[Channel] “Booking.com” channel creation/synchronization specifications

[ overview ]

This section describes the procedure for creating a channel from the [Admin Console] → [Channel] → [Add channel] button.

It also outlines the specifications and important notes regarding synchronization with Booking.com.

[Details]

As a prerequisite, integration with AirHost must be enabled in the "Connectivity Providers" menu on the Booking.com side. After setting AirHost as your provider, you will be automatically approved by AirHost.

Please make the settings in advance. Login to Booking.com extranet -> click on Account -> Connectivity Provider and change provider to AirHost

Please watch this video for operating instructions:

The Booking.com channel allows multiple properties to be added under a single channel.
If a Booking.com channel has already been created in AirHost, please proceed with adding the next property.

*Please enter any e-mail address and password. It is not specifically used for further processing.

Watch the video below to learn how to add a new Booking.com channel:

Add Booking.com properties to the Booking.com channel. A hotel ID is required when adding a property. Please copy from the following location.

Please watch the video below for the steps to add a property:

*If you are unable to import property information, the status on Booking.com may be as follows.

Please change the status below on Booking.com.

Future reservations confirmed before linking with AirHost will be imported (only future reservations are eligible; past reservations are not).
If there are any confirmed reservations from before the connection date, they cannot be imported via the Booking.com API, so we kindly ask you to manually create and manage these reservations in the system.

Additionally, reservations made before connecting to AirHost will not include payment information from Booking.com.
Therefore, even if the reservation has already been paid, it will be treated as "unpaid" in the system.

If you were using iCal synchronization between Airbnb and Booking.com before starting with AirHost, please be aware of the following when connecting:

Once a channel manager is configured on the Booking.com side, the iCal import/export functionality previously used will no longer be available.

As a result, after setting up the site controller and during configuration on the AirHost side, inventory synchronization will be paused, which increases the risk of double bookings.
Please make sure to pause sales on Booking.com until the setup on AirHost is complete and proper synchronization is confirmed.

When synchronizing prices to Booking.com, only the base rate and the number of guests specified as the default on the Booking.com extranet (i.e. the number of guests for which rates can be edited on Booking.com) are synced from AirHost PMS.
For example, if the base rate on Booking.com is set for 2 guests, AirHost PMS will calculate and sync the rate for 2 guests per date to Booking.com.

Rates for guest numbers other than the base number will be adjusted on Booking.com based on the settings under "Rates per Occupancy."
Therefore, any rate multipliers or discounts set in AirHost will only apply to the synced base rate.

Cleaning fees are not synchronized, so please either configure them directly in Booking.com or adjust your pricing in AirHost using rate multipliers.

Additionally, cancellation policies will follow the settings on the Booking.com side, while minimum stay requirements will follow the settings on the AirHost side.

Example of the Pricing Calendar on the Booking.com Extranet:

For this property, the base occupancy is set to 4 guests.

From March 15, 2022, Booking.com transitioned to the message API they provide.

As a result, the message specifications have become similar to those of Airbnb.

To send URLs within messages, the domain of the URL must be registered in Booking.com's whitelist.
The relevant domain (for example, for the AirHost pre-check-in URL, www.onestayapp.com) needs to be registered at the property level in the whitelist. This can be configured in Booking.com's extranet.

Note: There is an option to apply the setting to “All properties” to manage and apply it to all your accommodations.

If you have any questions about the settings, please contact Booking.com’s support team.

Below is the settings screen.

Credit card information for reservations made before connecting with AirHost is not provided by Booking.com and therefore cannot be viewed in AirHost. Additionally, please note that even for reservations made after the connection, there are limits on how many times the card information can be viewed.

For confirmed reservations made after connecting with AirHost, if the card information is integrated but the security code (CVC/CVV) is not, please check in the Booking.com management page under “Payment Reminder Advice” that the option “Remove security code input to increase bookings” is not enabled.

If for confirmed reservations made after the AirHost connection the entire card information such as card number or expiration date is not integrated, please contact your Booking.com representative.

[ Booking.com Help ]

Centralized Management System: Reasons for not receiving credit card/security code

I am using a central management system, but I cannot receive credit card information. What should I do?

If a reservation is canceled immediately after booking (within a few seconds), the booking confirmation notification will not be received from the Booking.com API side, and only the cancellation notification will be received by AirHost PMS. Since this cancellation notification does not include details such as the booked room type or check-in/check-out dates, only cancellations with a non-zero cancellation fee will be processed by AirHost PMS as follows:

To conclude, using risk-free reservations is difficult.

Regarding how risk-free reservations work: when a risk-free reservation is canceled on Booking.com’s side, the site controller (AirHost PMS) is not notified of the cancellation, so it does not block availability for other OTAs. Instead, Booking.com simply increases its own inventory count and continues to attract other guests as usual on their site. (To guarantee the risk-free feature, Booking.com may be automatically adjusting display order or other factors.)

On the other hand, AirHost PMS performs inventory synchronization with other OTAs right after reservation confirmation, and also once daily runs a full inventory resync to ensure that inventory counts inside AirHost PMS match those set on connected OTAs. Because cancellation notifications are not sent by Booking.com, the inventory count in AirHost PMS remains zero for those canceled dates, which causes AirHost PMS to sync zero availability back to Booking.com for those dates.

Currently, if Booking.com does not notify AirHost PMS of a risk-free reservation cancellation, AirHost PMS cannot detect it. From AirHost PMS’s perspective, the reservation still exists, which creates a risk of double booking and results in zero availability being synced.

Even when Booking.com sends cancellation notifications and increases inventory on their side, this action is decided and performed entirely by Booking.com, so AirHost PMS cannot control it and cannot fully support this process.

We apologize for not meeting your expectations. We will continue discussing with Booking.com to explore how we can support this better in the future.

When Booking.com connects with AirHost, the notification emails that were previously sent from Booking.com will no longer be received. This is because AirHost provides alternative notification emails. Please refer to the relevant manual for details.

From the AirHost reservation details page, you can execute several Booking.com commands. Without logging into the Booking.com management page, you can perform the following actions within the “Booking.com Actions” section.

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In the Booking.com portal, under "Security Settings" > "Email Address Settings," you can specify which email addresses are allowed to send emails to your Booking.com virtual email address to enhance security. Emails sent from unregistered email addresses will not be delivered to guests.　

If you do not specify any email address in the "Email Address Settings" field, all email addresses will be allowed. However, if you specify an email address, you will need to also register @client.airhost.co to allow messages from AirHost.

For details, please refer to the help page below.

[FAQ] About sending messages to Booking.com when using a site controller or PMS from another company

For details, please refer to the help page below.

[FAQ] What is the difference between the "minimum stay" on Booking.com's pricing calendar and the "minimum stay" on Airhost?