Hello
Just had a long chat with Homeaway. They seem to pay me whenever they please, mostly 2 days after guests' arrival, however this particular time they will pay me when guests leave so by the time I get the money credited to my account it would be 2 or 3 days after guests leave. Their excuse was that they had some hitch with the system.
Have any of you had this? Does anyone get paid before? Do you have a customer service number I can ring in Europe please? as the one on their Homelidays site seems to be a US number.
Thanks everyone.
Payment by Homeaway
Homeaway is a company that uses data to decide how to make the most money for their business. There is nothing wrong with this, but you need to understand how it works.
They use A/B testing on their website and on everything else to work out the effect of a change on their business. So for example, if they increase their commission on the properties that are displayed first on their searches - do they make more money by doing this? How much can they increase their commission by? Increase it too much, and the properties aren't booked - but perhaps the owners then lower their prices to get the bookings anyway and they still get more money?
I obviously don't know how far they've gone with their data analysis, but it has a huge effect the profitabily of their business.
So an example might be: They are better off if they pay their suppliers late, provided the the suppliers don't get so fed up and leave. There is therefore an optimal time for them to pay their suppliers. They can use A/B testing to find out what this is.
It's not your usual customer service that you might expect as a consumer. You have to realise that you are a supplier, one of thousands and individually are not that important to them.
They use A/B testing on their website and on everything else to work out the effect of a change on their business. So for example, if they increase their commission on the properties that are displayed first on their searches - do they make more money by doing this? How much can they increase their commission by? Increase it too much, and the properties aren't booked - but perhaps the owners then lower their prices to get the bookings anyway and they still get more money?
I obviously don't know how far they've gone with their data analysis, but it has a huge effect the profitabily of their business.
So an example might be: They are better off if they pay their suppliers late, provided the the suppliers don't get so fed up and leave. There is therefore an optimal time for them to pay their suppliers. They can use A/B testing to find out what this is.
It's not your usual customer service that you might expect as a consumer. You have to realise that you are a supplier, one of thousands and individually are not that important to them.
New timber thank you for your detailed answer. It's an eye opener isn't it? and how clever of them. I'm sure they make enough profit to be able to equip themselves with the latest technology.
although I cannot accept that people book sometimes 12, 9, 6 months in advance and we don't get a cent until the guests arrive or worse as in this case not until guests leave. But then, are there any other companies where we can advertise that generate the equivalent income? I haven't found any yet.
wishing you good luck with your bookings
although I cannot accept that people book sometimes 12, 9, 6 months in advance and we don't get a cent until the guests arrive or worse as in this case not until guests leave. But then, are there any other companies where we can advertise that generate the equivalent income? I haven't found any yet.
wishing you good luck with your bookings
I m fed up of ha. Now you cannot see a guests review till ha have validated it and posted it. In the interim I am bombarded with requests to review my latest guest.
Look like it will be my last year with ha, the 11% now uncapped guest commission, 11000 listings in my area although 95% are not, drop off in bookings via ha...like cliff edge territory, I could go on.
So after 17 years with ha I feel I have had a terrific run, met some brilliant guests who keep returning so it will befriends, family and nice repeats from 2020.
Look like it will be my last year with ha, the 11% now uncapped guest commission, 11000 listings in my area although 95% are not, drop off in bookings via ha...like cliff edge territory, I could go on.
So after 17 years with ha I feel I have had a terrific run, met some brilliant guests who keep returning so it will befriends, family and nice repeats from 2020.