Booking.com Pros and Cons for Hosts

Note: If you have an Airbnb listing connected to Hospitable, you can automatically create and publish a new Booking.com listing directly on Hospitable from your Airbnb listing details. This way, you won’t need to set up everything manually in Booking.com’s Extranet. You can find more details in our help article.

Still uncertain whether you should list your vacation home on Booking.com? To help you make an informed decision, here are some Booking.com pros and cons you should consider.

Pros of using Booking.com for hosts

There are many advantages of listing on Booking.com, so it’s no wonder that more and more hosts and property owners use this platform.

Global reach. Booking.com operates in more than 220 countries, and its website and app are available in 45 languages. It has a massive global audience and can be a good option for hosts looking to diversify their customer base.

Wide range of properties. Although traditionally, Booking.com has always been a website for hotels and resorts, everything has changed in recent years. It has more than 6.6 million listings for private homes, apartments, and other unique accommodations. Travelers can choose from 30 different types of places to stay, including houses, apartments, hostels, B&Bs, farm stays, bungalows, treehouses, boats, and igloos.

Support when you need it. Both property owners and guests can enjoy round-the-clock support via phone, email, or online chat. There is also a special platform for property owners (Partner Hub) where you can find answers to FAQs, detailed manuals, and step-by-step guides.

Innovative features and tools. All hosts have access to the Booking.com Extranet. It’s an administrative dashboard where you can manage your listings, use Booking.com messaging tools to communicate with guests, and track payments. You can also download the Pulse app. It’s an extension of the Extranet that lets you manage your listings on the go—receive booking notifications, check your calendar, respond to guest messages, etc.—on a mobile device.

There are also paid tools that can help you increase your revenue, for example, Visibility Booster. It improves the visibility of your listing and helps it rank higher on the platform’s search results.

Marketing. Your vacation rental property will be promoted on search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo, as well as on online maps. Booking.com will also promote your property to travelers planning trips through their 17,500+ affiliate partners. Besides, the company partners with airlines to promote your property to their customers.

Request to book. In the past, all bookings on Booking.com were instant—meaning they were confirmed automatically—and there was no option to make them optional. Although it’s very convenient for guests, it’s less pleasant for hosts with limited control over bookings. You might get last-minute reservations, and coordinating your cleaning or maintenance team just hours before the new guests arrive can be very stressful.

But now, Booking.com hosts can choose how they want to receive bookings—either by letting guests book instantly or by reviewing booking requests before accepting them. The Request to Book feature is available to Booking.com hosts in all markets, giving them complete control over their bookings, and making it easier to manage turnover cleanings and maintenance tasks. 

Cons of using Booking.com for hosts

There are also some downsides to listing your short-term rental on Booking.com.

High commission fees. Booking.com charges hosts a commission fee based on the total booking value. On average, it takes 15% off the top of your charged price for all confirmed bookings and all non-refundable reservations. But according to many property owners, Booking.com host fees can range from 10% to 25%, depending on the country where your rental is located and the property type.

Still, Booking.com can help you reach a global audience, providing you with access to entirely new travel markets. Instead of trying to find an OTA with lower fees for hosts, focus on optimizing your pricing strategy to maximize revenue for your property. The easiest way to do so is to use a dynamic pricing tool.

You won’t need to pay for third-party dynamic pricing tools if you opt for Hospitable. Our software includes a built-in Dynamic Pricing feature, free for Host, Professional, and Mogul plan users, as it’s included in their subscription plans. If you enable Dynamic Pricing for your property, Hospitable will automatically adjust your rates based on the latest market conditions every 24 hours to maximize revenue and optimize occupancy.

You can’t entirely avoid paying high OTA fees, but you can reduce their impact on your bottom line by building your website and starting to accept direct repeat bookings. And the best thing is that you can do it yourself, even if you don’t have any technical skills. With Hospitable, you can create a fully functional direct booking website using professional, easy-to-customize website templates.

We’ll publish your rental properties on Google Vacation Rentals, and travelers will be able to discover them when they use Google to search for stays in your area. You’ll have a chance to get direct bookings without paying high third-party fees.