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multiple bookings for one room same night

Recently one of my rooms was double booked..I emailed the guest and booking.com informing them of the double booking and that I could relocate  the double booked guest.   They guest was happy to change rooms. 

 Then on March 24th the double booked room was booked again.   I emailed the guest and booking .com that the room was double booked and that I could not accommodate them.   As the response time from booking.com was one day I called them.   I advised them that there were not beds available in the local area as there had been a huge storm and the road to Franz Joseph Glacier was closed and advised areas where the guest could be relocated to.   It was about 1pm when this happened.   Meanwhile I was busy preparing for the booked guests arrival as well as dinner for them.    Then at about 9pm when I was serving dinner, the double booked guests arrived saying they did not get any message from myself or booking.com.   As they had traveled a long way to get here, it was now dark and raining I did feel sorry for them so quickly phoned neighbors to see if they could accommodate them and fortunately accommodation was found for them.

I have had numerous conversations with booking.com and have been given reasons as to how the room was in fact triple booked..mentioning number of available units,the room type was modified, whatever that means?   They also said that I would have to contact extranet and that I should have changed availability.   If a room is booked it is booked and as far as I am aware a host cannot open a room when it is already booked.   I have also emailed booking.com and they have not responded. So then I wrote to James ***, (Vice President of Partner and Customer Services) the person who wrote the lovely letter that came with Guest Review Awards that was nearly 3 weeks ago and I have had no response.

At the end of the day I appreciate that booking.com is such a huge business and we (the hosts) a drop in the huge pond.   We are trying to provide a good experience for our guests and really need the support of booking.com which in this case is lacking.   It has taken many hours trying to sort this out.

It would be good to know what you think about this experience for me and how you would have managed the situation?

I now need a stiff gin!

Mary.

Owner Waikonini Homestead.

 


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Aaltje B. 4 years ago

Oh Mary, that is a very frustrating situation.

And hasn't it been busy this year!

I can totally recommend jumping on board of a channel manager. I have one ( in NZ) and had none of these double / triple bookings. It cost some money but you have more control and no worries.

I can give you the name if you like. You can give me a text on ooh tooo seffen, foor wan ate, dubbel wan dubbel seffen.

Greetings

Ella B.

The Catlins.

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Waikoninihomestead 4 years ago

Thank you Ella. Yes, I would be interested in having a channel manager. But in the case of the triple bookings they all came through booking.com and I would have thought their system would avoid over booking? I am in Peel Forest.

Kind regards.

Mary

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Aaltje B. 4 years ago

Hi Mary

Here is the night-owl writing to you ;)

I think it is best to call Mike of True NZ guides

He can send you info about the Channel Managing system he owns. They are a NZ company.

It is costing some but takes out a lot of frustration and time and it will take care of your calendars and you can link as many OTA's as you like.

Their system is easy to understand and manage.

Also, your own website can be attached and linked.

What I don't recommend is adding Airbnb OTA linked to this package. Just keep Airbnb as a separate group where you handle the calendar manually and where guests having to request for stays. Meaning Not Instant Bookings. You get serious bookers and you choose who stays or not. This is an amazing feature and I haven't experienced my bookings decreased after I changed that. You may miss out on those last minute bookers, but they are often not the best anyway.

Since Airbnb guests pay for the extra costs, opposed to other OTA's you as host pay the commissions, I experienced less bookings having the calendars linked. but now since separate calendar/ not instant bookings, it has picked up again. You can play with the figures easier since they are not linked with your other OTA's. I mean, the price of Airbnb I have lowered compared to what I ask for other groups and now end up with more bookings.

Expedia is guilty of allowing other smaller ota's to "steal" the information and make them book for cheaper prices. Could it be that your double bookings come from there? I have deleted my expedia listing and since then life is a lot easier! (They are very pushy to make you go lower with your prices - and you may end up not making much)

Mike of TrueNZ is very helpful, his system comes with a big very detailed manual which is added to your management system and easy to understand. I think they have done a very good job.

If you speak to him, mention my name (Ella from Kaka Point )

They also have their own platform, where you can add your own listing and that is even free.

They have just started a new year, and now with the season not so busy, time to work on new setup.

I hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.

I never have double bookings since working with this channel manager.

Being precise with the manual Airbnb bookings and changes into your main calendar is a little extra work, but then you get more out of it financially and it is worth it.

Hope this helps.

Wishing you a smooth transition and hopefully next season wonderful guests and no more double bookings!

Kind regards,

Aaltje Broekhuizen,

Quality Rural Stay, the Catlins.

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Aaltje B. 4 years ago

Oh dear, a double up, sorry Mary!

PS my Dutch name is Aaltje which I use for BDC.

Here in NZ it is Ella, Just easier to pronounce.

my husband is Gijsbert, another impossibility for NZers, so we changed it to Guy.

So Greetings from Ella and Guy.

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Aaltje B. 4 years ago

You're welcome Mary, hoping to hear from you using the Smart System.

Greetings

Aaltje B.