Booking.com Reviews
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Booking.com provides an online platform for arranging travel. Offering flights, accommodations, car rentals and travel experiences, the site provides a one-stop shop for trip planning. Booking.com has a global reach and connects users to a wide variety of travel options, facilitating reservations and customer support.
Visit www.booking.com- User-friendly booking process
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- Inconsistent pricing information
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- Issues with reservation accuracy
Booking.com Reviews
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Reviewed May 27, 2014
I booked a hotel in October 2013 at the Wingate by Wyndham State Arena Raleigh/Cary Hotel. I was guaranteed free cancellation if made within 1 day of my arrival, which was scheduled for May 9, 2014. Plans changed and I cancelled the reservation on March 14, 2014, two months BEFORE my check-in date. The hotel charged me one night anyway. I contacted Booking.com regarding the charges. They made me provide copies of the credit card statement with my name and account number for PROOF of the charges. Then they emailed me that the hotel couldn't refund the charge because the expiration date on my card was incorrect. I provided the correct expiration date via email.
Days later I followed up. I was told that I never provided the correct expiration date. Then they advised me to contact the hotel manager directly and provided me with a name and phone number for the hotel. The phone number they provided was correct, but the so-called manager's name was "Bob". The hotel doesn't even have a "Bob" working there and the manager is female!!! I will NEVER use Booking.com again. I should have just filed a dispute with the credit card company to begin with but I'm glad I didn't. I learned first hand that Booking.com has POOR customer service and poorly trained customer service agents. There are too many other online travel services to use them. Customer service should be their business.
Reviewed May 27, 2014
I cancelled a room due to work commitments with booking.com three weeks before I was due to use it. They said I did not show and took my money. They will not refund. I think three weeks notice is enough to let them know. I think this company uses illegal practices.
Reviewed May 26, 2014
I booked a place to stay in Bali on Booking.com - it was cancelled and a month went by before I was told. So I booked 3 places this time to make sure I had a place to stay next week. The site informed me that my credit card was used only to secure the booking and nothing would be charged on it. Well the next day I got email confirmation from 2 places saying they would charge my card AUD $484 and $512 respectively if I cancelled the booking. I nearly died. So I have cancelled my credit card and then cancelled the bookings. Warning: do not use Booking.com. You guessed it, I am going with the third place that didn't threaten me with charges and are very friendly.
Reviewed May 25, 2014
I got an email saying that there was a mistake on their end and my reservation would need to be canceled. I explained that I had made plans based on this hotel reservation but they went ahead and canceled my stay anyways! There wasn't any compensation for their mistake!
Reviewed May 23, 2014
Booked several reservations for a trip to Ireland; received email confirmations from all online services except Booking.com. Just called (a month after making the reservations) to see what happened, and was told that those were already sent. CSR did resend one reservation but not the other. When I pointed out that they might want to look into what happened, she got very rude, insisting it was my fault for not receiving the email confirmations. Won't be using them again.
Reviewed May 23, 2014
I booked a hotel in the Gold Coast, Queensland using Booking.com. I had to cancel due to the death of my mother. I cancelled the booking online within the time limit and received a cancellation confirmation online. Even though Booking.com charged me one night. I complained and they refused to refund my money. They referred me to a lawyers firm in Amsterdam that only accepts complaints in writing over the mail. They never bother to reply to my complaint. Never use Booking.com. They are dodgy and dishonest.
Reviewed May 22, 2014
Booked room with Booking.com and they billed me for the room ahead of time. Then when I arrived at the hotel, they needed my credit card to get the room. I explained that I already paid for the room, and Best Western said it was just for security reasons. So, a month later, I got a bill for Booking.com and Best Western on my credit card. When I spoke with Booking.com, they explained that I needed copies of everything from them, from my credit card billing, and from the Best Western.
They are making me do all the leg work when they can just call the hotel up and figure out this mess themselves! They made this mistake, not me! I'm still fighting with them even though I sent them all the reservation numbers, a copy of my cc statement, and the hotel stay dates, and where we stayed. They still want more documents. I told them there isn't anymore! They billed me without even knowing it! WTF over, are these people stupid or what. I'll give them another week or so, then I'm going to the hotel with a cop and charge them for theft!
Reviewed May 22, 2014
Price shopped online for hotel room rates, final quoted price/charge was much higher than online price & price quoted as nightly rate by person on phone. I told the person to cancel the request as this final price was much higher than I expected. She charged my account anyway and now they won't reverse the charges. So far tonight I've woolen with 4 people there, the last one supposedly a Supervisor that says she is trying to retrieve the recorded conversation and will call me back in 30 minutes. I won't hold my breath. They wouldn't even tell me the name of their Company, "I'm not allowed to tell you that ma'am." Really??? As I told her that's VERY shady!!! Will never do this again.
Reviewed May 21, 2014
I recently needed to change my credit card information with Booking.com. For my trips this summer, I had already been charged in full from 3 of the hotels. (Meaning I didn't have to pay anything else since 100% payment was taken at the time of the reservation.) For some reason, the 3 hotels re-charged me as a result of what the Booking.com agent did when I called asking for help with editing my credit card details. Since these 3 hotels double charged me (telling me that Booking.com had made this error sending my info. a second time, as if payment was not yet made), I had to prove that I had already paid in full months ago. The hotels reimbursed me although since the exchange rate had fluctuated during the time it took me to show documentation, I lost out on around 8USD. Not a lot of money, although I'm not the one who should be losing out on these eight dollars.
Reviewed May 21, 2014
This evening has been a complete nightmare for my husband thanks to Booking.com. I booked a room for him at the Hyatt Rosemont 19 days ago and received confirmation from Booking.com by email. Today, after getting up at 2:00 AM and working all day, he flew from San Antonio to Chicago and shuttled to the hotel only to be told that they had NO reservation for him and no vacancies. In fact, there wasn't a vacancy to be found anywhere within 2 hours of O'Hare. I contacted Booking.com by phone and was told that they had faxed the reservation to the hotel on the day I booked the room and that they would find a room for him somewhere.
The agent called me back a while later and said that there was a room for my husband in another hotel 6 miles from the Hyatt. I was instructed to immediately follow a link that the agent provided and book the room at the Wyndham Glenview. After a $40 cab ride, my husband arrived at the Wyndham only to be told that THEY had no reservation for him and no vacancies. I called Booking.com again and spoke to a different agent who promised to contact the Wyndham and my husband immediately. My husband never received that call (thanks a lot, Ted!), but a woman called me 15-20 minutes later with information about a room at yet another hotel.
Again I instructed the agent to call my husband's cell phone and give him the information directly. She did so, but by then, the Wyndham had found a room, albeit with a number of issues that would normally render it unusable, and offered it to my husband. Since the Booking.com agent's suggestion was for him to travel another 25 miles by cab at midnight (I can't even fathom the cost of THAT cab ride!!), my husband chose to stay at the Wyndham even if it meant sleeping in a janitors' closet. I will NEVER do business with Booking.com again and plan to spread the word via every social media outlet to which I have access.
Reviewed May 20, 2014
Has anybody else had this experience (booking.com do not seem interested)? I tried logging in again this morning and it worked for a short time and then when I went to change the meals, as we provide breakfast within the price, it took me back to log in page as my period had expired and it once again would not accept my log in details. I am getting very frustrated with this site. Surely booking.com is making enough money to provide a seamless website!
Reviewed May 20, 2014
This hotel is awful, do not stay there. When we complained, the manager stated "tough, it's what you paid for." Complaint to booking.com, we got no reply. We did not stay but still got charged, use late rooms instead. Better customer service. Do not use booking.com and do not stay at the Lismore Banbury.
Updated review: May 26, 2014
I have learnt at least 1 thing from this experience: to use my credit card for any booking in the future. Good luck, everyone!
Original Review: May 19, 2014
I used Booking.com many times in the past and never had any problems. Until this time. We booked an accommodation in a Hotel in Turkey, advertised as no charge until arrival, free cancellation. It appeared that they have charged the whole amount in advance, also higher rate than was advertised. We have cancelled the stay, as there better hotels at this rate. 3 weeks thereafter, no sign of the refund. All that Booking.com is saying that they are not responsible for this transaction and that they are working on the resolution. So, total of over $800 is gone (I used debit card so our bank cannot help either). Frustrating, saying the least. Will never use them again.

Reviewed May 18, 2014
I book a hotel room in Savannah but due to weather conditions, I had to cancel. Cancellation policy said must cancel prior to 4 PM on the day you are staying. I cancelled at 12:30 PM. The hotel ended up charging me that night's room rate. Contacted booking.com immediately and it's now been over 3 weeks and I have yet to receive my money back and they are no longer answering my emails. Thank goodness you can dispute charges on your credit card. This was my first and last time using booking.com.
Reviewed May 18, 2014
I booked a room thru Booking.com at Comfort Inn Suites Downtown Montreal Quebec. Upon arrival I was advised the hotel was "sold out" and that my reservation, along with approximately a dozen others, with Booking.com would not be honored!!!!! They (Comfort Inn) then advised me there was one room available, at this location at 100$ more than my reserved rate with Booking.com!!!! Then came the finger pointing!!!! Booking.com blamed Comfort Inn who blamed Booking.com for the overbooking process!!!! Booking.com gave me two options: a room with shared bathroom facilities or a room approx 10 klm from the downtown area. Neither were to my satisfaction.
I wasted 2.5 hrs in the front lobby, waiting for these idiots to sort out the mess, and listening to the anger from the displaced guests. Booking.com and Comfort Inn should be ashamed of themselves for treating the public with such disrespect, and tarnishing the reputation of the great city of Montreal. I will never use either Booking.com or Comfort Inn Downtown Montreal, as in my opinion, they are both at fault for mess to happen. The hotel admitted they were aware of the overbooking situation, at least three days in advance, and advised Booking.com to resolve. Needless to say, neither party took the time to resolve, resulting in people scrambling for other accommodations, or as in my case, I cancelled my weekend plans and returned home.
Reviewed May 16, 2014
When I got to both locations they were dirty, old, about 2 decades behind in the decor and facilities. When I contacted them, their response was "We are not liable for the conditions defined by the owner." They are bait and switch. Booking.com suck.
Reviewed May 16, 2014
I made numerous phone calls to Booking.com about booking the hotel Raddison IA, instead of Raddison MO, we are from Australia, it's a simple mistake seeing as though we do not live here. They were calling the hotel & saying no managers were there to see whether we could get out of the booking on that same day of check in, but Raddison has since advised its up to Booking.com to refund my money, they booked it, it's their problem. The Raddison also advised me that every time, Booking.com called them that there was a manager to answer their questions. I had to call them back after 3 days for any result! & you guessed it by saying there was no manager there, stalled for time, too late for cancellation, so they ripped me off $130, not happy! Be careful Australians & all tourists, go direct through the hotels, don't go through these sites. This is how they make their $$$$$.
Reviewed May 9, 2014
We have used this site last year (2013) and most of the properties were old, run down and dirty. They charged in advance but we didn't know about it and they also charge for canceled reservations. They have very fine print and will charge your card well in advance (regardless of what it says). They will charge you the FULL Amount even if you cancel and you play hell to try and get your money back. Customer service is the worst. They are arrogant and don't give a damn about your situation. They claim NO Responsibility even though they are acting as agents for these properties; again referring to the 'fine print'.
Do NOT Use them. Use AirBNB.com instead!
Reviewed May 7, 2014
We made a booking for a studio near Disneyland Paris during Easter and after a 6 hour drive from London we were told by the hotel that they couldn't accommodate us as we were a family of 4 and the room was too small (health and safety). When I did the search, I put all our details, 2 adults, one 5yr old and one 2 yr old, and the studio was suggested. I had also written a note saying we didn't require extra bed/cot (which was available) and gave our phone numbers for them to contact us if there were any issues. We called Booking.com straight away and the agent spoke to the hotel. He also couldn't comprehend why they couldn't accommodate us as the option of the extra bed was there.
Anyway, the hotel was fully booked and we needed alternative accommodation, and the agent said he'd call us back. 30 minutes later and no call back so we called again and spoke to a second agent. She said the first had sent an email, even though we told him we had no internet access! The second agent then said she would give us options of other hotels, and the one she suggested was 200 more. When we asked about this, she said we would be reimbursed as long as we kept the invoices, credit card statements and receipts, and she booked us into our new hotel and said we could go there straight away. We went to the hotel, but they didn't have our reservation and we were told to wait 30 mins. After 30 mins and they still couldn't find us, so we had to call Booking.com again, and the agent managed to sort it out (after waiting 1 hr from arrival!).
I asked the agent to confirm again about what we needed to keep for the reimbursement, and we were told that it's not on our records! This was a big shock and I asked him what we should do, and he said to call back in a few days after they speak to the agent. A week later and we call them up to ask about the situation and we are told that there is a note on our record that we had been told that no reimbursement would be given. I asked to speak to a manager and was refused. I asked them to trace the phone call (which are supposed to be recorded) and was told this isn't possible. They are just covering their backs for their mistake and we are in total about 250 out of pocket including phone bills and extra fuel costs as the new hotel was much further away! Not the best start to our holiday.
Reviewed May 5, 2014
After many excellent bookings through this company, on our last holiday (April 2014) they double booked us into hotels, and did not send a Confirmation of one of them. It didn't even show in our file management on their website. But we got charged for both hotels. After having conversation with 12 different people, they still believe they made no mistake, and I am $500 out. They are thieves. If they book you into two hotels, INSIST that you get a formal cancellation of one of them. It probably won't help, but it will help with a lawsuit.
Reviewed May 5, 2014
I booked an hotel in Washington, DC for 3 nights. The day before my check in, I received an email saying that they were sorry but the room I've booked are no longer available. They gave me a choice of another hotel 13 miles away and the rate of the hotel was much lower than the original. Now, I have no other choice because all hotels are booked up. They have no respect to the customer.
Reviewed May 3, 2014
Never book from booking.com. Their reviews are from the people that own the hotel/motels. I booked a hotel in Istanbul and it was so shabby that I left right away. The other one I booked has no hot water, no ac and very loud noise and booking.com gives it a 4 star rating. I complained to booking.com and they never did anything about it. I will never book from them anything even if they are the last site in the world.
Reviewed May 2, 2014
I did the booking on the internet for 9 days. However when we arrived at the hotel, it was not the best price as advertised. If I booked with hotel directly I |would have paid a lower rate and had breakfast included. With Booking.com, the rate was higher, although claimed no commission is taken and best price guaranteed; also the breakfast is excluded (15 per person per day). I wanted to cancel since this was false advertising, however I was told the cancellation be 100%?
After days of e-mails, the response I received was, and I quote "In response to your inquiry regarding Booking.com's Best Price Guarantee, we are sorry to inform you that your claim at Grand Royale London Hyde Park has been unsuccessful. Please note: - With the reservation that you have made it is not possible to cancel or modify the booking free of charge. Therefore Booking.com's Best Price Guarantee cannot be fulfilled in this particular case. As a reference, we have included a link to the terms and conditions of our Best Price Guarantee, and we hope that this helps you to understand our decision." Unquote. With all this said, the issue was ignored and I still have unnecessary costs.
Reviewed May 1, 2014
On January 29 I booked a 3 night stay for Anaheim, CA. Not even a half hour after booking I cancelled the reservation on their website. The screen showed it as cancelled and I went on with my day and picked a different hotel to stay at. I checked my credit card statement and was surprised to find I was charged. I contacted the customer service desk who said I should've received an email confirming, but how was I supposed to know this? I am 1000% sure that I cancelled from the website and they are unwilling to help unless I show proof it was cancelled. I trusted the website where it said it was cancelled and didn't know. I wouldn't recommend Booking to anyone! It seems they are sketchy about cancellations and will avoid it at any cost. Stick to others because this one is no good.
Reviewed April 29, 2014
They say best cost effective outcome, but not so. My experiences is that they overcharge by at least 35 percent.
Reviewed April 28, 2014
On April 2, 2014 I made a 3-night hotel reservation for the first time through booking.com. I was simply following a link from a Nashville, TN tourism site. I did not see anything on the website at ALL about cancellation penalties, etc. I assumed, having made countless hotel reservations before, that a cancellation would result in a refund. 5 days before my trip, I had to cancel due to a health diagnosis, and being cautioned by my doctor not to travel (I have documentation to support this, and told the customer service agent at Booking.com). So I cancelled through Booking.com and immediately got an email confirming the cancellation.
A few days later I checked my debit card account and noticed the 3-day charges had not been refunded, so I emailed Booking.com's customer service. The reply I received was that I was paying the "cancellation penalty" and that I should have known that was their policy. In other words, I got charged full price for a 3-night hotel stay that I never took!!! I am currently asking Booking.com to escalate my case to a supervisor or manager until I get some sort of a refund. This is absolutely criminal business practice!
Reviewed April 28, 2014
Booked two hotels on the www.booking.com website. At time of booking it was stated that no money would be taken and that I would be charged when I actually arrive at the hotels. It also stated that there is zero cancellation charges providing I cancel before the previous day of arrival. When I checked my account later I saw that the full price of hotel's rooms was deducted from my account at the time of booking. I later had to cancel my bookings and still haven't received a refund. I feel ripped off and cheated. Good luck anyone else that uses this service.
Reviewed April 26, 2014
Booking.com treats hotel reservations like enlistment in the military. They sincerely do not want to accommodate any cancellations and make up the most bizarre excuses as to why they cannot help you. (i.e. they do not have the correct hotel number for your reservation...) I made a hotel reservation through their website and realized a few hours later that I booked my reservation at the wrong hotel. Calling to cancel the order, they were very uncooperative with me and did not hide the fact that they do not want to assist in cancellations. In fact, they put more effort into explaining that there were terms and conditions attached to my order that would charge me nearly 90% of the hotel reservation cost upon cancellation. From there, they insist they have to cancel your reservation and you are not allowed to do it yourself through the hotel. Honestly, my interaction with them was so bizarre that I felt like I was in an episode of the Twilight Zone.
Not accepting anything they said, I called the hotel myself and found myself communicating with a very service oriented individual who was also astonished that I was having such a difficult time cancelling a reservation I made only a few hours ago. The hotel representative quickly canceled my reservation without hesitation. I then called Booking.com to inform them that the hotel canceled my reservation and again, I was met with hostility. The booking.com agent said that she would have to call and confirm that the reservation was indeed canceled and no fees were charged. The agent finally returned to say that she got confirmation and would cancel my reservation on their end.
In short, booking.com does not value you as a customer, but sees you as nothing more than a consumer with no rights. Being that I am a partner in multiple businesses that ensures each entity provides exceptional service and that I am a US Military Veteran, I find Booking.com's lack of service to be appalling. If this post encourages one person to not use their service, I consider my time invested writing this to be a success. People deserve better than Booking.com, even if their service saves a few extra dollars on a hotel reservation over their competition.
Reviewed April 23, 2014
I cancelled reservations at the Houseboat Hotel and they were supposed to refund all my deposit but 10%. I had to call back many times in order to get the partial refund. I will not book anything from these discount booking agents.
Reviewed April 21, 2014
Booked a hotel on booking.com which advertised a 4 star hotel with soundproofed rooms, air conditioning and WIFI in all areas. Hotel was in fact not soundproofed - when I complained about the noise I was told that there was double glazing and if I wanted to have a lesson in how to use the internet the man in charge would come to my room and show me! Air conditioning could not be switched on as they couldn't have hot and cold on at same time - what does this say - the night receptionist told me that it was because the owner did not want to spend money! Booking.com also have not taken my complaint seriously as the man who is the receptionist entered my room when I was not there opened my window to a different setting and switched my tv channel on to BBC World! He was not asked to go into my room so why did he? Also a 4 star hotel in my opinion should have a constant of hot water - I showered in cold water on more than one occasion! Booking.com need to get their act together and advertise hotels true contents not false ones!
Reviewed April 16, 2014
Despite the landlord leaving me and my 5 year old son standing on a pavement by a busy street for 30 plus minutes and not showing up, Booking.com claim I cancelled my booking and took the money from my account. I WOULD NOT USE BOOKING.COM FOR ANY BOOKINGS. The outside of the property itself, **, was quite grotty and the street very busy and noisy but I can't comment on the inside as we never got in!!! Booking.com then seem to send email after email requesting more information, which seems to me an attempt to dissuade you from trying to claim a refund as they could easily ask for all of the information that they need in one email...
Reviewed April 15, 2014
I have been using Booking.com for few years. I always been happy with the choice and service until the latest booking really disappoint me and I feel rip off by two parties. Booked an apartment called Old West Area in Amsterdam through Booking.com on 21st March 2014 for one night originally for a present for my daughter's 20th birthday. I booked the accommodation to stay for one night in Amsterdam. However due to flight changes and unavailability, I have to cancel the booking straight away and that was 25 minutes later after it booked. Booking.com confirm the booking cancelled. I assume the booking all cancel that I don't have to look at further about the confirmation. These are book on 21st March 2014.
But then upon checking my credit card statement on first week of April 2014 as monthly check, I am shocked to find out I was charge full amount of the cancelled booking. Although communicated with Booking.com regarding this issue unfortunately there is nothing they can do, as it was Living Capital the Amsterdam company charge me. When I email Capital Living, I did have response but they too can't refund me because it already been charge.
Question is: why am I charge full amount on booking which cancel 25 minutes after booked. It wasn't even 25 hours, and the booking was for a month later. Apparently this is a policy to avoid cancellation. What do Trading Standards think about this. So it wasn't FREE cancellation. I can understand if I cancel 48 hours or perhaps a week before checking in charging me would be reasonable, but not cancelled within 25 minutes. BEWARE of booking with Booking.com and Old West Area Apartments. It's a scammer. Although Old West Area Apartments charge me, the Booking.com will get the commission too. Both parties are working together as scammers.
Reviewed April 14, 2014
Booked (and received a confirmation email from Booking.com) a room at California Budget Motel in Hemet, CA on Wed April 9, 2014 for Sat April 12, 2014. When I was able to check in at 4pm that Sat, I was told by the receptionist that there were NO more Non-Smoking rooms available (on my SPECIAL REQUEST on BOOKING.COM website I specifically noted, "I could NOT be in a SMOKING room because of allergies"). The receptionist further told me that Booking.com should have Called or Emailed me that this Motel was OVERBOOKED for NON-SMOKING rooms already. Well guess what? I looked at my emails there was NOT 1 email telling me of this & of course I did NOT receive any calls on my cell phone.
So finally after 30mins of talking with the receptionist she CAME UP WITH a NON-SMOKING room priced HIGHER (to be honest, I thought I had dealt with a Car Dealership telling me they had a car at this price & did the OLD BAIT & SWITCH at a higher price). Of course, I had to stay there because the drive back home was 2hrs & to come back the next morning at 7am (another 2hrs) wouldn't have made any sense. So on Mon April 14, 2014 I called Booking.com customer service department only to get the blame put back on the Motel. Like I told Debra (Booking.com customer service representative) I booked this whole stay with BOOKING.COM not the Motel direct, so Booking.com should be handling this NOT the MOTEL.
After talking with Debra (in Michigan Call Center) at Booking.com at the 888# & her Supervisor Andrea (in Michigan) in my 32years of Customer Service with a Major Corp. this IS/WAS the WORST customer service I have EVER had (how does Booking.com even stay in business?). Booking.com offered me a whole 10% credit as long as I took another 15-20minutes (& get ALL this information to them within 4days) to get my receipt of the motel charges and a copy of my credit card statement (which takes a month) to them so they could then send it to ANOTHER DEPARTMENT to get the credit issued. This company should be OUT OF BUSINESS.
Reviewed April 14, 2014
We stay at Day's Inn Lax airport center - Manchester Blvd, Los Angeles, USA for 3 days with my wife and young son, and I had a very bad experience with a bad attitude front desk staff, a big Male guy probably Indian origin. He was so rude and without manners, talking to us. As a customer, should be treated in a nice way. Management should look seriously to this matter. A very bad images to your company. Will not check in again or recommend this to others.
Reviewed April 14, 2014
We were initially put into an uncleaned room. When I requested another room, we were put into a much better one. The staff was very accommodating and understanding. The rest of our stay was very enjoyable.
Reviewed April 14, 2014
I booked for a room yesterday through booking.com. The website clearly explained that the hotel or inn that I booked will only charge me after once I show up personally. So I assumed it as, if you don't show up for any personal reason they'll automatically cancel the reservation. I guess that's what most people who see such an advertisement with think. But once I booked it, the policy said the no show will cost me 100% of the booking charge if I don't cancel my reservation before 24 hours of actual booking time. How can someone practically who is on an emergency can book an hour before a situation demands but cancel it 24 hours in advance of the reservation? Such a bad website transparency. I only booked it through the website because it had all these flashy advertisements saying they will charge me only when I show up personally, but guys please don't believe it. It is just another bad website to book a hotel.
Reviewed April 9, 2014
I booked a hotel stay at a downtown Memphis hotel starting the night before a large convention so that I could ensure I would have a room for what was sure to be a very crowded time in town. I received a confirmation number, but apparently that means nothing to this company, which failed to follow through and confirm with the hotel. So, after a very long drive after an even longer day at the office, I arrived at the hotel expecting to enjoy a restful night prior to a grueling three-day event, only to discover that not only did I not have a room, but that there were no rooms at a comparable property anywhere in the city.
And what did Priceline/Booking.com do to compensate me for this horrible debacle that left me with the options of either (a) sleeping in my car, or (b) driving all the way home that night and then back at 4 am the next day...? You guessed it - NOTHING! Well, in fairness, they did offer me the heartfelt apologies, but that's about it. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT EVER use this company for any reason whatsoever.
Updated review: April 9, 2014
Hi, Issue was resolved. I think alot of people are not used to a no cancellation allowed policy and especially if the full amount can be kept as a fee. Thankfully my cancellation was done at zero cost, so I just need to be more careful when booking on your site. My suggestion to you would be to work out a standard fee for cancellations.
Original Review: April 8, 2014
This company should not be in Business. I don't know of any hotel that charges you the full amount of stay for a Cancellation fee. I cancelled my reservation 4 days after booking it with still more than a month left before I arrive, and they tell me cancellation fee is the full amount. I don't think they are paying the hotel anything on cancellation. An investigation is needed into this company.
Reviewed April 7, 2014
I booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn in Lithia Springs, for a dance competition with my daughter the weekend of March 28th. I informed "Victoria" that our flight was getting in very early Saturday (12:30am) and I wanted to check in once I got there. Not only did she advise that my room would be assigned before our arrival (it wasn't), she also lied and said I would not be charged for Friday night. The price she quoted was incorrect as well. Due to the generosity of the night staff at the hotel (Ryan), I didn't complain about the different rate because he performed a night audit, essentially turning the system over to reflect Saturday so I would only pay for the two days as I was quoted. He also gave us coupons for the breakfast buffet. Ryan told me that third party agents will tell you anything and it's always best to book with the hotel directly. I will never use Booking.com again.
Reviewed April 5, 2014
We booked 2 rooms on 2 different credit cards to stay at Wingate by Wyndham in Chattanooga, TN. One room was confirmed through Priceline and the other through booking.com. When we arrived at the hotel, only 1 room was available. The staff said they had been having a lot of issues with Priceline and its sister site regarding room availability and people paying for non existing rooms. The first woman I spoke with via booking.com first said my room was confirmed, then said my booking number didn't exist. She started yelling at me when I was trying to explain that I had an email that stated all the information I was telling her. Then she hung up on me when I asked for a supervisor.
At this point I was exhausted and frustrated, I spoke with 4 more people. 2 to get a refund for the non existing room which DID have a confirmed booking number (the booking.com employee lied to me), and 2 to report the employee that was rude and hung up on me. I will never use Priceline or booking.com again. From now on, I will book directly through the hotel and ask to match prices.
Reviewed April 2, 2014
We have now had another issue with this booking engine. We had to cancel because of a scheduling conflict and were well within the cancellation policy which was 2 days prior to arrival. This reservation was for June 5th, 2014. It is now 02 April 2014. I have now denied the $50 charge on my credit card with the bank and demanded a credit back to my account from Booking.com/hotel. I also printed out the cancellation policy that is associated with the rate. Do yourself a favor and go directly to the hotel websites and book it directly with them.
Reviewed April 2, 2014
Booked a room at Hampton Inn Camden Yards for the Red Sox game 3 weeks ago. Received a confirmation number and emails accordingly.... When we got there.... game day.... there was no record of our reservation and there was a conference in town that booked almost every hotel. We finally got a room - a good distance away from the Ball Park... on our own. No thanks to Booking.com..... Clowns... Will never use them again. Kudos to the Hampton Inn at Camden Yards... true professionals.
Reviewed April 1, 2014
I did my reservation for an apartment in Sierra Nevada - Spain using Booking.com. After a 9 hour travel we arrived at a completely different apartment from the photos in their site. They argued it was the agency that explores the apartments fault. So I went to the agency and they were very polite and manage to change me to another apartment in line with the one I was expecting. The agency staff showed me in their own site that if I had rented directly through them each apartment is related to its photos, but booking does not allow them to do that. Instead of that, Booking allows them to send a limited number of photos and then connect these photos randomly to the vacant apartments. This is a recipe for conflict and disappointment. Never more. I attach the photo from the apartment that was waiting for us (1) and the photo from what I rented (2).
Reviewed March 28, 2014
We reserved a room at one specified rate; received confirmation number, pin number...etc. Weeks later, after prices of competing venues had increased, we received a notification stating that the reservation was cancelled by Booking.com. Reason being, the original rate was "too low". This is utterly unacceptable and borderline laughable, especially within the hospitality industry. Prong two; the customer service explanations and justifications offered, deplorable and confusing. I asked to speak with a manager, "the manager can't do anything that I can't do, so tell me the problem..."
The online representative literally stated, verbatim, "Once a booking is completed, the hotel cannot increase the rate." Then in another conversation stated, "Per the terms and conditions of Booking.com, obvious errors and mistakes are not binding." Obvious is clearly subjective; IF IT WASN'T OBVIOUS TO THE BOOKING.COM AGENT WHO QUOTED US THE PRICE, CREATED, THEN CONFIRMED OUR RESERVATION, HOW IS IT "OBVIOUS" TO THE CONSUMER...that it was an alleged error? My attempts to reach an individual via Facebook were thwarted (my posting was deleted from their wall). Attempts to escalate the issue via phone were also derailed.
Reviewed March 27, 2014
FALSE ADVERTISEMENT!! Booked Property name Beit Yosef B&B, Address 27 Korchak St. Safed, 13100 Israel. Both Booking and Beit Yosef B&B would not honor their contractual agreement price. Instead they offered me a free breakfast. This obviously is no way to do business as I highly recommend consumers be extremely careful when doing business in this fashion. Maybe they should start giving negative number ratings because 1 is still far too generous due to the injustice of this transaction. BUYER BEWARE!!!!!!
Reviewed March 23, 2014
This is the second time in one month we have made a booking and been totally horrified with the discrepancy between what is advertised and reality. Both deceived us. Both described ocean views. One was a 2 inch glimpse and the other cannot see the ocean at all. The second one the terrace in east London gave our family room away and gave us a tiny back room with the toilet in the bedroom. Incredible. Booking.com is not checking their properties and I recommend using more ethical sites.
Reviewed March 22, 2014
Great rate for hotel? No. Went right to the hotel's booking site after I noticed the final price from Booking.com added a $25 "service fee". At the hotel's site, I received a 15% discount on the same room. Paid $76 and change versus the $113 it would have been with Bookings.com. Not a necessary service.
Reviewed March 12, 2014
Booking.com website is showing two different rates for same hotel, same room for same date and in a week's time after making my bookings the same room is available at 30% discount on my booking price. This website is cheating and engaged in fraud activities for hotel bookings. I highly recommend users to stay away from doing any booking via them. In fact, I am in discussion to take this matter to appropriate authorities in cyber marketing cell in government to see and ban these kind of websites which offer two different rates for same day/room, which defy their claim of "best prices & matching the rates if shown" - it's complete cheating.
Reviewed March 12, 2014
Believe it or not, booking.com's policies forbid the display of reviews containing complains about stolen items in hotels. This means that, you will never know if a hotel is actually safe to stay at or not. This happened when I booked a certain hotel called Forget Me Not in Nha Trang, Vietnam. The personnel stole about 180$ from my wallet which was locked in my luggage, under a padlock. Because they had some regulations displayed, saying not to leave valuable items in the room, the hotel was legally covered and I couldn't prove my case and help other future users to stay on guard. In this way, they're indirectly protecting their direct customers. The hotels, while mistreating the actual users who book.
Reviewed March 12, 2014
I made a reservation but was then told by a friend living in that city about the conditions at the hotel and could not find anywhere on booking.com to cancel. Luckily I didn't need to pay ahead and simply emailed the owner to cancel. I already used them to book a hotel for 4 days for next month and am hoping for success.
Reviewed March 10, 2014
Beware when booking more than 2 people. I entered 2 adults and 2 children for a resort and received a price for it, then followed the process to finish the reservation. When we arrived to the resort we were surprised to find out that the children were not included. The hotel policy does mentions that children are extra which could be their standard process when going through the resort but agencies can usually offer better deals than the going through the resort (ex. promotions, special arrangements, kids included, etc.).
We used many other travel sites and never had a price change after receiving a price for the criteria we entered. Even though booking.com are technically correct, I feel this is deceitful and do not recommend this kind of game. Who has the time nowadays to view all the terms and verify all the info is correct?
Reviewed March 5, 2014
Don't bother. My mom and her 4 friends (all seniors) were just totally taken advantage of and duped by this site. I'm disgusted with their behavior and inflexibility. Go somewhere else, preferably somewhere where they have a heart. I would give no stars, but they make you give at least one, so there it is.
Reviewed March 4, 2014
I made a reservation at Atahotel Contessa Jolanda and got an email that they could not accommodate my request so I just ignored the email and made another reservation on another Brera Apartments (for $2880). Atahotel Contessa Jolanda sent me another email (**) said the same thing... I saw it is in my booking.com profile so I cancel both numbers but I got charge on my credit card. I had talked with Booking.com many times - standard practices. They can't do anything because it is a non-refundable reservation. I did not even receive the confirmation but I got charge on my credit. I suspect that booking.com is working with the overseas hotels to scam the US customers. I hope consumer affairs can pass this bad practice to the Authority to do the investigation because it is an easy money for them and sounds legal and it happens all the time.
When I made my second reservation (did not notice the 10% surcharge, it is in euro - I swear it was showed $US when I booked it, and nonrefundable) just see the free reservation all over the website (and it is a normal practice in US). Once I hit confirmed, I found out that 4 nights in Milan costs me $2880. Now, I stuck with both reservations. I can not even afford my trip because it exceeds my budget. The standard price for 4 nights at Brera Apartments is around a total of $800-$900. Here is the standard response from Booking.com for both reservations.
"We approached Atahotel Contessa Jolanda on your behalf and asked them to waive the cancellation fees for your reservations, ** and **. Atahotel Contessa Jolanda has informed us that your request cannot be accepted, because the rate booked for these reservations are nonrefundable."
Reviewed March 3, 2014
What you order is not what you get. They play the blame game. The hotel says it’s not our fault; it’s when you book with a third party there is no guarantee that you will get what you ordered. Booking.com blames the hotel. RUDES LIARS. Both the hotel and Booking.com said they would put us in the room that we ordered if it came available but LIED. Renaissance SCAM ALERT!!
Reviewed March 1, 2014
I am being charged at 18% commission for some of my rentals! But have requested that rate be dropped to the normal, lowest rate of 15%. I was told on the phone, that this was fixed, but it was not. I have written a dozen emails to all departments, and only receive form letters, which do not address my problem. The phone numbers don't work with Skype, so I will have to pay long distance bills to sit on hold, which I have done before! And still not been helped. I pay Booking.com 12,000 a year in commissions, but they don't have the time to contact me... It is getting ridiculous!
Reviewed Feb. 28, 2014
In the beginning of February, I booked a room with my family for my cousins wedding that is in May. On the site it states free cancel on most rooms. I did not need to pre pay. I probably should have read a little clearer on cancelling reservations. I travel often and the cancellation policy to all of the hotels i have stayed in is to cancel 24 to 48 hours before check in date. That was not the case in this instance. My cousin called off her wedding due to her mom had a stroke and I tried to cancel my reservation. I called the hotel, they transferred me to someone else. That someone else told me I had to call booking.com and they have to agree to cancel the reservation. I called booking.com and I was told the hotel has to agree to cancel. The person who I was talking to told me to hold on while he calls the hotel.
He comes back on and says the hotel isn't picking up so he will have to send an email to the hotel to get a confirmation if they will agree to cancel. I stated that I don't understand how he can't get through, but I got someone on the first ring. He stated if I canceled now I will be charged the full price. I am vexed that I might have to pay money I don't have (was splitting with family) for 2 nights at a hotel I won't be staying at. I don't understand what kind of business is this. People have to pay for nothing. I'll be also contacting the bbb.
Reviewed Feb. 21, 2014
I booked the Stamford Plaza Hotel Sydney Airport through booking.com. On their site they showed the hotel class rating as 5 star. The pictures were very nice as well. When we arrived we were so disappointed. The hotel is dirty and outdated. The location is awful. We tried to check out the next day but the hotel refused to refund our money. We called booking.com, but they did not help us at all. Under further investigation. The hotel states that they are not 5 star rated by anyone other than themselves. What frauds!!! Do not ever book through booking.com. They are misleading and dishonest!! !
Reviewed Feb. 19, 2014
Was caught in WA because of closed mountain pass. Booked room at Howard Johnson in Levensworth, WA. Upon arrival room was not as described, discussed with motel desk clerk and cancelled reservation. Booking charged full price for room and would not honor cancellation.
Reviewed Feb. 14, 2014
We booked Apt. 401 Balcon de la Castellana in Medellin, Colombia through Booking.com. The place looked fine but was basically in disrepair and filthy and was basically falsely advertised by Booking.com. Internet was not working as promised, had to wait an hour then it worked and went out again two days later. Sliding glass shower doors were missing GUIDE WHEELS and one assembly fell apart and almost seriously injured my friend. Showed master bedroom picture only with a jacuzzi tub. You would think the other bedrooms were like that or similar at least with the bedding but the one room had a single bed and bunk beds in it. Jacuzzi did not work and jets were filthy. No hot water in the kitchen sinks.
The owner came the next day, looked at the shower and said he'd didn't have the proper tools to fix it and would be back. Insufficient towels were there. One full towel and one half size towel for each room. And to top it all off there was a half-eaten bagel-type bread still under my bed I saw when I dropped something behind the HEADBOARD and looked to retrieved it. The owner accused me of placing it there, that's what I expected from him. Also furniture in some of the pictures featured on Booking.com was not there in the apartment. Booking.com to this date has refused to accept ANY RESPONSIBILITY for falsely advertising this shoddy apartment. Here is some photos for PROOF.
Reviewed Feb. 12, 2014
Booked & received a confirmation for a hotel stay @ Hilton Garden Inn Downtown Denver. Received follow up email from them as well authenticating my arrangements. Several days later I received an email from them stating they will not honor the price, as it was a mistake. Between booking the hotel & receiving the email, I made travel arrangements, budgeted, and made arrangements with my employer. Since those cannot be changed I am stuck with a hotel stay I cannot afford now and airline tickets which will do me no good. They offered a discounted rate, but will not uphold their original pricing and confirmation.
Reviewed Feb. 4, 2014
I book a room with Booking dot com to find that it was non-refundable. I got the confirmation email, it said non-refundable. Number 1) who in their right mind would agree to that? Number 2) When I called Booking.com they said it was the hotel and not them. Number 3) The hotel said it was booking.com. Since then I have found that Booking.no is been lying to me the whole time. DO NOT USE THEIR SERVICE. BOOKING. YEAH I DON'T THINK SO. BOOKING.NO.
Reviewed Feb. 3, 2014
I have read some other reviews of Booking.com. I seriously strongly feel such sites need to be disbanded in customer interests. I had made a booking at Apartment K, Reykjavik. The condition of booking was that a one day tariff will be charged for confirmation. The card was declined. And one assumed the booking is cancelled because the necessary condition of reservation was not complied with. There was no correspondence for next almost two and a half months. No one day rent was debited to card. No phones, nothing, and suddenly a debit of 1000 Euros lands up. Booking.com told me that they sent one mail - just one, saying even if card is declined, the booking is on until I cancel it.
Like so many mails they send, this too landed in spam, and I realized it only when I went looking for what they call is their confirmation. This raises serious questions. If debiting one day tariff is not a condition for reservation, then why debit so many people. Indeed if a reservation made months in advance does not get cancelled with no money transaction or guarantee, then we should all give wrong card details, and enjoy cheaper tariffs. After all it does not seem that the booking is dependent on charging card for one day stay.
Any reinstatement of booking by definition needs customer consent. To say that you made a booking, it did not go through, you have not paid money as a guarantee for booking, but we will still debit you, does not stand test of common sense or justice. Then comes the role of Booking.com. Very conveniently they say it’s a policy of hotel; they have nothing to do. Then why be the interface and make money. Let’s all start booking direct with hotels only.
Reviewed Feb. 2, 2014
My wife booked a hotel in Atlantic City, NJ for my birthday. The price was $149.00. On the day we were leaving, I look on Booking.com and the price was $69.00. I called and spoke with a rep who said I would receive the new price. Well that didn't happen. The "request" I made was past the cancellation date, so now I could not get that price. Because I am a good customer, they offered me half of the difference which is $40.00. A guarantee is a guarantee, good customer or not. Well, I GUARANTEE I will never use Booking.com and hopefully many other will do the same.
Reviewed Jan. 30, 2014
I have received an email on 27/12 from Booking.com and tell me about I didn't check-in to Eurostars Roma Aeterna Hotel and no show penalty EUR 599.25 will be debited to my credit card. The email stated that I have made this reservation on 29/10. At that moment, since I didn't carry my notebook and can't really check my booking record when I... was still in Rome, so the only thing I can do is to reply to that email directly, and claim that I must check my record and I am sure I have cancelled the booking, and asked them don't charge to credit card not until 2 Jan until I figure out what's going on.
When I get back to HK, I checked my email record in my email box and contact to Booking.com customer service directly by phone to clarify that I have never received any order confirmation regarding to reservation of Eurostars Roma Aeterna Hotel. I have made several bookings on 29/10, but I have well received the order confirmation for other bookings, but not this hotel. I remembered that I have reviewed this hotel but not BOOK this hotel. With NO order confirmation email nor reminder email, the first email I have ever received is the no show penalty email.
I have contacted to Booking.com several times both by phone and by email. They insisted that their system have sent out the email successfully and they don't send any reminder email to customers. Plus Booking.com have charge $0 during the transaction, all penalty are debited by property directly, they can't do anything on this and ask me to contact to the property directly. When I have contacted to Eurostars Roma Aeterna Hotel, they said they charged the penalty payment based on the T&C of Booking.com and if I didn't receive any reminder or confirmation, I need to negotiate with Booking agents directly.
That's total ridiculous and totally rubbish when they are pushing the responsibility and liability to each other. Without single 1 notification, the first email I ever received that is the no show penalty email. Both Booking.com and Eurostars Roma Aeterna Hotel ignored my reply on 27/12 and debited to my credit card on 29/12. Even though I have provided my email record to both parties, hotel said I should contact Booking.com, Booking.com said they don't charge a single dollar from me. Both parties evade the responsibility they should bear.
As a purchaser, Booking.com have the obligation to notify consumer what order they have made. That is the reason why purchaser must send the order confirmation email once the order have made successfully. The reason of a reminder email is to MAKE SURE at least more than 1 notification have been sent to consumer, to remind them what order they have made and minimize the possibility of missing email.
But now the first email I have received is the no show penalty email which I have NEVER received a single email before about this booking have been made. What is the different from a fraud transaction if no confirmation is received??? Even I bought a T-shirt, I do have at least 7 days of time period to return it after payment have been paid. Furthermore I have never book this hotel and never stay to this hotel. Why do I need to pay for a transaction I didn't made? This is a big sum of money for me, both parties replied to me they don't have the responsibility to refund to me? What the different from fraud then???
According to the T&C of booking.com at point 7 –
"an email which we (Booking.com) may send you shortly prior to your arrival date, giving you information on your destination and providing you with certain information and offers (including third party offers to the extent that you have actively opted in for this information) relevant to your reservation and destination."
Obviously Booking.com failed to do so. This is total useless to make the complaint to Booking.com customer service. They just keep telling you they are sorry, but they KEEP TELLING YOU BASED ON THE T&C, THERE ARE NOTHING THEY CAN DO TO HELP YOU. This is absolutely ridiculous that Booking.com passes the blame on the hotel. The hotel passes the blame on Booking.com. NEVER NEVER EVEN THINK ABOUT TO USE BOOKING.COM. When anything go wrong, they just said they charge me nothing during the transaction and nothing they can help you with.
Guys, I been debited for EUR599.25!!!!! And Booking.com has said to me they have no obligation since they are not the party who charged my credit card. I must deal with the hotel directly which I have already did so. Hotel passed the blame back to Booking.com. The critical thing is I haven't received 1 NOTIFICATION/REMINDER EMAIL about "CONFIRMED". I even cancelled other reservation through BOOKING.COM made on 29/10. My Booking.com never showed booking/reservation of Eurostars Roma Aeterna Hotel. HOW CAN I CANCEL IF THERE IS NO INFORMATION AT ALL!!!!!!!!
Reviewed Jan. 27, 2014
I booked two nights at a Quality Inn in Altamonte Springs, FL, for two nights in January at a rate of $64.00/night plus tax. Upon checkout, we were charged $79.00/night plus tax. My husband went to the desk at the hotel and they indicated we should contact Booking.Com to correct this overcharge. We emailed (Booking.com and myself) back and forth today but they apparently believe I made up the rate of $64.00 (even though the website TODAY shows a rate of $63.00/night). Definitely a case of "bait and switch" and they'll never see my name again.
Reviewed Jan. 25, 2014
I booked a room through Booking.com with the free cancellation charges policy that was completely violated. My credit card was charged a huge amount by Hotel Presidente Intercontinental Cancun, and now I'm more than a week having to "wait for a satisfactory resolution" while my credit card is in debit. In other words, I was stolen money from a false ad, and now I have to wait for someone else to think, find a "satisfactory solution" and perhaps agree to make the devolution. This money is and was always mine, so why do they have to think so long to fix their mistake? Follow below the email I got from the many ones I received: (translated from a Spanish speaking customer service):
"Reservation Number **. We are here to update you about the charge made by Presidente InterContinental Cancun Resort in your credit card. We received your proven records by email. We are working together the hotel to find a satisfactory solution to you. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will get back to you with more news in 7 days. Thanks for your comprehension, We will make sure to make all efforts to have this issue resolved as soon as possible. Yours sincerely."
"As soon as possible"? "In 7 days to give news"? What a hell is going on here???? DO NOT BELIEVE ON THOSE FREE CANCELLATION OFFERS. THEY ARE A SOURCE OF A HEADACHE. I AM STILL A CUSTOMER, AM I?
Reviewed Jan. 19, 2014
I am not an employee of Booking.com and I have never been an employee of Booking.com. I was once a "hotel partner" of this BROKER but have severed my relationship with them. I see many of you people making false claims and I wish to address some of them here and now:
1. Booking.com does not have access to the hotel partner credit card processing system. When you state "they" (Booking.com) charges your card and won't refund your money, I find that to be false. The entity charging your card is the property where you made your reservation.
2. When you claim the hotel partner "fraudulently" charged your card for your failure to appear or cancel because you did not "authorize" them to charge your card is not the truth. When you complete the booking and have a confirmed reservation you have agreed to the terms as stated in your confirmation. Your booking/confirmation number is proof of your acceptance of said terms.
3. All bookings/reservations state clearly taxes, tariffs, resort fees, etc. may be additional charges levied upon check in. If you don't understand what that means it is up incumbent upon you to ask those questions before you make your reservation.
4. Credit card companies charge foreign transaction fees for all charges outside of your home country. Further, all credit card transactions are subject to currency exchange rates. Please educate yourselves before you leave your home country.
5. Most every employee of our properties want you to enjoy your stay and we work hard to accomplish that. Sometimes we do have employees who don't always do their part and we, as owners and managers, do our best to either retrain or remove them. When you have a bad experience please let us know BEFORE you leave.
6. Speaking of which. Please be realistic in your expectations. If you expect a "5 Star" room, be sure you choose a "5 Star" price. There is nothing more annoying than having to deal with a whining cheapskate who comes crying. We don't come wipe their hind ends for them when they are only paying $59 USD for a room night. If you need that level of service, please choose your room rates accordingly. Let me give you a clue right now. If you are only going to choose the cheapest room you can find, please understand your experience will be equal to what you pay.
7. In the USA, many of the smaller "motels" you will encounter are owned and operated as a "family business." That person you are yelling at on the phone is almost always one of the owners. We typically do not have more than 20-25 rooms. We do not have the big budgets of the big chains. We do not have the means necessary to renew our rooms every 5 to 7 years. Having said that, we do take enormous pride in our business and work our fingers to the bone to keep everything neat, clean and in good repair. In my case the furniture in my rooms may be 25 years old but none of it is broken and it is clean and serviceable. My bedspreads, drapes and carpets are replaced every 10 years or as they become shopworn. I do replace my linens and towels on a yearly basis which is a very expensive undertaking but I receive many complements as a result. When you stay in my rooms and criticize my furnishings as being "dated", please look at what you have in your own home before you criticize mine.
8. You people need to realize Booking.com, and the other online services, are merely brokers for the properties listed on their sites. They charge us a fee for every reservation we receive through our service. Can you really be that naive to believe we aren't going to adjust our rate to cover the commission they charge us? In my case, I raised all of my room rates after joining their service and justified it by rationalizing it as necessary to cover their commissions. After I removed my property from their service, I kept the higher rates.
9. The staff at Booking.com has always treated me fairly. They were very helpful when disputes arose, and helped ensure my property was accurately represented in their descriptions. My listing included pictures of every room in my property and came in very handy a couple of times when some idiot complained about something just because they thought if they whined loudly and long enough, I would give them a refund. I don't do refunds... ever. Period.
10. My reason for leaving Booking.com is solely based on my experience with their users. My family has owned our property for 10 years. We have always had great folks staying with us and rarely had anyone complain or make unnecessary demands. Our repeat business accounts for 50% of our guests. We received a solicitation from Booking.com to list our property and after talking to another local property, we decided to add our place to their system. Boy what a huge mistake. In the six months we were on their site, I encountered more grumpy, arrogant, needy, demanding, and spoiled brats than in the whole 10 years before.
The final straw came when an out of state travelers car broke down and they stayed with us the week their car was repaired. While their car was in the shop, someone stole their license plate. Once their car was repaired, they spent one additional night before getting back on the road. One obnoxious Booking.com guest checked in that night and in their review of my property claimed I had "broken down untagged vehicles" in my parking lot. They rated my property 4.5 based on that review. The nerve of stating something like that about the property of another guest without knowing the whole story. I cancelled my service after that. I don't need such nonsense and I absolutely don't need the money that bad.
That's just my opinion and experience.
Reviewed Jan. 16, 2014
I feel there is a need for all suppliers to be aware of the difficulties I have had in dealing with Booking.com, and to warn all operators that this company treats its suppliers with utter disdain.
It all started with an overbooking. Guests arrived for a 2 night stay and we knew nothing about them and we could not locate any booking email. Unfortunately we were full for the weekend and could not accommodate them. We therefore looked up alternative accommodation on Booking.com, so that it would still get its commission, and found another nearby property that had a vacancy, but at a slightly higher tariff. It also provided breakfast which we don't as we are a self-catering property. The guest agreed to the accommodation and price and so I rang and personally spoke to a Booking.com operator who agreed after consulting the guest to transfer the booking to the other property. The guests were satisfied and left to go to the other accommodation.
Booking.com then had the hide to try and charge me commission, despite putting through the new booking to the other property and charging them commission as well. I lodged a strong complaint about double dipping and they finally reversed the charge to me. The next thing is I received an invoice from Booking.com for the $55 extra tariff that the guest had to pay, despite the fact that they had agreed to pay it.
If we were to be charged the extra $55 then the operator should have clearly told us so at the time. In such a case I would have booked cheaper alternative accommodation elsewhere. I'm not in the business of shelling out $55 for nothing! I don't know why they have taken this stance as they earned extra commission on this booking because the tariff, agreed to by the guest, was $55 more than they would have otherwise got. I have refused to pay their invoice.
Not long thereafter we received a 4 night booking email from Booking.com for a guest to arrive the same day on behalf of an Italian Travel Agent with no individual name specified. We thought this was a bit strange, but as these are confirmed bookings, and came via an official Booking.com email, we had to accept it. The email provided AMEX credit card details for payment, however as we don't accept AMEX we tried contacting the guest for an alternative credit card. The phone number given and the email address did not work. I then looked up this company on the internet and could find no reference to it, and the address that was provided did not exist.
We were full for the first two nights of this booking and felt that we couldn't just cancel it, as the guest may well just turn up. In the meantime we turned away two other inquiries for the first two nights of this booking in the same unit. It became more obvious that this might be a fake booking. Naturally, by the end of the night, no one turned up and we had no option but to cancel the booking. Unfortunately in the meantime we had lost the opportunity, and income, to book the unit to someone else. We notified Booking.com and lodged a complaint about the fake booking. After I had warned other operators in my local area, I received a phone call from another property advising that they had just received three fake bookings!
One of the first suggestions that I made to Booking.com was that they should have performed a simple credit card test at the time of making a booking. Booking.com asks suppliers to list what credit cards they accept on its website, but then they just allow the guest to enter details of a card that is not actually accepted. In this case, had the guest not been able to make a booking using AMEX, the fraudulent booking may not have come through and we would not have lost the income that we did. Of course the credit details would have most likely been fake as well, or it was a stolen card, however Booking.com does no credit card checks.
So what did Booking.com do? They issued me with a termination notice for daring to criticize their procedures and making suggestions for improvement! Their only argument was that their terms and conditions state that every property must accept AMEX credit cards. I felt they had no right to demand that properties take a specific type of credit card. I wondered whether they were getting some sort of kickback from AMEX.
I therefore decided to do a bit of investigation and found that of the 140 properties listed on Booking.com in my local area alone, 67 (or 48%) do not accept AMEX credit cards! No doubt this statistic could easily translate to all other properties in Australia, let alone the world. It was impossible for me to agree to Booking.com's contract conditions in the circumstances. So if they were going to terminate my listing because I didn't take AMEX, then they should do likewise for every other property in the world that also doesn't accept AMEX.
In any case they obviously allow properties to transact without AMEX as evidenced by the banner on the booking page for my property warning guests that this type of credit card is not accepted, and the fact that their Extranet requires properties to indicate which credit cards they do accept and which they do not. In any case the warning would have little influence on hackers. A simple test at the time of a guest booking would easily solve this issue. Instead suppliers have to go the trouble of trying to contact a guest to get another credit card. Why they can't see that is simply beyond me. They steadfastly refused to change their process.
One of their junior employees in Australia then advised me that this particular booking was legitimate and they had other bookings from this same Travel Agency, even though he had done no checks of his own to see if it was in fact a real company/travel agent! There is obviously a problem with Booking.com's business model. As they don't take any funds from the guest, all the risk is on the supplier.
After further representations from me they eventually reinstated my property. When they continued to chase me over the unpaid $55 invoice for the overbooking, I decided that, as I had lost money on the fraudulent booking, I would invoice them to recover my costs. I therefore sent them an invoice for the same amount of $55 which was just a token amount of compensation for the 2 nights lost income that I could have received had I not kept the reservation for the fraudulent booking. Needless to say they have ignored this invoice which is now accruing interest on a monthly basis.
Of course the sensible thing to do would be for both of us to cancel our $55 invoices and call it quits in the interest of good customer service. But that's a bit too much for a company like Booking.com. They have now suspended me again for non payment of their $55 invoice, whilst at the same time ignoring my own invoice! Stupidity reigns supreme at Booking.com!
Reviewed Jan. 11, 2014
We booked 4 nights in Barcelona with Booking.com in what looked like was a charming guesthouse, "steps from restaurants and bars". It was NOT at all like described! The rooms were extremely small, beat up, uncomfortable and not at all charming. There was only minimal heat in the actual room and none in the kitchen or bathroom. There were no open restaurants nearby and was surrounded by construction sites. I actually could go on and on about the problems with this place but to get to the point ,we contacted the hotel and asked nicely to be released from the contract because we were so uncomfortable. They told us we were welcome to find another place but they would not refund us a dime. So we contacted Booking.com to see what we could do and they did not even reply until I posted on Sitejabber. Then they responded publicly offering us help.
This is how they dealt with the problem. First, in response to the fact that there was no heat in most of the apartment, they said that even though the guesthouse listed heat being in the apartment, it didn't specify what room it was in. Really? That is their reply to that major problem. They also claimed they have no accountability for anything the hotel lists and apparently they don't care when it's pointed out the places are advertising falsely. They had three days after I contacted them to help us, while we were actually stuck in that apartment and the owners wouldn't respond to our emails or calls after telling us they would not refund our money if we left early. They did nothing until we checked out and then sided with the guesthouse saying the guesthouse claimed that we had never contacted them about our problems until after we left.
Since I had been emailing Booking.com since the beginning of our stay, it would seem unlikely that I hadn't contacted the hotel. I sent them a detailed log of the date and times of our correspondence with the guesthouse which started a few hours after we checked in and they responded that as far as they were concerned, the issue was resolved. I also sent them real time link while we were there to another site showing the guesthouse was renting the rooms for $18 a night less than we were paying for exactly the same dates we were there. They also had three full days to look at that while we were there and they ignored each request until after we checked out and then said they couldn't check it because it was past the dates, so they would not honor their guarantee. We were traveling for two months and had used Booking.com numerous times because of the convenience.
However, out of a minimum of 10 hotels, many of the listings were not faithful to their descriptions. One place we booked because of the great pictures and it turned out it wasn't even pictures of that hotel but a sister hotel at a different location. However, we didn't complain about it until the last one was so bad that we asked them to help us and at the very least honor their guarantee. They did neither. Also, when we arrived at the hotels we booked through them and saw the current room tariffs, it was clear that we never got a "deal." We always got the current room rate. When we started booking through the hotels directly, we found with a few hotels that we actually got anywhere from $5- 65 a night less than what Booking.com was listing them at!
Also, don't believe the "last chance" or "1 room left" marketing. We booked several of those to arrive and find we were literally the only ones in the hotel. Even if it says there are no rooms left, there is probably a good chance if you call the hotel directly they will have rooms. Using Booking.com to book a room leaves the customer with no protection from bad hotel owners not providing customer service, fulfilling what they advertised or a way to get out of it without losing their money if it turns out to be a disreputable place, and Booking,com will not support their customers or honor their guarantees.
Reviewed Jan. 8, 2014
I booked the room for Dec 31/13 to Jan 1/31. I booked the reservation. I was very careful to be sure the dates were correct being the time of year I was booking. But when I went to hotel, they told me it was for a month later but for another 200 reals more then double the price of the booking, I could have a room. I received the confirmation. When I checked my email at the hotel saying it was for Jan 31/14 to Feb 1/14, I wrote back saying these were not the dates I wanted. They contacted me back and said the booking was non refundable. They said they contacted the hotel and could not cancel. At first, they admitted it was their fault, but told me I should contact the hotel.
I told them it was not my responsibility, it was their fault. When I checked for the same room a few days later, I could book the same rooms with free cancellation. I sent an email with a copy of their site saying so. They sent me an email saying they would try and make it right. When they mailed me back, they sent a check box list to cancel reservation and lose my money or accept reservation, told wrote back saying I would accept neither. They sent me back an email saying they were sorry I wasn't happy with their services. I am now contacting my credit card company to try to get my money back. I have had my Booking.com account closed and will never use them again and suggest no one else use them.
Reviewed Jan. 8, 2014
Booking.com's promise of best lowest price is a fake. Never book via Booking.com especially relating to stays at Toyoko Inns. Book directly with Toyoko as they offer discounts up to 20%. Don't trust Booking.com.
Reviewed Jan. 7, 2014
I booked the above condominium over Christmas for my wife & 2 boys, aged 13 & 10 years. Booking.com confirmed my booking & took my credit card details for payment. Upon arriving at the condominium, I was told that there weren't any vacancies & sent to another Condominium across the road. Fortunately, the condominium across the road was suitable at no extra expense for which I paid them separately... Booking.com then sent me an e-mail saying that I failed to arrive to take up my booking with them with the inference that I would be charged as it was my fault.
I have since taken this matter up with Booking.com & they have sent me an e-mail apologizing for their mistake. Although my situation was resolved satisfactorily, other Booking.com clients might not be so lucky. I consider that Booking.com was totally negligent with my booking & would recommend everyone to avoid dealing with them.
Reviewed Jan. 4, 2014
From the first day dealing with Booking.com it was nothing but a huge hassle. After I booked the First place for my Best Friend's Wedding on NYE this year, I was emailed the next day a nasty email saying that I did not have the FUNDS. I work for a Bank and have a decent amount of money so I knew this was not true. I called and on the second phone call, they were able to find out that it was not my card but the place had been overbooked. They then moved me to a hotel that was not at all the quality of where I was staying at first. I called back, raised some hell for about TWO days and finally was found a place in the area that I need to be in being that I was in the wedding. I asked them over and over because the way things were handled I felt uneasy if things with this new place would be okay. I had my whole family with me.
I arrive in LA, almost sick to my stomach because I knew this site and the people it works with cared nothing about me or my family or how important this wedding was to me. I get to the Condo that I rented and there are no keys at the desk for me. After Waiting an hour and 45mins, I get a phone call from a Skype number (you can't call Skype number back) and a man that claimed he worked for the condo tells me I can only have the room for one night and states they will call the police if I don't leave tomorrow. He did say that he would return my Money which has yet to happen.
So I was left in one of the most expensive cities in America on the most expensive day to book a hotel on one of the most important days of my best friend's life without a place to stay for me and my family. The embarrassment and anger I felt I would not want any of you to feel. DO NOT USE THIS SITE. I travel often. USE ANY OTHER SITE. DO NOT USE BOOKING.com. I want to give ZERO stars but the site won't let you.
Reviewed Jan. 2, 2014
I booked with them 8 months ago for a hotel on the beach in Hollywood, Florida. I find out the day before that the hotel doesn't have the booking. Innkeeper offers to pay the difference on another hotel. However, there was no other place of equal experience on the Hollywood broadwalk. I cancelled my plans and lost over $450 in other travel related expenses that were non-refundable.
Booking.com passes the blame on the hotel. The hotel passes the blame on Booking.com. So, my vacation is at home this year. Not happy. They don't care, gave me a silly lecture about not accepting the alternative hotel where I would need to cross the highway to get to the beach, no bike path, no walking broadwalk. Nothing like the Hollywood experience. They don't even know the travel advantages of each area. Unprofessional at best. BEWARE.
Reviewed Jan. 1, 2014
Almost 400 euros spent booking rooms through booking.com. Turned up at address but no one there. Stranded in a strange town and had to find other rooms urgently. Got back home and booking.com refuse to fully reimburse our payment. AVOID BOOKING.COM.
Reviewed Dec. 26, 2013
I am writing to you with a complaint against the inaction of booking.com. The point is that I booked two rooms in Marriott China Hotel (Guangzhou) on October 18, 2013. Those were bookings for my colleagues who went to China for a business trip. I reserved the rooms via booking.com using my credit card but I indicated in the comments box that the guests would pay for their stay on their arrival by the card of one of them (it was written that it is possible to give my credit card number just as a booking guarantee).
Nevertheless, when the guests checked-in, I got a message on my mobile phone that China Hotel Marriott charged 1380 RMB from my card. I know that the whole cost of their stay was charged from my colleague's credit card at check-out. I immediately contacted booking.com and they assured me that this sum of money was not charged but was only frozen. They assured me that the money would be returned to my card within 35 days. 35 days passed and nothing happened.
I would like to point out that I am not a sheik's daughter and not an oil tycoon to forget about this money. This is a big sum of money for me. I contacted booking.com again who promised to settle the problem as soon as possible. We have been corresponding for almost three weeks already, but this correspondence gave no results. I provided booking.com with my credit card bank account statement which they asked for. It is clearly stated there that the money was charged by the hotel but it was never returned to me.
They also asked me to send them a scanned copy of the invoice which the guests received when he checked out of the hotel. However, I do not have this document because it was sent to our auditing company two months ago and there is no possibility to get it back. Anyway, I am absolutely sure that China Hotel has all records of the guests payments and it is not such a tall order to get it from them. Besides, it is written on booking.com that they have an office in Guangzhou, but for some reason they cannot send anyone to China Hotel Marriott to get the invoice and settle the matter! They refuse to give my money back without the invoice which I am not able to provide through no fault of mine! Now two months passed of wasted nerves and time. I cannot remain patient because any patience has an end. I don't know how to get my money back.
Reviewed Dec. 23, 2013
We made reservations in April 2013 for 3 x 5 night stays = 15 nights in all in Thailand for Dec 2013 via booking.com. We found out today that booking.com cancelled our reservation at one of the hotels back in Oct 2013 because they wrongly thought our credit card was not working. Our credit card was and is working fine. It works for every other of our stays and purchases. Booking.com sends us 30 emails a month, means more than 250 since April, and they buried one called "we have updated your booking at Beluga Hotel" in that lot. They are utterly ridiculous. We used to book 30-50 nights a year with Booking.com, but not any more. We are taking our business elsewhere. With this mistake, they are the worst! I will put this on every blog I can find. A very, very unsatisfied customer.
Reviewed Dec. 16, 2013
Booking.com recruited me to position my 4 rental chalets with them. I thought it was not a good fit but the rep convinced me saying they were going to adjust the system to fit chalet rentals v. hotels. This never transpired which caused me no end of problems (time wasted) during the booking process. In their defense, they did bring in some rentals although it was difficult to stipulate start and end date limitations and other criteria particularly during the holiday seasons etc. I paid the first commission but then encountered many problems with them which I reported to customer service. They never did anything about these issues some of which led to some major guest issues.
So after two parties showed up without notice or my knowledge, one paying but forcing me to move All the other bookings around and another simply showing up using a key that they found under the mat, staying and leaving in my absence. I got pissed, said I needed to escalate the issues that I had sent C.S. by email. The rep called, was nasty and said well since you are not paying and the service is no good for you. I am cutting your ads - this right in the busy season. I said, I need to escalate this. I spoke to her boss but it was not much of an escalation and Nothing actually transpired - no remedy. My suggestion was forgive the current bills and if I spoke with appropriate personnel perhaps we could work together to do what they said they would. Instead I was thrown into collection. Now I get emails, calls every day and there is no way I will pay them nor ever use them to book anything ever.
Reviewed Dec. 5, 2013
I've been using Booking.com for years and I used to be very satisfied with their services, but since a year ago, I see deterioration in their business approach that I find unacceptable and extremely disappointing! The following will tell the story:
"It is disappointing that Booking.com has decided not to publish my review! However, it shows that I hit a raw nerve! Actually at the time of writing the review, I did not have time to include all the negative points about this hotel. Again, a place like Boka, shouldn't be allowed to house people, let alone to be called a hotel and charge people 60.00 British Pounds for a single room/single person in its rundown building. That is why, I checked out at 6:30 Am and went to another hotel next to the subway, and even less expensive!
If you read the reviews in your website, you see some of the reviews, prior to my trip to London, had mentioned that the toilets were leaking, the heaters were not working, the beds and mattresses were shabby. However, the management failed to correct at least some of these problems, such as heaters and toilets. In fact, they gave me a frigid cold room with 4 beds, every one of those beds were totally worn out and filthy. I did not exaggerate, when I wrote "they were perhaps picked up from a dumpster!""
Hello,
I am sorry to hear about this.Booking.com feels guest reviews are a very important service that we provide guests, as they provide an unbiased review of the hotel. Booking.com does post all reviews.
If you can provide your booking number, I will look into this for you. You can leave it here, or email me at customer.web@booking.com. Please reference this post.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Reviewed Dec. 5, 2013
I booked a room in Germany on the 10th of November. Agreed this was not a hotel booking and the pictures on Booking.com showed examples of rooms. However the room I was shown upon arrival was not representative of the examples and in fact was a young girl's bedroom complete with her personal belongings. For obvious reasons, as a respectable grown man, this made me extremely uncomfortable. I decided to leave and did not stay in the bedroom. I reported this immediately to Booking.com and since then I have been bounced from one person to another as they have tried to justify their position and seem to think it's okay for strange men to sleep in little girl's bedrooms. They have made various offers of discount but have not agreed to reimburse me in full. I have decided not to add the pictures of the room to this as I believe this would in itself be an infringement on the girl in question and her family's privacy. But I can assure this was a young girl's bedroom, her personal belongings, pictures on the wall, bunk beds, toys and general stuff. Booking.com has had the pictures as soon as I made the complaint.
I'm sorry to hear this. Could you please provide me with your booking number so I can locate your booking?
Regards, Mac
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Reviewed Nov. 21, 2013
I booked a room for my mother of 80 years old and my aunt of 75 years old at B&B Al Centro 34 Via San Francesco 1, 80067 Sorrento, Italy. The pictures of the hostel in the site were wonderful and it was rated "fantastic". When we arrived there, we discovered that the hostel was located at the top of an old building and the two old ladies had to climb seven turns of staircase to reach the room. My mother has heart problems and knee problems and almost died to reach the room. So we complained to the hostel, because they had not given the information that the hostel was not proper for elderly people. They didn't show any picture of that giant staircase. We asked cancellation but they refused and so we are forced moved to a different hotel in Sorrento. After I made a telephone call to Booking.com and they did nothing.
Regards, Mac
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 19, 2013
I got a less than a good deal at a Sheraton, and my credit card was billed four months in advance. The billing person at the Sheraton said I would have gotten a better deal by booking with them directly.
I'm sorry to hear this. The properties we work with follow our Best Price Guarantee policy. You can find more information here: http://bit.ly/1ejIX2s. Could you please post your booking number so that I can follow up in more detail?
Regards, KonstantinaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 16, 2013
Subjective view from a hotel owner: Booking.com on here seem to get a lot of criticism. However it is often the customer unaware of certain booking conditions, or hasn't read the payment details. For example, the customer who was complaining about the hotel charging them a different amount. Well... when you book a hotel (say in Australia) you book in your own currency and their currency. The time when the payment is taken (and bear in mind the payment could be taken 6 months after booking i.e. at check-in) the Australian dollar amount will of course stay the same... and the currency you booked with will of course be different. Remember... it is the hotel who is charging you not booking.com.
We are always getting customers doing the wrong thing, such as booking wrong dates, booking a room for 2 people and turning up with 4, booking a room for 5 people and overpaying when they are only a couple despite having a double room available for half the price (just not listed on the internet). This is just sheer stupidity on the public's side. Most people are sensible, but a small majority are just really dumb! Has to be said, sorry!
And booking.com offering the lowest price.....this is just a marketing technique to get you to book with them. Yes it is correct booking.com has a best price guarantee, and yes hotels legally have to pay back the difference if they have been 'discovered' offering a lower price but in the last 5 years, only 1 person tried to get the difference in price back. It took several emails and effort on their part. They eventually got their money back. We of course made it a long process, but that is because the customer wasn't really a very nice person. It would normally have taken me 1 minute to refund the amount. Instead I made him wait months for it. The best way to get a deal is to go old school, pick up the phone and ask the hotel what the best price is. But if you prefer to pay more, well, you know what to do ;)
Hello,
I am sorry to hear about this.It sounds as though there may be some issues your account manager could assist with.
Can you provide your hotel ID number?
You can post it here, or contact me at customer.web@booking.com
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 13, 2013
I made a hotel booking yesterday through you for Hotel Nirwana Resort & Spa Candi dasa Bali, with rate 2.884.857 for 3-night smart deal price. Suddenly today, the rate has been reduced significantly to Rp 2274.718. It make me very disappointed for the way you are (or the hotel) conducting such a bad business. Hope you can do something for my booking.
Hello,
I am sorry to hear about this.Hotels that advertise on Booking.com agree to provide guests with the lowest possible internet rate. Because of this, Booking.com is able to provide guests with the best price guarantee.
I would like to you further with this, can you provide your booking number? You can post it here, or email me at customer.web@booking.com. If you email me, please include that you posted on Consumer Affairs, so that we can connect your comments to your Booking.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 13, 2013
I recently ended up booking a hotel through booking.com because could not find the hotel through hotels.com that I usually use for booking. Was that ever a big mistake. They showed a price on their website in Canadian Dollars. Showed as around $463 for a hotel in London UK for a few nights which looked like a great price. So I booked it, non refundable. Then came the shock. Price in GBP and instead of 463 it suddenly cost $604!
I contacted them multiple times but all they are doing is wasting time even going as far as telling you they arrange a refund from the hotel. Which of course is not true. Then I post on Facebook what happens when using them to warn other people. Marketing guy emails me that he will look into that, blablabla. Next email an hour later from their customer service who did never saw any blame, then writes to me that there was no issue and that I got the room exactly as I booked it. Simply ignoring that I booked it for a lot less. Avoid this website at all costs. I am worried now what happens when we arrive in London...I am trying to cancel the credit card charge but not sure how long bank process will take.
I apologize for any inconvenience caused while using our services. Please provide me your reservation number and I will be happy to check it for you.
Regards, Tal
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 13, 2013
Took 4 emails for them to find the booking. Then they found it and just stopped responding. Thanks for the $100 ripoff.
I am sorry to learn of your experience. Please note that Booking.com does not charge your credit card. Unless otherwise stated, the hotel is responsible to charge your card according to the chosen conditions. Could you please provide your reservation number as I would like ton investigate this matter.
Thanks and regards, Tal
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 12, 2013
If you are thinking about booking a hotel stay through booking.com, please be aware that booking.com does not always include taxes and other fees into the total. I booked a hotel for NYC for two nights and the total listed on the confirmation was $486 which omitted the taxes. Booking.com deceptively does not tell you that this cost is actually the subtotal and not the grand total (it lists in fine print that taxes are not included). My grand total turned out to be $565, $80 more than what I thought the cost would be. Don't make the same foolish mistake I did and check to see if the taxes are included in the total cost when comparison shopping or you might be stuck footing a higher bill than you previously had thought.
I am sorry to learn you feel this way. Please note, the terms and conditions are provided to the guest before, during and after the reservation process. Should you provide me your reservation number I will be happy to check this matter for you.
Regards, Tal
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 10, 2013
I booked a room at a local hotel through Booking.com because I was having my floors redone and could not stay at home that night. With my luggage in tow, I went to check into the hotel to get settled before picking up my kids from school. I was not happy when the hotel told me yes they saw the reservation, but that there were no rooms available, and that all rooms had already been booked out over a week prior. They could not understand how Booking.com could sell me a non-existent room.
I called the 800# for Booking.com while standing in the lobby and the operator did not seem at all surprised by my lack of a room, but rather flatly told me it was up to the hotel employees to find me another room at a nearby hotel. The hotel clerk was very kind, but they were clearly busy with their full hotel and were having a hard time suddenly playing travel agent for me. I was told that Booking.com should pay some or all of the difference in price for the room I end up getting. I finally left (with no new room) and booked something over Expedia which worked out fine. However, now Booking.com is giving me the run-around with the refund.
First they requested my receipt, so I sent them my Expedia confirmation of booking and payment. They rejected that because they wanted a "statement" and this did not have the word "statement" on it. After a couple of rounds they finally said they would send the matter up the chain. After more than a week I finally found a reply that had misdirected to my Junk Mail. It gave me 24 hours to reply to their email to verify whether my email address is valid, and to verify I was using a VISA. Upon their receipt of that I am still suppose to send them my VISA # for refund.
I did not reply in time (thanks to the junk mail) but I cannot imagine the time constraints on my end. I'm either due a refund or I'm not - why the jumping through hoops unless they just hope to shake off a few people that way. This certainly seems like a very unreliable business, and I personally do not want to use them again.
Hello,
I am very sorry to hear about this.Hotels that advertise on Booking.com are responsible for updating the rates and availability of the rooms they advertise on our site. When the hotel does not update the availability, an overbooking can happen.
Per the agreement between the hotels and Booking.com, when a hotel is overbooked, the are responsible to either upgrade the guest, or find the guest an alternative (as close to the original hotel as possible, same standard of hotel, same room type, all at no additional cost to the guest). Because the hotel is responsible to pay the difference between the rate booked and any alternative, we allow them 30 minutes to find an alternative, if they choose. If they advise that they cannot do this or exceed the time, our customer service will find an alternative. While other sites do charge guests, Booking.com does not. The credit card details you provided were provided to the hotel to confirm your booking, as well as the booked hotel charging within the policy booked. Because we do not charge guests, our policy is that we need to see proof of the charge. Although Booking.com attempts to make this as easy for guests as possible, we have procedures in place to prevent tampering of documents, as I am sure you understand in this digital world.
If you could provide your booking number, I can contact the CRA agent that was working with you and have the document resent.
You can post it here or email me at customer.service@booking.com.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 4, 2013
I booked a hotel through Booking.com website and hotel cancelled the reservation on my arrival. On my phone to customer care I was told that the hotel was booked. How can this happen after confirmation of reservation? This means that there is no guarantee of the hotel room booked through this website. This review is 100% true as this has happened to me.
I am sorry to hear the hotel could not find your reservation. As soon as your reservation is made, we send it to the hotel per our secured online system and per fax, to ensure they receive it. Please provide me your booking number and I will be happy to investigate this further.
Regards, Angela
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Nov. 1, 2013
We booked a flat in Kiev - my wife and me. When we arrived we was in shock. The flat is smell from very strong moisture. The flat is completely different from what they show in site. And much more smaller and cockroach everywhere. When we talked with Tham they told us they don't take responsibility of what the owner shows in the photos. We ask the money back and told us they don't give back. And we should talk with the owner. The owner even didn't want to talk with us... We was in shock. And now it's very hard to find place in Kiev. It's all booked...
Hello,
I am sorry to hear that you are dissatisfied with the conditions of your room. The hotel is responsible for the information on our website. We ask the hotel to provide the guest with an accurate description of it's rooms and facilities. I would like to assist you with this unfortunate situation. Can you please provide me with your booking number so that I can look into this further?
Regards,
RegiBooking.com Team
Reviewed Oct. 29, 2013
We booked with Booking.com and then had to cancel. You think you're getting a cheaper price so you book and the hotel take one night out of your checking account. We ended up having to cancel. Two days later we were able to rebook. Again they took one night out of our account. Come to find out we could have gotten the room way cheap through the hotel and without paying any upfront money. So now I have put all this money out not knowing it's going to take 5-7 business days to get my first deposit back. Meanwhile I thought the money had been put back in my account because I used it as a Visa!!! Now my account is overdrawing. Try the hotels first before this company. This 2-night stay is going to cost us probably around 700.00 when it should have been 408.08. :O
I am sorry to learn about your experience. Please note, rates, availability, policies and any other relevant material is set by the hotels themselves. For your reference, you can review the chosen conditions in your confirmation email. Should you provide your reservation number I will be happy to check this matter for you. Alternatively, you can send me an email at customer.web@booking.com
Regards, Tal
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Oct. 24, 2013
The hotel double charged the "room rate" and "deposit" on to my credit card. What was supposed to be $90.00 has become $360.00 removed from my card. Booking.com has informed me the hotel will pay me back in a few weeks. They don't care that the hotel is borrowing my money without my consent. I have booked 72 times with Booking.com in two years. Never again.
Hello Bryant.
Sorry to hear about this.I would assume the deposit for incidentals is what you are referencing. If this is the case, the amount is not actually removed, but blocked by a pre authorization. A pre authorization falls off after a set time. I would like to look into this for you, can you provide your booking number?
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Oct. 18, 2013
I booked a room for our Paris trip in March of 2013. In April, I amended the booking to include 2 people, my daughter and I. So we get to the hotel and they inform us that have 2 rooms back and there is nothing they can do. So I am charged an additional 500 dollars for a room that was not utilized during our 3-night stay. Booking.com is telling us there is nothing that can be done because I did not cancel on time. Meanwhile their terms and conditions states (#7) that they will notify you before your trip to confirm your reservations. Again, we were never notified of these 2 bookings. Customer service is not be helpful in resolving this issue so this will be my last trip through Booking.com. Be forewarned and use another hotel site.
Hello,
I am very sorry to hear what has happened. Your confirmation sent to you would indicate how many rooms you have reserved and for how many people. I like to look into this for you. Can you please post your booking number?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Oct. 10, 2013
First they had no carts to put our bags on. Then we had to take an elevator to the third floor, walk about 200 yards to take another elevator to the second floor and our room. The room was a dump. Carpet, chairs, curtains were torn and threadbare, sink in bath cracked. Their "ocean view" was from a balcony across a highway. Traffic noise was bad, and we had to close the sliding door to get any sleep, so much for the sound of the ocean. When I got the bill the ugh argued me $428 for the first night not the $185 promised me. A complete con. Do not use them.
Hello,
I'm concerned to hear about this. The nightly price breakdown is determined by the hotel itself. Depending on the night you may pay different prices. For example a Saturday mat cost a guest $200 for the night and the Sunday may cost $100 for a total of $300. The total amount is not always a equally distributed cost per night. I would like to look into this further. Can you please send me your booking number?
Regards,
RegiBooking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 26, 2013
I went onto Booking.com to book a hotel for an upcoming trip (2.5 months away). I picked the 2 days I wanted at a NY hotel, and thought I was all set. Less than 48 hours later, I received an email from Booking.com saying that I was a no-show for my reservation (somehow in making my reservation, they gave me 1 night, the following night, instead of the 2 nights in Nov. that I had chosen). I spent MANY, MANY hours on the phone with both Booking.com and even the hotel to try to remedy the situation, but they continuously left me on hold for endless stretches of time, and repeatedly told me that they'd look into it and call me back. THEY NEVER CALLED BACK AND REFUSED TO REFUND MY MONEY. I paid the entire hotel fee, even though I had gotten back onto their site the next day to extend my trip by a day (so they could see that I had picked days in NOV., not Sept., and that something had gone wrong). I'm so frustrated with their site and customer service (or lack thereof).
I am sorry to hear about your experience and I would like to investigate this further. Could you please post your reservation number? Alternatively, you can email me at customer.web@booking.com
Regards, Tal
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 21, 2013
I entered an internet search for "Hotels Near Ljubljana Train Station" and Booking.com came up with a bunch of hotels and a map of a train station. I booked a hotel only 100 meters from the train station. When I arrived in Ljubljana, the hotel did not exist because, in fact, it was in Annecy, France. I got on a computer in an internet cafe in the Ljubljana train station, entered the same search and received the same results. I canceled the reservation but was charged in full (about $113).
Booking.com was absolutely no help, and ultimately a "customer service" representative wrote back "I propose you may have selected the incorrect location by mistake." Sure. France, Slovenia, they're both in Europe. My mistake. I have a few proposals for Booking.com. And I would propose you use someone else for your travel plans.
Hello David,
Sorry to hear about this.I would like to look into this, can you provide me with your booking number? You can post it here or email me at customer.web@booking.com.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 18, 2013
I had 2 reservations for my trip to Europe made through Booking.com. Then my plans were changed and I canceled these reservations through their site a few days before my trip (I choose fare that allows cancellation). Regardless of my cancellations I was charged for 1 night from both hotels. I contacted Booking.com to resolve the issue, but they refused to help.
Sorry to hear about your experience. I would like to investigate what happened. Could you please provide me your booking number? I will be happy to help.
Regards, Angela
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 17, 2013
Booked a room, no problem. Cancelled room inside of agreed period. Got charged full price of my stay. Booking.com will not deal with me as they say the hotel has charged me and they "just handle booking". Hotel won't deal with my booking as they say Booking.com handles the booking. Neither will take ownership and they have all my money and the room that they rent out again. What a joke! Daylight robbery. DO NOT USE BOOKING.com!! Contact hotel directly.
Please accept my apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced.
I have found your reservation and I am going to contact you shortly.
Regards, Sergejs
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 14, 2013
We used Booking.com to book a room at Comfort Inn in Pittsburgh on 9/14/2013. We received a confirmation number and email from Booking.com. When we called the hotel to ask about the amenities, they told us that they were fully booked and did not have a reservation for us. They also told us that this happens with Booking.com VERY FREQUENTLY.
When we called Booking.com to complain, the representative just tried to blame the hotel. To be fair, they also told us that it was not our fault and that was hugely comforting to us. If we had not called the hotel, we would have gone to Pittsburgh thinking that we had a reservation in the hotel and would have been greatly inconvenienced. Considering the mess created by Booking.com and their subsequent attitude towards the problem, we will never book through Booking.com again. There are plenty of other ways to get a hotel room.
Hi there,
I'm very sorry to hear about this experience and apologize for any frustration that has been caused. Please understand that it is the hotel's responsibility to accommodate you for your reservation that you have made as availability is maintained by our hotel partners. Should the hotel fail to be able to accommodate you for your stay we have procedures in place to make sure that you are accommodated and any additional costs reimbursed. If you could provide me with your booking number I will look into this matter and assist anyway I can. Please feel free to message me here or to send an email to customer.web@booking.com. I look forward to your reply.
Regards,Troy
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 11, 2013
Poor checks, control, and support from Booking.com - I wanted to highlight the absolutely horrible service and devious practices of Budget Easy Rooms, Amsterdam. We booked Budget Easy Rooms, Amsterdam through Booking.com. The check-in was supposed to be at 3 pm. We were asked to check-in at 6 pm as the rooms were not clean by 3 pm. Note that the main office is nowhere near where the rooms are. That means, you have to drag your luggage to two places - we had to take it from bus station to their office, and then again from their office to apartments. Thus we had to pay for cab twice. There is no indication where the apartment will be. Our apartment was highly inconveniently located.
We had requested for 6 beds. However, only 4 were present. 2 folding beds were provided but were in the loft. How Budget Easy Rooms expected us to get it down without injuring ourselves is beyond me. As a result 2 persons (one adult and one kid) had to sleep on the sofa and on the floor. The layout of the apartment was diabolical. There were at least 10 narrow steep steps leading to the room. On reaching the room, you were faced with another 10-15 twisting steps that took you to the common hall area with kitchenette. The bedroom and toilets were located above this level and was accessed through VERTICAL steps. I have never seen anything as dangerous as this in my life. Two kids slipped and fell down. One adult with back problem aggravated his back-injury. Our rest of the Europe trip was significantly impacted due to the injury to this person.
Budget Easy Rooms did not provide a 24-hour number in case of emergencies. We had two emergencies. The door of the house (which had number of apartments) would not open. We were only able to access as people living in other apartments were available when we were trying to open the door. We left 2 bags at Budget Easy Rooms main office on 15/8 at 3 pm with a view to collect at 7 pm. We reached at 7.15 pm. The office was closed. Even though they knew we were going to check out early morning next day, no one bothered to inform us. We called Booking.com to seek help, but even they were unable to reach Budget Easy Rooms. We even thought of going to Booking.com office in Amsterdam.
The rooms were dirty, and cupboard was used to store unwashed laundry presumably from previous occupants. The toilet and bathroom had half doors a massive privacy issue with two families residing. There were other issues as well, but I will leave it for later. Booking with Booking.com has caused immense financial and emotional damage than we bargained for. It effectively ruined our stay in Amsterdam and for the rest of the 10 days in Europe. I expect a full refund of the booking and an apology from Budget Easy Rooms within the next 2 weeks. Failing this, I will not hesitate to start further proceedings to resolve the matter.
Hello Abhi,
We are sorry that we could not help you this time. This matter has been discussed with you directly. Regards,
Regi,Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 10, 2013
July 11th, I attempted to book a hotel in Barcelona, Spain. When I got to the step of credit card info, it took my number and stopped. For all intent and purposes, it looked as if the reservation was incomplete. I received no confirming email or confirmations #. The following week, I attempted to book the same hotel but it was shown as sold out. I moved on and booked another hotel. Upon returning home from our trip, we received an email as a "no show" and a charge for $484.00! We disputed the charge with the bank but they said they had no recourse because the vendor had already been paid. Booking.com said there charges stood because it was non-refundable. I told them we did not stay because we received no confirmation. Basically, they said it's our problem, not theirs. BUYER BEWARE BEFORE USING BOOKING.COM.
Hi Catherine,
I'm sorry to hear this. During the booking process, an additional page appears after you enter your credit card details that mentions your booking number and that the booking is successful. The confirmation e-mail you receive is the second step of confirming your booking. We are available 24/7 to assist you with issues like the one you described. Could you please post your booking number so I can look into this for you?
Regards, Konstantina
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 4, 2013
Deceiving company on rate quote (Booking.com). Called and talked to customer service, advised of misrepresentation. Placed reservation with quote TOTAL PRICE US$189.98. Fine print reads TOTAL PRICE SHOWN IS THE AMOUNT YOU PAY TO THE PROPERTY. My total price ended up $214.68.
Hello Martin,
Sorry to hear this. Can you please post your booking number so I can look into this for you?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 4, 2013
I booked a hotel room with Booking.com but when I arrived at the hotel very late at night after a whole day of airports, I was told that type of room was not available. I was too tired and it was too late to try to find another place so I stayed at the hotel. When I checked out, I told the desk clerk what had happened and asked why I wasn't contacted beforehand so I could make a different arrangement. The clerk said that Booking.com does not always provide the hotel with the contact info. I asked him what phone number they had and he told me the phone number and it was mine. So they could have called and this was booked way in advance. I wrote up poor reviews for both the hotel and Booking.com. Booking.com contacted me with a real email... written my a real person addressing my concern. Kelly at Booking customer service even contacted the hotel, asked them what happened, and the hotel issued me a credit. Booking.com came through for me.
Hello Gerri,
Sorry to hear about the trouble you had and are glad we could be of assistance. Thank you for your kind words. Let me know if there is anything else that I can do for you.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Sept. 1, 2013
Booking.com got more money from my credit card. Online hotel booking at the rate we were told later in 9190, took my card 11100.
Hello,
I am sorry to hear about this.I check and get back to you by phone or email shortly.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 30, 2013
My wife and our kids rented a house near Disney from Booking.com. My got some bites on her stomach while we were there and we didn't think anything about it till we got home and it got worse. Then my kids were getting bit also. Well after thousands of $ at the doctor's office we found out we had bed bugs so I called Booking and they told us too much time had gone by so tough luck. So be careful look at your beds before you get in them and put your bags in the bathroom cause bed bugs don't go in there. Thanks for no help at all Booking.com. No more for me. We are done with you.
Reviewed Aug. 24, 2013
What is it with people who book online looking for cheapest hotels/bed and breakfast in Europe. I notice most of the complaints come from the USA, who probably expect five star accommodation paid at 1 star prices. You pay for what you want, and I have received exactly what I want! No problem. I have been asked for exactly what was on the booking form. I have received exactly what was on the booking form, breakfast included or breakfast extra. If you can't read or don't understand then ask when you get to hotel. If it says pay in local currency, then that could be the Hungarian Forint or Euro. They use both, but you are always in Europe quoted in Euros!
If I go to the USA I expect to pay in dollars; Europe, unless otherwise stipulated Euros, Australian Dollars. For god sake travelers wise up, after all on most Booking.com you don't even have to give a credit card number. You book and confirm, and like us, contact your hotel before you arrive and confirm either way. Booking.com is just an agent just like any other travel agent only they can't be held responsible because they are not ABTA, JAFTA or any other travel organization affiliated. Read your booking form when you book and there should be no problem. Want to argue with me then I am sure Booking.com have a way of letting you do just that!
Reviewed Aug. 23, 2013
I booked a B+B with Booking.com for a short stay in Blackpool. Reservations were placed several months ago. On arriving at the Inglewood B+B at Blackpool with my reservation forms, they looked at me and said there was trouble with my room and I had to go elsewhere. Outside one of the guests said that they do it all the time and double book people into the accommodation. Either that or the B+B books people in the rooms in case the people who book on the website don't turn up. The B+B arranged for me to stay in another one round the corner which was an absolute disgrace. There were filthy stains everywhere, dirty bedding. I nearly cried. If I had known that the money hadn't been taken from my account, then I would have left immediately. We managed to stay for just over a day. Then I came home as this absolutely upset my holiday and I will never use the Booking.com website again.
Hello Susan,
I am sorry to hear the B & B did not honor your reservation. I would like to investigate this matter for you. Can you please post your booking number?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 22, 2013
I booked a room with Booking.com for a room at the District Hotel in Washington, DC. My booking said it had a free cancellation policy. I canceled the room on Booking.com web site weeks ago but I still got charged for 2 nights plus tax for being a no show and neither will refund my money.
Hello Cindy,
I am sorry to hear you have been charged by the hotel. I would like to look into your cancellation policy. Can you please post your booking number?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2013
I am a small hotelier. I have been in a number of disputes with them over the years. They are always adamant that they are right and all they are interested in is their 15% commission. Most recently, we have been charged over 65 commission for informing Booking.com that we had an overbooking of a guest who was going to stay with us for 4 nights in Sept 2013. We informed the guest also but the guest actually told us they were going to cancel the booking anyway as their travel plans had changed.
The guest cancelled their booking but we are still going to be charged the commission. This is surely unjust! I have emailed the account manager for Booking.com who has responded in a manner that is quite rude and undermining and states that we will still be charged commission despite the customer cancelling their travel plans. Had we not said anything, we would not have been charged.
This is a ruthless attitude and ultimately Booking.com downfall in treating the accommodation providers like dirt! Please don't book with these people, ring accommodation providers directly. They will give you a better rate, at least 15 percent lower than what Booking.com rates show. Just let the accommodation provider know you have seen the rates on Booking.com and they will in most cases give you a better rate.
Hello,
I am sorry to hear what has happened. Can you please post your hotel id number so that I can contact you. I want to touch base with you regarding this issue to determine what can be done to avoid this happening in the future.
Regards, Andrea,Booking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2013
Stay away. While booking a 4 night room in Biloxi, MS over the phone, I asked about cancellation policies and they said that there was 24 hour cancelation notice required period, not about the 100 dollar non-refundable deposit that you will be hit with when you cancel. After booking I notice a $100 booking fee charge to my credit card. This was never discussed over the phone. We are now cancelling the room 8 weeks in advance, and I was told that the $100 dollar deposit is non-refundable. I was told that the cancelation policy was on the website page in fine print as usual. I am upset because this policy was not explained to me over the phone when I asked about the cancellation policy, and now they are using the policy that is in writing on the hotel webpage against me. Now I am out 100 dollars because of a person that was too lazy or incompetent to explain the whole cancelation policy.
Hello Jeff,
Sorry to hear about the fee you have been charged. I would like to look into this for you. Can you please post your booking number.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team.
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2013
My family and I were going to the coast for a long weekend and a ball tournament. At first I was just going to get a hotel to stay, so I found one on Booking.com. Then we decided to rent a house with some friends instead. I cancelled the hotel the same way I got it through Booking.com. Booking.com never sent the cancellation to the hotel so I was a no show and they ran my debit card for $400. I then had to do all the work to get my money back. DO NOT EVER USE BOOKING.com.
Hello Susan,
Sorry to hear about your experience. If you would like any assistance with this matter, please post your booking number. I will be happy to help.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 21, 2013
I made the booking. It stated that I would be charge in AUD. When the receipt came through it stated that I would be charged in Euros??? I rang up the help line to tell them that I had a card that wouldn't charge me a conversion rate can they please change the details. She said that it won’t make a difference that charge had already gone through. I asked her why didn't it say that they were going charge in Euros. I have a card here for that exact purpose. She said I should have known... She did not care at all, in fact she sounded bored and the fact that I had just lost $30 on conversion rate didn't register any concern from her. I have traveled overseas A LOT and always used other booking websites that tell you what currency you will be charged in and I can tell you I’m going back to using them.
Hello Penny,
Sorry to hear this. The hotel always charges in their own currency. I would like to look into this for you. Can you please post your booking number?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2013
I have booked two nights in a hotel via Booking.com. Everything was fine until I had to cancel my trip. I went to the website and followed the instructions in the booking confirmation email: to cancel the reservation all you needed to do is to click the red "Cancel" button next to the booking. So I did. I have not received any confirmation about the cancellation but since they said that was all you had to do I thought everything was sorted.
However a day after the cancelled trip I got phone calls from the hotel that they have charged me for one night since I did not show up. I have contacted Booking.com and asked how this happened and they said there is no record of my cancellation and that I should have received a confirmation about the cancelled booking.
After this we have exchanged couple of emails, they say the hotel would not pay back the money. I told them this is really a problem with their system - that it did not send me confirmation - so I asked them to compensate me which they refused. I would advise those who are planning to book accommodation via Booking.com to urgently change their mind - this is not a reputable company and they will not treat you fairly.
Hello Monika,
Sorry to hear that you were charged by the hotel. If you would like me to look this matter again for you, please post your booking number.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 20, 2013
I will never use Booking.com again. My room at the Travelodge Calgary Airport Hotel ended up costing $32 more than Booking.com said it would. Furthermore, Booking.com lies to their clients about hotels. I after I stayed there, Booking.com asked me for a review & I provided one. They excerpted only 1 short phrase from my review that gave a totally false impression of the hotel. Yes, I did say the bed was OK. I also said that staying there was a total DISASTER. "Near the airport"? HA, only if you consider 25 minutes "near"! The hotel sends a shuttle to the airport only when called, so I had to wait 1/2 hour to get a shuttle & another 1/2 hour to get to the hotel after an exhausting transatlantic flight.
I decided to check the TV for the next day's weather, but the remote didn't work, so I tried to call the Front Desk, but the phone button to call them didn't work. When I used the washroom, the toilet paper holder came apart in my hands. I left a wake-up call, but they called the wrong room, so I would have missed my flight if I hadn't woken, thrown on some clothes & rushed to the Front Desk to demand they hold the shuttle (it only goes once an hour; the next one would have been too late). The hotel said they would have given me a partial rebate but they couldn't because I booked through Booking.com.
Hello Maureen,
I am sorry to hear about what has happened. I will be happy to contact the hotel to investigate this matter for you. Can you please post our booking number?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 16, 2013
Please people do NOT book your reservations with Booking.com. You are taking a risk. This is what happened to us. I paid in full for ten days to a resort in Turkey named Salamakis on the Agean coast in Bodrum. Just a note, the area is breathtaking and beautiful and Turkish people very nice except at Salamakis Hotel. We were 24 hours late in arriving from our long journey from USA. When I got to hotel they took it upon themselves to cancel our reservations! I had paid in full mind you.
I had two teens with me very tired. Tons of luggage. The Salamakis manager said that they refunded my ticket so I wasn't out of the 3,000 dollars. But they had room for three days. Well good for them and bad for me! I had to then scramble to find rooms at nearby hotels and that put extra stress on me. Never again will I book with Booking.com. The other hotels turned out fine but it was unnecessary stress...
Sorry to hear about this.
Due to each hotel setting their own cancellation policy, I would need to check into this further. Can you provide your booking number ?
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 9, 2013
We live in Europe and have been using Booking.com for years now to book hotels when we travel over the weekend. I would say we have used them at least 30 times. It took us a while to catch on since we have had a mixture of experiences, but slowly we started noticing that we were receiving the short end of the stick with the hotels that we used Booking.com to visit.
Several times now, we arrived at the booked hotel (through Booking.com) ONLY to be given the absolute WORST room in the house. It took us a while to catch on because we are quite easy going and depending on the hotel, it wasn't always that bad. One time in Austria however the room was so bad that we asked for another one, and we were told we couldn't get another one because we used Booking.com to book our room and they only give those guests CERTAIN (aka, the worst) rooms!
Just this past weekend was the icing on the cake. We booked a 5 star hotel through Booking.com, arrived and were given the worst room yet again. The shower was falling apart, our room was facing a wooded area with absolutely no view (all the other rooms faced the Alps). Other guests were offered a welcome drink and we were not (a problem of the hotel I would say) and the toilet did not flush properly. In a 5 star hotel?? We talked to the owner who was very nice and he showed us the other rooms - they were a complete change - nicely decorated and VERY NEW stylish etc. We asked point blank why we didn't get such a room in a lovely 5 star hotel, with a Michelin stared restaurant - they told us diplomatically that those who book through Booking.com are not always given the best deal.
SO here we are on a Friday - we are off this weekend and the next - and I did a little test. I used Booking.com to search for the hotel we intend to stay in, based on reviews and location. I then called the hotel directly and asked for the best deal they can give me - in one case I am saving 23% and in the other case I am saving a whopping 57 % on the hotel room! I am shocked and also feel ripped off - Booking.com must be raking in a LOT of money through commissions - they definitely DO NOT offer the best deal - false advertising!
Hello,
Sorry to hear about this.Hotels that sign up to use our service or obligated to provide guests with the same standard of room at the lowest price possible.
When Booking.com is advised of a problem with the room a guest was provided, Booking.com assists in resolving the issue.
Also, Booking.com does not charge guests or receive a commission from guests for the booking.
Hotels that sign up to use our service are charged a commission, based on the number of services that hotel wants.
If you need assistance with one of your bookings, please provide your booking number and we will assist you.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 8, 2013
FRAUDULENT! As I see from many reviews before, Booking.com is a site to be avoided! I wish I had read the reviews prior to using. I booked a hotel room in Paris at the Hotel Maxim for myself and my daughter. I canceled the next day, a full 2 weeks prior to my arrival date. When I booked the screen said "FREE CANCELLATION" What a JOKE! They billed me for the first night and now say I didn't click the right button for free cancelation. I was just using it in case I couldn't find another hotel in the Latin Quarter, the free cancelation was the REASON I booked with them in the first place. AVOID AT ALL COSTS!
Hello Julianna,
Im sorry to hear you feel this way. Hotels are the ones who provide their own cancellation policy on our website. These are visible prior to confirming the booking and also on your confirmation email. I would like to look into what happened. Can you please provide me with your booking number?
Regards,Lissa
Booking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 6, 2013
This morning 8/05/13, I received an email confirmation of a reservation I supposedly made for August 7 and was told that I had booked a superior double room for which I would have to pay $2,249.60 to the property. However, there was no location or hotel named. I NEVER MADE A RESERVATION ANYWHERE FOR THAT DATE and wondered why I had received the confirmation. When I tried to contact them by email at customer.service@booking.com, I received a message that this email was undeliverable. I then tried to fax a cancellation/correction request to the number given on the confirmation request at 1-888-850-8772 to cancel the reservation and to send me confirmation of the cancellation. Again, my message did not go through. Of course I am concerned about how this happened and if the amount will be charged to my credit card. I will keep trying to contact Booking.com and hope that this matter can be resolved.
Hello Natalie,
I'm sorry to hear about this. You may have received an email confirmation from Booking.com. However this email was not sent to you by Booking.com!
This email may contain an attachment. The attachment (probably) has the extension .zip.This email is not our confirmation email and there is a very high risk that the email contains a virus.
Therefore I advise you to not open any attachments nor links from this email. Please delete it immediately.
If you have already opened it, please update your anti-virus and/or re-scan your PC.
Two tips to recognize the original Booking.com confirmation email:
1) The Booking.com confirmation email does not contain any attachments (apart from our logo)2) You can see all the details of the reservation in the content of the Booking.com confirmation email.
I would like to confirm that this is a fake confirmation. Can you please send me the booking number listed on this confirmation email so that I can check it?
Regards,
RegiBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 3, 2013
I booked Ajyad Mecca on Booking.com, for 2 nights and paid a huge price over USD500 per night. The room was not cleaned and at midnight I called to have the room cleaned and the manager asked me to leave the hotel. With no room and left outside, I called and emailed Booking.com, spoke to a consultant that asked me to hold for a while and thereafter could not help. There was no attempt from Booking.com to assist me in any way whatsoever. Also the had no bath or shower and the cupboard had no doors, really bad place.
Hello Ebrahim,
I'm sorry to hear of this situation. I'd like to investigate this further. Could you provide your booking number for me? Or you may e-mail me at customer.web@booking.com.
Regards, KellyBooking.com Team
Reviewed Aug. 2, 2013
Having seen quite a lot of reviews on this company, I would like to say that they are as bad from the other side, as a hotelier. If anything goes wrong they just cave in and send pompous emails rather than trying to sort things out. Quite often they have caused the problem and are still pompous. I would want to get rid of some illusions: free cancellation? No, the cancellation policies given by the hotel to Booking.com are exactly the same as with other agents. Best deals? No, if the hotel is paying 15% commission to Booking.com or another online retailer they are not going to give them the best deals. These are reserved for direct customers usually. They will sort any problem out? No, they only want their 15% and you are just a number. The Hotels generally care about your experience and want to correct things but not BC. Great deals? No, You get what you pay for. If a hotel is dumping rooms online at a really low price then in all likelihood it's not too good. There are some good shoulder/off peak deals but you could get these anyway direct and often even better.
Hi there,
I'm sorry to hear this. I have sent you a private message asking you some more details about this. I'm waiting for your response and I hope I will be able to help you.
Regards,Chloe
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 31, 2013
I booked and before the date that was allowed to cancel, I cancelled my reservation at the hotel without any charge. But unfortunately my credit card was charged for the first night 121 euros. When I called Booking, they told me that I never canceled the booking and if I have evidence I have to send to them (like screen save). Thanks to God I saved their answer of cancellation and I sent it to them, but they said to me that there is no date on it. After that I found from my history the exact date of the cancellation with the time but also they find stupid reason to refuse to return my money back. Pls help me where I can complain officially.
I am sorry to hear about this. As soon as you cancel a booking via our website, you receive an e-mail confirming the cancellation. If you cancelled the booking with the hotel as you mention, it is not possible for us to have a record of this. Could you please post your booking number so that I can look into the issue?
Regards, KonstantinaBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 29, 2013
I booked two nights at Apartments Blagojevic at 102a Kumbor Herceg Novi, Montenegro. When we arrived the place was definitely not as described. They stated 130 meters from the beach. It was more like 1km. The room was by the roadside with unbearable noise. You definitely cannot sleep like that. The internet was not working. All that was ok but that real kicker was that the FRONT door would NOT lock. I asked them if they could get it fixed, they could not. Without having the front door being able to be locked our safety and the safety of our belongings was at risk. We decided it was best to leave. I ended up having to pay more money for a hotel that was safe and didn't get to bed until 2am.
When I called Booking.com to let them know what happened, they said I would get NO REFUND because the hotel didn't want to allow it. Booking.com makes a profit off each transaction that goes through their website but doesn't bother to have provide any customer support to their customers. If the place is not as described they don't give a ** and don't bother refunding the customer. This will be the last time I will use Booking.com. I suggest you use a better travel agent.
Hello Kenneth,
I located your reservation and see that it has been escalated to our Customer Relations Department and a acceptable resolution has been reached. Let me know if you need anything further.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 28, 2013
Re: Billing Dispute, Booking.com/Bayside Inn, Key Largo, Florida - "No refund from Booking.com." My complaint is Booking.com is doing nothing to resolve this problem with the hotel we booked through them, i.e., Bayside Inn, Key Largo, Florida. Booking.com expects me to have taken pictures of what I say or to show them proof of what our room was like in some way to continue my claim against Bayside Inn, Key Largo, Florida. (Unbelievable) We will never pay for any hotel room in advance again. This is what I wrote to Booking.com:
The Bayside Inn located at 99490 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, Florida is a dump. To say anything else is not telling you the truth! We know you have never had anyone from your staff look into this so called Hotel because it is not a 3 star Hotel by far as your web site suggests; it is not more than a 1 star Hotel, if that! An out-and-out disappointment! This Hotel is falsely depicting everything you are showing on Booking.com's web site! If anyone likes this Hotel they are erroneously padding their comments.
This is what we found just inside our room 3rd floor #307... Dirt on the floors, mold in the light fixtures, the air conditioner that had never been cleaned or serviced, the filter dirty... mold smell coming from the a/c unit, light fixtures missing, mini refrigerator smelling 3 inches of ice inside with rotted food stuck in the ice, room windows that didn't open, unbelievably dirty screens and window glass, shutter over the windows that didn't open or were broken... you couldn't open them. Paid for a "Garden View" that was nonexistent, no view at all. Felt like we were in prison. Trees covered the window view from what we could make out. Front desk clerks that wouldn't give us a receipt or they would not answer our phone calls. When they did the front desk put our calls on hold forever and we were told to leave a message that we left over and over again. Strong smell coming from the garbage cans outside the rooms. Elevator smell and was dirty. Wifi never worked. Was told by the help that the wifi never works at this hotel, etc., etc., etc.
This Bayside Inn in Key Largo Florida is a money trap for all who see the pictures from Booking.com's web site. The pictures are deceiving and not to be trusted to say the least! We went to dinner down the road after checking-in. When we got back we left after +/- 3 hours! I disputed this charges on my credit card. This was no joke!
Hi Sherry,
Sorry to hear about this.I have located your booking and will contact you via email or phone.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 20, 2013
I just got back from a long road trip and after a few disastrous experiences with Expedia, decided to use Booking.com since the reservations were refundable and since we were driving across country, knew that our details could change. All went well for several reservations. However, one hotel double charged my credit card and I was able to work that out with them. However, now a week after a one-night stay that I had cancelled well in advance, the hotel just charged my credit card for a no-show fee. The Booking.com agent said that they would take care of it, but the last gentleman that I spoke with said that I had to work it out with the hotel myself. The real trouble is that the hotel is claiming that I came in several days later as a walk-in reservation but obviously did not ask to see the actual credit card and charged MY card. So someone there used my credit card details and did not check ID for the person claiming to be me. I am hating Comfort Suites right now and the deals at Booking and similar companies are not worth it because they don't back you up once the hotel falsely charges you. I am a single mom on an incredibly tight budget, so $106.35 is a big deal right after a trip, as in our grocery money. I am more than upset with their cavalierness!
Hello Laura,
I am sorry to hear about this. I would like to investigate this further for you. Could you please post your booking number for me? Or you can email me at customer.web@booking.com.
Regards,
HeatherBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 18, 2013
Three weeks before my anticipated stay, due to a major change in my personal circumstances, I cancelled a hotel reservation using the booking.com online cancellation process. I was prompted through the steps and all the way to "submit. " Later, I checked on the status, and the reservation, indeed, displayed as cancelled. Then, on the day after my scheduled check in, I saw that the hotel posted a charge to my credit card for the entire stay, and that I was considered a no-show. I was shocked!
When I called Booking.com, the agent claimed they had no record of my cancellation. When I checked my internet browser, there was a history of my submitting a cancellation. But when I clicked to open the page, only the hotel information was displayed, but my history content was GONE! Coincidentally, this happened while I was on the phone with a Booking.com service rep who had asked for proof of my cancellation using a snapshot of my browser history!
What is my recourse for having been cheated? If could award "zero" stars for booking.com, I would. DO NOT USE BOOKING.COM!! FROM WHAT I HAVE READ AMONG OTHER CUSTOMER'S REVIEWS OF BOOKING.COM, MY SITUATION IS NOT UNIQUE.
Hello,
Sorry to hear about this.I would like to take a look into this, can you provide your booking number? You can provide it here or email it to me to: customer.web@booking.com
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 17, 2013
DO NOT TRUST THIS SITE! I booked a "no cancellation fee" booking, then had to cancel. I used the online cancellation process. I was prompted through the process and all the way to "submit." I checked on my cell phone app later in the day, and the reservation displayed as cancelled. On the day after my scheduled check in the hotel called to ask if I'd be arriving! I was floored! THE HOTEL CHARGED ME $499!!! When I called Booking.com, they had no record of my cancellation. Go figure! When I checked my internet browser, there was a history of my submitting a cancellation! When I clicked to open it, it opened the hotel info page and LOST MY HISTORY! This was while I was on the phone with a service rep. who then asked for a snapshot of my browser history! DO NOT USE BOOKING.COM!!!!
Hello Ann,
I am sorry to hear that this has happened to you. I would like to contact you via email or phone regarding this matter. Can you please post you booking number or email it to customer.web@booking.com so that I can look into this for you?
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 16, 2013
I normally use the site with the best prices so this trip it was Booking.com. The first hotel I booked said it wouldn't charge anything until check in and had free cancellation which is always great! I later realized there wasn't a pool so I cancelled the room and found another nearby which I quickly booked without reading the fine print: NO CANCELLATION! Dang, but I didn't think we would need it anyways. We got to the hotel SUPER 8 SALT LAKE CITY AIRPORT and it was great, nice staff, clean rooms, comfy beds, great continental breakfast AND we got our hotel through Booking.com for $21 cheaper per night than the hotel was charging. We were very pleased.
After the first night something came up and we needed to check out 1 day early so I asked the woman at the front desk who said since we used Booking.com I would need to talk to them. So I called and got an answer quickly. The man said that they would be happy to let me check out with refund but it would be up to Super 8. He said he would put me on hold to call the front desk. After a couple minutes he let me know he had to speak to the GM to approve it so he would have an associate call at 11am when she got there and he would also email the GM to let her know what was going on.
The next morning I got a phone call just after 11 notifying me that the GM would only allow the refund for an early check out IF it were an emergency and they would need proof of the emergency. Ultimately the hotel did not refund me BUT the point in my review was that the Booking.com staff was very helpful and friendly. The rates were great, not much more you can ask for.
Reviewed July 16, 2013
On February 9, I booked the Appartment München Isartor for a 4-night stay (June 9-13) for a quoted price of EUR796. I received a confirmation email with this stated cancellation policy: If canceled or modified up to 3 days before date of arrival, no fee will be charged. If canceled or modified later or in case of no-show, 80 percent of the total price of the reservation will be charged. Cancellation Cost in local hotel time: Until June 5, 2013 11:59 PM [Mnchen]: EUR 0, From June 6, 2013 12:00 AM [Mnchen] : EUR 636.80
On February 28, I cancelled this reservation through Booking.com online and received a cancellation email. When I returned home, I found a $1067.89 charge on my credit card from Appartment München posted on 6/18. I first emailed Booking.com. Within a few days they had called me, asking me to send my credit card statement to them to verify that I had, indeed, been charged. I supplied this (with sensitive information blacked out) and also sent a copy of my cancellation email. They then sent me an email, asking that I phone the hotel directly and giving the name of a person to speak with. I did this, the person at the hotel who answered the phone did not seem to know who I was talking about, but routed my call to a gentleman who said he "would look into it". I immediately called Booking.com and was told that if the hotel had not refunded my money within 24 hours, Booking.com would refund it.
Well, within the 24 hours I received an email from Booking.com, stating the matter had been referred to their "Customer Relations" Department who would "investigate my claim" and "propose a possible solution". That threw up all sorts of red flags for me and I immediately registered a disputed charge claim with my credit card company. I received an email from the Customer Relations Department on 7/15, stating that I should receive a refund, but I had to confirm the email they had sent by 7/16. Then they would send me a link to process the refund back to my credit card. We'll see.... bottom line... at the very least these people are incompetent. At the worst, they are crooks. STAY AWAY!!
Hello Julie,
Sorry to hear what has happened to you. I was able to locate your booking and I do see that our Customer Relations Department has been in contact regarding your refund. Should you require any further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us at customer.web@booking.com.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 15, 2013
Credit Card Compromised - After contacting ConsumerAffairs I eventually got the matter resolved.
Reviewed July 13, 2013
I received a reply from Booking.com asking for booking no., which is ridiculous as I am unable to make a booking in the first place. They have not addressed my credit card blockage.
Regards, Tal
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 12, 2013
I have been using Booking for a number of years and recently, they refused to accept my credit card. I used my wife's credit card and after one booking, it too was refused. I emailed customer service several times and got no response. I telephoned and said there was nothing they could do. They asked the booking ref no. after telling them my problem. I have lost trust in Booking.com. I also asked to send a complete list of my outstanding bookings. The list I received was not complete and luckily, I had a record of the missing bookings. I will be using alternative sites in future.
Hello,
Sorry to hear that. If you have a booking number you would like assistance with, please post it or email it to customer.web@booking.com.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 12, 2013
Booking.com did nothing to help satisfy what was a horrible experience when we booked an apartment in Florence, Italy and the apartment turned out to be simply horrible and totally misleading.
Hello,
Sorry to hear about the trouble you have had. I would like to help. Can you please post your booking number or email it to customer.web@booking.com.
Regards, AndreaBooking.com Team
Reviewed July 10, 2013
I traveled from the US to Europe on vacation and had booked one of my hotels using Bookings.com. When I arrived at the hotel L'Ernz Noire in Luxemburg, I was told there are no rooms available and that I would have to find somewhere else to stay. No help was offered or provided. Then a few hours later, I received an email from Bookings.com that I did not show up at my hotel and that I was being charged. The next morning I went back to the hotel and the owner said that I arrived after 8PM (he said I arrived at 8:40) and that they sold the room. Bookings.com then said it was my fault since I did not show up until 8:40PM stating that, "We would like to apologize again for the inconvenience on behalf of L'Ernz Noire."
"Albert **, the manager of the hotel, informed us that you arrived at the hotel at 8:40PM. As it is written on your confirmation email, the arrival time is between 3:00PM 8:00PM. The hotel has not been informed of a late check-in that's why they sold your room at 8:25PM. However, the manager informed us that he did not charge the cancellation fee, so the cancellation of the reservation was free of charge."
I did show up late (actually, I was there at 8:20), but I was told they did not have my reservation and there are no rooms. Bookings.com has weak arrangements and weak policies that allow both charging for rooms if you do not get there on time (or cancel), and for the hotel to resell the room immediately. They provide no help when this happens since I asked the clerk at the hotel to contact them. Do yourself a favor and find a different company to make your reservations.
Hello,
Sorry to hear about this.Can you provide your booking number so I can further look into this?
You can post it here or email it to me at customer.web@booking.com.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 9, 2013
I was not happy with a room I booked through Booking.com at the Relax Inn Lebanon in Lebanon, PA. When my wife and I checked in, the front office was cramped and messy which should have been a sign that the rooms was just the same, but we gave them a chance. When we got to the room (100), the ceiling was cracked with black mold and it had a stench that was unbearable, not to mention the fact that there was rust on the fridge and microwave as well as the tub and toilet.
We went to the front desk and complained, so they put us in room 109 and that room had stains on the sheets along with hair all over them. Food was still in the fridge and the same smell as in 100. The bathroom had stains EVERYWHERE and liquid on the ceiling which was dropping. Needless to say, we did not stay there and most definitely not recommend it to anyone. We had to spend a little more money at another hotel, but it was better.
I am sorry to hear about your experience. Please provide me with your booking number and I will send your complaint to the Relax Inn Lebanon. You can email me at customer.web@booking.com and I will be happy to assist you.
Regards, Eduardo
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 4, 2013
I was traveling from Georgia to Miami Florida and decided to book my hotel online. Found this site and purchased a night stay in a hotel off I75 in Gainesville, Florida. The pictures look nice and the price offered was $49.99 (a discounted price). When I arrived at the hotel, it was off to the side of a road and next to it was a construction site that looked that it was part of the hotel. No parking next to the rooms because the streets were under lots of disrepair. The area looked shady and in bad condition. The room was dark and cheap looking. I tried to stay, but it was impossible. I was scared because I only saw men that look like construction workers, all dress badly and many walking drunk. It was really scary.
I pleaded with the young guy at the reception desk to return my money and there was no way. I called customer service and they were of no help. They sided with the clerk. So I left without ever entering the inside of the room. I felt unsafe and scared to sleep by myself in such a shady area. Never again would I book anything with this Booking.com. Very unprofessional and disregarded all my request for help in this situation.
Hello,
Sorry to hear about this.I would like to look into this for you.
Can you provide me with your booking number? You can post it hear or email it to customer.web@booking.com.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com Team
Updated review: July 3, 2013
Booking.com finally honored my booking by finding a similar hotel. However, it took several calls and I had to talk to supervisors as the people answering the phone didn't seem to know how to check the notes on my case.
The alternate hotel is less expensive and it took several tries to get them to understand that I did not want to pay extra for the cheaper hotel. They did not offer anything other than apologies (and to cover any extra costs I incurred) for their mistake. It also seemed to help that I posted here. However, both supervisors i talked to were pleasant even though I was very upset. I will think twice about using them again
Original Review: July 3, 2013
Booking.com confirmed my hotel booking for the next day (on busy week - July 4th). An hour later, I received an email from Priceline.com that my hotel is not available. But since I have a confirmed booking, I did not check my email until later that night (12 hours after the original confirmation). In their email, Booking.com told me the hotel is oversold and offered me a similar hotel nearby. But when I checked that hotel's website, the hotel has a special for $100 cheaper than what Booking.com has offered it. The email asked me to call them but did not give me a phone number.
When I determined that I have to call Booking.com not Priceline, the man who answered kept asking for a pink number which was not included in my email. I finally got to a supervisor who does not seem to understand why I am upset and offered to call the hotel to have them offer something similar. I am unsure what hotel she is calling. She does not seem to understand it is a problem to take my money, confirm a hotel, and then send an email saying it is not available. Never using them again.
I am very sorry to hear about your experience and I would like to follow up on this.
Could you please post your reservation number? Our team will contact you shortly.
Regards, Sergejs
Booking.com Team
Reviewed July 3, 2013
1. NEVER send confirmation if you book a regular hotel (i.e. you are not booking a hotel that is NOT nonrefundable). 2. Lead to confusion as if you have booked the hotel or not. So I ended out booking the same hotel twice. Booking.com not only did not alert that I have booked the same hotel on the same day twice, but charged me TWICE. When I have realized that mistake with my credit card statement, Booking.com refused to repay me back for the second booking that was charged on my credit card, so I ended up paying for two rooms when I only used one! Booking.com is EXTREMELY unethical operation. I sincerely hope that other people choose other booking system than this. I had much better experience with Expedia. Consumers, beware of Booking.com. NEVER USE IT for your own good!!!
I am sorry to hear this. As soon as you make a reservation, you receive a confirmation e-mail from us at the e-mail address you give us during the booking process. Also, important to mention that usually the credit card provided is charged by the hotel and not by Booking.com. I would like to investigate this case thoroughly. Could you please post your reservation number? Our team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
Regards, Sergejs
Booking.com
Reviewed July 1, 2013
Via Booking.com, we booked and cancelled a couple of days later at Lipa Lodge, which according to their own rules should have been free of charge. We were surprised to see a charge of BHT 3,150 appear on May 28 on our bank statement. Despite several requests and emails, we have not had our money back on as of June 27, and Booking.com, who took our credit card details, has not helped us at all. They first promised to reimburse us directly if we provide a copy of our credit card statement. Then they did nothing at all. Here we are on July 1, and they are maintaining their silence. Beware when dealing with these people and with Booking.com.
I would like to sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you have faced and the service level you received thus far. Your case has been brought to the attention of our specialized team. They will contact you as soon as possible by phone or e-mail.
Regards, Sergejs
Booking.com Team
Reviewed June 26, 2013
The first of April, I booked a room in Panama City Beach, Florida for July 3rd-7th through Booking.com. I received a confirmation for the reservation. Approximately a week later, I received an email regarding my card they had on file and that I needed to update my card. I called them and gave them an update. Being assured by a Booking.com agent, I thought everything was taken care of. Two weeks (June 18th) before leaving for my trip, I got an email from Booking.com wanting to update my card again. So I responded to the email. The following day, I received a cancellation notice that they had cancelled my reservation.
I called Booking.com and was transferred to Jennifer with Leisure Link, whom I stayed on the phone with for 2 hours! She advised me that I still had the reservation and called the hotel speaking with Melissa. Jennifer told me that I needed to call the hotel and speak with Melissa directly, so I did. Melissa told me that I still had a reservation and that if I would go ahead and pay for it in full, that I would be better off?! I did not have my card on me at the time so I told Melissa I would call back and take care of the balance.
That evening, before I got home from work and could get my card, Booking.com had in fact cancelled my reservation. When I called to speak with Melissa at the hotel, she said that although she had made notations on my reservation, they cancelled it anyway. THEN Booking.com charged me a cancellation fee of $149.40. I have been back and forth with Booking.com for 5 days now about the cancellation fee. THEN last night I got an email from Booking.com that if I wanted my reservation, it was still available. I called Melissa at the hotel and she advised me there was NO availability for the dates I planned and that I shouldn't respond to them.
Today is 1 week before my trip. Ever tried to book a room in Panama City Beach over 4th of July? My point is, is Booking.com attempting to have another scam on me? Where are they coming up with the room being available when the hotel says it isn't? In my opinion, Booking.com is a bunch of scam artists and shysters. I want my money back!!!
Hi Charlene,
I am very sorry to hear about this. I would like to look into this matter for you. As booking.com does not have the capabilities to charge our guests for their reservation the credit card details are sent to our hotel partners who are the sole chargers of the reservation. If you could send me a private message here or feel free to email me at customer.web@booking.com with your booking number I would be more than happy to investigate this matter for you.
Regards,Troy
Booking.com Team
Reviewed June 20, 2013
They released my data to the hotel. The hotel (in France) charged my credit card without authorization. I ended up canceling the booking one month prior to the cancellation deadline because of this. The hotel admitted to accidentally charging the account but refused to refund the money. Booking.com made me jump through hoops and provide the same documents several times. Since the whole thing was taking close to a month, I went ahead and disputed the charge with my credit company. Beware of Booking.com. If there are any problems with your booking, they will let you down. Worst customer support experience of my life.
Hello Malo,
I am sorry to hear what has happened. I want to look into this for you. Can you please provide me your booking number?
Regards,Andrea - Booking.com Team
Reviewed June 19, 2013
I booked a hotel in Europe for few days stay with prices in USD showing as $402. When I received my statement from the hotel, I noticed the price was now $413. I then went to look at my credit card charges and found the hotel charged me $423. I complained to Booking.com to find out why all of these charges. After going back and forth between Booking.com and the hotel, it turns out the hotel changed the rates at their whim (bait and switch) and then I found they were charging me a 2% mark up through their bank!!
After 8 emails from Booking.com which contained useless information from the hotel and never receiving an itemized bill showing why there was this discrepancy, I finally got fed up and gave up. BEWARE FOLKS... This company does not want to take responsibility for an obvious problem. All fees are not stated on their website. They don't honor the rates listed on the website at time of booking. I will now make sure that anyone I know traveling and looking for a hotel does not use this site or they will be ripped off! I am now in the process of working with my credit card company to have all payments to the hotel stopped... not worth it!
I am sorry to hear this and I would like to get to the bottom of it.
Could you please post your booking number?
Thanks in advance,Konstantina
Booking.com Team
Reviewed June 17, 2013
We booked a hotel for vacation and it changed the date, after looking at a number of hotels. When we booked it without noticing that the form had 'cleared' our dates and put in a different one, we were charged a night's stay at the hotel, even though it was the online form that caused the problem. When we called customer service, they were not helpful and not willing to do anything to rectify the situation. I will never use this travel agency again.
I'm sorry to hear of your experience. Can you please post your booking number? I will be happy to look into this for you.
Regards,Andrea - Booking.com Team
Updated review: June 14, 2013
Problem solved. Thank you very much.
Original Review: June 13, 2013
I had made a booking with Booking.com at the Admiral Hotel in London. I phoned Booking.com to tell them I needed a property with an elevator. They said, "YES, this hotel has an elevator." Well when I got there, the door was locked with a note saying to 3 doors down to their sister hotel, the Kingsway Park. I had previously read awful reviews on this hotel. Booking.com never notified me of the switch. I didn't have credit cards and was only there for one night and took the room only to be put in a garbage, unsanitary room with mold in the bathroom among other problems.
When I checked in at the hotel, I was given a receipt signed by the rude desk clerk. When I got home so angry about the switch of hotels, I complained to Booking.com and sent 18 emails full of pictures of the disgusting state of the room for which I paid 99 GBP, which frankly was 99 too much. The place was a dive. When I got back, I was so angry that I tore up my Booking.com confirmation and my hotel receipt. I subsequently decided to complain anyway and contacted Booking.com, which said they would contact the hotel, which they did. So obviously they had my booking number... The hotel said they would offer me a discount on my next trip due to my inconvenience. I advised Booking.com that that was not acceptable! Then I didn't hear from Booking.com for a while.
Booking.com (a 3rd agent by this time) wrote back and said that as a gesture of goodwill, Booking.com would refund me 20 GBP but I had to produce a copy of the booking OR a copy of the receipt and further said they couldn't get the receipt for me. Are they stupid or something??? They had been pursuing my complaint and I have to give THEM a copy of my booking?? It's not like I have a very common name. It would have been easy to find. They further said they could not help me get a receipt copy from the hotel, which I know the hotel has because they photocopied my receipt.
I subsequently contacted the hotel (who has not responded) and copied my message to Booking.com so they would know I was following up with the hotel as instructed. This morning I received an idiotic email from yet another Booking.com agent saying they know nothing about my booking!!! Going back to the elevator issue... When I checked in at the switched hotel, it did NOT have an elevator. If I had known this prior to my trip, I would have cancelled my booking.
The moral of the story is NEVER EVER reserve a room with Booking.com again. They misinformed me about the elevator, did not inform me of the switch, AND they had the nerve of sending me an email saying something along the lines that the switches are beyond their control and they couldn't email me in time. BS!!! I left my city on May 11 and didn't arrive in London until May 26. I made my booking way back in March or something like that. They have ample time to notify me.
The agents over the phone are probably underpaid persons with no brain. Having to climb 2 flights of stairs at the switched hotel WAS a big deal. Not to mention the filth! I have 18 pictures with the disgusting state of the room. Frankly, Booking.com should be paying me 99 GBP in full... But as a friend said, live and learn and whatever. I will never trust Booking.com's judgement EVER again.
Hello,
I'm sorry to hear of your experience. I've located your reservation and will have one of my specialized colleagues contact you shortly.
Regards, KellyBooking.com Team
Reviewed June 13, 2013
I booked at a Super 8 through Booking.com in Myrtle Beach, SC. I was sent a confirmation through email as well as a confirmation when I made the reservation. I drove 4 hours with 3 small kids to find out that Super 8 never even had my reservation, and they were actually booked. I wanted the Super 8 because it was ocean view and had a good price. Booking.com found me a hotel after 30 minutes, but it wasn't ocean view as they had said and the hotel was not a safe or suitable hotel for me and my kids. I ended up finding a hotel myself, ocean view and for about the same price. They are a waste of time. I shouldn't have to call and verify a reservation when that's what Booking.com says they do.
Hello Katrina,
I am sorry to hear what has happened. I have located your booking number and will be in contact soon via email or phone.
Regards,Andrea - Booking.com Team
Updated review: June 13, 2013
Thanks very much for addressing this issue!
Original Review: June 11, 2013
This was a rather unpleasant and awkward experience due to a customer service representative who is unaware of the purpose of the comments section in the booking process. I booked with Booking.com and found a good rate and had no issues. I called to cancel a few of the dates because the website wouldn't quite cooperate with my request. I wasn't annoyed by this and didn't mind calling and explained my reason for calling to the agent. She seemed friendly as well and was able to make the cancellation for me.
She told me it wouldn't show up on my booking account but that it was completed on the hotel's end. I said that was no problem. I received a confirmation e-mail with the changes a few hours later only to find the following written in the comments section: "spoke with Melinda (had a bit of a tone, too)." I cancelled my booking through them and rebooked with the hotel so that they would not receive commission on the sale.
Hello Dayna,
I am sorry to hear about this.I'd like to investigate this matter in an effort to improve our customer service.
Can you please provide me with your Booking number?
Regards. LissaBooking.com Team
Reviewed June 10, 2013
I booked the hotel in Baltimore, MD through booking.com around 6:30 pm on May, 18, 2013, and they got me Super 8. I drove down to check in. But Super 8 was not able to find my name on reservation. What they said was they closed its booking availability way before Booking.com made a reservation for me. So, I called Booking.com and explained the situation and waited.
Then 3 hours later, Booking.com got me another hotel that was 15 minutes away from Super 8, and I was able to check in after 10 pm. It cost me $55 more that should be reimbursed back to me within 5 business days after I submitted my receipt. Guess what??? The customer rep who was helping me find another hotel cut me off due to her working hour was over... What an absolutely unprofessional person and awful management!!! Booking.com made a clear mistake, but I had to suffer by waiting, doing nothing in my car, missing dinner, etc. Now, I have to wait again to get my money back... It's been a month.
Hello Jinkyu,
I am sorry to hear you feel this way.I have found your reservation. Please double check your inbox for an email from our Customer Relations Department sent to you on May 31st, 2013.
Regards, LissaBooking.com Team
Reviewed June 10, 2013
I was planning my honeymoon and was looking for hotels. I came across Booking.com and knew they had to be legitimate because of the cool commercials they have. Boy, was I wrong! I found a nice hotel on their website for a reasonable price and decided to book it. I was really hesitant because for some reason, this website does not give you a total before you put in your payment information (mistake #1). So I booked the room and then realized it only booked the room for one night after I had put in all the dates I needed!!! I needed 5 nights!! So I called. They told me the hotel is booked for all nights, except the first one and they will not let me cancel.
They make it seem like it's my fault even though it's their website that is so misleading and confusing. It never said anything about the hotel room not being available for the nights I needed. So beware. If you need more than one night, they will book just what is available just to get your money!! They supposedly called the hotel and no one answered to see if they could cancel the booking, which is funny because I had just called the hotel directly before booking and they answered.
My last complaint is the "service charges." This charge is totally separate from the TOTAL ROOM CHARGE. It is very small print (misleading) and very hard to see. I know this because I missed it. So the hotel room that I stayed in for one night that I thought I was getting a great deal on ended up being more expensive than staying at the Holiday Inn for two nights!! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR AND STAY AWAY FROM THIS HORRIBLE WEBSITE!!! PS: This is the first online review I have ever written. Yes, it was that bad!
Hello,
I'm sorry to hear of your experience. I would like to investigate this further for you. Would you be able to send your booking number to customer.web@booking.com? When I receive your booking number I will contact you by phone or e-mail.
Regards, KellyBooking.com Team
Reviewed June 7, 2013
I booked a non-smoking room at Hotel Du Midi in Narbonne, France - at least this is how it was advertised. When we arrived, we found out that the room smelled smoke. In fact, the manager seems to believe that it is enough for a smoker to open the window in a non-smoking room and smoke with an open window, and the room won't stink. But this post is not about the hotel - it is about Booking. When I contacted Booking and told them that they cannot advertise the rooms as non-smoking, after long back and forth, they did nothing. The hotel is still advertised as non-smoking on booking. YOU CANNOT TRUST ADVERTISING ON BOOKING.COM.
Hello Alexander,
Sorry to hear about this.I have located your booking and will contact you shortly, via phone or email.
Regards,Kristen
Booking.com
Reviewed June 5, 2013
Firstly, I have booked a hotel with Booking.com before and no problems but this time, I was taken for a big ride. I booked a hotel 3 nights in Hobart, king size single for $49 per night. Confirmation email stated this was happy until 8 pm. The next night, I get a phone call on mobile. They hang up as soon as I answered twice. I thought it unusual. I checked my email and there were two emails sent straight after phone calls saying that the hotel had overbooked themselves and they weren't able to offer a single room for me. But get this, they were upgrading me to a queen size room for no extra and asked me if I would I accept that. Well, why wouldn't you ring? I spoke to what I believe was an American. Yes, all fixed.
Phone call the next night, answered, hung up, same deal. I looked at email again and oh lo and behold, they were now wanting to charge me the queen room price as it is the hotel's fault and they would later on refund me the difference. I spoke again to an American accented female and asked her why I would pay extra at hotel and get a refund from Booking.com if it was indeed the hotel's fault. I smelt a big rat. By this stage, I was advised to pay extra and then send on my bank statements and Booking.com would refund me the difference. It usually takes 48 hours. When pushed for that in writing, I was never going to get that.
"Why don't I just ring the hotel directly?" I said, which I did spoke to a lovely man who informed me that it was not his fault they had overbooked him. He told me to cancel my booking and book directly with him for the queen room at a single price pay later and he would even try to upgrade me if he could for no extra. Tip, just book with the hotel directly and you will find you will get a better price and better service. And the American company I thought I was dealing with as I did ask was in fact in some Asian outpost. They lie to suit themselves and try to extort money from you that has to be illegal.
Hello Jen,
I'm sorry to hear of your experience with us. I would definitely like to investigate this further. Are you able to provide your booking number for me? Or, if you wish, you may e-mail me at customer.web@booking.com.
Regards, KellyBooking.com Team
Reviewed June 5, 2013
Booking.com needs to hire/get somebody who knows how to do their job. My vacation was a nightmare because they booked the correct hotel, but charged another one. They froze my funds and I had NO MONEY ON VACATION!!! I had to wait until they released the funds on my bank account to even pay for the CORRECT hotel and didn't get reimbursed for 3 days AFTER I was HOME!! I will NEVER use you again... and I will let everyone know what they did.
I am sorry to hear about this.
Booking.com does not charge your credit card. The hotels themselves charge according to their policies.
Can you please provide me with your Booking number? I would like to look into this and see what happened.
Regards,
Lissa
Booking.com Team
Booking.com Company Information
- Company Name:
- Booking.com
- Year Founded:
- 1996
- Address:
- 4147 Eastern Ave.
- City:
- Grand Rapids
- State/Province:
- MI
- Postal Code:
- 49508-3405
- Country:
- United States
- Website:
- www.booking.com
