The reservations you receive via the BedandBreakfast.com Online program are generated by many different websites, receiving a total of over 100 million guests each month.
If the reservation is made on BedandBreakfast.com, SideStep.com, and Kayak.com, we can give you the guest’s email address because the transaction for these reservations takes place on the BedandBreakfast.com website.
When a guest books through Expedia, hotels.com, or one of their sister companies, the email address cannot be shared with us because of strict guidelines and laws that govern the sharing of a personal email information with a third party. When guests book through Expedia, they complete their entire booking transaction on the Expedia website, unaware that BedandBreakfast.com has supplied Expedia with the B&B information. For Expedia to pass their customers’ email addresses would violate anti-spam laws, and would also raise privacy concerns among their customers.
Originally, when Expedia and hotels.com began listing B&Bs on their websites, they did not even share guests’ phone numbers with innkeepers. When we partnered with Expedia, we successfully negotiated to get them to share this information. In addition, the direct phone number for your property is on each guest confirmation email, along with a request that each guest contact you 48 hours prior to check-in.
We do understand that phone numbers supplied by travelers are not always useful and that it can be difficult to reach people once they have booked. If you are unable to get in touch with a guest who has booked your property through this program, please do not hesitate to let us know. We can submit a request to Expedia and ask them to send the guest an email asking them to contact you.
Although we realize that’s not a perfect solution, we are convinced that the benefits of this program far outweigh any drawbacks, and we hope you agree.
Thank you again for being a member of BedandBreakfast.com and for your participation in the BedandBreakfast.com Online Reservations program! We sincerely value your business!