Has anyone tried Booking.com?

[Alexandra224]

Hello, recently i found that somehow my bookings on Airbnb dropped :(, and i got in Booking.com also, so i could have both at the same time, anyone has thoughts about it?, it looks sketchy, and obviously i love Airbnb and so used to this, but since the drop of RSV i wanted to try it out...  

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Alexandra224

we used Booking. com and didn't like it.

1. they don't pay you after check in , you have to wait until the begining of the next month to be payed. Or you can except cash from guests on check in.

2.- there are to many cancelations. More then half of our bookings were canceled by guest before arrival.

3.- their commission is 15%. As we have to pay 25% VAT on this commission it is expensive for us

4.- guests are not communicating as Airbnb guests. Often we had to wait for weeks to get a response about arrival time 

5.- you can not write a description on your own, Booking write it for you based on the form you fill

6.- I never understood if cleaning fee is included in price or it will be added on my accomodation price or I have to charge it separatelly on arrival .. setting is very confusing. Even their representatives gave me different answers every time I called. And cleaning fee is the same for all your listings , you can not set it differently for studio and for the entire house for example. 

7. - we don't know why but we get much better and much more reviews on Airbnb then on Booking. Obviously the clientele is very different. 

We finally deleted our listings on Booking . com

[Fred13]

^^^ #5.- you can not write a description on your own, Booking write it for you based on the form you fill.

Now that you two mention it, THAT was my main objection. In my case, it came across as the description of my place was either written by a computer or an equally dumb 15-year kid who had no clue it is - an island. The first 5 guests had the impression it was a 5-star resort - for $250 a night (at the time). I gave up arguing with them. They send me guests after guests for two (2) full years, and constant calling, which I ended up totally ignoring both; a total mess.

[Delphine-And-Michael0]

Does booking.com process credit cards for you?  Whe we used it it did  not my credit card processor for Domestic cards only my processor was calling asking me why I keep entering the wrong card information (guests seemed to put the wrong expiration date on the card typically).

i was thinking during the slow season to use them again.

[Josie-and-Paul0]

booking.com only take credit card payments in certain countries. I dont believe Australia and USA are on that list.

You can used stripe.com to process credit card transactions online.

I was wanting to know how to see how many views I am getting on my booking.com listing. They have a few different reports but I dont think any of them relate to views/hits, which is important to me as I want to see how much exposure I am getting...

I am yet to receive a booking through booking.com so cant comment further.

[Delphine-And-Michael0]

@Josie-and-Paul0

Thanks, I was hoping booking.com started processimg credit cards in the US.  I will look into stripe.com.