Any thoughts or experiences with the Preferred Partner Program on Booking.com?

[Alex Scattareggia]

We qualify for the program and do a significant amount of business through Booking already.  I am a little bit leery of anything that adds fees, but Booking does seem to deliver some value through their programs, so I am torn.  Any insight would be greatly appreciated. 

[Alex Scattareggia]

@JD Martin Booking has a couple of ¨partner¨ programs on the host side and the guest side, its comparable to Superhost on Airbnb.  

The guest program is called Genuis, these are basically guests who have completed a certain amount of stays and have been model guests. As the host you can choose to accept what is called Genuis bookings. Essentially you get access to this pool of renters and in exchange you are required to offer them a discounted stay. I was very skeptical but I talked to a friend who runs a huge portfolio with STR and boutique hotel and he it leads to a big uptick in bookings. We raised our prices a bit and began accepting Genuis bookings and saw about 150% more traffic and bookings. So I am a believer in that program and as hosts we can obviously offset the discounts by just raising our prices congruently.

The one I´m asking about (Preferred Partner) is the host side.  Similar to Superhost you have to hit certain revenue and review targets to qualify.  The difference is that you are required to give up an undisclosed amount more in fees.  I think the verbiage is ¨a slightly higher commission¨ but they promise 30% more bookings.  I have a few emails to their support but haven't heard anything back yet so I was curious if anyone had experience with it or knew the fee structure and if it pencils out.