booking.com becoming slower and slower to pay out on accomodation

Andy454 · 08-06-2016 07:53PM #1

I have three properties listed on booking.com

Up until last August, I used to get paid for guest stays upon 48 hours of their checkout.

Now they have changed that policy, payment now happens 30 days after the guest has checked out!

Today I found my latest statement was down 200 euro, when I contacted to query this they said they had refunded a deposit that had been paid to me last June for a couple that were due to stay but canceled.

I informed them that I had never received any payment from the couple that canceled and that no deposit was ever taken from them as they had canceled the same day as their booking.

I have spend 4 hours on the phone today and 8 emails to their customer contact center, they keep fobbing me off and sending me round and round in circles, you can never get anyone who speaks proper English, the company is based in the Netherlands!

I have two further bookings for August and July, when I told them that if they hadn't got it sorted by the end of the week I would be delisting my properties from them, cancelling all bookings with them and taking them to the small claims court, I was then told they're in the Netherlands so it would be their courts I would have to apply to - ( absolute rubbish - I can use the European small claims procedures here! - and her grasp of English suddenly seemed to get much better!) I would also be liable for the bookings in July and August!
I told her they can take me to court here for it!

I will never use this crowd again!

dudara · 09-06-2016 08:23AM

Moving to Business & Entreprenurial, as this is not a Consumer Issue.

dudara

VincePP · 09-06-2016 09:19AM

Small Claims court no good to you as its a Business to business transaction.

I do know of someone else who has just stopped using booking . com due to how they treat smaller businesses.

You can be fairly certain the big chains pay far smaller commissions and get paid very quickly.

Bandara · 09-06-2016 09:34AM

VincePP wrote: »

Small Claims court no good to you as its a Business to business transaction.

I do know of someone else who has just stopped using booking . com due to how they treat smaller businesses.

You can be fairly certain the big chains pay far smaller commissions and get paid very quickly.

Afaik business to business claims have been possible since 2010.

pedroeibar1 · 09-06-2016 11:57AM

A sudden unilateral change in credit terms is a sign of financial weakness. This particularly is the case today, when interest rates are at an all-time low.
Here are a few names that over the last few years manipulated their trade credit terms to aid financing - Boots, BHS, B&Q, and Debenhams. All have unilaterally extended their credit terms.

Now, no prizes for identifying what else they have in common!

VincePP · 09-06-2016 03:32PM

Bandara wrote: »

Afaik business to business claims have been possible since 2010.

only in specific circumstances and not in above situation.

"Businesses can make claims against other businesses in relation to contracts for goods or services purchased." - It excludes debts

VincePP · 09-06-2016 03:39PM

pedroeibar1 wrote: »

A sudden unilateral change in credit terms is a sign of financial weakness. This particularly is the case today, when interest rates are at an all-time low.
Here are a few names that over the last few years manipulated their trade credit terms to aid financing - Boots, BHS, B&Q, and Debenhams. All have unilaterally extended their credit terms.

Now, no prizes for identifying what else they have in common!

$2.5 Billon NET profit in 2015 (part of Pricline Inc) - I wouldn't put them in the same gouping as Debenhams.

Also Boots are also a hugely profitable group - largest in the world after merger with Walgreens - profuts of $4,2 Billion.

BHS / Debenhams - well that's another story

power101 · 09-06-2016 09:02PM

Net profit does not mean that they are cash rich.

They had a negative cash flow of 1.6 billion last year.

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/cf?s=PCLN&annual

pedroeibar1 · 09-06-2016 11:30PM

VincePP wrote: »

$2.5 Billon NET profit in 2015 (part of Pricline Inc) - I wouldn't put them in the same gouping as Debenhams.

Also Boots are also a hugely profitable group - largest in the world after merger with Walgreens - profuts of $4,2 Billion.

BHS / Debenhams - well that's another story

I’ve been around much longer Vince, my memory goes waaaay back!
Boots was a crock, it did the dirty on suppliers (because it had to) long before the Alliance acquisition when they did it again. Because of stock/cash-flow issues, Boots upped credit terms arbitrarily to 90 days, then post acquisition upped it to ‘75 days from the end of invoice month'. That effectively meant for an invoice issued on the first day of a 31-day month, it would mean a wait of minimum 106 days for a supplier to get paid. from memory they also had the nerve to add an 'early settlement' discount (!) of a couple of percent. You should research the lead-up to its acquisition c 2007, led by KKR, an interesting read.

Priceline has a hardnosed US approach, that works while you deliver, but Bookings.com are losing out, both in market kudos and in customer appeal, with very negative PR from Western world bookers on hidden ‘charges’ and add-ons, (and a fair amount of investigatory issues with the FTC in the USA!). The tourism model is changing rapidly, that is why they now have emphasis on China and are stuffing ‘partners’ like the OP.

I stand over my remarks. Screwing suppliers on credit terms invariably is a sign of a financial weakness. That weakness can (usually) be cash flow or simply the C-suite doing some window dressing to meet their bonus targets. And if the latter is what they are at, what else is it a sign of?

booking.com becoming slower and slower to pay out on accomodation

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