Booking.com Payment Options for Hosts
If you're looking for effective ways to attract more guests, creating a listing on Booking.com can be a good option. In this blog, we'll look at Booking.com payment options for hosts.
With over 28 million accommodation listings, including over 6.6 million vacation rental properties like private homes and apartments, Booking.com is one of the world’s largest travel marketplaces.
In addition to hotel rooms and vacation rentals, this huge OTA platform also arranges flights, rental cars, travel tours, and airport transfers, making it undoubtedly very popular among travelers. If you’re looking for effective ways to attract more guests to your Airbnb or Vrbo property, creating a listing on Booking.com can be a good option.
In this blog, we’ll explore Booking.com's payment options for hosts. Continue reading to gain a deeper understanding of Booking.com's payment procedures and products.
You may also want to check out our Booking.com host guide for beginners, which provides answers to some of the most common questions.
What Are Booking.com Payment Options?
Booking.com is an excellent platform for marketing your rentals to a global audience and growing a successful business. However, please note that if you opt for the instant booking model for your property, it is essential to keep your calendars up to date on all other booking channels to prevent double bookings.
Manually updating your calendars and availability on multiple channels is very time-consuming, so many hosts opt for vacation rental management software like Hospitable. As a vacation rental channel manager, Hospitable can sync your calendars on Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and your Direct booking website automatically, allowing you to run your entire STR business from a single platform.
Booking.com hosts can offer their guests the option to either pay through the Booking.com platform or pay them directly (after which hosts pay a commission fee to Booking.com). If your guests pay online, the platform will facilitate their payments, offering various alternative payment methods. Booking.com will then send you the money via virtual credit card (VCC) or bank transfer, depending on the location of your property.
Not all payment solutions are available in every country or for every property type. You can view the available payment options by logging in to the Booking Extranet, clicking on Finance, and selecting Finance Settings to access the drop-down menu.
If the Payout information or Virtual cards management options appear (and the Payments by Booking.com option doesn’t), it means you’re already active on Payments by Booking.com. Then you can click either option to learn more.
If the Payments by Booking.com option appears in the drop-down menu, you’re eligible for this service, but it isn’t active yet. You can activate it if you click Payments by Booking.com and then Sign up.
If none of these options appear when you click Finance, your property isn’t eligible for Payments by Booking.com.
If you are eligible for Payments by Booking.com, you’ll receive guaranteed payouts by virtual credit card or bank transfer. You can charge VCCs as soon as the reservation becomes non-refundable. If you’re eligible for payments by bank transfer, you’ll get paid for all your reservations after guests have checked out.
It depends on the payment schedule you’ve set up and your bank's processing time. Payouts may happen weekly (every Thursday) or monthly (on or before the 15th of the month). If you set up daily payments, Booking.com will process payments one day after the checkout date.
If your vacation rental property isn’t eligible for Payments by Booking.com, you’ll have to manage your guests’ payments yourself. There are two options:
If you accept credit cards, you can charge your guests before or after arrival/departure, depending on your reservation policy.
If you don’t accept credit cards, your guests can pay at your property upon arrival or departure in your local currency.
Booking.com Payment Methods
Depending on the country where your vacation rental is located, Booking.com supports a range of payment methods, including:
Credit, debit, and prepaid cards from MasterCard, Visa, American Express, China UnionPay, JCB, Diners Club International, Discover, Carte Bancaire
Global payment methods, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Google Pay
Local payment methods, such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, iDeal, SOFORT, Bancotact, Blik, Venmo
Affordable solutions, such as Klarna.
A wide range of payment options you can offer your guests with Booking.com payments means that more international guests can book a stay at your property, and you’ll get more money.
If your property is active on Payments by Booking.com and located in the European Union, Switzerland, the UK, the US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, or New Zealand, Booking.com manages payments for all reservations where guests pay in advance. You can set up your account so that all your payments are handled online by Booking.com if you add prepayment to all your available policies.
Then Booking.com will handle everything related to payments, including invalid credit cards, chargebacks, and fraudulent bookings. Your task will be to provide your guests with an incredible experience, resulting in great reviews and driving repeat bookings.
Managing reservations involves numerous routine operations, including communicating with guests via messages, organizing cleanings and maintenance, updating calendars and pricing, and more. However, you can automate almost all your daily, repetitive tasks using short-term rental software like Hospitable, saving hours to focus on growing your business.
Our STR super app features native API connections with global OTA platforms, including Airbnb and Booking.com, allowing you to manage all your accounts and listings from a single dashboard. With Hospitable, you can automate guest communication with the help of AI, assign tasks to your cleaners automatically, and leverage our built-in Dynamic Pricing solution to optimize prices, maximize revenue and occupancy, and more.
If you don’t list your property on Booking.com but have an existing Airbnb listing connected to Hospitable, you can easily set up a new Booking.com listing directly through your Hospitable account. Just go to Properties in your Hospitable account and select the Airbnb property you want to list on Booking.com. Then, click "Continue" next to "List on Booking.com" and follow the setup flow. Check our help article for more guidance.
How Does Booking.com Charge You?
If you decide to take payments directly from your guests, Booking.com will charge you a commission fee, typically 15-25% of the total booking amount, for every reservation facilitated by the platform. The charges are compiled into a monthly invoice, and you can pay it by direct debit, bank transfer, or through an online payment service provider.
If you choose Booking.com to handle guest payments for you, the platform will automatically take a commission fee from every booking and then send you your share.
Bottom Line
Booking.com offers a secure, reliable, and easy way to take guest payments online. Taking advantage of the Booking.com payment options can help you reach more international guests, reduce cancellations, and be protected against chargebacks and fraud.
If you’re unsure whether Booking.com is a good platform to list your property, check out our article comparing Booking.com vs. Airbnb.
