Booking.com

[SunshinePleaseReturn]

Have you hired a villa through them before and paid directly into the owners bank account?

I.e. not through the site?

Definitely not. I've used this site for many years and enjoy the safety of paying via them. Last year we had our first problem with our accom I rang them and they handled everything and I received a full refund.

No, never.

Never - and nor would I.
I would seriously question this if you are being asked. In years gone by I have paid for accommodation booked via Holiday Rentals direct - and once in cold hard cash - but payment methods have vastly improved since then.

Never!!!

No. If you're asked to make a payment off the site, contact Booking.com as it's likely to be a scam.

It's really not, are you confusing with Airbnb?

Owners with properties on booking.com can choose whether they want to the site to also collect the payments but they don't have to

You get your money sooner if you organise your own payments

Of course there might be a scam but there's nothing inherently dodgy about owners taking payments directly

Contacted them and they were useless

@B1indEye the message from B.com says that the owner will send bank details... which they have done

There are reviews of the property on there too... and the owners have a website.

It just seemed a bit odd not to pay through the site.

Their customer service is well known to be rubbish, what exactly did you contact them about?

Have you paid owners directly on there before @B1indEye ?

I called their customer service to ask if it was on to pay the owner directly... took 20 minutes to put me through to someone who just read me what it said on the email the site had already sent.

"Ok" to pay directly

It doesn't matter what anyone else has done, I know the photo I'm attaching will take a while to show up but it confirms that owners can take their own payments

No one can tell you though whether the specific property you are looking at is genuine

We used a s/c appartment near my mums via Booking.com and the owner (living in the same house) asked if we would be happy to book direct the next time and pay in cash so she is saving the Booking.com fees.

In this case I was more than happy, especially as it came out that we have some mutual aquaintances.

But a villa just anywhere? Absolutely not. I may book via their own website with a credit card but never a wire transfer.

Don't do it! Booked 3 nights in NY and they asked for a bank transfer which we stupidly did. Booking.com then cancelled booking. As we had paid the apartment direct it was an absolute NIGHTMARE to get the money back. Took about 9 months to get a refund.

You're right, @B1indEye, a quick check indicates that paying the owner directly is a legitimate option on Booking.com. I should have remembered this, because I've booked hotels through them and then paid at reception on arrival or departure.

The one time I've been asked to transfer money (for a "refundable damage deposit") into a bank account after making a booking on Booking.com turned out to be a scam and the apartment didn't exist at the location on the listing. The messages requesting money actually came up on the platform. I didn't transfer any money and it was all sorted out with a couple of phone calls to Booking.com and a relatively small amount of personal inconvenience, but the same thing happening to a family going to stay in a villa in a rural area abroad doesn't bear thinking about.

The villa has said we could pay in cash once we get there. But I obviously don't want to lug 1000's of euros around with me!

If you pay off platform then the risk is all yours to bear. Companies like this are mere agents and do not check listings.

Cancelled booking

Do you feel more comfortable having done that? That's the most important thing.

@KohlaParasaurus yes have found another villa better villa through another company. All sorted thanks.