Improve Booking.com Payment & Security Deposit Transparency for Merchant-of-Record PMs
PM feedback/request regarding Booking.com payment behavior and guest-facing charge transparency when using Hostfully as the merchant of record.
Current pain points:
PMS payment schedule settings (ex: “collect balance 5 days before arrival”) appear to imply they apply to Booking.com reservations as well, but Booking.com reservations may follow different payment timing/workflows.
Guests may see messaging during checkout indicating they will not be charged until later, but then experience immediate charges/payment requests.
Security deposit charges configured correctly in Hostfully are not clearly displayed/explained to Booking.com guests during checkout/payment flow.
This creates guest confusion, payment disputes, and additional manual follow-up work for PMs.
Suggested improvements:
Add clearer wording/warnings in payment settings explaining what does vs does not apply to Booking.com reservations
Better explain merchant-of-record workflows and payment timing expectations
Improve visibility/disclosure of security deposit charges for Booking.com guests
Reduce guest confusion and Stripe/payment disputes caused by unclear charge presentation.
Jani Palomino
shared this idea