Worried about unresponsive Interhome apartment booking through Booking.com

[Ladylu606]

Next month we have an apartment reserved (already paid the balance in full including the tourist tax) in Austria. Booked it through Booking.com. I have tried to reach out to then several times to ask them questions but they have not responded. One question is VERY important: its the documentation they said they had attached in a previous message but didnt, including the exact location of the property.

Im getting worried that they aren't reliable and we aren't going to get the experience we want with them. Anyone got any experience with them, good or bad?

Can you get Booking.com to confirm/contact them?

I've used booking.com for pretty much every accommodation I've ever booked, in the UK, Europe and as far as Australia...only had 1 issue which was sorted quickly via them.

To balance the coin there's been lots of threads on here over the years about how shit they are.

Hope you get it sorted

I would contact booking.com and get them to approach the renter. Remember that such sites only act as agents/middlemen and never check the veracity of listings.

Have you remained on the booking.com platform the entire time particularly when it came to payment?.

For payment i was directed to the interhome website and I had to pay there

Yes I contacted them two days ago but heard nothing yet

I think booking.com has gone downhill in recent years (not helpful to you OP) I’ve heard of so many people who’ve had issues with self catering apartments. I have something booked through them and it took about six weeks for the owner to message me back. There should be some quality control by booking.com and unreliable owners should get booted off the platform.

Was it definitely the Interhome website? I’ve not heard of it, but assuming it exists, was it the right one? Booking.com take about 15% of the cost as their fee so what are they getting out of it if you’re paying elsewhere? I’d be very suspicious. Can you contact your bank?

I'm in a similar position with one nights accommodation in Reykjavik. No response through the booking.com platform and I've tried to email the property directly with no response. It's been booked for ages and to get something else decent on the same date at short notice I'm looking at £500 a night!

Can you google the interhome website and check that the property exists on there and is booked for the period you are there ?
I would contact booking.com again maybe as a complaint to get a response, they were good albeit a little slow when I raised concerns about paying a deposit off the site.

I have to say for our recent Spain trip, I am beginning to feel like booking.com should only use companies where payment and organisation can be done directly through their site. I use it for the convenience but then was expected to put in personal and passport details on other sites

I've never had a bad experience with booking.com but they were recently hacked, which resulted in a lot of emails from scammers trying to intercept payments for bookings.

I've used the site dozens of times and never been directed to another platform to pay.

I’ve never heard of being directed to another site to pay. I am really cautious with booking.com because there have been so many scams.

Did you pay by credit card?

I think you might have been scammed here OP. You never go off platform to pay, I’d contact booking.com ASAP!

Was it one of Booking.com's "partner offers", where I believe your contract is with the accommodation provider rather than with Booking.com?
I've used one of those once without incident, but I guess not all of them are legit.
Hope you get it sorted.

I'm sorry OP but this was not a good idea. Booking.com will be limited in how they can help because you've paid outside the platform. It doesn't automatically mean bad news but never pay outside the website if booking in future.
How did you actually give them the money, was it a transfer or card payment?

Booking do have listing on their site which then require you putting in details in another site. The act just as a listings site. It makes me very nervous.
We have a reservation in a few weeks like this and I hate it.

I'm now going direct to hotel websites. I may not get such a deal, but the removal of the stress, and having a reputable hotel chain to raise complaints with, is worthwhile.

I had a very bad experience with booking.com, customer service is worse than useless.
Have you tried the company you said you paid ?
I'd go for a chargeback on my card & book elsewhere,

You need to contact booking.com particularly as you went off platform to pay. I would also go for a chargeback on the card if you paid by credit card and book direct with the hotel or owner.

I think that you need to contact your bank. I would be very wary of the fact that you were directed to pay off site.

Can you contact interhome?
Or search for the property online and see if it is on other booking sites and has direct contact details for the owner?

Contact my bank and say what? Can I have the money refunded? I paid by credit card so I could get the money back under section 75 but I just want to check first that there is no issue and that everything is going ahead as planned

Are there no direct contact details for the owner on either the interhome or booking website?
It might be worth also looking on the Tourist Office accommodation pages of the area in question in Austria and seeing if you can find the property there? It migh have contact details. Properties in Austria are often listed on their as well.
If you need any help pm me, I live in Austria.

This a number for them: +44 208 068 9954. It’s not the right department but I would stay on the phone until they gave you a number to talk to the right person.

Booking.com were hacked this year. I had 2 WhatsApp messages from different properties I had booked asking me to pay. I did not and raised it via booking.com who confirmed it was a scam. I would try their live chat.

Well how was I supposed to know if it was a good idea or not? I just assumed its all legit.

When I go to my booking section of booking.com, I can see my receipt and it has booking.com on the top so booking.com must be aware of the payment I've made.

I paid by credit card so can invoke section 75 if need be to get it refunded.

Thank you for this - i called them and I spoke to an actual person at last 😅 she took down my queries and shes going to investigate and get back to me. I feel like im getting somewhere at last