Lay My Hat

Hi, I've had the same, it turned out they were recouping money from stays people cancelled because of corona (where they've been entitled to a refund). Rather than take it out of our bank account they've been taking it from payouts. Don't know if that's the case for you but it was for us.

How would they know what we're doing? For example I've had guests accept a 50% refund where we've let the stay 'play out' as if they stayed and I've refunded them 50% and moved their dates. Some are happy to just move dates without a refund. Would they only know if guests contact them and say they c...

Hi Steve, I'd do as you suggest, ie give them a longstop date for payment and say if it's not received by that date you'll have no choice but to open the last two weeks of August to other bookings. They can't expect otherwise. They've broken the terms of the agreement they made with you and it sound...

I'm with Cymraes, I think it sounds genuine too but it would definitely be worth calling them to check it's a good fit for them.

Yes, I think I may have had a lucky escape, thanks guys. It was the unusual domain name on the email that first made me question, otherwise I don't think I'd have investigated it that far and would have taken the booking. If it was a scam I'm still not sure why the message was so personal, though as...

Hi all this one might have been a scam, might not have been, but I erred towards caution: Last minute HA enquiry for same day arrival for four nights, the only four we had unbooked in the calendar for months. We don't take automatic same day bookings so they emailed to ask if it was possible as they...

She is totally trying it on, those complaints are minor and it sounds like because there was very little wrong with your property she is dredging up (and making up) lots of minor points to make it sound like a lot so she could complain and get a refund or a freebie. Her entire motive seems to be tha...

Hi Sam, if the booking that was waiting for their refund was made before they changed their deposit system then yes you have to manually activate it. Any bookings taken after they changed their system are automatic. Hope that helps.

Hi all, wholeheartedly endorsing Littlegem for mortgage advice. I pm'd her after her post in Jan and she was fantastic in advising and helping us and explained everything really clearly too. We were a pretty complicated holiday let case and she was brilliant, can highly recommend her help .

I think it's that if the guest physically cancels it on the dashboard at their end you're not affected, but if it's you who physically cancels it on the dashboard at your end it will automatically count as you cancelling it, regardless of the background of it being because the guests wants to. It mi...

Hi Toscana, bear in mind that cancelling the booking at your end will put you further down the listings with OD, rubbish but true. Not sure what else you can do though.

Hi Claire, unfortunately yes it does and rightly or wrongly they may strike you off if they think you're circumventing them. I believe the quote the guests receive when putting in their dates on the website already includes the TripAdvisor fee so it shouldn't come as a surprise. When I respond to en...

I was told by OD that for any new bookings taken since last July they hold the security deposits, like TripAdvisor, and return them seven days later. They still put in and take out the deposits from my account for bookings earlier than last July. Hope that helps?

Hi all, thanks for the tip off about this. I checked my rates and they had arbitrarily applied 65%+ discounts making my peak weeks c£40 a night for stays of 7 days or more (instead of c.£120 a night!). I spoke to them and they said it was a glitch and apologised. To be fair to who I spoke to, they i...

That's a great tip, thanks AngloDutch. I'll give that a try. Sorry to hear you have the same problem. We're not on Instant Book, we're the same 24 hours to accept or decline, and yes sadly on both TA and OD you do get penalised for any decline.

Thanks again!