DecaturHouse507
Ocean City, MD Vacation Rental Property
#bookdirect
Whenever you decide to book a vacation rental, you should always consider booking direct with the owner. Like many other properties, we are listed on the large travel websites. But we also maintain channels (like this website) to find us directly.
Whether you book our place on the large travel websites or not, you will always deal with us directly. And when renting from us, you will always receive personalized attention and people standing behind your accommodations. And most important - you will NEVER pay any booking fees when booking direct with us!
The following is an actual online search result. This is for illustrative purposes only, and demonstrates the cost of renting thru the large travel sites vs. booking directly with us.
The first screenshot is from one of the most popular traveler websites in the world. This is our listing, which you would come across while searching for OC MD condos. This is a search for a rental for 1 guest for the week of July 21st to 28th, 2019. It shows a nightly price on the bottom right-hand side of the listing
If you click on our listing, you'll be taken to an expanded version of the listing. Here, you can read a detailed description of our condo, view additional photos, review the list of amenities, and access the condo calendar of availability.
The price per night also appears on this page - but it has gone from $291 per night to $328 per night - an increase of $37 per night. Not a small increase.
If you click on the "Price breakdown" link. located underneath the nightly price, you will see exactly what is happening. Notice that link is tiny, and doesn't really look like a link, as opposed to the big red "Book" button - that's intentional.
When you click on "Price breakdown", you will see the line items of cost. This website is ADDING A $263 SERVICE FEE (an additional 12.9%) to the cost of our condo rental. For the service of connecting you to our condo, using a computer, they are charging (you) almost $300 for the privilege. All the big travel sites are doing this - and some service fees are even higher! This isn't limited to Ocean City, or beach properties, either. This is every listing, everywhere in the world. There's no way to possibly justify charging a fee like this.
These companies claim that your fee is going towards protecting you from fraud. However, when you pay by credit card, your credit card company protects you from fraudulent transactions. In the event of a fraudulent booking, the travel websites will almost always push back on you to work with your credit card issuer first.
The other "protection" they offer, is to provide you with alternative accommodations in the event that something is wrong with the place you booked. While this sounds good in theory, where is a travel website going to find you similar accommodations in Ocean City, in the middle of summer? You will be lucky if they find something 30 miles away in Salisbury. This is simply not feasible during the high season, when everything else is booked.
While these large travel websites offer a lot of listings in once place, and the convenience of booking instantly - travelers are paying dearly for this convenience. They hide their fees as much as possible, to make it look like the owners are over-charging. When in reality, they are the ones adding hundreds on every booking transaction on their website. Our condo is exactly the same, whether you book on one of these websites, or directly from us. Why pay an enormous service fee if you don't have to?
In response to these service fees, new "fee-free" travel websites are gaining support. We recommend Houfy for your vacation rental needs. Houfy charges no traveler fees, and allows unrestricted communication with rental owners.