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sandynn

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Just wondering how many here use the Book It Button from bed and breakfast.com.
I don't
 
We don't use it as we don't want to pay commissions. They would just use it for booking the weekends which book just fine as it is. Why pay them?
RIki
 
I agree..why pay them a commission. They are taking over too much already :-(
 
I tried it. My stats program told me that they actually used the book it button after they found me NOT on bb.com I would have gotten those bookings anyway. After I got a booking for 5 nights from a repeat guest, I stopped using it. I figured out who the guest was, called them directly and cancelled the bb.com booking. This is totally against their policy, but I didn't care.
I was able to get out of the program early, because they called wanting me to load rooms into the system. Told them no, so they took the book it button off.
 
We use it, but are always evaluating whether or not it is worth it.
B B . c o m will tell you that the 25-30% commission isn't high for several reasons, including that it is standard in the industry and that it doesn't represent true commission, as some will see your listing but book direct (as if you weren't paying for that listing already), so you should amortize the commission across all bookings that came via their site, plus you make a new relationship with a guest who will come back many times (without commission), so it is an investment in future business.
We may not be the best test of success with their program, as we limit how many rooms are available on it, and when they are available. We have not had more than a few bookings through that program each year, and we always cringe at the high commission. Not a single one of these guests has ever returned (with or without commisson on the subsequent visit), so the argument that we're building future business has not held water for us.
Why do we use it? It gets us exposure on Expedia and its partners. However, as best we can determine, we get very few visitors to our website from them - so it really isn't having the desired result.
Is that commission really standard in the industry? What industry? Lodging/hotels (who have dozens, if not hundreds, of rooms)? Why, yes, it is standard in that industry, because that is the GDS rate (more or less). Is it standard among travel agents? Of course not! Is it standard for OTA's (online travel agencies)? Of course not.
Is it worth it to fill rooms which might otherwise be empty? Yes - if you actually do fill those rooms. We've tried several different approaches to making rooms available on that system, from all rooms, to only select rooms; from all the time to only filling weak spots (mid-week, off-season, etc.). The bottom line hasn't changed - we don't get many bookings from that system.
Your mileage may (probably will) vary.
 
I have been on the program for amost 2 years now. Through the b&b site I have only gotten 1 booking, and 2-3 through exp e dia.
But do get many who make a reservation through my Webervations through their site or go from their site to my website to book. IMMHO many avid b&b goers know the difference between booking through a 3rd party and directly and most will choose to book direct.
 
First I told bb.com to take a hike and then I told We ber va tion the same thing when JB introduced me to ResKey. Sooo glad I did! No more aggro, no more huge invoice for little business, I can sympathize with those with the aggro and be happy I am not raising my BP.
 
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal.
 
We use it, but are always evaluating whether or not it is worth it.
B B . c o m will tell you that the 25-30% commission isn't high for several reasons, including that it is standard in the industry and that it doesn't represent true commission, as some will see your listing but book direct (as if you weren't paying for that listing already), so you should amortize the commission across all bookings that came via their site, plus you make a new relationship with a guest who will come back many times (without commission), so it is an investment in future business.
We may not be the best test of success with their program, as we limit how many rooms are available on it, and when they are available. We have not had more than a few bookings through that program each year, and we always cringe at the high commission. Not a single one of these guests has ever returned (with or without commisson on the subsequent visit), so the argument that we're building future business has not held water for us.
Why do we use it? It gets us exposure on Expedia and its partners. However, as best we can determine, we get very few visitors to our website from them - so it really isn't having the desired result.
Is that commission really standard in the industry? What industry? Lodging/hotels (who have dozens, if not hundreds, of rooms)? Why, yes, it is standard in that industry, because that is the GDS rate (more or less). Is it standard among travel agents? Of course not! Is it standard for OTA's (online travel agencies)? Of course not.
Is it worth it to fill rooms which might otherwise be empty? Yes - if you actually do fill those rooms. We've tried several different approaches to making rooms available on that system, from all rooms, to only select rooms; from all the time to only filling weak spots (mid-week, off-season, etc.). The bottom line hasn't changed - we don't get many bookings from that system.
Your mileage may (probably will) vary..
Scott said:
Is that commission really standard in the industry? What industry? Lodging/hotels (who have dozens, if not hundreds, of rooms)? Why, yes, it is standard in that industry, because that is the GDS rate (more or less). Is it standard among travel agents? Of course not! Is it standard for OTA's (online travel agencies)? Of course not.
Not true. I know a couple who owns 3 major hotels and when I told them the bb.com/expedia/hotels.com partnership was charging us 30% they were appalled. They stated they would never pay that much.
It only makes sense that the commission we have to pay is higher, because bb.com is also getting a cut of the commission instead of the big hotels going directly through the gds system. We pay more because we have a smaller cut of the pie.
 
We use it, but are always evaluating whether or not it is worth it.
B B . c o m will tell you that the 25-30% commission isn't high for several reasons, including that it is standard in the industry and that it doesn't represent true commission, as some will see your listing but book direct (as if you weren't paying for that listing already), so you should amortize the commission across all bookings that came via their site, plus you make a new relationship with a guest who will come back many times (without commission), so it is an investment in future business.
We may not be the best test of success with their program, as we limit how many rooms are available on it, and when they are available. We have not had more than a few bookings through that program each year, and we always cringe at the high commission. Not a single one of these guests has ever returned (with or without commisson on the subsequent visit), so the argument that we're building future business has not held water for us.
Why do we use it? It gets us exposure on Expedia and its partners. However, as best we can determine, we get very few visitors to our website from them - so it really isn't having the desired result.
Is that commission really standard in the industry? What industry? Lodging/hotels (who have dozens, if not hundreds, of rooms)? Why, yes, it is standard in that industry, because that is the GDS rate (more or less). Is it standard among travel agents? Of course not! Is it standard for OTA's (online travel agencies)? Of course not.
Is it worth it to fill rooms which might otherwise be empty? Yes - if you actually do fill those rooms. We've tried several different approaches to making rooms available on that system, from all rooms, to only select rooms; from all the time to only filling weak spots (mid-week, off-season, etc.). The bottom line hasn't changed - we don't get many bookings from that system.
Your mileage may (probably will) vary..
Scott said:
Is that commission really standard in the industry? What industry? Lodging/hotels (who have dozens, if not hundreds, of rooms)? Why, yes, it is standard in that industry, because that is the GDS rate (more or less). Is it standard among travel agents? Of course not! Is it standard for OTA's (online travel agencies)? Of course not.
Not true. I know a couple who owns 3 major hotels and when I told them the bb.com/expedia/hotels.com partnership was charging us 30% they were appalled. They stated they would never pay that much.
It only makes sense that the commission we have to pay is higher, because bb.com is also getting a cut of the commission instead of the big hotels going directly through the gds system. We pay more because we have a smaller cut of the pie.
.
Breakfast Diva said:
Scott said:
Is that commission really standard in the industry? What industry? Lodging/hotels (who have dozens, if not hundreds, of rooms)? Why, yes, it is standard in that industry, because that is the GDS rate (more or less). Is it standard among travel agents? Of course not! Is it standard for OTA's (online travel agencies)? Of course not.
Not true. I know a couple who owns 3 major hotels and when I told them the bb.com/expedia/hotels.com partnership was charging us 30% they were appalled. They stated they would never pay that much.
It only makes sense that the commission we have to pay is higher, because bb.com is also getting a cut of the commission instead of the big hotels going directly through the gds system. We pay more because we have a smaller cut of the pie.
But why must we go though b&b.com to be listed on Expedia when the hotels get on directly with the GDS? Also, as an fyi, the GDS system also takes a cut of the commission just not as steep as b&b.com so everyone has tier commissions. I was on Expedia through a GDS management sys. (about 23-25%) It worked well until b&b.com got their contract and they (Expedia) booted me without informing me.
 
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal..
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal.
Okay, how do you ensure that you don't double book? Are you only using Booking.com for live booking or are your own on-website bookings in real-time? I'm deathly afraid of a double booking. I hate having to cancel someone.
 
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal..
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal.
Okay, how do you ensure that you don't double book? Are you only using Booking.com for live booking or are your own on-website bookings in real-time? I'm deathly afraid of a double booking. I hate having to cancel someone.
.
That is another of the advantages if they book through your own web site using my book now button it automatically updates boo.com (using an abbrev) so not a problem. However we also use Late roo M.s so when we get a booking through either from book, phone etc you have to go and close the other outlets out. We are 12 rooms so i have a bit more to play with but when I get down to say 3 rooms for a date I close everything out except book to prevent double booking. It is just a case of keeping everthing right up to date all the time. We also go to lat and book and print out the next 4 weeks arrivals and double check them on a monday to catch any problem early.
 
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal..
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal.
Okay, how do you ensure that you don't double book? Are you only using Booking.com for live booking or are your own on-website bookings in real-time? I'm deathly afraid of a double booking. I hate having to cancel someone.
.
That is another of the advantages if they book through your own web site using my book now button it automatically updates boo.com (using an abbrev) so not a problem. However we also use Late roo M.s so when we get a booking through either from book, phone etc you have to go and close the other outlets out. We are 12 rooms so i have a bit more to play with but when I get down to say 3 rooms for a date I close everything out except book to prevent double booking. It is just a case of keeping everthing right up to date all the time. We also go to lat and book and print out the next 4 weeks arrivals and double check them on a monday to catch any problem early.
.
We used to use laterooms, but it was to absolutely no avail. It was more work than actual bookings. Not to mention the phone calls from London at odd hours, the accounting problems, the ever changing rates and with all that, not even ONE of the bookings was really a last minute booking
 
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal..
we use the book now button from Bo king . com as if people book through your own web site using it you only pay 2% commission compared to the 15% you pay through the main site and as we use them anyway it saves us one more thing to update. so it is worth shopping around for a better deal.
Okay, how do you ensure that you don't double book? Are you only using Booking.com for live booking or are your own on-website bookings in real-time? I'm deathly afraid of a double booking. I hate having to cancel someone.
.
That is another of the advantages if they book through your own web site using my book now button it automatically updates boo.com (using an abbrev) so not a problem. However we also use Late roo M.s so when we get a booking through either from book, phone etc you have to go and close the other outlets out. We are 12 rooms so i have a bit more to play with but when I get down to say 3 rooms for a date I close everything out except book to prevent double booking. It is just a case of keeping everthing right up to date all the time. We also go to lat and book and print out the next 4 weeks arrivals and double check them on a monday to catch any problem early.
.
...we also use LateRooms.com so when we get a booking through either from book, phone etc you have to go and close the other outlets out. We are 12 rooms so i have a bit more to play with but when I get down to say 3 rooms for a date I close everything out except book to prevent double booking.
A good PMS with a channel manager will save you all that hassle and heartache, camberleyhotelharrogate.
The problem we found with most channel managers is that they are inflexible in the way that they set identical prices for all your various outlets and ridiculously expensive in the rates they charge to us the accommodation providers.
Here in Nelson, New Zealand, business is highly seasonal so we need to maximise our chances of getting bookings on as many websites as possible. However, I'd be run ragged without my trusty Beds24.com synchroniser to update my inventory everywhere as soon as a guest books anywhere - phone, walk-up, our own website, Expedia, Kayak, AsiaRooms or wherever!
At less than 15 US cents per channel managed per month (and ZERO commission), it really is a no-brainer - especially as I can tailor my prices individually to each individual outlet. LateRooms charges a rather steep 15% and their guests tend to be the rich Brits staying a few days, so they get charged top dollar on room prices. With Wotif, I get a lot of Aussies booking at the last second and who go for the cheapest prices - however, Wotif do absorb the credit card charges so they often get the keenest pricing from my Beds24.com synchroniser and some specially tailored room types - I have a "free IceCream" special running with Wotif at the moment...
Two other neat things I like about the Beds24.com calendars and booking engine running on my own website are
1) I can have variable discounts the longer folks stay ( We hate those one night bookings where they arrive late and leave early since we never get the chance to chat and just remember them as dirty laundry)
2) I can give out electronic voucher codes to reward my repeat guests automatically with 15% or whatever and they can pass electronic vouchers to acquaintances to give them a 7% (or whatever you care to set it to) discount to book with me directly.
 
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