Booking.com
Reviews and Complaints

Myself and my family (Mr Ian Gibson, Mrs Amanda Gibson and our three children Lucy - 20, Poppy - 18 and Jacob - 15,) have been on holiday to Coral Bay, Paphos, Cyprus staying in a detached villa (Villa Estia, Royal Paradise Gardens) for 10 days, starting Saturday 24 Aug 2019 (Reference no. [protected]). On Sunday 01 Sep 2019, we went out for dinner at 19:15, locking all the villa doors and windows as instructed by the owners of PrestigeBookings.com (Gerry and Angela, in resort). We returned at 21:50 and found that the villa had been broken into and the safe containing passports, flight tickets home, money, jewellery and insurance documents had been ripped out from the first floor bedroom wardrobe and stolen. We kept all our valuables locked in the safe as instructed by the owners upon our arrival at the villa. We also had clothing, footwear and personal effects such as jewellery and perfumes stolen as all the bedrooms rooms were ransacked by the burglars. Some of the personal effects were of great sentimental value and have caused an immense amount of devastation. When the police arrived they confirmed that the point of entry of the break in was the first floor sliding door to the main bedroom as the lock mechanism was faulty and not functioning at all, although it appeared to be locked and the handle in the correct position. A simple tug on the door handle from either side, and the door easily slid open - the lock catch did not engage with the plate in the door frame at all. We immediately contacted Gerry (who turned up extremely drunk and barely able to speak) and the local police force who also arrived shortly after. Angela was asked by myself if they had had any other break ins and she answered "Yes, back in February". Gerry later denied this and said that Angela must have been referring to somewhere else which we were suspicious of as it appeared he was trying to cover up Angela's comment. The police took a statement from my wife whilst I made numerous calls to cancel debit and credit cards, and arranged for a follow up visit the following day alongside a person from the Forensics department, who also confirmed that the faulty lock mechanism was the most likely point of entry. We received no apology from Gerry - all he seemed to keep saying was that it was extremely rare for this sort of this thing to happen in Coral Bay (not the view of some locals we spoke to during the days after the break in). The police questioned why the property was not alarmed, did not have CCTV installed and why the basic door locks were not working correctly but there seemed little concern from Gerry (it was also found that one of the downstairs bedroom doors had a faulty lock mechanism which is how it was believed the burglars escaped carrying the heavy safe). Myself, my wife and my children were absolutely devastated and felt extremely vulnerable that the burglars would return whilst we were actually inside the villa. The owners said that they would arrange for a separate lock to be fitted to the upstairs bedroom (where my wife and I were staying) but this did not happen. We then had to spend the rest of the holiday trying to arrange and pay for very costly emergency travel documents, flight tickets and car hire to get to Nicosia High Consulate office (an 8 hour round trip) - all very stressful in a country we are not native to. Gerry agreed to provide one night alternative accommodation without charge as a 'gesture of goodwill' as Villa Estia was booked for new holidaymakers after we'd left on 03 Sep 2019. I found the comment 'gesture of goodwill' quite insulting given that it was the lack of a duty of care on the owners' part to ensure the accommodation was completely secure. We all felt that Gerry, in his drunken state, had tried to suggest we had been responsible for the break in by not locking the doors and windows until the police proved otherwise. We had a terrible time trying to plead with the London and Nicosia High Consulate to make a special arrangement to have the emergency travel documents prepared and ready for us to collect before our rescheduled flights home (a cost of £1900) - at one point we were faced with having to fly back on the 16 Sep 2019 to get all 5 of us on the same flight, which we simply could not accept. We finally managed to pick up the documents from Nicosia on Tuesday 03 Sep 2019 (the day we should have been travelling home on our pre-booked flight) and spent the night in Gerry's alternative accommodation before leaving for Paphos airport and the journey home the next afternoon (04 Sep 2019). This episode has also caused additional stress, as a follow on from being issued emergency travel documents - our daughter Lucy is travelling to Majorca on Tuesday 10 Sep 2019 and after the London High Consulate issued hers with a statement saying she could use this to travel and return to the UK up to and including 17 Sep 2019 (not enough time to apply for and receive a replacement passport through the normal channels) - but now we are being told that this is not possible and that she is likely to have to cancel the trip to Majorca, at yet more cost. We have been trying to sort out this situation with the London office all day today (05 Sep 2019) and have still not yet had 100% confirmation whether she can go or not.
We arrived back home at 21:30 last night (04 Sep 2019), totally exhausted and devastated that our first family holiday abroad for 5 years, has been completely ruined by what has happened and what we have had to go through with such little help and support whilst in resort. We now have to try to claim back all our additional costs - c£3, 500 - and hope that it is felt that we have a very valid claim for compensation here.

Hi
I unlisted my apartment in Nov 2018 on booking.com via the app( As you are instructed to do) and called the call centre to ensure that all bookings were moved. I was told they would move any bookings and there were no more charges to pay.

Well this didn't happen and booking.com have handed me over to debt collectors & suing me for €550.00 for bookings that I didn't get & threatening me with all sorts of nasty threats.

How do I resolve this?
Louise Robinson
[protected]

Hello,

I recently prepaid a hotel room in Montreal; the hotel was Baymont Inn and Suites by Wyndham in Montreal near the Montreal Airport. When I arrived the evening of August 24th to check in, the night clerk at the desk told me that my room was not prepaid but rather just reserved. I showed him the email that booking.com sent me but he refused to accept the email and insisted that the room had not been prepaid. He demanded that I pay in full for the hotel room plus the security deposit or leave. He was very rude, disrespectful and he made me feel unsafe. I felt he was ready to hit me. He ordered me to leave the hotel if I was not going to pay in full. I told him I was leaving and that I would never stay at a hotel that treated their customers that way. I felt unsafe and honestly felt he would harm me. I reported this to customer service at Booking .com the following Monday and they told me that they spoke to the hotel and the hotel told them that they were just asking for a security deposit. That is absolutely a lie and I am 100% telling the facts of what happened. I demand my money back and I recommend you do not use the hotel in the future. If you read some of the customer reviews of this hotel, this situation and poor treatment of the customer has happened in the past. Please feel free to reach out to me at [protected] with any additional questions or concerns. Thank you in advance. Agnes Smythe

Booking.com HELL or get your life back!
As a host: I have never ever seen any business as disorganized and completely incompetent as Booking.com. On top of it all, they refuse responsibilities for their mistakes. They do not respond to emails for days and longer, you can spend hours and hours on the phone being hung up on, call dropping, given wrong information, "they don't know", contact guests without your permission - and on the phone again for hours and hours days on end. The way they handle your money is horrid, when they give it to you-finally. They have no insurance. They say they are not involved with deposits, they do not collect or handle deposits yet tell people you will collect cash at the door and refund it the day of departure -how dare they! That is just one inconsistency statement they have. Where they say one thing then the other. Just about everything they say is inconsistent, untrue. T People book from there I suspect who can no book elsewhere. Also, it is a must that you have instant booking on yet they don't screen. You can not change much of your information, fees, deposits, name of your property-it all has to be done through them and you can't get through and it is a huge hassle-again. When there is trouble they caused they then say hey, were only a booking-yet that is not the truth. They go far into your own business- as some things listed above. They contacted guests without my permission causing an escalation of a problem, then told me they would be able to write a review (one riled up by them) if I don't have them removed- said by several of them, then the day changed and several tell you the exact opposite after following their explicit advise and procedures (that they themselves break) They charge 15% commission. Its all people from overseas and Hong Kong and various places who are unknowledgeable, do not care, and cause chaos. RUN don't walk away from these incompetents that will ruin your name and your business at a drop of a hat. They also have to find guests places to live when they arrive- they said that is common, they just call around to find them something in the area. LOL These people area joke.

We booked refundable apartment with Pimlico Stay Apartments in London through booking.com. We clicked on a clearly labeled REFUNDABLE (in big red letters) apartmentment for 7. Without our authorization, the owners automatically booked us into 2 apartments, one for 6 and another up to 5, of which the second for up to 5 was unrefundable. We notified Booking.com within 12 hours that we wanted neither apartment since it was an obvious scam, Booking.com refunded one but told us we had to deal with the owner on the other. After many attempts, we finally contacted the owner by phone who was very rude and told us our contract was with booking.com, not him. After finally finding a phone number for booking.com to talk to someone (which is very difficult) they basically told us the issue was with the owner. We then disputed the charge with our credit card. Booking.com responded to CitiBank that we never tried to cancel (an outright lie) and refused to hear the case. We are now stuck with a $1033 bill that was a complete scam by both Booking.com and Pimlico Stay Apartments. I WOULD NEVER USE BOOKING.COM.

On 8/15/2019 i booked a reservation at the Hotel Puerta de San Antonio in Cali, Colombia, but a few days after i had to cancel my reservation due fact that my Doctor said i should not travel cause of my torn knee( ligaments) are not healing well and will need surgery.I cancelled and did all procedures and Hotel kindly waived all fees and said i should get my fees back from Booking.com. Booking.com are refusing to give me my fees back and are giving me the runaround and even blamed hotel and my bank which i have called to confirm any fees refund.Til this day and it has been 11 days nothing from Booking.com.I'm a disabled man and can't afford to lose money like that.

Reservation code:[protected]

I input my holiday hotel reqirements to the booking.com website requestion accommodation with no cancellation fees. River House Hotel in Dublin came up and a booked it as I needed accommodation but knew I could cancel for free if I could get something better. I did find something better, again with no cancellation fees and booked it. When I then went to cancel River House Dublin, both Booking.com and the hotel refused to refund my payment. Booking.com passed my bank details to the hotel and therefore the hotel charged me. Both now refuse to either a refund in full or at least some form of compensation as the issue was with Booking.com's website.

After trying to cancel I also came across some dreadful reviews, in particular about rooms smelling of smoke when they were meant to be non-smoking. My daughter is asmatic and this hotel would be no use to her. Hence me wanting to change my booking.

I am totally disgusted with the hotel for taking a full payment for a room I could not use

Hi

My wife booked two nights at this lodge.

The room was described as deluxe and en-suite with a kitchenette. V misleading. Suffice to say the room was dated in the extreme, shabby and small. The kitchenette was, I assume, the downstairs area near check in desk. Nothing attached our room. There was a toilet/bathroom attached.

I run regulated care homes. My residents have rooms of a more comfortable, updated standard. In fact, I understand this accommodation was once a care home and it appears, having lost or relinquished registration with the regulator, they just purported to offer hotel type accommodation. There appears to have been no investment in the property - cheap nylon bed covering, old carpeting, poor decoration.

So, I checked out before we spent a night there and rebooked into One Warwick Park for an extra few pounds. Modern, comfortable, good service, lovely breakfast included in price.

No comparison in value.

The presenting photograph is misleading and is not Anand Lodge.

Booking.com should refund our costs. Please let me know.

When I arrived at One Warwick Park I checked trip advisor and could subscribe to the critical, sometimes very amusing but distressing criticisms, and believe Booking Com should make these views known. My wife states she will stop using Booking.com because she has been tricked and cheated as no viewing of this ‘hotel' appears to have been done by Booking.com otherwise it wouldn't be allowed to defraud customers. This must be rectified. Please reimburse our costs.

I have scheduled the transfer service from booking.com from Cancun airport to the hotel in Playa del Carmen on 08/04/2019. I arrived at the meeting point as directed by the booking confirmation email. I waited on site for about 2 hours, until the end of the time of 20: 00h, which would be the limit informed in the confirmation email sent by Booking.com, but the transfer did not appear and there was nobody from Booking.com staff to give directions. Since the service was already paid, I requested a refund, but Booking.com didn't accord to this request. Booking.com has simply stopped responding to e-mail inquiries regarding this issue.

I have made a booking and now the hotel wants to charge me more in late check in charge than I actually paid for the hotel. The late check in charge is not specified on the booking page and the hotel decides randomly what price to pay. I note that other people have paid a lot less late check in charge than I have. I now do not have accommodation for my first night in a new country and the hotel further threatened to account for me as a no-show and cancel my whole booking. I feel that I've been misled when I made the booking. All charges must be clear when I make my booking so that I can make an informed choice. Booking.com is the agent I chose and they are just wishing to wash their hands off. This is very irresponsible and poor customer service.

I made a booking for accommodation on Booking.com, and being fully prepared for a "Non-refundable" purchase, yet no mention was made that the property take payment at the earliest opportunity they can try.
Booking.com insist that "non-refundable" means that "payment can be taken by the property at any time" which is not the case. They are also denying that the UK has consumer rights laws that include "cooling off" periods after purchases, and that they are "helping but the property doesn't not have to give a refund", which is totally antithetical.
Furthermore, both parties, Booking.com and the property insist it is the other company responsible for the charge and issuing a refund, yet neither company will take ownership of this issue.

My card was charged for $332 for the Hilton at Universal Studios. I did not make this reservation and I did not authorize this charge. Neither the hotel or Booking has resolved my issue or gave me back my money. I would like my $332 refunded immediately.
I sent an email with the screenshot of the charge and called Booking and the hotel directly. I will also attach the charge here. This is money was half of my rent and my rent is now late due to this.

We booked a family room in Northbreck castle hotel and spa in Blackpool having seen it on your site. It was a treat for our 7yr olds birthday. WE were so disapointed, we met by very rude staff and asked to pay £6 for car parking and there were no spaces and were not giving a refund. In our room we had one towel between 4 and were told we needed to pay £1 this was not explained when booking. The one towel we did have was stained ! The bedding was dirty and the windows would not close properly. We were told we had to pay £7 for wifi, again we were not told this before we booked and it says nothing on the website! We would have paid it but were told it wasnt working and we would have to contact Virgin ourselfs ! Most of the other guests were upset with this Hotel with one having found a used needle in their and told it wasnt the hotels problem. We left earlier than planned as the room was so cold. It totally ruined our son's Birthay. I would like to claim a refund beacuse your site advetised this Hotel and it was nothing like it . Con [protected].1Pin. 1125. Could you please contact me asap on [protected]. Charlotte Marshall.

Hello. I'd liked to make a complaint about a stay at The Royal Albion Seafront Hotel in Brighton where I stayed on the night of the 17 August 2019. (Booking reference [protected])
The whole experience was absolutely awful from the start to finish. I've never had such a bad experience in all my life.
The staff barely ackonwledged our presence on arrival, we had to wait a while to check in, absolutely no apologies. The room itself was in the basement, and was basically a cupboard with a corridor and stunk of mould. It was filthy, the walls, the bathroom facilities, the sheets. The TV didn't work and the window looked into a strange abandoned store cupboard with bird poo. There was no view. Our room was outside the lifts/stairway and below the bar which meant the whole night was a serious of shouting and banging from the other clientele fighting and swearing into the early hours - there were fights breaking out almost hourly. I couldn't get any reception on our phones. I went to buy some water at the bar because there was no bottled water in the rooms (we weren't going to risk drinking the tap water from that bathroom!) and saw a load of heroin addicts getting the lift and then security guard at the front steps asking passers by for spare cigarettes -?! We left in the early hours and drove home because we couldn't stand another minute there. Yuk. It was £79 and seriously, i wouldn't ecven have paid £1 for that experience. I seriously expect some compensation because it was horrendous and I will be reviewing it as such.

Horrible thieves! Don't ever try to book through booking.com and expect them to do right by you. I was scammed by booking.com into renting a car from a company in london and the car rental company wouldn't even let me take the car due to the insurance that booking.com sold me. They don't accept 3rd party rental insurance. I was stuck at london heathrow with no way to get to my destination, lost $400 to booking.com (thieving scum) and had to take a bus (added cost of $100). They require some sort of crap pin they hid in the original confirmation email and if you lose that email they won't even speak to you. You can't even get through to anyone if you don't have it. Worst internet booking site ever!

My Confirmation number :[protected]/ pin code- 7051 / I am so upset that after having booked a deluxe apartment paying the asking price the amenities provided were not at all sufficient. For 7 nights we were given 5 toilet rolls only - when asked they said that's all we are allowed - one towel each for entire 7 days was provided and when we asked the manager he said that's all he can do

I made a complaint to Booking.com about a Hotel in tenerife that I booked with them.

Booking.com responded and offered 25.00 credit.

when I returned I had additional issues with the Hotel and contacted Booking.com through their Website. I was advised that I had already been compensated following my initial complaint. I reiterated that these were additional issues, one of which I believe is illegal and that Booking.com should be made aware of. Booking.com ignored this additional information.

I asked for this complaint to be escalated to a Senior Manager to investigate but was told If I wanted this I must call Booking.com.

I made several calls to Booking.com (Over 2 hours) who then refused to let me speak to a Manager or the Manager refused to speak to me. I was told that I must message again through the Website but I am advised by the Online Aents I must call Booking.com.
Nobody at Booking.com will take responsibility for these issues.

In May 2019 I booked a trip with Booking.com using a special code that gave me £40 cash back on my trip. They never paid me despite me providing the information requested immediately.

I tried to call them but now they no longer acknowledge the booking reference I received at the time of booking, so they won't even take my call.

There seems to be no other way of contacting them other than by email which they are not responding to. There is no way of raising a complaint against the company on their website.

They are a very disreputable company and I have been conned by them and will never use them again.

Was on a motorcycle trip an needed a nice afordable safe place to stay where my bike would be safe. Went on booking.com web site an seen this place, nice photo of inside of lobby, booking.com photo (first photo) but when I got there, second an third photo this was the real place an for over $100.00 a night, be ware with this web site an oh, my fault but it was non refundable. Beware decieving photos

All who know me know that I am do not complain and I pay my way. I am asking all of my family and friends to STOP using booking.com, if you do not use this online booking agent then you are truly blessed. I book a room which was changed from the hotel that I selected. I notified the online booking agent who stated that they would notify the hotel since I cancelled within 10 min of booking the room. I then booked at another hotel. Upon my arrival home I noticed that the hotel that was cancelled through booking.com was charged to my card. My husband took a screen shot of the communication with the online agent.

I spoke with VICTOR and agent of booking.com at 8563417322*2027 who first told me that there was a promotional and no cancellation policy. I disputed his claim, he then directed me to go to Walmart, Walgreens's, Family Dollar, or Circle K to buy a $100 Ebay gift card and that they would refund me my cost of reservation and an additional $50.

I spoke with VICTOR and agent of booking.com at 8563417322*2027 who first told me that there was a promotional and no cancellation policy. I disputed his claim, he then directed me to go to Walmart, Walgreens's, Family Dollar, or Circle K to buy a $100 eBay gift card and that they would refund me my cost of reservation and an additional $50. it's not worth it. I can not and will not support such business and or any that are affiliated with such companies. The hotel was Country Inn in Murfreesboro.