Booking

[gillumhouse]

BedPosts is considering attempting to get Bookingdotcom to sit down and discuss the biggest problem you are having with that OTA. They will be asking their Forum this same question.
Would those of you who use Booking please give me the 5 biggest issues you have with them on order of importance? The hope is that they will have the numbers to get them to listen (as Jay had when PAII went to TA). They think it is worth a try but they want to go in with the right issue.
Examples from past: bad card; encrypted e-mail; policies changed on us..........I like Dumitru's complaint.

 

[Jcam]

mine is "services" this should match the property ie hotel - list of services bb list of services it should be relevant to the type of property they have booked ie bb is not likely to have a swimming pool!
or it should be were services as advertised? yes/no

 

[dumitru]

I have sent Bookingdotcom this suggestion last year, a real problem, which they have pleasantly ignored
If your property is set to accept "minimum 2 nights" bookings, and someone searches for a single night - your property shows up as "no rooms available", instead of "this property requires a longer stay".
This is misleading, unhelpful and user-unfriendly. If it were to say that a property requires a longer stay, the customer might consider a longer stay = higher commission for the Man.

 

[Jcam]

I have sent Bookingdotcom this suggestion last year, a real problem, which they have pleasantly ignored
If your property is set to accept "minimum 2 nights" bookings, and someone searches for a single night - your property shows up as "no rooms available", instead of "this property requires a longer stay".
This is misleading, unhelpful and user-unfriendly. If it were to say that a property requires a longer stay, the customer might consider a longer stay = higher commission for the Man..

im with that as the whole purpose is to push them to book 2 nights - and given a good deal they might add on that extra night - works for everyone

 

[Morticia]

In no particular order:

• No guest email, must contact guest thru their system which ends up going to spam because of 'cloaking' the email address
• Random reservations come thru with no info - no address, no phone, no credit card
• Tech support - get some
• Account manager - who is it, how do we know, how do we contact that person? (Tech support does not know the answer or refuses to give it.)
• Too many bad credit cards - need credit card checking in the US as Europe has.

And, yes, rather than letting the guest decide to book a longer stay your property shows no availability.

 

[GoodScout]

In no particular order:

• No guest email, must contact guest thru their system which ends up going to spam because of 'cloaking' the email address
• Random reservations come thru with no info - no address, no phone, no credit card
• Tech support - get some
• Account manager - who is it, how do we know, how do we contact that person? (Tech support does not know the answer or refuses to give it.)
• Too many bad credit cards - need credit card checking in the US as Europe has.

And, yes, rather than letting the guest decide to book a longer stay your property shows no availability..

The big 3 in priority order, my comments to B com would be:

• Too many bad credit cards - need credit card checking in the US as Europe has. I make B com customers pay 100% at time of booking. No other OTA has to do that. THAT'S how bad you need to fix your CC problem.
• Need to recommend 2-day minimums over defaulting to "no rooms available." Unless b. com doesn't want to make twice as much money.
• Give us the contact info, including a phone number and guest email. Hey, dummies, we're going to get their email address and contact info at checkin anyway, so you're not doing anything but inconveniencing your guests when we can't call them with last-minute weather or travel alerts.

 

[Copperhead]

#1) email issues. Major problem since they went to this 'privacy' gimmick channeling emails through their system 90% of those are never read as they go to the guest spam folders. Missed communications can lead to an unpleasant stay as the guest thinks we don't care!
#2) incorrect or missing information. This includes Credit Card details. My default is to collect all data, yet some still slips in without the personal info. Credit cards that are incorrect or declined, checking the card is needed.
#3) more control over data shown in our listings. Have more amenity / service choices available that relates more to the B&B industry.
4) Tech / Service Reps. - need more training - need more of them - need to have the direct email of our 'go to' person on our extranet page.
5) Provide 'muli-night required' instead of no availability. As a piggy back to this, I also would like for Booking.com to go back to their previous policy of not showing a property in the list that has no availability for the full time frame searched. The reason I prefer this is that I do not post all of my inventory on Booking and when a 'sold out' or no availability' tag is shown it also affects direct booking sales. Given that Google & TA are now in bed with Booking.com (and other OTAs) people may see the no availability and not click on your website.

 

[Arks]

All said above. Main one I hate is having to contact them through their convoluted messaging system to get something changed about your listing, rather than being able to do it yourself through their website like you can with Air and most others. It's like having to contact an inn to make a reservation rather than being able to book online in real time, and be done with it.
Of course, I also hate that they insist on having the lowest rate, even though they're a lot more trouble to deal with than reservations that come through my own website. But they're not gonna change that! (or anything else, probably)

 

[Morticia]

All said above. Main one I hate is having to contact them through their convoluted messaging system to get something changed about your listing, rather than being able to do it yourself through their website like you can with Air and most others. It's like having to contact an inn to make a reservation rather than being able to book online in real time, and be done with it.
Of course, I also hate that they insist on having the lowest rate, even though they're a lot more trouble to deal with than reservations that come through my own website. But they're not gonna change that! (or anything else, probably).

I've actually taken to posting a rate that cannot be found on my site. Yes, it is lower than some rooms, but those rooms are not in the mix.
I got tired of guests showing up who wanted an upgrade without paying for it. Or not understanding they booked a B&B and expecting either an elevator or a bell hop.
Now I can move them around without resenting their attitudes because my prices are commensurate with the aggro.

 

[GoodScout]

I keep reminding people: If you charge $50 for a room, you're going to get a $50 guest.
Charge $200 a night, and you'll get a $200 guest.
"You get what you pay for" works both ways.

 

[EmptyNest]

I keep reminding people: If you charge $50 for a room, you're going to get a $50 guest.
Charge $200 a night, and you'll get a $200 guest.
"You get what you pay for" works both ways..

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!

 

[Silverspoon]

I keep reminding people: If you charge $50 for a room, you're going to get a $50 guest.
Charge $200 a night, and you'll get a $200 guest.
"You get what you pay for" works both ways..

I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU!
.

Yup, the higher out rates have gone the nicer our guests have been!

 

[JBloggs]

I keep reminding people: If you charge $50 for a room, you're going to get a $50 guest.
Charge $200 a night, and you'll get a $200 guest.
"You get what you pay for" works both ways..

I keep reminding people: If you charge $50 for a room, you're going to get a $50 guest.
Charge $200 a night, and you'll get a $200 guest.
"You get what you pay for" works both ways.

I agree and I disagree.
Don't expect a $200 room experience for $125 a night room. When we have guests who for some reason think that paying $125 entitles them to some sort of special elite service, or compare us to that cocktail hour B&B down the mountains a couple hours...it never works. You get great value here for your hard earned money, we will guarantee that.
imho our guests who are here celebrating a special occasion love every detail, vs those who have way nicer bedrooms and bathrooms at home. As someone mentioned the other day, those who call from the road who "just want a nice place to stay" rarely appreciate what we offer, and they take as much as they can. We can have back to back people, well not literally, but consecutively - in the same room and have one couple ooh and ahh and the next never say a word, never say thank you, or give any sign of gratefulness, including a smile. The others give us a hug as they leave, we made a difference, staying here created memories. SCORE!