Booking.com

[Allloveisbeautiful]

I am interested in booking something on booking.com with free cancellation….I’ve done this before and have been able to cancel no problem. However this one is taking me to a message that says ‘commitment to pay’…. don’t remember seeing this before so is it still safe to go ahead and book?

The free cancellation will only be until a certain date. They’ll take your payment details to automatically process the payment if you haven’t cancelled prior to the free cancellation date.

That doesn't sound like free cancellation. Maybe there's a mistake in the link or the info you've been given, but I wouldn't be clicking that if I wanted free cancellation!

I recently booked an apartment on booking.com and deliberately chose no free cancellation - my link said 'commitment to pay', although the money hasn't gone yet.

Yeah this always comes up with them when I book free cancellation, your commuting to paying when you should do. It doesn't affect t the free cancellation

Yes, it's just yet another confusing message from the most visually overwhelming site on the Internet. They've been showing that for a while. It made me go "hold on, I didn't ask non-refundable" too.

I think they might have had the "nudge" consultants in, to tell them that people are X% less likely to cancel if you make them feel like they "committed" to it, or some such bollocks.

@Hayley1256 @samarrange thank you and I am tempted to go ahead but @Janek your comment concerns me! I have emailed booking.com but no idea if they’ll get back to me…

Really, don't worry. Hayley and I have actually booked this way (many times, in my case at least).

"Commitment to pay" is a phrase from contract law which means that you accept your responsibility to pay if the contract goes through (i.e., if you don't cancel within the specified window). It is not "commitment to pay under any and all circumstances", otherwise the cancellability wouldn't mean anything.

If people were actually getting charged by Booking with this wording, it would be all over the money and travel media (Martin Lewis, Simon Calder, etc) and their reputation would be in tatters. Really, they are not trying to rip you off with sneaky wording. 🙏

It really is fine, I've also booked many that say this. Some I've cancelled without any issues, others I've gone ahead with the stay and either paid at the hotel or the money has gone out on the date it said it would

Double check when the free cancellation period ends - it can be anything between hours and months before check-in time.

If you are happy about the date, go ahead. They need the payment option for situations like no-show without proper cancellation.

@AllloveisbeautifulSorry to have worried you - if others are saying that it always says that then that's different. The two most recent things I've booked have been non refundable and both said 'commitment to pay', which I understood as it is non refundable. I have no recent experience of booking refundable stuff.

As pp said - the commitment to pay is if you go ahead. The confirmation should show the cancellation period and when any money will be paid. Whic you be clear in the description before you confirm.

I’ve booked so thank you everyone.