Booking.com is relatively new to offering short-term rental properties, which Hometime is Australia's largest property manager of short-term rentals on behalf of Homeowners. Historically, Booking.com have focussed on hotel listings and reservations.
As the Booking.com platform is still relatively new to this type of accommodation, it is still a little bit clunky for guests. Booking.com protect your privacy and do not provide us with a copy of the credit card details that were used to pay for your booking.
As such, we require you to submit them to us again to pre-authorise the security deposit for your stay. This security deposit protects the homeowner against damages that may occur during a guest's stay. The security deposit is not a charge on your card, it is a hold on funds that are automatically released 3 days after check out, as long as there are no issues found on the property.
I have attached a screenshot below of the Booking.com listing which notifies guests of this security deposit. Our security deposits are all taken through a Stripe form. Stripe, as you may know, are the largest payment provider across the world and have extremely high levels of data security for credit card data.
I understand your hesitation of being taken off the Booking.com platform to enter your credit card details, however, this is a Booking.com platform limitation that we must conform to.
I hope this clarifies some of your concerns around the security deposit and how it is taken.
Please let me reassure you that Hometime accepts thousands of bookings every year through Booking.com and this is the process that all guests must follow.
Please reach out if you have any further questions about your booking.