Hi All,
Thought I would draw your attention to a new system being tested by Booking.com. When a guest cancels, they are currently taking the bed off THEIR system, but not YOUR system so that they can "find a replacement guest" - hence keeping potential commission for themselves. Bang out of order.
Booking.com have implemented this without notifying hostels/hotels that they are doing this. I only knew about this when a guest e-mailed to confirm a cancellation. Couldn't find the cancellation on our system and the guest's reservation was still active on our booking system, so went to Booking.com Extranet, where I was informed if they had not found a replacement guest, the reservation would be cancelled 24 hours later.
I phoned Booking.com only to be advised that this was a new system that they were testing and we could "opt out" They also said that they didn't want properties to lose out on filling beds. I pointed out that every property uses other OTA's and not just Booking.com and that they could not just block off beds so that they were the only ones to get commission.
Please check your cancellations on the extranet and if this is happening to you too, phone them, complain and opt out. In the meantime, if you do have any of these, you can release the reservation immediately on the Extranet.
Liz
Owner, Barmy Badger Backpackers, London
6 years
Thank you for sharing the information. We have called Booking.com today on the issue. This options is called "Risk-free Reservations", you can check if it is activated and turn it off in in the Extranet - Property - Policies - Risk-free Reservations (at the end of the page with Policies).
5 years
Hello all, hey thanks for sharing this info, we have also experienced difficulties with Booking.com and their desire to retain payments and commission. We rented a car from their sister company Rentalcars.com, we booked a car in Osaka only to find the car or alternative was not available due to damage from the recent typhoon. Booking.com and their sister company refused to refund due to no cancellation within 24 hours yet we didn't find out until we arrived at the rental office......... $500 loss, Booking.com reply? You should have cancelled! Not good practice so all beware of these unscrupulous practices by this company! Credit to the rental car company who were helpful but could not do anything about Booking.com
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