Booking.com
Reviews and Complaints

It is a shame that a well-known site like booking.com, with million users, is unable to take the responsibility for happenings like the one described below.

On April 4th I received an e-mail (via booking) regarding my reservation in Niki Athens Hotel (Greece, booking reference [protected]) stating that I needed to verify my credit card details (although the reservation I had made on March 15th did not require pre-payment. I was supposed to pay once I arrived at the hotel unless I chose to cancel my reservation after April 23rd). Once I verified my credit card details I was informed by the bank that my credit card was charged with the amount of 399€! What is more surprising is that the next day (April 5th) I was informed via booking that my reservation was cancelled "due to a problem with the credit card". When I contacted the hotel, however, I was informed that my reservation was cancelled due to the renovation taking place at the hotel. So my questions are:
1. Since the hotel management was aware that my accommodation at the particular lodging was impossible, why did they proceed with the charging of my card anyway?
2. Since there is a renovation is taking place at the hotel and it is impossible to accommodate people, why did the particular hotel appear on booking.com three weeks ago?

Currently, I have no accommodation in Athens and there is a charge in my credit card for 399€. Furthermore, presently, most of the hotels have already been booked and I am unable to make a dissent reservation. I would also like to mention that I am a university professor and that I have to attend a conference on 26-29/04/18. This is a business trip that I cannot cancel!

This morning, I have contacted the customer service in Greece ([protected]) and UK [protected]) to express my discomfort and disappointment regarding the issue and to my surprise I realized not only that both employees had no idea about the whereabouts in Athens (I mean the location of the various hotels) but also they were unable to assist me in any way! I explicitly explained to both of them that I was interested in a hotel in the area Ermou-Mitropoleos-Syntagma (area where my original reservation was located), however, both of them disregarded my request and they suggested a relocation either in Karaiskakis square or in the area of Omonoia. Shouldn't people working for booking.com know the difference between my request and their suggestion? In case they are unfamiliar with the city of Athens and the location of the hotels appearing on the site, they probably should not be working for the articular site. Furthermore, no one bothered to apologize for my discomfort!

Tomorrow is Easter for the Greek Orthodox church, and I am obliged to keep looking for a lodging for my eminent trip in Athens instead of attending the mass. Is this my fault? Didn't I make a reservation using your site 3 weeks ago? Furthermore, there is a charge in my credit card. Therefore my question is "Why should I ever use or suggest booking.com again?'
At present I feel that booking.com is a site that does not respect its users, has no respect for their needs and takes advantage of them.

In case you would like to consider your site a respectable one you should not only respect your customers but also compensate them for any discomfort you may cause them. It is truly a shame I had to spend all day trying to amend your mistakes or trying to contact your representatives! You customer service is a huge disappointment!

I did a reservation from 9-14 April for 2 rooms at easy hotel Amsterdam zaandam, with a total cost around EGY 22, 886 with a confirmation number: 1936.298.982
And another reservation from 6-8 April at the same hotel with a total cost around EGY 6310 with a confirmation number: 1701.564.588.
My reservation was not only confirmed by you as booking.com, but also I sent a request through your website to let the hotel know that I will do the check in by 16:00. And I received a confirmation that my request has been delivered to the hotel and they welcome this at no extra cost.

I arrived today - 6 April- at the hotel, to find out that my reservation was cancelled!

How is this possible? I received a confirmation and I already paid the full amounts through my visa card... so it is a confirmed and already paid reservation.

I tried to contact your customer service, and they say that all they can help me with is to give me an email address to write to, which I'm doing now.

Imagine, that I'm traveling from one country to the other, depending on you that I have an hotel reservation, to find out that I will sleep this night at the street, as no one from your company can help and the hotel is fully booked.

I request the full amount that I already paid to be returned back to my account.
And I request a proper compensation from your side for this terrible mistake.

Awaiting your reply,
Amal Abdelaal.

Toilet was mis-functional (over flow the toilet)
Video taken and sent to the owner via Booking.com
Key returned just after got it with in 30 minuets as soon as problem found
Issue reported to the receptionist
She promised to report it to the management and come back to me

No response

Sent another email to Booking.com about the no response, email received that they will come back to me with in 24 hours

No response after

Another email sent to Booking.com

What to do next?

The issue occurred on: April 1st, 2018

Refund and compensation expected

Booking Reference: [protected]

I had a one night hotel stay in Amsterdam on the 31st March - the payment was taken off my credit card on the 24th March and the hotel checked my card to ensure it was the same one used during booking. I have now been charged a second time for my stay, resulting in over £600 being taken - as opposed to over £300.

I have tried to contact booking.com twice already and have had absolutely nothing back from them! Usually I cannot fault booking.com but now I am of the opinion that they are careless and their customer service is appalling.

I am entitled to receive £15 cash reward based on my reservation [protected].

However, I didn't receive the payment at all. I tried to contact with Booking.com, they can't even tell me which bank they submit the payment, only a ARN reference provided. I have asked all my bank to check with this reference, none of them confirm the receipt of this £15.

Good day

Booking [protected] Cologne Gallery Loft

We checked into the accommodation late yesterday but will definitely be checking out first thing in the morning. We would have checked out 10 minutes after checking in today but we couldn't find alternative accommodation immediately. We are now having to pay for alternative accommodation in Dusseldorf.

After last nights incident we have left the accommodation.
Points of concern:
*the accommodation is in a very shady area.
*the reception is not visible as there is graffiti all over the entrance wall.
*it's right next to a pub.
*the room window is the same high as the street and right next to the intersection.
*the walls in the room are dirty and full of stains.
*the bathroom has a hole in the wall.
*the towels and bedding stinks of smoke (it's really bad).
*the floors are uneven and the sill joining the floor has lifted and one trips over it.
*the shower has a glass wall on the first floor and then you need to walk down a steel staircase with wet feet.
*after 10pm one cannot leave the hotel as the receptionist has left and there is no other access in or out.
*while we where trying to cancel our booking, 3 other potential guests also walked out.
*when entering the hotel it looks more like a brothel than a hotel and looks like these rooms gets hired out by the day.
*the fridge is here for show, it doesn't have a power supply.
*when exiting the back door one has to walk extremely carefully as there is a wooden surface that is uneven and missing some slats.
*room service is not available, as there is non available.
*at 00:50 am we had an attended break in, someone forcibly opened the window, knocking the pot plant off.
*the shower rose is covered in mold.
*the windows haven't even been plastered in on the outside.
We honestly don't understand how this so called apartment could be on booking.com.

We expect you to look into this accommodation immediately and we also expect to be refunded. This is the scares placed we have ever stayed in and we travel often.

**Photos can be provided if need be.

Regards Mike and Irene

I booked two rooms in Pietrasanta (Italy) on March 27th (One for me and my family and one for our friends) for April 1st and 2nd and then read that it would only be possible to cancel the rooms 4 days before arrival, so I had to cancel the same night or they would have taken the entire amount. I proceeded to cancel the room. I received a message saying that the booking had been modified and that my room was cancelled. My friend then booked another room on booking. I received a message on my phone the morning of our trip that they had charged me 133 euros on my credit card. So what happened is that they had cancelled my booking, but they didn't cancel my friend's so I was charged for that. It was written in the email, but it was not clear at all and I would say that it's somewhat of a scam because there was only one confirmation number so once I read that the booking was cancelled I was assured that I no longer had to pay. I called the hotel which was really rude to us, and they only offered to let us stay in their hotel for 90 euros instead of 133 after they received a phone call from Booking customer care, which for me is unacceptable. I think Booking should refund me because of their misleading email. Only if you read the fine print of the email can you understand that only part of the booking was cancelled.

Booking Ref (1299.134.948)

I have used Booking.com many times but I will make sure not to in future, when transferred over to them from a booking portal.

I booked 3 nights accommodation in Tenerife for last week. I hadn't seen it was not refundable but that would not have been an issue - I was not going to cancel.
However, the acknowledgement of the booking said there would be an additional charge of 40% payable locally for cleaning. I cancelled immediately, processed within 15 mins. However I was then advised my payment of €165 was forfeited. I phoned Booking.com several times over the following days and their agent had every obstacle put in their way. The property owner said 10pm was the middle of the night (in Spain where they don't have dinner till that time), he wanted an Italian speaker etc etc, Booking.com variously said the extra local charge was/was not adequately posted on the site. It was certainly very small, when I did find it!
In the end he said if I rebooked and paid the extra €60 locally he would give me credit. But the hotel was booked out by then, following a price drop on my one room so the Booking.com site wouldn't allow me to rebook. And even if there had been availability, it would not have processed a free booking - I would have incurred the further risk of paying again.
I pointed this out to Booking.com by phone, they said they would talk to him but nobody came back with an update, despite the fact that I was within hours of travelling.
When I arrived in Tenerife, with no other accommodation and still hoping the matter would have been resolved while I was travelling, I booked a taxi to the accommodation and gave the driver the full address on the reservation. It was only 3 kms away but the driver never heard of it, asked other drivers, who hadn't either, and eventually drive me to the address and asked local men. They claimed that street number belonged to another complex with a different name and not at all like the pictures on the booking.com website. I walked through that complex, spoke to residents, walked the neighbouring streets, but had no success. I tried to phone the number on the confirmation but it wouldn't ring. I got nothing from Booking.com, other than book again even though it was booked out
In the end I booked and got alternative accommodation
But now I have paid on the double and want my initial payment back - for all the reasons - sharp practice to begin with, non-existent property.
Since my return I have written several times to Booking.com but I have received no response, not even an acknowledgement. They are still offering this accommodation on their site, though now at a fraction of the price and still with the cleaning charge.

Surely Booking-com must take some responsibility for vouching the accommodation they offer - in this case non-existent. They get paid for promoting accommodation and taking the bookings so surely it is reasonable to expect them to take reasonable care for clients from whom they are taking money.

I can be contacted from the contact info on the booking reference. And I sincerely hope I will be. This time.

Had reserved a condo with double room from April 1st to April 7th in Destin Florida through Booking.com in Destin Florida.
Reservations were made over 2 months in advance... Recieved a confirmation email 5 days prior to check in indicating that everything was ok.
Upon my arrival I was told that my rooms were not available.
Traveled from Indiana and texas to find out our rooms were already taken!
The entire Destin area was booked at 100% capacity.
I was offer couple of options that were extremely sub standard to my original booking.
Obviously I turned down and left town
Extremely disappointed and dissatisfied to say the least. I will scarlet this complaint as high as possible. This business practice is absolutely unacceptable and should not ( and will not) go unpunished.
BOOKED Reservation confirmed - congrats Librado! You booked an apartment!
See below conformation received
-vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvb
We sent your confirmation email to l...@yahoo.com
Update your email address
There's no need to call us - your booking at Gulf Shore Condo #310 Condo is already confirmed!
The property handles all payments. See payment details below or contact them at +[protected].
You can now modify or cancel your booking until check-in
Confirmation number: 1207.057.219
PIN code: 0659

My credit card number was stolen during hotel booking on booking.com.

A limousine was rented with my card. 1186 $ was spent in 2 transactions.

It was the first time that I had used my credit card number on the web. I made a very awful mistake on trusting booking.com.

I am a hundred percent sure it is booking.com who stole my card because the transactions were done outside of my country . I live in Turkey and the transactions were done in the States, which is where I booked a hotel room.

Dear customer services, customer services,

Booking reference: [protected],

I am writing to you to raise an issue about online travel agent at Booking.com on March 20th, 2018.

The apartments have cancelled my reservation, whilst it was a non-refundable booking, and due to the international transfers charges I have been refunded 30 euros less.

I feel that booking needs to cover the extra cost of the cancellation. The apartment has hold my money for two months and once cancelled I should not have to cover the cost of the cancellation.

I look forward to a prompt response.

Please reply to my resolver email account as I would like to keep all of my communications in my personalized complaints case file.

Yours faithfully

Meritxell Garcia Saura

I signed up, booked a hotel through booking.com. I made the mistake of giving them mine and wife's cell numbers to receive text alerts. Within a couple hours afterwards we both started receiving tons of spam marketing calls from various products. Since booking.com is involved in these shady practices, I strongly recommend not using them, and certainly not giving them your phone number. This was almost a year ago and we each still get up to 5 spam calls a day. Once your number is still sold you'll either have to deal with it, install spam call blocker (doesn't work 100%) or change number.

Re [protected] - reservation Down 1 night Saturday 17 March, 2018 - Hilton London Heathrow Hotel.
On 21 January, 2018 at 3.57pm (AEST) I received confirmation from customer.[protected]@booking.com of a room at the London Heathrow Hilton Hotel. My wife and I arrived (whilst it was starting to snow outside) and we were told the hotel had no reservation. When I retrieved the booking I was again told there was no booking and the hotel was full, but they would honour the booking and the rate (as opposed to the £185 it would have been otherwise). Whilst this really has had no downside, before I book with booking.com again could I please have an explanation as to what went wrong? I look forward to your response.
Regards
Michael Down
[protected]@millsoakley.com.au

I was intending to travel to St Helena Island, off Africa. I went on booking.com to book a hotel there and St Helena Hotel came up and I booked. Immediately I realised that this hotel was not on ST Helena Island and I requested booking.com to call me as well as emailing them immediately. They phoned me back and said they would sort it out. They then called us later to say we must phone the hotel directly. We tried and tried but were unable to get through as we are based in South Africa. I then contacted booking.com via email and Vincent said he would sort this out for me. I then got another email form booking.com from Mayra and she said "tough luck" there is no refund. They then took another amount that was more than the first amount - so I have now paid in excess of R12000 for a booking I cannot even go to. I have also had to cancel my holiday to ST Helena Island as I have not money left for accommodation. I am totally disgusted in the way they have shoved me around and stolen my money twice. Be very aware of booking.com as they do not take any responsibility for their app, they just take your money. I demand my money back from them and if I don't get it I will be going on every forum available to warn people of their very unscrupulous thieving ways. My Booking number is (2036.755.768)

We checked into the hotel and our room was not as advertised. The beds we're uncomfortable, the bathroom was very small and the tub was dirty with mold and other unknown substance. The curtains had hole which allowed people on the outside to look in. We were so descusted we checked out after our event, Big Smoke Miami was over at 1030 pm and drove home. We complained to the hotel staff who pretended they didn't speak English, but they spoke English when we checked in. I cannot believe you would support a hotel like this, especially when there were several complaints of bed bugs, which I didn't find until the day of our trip. I would like a full refund for the room we never used. I hope booking.com thinks more of their customers than to let this happen. Your response will dictate my future booking with you company.

Jerry Bevan
Confirmation # [protected]

I made a reservation for a property in London through booking.com on 3/13/18 to check in on 3/14/18. The morning of the 15th, I received a notification from my cc company of a questionable charge. The charge was for a black cab (GETT) in London, which I have never used. I notified booking.com about this and at first they sent an email explaining their payment policy. I tried a second time and told them my cc info was stolen either from their site or at the property. No response. The 3rd attempt to contact booking.com basically told me that someone got into my cc account with my password. I hadn't logged into my cc account or used my cc in about a week so I doubt that was the case.

I had to cancel my cc and have to figure out how to get a replacement since I am traveling for school the next 2 months. This has been a huge disappointment and an inconvenience to have to borrow cash until I get this resolved. At this point I would like my money back for the hotel. Reservation # was [protected] for the Oxbridge Apartments. After googling booking.com, it seems like this has been an ongoing issue.

I was traveling turkey last 10 days. I ranked as genius (frequent traveller) and I booked total 4 hotels from booking.com 4 out of 1 I had very bad experience. Booked date. 7-3-2018.
room was not clean at all. area was smelling, very bad location. decent guys can't stay there. no lift, and room was showed 3rd floor. with no lift. and very tiny steps. I don't understand why people gave 7.5 rating.
it was non refundable room. I booked 2 rooms for 3 days. I lost all money.. 229$. this is. more over staff showed me such a crap attitude. I can't tolerate that. as like we went stay free there. hotel reception from the room almost 100 mtr difference. rooms given other building. really disappointing.
if booking.com find a solution for this incident. I will never book again.
Hotel Name. (Taksim Trend Residence)

Nishad Mohammed.

this is a total scam, do not believe it for a second. they want your credit card number, act like you will get the lowest price, the problem is the hotel provider. The hotel provider has a different crediting system no refunds, sorry that is the way it is.

I called booking.com, leave message after message, no return calls. Please do not use, you will be very disappointed, I had to pay for the entire stay with no refund. I cancelled 6 days prior to check in. I learned that booking.com is a bs company do not trust their bs talk of the lowest guarantee.

please do not use and stay away. they are totally rip off company.

Booking Reference: [protected],

I am writing to you to raise an issue about Online travel agent at Booking.com on February 27th, 2018.

I was your loyal customer for many many years. As a proof you may even take a look at history of my bookings. I'm a very frequent traveller. I enjoyed booking.com conditions most of the time. Even when some reservation services provided me with a slight cheaper rates than booking.com, I would still prefer booking.com

But this action from your side, affected me in a very negative way

It is very wrong to make a mistake and not to admit it. But it is even worse to try to justify it with wrong things, such as "discrimination protection". It sounds even funnier to hear it from an employee of a such reputable organisation like booking.com

Being honest with your client and being professional can not be treated like a discrimination by anyone. Regarding gay issue, I beleive that every person on earth should have freedom regarding his/her own sexual orientation, and no one is allowed to limit it. There are many very talented people among gays and lesbians.

The mistake of responsible employee of booking.com, was that they didn't inform the client in advance that hotel is gay-friendly. I beleive that it is more important issue than photos of the room, or information regarding hair-dryer availability, ot how many square meters the hotel room is etc.

Gay-friendlyness of property is an important matter which should be disclosed by booking.com prior to reservation. I'm very unhappy with the situation, and especially because of damages that this caused to me. I have asked your employee for compensation, but the call was dropped. I understood that booking.com employee is looking for ways to defend itself by any matters, and that's why such a non-sense as "discrimination" issue as a justifying one was mentioned. It can not be reason to hide the information from client, the client has a right to know this, because, mother Earth is populated with billions of people with different cultural backgroungs, and not knowing this information (hotel being gay-friendly) may hurt their feiling in very serious way.

I understood that besided saying sorry, and justifying its actions by mentioning "discrimination" booking.com employee has no other intention to compensate this, I will seek opportunities to compensate this matter by myself.

I would like to keep the booking, not cancel it. I'd want booking.com to compensate me damages.

I look forward to a prompt response.

Please reply to my email: [protected]@gmail.com

Yours faithfully

I have booked two nights in a hotel in Tenby on the 2nd and 3rd March but we now have code red not to travel as the snow is so bad. I rung the hotel about the weather but was told I still have to pay the £95 Cancellation fee.
Is there any chance this can be changed as we have been told there is a severe weather warning and not to travel.
Our car insurance is void if we was to travel in such severe weather and as an act of goodwill I was hoping The Park Hotel Tenby would be lenient with this.
I have asked if we could 're arrange to another date but was told no.