Risk of Last Minute Direct Bookings In Serviced Accommodation & How to handle it?
Please watch the full video, as I share what challenges you can face when you receive last minute bookings from Airbnb /Booking.com or even direct to your phone. The important is we need to create a strong procedures to protect your serviced accommodation units.
Sharing some challenges that can happen in while running serviced accommodation business is “Last Minute Direct Bookings”. As mentioned it requires a detailed due diligence before you secure the booking, and why they haven’t use any OTAs to book your serviced accommodation. So, over last few years some of the early days I have had challenges where I haven’t done proper checks on clients, and they have pretty much trashed the place, and although one client lead was from Air Bnb I still had to go through the claim process etc.
In serviced accommodation business, sometimes we get excited of those last minute bookings to fill our calendar for the night, and then can turn into a nightmare. So the important procedures I can share:
- Engage with clients as soon as the booking comes through.
- Speak to them on phone.
- Find out exactly who and where they are coming from?
- Total number of guests.
- ID send to email from every guests.
So, remember it is okay to not be confident and cancel the guest reservations by speaking to the online travel agents. I hope you enjoyed the video , and please make sure this is implemented so your protecting your serviced accommodation units.