to me.

Now, I get an email that says BDC will start charging that 15% fee on the cleaning fee, as well. So I have 2 choices. I can pay my cleaning crew less money, which I'm not willing to do. Or, I can make up the difference out of my own pocket, and I can't afford that. I suppose I could raise my cleaning fee to make up for it, but then I'm just pushing myself out of the market.

So now, I'm trying to come up with reasons to keep my property listed on BDC, and can't come up with any. What are your thoughts?


Profile picture for the user p
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pibomarco 4 years ago

1. Airbnb charges the host 3% for the commission and also charges the guest at LEAST 12% extra for their service, so basicly there is no difference if looking from a traveler point of view. So you can just set price higher on Booking.com and the guest will pay the same amount as on AirBnB.

2. Pay your crew less money because of "3$"? Don't be so greedy. Or just set up higher cleaning fee as you mentioned. It wouldn't make sucha a difference with bookers, only if you charge 300$ for a cleaning?

3. Reasons? Well for me the main reason is receiving as many bookings as possible. Booking.com brings me majority of bookings. If you don't get that many from BDC and you are frustrated by them, perhaps it is better to just let it go and stick to AirBnB.

Profile picture for the user m
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Michael 4 years ago

Thanks for the feedback, pibomarco. 15% of my cleaning fee is over $26, not $3. That's substantial. We're listed on Airbnb, Homeaway, VRBO, Expedia, TripAdvisor. But we get over 90% of our bookings through Airbnb. They have been very good for us. BDC hasn't.

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pibomarco 4 years ago

15% out of $26 = 3,9$. It's not the end of the world.

d
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David 4 years ago

Hi Michael have you ever heard the saying "to big to care"