My solo trips are doomed

[idontthinkishouldgo]

Partially posting as a whinge, but also tongue in cheek and a little upset.

I have two solo trips planned for next year.

firstly, one of them was affected by a hotel chain going under. Fine, I’ve found an Airbnb for that portion of the trip.

today, I’ve logged into my booking.com account to check the status of my other bookings and I’ve been locked out due to “suspicious activity”. Upon further investigation they’ve banned my account because I had four hotels reserved (2 per trip, each trip involves travelling from one location to another), and it is now showing me that 3/4 of the hotels have been cancelled.

I’ve reached out to each hotel to confirm with them direct whether the bookings stand or not but at this point I feel like all of my accommodation for both trips falling through is a sign that I shouldn’t be going. What do I do????

Book with hotels direct

They all require payment up front and my plan was to save as long as possible and pay at the hotels.

I know it sounds stupid but it just feels like a sign I shouldn’t be going

There is nothing out there to send signs, but there is a ton of human incompetence and now computer says no decision making. You have plans, find your resilience and make them a reality!

I’m a really big believer in it and it all feels like a sign m!

It’s a sign to ditch booking.com 😁

Maybe it's a sign not to trust third party websites?

I've been scammed on Booking dot com. I'll never use it again.

Well my card has been banned from them so I won’t be able to use them again.

thankfully when I logged in I thought to contact them. They weren’t going to tell me otherwise!

A sign not to use booking.com maybe, but you can’t honestly believe the universe is somehow telling you not to go? 🫣

Have you heard of the burnt toast theory?

Sure, but that's just an attempt to reframe minor inconveniences as good things! Looking on the bright side, not deciding that burning your toast is a sign that you should never leave the house again because the burnt toast is signalling that you would have died in a twenty-car pile up had you left the house at your usual time because you didn't burn the toast.

Do you actually want to go on these trips?

I wouldn't let that sort of thing bother me. Usea different card and see if agoda works for you( i know they are connected) Or Expedia hotels.com etc, whoever has the fre cancellation.

I've had upcoming flights cancelled and altered so many times now I'm now travelling from a different country, c' est la vie. Shit happens. If you often travel alone you get used to sorting it

There have been some issues with Booking.com - fraudulent calls and emails - so be v careful.

I’ve DMed them on Twitter and emailed the hotels direct to confirm and they’ve all been cancelled

Well “it” let you down at the point when you made the booking…surely “it” would have sent you a sign then?!

Well grab your foil hat and sit at home for the rest of your life!

I hate to say it, are you normally so bloody dramatic?

Book the bloody hotel direct and grow up

but you were blocking the hotels from being booked by other people so - meh.

On the contrary OP, you should be thanking the universe for stopping you relying on Booking dot com. Now find another way to book, and enjoy your trips!

What happened?

Are you saying they cancelled because you had 4 hotels booked over two trips? I doubt that's the reason they suspended it. We've had 4 hotels booked for one trip and 3 for another and it's not been a problem. We had 8 different hotels booked for one holiday a few years ago.

I don't think it's wise to go on holidays that you can't currently afford though. Have you pulled out of a lot of bookings? That might become an issue I'd imagine.

We booked into a serviced studio apartment in London. Arrived in the block, to be told at reception that they knew nothing about our booking. Called the number on the booking, to be told it was booked up for weeks and she hadn't taken our booking. A scammer had managed to insert themselves into Booking dot com, create a fake entry based on a real entry, took our money, and disappeared. Booking dot com refused to reimburse us. I got our money back via a charge back through our bank.

Will never use Booking dot com again!

They’ve said it’s because of the four.

I’ll be able to pay at the hotels. I just want the money to sit in my savings as opposed to being paid to the hotel at this point.

Huh? I had one room reserved in one city, then a day later another room in another city (I’m travelling down overnight on the night in between), and then for the other trip one was an airport hotel for one night and then a two night stop in Italy before moving down to Croatia?