Arran guesthouse owner hits out at Booking.com over £7k debt by website
Owner of Strathwhillan house Charlotte Hirschfield says she's owed nearly £7000 from 80 bookings made through the travel website.
Last updated 31st Aug 2023
A guesthouse owner on the Isle of Arran says they’ve been pushed to breaking point and nearly been forced to close down their 17 year business because accommodation website booking.com owes her thousands of pounds.
Charlotte Hirschfield owns Strathwhillan House in Brodick and operates the entire business by herself.
She’s been left in a difficult position, claiming Booking.com haven’t paid her for the last 80 guests who have booked through their site, now owing her approximately £7000.
The Amsterdam based firm typically takes payment from the customer and then pays the host once it has deducted fees and commission.
They have had several hosts speak out over the summer after they said some payments were delayed as result of planned IT system maintenance in July.
The company blamed ‘unforeseen technical issues on the delay for payments and said their working urgently to resolve the situation.
However, Charlotte is starting to worry about the future of her business, as she says they’ve been a nightmare to get a hold of and she has payments due in the next few days that she now can’t afford.
"Financially, it is crippling"
She is telling West FM about her situation.
She said: “For the last 8 years I‘ve used booking.com because people these days prefer securing accommodation online. I use their auto payment scheme where the money is paid into my account weekly. I’ve never had any issues with doing things this way until the last month or so.
“Over the last few weeks this has affected over 80 of my reservations which I still haven’t had payment totalling £7000.
“I’m still having to buy the breakfast produce, and other provisions to keep myself trading for forthcoming guests. Financially it is crippling, my mortgage payment is due on August 31st, and I don’t have the funds to pay it. September is looming and I have many other direct debits and payments due out of my business account that I won’t be able to meet either.
“Other hosts I know have been waiting since June for their money and been threatened with repossession or had to close because they couldn’t afford to even feed their guests.
“Trying to get a response from booking.com has been challenging. Plenty of promised callbacks that haven’t happened, computer generated replies. I have only had one generic apology from an actual human.
“They’ve promised me specific payment dates they’re not delivering on and then they put the date back again and again. This has been going on for about a month now.
“As a small business owner still trying to recover from the last few years with Covid and the cost-of-living crisis, I don’t want to have to shut my doors, but the current situation may leave me with no choice. I just feel so angry that they’re destroying my livelihood and everything I’ve worked to build up over the last 17 years.
“They just don’t seem to care at all. I’m not the only one in this position, there are many across Ayrshire and Scotland in this position, I’m sure.”
Booking.com: "Nearly all of our accommodation partners have received what is owed"
A spokesperson for Booking.com said: “We fully understand the frustration of the accommodation hosts and owners that have been unduly affected by an ongoing technical issue, and we can confirm that payment to this partner has been processed. Nearly all of our accommodation partners have received what is owed to them following the planned system maintenance, but we acknowledge that for some this has taken longer than it should have.”
Charlotte has since informed West FM that one payment went through on August 31 which helped cover the mortgage, but payments accumulating another £6500 have still to appear in her account.