bedandbreakfast.com Book Now only and 18%? No thanks!!!

[lizzyb62]

Hi all!
New here. We are about to start our 28th season! Just wanting to vent about bedandbreakfast.com's new "business model"...offering only listing with book now and taking 18%. I'm miffed. We have been with them forever. We are a small 4 room B&B without much competition in the area. The idea of paying them $36 every time someone books a $205 high season room makes me crazy. We are very seasonal ( closed 6 months ) and have been willing to pay the $75/mo in the off-season just to stay listed on their site as people make future plans. That was about $900/ year...$450 paid while we were freaking CLOSED. Well it pencils out that if we were to have more than 25 rooms booked through them, we would be paying them even more than that. We realize they bring us business, but it's the principal of the thing. I spoke with Katerina at bedandbreakfast.com on the phone and told her I was blown away that they don't offer the subscription listing anymore - that if we had more local competition, perhaps it would be more important for us to consider staying with them. She said "we realize our new business model will not work for a small percentage of B&Bs". Wow. Ok. So much for customer loyalty and looking out for the little guy. I find it ironic since the whole idea of the B&B started about inviting people into your homes and making personal connections. Now it's all corporate and about them making as much money off of you as possible. Katerina's blurb at the bottom of her email says she is a "fashion-forward jetsetter..." . Really?? Needless to say we have jumped ship. I have sent an email asking them to stop sending me "Your listing has EXPIRED!!!!" emails, to no avail.
We are currently joining other sites (BBOnline, for one) and working on updating our website. I feel Google brings us a ton of business and will be curious to see if there is a difference in bookings.

I'm curious how many other of you have left, as well, and your thoughts. Thanks for listening!!!!!

Liz
Floras Lake House B&B
floraslake.com

 

[Highlands John]

I had notification a few days ago that basically when my subscription runs out in just under a month.... that's it!!! No offer of a commission based listing I was expecting, not that I would have gone for it for the same reasons you've identified.

 

[gillumhouse]

I left them MANY years ago when the price went to over $400 per year - I only have 3 rooms . Although there are no other B & Bs in my County, there are plenty of hotels and even more now than when I dumped bandb.com. I had no change in occupancy after leaving them. Not a blip. Saved me a lot of money.
I now list only on bnbfinder. bbonline sold to a corporation a long time ago. After Randy sold bbonline and Eric sold bandb, the directories were on the corporate world of money grabbing. Only bnbfinder and iLoveinns are still owned by the individuals rather than corps.

 

[dumitru]

It's always difficult to make pricing plan changes, I've been through that a couple of times.
In the end, you can't appease everyone. If the choice is between running an unsustainable/inefficient business vs pissing off a couple of existing customers, then the choice is very clear
My opinion is that the commission-based model is really good for everybody, as long as they don't hijack your traffic (for example doing CPC campaigns using your property name).

 

[Momma Smurf]

Hmmmm, we switched over and it's 15% for the first year. 18% doesn't kick in until year 2. Still evaluating. We used to pay $110 a month. Still getting direct bookings after folks see us there, so no commission for those reservations.
Are you really sure that it's 18% this year? I know it's freaky, but one has to evaluate to see if perhaps you can make it work. The discounts we paid for the first quarter don't come near what we would have paid per month.
Also, many of us are increasing our BedBreakfast rates on their site to cover commissions. Give it a try. You can decrease your inventory at any time. Or black out dates during high season.

 

[lizzyb62]

Hmmmm, we switched over and it's 15% for the first year. 18% doesn't kick in until year 2. Still evaluating. We used to pay $110 a month. Still getting direct bookings after folks see us there, so no commission for those reservations.
Are you really sure that it's 18% this year? I know it's freaky, but one has to evaluate to see if perhaps you can make it work. The discounts we paid for the first quarter don't come near what we would have paid per month.
Also, many of us are increasing our BedBreakfast rates on their site to cover commissions. Give it a try. You can decrease your inventory at any time. Or black out dates during high season..

That's an idea, but I would feel like I was gouging people. I guess I'm too nice! I wonder how many would realize that they could book a high season room for $205 on our site or $242 on bedandbreakfast.com . I didn't realize there was an option for blacking out dates, as well. Thanks for the info! I will see how it plays out

 

[Momma Smurf]

Hmmmm, we switched over and it's 15% for the first year. 18% doesn't kick in until year 2. Still evaluating. We used to pay $110 a month. Still getting direct bookings after folks see us there, so no commission for those reservations.
Are you really sure that it's 18% this year? I know it's freaky, but one has to evaluate to see if perhaps you can make it work. The discounts we paid for the first quarter don't come near what we would have paid per month.
Also, many of us are increasing our BedBreakfast rates on their site to cover commissions. Give it a try. You can decrease your inventory at any time. Or black out dates during high season..

That's an idea, but I would feel like I was gouging people. I guess I'm too nice! I wonder how many would realize that they could book a high season room for $205 on our site or $242 on bedandbreakfast.com . I didn't realize there was an option for blacking out dates, as well. Thanks for the info! I will see how it plays out

.

I have been discovering that I am getting many more reservations from folks that saw us on BedBreak first, then simply Googled us and booked direct! Win, Win! No directory fee or commission!

 

[CSMaine]

Thanks for posting the comment, we will be in the same situation soon. With a new property, it has been helpful to use BB.com to get more exposure on search engines. We use a system that limits us in having different rates on OTA's vs. on site or our website. A third of our reservations are coming through an OTA at this time. We are not interested in using Booking.com with the issues we have seen others having. We do like having the inventory integrated.

 

[notAgrandma]

Thanks for posting the comment, we will be in the same situation soon. With a new property, it has been helpful to use BB.com to get more exposure on search engines. We use a system that limits us in having different rates on OTA's vs. on site or our website. A third of our reservations are coming through an OTA at this time. We are not interested in using Booking.com with the issues we have seen others having. We do like having the inventory integrated..

A lot of my bookings are coming through Expedia. BB.com is owned by Expedia, so do reservations thru BB.com show up as Expedia reservations? Is there a tag on them like the ones through hotels.con that shows which OTA site the guest used to book? Just wondering because unless I'm missing something, I haven't received a single booking through BB.com this year.

 

[Generic]

Thanks for posting the comment, we will be in the same situation soon. With a new property, it has been helpful to use BB.com to get more exposure on search engines. We use a system that limits us in having different rates on OTA's vs. on site or our website. A third of our reservations are coming through an OTA at this time. We are not interested in using Booking.com with the issues we have seen others having. We do like having the inventory integrated..

A lot of my bookings are coming through Expedia. BB.com is owned by Expedia, so do reservations thru BB.com show up as Expedia reservations? Is there a tag on them like the ones through hotels.con that shows which OTA site the guest used to book? Just wondering because unless I'm missing something, I haven't received a single booking through BB.com this year.
.

I get separate BB.COM reservations.

 

[GoodScout]

Thanks for posting the comment, we will be in the same situation soon. With a new property, it has been helpful to use BB.com to get more exposure on search engines. We use a system that limits us in having different rates on OTA's vs. on site or our website. A third of our reservations are coming through an OTA at this time. We are not interested in using Booking.com with the issues we have seen others having. We do like having the inventory integrated..

A lot of my bookings are coming through Expedia. BB.com is owned by Expedia, so do reservations thru BB.com show up as Expedia reservations? Is there a tag on them like the ones through hotels.con that shows which OTA site the guest used to book? Just wondering because unless I'm missing something, I haven't received a single booking through BB.com this year.
.

As a result of the acquisition, BB.com offers customers a chance to add the option of listing with Expedia through the BB.com platform.
If you were a prior customer of Expedia prior to the acquisition (like us) they come in as separate.

 

[CSMaine]

Thanks for posting the comment, we will be in the same situation soon. With a new property, it has been helpful to use BB.com to get more exposure on search engines. We use a system that limits us in having different rates on OTA's vs. on site or our website. A third of our reservations are coming through an OTA at this time. We are not interested in using Booking.com with the issues we have seen others having. We do like having the inventory integrated..

A lot of my bookings are coming through Expedia. BB.com is owned by Expedia, so do reservations thru BB.com show up as Expedia reservations? Is there a tag on them like the ones through hotels.con that shows which OTA site the guest used to book? Just wondering because unless I'm missing something, I haven't received a single booking through BB.com this year.
.

Reservations do show a point of sale and a source. In our system, BB.com does show up separately from Expedia as a source. For Expedia reservations, the point of sale shows the channel (ie. Hotels.com). Sometimes it only shows as "Expedia affiliate".

 

[Copperhead]

Thanks for posting the comment, we will be in the same situation soon. With a new property, it has been helpful to use BB.com to get more exposure on search engines. We use a system that limits us in having different rates on OTA's vs. on site or our website. A third of our reservations are coming through an OTA at this time. We are not interested in using Booking.com with the issues we have seen others having. We do like having the inventory integrated..

A lot of my bookings are coming through Expedia. BB.com is owned by Expedia, so do reservations thru BB.com show up as Expedia reservations? Is there a tag on them like the ones through hotels.con that shows which OTA site the guest used to book? Just wondering because unless I'm missing something, I haven't received a single booking through BB.com this year.
.

A lot of my bookings are coming through Expedia. BB.com is owned by Expedia, so do reservations thru BB.com show up as Expedia reservations? Is there a tag on them like the ones through hotels.con that shows which OTA site the guest used to book? Just wondering because unless I'm missing something, I haven't received a single booking through BB.com this year.

If you check the reservation via BB.com site, the reservation shows which site the booking came through. So far I have seen: Expedia, Hotels, Travelocity, Orbiz, Expedia Third Party Affiliate and BB.com

 

[franco2000]

I have had my BnB for only six weeks and I already cancelled my account with them. I was willing to give them a try, but I have been battling with them to get one simple payment for all six weeks. Customer service is useless. Emails to CEO, CFO and others in admin have not been returned. Billing said they would send the money, then they said it was deposited, then they said they would call and make it right. Nothing. I'm new here so I ask, why are they still in business?

 

[An Old Tavernkeeper]

I have had my BnB for only six weeks and I already cancelled my account with them. I was willing to give them a try, but I have been battling with them to get one simple payment for all six weeks. Customer service is useless. Emails to CEO, CFO and others in admin have not been returned. Billing said they would send the money, then they said it was deposited, then they said they would call and make it right. Nothing. I'm new here so I ask, why are they still in business?.

LOL Franco2000, welcome to my nightmare.
BnB.com never paid us for a booking back in late April. After hours and hours on the phone and dozens of emails they sent an email on May 21 that the money would be deposited into our account within 5 business days. It hadn't shown up ten days later, so started the customer-no-service process again. Then on Monday of this week they WITHDREW the amount from our account instead of depositing it in to our account..
Between yesterday and today have spent 9 hours on the phone with bnb.com who eventually sent us to homeaway.com who sent us back to bnb.com and still no one can give us an answer. So tomorrow it's off to the attorney's office. Never thought it would come to this but between the missing payment and the new 'stolen' money along with the bank fee for letting our account drop below the minimum balance, we are looking at nearly $1000.
They absolutely are horrible in every sense of the word.

 

[GoodScout]

Got an email yesterday that B&B.com will be getting rid of its innkeeper interface on its website and have customers update their property information on Expedia's EPC site.
It's worth noting, as a B&B that lists on both, that the only advantage we now have on B&B.com vs. Expedia, is that Expedia is now listing home and room rentals a la Air while B&B is still (for now) only including TRUE B&Bs.

 

[Momma Smurf]

Got an email yesterday that B&B.com will be getting rid of its innkeeper interface on its website and have customers update their property information on Expedia's EPC site.
It's worth noting, as a B&B that lists on both, that the only advantage we now have on B&B.com vs. Expedia, is that Expedia is now listing home and room rentals a la Air while B&B is still (for now) only including TRUE B&Bs..

Actually, no. They are now including hotels. Two of them in our town with ExP listings only are listed on BBcon.

 

[CJBLRI]

Hmmmm, we switched over and it's 15% for the first year. 18% doesn't kick in until year 2. Still evaluating. We used to pay $110 a month. Still getting direct bookings after folks see us there, so no commission for those reservations.
Are you really sure that it's 18% this year? I know it's freaky, but one has to evaluate to see if perhaps you can make it work. The discounts we paid for the first quarter don't come near what we would have paid per month.
Also, many of us are increasing our BedBreakfast rates on their site to cover commissions. Give it a try. You can decrease your inventory at any time. Or black out dates during high season..

I thought the same, but now I am being charged the 18%, not 15%.

 

[Momma Smurf]

Hmmmm, we switched over and it's 15% for the first year. 18% doesn't kick in until year 2. Still evaluating. We used to pay $110 a month. Still getting direct bookings after folks see us there, so no commission for those reservations.
Are you really sure that it's 18% this year? I know it's freaky, but one has to evaluate to see if perhaps you can make it work. The discounts we paid for the first quarter don't come near what we would have paid per month.
Also, many of us are increasing our BedBreakfast rates on their site to cover commissions. Give it a try. You can decrease your inventory at any time. Or black out dates during high season..

I thought the same, but now I am being charged the 18%, not 15%.
.

My last booking through them was on June 20 and it was only 15%. I do believe that will be my LAST booking.period. Am blocking all my inventory and will not be signing with ExP on October 1.

 

[Anon Inn]

Hmmmm, we switched over and it's 15% for the first year. 18% doesn't kick in until year 2. Still evaluating. We used to pay $110 a month. Still getting direct bookings after folks see us there, so no commission for those reservations.
Are you really sure that it's 18% this year? I know it's freaky, but one has to evaluate to see if perhaps you can make it work. The discounts we paid for the first quarter don't come near what we would have paid per month.
Also, many of us are increasing our BedBreakfast rates on their site to cover commissions. Give it a try. You can decrease your inventory at any time. Or black out dates during high season..

That's an idea, but I would feel like I was gouging people. I guess I'm too nice! I wonder how many would realize that they could book a high season room for $205 on our site or $242 on bedandbreakfast.com . I didn't realize there was an option for blacking out dates, as well. Thanks for the info! I will see how it plays out

.

I have been discovering that I am getting many more reservations from folks that saw us on BedBreak first, then simply Googled us and booked direct! Win, Win! No directory fee or commission!
.

Here too. More direct bookings this year. Some say they found us on Air, but decided to save the fees, some found us on TA through TripConnect.
We have never used Booking, expedia or any of the others.