Booking.com is the most popular channel among the guests so we enable it very often in our Channel Manager. Check the connection guide to see how the connection works and what should be done to activate it correctly.
Contents
1. How does the connection with Booking.com work?
2. Before you activate the connection
3. How to request the connection from Booking.com?
4. How to enable the connection in FrontDesk Master?
5. How to verify if my connection with Booking.com is active?
6. How to change price and availability on Booking.com?
7. How to check if the specific date is synchronized properly on Booking.com?
8. How to close/open rooms on Booking.com?
9. How to set up restrictions on Booking.com?
10. How to disable XML connection?
11. Booking.com troubleshooting
11.1 Rooms blocked on Booking.com
How does the connection with Booking.com work?
Booking.com connection supports the Availability & Rates synchronization and Bookings retrieval.
What information does system receive and send to Booking.com?
Basics:
- Bookings Retrieval - if a guest makes a reservation in Booking.com, it will be downloaded to the system with all information about the guest and booking rate within one minute
- Availability and Rate updates - the information about each change in the system is sent to the portal immediately.
- Automatic Modifications & Cancellations - each modification made by guest (cc update, guest details change,...) or a cancellation will be downloaded to the system
And more:
- Download Future Bookings - when the connection is enabled, Booking.com sends to the system all future reservations so you do not need to add them manually (check: Can I download all my future Bookings from channels?)
- Credit Card Details - this information is safely sent from the portal directly to the system (check: Where can I find the guest Credit Card details?)
- Set the CC Details as invalid - You can also set the CC details as invalid directly in the system and this information will be sent to Booking.com and to the guest. If the guest updates the details, you will receive that with the modification.
- No Shows - if you set a reservation as No-Show in the system, it will be adjusted also on Booking.com so you do not need to set it manually in the Extranet (check: Marking bookings as NoShow)
- Single Use Rate - a restriction which gives you a possibility set a different price for one guest in case of private rooms (check: Single Use Rate for Booking.com)
Restrictions supported in Booking.com connection:
- Minimum Stay Through
- Minimum Stay Arrival
- Maximum Stay
- Closed at Arrival
- Closed at Departure
- Close Rate
- Close Room
Before you activate the connection
Make sure, if:
1. rooms and room types in the system are set up correctly and the room types correspond to settings in Booking.com (if you have two physical rooms assigned to Double Room Shared Bathroom room type in FrontDesk Master, in the portal you should have one corresponding room type, Double Room Shared Bathroom).
In case of dorm rooms in Booking.com, please make sure that the max standard occupancy of the rooms is set to 1. You can check and configure that in your Extranet under Property / Room Details section.
The dorm rooms should be set to Standard occupancy: 1 adult, as in the example below:
If the standard occupancy is set to another value, click on the Edit button to modify room settings, scroll down to see Bed or Room options section and set the maximum number of guests to 1.
In the number of beds section put the number of beds. E.g. in case of 6 bed dorm, it has to be 6.
2. prices and rates are correctly set up in the system and correspond to settings in the portal.
Please make sure if everything is set up properly before you move to the next step.
How to request the connection from Booking.com
In order to activate the connection, go to your Extranet and open Connectivity provider settings which can be found under the Account button in the top right corner of the screen.
If you do not see the Channel Manager or Account section in the Extranet, please contact your account manager from the portal directly and request the connection with the Channel Manager:
Hostel System/ FrontDesk Master. Then proceed as described below.
Next, there are 4 steps:
Step 1: Select provider
Click on Start button to enable the connection with Channel Manager. Select Hostel System / FrontDesk Master as the provider and choose the first option from the list - Full connection (two way).
Step 2: Agreement
Accept Terms and Conditions and submit the request of connection.
Step 3: Provider confirmation
At this step, we as your Channel Manager, receive the request from Booking.com. We confirm that for you so that you can go on to the next step.
Step 4: Active
Done! The connection is activated on Booking.com's side. Go to the next part of the guide to enable it in FrontDesk Master.
How to enable the connection in FrontDesk Master
In order to fully activate the connection with Booking.com, open Channel Manager.
Choose Booking.com plugin, and click on the Enable button on the right bottom corner of the window, then confirm the action:
STEP 1 - connection details
1. Enter your property ID.
2. These options disable full synchronization with the portal. Be careful here!
- Disable bookings downloading - when you select this option, you decide to manually add all reservations from Booking.com to the system and reservations will not be downloaded from the portal automatically
- Disable All Availability Uploads - this option disable all uploads to Booking.com so the system will not synchronize prices or availability.
3. Decide if reservations form Booking.com should be Auto-allocated to beds or not.
Click on Next button in order to proceed.
STEP 2 - room mapping
On the right side, you will see also two more columns:
Max Beds - should be empty in case of Booking.com.
Contracted Rooms - here can put the number of your contracted room (in case you have them).
What does it mean?
If you have so-called "contracted rooms" in Booking.com, it means that there are some beds, which should be sold ONLY at Booking.com.
Therefore, the number of beds which was "contracted" with Booking.com cannot be sold by other means. So if you put e.g. 1 contracted room for 4 Bed Dorm, the system will send less availability to other channels.
Please note that if you leave an unmapped room type the system won't control it at all. No price or availability updates will be sent to the channel and the system won't be able to allocate bookings to beds.
Click on Next button to continue.
STEP 3 - rate mapping
In this part you decide which rate the prices will be sent to Booking.com from:
1. Please make sure that you send the prices in the correct currency. If you use more currencies, you can also choose the option Automatically convert received bookings to .... and the system will convert the price automatically to the main currency according to the change rate you previously set up in Property Settings. (Setting up currencies).
This point is very important, because Booking.com does not make any currency validation. What it means? E.g. 20 USD = 13400 CLP. If your main currency on Booking.com is USD and you map the rate incorrectly, Booking.com will show the price 13400 USD!
2. In the table, select the rates from FrontDesk Master from which the prices will be updated on the portal.
3. Click on the Save button to activate the connection.
Please note that if you leave an unmapped rate the system won't control it at all. No price or availability updates will be sent to the channel and the system won't be able to allocate bookings to beds.
Additional columns
- Occupancy pricing - keep the checkboxes unchecked , this option has not been developed yet by Booking.com. We will notify you when it is ready! Check other possibilities here: Occupancy Prices.
- Adjustment - this option gives you the possibility to adjust the rate prices you send to the channel. You can choose if you would like to adjust the price adding or discounting some specific amount or you can also choose the % option. Note that the adjustment will not visible in Availability & Rate Calendar!
STEP 4 - save the connection
When you click on the Save button in STEP 3, you will see the connection confirmation view. At this moment, the system starts to download future reservations (it can take about 15-30 minutes, depending on the quantity of reservation) from Booking.com and it sends the one-year global availability and rates update to the portal.
Congratulations!
The connection with Booking.com is now active!
IMPORTANT NOTES
- After confirming your XML connection you will not be able to edit rates and availability in Booking.com Extranet anymore (if you chose Two-Way XML connection).
- Rates and availability will be editable and uploaded automatically from FrontDesk Master.
- It is critical to making sure that FrontDesk Master contains correct prices and availability.
- If you are not sure if FrontDesk Master is set up properly, DO NOT REQUEST XML before verifying the settings and making sure that you know how to manage them.
- Please note that the action of mapping and unmapping rooms by itself does not generate the rate or availability change in Extranet. After such action, you must SAVE the connection (go to STEP 4 in Channel Manager to send the synchronization) in order to overwrite previous settings.
- Please make sure that the 3 next bookings which you will receive after the synchronization has been enabled, have entered your system. If not then please report it to us immediately to support@frontdeskmaster.com
How to verify if my connection with Booking.com is active?
You can check if the connection with the portal is active in two places:
Channel Manager - if the plugin is green, it means that the connection is activated:
Online Availability - in this part of the system you will see only these portals which are active. If a plugin is deactivated, it will not appear on the list. You can check here what availability was sent to the system recently and check if it was correct.
a) Choose one specific date and room type in FrontDesk Master to make a test.
b) Make sure that you choose the correct rate and currency. If you have any strategies, choose them as well.
c) Open Booking.com Extranet (NOT the Website!) on the same date and room type.
d) Change the price +1$. You can put also e.g. a minimum stay restriction to test it as well.
e) Refresh the backoffice and check if the price and the restriction were updated correctly.
When there are restrictions applied for a specific date, in the Extranet will appear * sign on the room status line.
Later you can restore the Season Price that you put manually to the one you had before:
f) Go to BedView and block a bed in the mentioned room type for the test date. Refresh the Extranet and check if the availability was correctly reduced. Then unblock it and see it was updates correctly again.
g) Close the room in the Calendar by checking Close Room box. Refresh the Extranet and check if the room was correctly closed. It will turn red when it's closed.
How to change price and availability on Booking.com?
When the connection is activated, the system automatically updates all price and availability changes. They are updated on Booking.com Extranet within few seconds.
Price Changes
You can change prices for whole seasons (check the instruction: How to set up prices?) or for selected days only (see here: Quick price changes in the Calendar).
To check if the changes are updated properly, you can change the price on selected day and room in Availability and Rate Calendar:
1. Change the price manually in the Calendar
2. Save the changes.
3. Open your Extranet or refresh the window if it is already opened and check if the price is updated.
4. Restore season price with right click
5. Check the price update in the Extranet
Availability Changes
Every time there is a new reservation added to the system (manually or it is downloaded from the portals), moved to another room type, cancelled or modified, the system updates the availability automatically in Availability and Rate Calendar. That availability is sent to Booking.com and the updates are immediately done in the Extranet.
You can easily check how it works:
1. Create a new reservation in the system and observe how the availability changes in the calendar.
2. Open the Extranet to see the availability updated on the portal.
How to check if the specific date is synchronized properly on Booking.com?
In order to check if the availability, rates or restrictions were synchronized properly with Booking.com, please always check that information directly in Booking.com Extranet (not on Booking.com website) and compare it to the data in Availability & Rate Calendar. The information should be always the same in both places.
How to close/open rooms on Booking.com?
In order to close or open a room on Booking.com, use Close Room restriction in Booking.com. You can also simply block beds on Bed View to close it with 0 availability. (How to block/unblock beds?)
Close Room restriction
1. Click on Close Room checkbox on the selected date and Save the changes in the Calendar. Then, refresh the Extranet to see the changes.
2. In order to open a room, uncheck the box of Close Room restriction and Save the changes.
If you use Close Room restriction the room type will be closed on all portals connected to the system. In order to close it only on Booking.com and leave it available on other portals, you can use Close Rate restriction, however, it will work only if you have a separate rate created and connected with Booking.com only (it lets you set up different prices and restrictions for selected portal). (Setting up rates)
How to set up restrictions on Booking.com?
Restrictions supported in Booking.com connection:
- Minimum Stay Through
- Minimum Stay Arrival
- Maximum Stay
- Closed at Arrival
- Closed at Departure
- Close Rate
- Close Room
Before you set up restrictions in the system, make sure that they are activated in your Booking.com Extranet. To do so please contact your account manager directly.
Minimum Stay Through and Minimum Stay Arrival
Minimum Stay Through (or minimum length of stay) restriction limits availability by specifying the number of nights that must be booked for stays that include the restriction date in any part of the stay date range.
Minimum Stay Arrival (or minimum length of stay) restriction limits availability by specifying the number of nights that must be booked for stays that include the restriction date as the arrival date.
The Minimum Stay restrictions are set in Availability and Rate Calendar, manually for selected days or using Bulk Update option.
To set up the restriction manually:
1. Select it from the list and click on Show button.
2. Enter the restriction value, for example, 2 nights of Minimum Stay Through and Save the changes. The restriction will appear in the Extranet.
To set up the restriction using Bulk Update:
1. Click on Bulk Update button and select Restrictions from the option buttons.
2. Select dates, room and rate to which the restriction should be applied and enter the value of Minimum Stay Through or Arrival. Then, click on Run or Run and Close button.
Done! The restrictions will appear in the calendar and will be automatically synchronized to the portal.
In order to remove the restriction, change its value to 1.
Maximum Stay
Maximum Stay restriction limits availability by specifying a maximum number of nights that may be booked for stays that include the restriction date as the arrival date.
You can set up Maximum Stay the same way as Minimum Stay restrictions, manually in the Calendar:
Or using the Bulk Update button:
Closed at Arrival and Closed at Departure
When Closed at Arrival restriction is active, reservations are not accepted for this arrival date.
When Closed at Departure restriction is active, reservations are not accepted for this departure date.
You can set the restrictions in Availability and Rate Calendar, manually:
1. Select it from the list and click on Show button.
2. Click on the checkbox in order to close availability to arrival or departure on the selected day and Save the changes. The restriction will appear in the Extranet.
Uncheck the boxed in order to remove the restriction.
Or using the Bulk Update button:
Select dates, room and rate to which the restriction should be applied and click on the Close/Open buttons in order to close or open the restriction. Then, click on Run or Run and Close button.
Done! The restrictions will appear in the calendar and will be automatically synchronized to the portal.
Close Rate
When Close Rate restriction is active there's no availability for bookings made with the rate in question. For example, if "Booking.com Rate" is closed for 2 days there won't be availability for 2 days for bookings made with this rate.
If you created a separate rate for Booking.com connection only and it is mapped in Channel Manager, you can use Close Rate restriction in order to close availability on Booking.com and keep the rooms open at the same time on different portals.
You can set the restrictions in Availability and Rate Calendar, manually:
1. Select it from the list and click on Show button.
2. Click on the checkbox in order to close rate on the selected day and Save the changes. The restriction will appear in the Extranet.
Uncheck the boxed in order to remove the restriction.
Or using the Bulk Update button:
Select dates, room and rate to which the restriction should be applied and click on the Close/Open buttons in order to close or open the restriction. Then, click on Run or Run and Close button.
Close Room
When Close Room restriction is active the room type in question is closed, which means the room will not be available on booking channels and FrontDesk Master Booking Engine under any of the rates. See here.
How to disable XML connection?
In order to disable the XML connection, go to Booking.com Extranet, to Channel Manager settings.
Click on Deactivate button in order to cancel the connection between FrontDesk Master and Booking.com.
When it is deactivated on the portal, open Channel Manager in FrontDesk Master. In Booking.com plugin, click on Disable Now button.
Then confirm the action.
The plugin will appear as disabled.
Booking.com troubleshooting
1. How to re-download a deleted booking from Booking.com?
When the connection between the system and Booking.com is working correctly and you receive a new reservation, it will always contain the full guest information:
- Guest first and last name
- Nationality
- E-mail address
- Credit card details (Only if required and guest put it. In some cases they don't have to do it. E.g. Genius guests don't have to provide credit card details in some cases)
- Phone and address (If required by the property)
- Additional info in the booking note
If the booking was received correctly by the channel manager and you need to re-download it from our server (e.g. in case it was deleted by mistake) you can do by opening Reservation View / Online Bookings / Download Bookings:
Put the reservation ID and click on Show Bookings button. If the the booking was downloaded correctly it will appear below in grey colour. In case the booking was modified or cancelled you will see more positions on the list with the information if it was a New Booking, Modification or Cancellation.
Check booking you need to download and click the Download button. If the booking was modified a few times, you can just download the last modification. It will contain all the necessary information.
In case you cannot find the booking on the server you can re-download it directly from Booking.com. However please note that in this case the booking will only contain the guest first and last name, but not the e-mail address, nationality, credit card, address, phone number.
In order to do it click on Show Future Bookings in the same Download Bookings Window.
You will see the list of all future booking from different channels. The green colour means that the booking exists in the system. However, the red color means that the booking is pending to be downloaded. Check the box on the left side and click the Download button.
Be careful! If you re-download a green booking all the information you have inside the existing reservation will be overwritten and you can lose what you put there before.
2. Closed rooms on Booking.com
If a room is open in FrontDesk Master, the availability is positive and everything looks correct, yet the room appears as closed in Booking.com Extranet, make an availability changes or price changes test as described in the STEP 7 of this instruction.
If you see that the availability and prices changes correctly but the room is still closed, it means that there is a hard block of the room and channel manager is not able to open it. There are two solutions:
1. We send an information about the issue to Booking.com. When we receive the reply, we come back to you with the information that you need to contact your account manager directly and request opening problematic rooms as it cannot be done by your channel manager. It can take some time, however.
2. You can disconnect FrontDesk Master from Booking.com in your Extranet, open rooms manually and, after that, activate the connection again. If you decide for this option, let us know about it becase the Booking.com connection request needs to be confirmed on our side and we need to be available to do it for you.
If you have any doubts or questions regarding Booking.com connection, do not hesitate to contact your account manager or support@frontdeskmaster.com, we will be happy to help!