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, so it’s 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 look at Booking.com payment options for hosts. Keep reading to better understand the Booking.com payment procedures and products.
You may also want to check out our Booking.com host guide for beginners to find answers to some of the most common questions.
Booking.com Payment Options
Booking.com is a great place to market your rentals to a global audience and grow a successful business. But keep in mind that all bookings on this platform are auto-confirmed, so you must ensure that your calendars are up-to-date on all other booking channels to avoid double bookings.
Manual updating your calendars and availability on multiple channels is very time-consuming, so many hosts opt for vacation rental management software. Tools like Hospitable can sync your calendars automatically, allowing you to run your entire STR business from a single platform.
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Booking.com hosts can offer their guests the option to either pay through Booking.com or pay them directly. If your guests pay online, the platform will facilitate their payments, offering various alternative payment methods. Then Booking.com will send you money by virtual credit card (VCC) or bank transfer, depending on your property’s location.
Booking.com offers hosts two payment solutions: Payments by Booking.com and Online Payments, but not all of them are available in all countries or for all property types. You can see which payment option is available if you log in to the Booking Extranet, click Finance, and choose Finance Settings. You can also choose to allow your guests to pay at the property.
Payments by Booking.com
If you are eligible for Payments by Booking.com, you’ll receive guaranteed payouts by bank transfer for all your reservations after guests have checked out. Payouts may happen weekly (every Thursday) or monthly (on or before the 15th of the month). It depends on where your property is located.
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.
Online Payments
Online Payments service isn’t available everywhere. You can find a list of eligible properties in the Provider Portal under the Online Payments option. If you sign up for Online Payments, Booking.com will facilitate guests’ payments and send you money via a virtual credit card.
Online Payments service supports a range of payment methods, including
Credit, debit, and prepaid cards from MasterCard, Visa, American Express, China UnionPay, JCB, Diners, Discover, Carte Bancaire
Global payment methods, such as PayPal, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Alipay, WeChat, iDeal, and Sofort
Affordable solutions, such as Klarna and PayPal Credit.
A wide range of payment options you can offer your guests with Online Payments means that more international guests can book a stay at your property, and you’ll get more money.
Booking.com will handle everything related to payments, including invalid credit cards, chargebacks, and fraudulent bookings. Your task will be to give your guests an incredible experience to get great reviews and drive repeat bookings.
Managing reservations involves many routine operations like communicating with guests via messages, organizing cleanings and maintenance, updating calendars and pricing, etc. But you can automate almost all your daily repetitive tasks using vacation rental software like Hospitable and save hours to focus on growing your business.
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Here is how the Online Payments service works:
When guests pay online, Booking.com facilitates their payment, loads it onto a virtual credit card (VCC), and sends you a notification email. Each virtual credit card has a unique number, expiration date, and card verification code (CVC).
Each virtual credit card has its activation date, determined by the property’s booking policy. For example, for non-refundable bookings, the activation date is the same as the booking date. If the bookings are made with flexible cancellation policies, the activation date will be the day when the free cancellation period ends.
com guarantees the funds in virtual credit cards. Using your POS machine, you can charge a virtual credit card just like any other credit card after it’s activated. As long as each VCC remains active, you can charge it as often as you like until the balance reaches zero.
But keep in mind that you have only up to 12 months (365 days) after the check-out date to charge a VCC. If you don’t do it during this time, the funds will be considered financial breakage, and Booking.com will have the right to consider them revenue.
After the virtual credit card is activated, you can view its details on the Booking Extranet as many times as you like for 18 months (547 days) from the check-out date.
Bottom Line
Booking.com offers hosts 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.
