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Booking window - Vary by OTA

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I was told that I would be able to have different booking windows per OTA, prior to signing up - I have raised this a few times and even with Markus at the Short stay event in London and was promised this would be given attention - I still dont have an update.

Let me explain why this feature is important,,

Firstly I would like to have as much control over my business as possible so would like to attract as many direct bookings as possible - to this end I like to open my calendar for direct bookings for a year in advance

After this I like the longer VRBO bookings with nicer guests,,so offer them 9 months

I dont like Airbnb guests but they are a strong source of bookings so I usually aollow them 3 months

Booking.com have provided the worst guests and cancel the most- so I only like them to book a month in advance (so I dont have them booking 2 days peak season and cancelling 30 days in advance, my policy is 30 days) 

That aside it is actually harming my business financially not being able to do this

For any OTA bookings there is a fee - this fee is included in the gross revenue

Direct bookings have no fee

In the UK we have a VAT limit of £90k

One property has reached this limit, so we have had to close all future dates till December

This property has a lot of OTA bookings with commission

If I take OTA bookings the net earnings can only reach around £76k (£90k less OTA commission)

If I could take all direct bookings, net earnings can reach £90k

I manage properties and take a commission on net revenue, so my client has a closed property and cant earn any more money.

I cant earn any more commission

If I can prioritise direct bookings, then my client and I can make more money and I can deal with nicer guests

I hope this explains the business need to fix this issue (Smoobu offered this and I had more direct bookings)

Please can you prioritise this issue

2

Comments

2 comments

Date Votes
  • Michaela

    That would be absolutely amazing. 

    I fully agree with the need for improvements. It would be highly beneficial to have an option on the website to offer a longer direct booking window while delaying availability on other channels.

    This feature would allow us to prioritize direct bookings and only release availability to high-commission platforms at a later stage, optimizing revenue and reducing costs.

    0
  • Tommy

    wow this idea is amazing

    0

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