Booking.com
reviews and complaints

I made a booking and a few days before the actual booking I got COVID. I then advised the property and booking.com and requested a full refund. Since then I have been given a partial refund. Booking.com keep sending me to the property and the property keep sending me back to booking.com. I asked booking.com what the complaint process was 4x and they would not tell me. It's been weeks since this all started and I'm extremely frustrated. They keep passing the buck and no one can help me. What terrible service

I have reserved an apartment in Mar del Plata (Argentina) in the period of October 8th to 12th 2021.
The owner of the apartment contact me through WhatsApp and asked to pay her for the reservation and also for the warranty. I have paid through bank transfer.
When I arrived with my family at Mar del Plata to the address she gave me to get the apartment key, the local simply did not exist. I was a scam. She blocked me in WhatsApp and I was never able to contact her again.
I contacted Booking.com several times by phone, waiting at least 45 minutes each time, have sent all the screenshots, bank statements, receipts they have asked me for and never got a proper answer.
When I contacted them for the 4th time, they said I haven't sent the receipt or statement! They also asked me for the invoice of the amount paid directly to the accommodation!
This is unacceptable, because I already provided all the information requested and now they are saying I haven't sent it!
I need a solution for my issue and I need to talk to someone who really solve my issue!
I am very upset with the treatment I am receiving from Booking. com, specially because I was scammed in a property advertised from them!
Sincerely,
Carla Piuma

Booking reference number: [protected]

I booked a room in us for 8 days in jazz on the park hostel in new york city. When I came to the place, it turned out to be so bad, that I cried and I had to leave it quickly and book again something else in hurry.

In short, awful, terrible place like 3m x 1, 5m with bunk bed (advertised as "double bed"), dirty toilet shared with many guests, in different floor than then room and even far from the stairs, place completely ignoring covid 19 restrictions (which was a problem for me because I am from uk and I had to pass number of covid tests and be covid-free to be able to come back to uk), obviously no tv, no internet etc. The place looking like an awful slums.

Then I contacted the accommodation's manager and booking.com and asked for refund because I spent there a few minutes and I had my booking for 8 nights and also, I have to pay again, for new hotel and book new accommodation.

The accommodation refused saying "no refund". It seems to be their business strategy and it is effective. First the hostel provides fake ratings, pictures looking very different than how the place really looks. Then they use booking.com which purposely allows fake stars ratings for accommodations because that gives booking.com an advantage over other competitors.
For example on all other websites, the same accommodation has 1 star or 2 stars, while on booking.com they have 3 stars and because of that, booking.com has 30 times more reviews so more customers for the same accommodation than e.G. Expedia on the same market and with similar market share).

Then I contacted booking.com (because I purchased the service on their website). I have been emailing, chatting and calling them many times and all the time I heard "it is accommodation" or "they are refusing" etc.
I also asked to explain, why booking.com maintain this fake 3 stars rating for such place, I was told that "the hotel or 3rd party provider provides its own rating".

Finally, after few days they stopped replying to me (on all channels, mail, contact form, chat) and they disabled chat option on my account (I know because I have other account as well).
When I called them, they hanged up and then, called me back and when I picked up, then they were pretending that something is wrong with the connection (like someone would speak to the phone from 1 meter distance) and again hanged up.
It seems they have some "procedures" like probably they just tag some customers as "customer claiming for refund" and then people working on customer service have to follow that.

I plan to move ahead with my case and engage some legal actions here and I will also complain on this to relevant authorities.
I will be looking for other, effective ways how to get my money back because that company has thousands of complains on trustpilot and it is a pattern, it is the strategy how booking.com cheating people and what makes booking.com more popular than the others.

Desired outcome: full refund and make sure that my account used for that booking is fully closed, that I am fully unsubscribed from all their services, my sensitive or/and personal data especially email is fully removed from all databases belonging to this company and every related companies and I will never receive any ads, any mail or any offer from this company.

Thank you.
Best regards
Katarzyna

The Customer was poor on 3 out of 4 calls with different information given. One of my flights was never canceled a month ago when requested so the airline notified me of a no show status. After alerting them of issues they were unhelpful and said they couldn't verify the request. They have not replayed the phone recording as requested. The airline said that the refunds need to be submitted by booking.com and not directly to them. However because they did not canceled the flight the credit and refund possibility is voided until they make a correction. Honestly Booking.com whole customer service department needs to be revamped with significant training to improve their quality of work. My experience was horrible and they don't have to worry about me using their services again.

I have booked this apartment "MANY APARTMENT" 7 months ago for 12th -18th of January. On the 9th of January the transaction was made, they took my money and today they are canceling my apartment (11th of January), a day before travel day-TODAY! They had an excuse that there is a heating problem going on in the apartment from 2 days ago and they couldn't fix it. But 2 days ago they CONFIRMED THE PAYING WITH A MESSAGE VIA EMAIL! Please help me, I need the money as soon as possible because tomorrow is my travel day and I don't have were to sleep and no money.

Apparently Booking made a reservation without my knowledge and I never received any confirmation only a charge on my account for a no show. I've contacted both establishments trying to get my $ refunded only with negative results. I've done what ever was told trying to get my refund and now I have to go thru my Financial institution and have to cancel my card for fraud.

Due to the new variant Omicron our flight got cancelled due to the travel restrictions by the government of Canada. The host has been less than understanding of our situation of being unable to reach the country which means being unable to stay at the apartment we decided to rent. The cancellation fee is the price of the stay in full ($1200) which is absolutely ridiculous and they are unable to rebook for us for a later time where we would be able to get another flight ticket to get there.

We are kindly asking you during this difficult time to be more understanding and issue us some sort or refund or rebooking opportunity.

Confirmation number : [protected]
PIN : 8002

I am exceptionally disappointed in the manner in which my query was dealt with. The outcome reflects the poor process Booking.com has adopted to run its operations.

I spoke to Evo from Booking.com customer service regrading my query. He was the second customer service representative I spoke to on the matter over the phone.

What he revealed to me regarding the internal policy of dealing and responding to queries was truly shocking and unforgivable.

I asked to appeal the decision made by Booking.com, and wanted to understand more as to who was responsible in the decision making process.

I additionally asked for the matter to be raised as a complaint, and someone from management to look into this as I'm very unhappy about the outcome.

Evo confirmed, the decision taken for my case was done by the customer service representatives of his level using a guide book.

I stressed and clearly made the point, their lie the problem. Using rigid guidelines, or a 'rule book' as he called it would not do justice to my complaint. So I reiterated I would like my case be escalated for management to review.

Evo stressed, under No circumstance is he or any other Booking.com employee allowed to forward my query to anyone in management? They are forbidden to connect any calls from customers to management also, and the ‘rule book' is final!

I stressed the importance to engage management to resolve my case. Evo adamantly refused citing it is company policy to use the rule book and not contact management under any circumstance. He is under strict instructions not to progress any queries beyond his team.

After a long stressful conversation I asked Evo to provide 'customer complaints' contact details. He confirmed it's the same email address as the one I raised my initial query on - 'Customer.[protected]@booking.com'.

I said this is absurd as the very people I am complaining about will be dealing with my complaint. Evo confirmed, this is the only email address that exists to deal with every type of customer query and complaint except for accounting questions.

I am appalled how a multinational company can run its operations like this and get away with it.

I am seeking the initial 90 GBP that should rightfully applied to my rewards wallet or as cash. I am also seeking a further 500 GBP for the stress, inconvenience and time spent in dealing with this matter.

Below are the email exchanges and phone calls with Booking.com that describe the situation:
 First phone call made on 27 December 2021 to Booking.com - Spoke to Jane who assured me their should be a problem in applying the promotion given my circumstance, but would like to confirm internally first.
 First email sent on 27 December 2021 after speaking to Jane, a customer service representative over the phone.

"Hi Jane, I will be forwarding two emails.
As per our telephone conversation, pls see below email confirmation of my reward that was applied to the hotel reservation that was cancelled by the hotel due to flight delays.
I subsequently rebooked the hotel stay under the above confirmation number.
Please apply my reward of £90 accordingly.
Regards, Ash"

 Booking.com response to my first email.
"Dear Ashaf,
Thank you for choosing Booking.com. We would have loved to speak with you over the phone, but we were unable to reach you. We hope this email finds you well.
We are writing to you regarding your reservation [protected] at Jaz Aquamarine Resort, check-in date 2021-12-19, and check-out date 2021-12-24.
We acknowledged that your 90 GBP reward was for the reservation 2944.718.267 which was cancelled. In this case the reward was not eligible. We couldn't apply this reward because you didn't complete your stay.
Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions.
Kind regards,
--
Mayo Moriyama
Booking.com Customer Service Team"

 Second phone call made on 28 December 2021 to Booking.com - Spoke to Evo who explained the operational process at Booking.com.
 Second email sent after receiving the decision from Booking.com they will not be offering the promotion I am eligible for.

"Dear Customer service team,
I am exceptionally disappointed in the decision made below. I do not agree with it.
It clearly shows a lack of understanding of the situation I presented yesterday. I am surprises there is any hesitation in reinstating the offer.
It shows no flexibility should things outside of my control go wrong.
The decision made shows zero compassion regarding the situation my family faced. It also doesn't acknowledge I rebooked through Booking.com immediately when I found out the booking was cancelled by the hotel.
And I'm bitterly disappointed a reputable multinational company can treat a loyal customer, such as myself like this.
I would like to appeal the decision, and ask you to raise my complaint to senior management urgently for reconsideration.
I do not want to make this situation public, and write a negative review of the poor decision made given the circumstances.
I await your response.
Regards, Ash"

I have not yet received a response from Booking.com.

Kind Regards,

I have not received my reservation monies for over a month. Keep getting automated responses and no telephone assistance! None of my staff got paid salaries or bonuses this Christmas...just unacceptable! They say my account has a problem, yet I have always been paid in this account and have had the account for over 20 years!

Sick and tired of messages being sent and no interaction or assistance!

Reservation date: 16/17 of December, 2021
Booking number: [protected]
Family of four (two kids 3 and 7) from arrival started screaming and trampling around.
I have asked them to keep the noise down, as we are in a residential area and also having Guests staying with us. Their noise could be heard all over the house. The mother responded that the kids are just excited from the day trip to Lapland (a resort for kids). I responded, let's move on and hope all good from now on.
When they went down one of the kids removed a piece of décor and took it with them outside for the dinner. I didn't said anything because usually those pieces are returned.
They arrive back and until 0930 PM again the same drill, screaming like horror movie and all. The Guests staying with us were asking if the kids were beaten by the parents...I just excused myself for the trouble caused, but they were very polite and because of our top spot hospitality they just continued the stay and promised they will come back. Name and number available.
In the morning 0630 AM same drill again! I was glad to have them gone by 0850 AM.
Housekeeping at 1100 AM brought us a pillow that was partially damaged, cannot be fixed at all by the way, from their room. The piece of décor gone.
I have asked them via Whatsapp if this is normal to them and then they turned against me.
I have spoken to booking.com and they promissed to do everything they can to solve the situation. Telling them that I am guessing a bad review in response, they said I should not worry.
However, suddenly, today, the review came: 1
And they complain about us, being agressive!
Booking.com said they will not remove the review and I just can answer to it.
If you look at all our reviews we have a 9.4 score out of 275 reviews...this is not normal
I feel let completely down - what now?

Best Regards,

Marius Lucian Matei
Owner at Windsorian Experience

On Sept 8th 2021 we booked a cabin with Book.com or that is what Vacasa tells me and we booked a cabin that sleeps 10 people then later we get a confirmation from Vacasa of this rundown cabin that only sleeps 8 people with horrid reviews but we never got anything from book.com as far as confirmation but we did from Vacasa . I tried to cancel or reschedule another cabin with Vacasa and they didn't have anything that slept 10 people and they refused to let us cancell our reservation. I filed a dispute with the credit card company and Vacasa refused to let that go through as well. I just lost 1144.00 Vacasa walks away with a smile.
We did not stay at the cabin at all, we got a cabin from another rental firm and really enjoyed it. I can't see why a company like Vacasa and book.com still survive as several Vacasa workers told me on the phone that this happens all the time that people book through book.com but they don't get what they ordered.
My bottom line is if i am looking for something from here on out and book.com or Vacasa pops up i will run as fast as i can to get away from them. Rude misserable liers that just lead you around the bushes when you call them.

Hi I booked airport transfers for Tenerife.When we arrived we were messaged as soon as we landed, service was excellent.
When we were ready to depart again we were again contacted to say taxi would pick us up at 15:40.We waited from 15:25
until 15:50 no sign of taxi no text to say why it was late, then a taxi turned up and a lady got out and said airport in broken
English, so we jumped in and proceeded to airport, when we arrived we got out collected our luggage . Went to give tip and the lady
said 26euros please, I said it was prepaid, she did not understand. We then contacted the number and explained what had happened,
he said to send copy of receipt to them and they would refund us, this has not happened.So I am informing yourselves as you were the contact
agent.We would appreciate if you could contact the taxi firm and get a refund for us.

Yours Faithfully
Graham Doughty.
Phone [protected].

We have a ski trip booked for 19th December to 26 December 2021. Sadly my daughter broke her arm so we are trying to move the trip to February, same hotel same room but more expensive. So far I have called booking.com customer service 5 times over the course of 7 days and still my issues are not dealt with. They promise to call back or email but never do. I have to repeat the story over and over to a new person each time. I asked to speak to a supervisor 3 days ago and was told no I wasn't allowed. I had one customer service agent tell me she could no longer help because it was the end of her shift and she was going home! I understand that there have been difficulties getting the hotel to respond, but there must be a process for situations like this where the agents are not getting a response from the properties. All the while we are left not knowing if we have a holiday, the flights and lessons we need to move are all starting to be booked up and more expensive and we just don't know what else to do.

In my first 2min here I have been accused of being a liar and being told which room I must sleep in and being told what I did not pay for.

I am highly disappointed that booking.com facilitates such treatment and crookery. I know what l paid for and what was clearly described in BLACK AND WHITE on the website and my invoice and reservation clearly say what room i paid for. Now i'm in another room that I did not pay for and being told to wait a day while somebody else will check out tomorrow in the type of room I ordered so l can move in there . Can you please advise and tell me how i will be refunded or compensated for this day that i'm in a room i did not order. I expect feedback and a response OR i will take this up in other channels

On Nov. 27 I booked a hotel in Virginia Beach from 6/5/22-6/11/22. The room I booked said "NO PREPAYMENT - PAY AT THE HOTEL - CREDIT CARD WILL NOT BE CHARGED." Three days ago I checked my bank account and the hotel had charged $342.78, a full night's stay, and as a result of this money that was taken out of my account without my consent, my account was overdrawn and a hefty fee of $144 was charged to me on top of that! I've spent the past three days on the phone with booking.com, Hampton Inn Virginia Beach South, Hilton Corporate, my local bank and the corporate banking center. I always get the runaround and everyone passes the blame to someone else! I have tried to recoup the $144 overdraft fee from all of the above since this charge was unauthorized but everyone refuses to pay it. Hilton Corporate agreed with me that on the booking site ad it DOES NOT say one night's deposit will be charged however on their company sites it does so they proved booking.com didn't update their computers to reflect the important change and it is in fact their fault. The first day this happened I contacted booking.com and the rep kept saying, "don't worry - we'll take care of this and fix it and make it right" but I haven't heard anything from them since. All I want from booking is the $144 bank overdraft fee since I can then cancel my booking myself and get a full refund. Please have booking.com contact me ASAP! If they do not resolve this to my satisfaction soon I will never use their services again!

I booked room through at studio6 thru your site con#[protected] Charles Beauchamp [protected]@yahoo.com. I only had 1320 in bank after my vacation. I had checked out of studio6 on 11-26 took vacation then rebooked thru booking.com at cheaper price they refused to allow me to check in and said I had to cancel reservation and pay directly thru them. I called booking.com CSR and was assured I would be relocated at studio6's expense and then proceeded to be told whatever I wanted to here by 4 reps to keep passing the buck. one rep hung up and another faked like they couldnt here me anymore. the 1st two reps basically swore on there lives I would be reimbursed for difference in price 2nd one told me to rent a room tonight and call back when I find a place. 3rd rep told me that was wrong and sent me and email for place on airbnb where I would share bathroom in house with 4 other people said if I didnt like I could just reply no. I told him that wouldnt work and he hung up.

called back cause issue would be resolved if I could split my month reservation in half book room for 14 days get back to work and I would have money for 2nd half in 7-10 days 4th rep said that would work even suggested it when that was what I was saying whole time so I asked her to send me and email confirming she approved me to do that she said yes at 1st then I am pretty sure she talked to someone else and said oh u dont need that I said I wanted as prove then she could here me any more.

I arrived at studio6 at 230pm it is now 1240pm I have been looking for places and sitting in parking lost on hold all day and still no answer resolution for tomorrow

I booked accomodation in Bali through boking to com and unfortunately covid hit. I have not heard back from the accomodation i booked and booking.com have done nothing to help.

We had booked into the above hotel from the 18/11 to the 21/11 2021
Upon arrival we checked into the hotel and found to our astonishment that there was no restuarant only a snack bar, even though it states in the Booking.com information regarding the hotel that there was a restuarant
The snack bar provided, burger/chicken and chips or a baggette, that was about it
As we had been driving for several hours, we had no option but to have a meal in the snack bar because as I have already explained that there was no restuarant
The following day the 19/11 we spent the day exploring Granada, again the distance stated by Booking.co information was 3.1 miles from the city centre, maybe it is as the crow flies
Upon arrival back at the hotel we had resigned ourselves to something from the snack bar, to be told on returning to the hotel that there was no food at all as the Hotel snack bar closes, Friday to Sunday and because we were tired and there were no other resturants nearby, our evening meal was a bowl of crisps
On the 20/11 I went to reception, complained to the receptionist that we were leaving that morning as we had not eaten the previous evening because there was no snack bar open, when I asked why there was no information regarding eating facilities at the Hotel he explained that because of Covid the snack bar does not open .
I told him that I would pay for the 2 days we had stayed and I would not pay for the 3rd day, he accepted that the Hotel and acted in bad faith and I demanded compensation
I had 23 euros refunded to my account, however Booking.com will not let me have my money and I have to use it on another reservation with them
I phoned Booking.com from my mobile of the 19/11 informing them that we would be leaving the Hotel a day earlier and would they please cancel the other Hotel we had booked to stay in on the 21st after leaving Granada on the 20th instead of the 21st
The help I received from Booking.com was none, they contacted the other Hotel, I asked Booking.com that because there information regarding the Hotel was a total fabrication would they resolve my problems
Booking.com informed me that the 2nd hotel would debit my account regardless.
It cost 100 euros to stay in a hotel that Booking.com said was 4* that had no resturant and a snack bar that shut at weekends and I had to pay 51 euros because we had to leave Granada earlier than expected because of the false information
I would like all my money refunded from Booking.com which would mean, 100 euros for the hotel in Granada, the 51 euros from the hotel Rural Puerto Magina in Torres, the 23 euros that I received from the hotel in Granada and the 23 euros that I had tp pay on my mobile to phone Booking.com and the 80 euros that I used in petrol
I have spoken to Booking.com 4-5 times and have had no help in resolving my situation
Hopefully you can help us regarding this matter

I paid Booking.com for a 3 week stay at the Nirvana Hotel, Patong, Phuket in September 2021.

When I arrived at the hotel at 7:30pm it was closed. I telephoned the number on the reservation but no one answered.

Someone told me there was another Hotel Nirvana. I took a tuk tuk and for more than an hour we drove around looking for it. There was not another hotel with the same name. I paid the tuk tuk driver 500 baht.

I walked across Patong dragging my suitcase behind me. I returned to the Nirvana hoping it had opened. I checked around. It was apparent the hotel had been closed for months.

My night was ruined - bars and restaurants had to close by 9pm due to Covid Regulations.

Booking did refund my reservation money. They did not apologise for my loss, stress and ruined evening.

They promised to respond to my complaint but then chose to ignore me.

Regards

Michael Disney

There is an account under Wilshire West Suites on booking.com that uses a different address than where the actual hotel/room is located.

Our building does not offer hotel rooms. When we look up the listing on the printout the guest provides, the address is of our building where they are told to meet the agent (outside the building, the agent never comes inside) but the photos are for another apartment building just up the street, BeDTLA who also does not offer hotels/Airbnb accommodations.

We constantly gets guests upset that their booking is not in our building. There are now about 45-50 guests this year who have walked into our building demanding their room. We have had to call the police on one family who refused to leave our lobby and who used it as their own personal living room. We have others calling us scammers, wanting a refund when we are not the ones who list the booking. It has put our employees in danger because a few have almost been violent.

We contacted BeDTLA but they do not know who the person is who is listing their units for hotel accommodations.

The guests say there is a number to call when they are ready to check in. We call the number but that person may now recognize our building number coming up so they never answer us. I believe the people running Wilshire West Suites have rented units with the actual building BeDTLA and are running an illegal hotel business, but use our address to meet with their guests. We would like a representative of booking.com to reach out to us and remove this posting or account.

We tried contacting customer service but you need an actual booking number to even talk to someone. Since we do not have one, we tried emailing. We would then get a weird generic response that we need a reservation number in order for someone to answer us, we will reply back with our problem again but get the same response so they have been no help at all.