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I want to warn others about my experience with EconomyBookings.com, a travel broker operated by Booking Group SIA in Latvia.
I prepaid over $1,300 CAD for a car rental in Italy. When I arrived at Naples Airport, the local partner (Keddy by Europcar) refused to give me the car, saying I needed an International Driving Permit — a requirement that was not clearly disclosed when I booked or in the confirmation email.
The Europcar agent promised I would be refunded, but that turned out to be false. EconomyBookings refused the refund, pointing to hidden terms buried in fine print.
I’ve since found many similar stories online. I strongly believe this is a deliberate pattern: they deny service over technicalities, keep the customer’s money, and shift blame.
I’ve reported them to:
• European Consumer Centre (ECC Latvia)
• European Commission (DG JUST)
• Canadian financial regulators
I’m sharing this here so others don’t fall for the same trap. If this happened to you, please speak up. We need more visibility around how this company operates.
Recommendation: EconomyBookings is scamming customers
Alex, thank you for your response — but I must respectfully challenge the narrative.
You claim the rental company incurred costs preparing and cleaning the car, and that this justifies keeping the entire $1,300+ CAD I paid. But let’s be honest: no prep or cleaning justifies that amount, especially when no car was ever provided.
Here are the facts:
• I arrived on time at the rental desk.
• I was denied the car over a poorly disclosed requirement.
• The agent assured me I’d be refunded — that turned out to be false.
• No vehicle was delivered, yet I was charged as if it had been.
You also claim an International Driving Permit (IDP) is mandatory in most European countries for non-EU licenses. That’s simply untrue. After being denied by your supplier (Keddy/Europcar), I walked over to the Avis desk at the same airport — and was given a car on the spot.
No IDP. No issue.
So I’ll ask again: Where did my money go?
Because someone kept it - and I strongly suspect that includes EconomyBookings.
Let’s call this what it is:
You are profiting from denied rentals.
The supplier blames the customer.
The broker keeps the money.
The customer gets nothing.
And I’m far from alone. There are dozens - if not hundreds - of nearly identical complaints across Trustpilot, Reddit, ComplaintsBoard, and elsewhere.
This isn’t just a mistake.
It looks like a business model.
I’ve reported my case to the Latvian and EU consumer authorities, and I encourage others to do the same.
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I may as well add my experience with Economy Booking.
As of this date 12/11/2025 my issue (getting my money returned to my AmEx card) has not been resolved.
So let me back track to how this started.
On Dec1st I booked a car for pickup at Bradley Airport on Dec 26th. After booking the price came out higher than I expected because they add insurance, etc. automatically to the total. OK, my bad, I should have realized this before booking. I then went back online and found the exact same car with the exact same coverage for $300 less. Booked that and then went back to cancel with Economy Bookings. This was done in under an hour. Any reputable company would have cancelled the booking and withdrawn the charge to my card. Not EB. My credit card showed this charge as "pending" (during which time you can't dispute) for 5 days and then officially charged my card. Where did my money go? It went to my "e-wallet" which for all intents and purposes is their wallet.
Now it was time to go through the convoluted process to "request" that they return my money. After several representative assisted attempts I did submit a formal request for a refund. 3 days later I was informed that a "team" was "reviewing" my request. 4 days later I called to see how the "team" was doing. The representative basically told me she couldn't "see" that info and wanted me to go through the convoluted request process AGAIN. I refused and told her I would have AmEx take over the dispute.
Mysteriously, immediately after that call I received an email asking me to "Confirm" my request. Really?
After confirming I received a notice that it could take up to a "few weeks" to process the refund.
Is it not clear to everyone what's going on here?
Once they get your money they do everything they can to hold on to it as long as possible.
Raymond Strobel - Florida, USA