Tips for Booking.com Part 1, from RentalWise

How to use Booking.com the right way. Many of our customers use Booking.com as a way to get reservations at substantially higher visibility rates. We will present some of the hidden options available and the best practices to use Booking.com

PAYMENTS TIP: Choose your payment method and terms. When people start using Booking.com, they often find it difficult to deal with guest payments and cancellations. However, there are many settings you can adjust to increase guest quality and make it easier to collect payments. Please note that the options available to you depend on your location, number of properties, types of properties and your relationship with Booking.com. If you wish to make changes, the best method is to call Booking.com and ask which options are available for you.

A) You are the merchant of record. Think about requiring Credit cards and CVC. You can require all guests to provide a credit card or even a credit card with security code (CVC). RentalWise is able to upload the credit card details to your Stripe account for auto-processing, once it's connected, but it's important to understand how credit cards work. Booking.com will accept valid credit cards, but that doesn't mean they can always be charged. There are pre-paid credit cards, stolen or missing credit cards that may be used to confirm the booking. A good method to avoid hassle is to require CVC from all guests. Although this may lead to fewer bookings, it will increase the amount of sincere guests and lower the amount of cancellations as well.

B) Booking.com is the merchant of record. For many homeowners, Booking will act as the merchant of record nowadays (ala Airbnb). This allows you to focus on your property and servicing guests, rather than running credit cards and collecting payments. If selected, Booking.com will usually payout via bank transfer within 21 days of your guests' departure date.

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