What will you find in this article?
- What is this “Commission and availability”?
- Global “Commission and Availability” - the same commission for all rooms
- Individual “Commission and Availability” - different commission for each room
- When using “Commissions and Availability”, are availability restrictions sent to Booking.com and Airbnb?
What is this “Commission and Availability”?
"Commission and Availability" is a tool that automates the adjustment of accommodation prices, taking into account the commission charged by Booking.com and Airbnb. Just set the percentage of the commission for a given sales channel and the system will automatically calculate and update prices in Airbnb and Booking.com based on BedBooking prices and the established commissions.
Example:
Let's assume you want to sell accommodation for 100 euros. This amount is appropriate when selling the reservation directly, for example in the BedBooking Reservation System. However, it is known that Booking.com and Airbnb charge a commission for using their websites. Thanks to the "Commission and Availability" function, the prices applicable at Booking.com and Airbnb will be increased by the commission you choose, for example 15% for Booking.com and 20% for Airbnb. From now on, all you need to do is manage BedBooking prices, and the prices on Booking.com and Airbnb will be automatically converted. For example, if an overnight stay in the BedBooking Reservation System costs EUR 100, it will cost EUR 115 in Booking.com and EUR 120 in Airbnb. If you change the BedBooking price to EUR 140 in a certain period, then in the same period the price in Booking.com will automatically change to EUR 161 and in Airbnb it will change to EUR 168.
It is worth noting that converted prices are always rounded up to one unit.
Example:
If you set the BedBooking price to EUR 120 and the commission amount to 13%, the exact amount should be EUR 135.60. However, after rounding, an amount of 136 euros will be sent.
Thanks to “Commissions and Availability”, availability restrictions, such as Minimum length of stay, are automatically passed on to Airbnb listings and Booking.com rate plans. This means that after turning on "Commissions and Availability", you will only manage BedBooking prices and availability restrictions, and your offers on Airbnb and Booking.com will be automatically and immediately adjusted to the changes you make to the BedBooking Price list. “Commission and Availability” is designed to help you manage prices and availability between different sales channels, so you can save time.
The "Commission and availability" function has two modes of operation - global, where each room on a given portal has the same commission set, and individual, where each room, i.e. each Airbnb offer and Booking.com price plan, may have different commission rates. However, the principle of operation is always the same and is based on increasing the BedBooking price.
It is worth remembering that Airbnb and Booking.com do not have to use the same type of “Commissions and Availability”. For example, you can use global “Commissions and Availability” for Airbnb and for Booking.com use individual “Commissions and Availability” to differentiate prices between Booking.com rate plans. You can also choose to use “Commissions and Availability” only on one of these portals.
By enabling "Commissions and Availability", no matter how, availability restrictions, such as Minimum length of stay, are automatically passed on to Airbnb listings and Booking.com rate plans that have this functionality enabled.
Global “Commission and Availability” - the same commission for all rooms
The operation of the global "Commissions and Availability" is simple - you choose by what percentage the price should increase in Airbnb and by how much in Booking.com. You can choose separate commission amounts for Airbnb and Booking.com, but you can't vary your commission between Airbnb listings or between Booking.com rooms and rate plans.
Global "Commission and Availability" will work in the most common situation when you want to sell accommodation directly cheaper, and increase prices on Airbnb and Booking.com to compensate for the fees charged by these portals.
It is worth remembering that the global "Commission and Availability" is based only on commission percentages. If you want to set a commission that is based on a fixed commission amount, please use the individual "Commission and availability".
You can learn how to enable global "Commission and Availability" in the article How to set global “Commission and Availability”?.
Individual “Commission and Availability” - different commission for each room
Thanks to individual "Commission and Availability", you have complete freedom in setting the commission amount. All Airbnb listings and Booking.com room and rate plans may have their own commission rate or may not benefit from "Commissions and Availability". You can set a different commission rate for each room - each Airbnb listing and Booking.com rate plan in a given room may have separate commission rates.
If you choose not to use “Commissions and Availability” on an Airbnb listing or Booking.com pricing plan, you will be able to manage the prices and rate plans for that listing or plan manually. In this case, individual "Commission and Availability" may be useful if you want to automate Price list management, but, for example, one Booking.com price plan is to have different availability restrictions or prices that are not calculated from BedBooking prices.
Individual "Commission and availability" also has the option of setting an amount of commission. This is especially useful if one of your Booking.com rate plans includes meals, and you want to add a fixed amount to the BedBooking price, and not rely solely on adding a percentage.
Individual “Commission and Availability” gives you a lot of flexibility in automating your rate management, but requires more commitment because in this case you have to set “Commission and Availability” separately for each Airbnb listing and each Booking.com rate plan for each room.
You can learn how to enable individual "Commission and Availability" in the article How to set individual “Commission and Availability”?.
When using “Commissions and Availability”, are availability restrictions sent to Booking.com and Airbnb?
Yes, “Commission and Availability” automates not only the management of prices, but also availability restrictions. When you turn on "Commissions and Availability", the availability restrictions you set in the pricing grid are sent to all Airbnb listings and/or Booking.com rate plans that use "Commissions and Availability". As a result, when you set a restriction in the BedBooking Price list, for example the minimum length of stay on the day of arrival, it will automatically apply both in the Reservation System and on Booking.com and Airbnb.
It is worth noting that BedBooking and Booking.com support all available availability restrictions. Airbnb supports 4 restrictions - “Minimum length of stay on the day of arrival”, “Maximum length of stay on the day of arrival”, “Blocking Check-In” and “Blocking Check-Out”. The remaining 5 restrictions - "Minimum reservation advance", "Maximum reservation advance", "Exact length of stay", "Minimum Length of Stay" and "Maximum Length of Stay" are not sent to Airbnb and apply only in the BedBooking reservation system and in Booking.com.
More information about availability restrictions and the sales channels that support them can be found in the article How to take advantage of availability restrictions?.