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.

yes I've had problems with booking.com, the taxi i booked at the airport didn't show up and they refused to refund us, I'll never book with them again.

yes exactly what happened to us. the taxi was meant to meet us inside the airport terminal but didn't show. booking. com said they did show.
we think they waited outside but didn't come in with the sign like they were meant to then just drove off, they probably picked someone else up looking for a taxi so got paid double. booking.com refused to refund us. won't book with them ever again.

Would never use them again - like others have said they're fine.....until there is a problem then their customer service is non existent. Have had two occasions where accommodation booked with them and have had to escalate and and in one case had to raise a PayPal dispute. They simply didn't want to know. Personally I would rather pay a bit more and have peace of mind.

This. We have stayed in some great places with bookingcom but only choose those with 8+ rating. The ratings and reviews have always been reliable to date. We dont use airbnb anymore because its overpriced and the fact that guests are reviewed means guests cant be as honest about the accommodation so the reviews are less reliable. Stayed in some really mediocre airbnbs with lots of problems that had "great" reviews. Just not worth the risk.

Booking.com are shit. The End.

We've booked loads of apartments with them and have been absolutely fine.

There are loads of apartments with great reviews and lots of reviews.

They were amazing when we had issues (not caused by them) with an apartment booking and a car hire last year - incredibly helpful and got it all sorted for us.

Exactly the same @hideawayforever !

I've booked multiple times over the last 15 yrs with booking.com & Airbnb covering holiday rentals as wells as hotels all over the world. The only issue I've ever had was with Airbnb and to be fair, it was a cancellation due to the COVID summer of 2020 and it was hard to get a refund so I took a credit which I couldn't use until 2 yrs later. It was supposed to expire earlier than that and I mentally geared myself to having to write it off but ultimatelty, I was still able to use it for our first holiday abroad post Covid in 2022.

I'm not loyal to any particular platform but I will book direct if possible and if the price differential isn't great. For one property booked this summer, it was on both platforms with Airbnb being slightly pricier and booking.com gave me an extra discount due to my genius (loyalty) level. It also offered a further discount if I paid in full upfront which I deemed was worth the £250 price differential. I received a message from the host straight away and I guess that I take a calculated risk having taken all the above steps. I always book somewhere with lots of reviews and do research on area/location as well as customer service. I've only ever booked accommodation, never the extras though since we always hire a car directly. As to price, if the price seems to be too good to be true, it probably is! Caveat emptor!

I think the key with booking.com is stay off things like taxis and use it for established hotels/apart hotels with good reviews- too many variables on individually owned apartments etc - it's why I don't use Airbnb much either- had some great ones and some really ropey ones too .

I've never booked anything marked "managed by a private host" on booking.com. Always hotels, apart hotels, B&Bs. I've found them to be ok.

I aways avoid "private host" - even for apartments there are aparthotels or managed flats. Recent good reviews are a must. As for taxis, i often use the option as a genius member because there are discounts - last weekend i even got a free transfer. I always receive the taxi company details in advance from Booking.com and the driver details (with phone number) on the day of travel. Somebody up thread was talking about Budapest - I can really recommend the 7Seasons apartments.

I won't use Booking.com at all after an awful experience with them - and it was hotels. I booked a hotel with them - it was a literal last minute booking due to being stranded at an airport (in the UK) after a flight cancellation, and the holiday company abandoned all thier passengers because they couldn't find available places for them (but that's another story). Anyway, I found a last room available on Booking.com and paid for it via Paypal (thank God). Got to the hotel, and despite having the confirmation evidence and that I had paid, the hotel had no confirmation. Someone else had just arrived with exactly the same problem. Fortunately there was a room - the room Booking.com were advertising existed, but the hotel had no confirmation from them that I had booked it. So I had to pay for the room again.

Whilst I was there both myself and the hotel contacted Booking.com and explained what had happened, but neither of us could get them to agree that they had screwed up and issue me a refund. Long story short, after weeks of conversations back and forward with the hotel totally supporting me, they refused a refund. And I was told that there was not a thing I could do because their company was based in (I think) Belgium and I had no UK consumer rights. At that point PayPal stepped in and refunded me the money - they are big enough to be able to hold Booking.com to account and did so with no qualms.

They are awful with flights too. I’ve been owed £370 from them for a cancelled flight for 11 months and still haven’t got it back

Marital? 😳

Many of the ‘managed by a private host’ properties will also be advertised on other platforms, such as airbnb.

Most are genuine holiday lets run by families. Some are dodgy. Always check
recent reviews- as far as I’m aware it isn’t possible to make fake reviews on booking com.

I’d never book any other services on booking though

Mmm. I tried to make a hotel booking - well, self catering but in a hotel-style arrangement in Devon, just over a year ago. My payment wouldn't go through. So I rang the hotel and told them and they said "don't worry, pay when you get here". It really wasnt busy!

But then about six weeks later, I got a bank alert text. Someone trying to book a hotel in Oxford - was this me? No, it wasn't. And it was a card I rarely use and the only time I'd done so recently was that failed booking (I used another one on arrival). So that's extremely dodgy.

I booked a hotel for the London marathon through booking.com months ahead. About 6 weeks before the marathon they cancelled it saying the hotel no longer had availability. A friend had her hotel in London cancelled the day they travelled down. Cost them a fortune. I also booked a place in London through them which was a bit too good to be true. Had some WhatsApp messages from the owner and something felt off so I cancelled. I just don’t trust booking.com. I’ll happily use their website to see what might be available but book direct now.

I have had this problem . Twice. I will not use booking.com now because their standards are appalling. And this is despite good reviews. I want to arrive to a clean, healthy place that excels my expectations. Not one that takes a months wages for something they should be paying me to stay in!

We booked an apartment in Athens with. Booking.com. Was expensive but liked amazing. Turned up and it didn’t exist. Booking.com were wonderful. Found and booked something else for us nearby and very quickly. Arranged immediate entry. I think they refunded the difference and more as 2 subsequent places we stayed were ‘free’ as we had loads on the wallet.

That vile advert featuring Paddy McGuiness does not help their cause either . Let mel emphasise that I don't mean Mr McGuiness is vile just the content of the ad.

They've been renting airbnb style accommodation for a good few years. I've booked through them loads of times & always been lucky

I booked an apartment through Booking.com - when we arrived there were bars on all the windows and no smoke alarm - i immediately refused to stay in the apartment. Made a booking elsewhere. Reported to booking.com after a week I got fed up with the to and fro messaging so I spoke to my Credit card company, requested a refund and got on with my life. I still use booking.com and I always pay by credit card.

I don’t trust the Airbnb reviews - we have stayed in too many that failed to point out the negatives on a property - the Airbnb reviews model is either flawed or they do t publish the negative reviews. At least on Booking.com you can see the negatives.

I agree with your suspicion that Airbnb delete negative reviews - which is why we don’t use them.