this post is probably not going to be very exciting for the people using booking.com only on guest-side, but i need to get it out there - WE HATE BOOKING.COM!
this site is always number one in Google search results when you search for a hotel, and i must say - yes, we do get quite a few bookings via them. but guys, for 12% commission you should be doing a better job, i'm sure you can afford it!
the main issue is - the interface for the hotels looks like it's been designed by the first year Computer Science school drop-out! it is not at all intuitive. the drop-down menu still has months for 2010. if you want to change the price you have to do it day, by day, by day as it is not possible to select a period. the availability is marked by colour and a number of rooms available, and often the colour would be red even though there are rooms available and the other way around. so what is the point of having both?? it is possible to set booking restrictions on the site, but in order to remove them you have to contact the office. also, once we had to cancel a reservation due to wrong credit card details. we selected this option on the web-site and got a message that the site will try contacting the customer for the next 24 hours. 3 days later we still haven't heard anything back, the reservation was still hanging there and only after a reminder sent by mail we got a chance to delete it.
now talking about the São Paulo office, they are terrible. there is no option for changing any text description. you have to send a request which will be considered by the Editorial department! i don't know how many e-mails and calls we had to exchange with them in order to persuade them to change the "Duna do Pôr-do-Sol" text into "the Sunset Dune" in the English description of the hotel! they kept on insisting that the English-speaking users would know what the Duna do Pôr-do-Sol is because they know what the main attractions are, but they would have no idea what the Sunset Dune is!!! during the over-the-phone introduction to the web-site we made a test reservation on the name of the hotel. the commission for this reservation was included in our bill for the first month! when we sent a mail to them, we got a standard reply back saying that it is important to pay the invoices on time in order to avoid penalties.
i could go on and on, but i guess you get the point. on our web-site we use the Reseliva booking engine which is fantastic and cheap. the interface is clean and well-structured and the support is always timely. i wish booking.com learned from them!!!
while i'm at it, a couple of words about the infamous TripAdvisor. in early September we tried to register with them. that took forever - it is not at all easy to find a way to do it on their web-site! after two hours and a lot of clicks, i finally managed to do it. i got a pop-up window saying that in 5 business days we should get an answer. after not hearing anything for one week (and not having received anything at all by mail, not even a confirmation of the application), i set to find a way to find out what the status is. it turned out that there is no way to contact TripAdvisor, and the only thing i could do was to leave a message in their forum. i did that, and received an answer saying that they have a big back-log and during one month we should get a reply. two months later i wrote again to ask what the status is, as i thought it was weird that we still haven't heard anything. i got an answer back saying that there is no way to find out what the status is, and if we haven't got a rejection by now, it means our application is still being processed. it's been being processed for nearly three months now!!!
well, if anyone read until here, i just tell you one thing - people, use booking.com to find a hotel that you like, and then google them and book directly! you will save the hotel the 12% commission and a lot of trouble, and will probably get better service as the owners will be happy not to pay a crazy commission for a terrible service on your booking!
this site is always number one in Google search results when you search for a hotel, and i must say - yes, we do get quite a few bookings via them. but guys, for 12% commission you should be doing a better job, i'm sure you can afford it!
the main issue is - the interface for the hotels looks like it's been designed by the first year Computer Science school drop-out! it is not at all intuitive. the drop-down menu still has months for 2010. if you want to change the price you have to do it day, by day, by day as it is not possible to select a period. the availability is marked by colour and a number of rooms available, and often the colour would be red even though there are rooms available and the other way around. so what is the point of having both?? it is possible to set booking restrictions on the site, but in order to remove them you have to contact the office. also, once we had to cancel a reservation due to wrong credit card details. we selected this option on the web-site and got a message that the site will try contacting the customer for the next 24 hours. 3 days later we still haven't heard anything back, the reservation was still hanging there and only after a reminder sent by mail we got a chance to delete it.
now talking about the São Paulo office, they are terrible. there is no option for changing any text description. you have to send a request which will be considered by the Editorial department! i don't know how many e-mails and calls we had to exchange with them in order to persuade them to change the "Duna do Pôr-do-Sol" text into "the Sunset Dune" in the English description of the hotel! they kept on insisting that the English-speaking users would know what the Duna do Pôr-do-Sol is because they know what the main attractions are, but they would have no idea what the Sunset Dune is!!! during the over-the-phone introduction to the web-site we made a test reservation on the name of the hotel. the commission for this reservation was included in our bill for the first month! when we sent a mail to them, we got a standard reply back saying that it is important to pay the invoices on time in order to avoid penalties.
i could go on and on, but i guess you get the point. on our web-site we use the Reseliva booking engine which is fantastic and cheap. the interface is clean and well-structured and the support is always timely. i wish booking.com learned from them!!!
while i'm at it, a couple of words about the infamous TripAdvisor. in early September we tried to register with them. that took forever - it is not at all easy to find a way to do it on their web-site! after two hours and a lot of clicks, i finally managed to do it. i got a pop-up window saying that in 5 business days we should get an answer. after not hearing anything for one week (and not having received anything at all by mail, not even a confirmation of the application), i set to find a way to find out what the status is. it turned out that there is no way to contact TripAdvisor, and the only thing i could do was to leave a message in their forum. i did that, and received an answer saying that they have a big back-log and during one month we should get a reply. two months later i wrote again to ask what the status is, as i thought it was weird that we still haven't heard anything. i got an answer back saying that there is no way to find out what the status is, and if we haven't got a rejection by now, it means our application is still being processed. it's been being processed for nearly three months now!!!
well, if anyone read until here, i just tell you one thing - people, use booking.com to find a hotel that you like, and then google them and book directly! you will save the hotel the 12% commission and a lot of trouble, and will probably get better service as the owners will be happy not to pay a crazy commission for a terrible service on your booking!
