My family's first trip to London was meant to be a celebration of my father's birthday. Instead, it became one of the most stressful travel experiences we've ever had.
We booked accommodation through Booking.com for five adults and informed the host in advance that we would be arriving around 11 PM due to our flight schedule. The host acknowledged our messages.
Upon arriving at the property, we were unable to contact the host and the check-in instructions were unclear. We spent around 30 minutes trying to gain access before another resident helped us.
We were then informed that there was a problem with our booking and were refused access to the accommodation despite holding a valid reservation.
At around midnight, five adults were left stranded in London with nowhere to stay.
We spent hours trying to find alternative accommodation. Most hotels either had no availability for a group of five or were significantly more expensive. Eventually, we were forced to book emergency accommodation costing £1,128, compared to our original booking of £276.
What made the situation worse was the handling of our complaint. For over a month, Booking.com repeatedly requested documents from us, including invoices from the replacement hotel. We complied with every request. Only after weeks of effort were we told the matter was effectively closed and that the total compensation offered would be £51.
Being left stranded at midnight, forced to spend an additional £852 on accommodation, and then being offered only £51 after a month-long complaints process was extremely disappointing. Their customer service agents dont seem to know what their job is supposed to be as everytime I call in they stutter with acknowledging facts.
We hope Booking.com reviews how cases like this are handled so that other families do not experience the same situation.
Booked a holliday with these for a house in redcar less than a week b4 were due to go they suddenly say the house is unavailable due to it suddenly being double booked even though our booking was a few months ago and had the booking ref ect was in the booking only to find out its been canceled and our holliday is now ruined my dad is 89 i havent seen him in 3 yrs due to not being able to find anywere else as short notice!
Makes me wonder just what booking.com is really a legit company
We wont be using these ever again & we better a FULL refund issued not just the £51 there trying to offer us as long as we book with them! They were quick to take the almost £900 but are slow to repay it back it apparently takes upto a month but our holliday is supposed to be 8th aug were being given excuses eg water leak then double booked so something not right at all here!