Booking.com
reviews and complaints

I selected a night at an agriturismo in Italy and the price was clearly €89. No other fee was visibly displayed at the time of reservation. Four days after staying there, we got a phone call from the agriturismo and they said they had forgotten to charge an EIGHTY EURO "cleaning fee, " essentially doubling the price we paid for the night. This is an illegal charge, but Booking.com is in cahoots.
Article 5(1)(c) of Directive 2011/83/EU on Consumer Rights requires all taxes to be included in the total price quoted to the consumer. The cleaning fee was completely hidden at the time of reservation, AND THIS IS INTENTIONAL, ON THE PART OF BOOKING.COM. this is fraudulent and constitutes a bad-faith business practice. The internet is loaded full of complaints about Booking.com for doing this, and I will never use their service in the future.

Respected Sir/Madame
U had booked an hostel room at Shop House Arab Street, Singapore with your Confirmation number: [protected]

PIN code: 5131
for 4th-8th Sept, 2018.Even due to flight re-schedule i reached today on 6th sept.2018 and paid whole amount 69 SGD.
But extreme sorry to inform you the owner refused to serve breakfast while it was included in amount booked.
Therefore I request you to get my excess amount charged for breakfast from the owner
Thanks
Sincerely
Singh Pritpal

Hi, we have arrived to this place which is absolutely substandard. The boothroom was overflooding, the room looked like it is from 1950s, cracked tiles and bath and absolutely no appliences. The bathroom is also very dirty, tiles have not been scrubbed or cleaned.
The picture of the room attached to our booking does not match where we are staying. We have asked to be transferred and no attempt was made to give us the room we have been promised.

Booking.com is a scam. They pass along your credit card info to the hotel and let the hotel charge you however much they want . Booking.com does not screening hotels either, some of them are scams, as I later discovered .
Read the complaints before you make your next reservation with Booking.com. You will find countless complaints, and all with a similar narrative . They are not to be trusted .

Booked one double room at Wildberry Country Lodge B&B in Newfoundland, Canada. There is no room when we arrived. the owner is drunk at that time, and gave us a spare room which is not clean at all. The owner want to charge us another time as his sister took all the money; we refused. We can hear footsteps outside the room around 2AM, the footsteps is not from the hallway, but outside the room. Contacted booking.com; however, there is no feedback at all. Booking.com is not doing anything to help. I took photo about the room. I would like to request a refund or partial refund as this is not the room I booked.

Date - 24th August 2018- 27th August 2018
Venue - Royal Court hotel and Spa

I made a reservation at the Royal Court Hotel and Spa in Coventry (england)
The rooms were definately nothing like th eones sent to us on our reservation confirmation. The quality of the hotel overall was very very low. We travelled there for a leisure break with our 2 children who were very very upset, one of our children has diabetes and the stress caused her blood sugars to increase! This added extra stress onto our entire agenda. The bathrooms were dirty, there were cracks in the floor of the bathroom, there were dead ants on the sugar sachets in the room. The corridor leading to our room smelled of cigarette smoke which we did report to reception. Unfortunately we had to stay for one night as it was near to midnight and we had nowhere to go. We made another booking at the Holiday Inn for the other 2 nights and vacated The Royal Court Hotel the following morning. They did refund us for the 2 nights but we paid £60.00 per room for the one night stay which i honestly do not think we should have paid as it was not worth that amount of money. I do not understand why the hotel is portrayed in such a positive light on the booking.com website because for a hotel in England it is well below the standard. i would appreciate if you can look into this for me and would like to be compensated either for the £120.00 that i paid for the one night stay or a gesture of goodwill for us to book another weekend for four people at no cost. I believe that this is not a lot to ask in return for the stress and anxiety we went through and also the extra cost we had to pay to book into the Holiday Inn for the remaining two nights. I am a genius member on booking.com and have used it many times to book hotels, this is the first time i have been gravely dissapointed. I have photograph evidence should you wish to see it.

Appalling customer services, maybe the worst I've ever experienced.

Had a dispute with the company that customer services (Ksenia) could not or would not solve.

I asked to be put through to a manager but told it's not company policy...probably because managers have to make a decision.

Asked customer service clerk if customers are important to the company, yes but only on our terms was the reply. After trying to reason with her she told be that she was and did discontinue the call and cut me off.

I'm just annoyed at all the previous business we have given this company...but no more.

I've booked hotel Elysées Ceramic twice via booking.com (No. [protected] & No. [protected]). Then I've canceled both. But still be charged 107 euros. I've called hotel once and the receptionist told me both are released.
Now I've waited for a month and it's still in my credit card bill. How can I get refund? Could you please check?

The last for numbers of my paying card is 1774

Thank you very much.

Best,
Cao Manwen

My 2 elderly parents arrives in springbok south africa a while ago to find out hananja lodge did not receive their reservation and they were also fully booked. This after receicing emails from booking.com. That the reservation has beem made, with all details etc. Do you really want to tarnish the trivago name by dealing with booking.com? Or are you also part of their pathetic service? Scarily enough they also have my credit card details now, which was required to confirm my booking.

Confirmation Number: [protected]
PIN code: 6006
Hotel name: Summer Place Hotel, Regoboth Beach Delaware
Hello. I a, communicating to submit a complaint regarding the hotel in which we stayed the night of July 28. We paid $324 for a disgusting tiny room with no space to pass between the bedroom and bathroom.
The following are issues we had:
1. Cleanliness: the floors, walls, carpets are very old, dusty, stained, and wet in some areas. Additionally when pulling back the sheets of the bed, the sheets clearly looked unwashed. There was debris and hair on them. When we complained to the owner, he seemed annoyed that we were being so demanding of a clean bed. He gave me a new set and asked me to change the sheets myself.
2. Electrical: the bedside lamp was actually wet and sitting in a piddle of black water. This clearly posed a safety issue. We had to unplug the light to exchange for another
3. Noise: we were obviously placed in a room behind reception, that was connected by a door to what I imagine is the bedrooom of the owner/manager since we heard every tiny noise he made
4. Rash: my husband and I both left the hotel on Sunday morning, wanting to leave as early as possible to get away from the disgusting room.
Later that afternoon he and I both developed a red, bumpy, itchy rash. He on his arm and waist, inner and upper thighs. My rash developed on both thighs. The rash expanded and worsened over the course of 3 weeks. I still have the rash. Both he and I visited the doctor and we told it is probably an allergic reaction or bed bugs. I have been dealing with this incessant itching and expanding rash for almost 1 month since leaving the hotel
5. Value for the cost: the only value this dirty, moldy, tiny, smelly room had to offer is its proximity to the beach, which is a 5 min walk. However paying 324 is completely outrageous and an obvious unethical money gouge. Additionally I have photos of my rash, and the bedroom as evidence of its condition. The photos of the room may not be very clear however the white is photo of the bedsheets.

I am asking if it is possible for a partial refund considering the condition of the room and the rash, with costs incurred for treatment.

The only complaint I have is that I was not informed that I had to have a credit card which I do not have. I was going to pay by debit card or cash. Most of other motels want debit card or cash. So what do I do now. I want to stay at Tyrol motel I do not want to cancel, but I should not have to pay more money because I do not have a credit card. Maybe they should have it on the Web. Site before you confirm your reservation. Could you please speak to these people, so I won"t loose my money or reservation because we will be there on September 4-9th. My husband and I are retired, we saved our money to be able to do this.

Please help me.

Gloria Roberge

Reference [protected] pin 1071.
I booked The Park City Grand Plaza kensington for 7th August 2018. On Monday the 6th August 2018 at around 6am I realised the hotel I actually wanted was The Park Grand Kensington. As you can see they have very similar names, I also read that the hotel I had accudently booked had building renovations going on and my son and I have severe asthma.
I immediately contacted booking.com to explain my predicament listing the valid health reasons asking if I could change hotels. This was more than 24 hours in advance. A few hours later my reply came, and they clearly hadn't understood my question which I repeated and asked if I could change hotels. Monday night igor emailed me to say he had emailed the hotel to see if I could cancel.
Tuesday morning whilst travelling to London I rang the hotel myself who told me they hadn't received any emails from you. I explained and they said shouldn't be a problem and that they would ring me back. So I booked the hotel I wanted through booking.com and checked in.
Later that day the original hotel took my payment of £158. Over the next 9 days I rang booking.com every single day chasing my money as you kept telling me it was a valid reason that I cancelled. I spoke to Shandall, Shantaga, William and Alex among others. Each conversation meant being on hold for at least 10 mins and then going through the whole story each time. Then they would put me on hold whilst they contacted the hotel. I was told nobody in reservations were there, then no managers were there. Then the hotel said they had received no emails from booking.com. Each rep I spoke to me assured me that a note would be left with either themselves or a colleague for them to ring me the next day. Not once did I receive a call back. It's been very stressful.
Finally I spoke to Alex yesterday who contacted the hotel. Alex then said to me they won't issue my refund as it was less than 24 hours notice.
But I informed you more than 24 hours that I wanted to change hotels for health reasons. Alex said the original rep who emailed me misunderstood my query therefore it was less than 24 hours. Also because I didn't use the word 'cancel' then it didn't count! I said I wanted to change my hotel so obviously I needed to cancel the original One, why would I need 2 hotels on the same night. He wouldn't budge.
I rang the hotel myself and begged but they wouldn't refund me.
I can't afford to lose £158. One Night in London cost me £350! I'm a hard working single mum and wanted to treat my son. Now I'm in financial trouble all because your rep didn't understand my request.
I sincerely hope you can do whats right and refund me, as a genius booking.com traveller.
Regards
Jane Moylan

It's very doubtful I could possibly give a stronger recommendation to NEVER stay at this hotel at all.
I merely hope by posting this review that nobody gets to make the same mistakes we did.
We booked this hotel for our honeymoon and after a two week safari we were ready for some down time on the beach and some quality time in what looked on paper to be a pretty decent hotel.

Alarm bells started ringing when the taxi driver whom we got from the airport stated that most visitors who have booked here tend to be disappointed as it isn't as close to the beach as the hotel would have anyone believe and many of them seek alternative Accomodation upon arrival.
In fact the name "beachside" is a misrepresentation in itself.

We arrived to find our hotel located down a back street of some potholed road with a building site on one side and a public school on the other.
Upon checking in absolutely no information was taken from us (not even our name) we were literally thrown a key and shown to our room.
A few minutes later the clerk returned with a piece of paper for my wife to fill in and sign.
This stated that valuables were left in rooms at owners risk and the hotel took absolutely no responsibility for loss or damage.
Now, I've been in hotels that state this before BUT all of these hotels have actually provided me with either a safe or a secure unit to lock my valuables away in. This hell hole provided neither.

The bedroom itself was spacious with an abundance of space for clothing. A tv and DVD player was provided along with air conditioning.

The bathroom is where the nails were firmly driven into the coffin.
Had I wanted to of touched the sink I wouldn't expect my dog to have drank from it.
The taps were covered in limescale and rust, as was the shower and bede. The toilet didn't even have a seat on it for God's sake. We're paying over £100 per night for this.
In my honest opinion it hadn't been properly cleaned in about six months. We felt dirty and itchy just stood at the door looking at the sheer state of it.
I mean this is our honeymoon after all.

Ok. So where is the restaurant and the beach then we ask the clerk - trying desperately to grasp a positive from this.

She says she'll show us.
Leaves the hotel unattended and we follow. A good four minute walk down the unlit pot holed road until we finally find sand. We then cross the beach - which we later found out on our holiday was impassable when the tide came in.

Online pictures are not 100% deceptive. The beach view is owned by the hotel. But images have been taken from the hotel restaurant a good six minute walk from the actual hotel.

The service at the restaurant was poor and the food was generally swimming in grease and luke warm at best.. unless you order the pizza.
We also discovered it was one of the most expensive restaurants in the island with the worst menu - my wife ordered a steak which a good vetinerian could have brought back to life and the fries almost always came out last and cold

Honestly if I was to be served by a zombie with a broken leg and a hangover i would have received a better class of hospitality and attentiveness from the staff.

We did indeed eat there a few times during our stay but as we weren't sleeping in the room we'd paid for we wanted to attempt to recoup some money by eating what we were entitled to.
I myself wound up popping immodium pills like they were smarties towards the end, I was doubled up with stomach cramps and spent two nights waking up and being glued to the toilet with severe diarrhoea

My wife and I spoke it over on the first night and used the restaurants wifi to find alternative Accomodation.
We found one close by and not to be bitten twice asked the most helpful gentleman at barracca beach bungalows to show us a room.
We instantly agreed we were staying here for the duration.
We traipsed back to the germ infested hell hole that is ocean dream, collected our stuff and buggered off out of there. We kept the key as we had paid for a full board non refundable room and there was no way we were returning the key until the end of our trip. Why should we allow them to double their profits at our convenience by re selling our room.

We didn't let any of this phase us and thoroughly enjoyed the island from our new clean Accomodation.

We went back to ocean dream on the final evening and decided to check our room out to see if anyone had actually been in and cleaned it.
Upon arriving at reception we were abruptly halted and asked if we were going to our room.
Yes we were
She apologised and informed us that our room was now accommodated by another guest.
Needless to say the red mist came down and the steam was coming from our ears.
How dare they!
We demanded to speak to the manager who reluctantly came down the beach from wherever she had been sat.
Whilst my wife explained our grievance she over spoke her not once but twice with "CAN I JUST SPEAK PLEASE" my wife had no where near finished what she had to say so I rounded on her.
We were still in possession of the room key
We had still paid for that room
She had seen us at the restaurant on the odd occasion and we had even signed for our check to our allocated room.
Not once did anyone decide to inform us our room was no longer available to us.

"But your things we're all gone from your room" is NOT a valid reason to sell on the room someone has paid in full for - yes we weren't using it but it had still been paid for until the date we checked out and is therefore in my opinion not up for resale, renegotiation nor a little re shuffle

The argument continued and we were basically fobbed off for our demands of a refund as the room was "non refundable" in my opinion this must also mean its non resell-able also.

We found the next day that the manageress decided to report us to booking.com as a "no show"
Well. We have pictures from INSIDE the room and ate at the bloody restaurant.
This whole experience with these childish amateurs has been nothing less than ridiculous.

To conclude. This experience could have tarnished our honeymoon should we have let it.
I am writing this to warn others off this place and hopefully stop anyone having the wool pulled over their eyes.
I will be taking all action I can possibly take against this pitiful excuse of a vacation resort and I fully intend to expose them as cons, cheats and liars with a much poorer hygiene rating than the kennels my own dog was staying in.

I received an email from booking.com on April 9th 2019 telling me that they have started processing a $190.68 CAD cash reward back from the hotel that i stayed at. it says it will take 2-30 days and that they will let me know when the procesing is finished. (see email below)
It is now 4 months later and I still have not heard back or get the refund despite writing then a couple of times.

From: Booking.com

Sent: Monday, April 09, 2018 3:18 PM

To: Ching, Denise

Subject: Confirmation number [protected]. We're processing your cash reward

Booking.com

Welcome back!

Just to let you know, we've started processing your CAD 190.68 cash reward. We'll confirm your stay with the property first and this normally takes 2 to 30 days.

We'll be as quick as we can and once we have finished processing, we'll send you another email on claiming your reward.

In the meantime, you can also check the reward status in your Booking.com account.

Now it's your turn to invite and earn! Simply share the link below or copy it to send to friends, and tell them how it works. Your friends book and stay just like you, and you'll get CAD 25 for each referred friend.

conclusion:
All in all, The booking.com is one of the best site which I book my hotels when I travel.

Problem:
The hotel apartment where I booked in Czech it was disgusting with bad smell in the flat which owner being informed about that.

I hope booking.com if possible to return my money back, your effort always appreciate it.

Thanks & Regards,
Faisal Jassim

Inc: some pictures from the entrance.
Email: [protected]@gmail.com

Fw: Vihara Residence (1014.018.228)
Noel O Donovan
[protected]@my.booking.com;
Good morning

this is my fourteenth and final email. Over a 5 week period, I have corresponded with Allen Y, Andrew, Clara, and Bethlehem K. This torturous process led to the most recent email from yourselves which stated:

- 'The property informed us that you checked out because you did not like the room'.

- 'We were not informed about the issue and you made the decision to check out. We advise for the future to get in touch with us before making the decision as we do need some evidence like pictures from the room to check the standards'.

The above comments do not address the fundamental issue here which was that the 'property' and 'booking.com' did not fulfill the original booking which was made, '3 x double rooms with balcony overlooking the swimming pool'. We were offered 2 x double rooms and 1 x single room on the ground floor looking out at the back wall. We were told that the rooms we booked were occupied, and that nothing comparable was available. Of course I did not like the room, I did not get what I booked. (As mentioned previously, the rooms were dirty as well). You say that we should have got in touch with yourselves, we should have taken pictures. It was 9.00 at night, we were in a strange (for us) country, in unfamiliar surroundings. We were anxious to get someplace else to stay while we still had the chance. We asked the taxi driver to bring us to the nearest 5 star hotel, where they facilitated us. We had little option. We got in touch with Booking.com later that night when we were settled elsewhere.

This whole experience has been very stressful, compounded by very poor customer service from Booking.com since our return. Needless to say, we do not intend to use your services going forward. We have also mentioned it to a few people. We may also make a formal complaint, because I feel strongly that we have not been treated fairly or been dealt with in a professional or courteous manner. Booking.com is a large and I am sure very successful organisation. I have no doubt that it will continue to prosper. It will be without our custom though,

Regards

Noel

Since 2014, I use booking.com service for all my personal and business trips hotel booking. Today I'm disappointed with the service because of their partner client Hotel de Berne.

I had a booking on March 31st 2018 at this Hotel for 6 nights for my vacation in the Nice city but they cancelled on 13th AUG, just one day before my reservation date. The given reason that my card is invalid and they have overbooking on the hotel.

I have proved that my card is valid by getting an email from Banker (debit card department) and forwarded to Booking.com customer service. Initially, booking.com service promised to help me out but at the end their service also worst and similar to the Hotel service.

Both of them are dishonest to their services and clients. I'm really frustrated why I'm using your service for all these days.

They ruined my vacation just before the day and I have no option and to cancel all my arrangements because of their false commitment.

Please don't ever say again that the problem is with my card and nothing to do with card. Problem is with your business and commitments and I would request you to not to cheat any customers during their holiday plan especially who travelling with their babies/ Family.

I have contacted booking.com who asked me to prove that my card is valid and kind of motivation like that they help me out to keep the reservation. I have forwarded my bank confirmation about the working of my card. They simply ask me to book some other hotels because they don't have any control over their partner hotels for this type of dishonest situation and they try to convince that banker mail is not a proof and the agent and his manager trying to be rude to close my case.

My feedback may not stop their business but at least some of the common people will stay away from their especially when they plan for a vacation well in advance because this hotel will cancel your reservation if they got any high demand/price during the seasonal times.

I'm wondering how booking.com promote their services for business purpose when they do this type of discomfort to their clients.

To whom it may concern
I booked two nights with this hotel through your website
I had a very rude lady called Angelo check me in
Then told at 3pm my room wouldn't be ready for another two hours as they are busy

Now this hotel send me multiple email saying they have online check in
Which I completed before coming to the hotel
It said on Emails all I'd have to do is collect my room key
Of course this was not at all the case
Check in as stated on the hotels website and yours starts at 2pm

I had a long flight and had expected at 3pm my room to be ready
I complained to the manager who gave me a room till mine was ready
Agin I was told it would to in two hours no one and I mean no one contacted me to say it was ready I had to go to check in to see if it was
I asked for a written apology which I was told I get but still have not

I will never use your booking service again due to this experience
This hotel and its service is way below standard

Even at the pool bar you have to seek out the staff to get any service
They are hiding in rooms sleeping

I've personally. Ever experienced such a bad hotel and it's staff are down right totally unprofessional

Even the manager and her staff spoke in non- English in front of me when I asked them not too as it's rude to a paying customer to do so

Used this site to book stay at the tropicana aruba jul 25th - jul 3oth. Have been unsuccessful with getting assistance in resolution of complaint or receiving funds returned from hotel deposit.

Reservation/confirmation #: [protected]

Resolution requested - return of fees and security deposit based on description of hotel stay provided below:

The property was miss-represented in the description and many of the potentially planted reviews. The room was unclean and had general safety issues (our phones did not work in the room and electrical issues throughout).

The overall condition of this property is below standard for the cost. This is obviously known by the ownership group because there is a huge advertisement about the massive renovations taking place there at the hotel. However, in my two conversations with the hotel before arrival, this was not mentioned when inquired about room and hotel conditions. The noise from construction work being done was what we heard from our room every morning. The room itself was standard in its layout and style of accommodations. Which would have been good enough considering, but the condition of the bathroom was awful. There were areas of visibly unsuccessful mold removal. The shower head and other surfaces of the shower should have been replaced 5 years ago. The amount of dust, mold, and debris in the bathroom vent/fan was obscene. The jacuzzi tub had a leak somewhere that allowed water to seep out while showering (probably impacted by the shower's poor drainage). The best part about the hotel is the location and its proximity to the store. We were able to find cleaning products we found suitable enough to clean up the bathroom ourselves since we were told that there were no other rooms available for us to be moved to. We also chose not to have the room cleaned by house keeping the remainder of our stay since we were able to do a better job than what we walked into. We could not even log a complaint when we got checked in because both phones in the room were broken. After returning to the front desk to report the issues with the room, we waited for 45mins for a technician to spend approximately 30mins to repair. After all of this we finally were able to settle into to our room after a full day of traveling, only to be told that there was no room service and we would need to go back out to the casino if we wanted to eat at the resort at that time.

I am going to hold a vacation trip with my wife in Spain between the end of September and the middle of October. If it was not enough for the high dollar that almost ruined my plans, a rogue hotel partner at booking.com made the situation worse. I was having a hard time finding a hotel in Barcelona that suited my limited budget. So on the night of 4th fair I was very happy when I was able to make two reservations at Violeta Boutique on the booking.con website, a well located hotel with good customer ratings. I booked an apartment with a bedroom and terrace for a total of 313.20 euros for the 3 days between 26 and 29 September (confirmation number 1722.905.796) and the "family room" for 375.84 euros for the 3 days between 13 and 16 of October (confirmation number 1118.430.087). Well, at dawn that same day, I started to receive SMS messages in which Boutique Violet indicated that my card was invalid, which I knew was not true! Soon after, I received other messages that my reservations had been canceled. Well, I called the central card that confirmed that there was no problem with my card. Worse, they told me that Violet tried to make the pre-authorization with zero value, which is impossible, since it has to be worth more than 0, and the attendant told them they knew that very well! I know my card is working perfectly because I made other reservations in the same period on the website of booking.com (I have the reservations printed) and I made another reservation to test with the same card for the period 09/26/2018 to 09/29 / 2018 at Hotel CHI by booking.com in Barcelona on the same day that Violeta Boutique canceled my reservations and the hotel pre-authorized more than $ 145 on the same card. What most upset me was that Violeta Boutique re-listed the same rooms for these two periods for higher prices (505.44 euros for 26/09 to 29/09 and 587.52 euros for 13/10 to 16/10); I have printed evidence proving this. It is clear that the Violet regretted for some reason to accept my reservations and lied that my card was invalid to cancel them. With this, I will have to spend more to stay in Barcelona. If I do not comply with the agreed terms in a booking on booking.com, I am financially penalized, for example when I cancel the reservation after the deadline for free cancellation. With my reservation was canceled without reason, based on a false claim I want to be reimbursed by booking.com in the amounts of my reservations for improper breach of contract. Neither Violeta Boutique nor booking.com replied to the numerous messages I sent, denoting obvious bad faith and disrespect to its customers