To warn you about booking.com

[AnotherDayAnotherIdea]

I have used airbnb quite a bit in the past, and once went into a property (in london) that was so bad that I had to call airbnb. They issued an immediate refund and helped me find an alternative.

I have also stayed in hotels plenty of times, often via booking.com. And if I had a problem, it was sorted out directly by the hotel.

But now booking.com are offering airbnb style properties owned by individuals.

We booked one about a week ago, and were sent the address and details of a key box promptly.

However once inside, it was clear that the cleaner hadn't been. A simple oversight. The bed hadn't been changed, the kitchenette and shower were dirty, and the towels very dirty indeed. It was 7pm, and we briefly considered just making do, but the towels were covered in something ... marital, so we decided we didn't want to have our children (or us!) stay there.

This is where it all started to unravel, because despite appealing to the owner directly, who promised she had approved a refund, and contacting booking.com, and PayPal, we are still in dispute over this. Booking.com is saying they can do nothing because the owner is unreachable. How is that my problem though?! She says she has approved the request. PayPal has not responded at all.

Basically, if you want an airbnb appartment, use airbnb. Your money is not protected in case of dispute if you book via booking.com.

I personally wouldn’t book a cottage/apartment style property with booking.com as I know of at least two people who’ve had their booking cancelled by the owner at the last minute. It was then difficult to get a refund and to rebook anything when annual leave from work was already organised. I tend to use a property rental company as they seem to have better standards and procedures

But now booking.com are offering airbnb style properties owned by individuals

They've been doing that for many years. We've never had a problem. We do however, always check reviews and pay by credit card, which would give us another protection route, should something go wrong.

Your issue, while upsetting and inconvenient, is related to the property owner, which could happen however you book, and isn't the fault of the booking platform used.

I’ve only ever used booking.com for hotels and never been a problem. However recently was looking at a house rental which was listed both on Airbnb, booking.com and VRBO simultaneously. As it was cheaper to book via booking.com we made the reservation that way.

Fast forward to the day & hour of arrival and we realise while we have the receipts showing we’ve paid, we haven’t been sent the access details. We phone the host details (a property mgmt company) on booking.com and it turns out someone had also booked the place via VRBO and “their systems hadn’t synced” so the other folks had been sent the access details and were already in the house we’d paid for and were expecting to use for a few days!! In fairness the host was genuinely mortified such a cock-up had occurred but was very keen to offer us a full direct refund & some additional compensation for us not to go and complain to booking.com. In the end we managed to find an Airbnb that was available in the local area that same night but for a few hours it caused a lot of unnecessary angst.

Anyway, a salutary warning to be a bit careful with Airbnb style rentals on booking.com even if they are cheaper, and always check you’ve been given the access details or communicate with the host beforehand. We didn’t on that occasion and regret not doing so as it would have alerted all parties to the problem a few days before.

@LolaPeony yep I agree - and I know this hotel too as have stayed here many times, so can ignore the 7 !! lol

I’ve not had issues with booking.com - just luckily never had a problem with anything I’ve booked through them to therefore find them good. But I did book an air bnb type place through vrbo a few years back (all done through their website) which turned out to be a scam - the place had gone bust and shut down the previous year but still advertising and taking money. I found out when the property didn’t reply to my messages. Vrbo were absolutely awful at sorting the situation. I finally got my refund but they were absolutely no help in finding alternative accommodation (booked elsewhere through booking.com in the end!) and I had to make many many phone calls before they issued my refund.

Yep, another one here stung by booking.com. I'll never use them again. Mine was a pre-paid airport taxi that didn't pick me up. I never did get the money back. I'm just grateful that lesson only cost me 90 Euros or so, unlike unlucky OPs with accommodation bookings.

I have used them for years and never had a single issue, plus I get avios when booking on them via BA Exec Club shopping 6 per £ spent so I will keep booking through them!

I do check if it's cheaper on other sites and booking direct obv, but as I am Genius L3 I often get a good discount and it rarely is.

BTW If you don't know it's always worth checking on the mobile app, sometimes is it 10% or more cheaper on there than the website

I've used them for ages and never had a problem.

Until recently - when I got a link in a message saying that card declined, please click on the link to complete payments.

I thought it was a scam, and the customer service team did contact the "owner" who said that was the way they collected payments. I was still very reluctant to click on a link in a message and the Booking.com CST team did not understand why I was reluctant to click on a link.

That said, we have had refunds straightaway and had many good trips away and I will continue to use them.

I use both sites and in fact, booked 2 properties for the summer on booking.com because it was cheaper than airbnb (the same 2 properties were on both platforms). I've noticed that many properties are advertised on multiple platforms and it is worth your while checking any price differentials.

Don’t even think about booking a flight with them…The airline cancelled 2 return flights, gave a letter to say we can get a refund but over 18 months later (and many hours on the phone!) we still don’t have our money back from booking.com.
They are appalling when something goes wrong.

I hope you did notify booking.com. They took the VRBO because I assume they took less commission from them. However they don't want to piss off booking.com because they probably get more bookings via them as more prolific. Call them out

This is why I don’t book apartment style accommodation through booking.com / airBNB, because the owner can cancel at any time. It’s far less likely to happen with a hotel booking.

There’s literally no reason to book flights with booking.com or any other platform rather than directly with the airline. You are so much better off having your contract with the airline that is actually operating the flights rather than with a third party if anything goes wrong / gets cancelled.

Airlines are strictly regulated and have to refund you promptly.

I arrived at a guesthouse in a foreign country to discover there was no reception and nobody to check me in. By the time booking.com found me an alternative, I’d made my own arrangements. It was a complete nightmare as I was travelling alone.

We've had no problems so far - we recently did a driving holiday, so staying only one or two nights in 10 different places and booked all accommodation through them. Everything worked out really well. We even changed our itinerary mid way and could cancel and rebook. Yes you pay a bit more to have the cancellation but that's fair enough if you want the flexibility.

We've used booking.com for years with no issue

My DS is currently having difficulties with a well-known holiday rental company where the owner has cancelled the booking, so it can happen on any platform

booking.com is an absolute rip-off merchant.

I once booked and paid for an apartment in Italy, deposit of 272 EUR immediately debited from my card. A day later the host cancelled and booking.com told me I'd be refunded.

I was never refunded.

I spent months calling an Italian number with no answer, I spent hours calling booking.com's customer service who continually referred me to the non-responsive Italian vendor. They said that they are only a platform and the sale/deposit/refund is entirely between myself and the vendor.

Eventually they said the vendor had withdrawn from the platform, only the exact same apaprtments were up under a new name like "vendor II".

DO NO SPEND YOUR MONEY ON BOOKING.COM

Was the booking 'non-refundable'?

You could have got a refund from your card merchant in those circumstances @holrosea either under Section 75 or as a chargeback. I think you have a few years to do this, so you might still be able to get it back now.

Unfortunately I am not in the UK so no Section 75. By the time I opposed the transaction it was too late, and the transaction itself "wasn't fraudulent".

It was a non-refundable booking but the HOST cancelled withing 24h so should have refunded the deposit. Booking.com were precisely no help.

On the flip side of this I've had a horrendous experience with an AirBnb, when we checked in to our property (in another country) fairly late and in the middle of nowhere. Discovered it was filthy and I mean absolutely filthy, the kitchen was not fit for humans, had a very dangerous issue with the electrics (that we provided evidence of) and worst, there was a random man coming into the property to use the "kitchen".
We spent most of the night trying to speak to Airbnb but had no choice to stay as there was literally no other options nearby. My husband stayed awake all night to ensure me and child were safe.
Initially Airbnb accused of us going to the wrong property - like what the actual fuck?! Then said we were lying, then basically just said there wasn't really anything they could do and eventually offered a partial refund.

I was absolutely gobsmacked. We sent through about 20 photos that proved we were not making anything up and they didn't give a shit.

I find booking.com a crap site to find accommodation. You have to wade through endless crappy looking apartments, they all look totally unprofessional.

Only ever used booking.com, never had a problem, and I've used them to book accommodation in the UK, Europe and Australia. I think you've just been unlucky

I use Booking.com fairly frequently and exercise a lot of caution because they put in some pretty unrealistic "new property" deals with pretty low prices and no reviews. I think these places don't exist and are bait. The hotels are fine on booking.com but the private apartment deals should be approached with a lot of caution.

I won't touch them with a bargepole after turning up overseas to find my booking had been cancelled while I was on the plane. The alternative accommodation was 35 miles away with no public transport links and they washed their hands of me as that was their duty of care sorted.
If I ever spot something I like the look of, I then book it directly with the hotel. Much better value and usually room at the other end.