supercalifragi - EX - PE - DI - A - riculous

I think Expedi-riculous is coaching customers on how to get a cancellation out of a B&B. I've had three reservations in the last month where the company called under the pretense of wanting to add a day to the reservation but the system won't let them. They want my permission to cancel the reservation without a fee and then send a new one through with the extended dates. Of course no new res appears, and no cancellation fee is possible because the first res had "permission" to cancel.
The first guest, I didn't read much into it. The second guest, I thought it was a little odd the same story in two weeks. The third guest, I called him to confirm he was still coming and he says, "I never wanted to stay longer, I don't know what that's about. I only called them to cancel." Ah-hah!
Every one of the guests I get from them has been a problem in one way or another and I am seriously entertaining removing my listing from them. Has anyone else had a similar experience?

I have a lot of guests from them. I recently had a guest who went so far as to cancel her card to avoid the charge. She got reported to guestchek for it.

Thanks for the inner info! Another reason to not go with them.

Savoir Faire said:

They want my permission to cancel the reservation without a fee and then send a new one through with the extended dates.

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That's sickening. Tell them next time book directly through your website and such changes would be so easy. But since they booked through brand Ex, you can't change things.

That is very sneaky! Good detective work as you decide how to proceed.

Thanks for the heads up! We've discussed it and decided that anyone who wants to 'add days' can do that directly with us, keeping their original days thru the agency.

Thanks!
These OTAs are only looking at making that commission. If the person is already planning to make another reservation through them - what difference does it make what accommodation it is with?

We must stay one step ahead at all times. And we must all work together to stay that step ahead.

Honestly, I just think their agents, especially those in the office in Asia are just trying on their own to be sneaky.
I yelled at one of the agents yesterday because it was the THIRD call I had received about the same person who cancelled their reservation on the 20th. After they cancelled, I actually put the room price up by $20 because it was a sold out weekend, and the room sold within minutes! But by the third phone call I had enough of it and asked if I really had to call head office to have a discussion about it.
When it comes to any of the OTAs, the answer for an exception is always the same, NO, unless they want to pay for the whole cancellation fee themselves.
Once one of them claimed that the cancellation policy wasn't clear. I said, it is, but if you made an error on your website, then you can pay me and not charge the client, but I'm getting paid because that is my terms with you. Agent decided that it was clear on the website..... and told the guest that the fee was applicable.

Also there are travel web sites that teach you all the scams and tricks

DH would just add the day himself. But I told him about it. Scam. People are jerks sometimes.

Simple rules with Expedia.... same with all OTAs....
No cancellations without cancellation fee.
No changes without cancellation fee. (You can offer a credit against the cancellation, but a new cancellation fee applies because that is considered a new reservation, the credit is applied only when paying the final fee.)
Customer claims they didn't understand cancellation fee, ask Expedia to pay it instead. They won't... they will stand by the cancellation fee.
Run the cancellation immediately, so if the customer cancels the charge, it has already been run. If they dispute, send copy of contractual page showing where all information was clearly provided.
Remember that there are two different departments in Expedia. The hotel services stands behind you and your polices. The customer service department stands behind the customer. You have a right to say NO. They are just trying to please the customer at customer service. Hotel services will back you and your policies. It's sort of like the CC companies, the CS supports the customer and merchant services is supposed to support you.

I have a confession............
9 months ago I booked a hotel for a wedding we're attending next weekend, through b.c. The hotel the wedding is in was very expensive so I booked elsewhere.
Yesterday I checked again and the wedding hotel have dropped their prices, so I cancelled the room I've had held for 9 months and booked the other. Do feel a tinge of guilt, but hey, if people have free cancellation policies up to 2 days before check in I'm going to take advantage.
By the sound of it, more and more people are getting wise to it.

This is the reason you choose a hotel, easy cancellation. And you don't need to provide an alibi.
and the reason you choose an OTA is to compare prices, one stop shopping.

We are very vocal about our experience with that company. About four months in, we noticed no commission payments were coming out, so like the honest Innkeeper I am, I called to ask what the problem was. Oops! There was a glitch in their system. How about a payment plan, I say, it's now getting into our slower season, we can't have a huge back payment come out when it's their fault. Nope! $2k was taken out all at once, after months of back-and-forth with customer service. They mistakenly included us on several (nasty) internal e-mail threads. Not nice.

Morticia said:

Thanks for the heads up! We've discussed it and decided that anyone who wants to 'add days' can do that directly with us, keeping their original days thru the agency..

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That sounds like a great rule. Out of curiosity, how can you communicate that with your guests if the change is done online? Would you add a note on the web site (B.C. proofs everything and I couldn't see them allowing us to have guests contact us directly).

That being said, has anyone (be honest now) had an online booker call to ask something and you ever so slightly nudged them to cancel to book direct with you? This of course to save you the commission fee. No judgments.

nataliebee said:

That being said, has anyone (be honest now) had an online booker call to ask something and you ever so slightly nudged them to cancel to book direct with you? This of course to save you the commission fee. No judgments..

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We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..

Duff2014 said:

nataliebee said:

That being said, has anyone (be honest now) had an online booker call to ask something and you ever so slightly nudged them to cancel to book direct with you? This of course to save you the commission fee. No judgments..

Click to expand...

We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..
.

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Duff2014 said:

We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..

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Every air guest who has liked us (and quite a few have not) gets told to book direct next time to save themselves the 12% commission and so they can choose the room they want.

Morticia said:

Duff2014 said:

nataliebee said:

That being said, has anyone (be honest now) had an online booker call to ask something and you ever so slightly nudged them to cancel to book direct with you? This of course to save you the commission fee. No judgments..

Click to expand...

We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..
.

Click to expand...

Duff2014 said:

We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..

Click to expand...

Every air guest who has liked us (and quite a few have not) gets told to book direct next time to save themselves the 12% commission and so they can choose the room they want.
.

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Yes, same here! Forgot to mention that. We usually hand them a business card as we say it. Half the time, they already got one from their room. Half of the other ones say, "I paid a service fee?!?"

Morticia said:

Duff2014 said:

nataliebee said:

That being said, has anyone (be honest now) had an online booker call to ask something and you ever so slightly nudged them to cancel to book direct with you? This of course to save you the commission fee. No judgments..

Click to expand...

We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..
.

Click to expand...

Duff2014 said:

We are only on air that doesn't take people to our own website to book. Every once in a while someone will ask for a special request. We tell them that, sorry, we can't do that request through air site. They either become Sherlock and Watson and come to us through searching around or go their own way and we don't get the booking.
We are on the No OTA side…..

Click to expand...

Every air guest who has liked us (and quite a few have not) gets told to book direct next time to save themselves the 12% commission and so they can choose the room they want.
.

Click to expand...

Yes! We always tell guests to book direct with us next time. We've had guests be on their trip back home and still re-book online... hey, it's easier. But encouraging guests to call us makes that connection right from check-in! AND we have started asking our guests (we all know who they are) to leave reviews on their OTA site. Often we get 10/10 not certainly don't rely on it.