Booking.com covers damage claims at a rate of 1 in 5,000, but excludes routine cleaning, smoke damage, and rule violations like unauthorized pets. Tim Hubbard, who manages over 50,000 guests, recommends collecting your own damage deposit for better protection.
Only 1 in 5,000 reservations on booking.com results in actual damage. The downside is that when it does, it's 100% your responsibility. I know that might seem like an extreme number one in 5,000, but our teams managed over 50,000 guests. We use booking.com 24 7. I'd have to agree. We don't have a lot of damage in our properties, but we are protecting them the right way. And so we're going to dive into those details. And today, what can I ask guests to pay for? This is really important. Remember, if you're collecting a damage deposit, then you have full range. What you cannot ask for are routine cleaning things. So let's say your property is overly dirty, which we know a lot of times it could be. Depends on the type of property you have. If you're in Nashville and you're hosting bachelorette parties, then you probably get some glitter from time to time. And that takes a long time to clean up. You would not be able to cover that under this policy that they're also not covering non physical damages. And you might be asking, why would I even charge someone for something that I can't physically see? Well, you might be forgetting about smoke and they're not going to cover it here. They're also not going to cover anything that actually goes around your house rules. I know that sounds crazy, but let's say you have a no pet policy and they bring a pet. Well, they're not going to recoup money for you there. We know that a lot of these damage claims come down to how good our evidence actually is. And the unfortunate thing with Booking.com's damage policy is you can't really submit good evidence. For example, you can't use security video footage. Another thing that they won't accept is evidence. And this is just going to blow your mind. This is going to sound crazy, but you can't send screenshots of your conversations with them. And so what is our opinion again, after managing over 50,000 guests and we get a lot of reservations from booking.com not just in urban or hotel type properties, but but in vacation rentals as well, we opt for the damage deposit. So yes, it is a little more work, but it provides all these protections. So I hope these suggestions and these insights helped you save just a little bit of time. Until next time, I hope you have a fabulous week.
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