Booking – Everything About Home and Hotel Rentals

What is Booking? How Was It Established?

Established in Amsterdam in 1996, Booking emerged from founder Geert-Jan Bruinsma’s insight into the potential of online hotel reservations.

The platform is a leading intermediary service, facilitating online reservations for various accommodations, including apartments, hotels, and other lodging options. Booking has become an integral component of travel planning. When reserving accommodations, be it a hotel room, a rental apartment, or any other lodging type, Booking stands out as a top-of-mind choice for travelers worldwide.

Simply put, Booking is a mediator between hotels, apartment owners, and those looking to book accommodations. On its website, you will find various rental options, including houses, hotels, and more, allowing everyone to choose the best fit for their needs based on desired amenities and the cost of stay.

Here are a few reasons why using Booking for your travel reservations is a convenient option:

1. It includes the most significant number of accommodation options among short-term rental platforms.
2. The website interface is easy to understand.
3. Booking.com offers 24/7 customer service.

Booking: Key Statistics

As of 2023, Booking.com offers 1.9 million listings, approximately 831,000 of which are short-term rentals covering hotels, guesthouses, and other accommodation facilities. While Booking.com lists entire homes, Airbnb additionally lists shared and private rooms. As of 2023, Airbnb has a total of 3 million listings, roughly 50% of which are entire homes, offering approximately 1.8 times more short-term home rental opportunities in comparison.

On Booking, an average of 5 million rentals are made daily. In 2022, there were 650 million bookings (according to Google Bard information). Compared to Airbnb’s 58 million booked nights in 2022, Booking had ten times more rentals. Calculations indicate that the number of booked nights in 2023 exceeds 1.2 billion.

Airbnb and Booking.com are the two largest short-term accommodation platforms in the world. Each platform has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. While Airbnb offers more options, Booking.com provides more reliability. Ultimately, choosing the two platforms depends on your preferences and needs.

How to Make a Reservation as a Guest with Booking

When making a reservation on Booking, choosing a hotel or an apartment requires attention to specific details:

Price: Naturally, the lower the price, the better for you.

Guest Reviews: The closer the score is to 10 on a scale 10, the better.

Location of the Accommodation: Depending on the purpose of your trip, you might need a different location.

For instance, if your goal is to explore the city, choosing accommodation in the city center is better to avoid the need for taxis or public transport. However, if you’re staying in the town for just one night and plan to use a car or public transport, staying in the city center might not make sense.

How to Select the Best Accommodation by Evaluating Booking Reviews

To do this on Booking, analyze your preferred hotels or apartments based on various parameters: ratings and reviews from other users (paying special attention to disadvantages mentioned in reviews), room category, and accommodation location.

Sometimes, several accommodation units might have identical rating scores. In such cases, the more reviews, the better. A score based on 271 reviews is likely more reliable than one based on 54 reviews. If you’ve opted for a hotel during your stay, check out the photos of the rooms right away – you’ll likely either love it or not care for it at all.

Before completing a reservation for suitable accommodation on Booking.com, make sure to read the rental details. Look into what is included in the price and what is not, and pay special attention to reservation conditions and amenities that might be available for an additional fee.

How to Make a Reservation on Booking Using the Map Feature

If you wish to book a hotel in a specific city area, you can navigate it using a map search. You’ll need to open a map displaying all accommodation options and hover your cursor over the choices in the area you’re interested in. This will allow you to see the accommodation’s name, rating, and the cost of stay. This feature is convenient if you decide to stay within the city and want to find a place to stay in a particular location.

Completing Your Booking for the Selected Hotel or Apartment

You must fill in the required fields with accurate information when making a reservation. Ensure that your details are entered exactly as they appear in Latin script on your passport. Also, do not forget to provide your email address.

After inputting your personal information, enter your address and card details (Visa or MasterCard). It is mandatory to have a card number in embossed lettering; otherwise, Booking.com will not permit you to complete the reservation.

Providing card details serves as a kind of guarantee for Booking.com – in case of cancellation of a non-refundable rental, a penalty will be charged to your card. Before finalizing your reservation, we recommend reading all information about penalties at the accommodation facility.

Booking.com is a reliable and secure website; there is no need to worry about entering your card information here. However, you may use a separate card exclusively for online purchases for additional security. Upon completing your reservation, you will receive a confirmation email containing your booking number and pin code. Keeping this email safe is advisable, as you will be asked for these details if you need to contact customer support for any reason.

Entering Your Credit Card Information on Booking.com

Many users express concern about entering their card details, especially the CVV code when making a rental reservation through Booking. However, this procedure is no different from other online transactions that require entering your CVV code. If you encounter any suspicious transactions, contact your bank immediately for assistance. Another way to protect yourself is to select the “Pay Now” option at the final stage of booking – this way, the system processes your payment immediately. It transfers it to the hotel without requiring your card details.

If you prefer not to enter your card information while making a reservation, use the “Book without a credit card” filter on the left side of the search page. This search filter is perfect for those who wish to make a rental reservation with Booking without using a credit card or making a pre-payment.

Booking Customer Service: How to Resolve Issues If you have any questions about your accommodation reservation, communicate directly with the property owner through Booking messages. Should you experience issues with the property owner, or if the listed accommodation does not match the description provided, do not hesitate to contact Booking’s help center (Customer Service Help). Keep in mind that Booking.com’s contact number varies depending on the country you are in.

If there isn’t a Booking.com office in your country, you can use the contact number of a neighboring country or the phone number of Booking.com’s main office in Amsterdam, Netherlands, to file a complaint or resolve issues.

It’s better to call technical support for immediate resolution of urgent issues (the phone number is displayed in every reservation confirmation). If the problem is not urgent, you can communicate with technical support via email. Additionally, you can attach photos, receipts, and proofs of any additional expenses incurred due to a problem. This can expedite the resolution process and help the Booking.com team understand the situation better.

After Your Stay: Leave a Rating

Don’t forget to give a rating and write a review about your accommodation experience after your stay – this assists other travelers in making the right choice. Ratings from fellow users serve as a reliable criterion when selecting from various rental options, as all reviews on the platform are trustworthy.

What are the Differences Between Booking and Airbnb?

Airbnb defines itself as a community-focused platform, enabling hosts and travelers to connect while also establishing relationships between hosts and guests. It considers both the hosts (including their homes) and the guests. If the host or guest chooses not to proceed, they can decide not to continue the rental process (assuming instant booking is disabled).

Booking is a reservation service. There is no interaction between guests and hosts before the reservation. There are no review comments for hosts; only review comments made for the listed properties are available.

Airbnb supports Instant Booking to compete with Booking.

How do you rent out your home as a host with Booking Turkey?

1. Register as a Host: Begin by signing up on Booking’s platform as a host.
2. Create Your Listing and Await Verification: Enter the details of your property, upload high-quality photos, and provide a clear and attractive description. After submission, wait for Booking to verify your listing.
3. Establish Your Reservation Policy: Define your reservation and cancellation policies. Be sure to set clear rules and expectations for your guests.
4. Select and Align a Payment Method with Your Policy: Choose a payment method that suits your preferences. Make sure it aligns with your reservation policy.
5. Set Your Pricing: Decide on a competitive yet fair price for your property, considering location, amenities, and the time of year.
6. Create an Account with an Alternative Payment Method (if necessary): If you prefer to charge guests before their arrival or do not want to accept cash, set up an account with an alternative payment method.

Although a few more steps are involved, the process is not complex or excessively time-consuming.

For instructions on how to set up your Booking account to mimic Airbnb’s features, continue reading our blog.

Booking Only Allows Instant Reservations

On Booking, there is no option for reservation inquiries; all rentals are processed instantly. Continue reading below for details on how to avoid double bookings and how to manage your instant reservations.

Booking Does Not Charge Guests a Commission

Booking.com does not charge your guests a fee. You need to collect payment directly from your guests. If you wish to make a prepayment or view a guest’s payment method, you will need access to the guest’s credit card details or be able to make a bank transfer. To set this up, you need to:

Only reservations are accepted from guests who provide credit card information.

How Do I Accept Reservations Only from Guests with Confirmed Credit Card Information?

To enable Booking.com to collect your guest’s credit card information on your behalf, apply the following settings (as shown in the image below).

You can find these settings at the following address:

Booking Payment Options Property > Conditions > Guest Payment Options Ensure guests cannot make reservations without providing credit card information. Otherwise, if your guests choose to pay in cash and then cancel their reservations, you won’t be able to request any transaction through Booking.com for this.

Booking Does Not Automatically Charge Commission for Every Reservation

Since Booking does not charge its guests, there is no way for you to deduct their commission fees directly. Booking.com bills you monthly for the commission amount you owe to them. This amount is taken directly from your account through automatic payment.

Booking.com will not charge you any commission if you have used the platform for 30 days or less or received less than five reservations in the last 12 months.

Note: If there is not enough money in your account to pay the commission, your listing will be blocked on the site.

Guest Addresses and Phone Numbers Are Not Automatically Provided

Some details, like guest addresses and phone numbers, are not automatically provided. The guest address can be helpful to for charging the credit card and for contact purposes. The Guest Information settings are shown in the image.

What Are Common Concerns and How Can You Avoid Them?

How to Avoid Double Bookings?

As mentioned above, all reservations on Booking are instantly confirmed. There are no inquiries, and you cannot cancel after a guest has made a reservation. Therefore, you must carefully set your account’s correct pricing and availability dates.

If you have not set the correct pricing or availability dates, you may end up with double bookings. In this case, you are responsible for providing the guests with additional accommodation options and alternatives. You are required to relocate your guest to a place on Booking at the same price (or higher). In addition, you also need to cover the price difference and transportation costs between the old and new accommodations.

The best way to ensure correct pricing and availability on Booking.com is to receive professional services from a professional property management service like Missafir. Missafir is a service platform aiming to provide homeowners with high earnings in short/medium-term rentals through data-driven dynamic pricing.

The Misconception That Booking Takes a Higher Commission, Leading to Lower Earnings

A common misconception regarding Booking’s commission is that you would earn less from a reservation with the same number of guests as a property owner. However, this is not the case, and it arises from the different commission structures on each platform.

Booking.com charges a commission (around ~15%) on the price you set, while Airbnb takes its commission from both the host (~3%) and the guest (between 6–12%).

Airbnb and Booking.com Commission Structure How can we guarantee that you will always earn the same amount, no matter where the reservation is made?

Booking Commission With a few simple calculations, you can ensure that you consistently earn the same amount, no matter which site the reservation is made on.

1. Determine the amount you want to earn – let’s call this the ‘Take Home’ rate. (e.g., $150 per night)
2. Evaluate the commission for each reservation site to set the fee. Here is the calculation: Listing Price on Reservation Site = Take Home Rate ÷ (1 – Decimal Commission Fee)

Booking Fee: Set the Take Home rate you want to earn at $150.

This can be very time-consuming, especially if you have multiple properties. Luckily, a property management system like Guesty can professionally manage everything for you.

Guesty’s Smart Rates feature automatically considers the commission charged to you as a host; the rates you enter in Guesty are those you earn (excluding taxes).

Best tip: Some hosts may want to consider the credit card transaction fee when calculating the rate for Booking. You can add this fee to the additional charges settings mentioned above.

Best tip: Some hosts might want to incorporate the credit card transaction fee into their pricing. You can add this fee while optimizing the “Additional Fees” section.

Reservations Canceled Without Prior Notice for Free

When searching for accommodation, you can ensure that you can proceed with the transaction with the information “FREE cancellation No prepayment needed,” as shown in the image below.

Airbnb Cancellation Policies While Using Booking

Before delving into Booking’s cancellation policies, let’s remind ourselves of Airbnb’s cancellation policies: Flexible, Moderate, and Strict. We can use these as a reference (from a guest’s perspective).

Flexible

• Full refund if canceled at least 24 hours before check-in.
• If canceled less than 24 hours before check-in, a refund of all nights except the first night.
• If canceled during the stay, a full refund will be issued for unused nights.

Moderate

• A full refund will be issued if canceled five days before check-in.
• 50% refund of the first night if canceled less than five days before check-in.
• 50% refund for nights not used if canceled during the stay.

Strict

• 50% refund if canceled seven days before check-in.
• No refund if canceled less than seven days before check-in.
• No refund if canceled during the stay.

To imitate these Booking policies, you must set up your cancellation policies accordingly. Here’s how you can do that:

Flexible

• Set your cancellation policy to “Free Cancellation” and allow cancellations until 24 hours before check-in.
• Ensure guests are refunded the total amount except the first night if they cancel within 24 hours of check-in.
• Allow full refunds for nights not used if a guest decides to leave early.

Moderate

• Choose or create a cancellation policy that allows free cancellation up to 5 days before check-in.
• Set up a partial refund of 50% of the first night for cancellations made less than 5 days before check-in.
• Allow a 50% refund for nights not used if a guest decides to leave early.

Strict

• Choose or create a cancellation policy that allows a 50% refund up to 7 days before check-in.
• Ensure no refunds for cancellations made less than 7 days before check-in.
• Do not offer refunds for nights not used if a guest decides to leave early.

Remember, it’s essential to communicate your cancellation policy to guests to avoid any misunderstandings. Ensure that your policy details are visible on your Booking listing and in any pre-booking communication with potential guests.

Creating a Cancellation Policy for Booking

Unlike Airbnb, which offers a set of preset policy options, on Booking.com, you need to create your cancellation policies. You can set these policies to be identical to Airbnb’s options (or even stricter, if you prefer).

We have replicated Airbnb’s Strict cancellation policy on Booking.com in the image below.

As mentioned above, you can even create stricter cancellation policies, such as a non-refundable policy. You might offer discounts on your prices (for example, 10%) to encourage guests to book under a non-refundable policy.

Important: Link Your Cancellation Policy to Your Pricing Category

A crucial point is that you must link your cancellation policy to your pricing category. This optimization is done automatically on Airbnb.

To link your cancellation policy to your pricing category, replicate the Booking setting in the image below.

Doing this ensures that guests know the cancellation policy tied to the specific rate they are booking, which can help avoid misunderstandings and disputes later on. Ensure all details are clearly communicated and easily visible to guests during the booking process.

What Should I Do if Guests Use a Fake Credit Card?

Dealing with guests who use fake credit cards isn’t a significant issue, as there are ways to handle this situation. You need to determine whether this is done maliciously or in a somewhat more innocent manner (perhaps to avoid cancellation fees if the guest needs to cancel).

Solution 1: Requesting an Advance Payment / Deposit The best way to protect yourself is to take a deposit or request an advance payment from the guest. This will deter any fraudulent bookings or fake guests.

We recommend adding “additional information” to your listing description (as shown in the image below) to notify guests that you will collect an advance payment.

Solution 2: Verify Credit Card Details If you prefer not to receive payments from the guest, you can use a short-term rental payment processor to confirm that the credit card details are authentic.

Prices Listed on Booking.com Do Not Match What I Set

This is something we regularly encounter.

Potential Reason: Multiple Pricing

With Booking, you have the option to have multiple price categories. Knowing which one is active, when, and under what terms and policies can be unclear. It would be beneficial to review your rate categories and policies.

We believe that Booking settings should be simple and easy to understand. A standard rate should be used to determine your pricing on the Booking.com platform. Then, you can automatically layer these prices (increase or decrease based on the current pricing category)! This way, you can know exactly how much each property should be rented.

Booking.com Non-Refundable Reservation Pricing

Compared to the standard rate, do not hesitate to offer a 5% discount if the guest makes a non-refundable reservation. Assuming the standard base rate is $100, if you define a $5 discount, receiving a request for $95 shouldn’t be surprising because people tend to gravitate toward hosts who help them out.

Management of Your Properties with Professionalism by Missafir

We have great news if you don’t have enough time to apply these steps! You are at the right place to receive these services from a professional team.

Problems of homeowners who want to achieve high income with short or medium-term house rentals:

1. Creating their listings only on one or a few platforms due to time/effort constraints.
2. Making amateurish listings and photo shoots.
3. Setting the pricing statically without data and market analysis.
4. I am not having enough time to communicate with potential guests constantly.
5. Not always being available for the guest’s check-in time requests.
6. I do not have time to clean, wash/change linens after the stay.

Solutions offered by Missafir to homeowners who want to achieve high income with short or medium-term house rentals:

Profile & Listing Management: We manage profiles and listings on the most popular platforms (such as Missafir Homes, Airbnb, Booking, Homeaway, Agoda, Tripadvisor, Expedia, and more than 50 others).

Professional Photography: We take professional photographs of your home.

Guest Relations: We provide 24/7 communication support for the peace and comfort of our guests.

Price Optimization: We perform market analyses with our expert team to maximize your earnings.

Interior Design: We provide expert decoration suggestions for your home.

Cleaning and Linen Change: We bring your home to the comfort of a 5-star hotel.

Maintenance & Repair: We resolve problems quickly.

24-Hour Check-In: We offer check-in services at any time of the day, according to the wishes of our guests.

Missafir has only one condition for all these services: Your home needs to be available for at least eight weeks per year. After that, you can also use your home throughout the year. The whole process operates according to your request. Missafir only manages!

You can find out how much income you can earn from your home by filling out the form on our rent out your property page!

Frequently Asked Questions About Booking.com

What is Booking.com used for?

It is an online hotel reservation website. It is used to book hotels, hostels, and guesthouses listed on the site.

Who owns Booking.com?

It was founded by Geert-Jan Bruinsma in Amsterdam in 1996. He started the service after realizing that hotel reservations could be made online.

How can I cancel a reservation on Booking.com?

Depending on the terms and conditions, guests can cancel their reservations using a link in their email or through their Booking.com account.

How do I leave a review on Booking.com?

After completing your reservation, click on your reservation link. Then click on the review option below to complete the process.

Does Booking.com have an office in Istanbul?

Booking.com’s main office is located in Amsterdam. The company works with supporting firms in other countries. You can visit this page for more detailed information.

What is Booking.com?

Booking.com is an online accommodation service that brings a wide range of lodging options worldwide to users’ screens.

Is Booking.com reliable?

As a globally operating company, Booking.com is reliable. However, it’s important to note that the company does not have offices in every country. In Turkey, you might not receive sufficient customer service support. Nevertheless, the company is quite reliable regarding reservations and homeowner applications.

Where can I submit a complaint about Booking.com?

You can use the company’s help center page for complaints related to the company, or you can reach out to the company via their social media accounts.