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.

This can work out a lot cheaper and not any less secure. At the end of the day, any independent property owner letting can still let you down or turn out to be the best connection for a holiday accommodation you ever find

Can you start a dispute on PayPal?

I did know about these issues when using a third party site. Annoying.

Have you checked - do either of you bank with Barclays? Because you know of all the issues with the banking system, should be all back up and running but there are lots of remediation actions going on in the background.

(I know you used Paypal but it's the base system that crashed).

Might be worth checking with the owner if you can.

I always use booking.com, only ever booked hotels though and one issue where the hotel cancelled the booking. Was a bit of a pain dealing with customer services and booking.com & hotel communicating with each other but I’ve had far worse CS it was just a small pain rather than big issue.

never used air b&b, I don’t like the whole sound of it, I’ve only stayed in one once when someone else booked and going to be staying in another this year, I’ve not had anything to do with the booking. I’d much prefer to pay the extra for a hotel where if there are any issues there are staff on site to sort straight away.

We had an awful experience with a place that wasn’t as described - booking.com were no help and I now refuse to use them and just book everything direct.

I agree @dottiehens , but when they are so desperate to shill they lose track of ethical considerations I figure they should be called out.

I don’t get why big companies give them legitimacy. When I see these campaigns I tend to turn away from the companies. I was a regular user of Booking.com, but stopped after seeing this idiot influencer advertise the site.

it isn’t possible to add an image. For example, the text on an insta story by pilotmadeleine promoting VisitSaudi read: “Samir talking about [how] foreigners often have a wrong perception of Saudi Arabia 🙈 For instance that all women get suppressed here etc. which definitely isn’t the case!”

heartbreaking and foul when you consider the reality of women in Saudi Arabia (I have been there and worked on various cases relating to the KSA) and the threats posed to female activists in the region.

Yes technically it was, because it was a same-day booking.

I have but they too are slow to do anything!

I know people have a problem with airbnb, but I used to host my spare room on it before I had children and it helped with my bills. I only ever gave travellers 5 stars.

I will make a note of this place because I am often looking for affordable accommodation there.

Yes!

They do have good hold music when you call to complain though, and you'll be given ample chance to listen to it!

I use booking.com all the time but only for hotels

Get the best prices and conditions there.

I’d never book a private flat / Airbnb style property through booking.com (or Airbnb for that matter) to avoid risk of a problem upon arrival that can’t be resolved.

Hotels cost the same but much more reliable and easy, with their 24/7 reception and services, and many out there offer rooms that come with basic kitchenette if needed

They have a good search function “hotels only” which instantly filters out all the privately owned flats and apartments

We only use apartments
DS has allergies so we need to self cater - and it's been brilliant.
We can filter on kitchens and always look to see what kind of oven it has by looking at the pictures.

We had an Airbnb stay booked in Glasgow where the host cancelled three days before the booking date. We booked alternative accommodation with booking.com the same day, and that was cancelled the next day.

Two days notice to find somewhere to stay for four people. We ended up in some hotel that while it wasn't bad it wasn't ideal, and much more expensive.

Since then I've avoided using either and just book a hotel directly.

I booked a place via booking.com and when I arrived (after an 8 hour drive) it was closed and had been closed for over 3 months. There was even a note pinned on the door apologising to anyone who had booked with booking.com.

I’ve heard a few bad thing about Booking.com. Now there are several others such as Hotels,com and Trivago I use them instead if I can.

Have used booking.vom numerous times /faultless service. But I wouldn’t go to a private rental /too many variables that can go wrong /better to use an actual
hotel.

@AnotherDayAnotherIdea yep - if you can get it at a good price and we use it a fair bit - for location and price it's a steal - even if rooms aren't flash - they are perfectly fine - just to say I don't have any link with them I just know people can struggle for affordable over nighters in London - it's used 'a lot' by the airlines

I only use them for hotels, I must be honest. I wouldn’t feel comfortable booking anything else through them.

How have you opened the dispute with PayPal? They don't have the option not to respond if you've opened a case. Go into your PayPal and select the payment itself on your transaction history and log a case. They may want to see the correspondence from the owner and B.com so keep these handy.

booking.com are thieving swines. Had a Paris hotel booked prior to covid, we had no option but to cancel as the dates it was booked for travel from the UK was not permitted and they would not let us change the booked dates, however they agreed to cancel but said they would have to charge a cancellation fee. The ‘cancellation fee’ was essentially 100% of the cost, so they refunded me £0 and cancelled the booking. Haven’t used them since.

that should say the booking was made prior to COVID, then covid hit and the booking couldn’t go ahead.

@dancinfeet I think there was all sorts of dodgy behaviour around that time with all kinds of sites and events- I had a menopause type retreat booked with a group events thing for 28th March 2020 and obviously it couldn't go ahead - they did email 5 days before and said they hoped to reschedule when they could or would refund - I asked for a refund- never heard from them again and never answered emails either. Checked with venue and they said events company were holding the money and never answered them either

Just booked at apartment in Bucharest for this autumn. Paid by credit card. Hope there are no problems.

You've got me worried now! I was intending to book in the next few days with booking.com and I've only really been looking at apartments because I can't see how a hotel works for our family. It's me, DH and opposite sex young adults (one of whom is disabled but needs a private space) - we'd prefer a hotel but we'd have to book 3 individual rooms that might end up being in different parts of the hotel, and we'd have no joint socialising/'chilling' space. Noone wants to sleep on a sofa bed. Hotel suites with 3 bedrooms don't seem to exist. What is the alternative? We're used to booking cottages/apartments in the UK but this was to be our first holiday abroad. I've been looking for apartments on booking.com assuming that if it's got a good rating and decent reviews it'll be fine. Now I'm not sure, but don't know what other options there are. Are there any 'safe' booking platforms for apartments?