Pros and Cons of Booking.com

[JBloggs]

IRS question
Do you write off the commission on each room as advertising/marketing at the end of the year?
One of the reasons I wish to get on board with b - com is for that purpose. They seem to throw ads up all over the place (in news feeds and sidebar ads on google, etc)

 

[souslechene]

The pro list and the con list are similar.
Pro - you get top billing in your area on searches
Con - that top billing means the guest goes to booking and you pay them instead of the guest using your website booking engine.
Pro - you get listed with hotels
Con - you get guests who think you're a hotel
Pro - they are professional and they handle guest problems like cancelations
Con - they may tell you that they won't accept your policies on cancelations if they are weather-related and will charge you the commission even if the guest doesn't show up and pay you.
I'm still not sure what happens when you cancel your listing with them.
Con - TripAdvisor will show the guest the booking. com website from your listing on ta, once again taking your guest to a paid booking site.
Pro - their commission is lower than other sites..

Good List! Let me add:
Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.
Pro - my assigned service reps have been great
Con - calling the CS hotline when your rep is at a conformance is a pain, with hit or miss service
.

Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.

They booked through a middleman, so they should cancel the same way. If they do not want, up to them. If they do not come, you charge with credit card, earn money and happy the next day because one room less to clean. I love cancellations.

 

[souslechene]

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there..

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there.

This is all correct. Booking is using ALL legal tools at their disposal to take over your business. You are free to do the same... or not.
Being afraid do not remove the danger.
With Buuteeq (now called "http://suite.booking.com/"), they are proposing a full marketing service. Join, pay commissions and here you go, your business is flying all on its own.
Booking will be guaranteed full data on your business (so they can adjust their cost to the max while keeping you barely alive). They will get hold of 100% of your room availability. They will ensure parity of prices as well. They will get data on their competitors. They will own clients (you quit their offer and loose all clients). Bright move.
Just as TripAdvisor Europe head of hotel relations said a few days ago at a conference, they are not a review website. They are not a travel website. They are a big data company.
It is interesting that, what all you are going through, we have been through 2 years ago with same discussions/questions on French innkeepers forums. Keep talking and learn their tricks.
A colleague going almost all Booking, with 3 rooms in Normandy, was paying 10,000€/year to Booking. I am fighting to keep direct bookings strong and, still, Booking is taking 25% of my bookings (20% of turnover). With most bookings moving slowly (quite fast, actually) to smartphone, we will be left in the dust : users will only use one App : Booking's.
I asked to a SEO company recently whether giving them Booking.com's commission budget would bring same return. They said quite close is possible. If you have not joined Booking, might be an alternative to think of.
I noted that most guests booking through Booking.com arrived on Booking by going direct to Booking, not by searching on Google, then arriving on Booking. It means those guests cannot be found on Google anymore.
You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html

 

[Arks]

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there..

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there.

This is all correct. Booking is using ALL legal tools at their disposal to take over your business. You are free to do the same... or not.
Being afraid do not remove the danger.
With Buuteeq (now called "http://suite.booking.com/"), they are proposing a full marketing service. Join, pay commissions and here you go, your business is flying all on its own.
Booking will be guaranteed full data on your business (so they can adjust their cost to the max while keeping you barely alive). They will get hold of 100% of your room availability. They will ensure parity of prices as well. They will get data on their competitors. They will own clients (you quit their offer and loose all clients). Bright move.
Just as TripAdvisor Europe head of hotel relations said a few days ago at a conference, they are not a review website. They are not a travel website. They are a big data company.
It is interesting that, what all you are going through, we have been through 2 years ago with same discussions/questions on French innkeepers forums. Keep talking and learn their tricks.
A colleague going almost all Booking, with 3 rooms in Normandy, was paying 10,000€/year to Booking. I am fighting to keep direct bookings strong and, still, Booking is taking 25% of my bookings (20% of turnover). With most bookings moving slowly (quite fast, actually) to smartphone, we will be left in the dust : users will only use one App : Booking's.
I asked to a SEO company recently whether giving them Booking.com's commission budget would bring same return. They said quite close is possible. If you have not joined Booking, might be an alternative to think of.
I noted that most guests booking through Booking.com arrived on Booking by going direct to Booking, not by searching on Google, then arriving on Booking. It means those guests cannot be found on Google anymore.
You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html
.

You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html

"...a community of thousands of hotel professionals and consumers who strive together to re-inject a bit of human contact into the industry."
I like that, though I work hard to push all my guests to use my online booking page!
A group of 8 of us are headed to Cahors, France in May and it was way too complicated to handle that many bookings online, especially since one of our couples decided to arrive there a day earlier than the rest of us.
So I have really enjoyed the back and forth e-mails with real people at the hotel in Cahors. I toy with a little of my high school French and they kindly reply in beautiful English.
Especially in such a long distance communication, that human contact is great!
BTW, here is what we are going to rent once we get there: 48 feet long, 5 cabins, 3 bathrooms, and all our own (no crew or staff on board) for 7 nights of wine and conversation. What fun!

 

[Stu]

IF they send you bookings, you get money. If they don't send you bookings, will you be able to fill that room?
We got over 50% of our reservations through them last year. A commission is worth it if it is compared to zero.
And if you manage your guests right, next time, they will book direct. .

Over here in Spain we get lots of visitors from other european countries Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, UK you name it, I think in our first year we had a guest from nearly every country in the world (give or take). Another pro to boo.ing there website translates into every language (i think), and if you get any problems with communication with guests we just ring them directly and translate through them.
75% of bookings through them in our first year. I sure would like it to be closer to 50% this year.

 

[happykeeper]

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there..

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there.

This is all correct. Booking is using ALL legal tools at their disposal to take over your business. You are free to do the same... or not.
Being afraid do not remove the danger.
With Buuteeq (now called "http://suite.booking.com/"), they are proposing a full marketing service. Join, pay commissions and here you go, your business is flying all on its own.
Booking will be guaranteed full data on your business (so they can adjust their cost to the max while keeping you barely alive). They will get hold of 100% of your room availability. They will ensure parity of prices as well. They will get data on their competitors. They will own clients (you quit their offer and loose all clients). Bright move.
Just as TripAdvisor Europe head of hotel relations said a few days ago at a conference, they are not a review website. They are not a travel website. They are a big data company.
It is interesting that, what all you are going through, we have been through 2 years ago with same discussions/questions on French innkeepers forums. Keep talking and learn their tricks.
A colleague going almost all Booking, with 3 rooms in Normandy, was paying 10,000€/year to Booking. I am fighting to keep direct bookings strong and, still, Booking is taking 25% of my bookings (20% of turnover). With most bookings moving slowly (quite fast, actually) to smartphone, we will be left in the dust : users will only use one App : Booking's.
I asked to a SEO company recently whether giving them Booking.com's commission budget would bring same return. They said quite close is possible. If you have not joined Booking, might be an alternative to think of.
I noted that most guests booking through Booking.com arrived on Booking by going direct to Booking, not by searching on Google, then arriving on Booking. It means those guests cannot be found on Google anymore.
You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html
.

You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html

"...a community of thousands of hotel professionals and consumers who strive together to re-inject a bit of human contact into the industry."
I like that, though I work hard to push all my guests to use my online booking page!
A group of 8 of us are headed to Cahors, France in May and it was way too complicated to handle that many bookings online, especially since one of our couples decided to arrive there a day earlier than the rest of us.
So I have really enjoyed the back and forth e-mails with real people at the hotel in Cahors. I toy with a little of my high school French and they kindly reply in beautiful English.
Especially in such a long distance communication, that human contact is great!
BTW, here is what we are going to rent once we get there: 48 feet long, 5 cabins, 3 bathrooms, and all our own (no crew or staff on board) for 7 nights of wine and conversation. What fun!

.

Have wanted to do that for a long time. We have been with friends but this wasn't an option that time. Maybe next time. So report back on your experience with the company, boat, and waterway experience.

 

[Copperhead]

IRS question
Do you write off the commission on each room as advertising/marketing at the end of the year?
One of the reasons I wish to get on board with b - com is for that purpose. They seem to throw ads up all over the place (in news feeds and sidebar ads on google, etc).

IRS question
Do you write off the commission on each room as advertising/marketing at the end of the year?
One of the reasons I wish to get on board with b - com is for that purpose. They seem to throw ads up all over the place (in news feeds and sidebar ads on google, etc)

Yes you can use it as a deduction.

 

[souslechene]

IF they send you bookings, you get money. If they don't send you bookings, will you be able to fill that room?
We got over 50% of our reservations through them last year. A commission is worth it if it is compared to zero.
And if you manage your guests right, next time, they will book direct. .

Over here in Spain we get lots of visitors from other european countries Belgium, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, UK you name it, I think in our first year we had a guest from nearly every country in the world (give or take). Another pro to boo.ing there website translates into every language (i think), and if you get any problems with communication with guests we just ring them directly and translate through them.
75% of bookings through them in our first year. I sure would like it to be closer to 50% this year.
.

if you get any problems with communication with guests we just ring them directly and translate through them

They have fabulous service for owners and bookers. And best in class website, both public and extranet.

 

[Evan]

The pro list and the con list are similar.
Pro - you get top billing in your area on searches
Con - that top billing means the guest goes to booking and you pay them instead of the guest using your website booking engine.
Pro - you get listed with hotels
Con - you get guests who think you're a hotel
Pro - they are professional and they handle guest problems like cancelations
Con - they may tell you that they won't accept your policies on cancelations if they are weather-related and will charge you the commission even if the guest doesn't show up and pay you.
I'm still not sure what happens when you cancel your listing with them.
Con - TripAdvisor will show the guest the booking. com website from your listing on ta, once again taking your guest to a paid booking site.
Pro - their commission is lower than other sites..

Good List! Let me add:
Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.
Pro - my assigned service reps have been great
Con - calling the CS hotline when your rep is at a conformance is a pain, with hit or miss service
.

Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.

They booked through a middleman, so they should cancel the same way. If they do not want, up to them. If they do not come, you charge with credit card, earn money and happy the next day because one room less to clean. I love cancellations.
.

I wish, they book on booking.com then phone you direct to cancel
I tell them they need to cancel direct or they they will be charged, but i still shoot off an email to customer services with their booking reference, they always get it sorted out within a few hours.
Dont phone booking.com.

 

[Generic]

The pro list and the con list are similar.
Pro - you get top billing in your area on searches
Con - that top billing means the guest goes to booking and you pay them instead of the guest using your website booking engine.
Pro - you get listed with hotels
Con - you get guests who think you're a hotel
Pro - they are professional and they handle guest problems like cancelations
Con - they may tell you that they won't accept your policies on cancelations if they are weather-related and will charge you the commission even if the guest doesn't show up and pay you.
I'm still not sure what happens when you cancel your listing with them.
Con - TripAdvisor will show the guest the booking. com website from your listing on ta, once again taking your guest to a paid booking site.
Pro - their commission is lower than other sites..

Good List! Let me add:
Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.
Pro - my assigned service reps have been great
Con - calling the CS hotline when your rep is at a conformance is a pain, with hit or miss service
.

Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.

They booked through a middleman, so they should cancel the same way. If they do not want, up to them. If they do not come, you charge with credit card, earn money and happy the next day because one room less to clean. I love cancellations.
.

I wish, they book on booking.com then phone you direct to cancel
I tell them they need to cancel direct or they they will be charged, but i still shoot off an email to customer services with their booking reference, they always get it sorted out within a few hours.
Dont phone booking.com.
.

I explain that I don't "own" the reservation and that I can't cancel it either. They need to talk to who they booked with to cancel. My software won't even allow me to cancel it, because I don't own "control" that reservation.

 

[Joey Camb]

The pro list and the con list are similar.
Pro - you get top billing in your area on searches
Con - that top billing means the guest goes to booking and you pay them instead of the guest using your website booking engine.
Pro - you get listed with hotels
Con - you get guests who think you're a hotel
Pro - they are professional and they handle guest problems like cancelations
Con - they may tell you that they won't accept your policies on cancelations if they are weather-related and will charge you the commission even if the guest doesn't show up and pay you.
I'm still not sure what happens when you cancel your listing with them.
Con - TripAdvisor will show the guest the booking. com website from your listing on ta, once again taking your guest to a paid booking site.
Pro - their commission is lower than other sites..

Good List! Let me add:
Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.
Pro - my assigned service reps have been great
Con - calling the CS hotline when your rep is at a conformance is a pain, with hit or miss service
.

Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.

They booked through a middleman, so they should cancel the same way. If they do not want, up to them. If they do not come, you charge with credit card, earn money and happy the next day because one room less to clean. I love cancellations.
.

I wish, they book on booking.com then phone you direct to cancel
I tell them they need to cancel direct or they they will be charged, but i still shoot off an email to customer services with their booking reference, they always get it sorted out within a few hours.
Dont phone booking.com.
.

ive phoned booking.com before in this situation - most people get it they have to cancel the way they booked once you tell them - but some people can't cope - just ring booking.com and tell them to sort it out with them as they have lost their - booking ref, email, eye sight etc

 

[Morticia]

The pro list and the con list are similar.
Pro - you get top billing in your area on searches
Con - that top billing means the guest goes to booking and you pay them instead of the guest using your website booking engine.
Pro - you get listed with hotels
Con - you get guests who think you're a hotel
Pro - they are professional and they handle guest problems like cancelations
Con - they may tell you that they won't accept your policies on cancelations if they are weather-related and will charge you the commission even if the guest doesn't show up and pay you.
I'm still not sure what happens when you cancel your listing with them.
Con - TripAdvisor will show the guest the booking. com website from your listing on ta, once again taking your guest to a paid booking site.
Pro - their commission is lower than other sites..

Good List! Let me add:
Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.
Pro - my assigned service reps have been great
Con - calling the CS hotline when your rep is at a conformance is a pain, with hit or miss service
.

Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.

They booked through a middleman, so they should cancel the same way. If they do not want, up to them. If they do not come, you charge with credit card, earn money and happy the next day because one room less to clean. I love cancellations.
.

I wish, they book on booking.com then phone you direct to cancel
I tell them they need to cancel direct or they they will be charged, but i still shoot off an email to customer services with their booking reference, they always get it sorted out within a few hours.
Dont phone booking.com.
.

ive phoned booking.com before in this situation - most people get it they have to cancel the way they booked once you tell them - but some people can't cope - just ring booking.com and tell them to sort it out with them as they have lost their - booking ref, email, eye sight etc
.

Most of mine tell me they don't know the phone number to call. They did lose the email! They also *know* they have to pay the cancellation fee if the call the big company. But me, the little guy, won't charge them if they give me a sob story.

 

[Skamokawa]

The pro list and the con list are similar.
Pro - you get top billing in your area on searches
Con - that top billing means the guest goes to booking and you pay them instead of the guest using your website booking engine.
Pro - you get listed with hotels
Con - you get guests who think you're a hotel
Pro - they are professional and they handle guest problems like cancelations
Con - they may tell you that they won't accept your policies on cancelations if they are weather-related and will charge you the commission even if the guest doesn't show up and pay you.
I'm still not sure what happens when you cancel your listing with them.
Con - TripAdvisor will show the guest the booking. com website from your listing on ta, once again taking your guest to a paid booking site.
Pro - their commission is lower than other sites..

Good List! Let me add:
Con - guest may call you to cancel, but not listen when you tell them they must cancel trough b.com. Then YOU must tackle the beast to get them to cancel the rez so you aren't paying commission.
Pro - my assigned service reps have been great
Con - calling the CS hotline when your rep is at a conformance is a pain, with hit or miss service
.

I can't add to the list, but as a result of this thread, I did a local search as one of the area B&Bs does list with them. Still not anywhere near the top for searches in this area. This is a very small population, out-of-the-way area. I can see listing with Bking in the future, especially for mid-week, but for now, not. More and more local vac rentals are turning up on the Air site. As my neighboring B&Bs have now joined up, I will too. As an aside, I'd say about half the local vac rentals are probably paying local lodging tax. (local knowledge)
I'm expecting a month-stay guest in the vacation rental to arrive today. Booked through the Air site.

 

[JBloggs]

I have the most sidetracking comment ever Skamokawa. I clicked your link and then said "where are the twins?" I don't see them, and I waited patiently for your header slider images to play out. I don't see them anywhere, and because of the name I wanted to see them. Just an fyi, call me fruit loops if you want to.

 

[EmptyNest]

I have the most sidetracking comment ever Skamokawa. I clicked your link and then said "where are the twins?" I don't see them, and I waited patiently for your header slider images to play out. I don't see them anywhere, and because of the name I wanted to see them. Just an fyi, call me fruit loops if you want to.

.

She didn't have any good photos that showed the twins :-( Get that camera out and take some pics that will work.
Take a look NOW...she did have a winter shot that shows them ...I remembered it and just put it in.

 

[Arks]

I have the most sidetracking comment ever Skamokawa. I clicked your link and then said "where are the twins?" I don't see them, and I waited patiently for your header slider images to play out. I don't see them anywhere, and because of the name I wanted to see them. Just an fyi, call me fruit loops if you want to.

.

She didn't have any good photos that showed the twins :-( Get that camera out and take some pics that will work.
Take a look NOW...she did have a winter shot that shows them ...I remembered it and just put it in.
.

Take a look NOW...she did have a winter shot that shows them ...I remembered it and just put it in.

Yep, good one!

 

[Skamokawa]

I have the most sidetracking comment ever Skamokawa. I clicked your link and then said "where are the twins?" I don't see them, and I waited patiently for your header slider images to play out. I don't see them anywhere, and because of the name I wanted to see them. Just an fyi, call me fruit loops if you want to.

.

If the winter photo is still up you can see them, if not, well, not, because it's too difficult to get a good shot from the street or highway. Sorry to hear you have to wait patiently for sliders that's not good!
Our chamber even sent a photographer last fall to anyone who wanted some photos of their biz, since the opportunity was gratis, I said 'come on down', but when I got the images, well, mine are better.
Just really difficult to get a good 'from the street/parking area' shot of the house.
oops, replied before I read 'nest's <blush>
The winter shot was taken and shared on the forum m a n y years ago. It was a difficult one also, had to photoshop out a huge green pipe piling that was in the foreground. That took hours. I no longer have those kind of hours all at one time!

 

[Arks]

I have the most sidetracking comment ever Skamokawa. I clicked your link and then said "where are the twins?" I don't see them, and I waited patiently for your header slider images to play out. I don't see them anywhere, and because of the name I wanted to see them. Just an fyi, call me fruit loops if you want to.

.

If the winter photo is still up you can see them, if not, well, not, because it's too difficult to get a good shot from the street or highway. Sorry to hear you have to wait patiently for sliders that's not good!
Our chamber even sent a photographer last fall to anyone who wanted some photos of their biz, since the opportunity was gratis, I said 'come on down', but when I got the images, well, mine are better.
Just really difficult to get a good 'from the street/parking area' shot of the house.
oops, replied before I read 'nest's <blush>
The winter shot was taken and shared on the forum m a n y years ago. It was a difficult one also, had to photoshop out a huge green pipe piling that was in the foreground. That took hours. I no longer have those kind of hours all at one time!
.

...had to photoshop out a huge green pipe piling that was in the foreground. That took hours. I no longer have those kind of hours all at one time!

I spent time studying and can't find where you photoshopped, so good job! But hours? OK, whatever it takes. It's important!
You sure have a lot of roof ventilators. They'd be easy to photoshop and I don't think anybody would fault you. Took me about 4 minutes...

 

[user 26]

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there..

Listened to a webinar this AM that mentioned that OTA's are only going to become bigger and more aggressive in 2015.
Aggressive in:

• Advertising in all media
• Advertising by purchasing PPC ads on your Business Name and major keywords
• Priceline (owners of Booking.com) just purchased Buuteeq and OpenTable - may see more

The speaker stated we as independents must learn how to play their game without getting burnt. Must work hard to find ways to keep your brand out there.

This is all correct. Booking is using ALL legal tools at their disposal to take over your business. You are free to do the same... or not.
Being afraid do not remove the danger.
With Buuteeq (now called "http://suite.booking.com/"), they are proposing a full marketing service. Join, pay commissions and here you go, your business is flying all on its own.
Booking will be guaranteed full data on your business (so they can adjust their cost to the max while keeping you barely alive). They will get hold of 100% of your room availability. They will ensure parity of prices as well. They will get data on their competitors. They will own clients (you quit their offer and loose all clients). Bright move.
Just as TripAdvisor Europe head of hotel relations said a few days ago at a conference, they are not a review website. They are not a travel website. They are a big data company.
It is interesting that, what all you are going through, we have been through 2 years ago with same discussions/questions on French innkeepers forums. Keep talking and learn their tricks.
A colleague going almost all Booking, with 3 rooms in Normandy, was paying 10,000€/year to Booking. I am fighting to keep direct bookings strong and, still, Booking is taking 25% of my bookings (20% of turnover). With most bookings moving slowly (quite fast, actually) to smartphone, we will be left in the dust : users will only use one App : Booking's.
I asked to a SEO company recently whether giving them Booking.com's commission budget would bring same return. They said quite close is possible. If you have not joined Booking, might be an alternative to think of.
I noted that most guests booking through Booking.com arrived on Booking by going direct to Booking, not by searching on Google, then arriving on Booking. It means those guests cannot be found on Google anymore.
You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html
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You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html

"...a community of thousands of hotel professionals and consumers who strive together to re-inject a bit of human contact into the industry."
I like that, though I work hard to push all my guests to use my online booking page!
A group of 8 of us are headed to Cahors, France in May and it was way too complicated to handle that many bookings online, especially since one of our couples decided to arrive there a day earlier than the rest of us.
So I have really enjoyed the back and forth e-mails with real people at the hotel in Cahors. I toy with a little of my high school French and they kindly reply in beautiful English.
Especially in such a long distance communication, that human contact is great!
BTW, here is what we are going to rent once we get there: 48 feet long, 5 cabins, 3 bathrooms, and all our own (no crew or staff on board) for 7 nights of wine and conversation. What fun!

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You might be interested in looking what a group of hotels is doing here to fight Booking: http://www.fairbooking.com/en/qui-sommes-nous.html

"...a community of thousands of hotel professionals and consumers who strive together to re-inject a bit of human contact into the industry."
I like that, though I work hard to push all my guests to use my online booking page!
A group of 8 of us are headed to Cahors, France in May and it was way too complicated to handle that many bookings online, especially since one of our couples decided to arrive there a day earlier than the rest of us.
So I have really enjoyed the back and forth e-mails with real people at the hotel in Cahors. I toy with a little of my high school French and they kindly reply in beautiful English.
Especially in such a long distance communication, that human contact is great!
BTW, here is what we are going to rent once we get there: 48 feet long, 5 cabins, 3 bathrooms, and all our own (no crew or staff on board) for 7 nights of wine and conversation. What fun!

oh my! i am soooo jealous! have fun. no crew? who's going to play captain?

 

[Arks]

Not to worry. I'm sure the women will run things.