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Booking.com review: defamatory review 49

C
Author of the review
10:43 am EDT
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a guest had written a defamatory review about hotel staff and booking.com approved it. Staff members have no right to reply on the website

Jun 01, 2012 3:33 am EDT
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Kevin. We would be happy to discuss this, can you post your hotel name or hotel ID? If not, our Hotels Team would be able to help you.
Feb 13, 2013 4:03 am EST
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Gaston,

I would like to follow up on this. Could you please post your hotel’s name or hotel ID?
Our hotels team would be glad to discuss the issue with you.

Kind regards,
Sergejs
Booking.com Team
Mar 15, 2013 10:56 am EDT
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Joe!
I'm really sorry to hear about your experience. Could you please post your booking number so our specialized team can investigate this further?

Regards, Mac
Booking.com Team
Apr 02, 2013 6:59 am EDT
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Justjonesx4,
I am sorry to learn about your feelings and would like to get to the bottom of it.
Could you please send me an email to customer.web@booking.com with further information regarding the relevant reviews?
Once I have this information I will contact the corresponding department for further investigation.
Thanks, Tal
Booking.com Team
Apr 03, 2013 4:06 am EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Justjonesx4,
If you want us to follow up on this we need more details. Like my colleague wrote before, you can send it to customer.web@booking.com. I understand you're unhappy about one review and from my part would like to find out what happened. Once we have this information we can proceed.
Regards, Mac
Booking.com Team
Apr 03, 2013 6:24 am EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Justjonesx4,
Thank you for your email. I will check it out now and we will contact you soon.
Cheers, Mac
Booking.com Team
Apr 06, 2013 8:33 am EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Justjonesx4,
Your e-mail has been received and I have already asked our
corresponding department to contact you as soon as possible.
Regards, Sergejs
Booking.com Team
Nov 12, 2013 3:35 pm EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hello,
I would like to review this matter with the appropriate department. Can you please send the guests booking number to customer.web@booking.com?
Regards, Andrea
Booking.com Team
Dec 29, 2013 5:46 pm EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hello Stephen,

I'm sorry to hear about this. I would like to look into this further for you. Can you please provide me with your Hotel ID?

Regards,
Regi
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Jan 11, 2014 12:02 am EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi There,

I'm sorry to hear that you feel this way. If you would like for me to assist you, I will need for you to provide me with your hotel ID. If you are not comfortable posting it on the forum, please send it to me in a direct message.

Regards,
Regi
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Jan 14, 2014 3:08 am EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Thank you Domenica.
I apologize once again for the inconvenience.
I will inform the relevant department and my colleague will contact you at the earliest.

Regards, Konstantina
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Jan 14, 2014 8:04 pm EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hello,

Thank you for your post. Can you please clarify if you need assistance with something as I am here to help? You can also send an email to customer.web@booking.com referencing this post and I will follow up.

Regards, Andrea
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Jan 16, 2014 6:16 am EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi again Demi.
I have contacted you account manager and he informed me that he has sent you an e-mail with some questions so that he can follow up with the issue.
Please feel free to contact me should you need further assistance.

Regards, Konstantina
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Feb 03, 2014 8:25 pm EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hello Demi,

Records indicate you were contacted on January 15th. I'm sorry you didn't receive all of the information you needed. I will once again contact your local hotels department to assist you further. Alternatively, their office is open at this time and their contact information is listed in our shared system, the extranet.

Regards, Kelly
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Mar 03, 2014 3:14 am EST
Booking.com customer support contacts
Address

Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

Website
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Hi Demi,

I'm sorry your issue has not been resolved yet. I have contacted again the hotels team and my colleague will follow up as well. You can alternatively contact your Account Manager yourself. I've sent you a message with all the details.

Regards, Chloe
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Mar 22, 2014 11:18 am EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hello Vorsicht,

I am sorry to hear about this.
While I understand how a negative review can feel, especially when a hotelier has worked so hard to provide accommodations to many guests, with a variety of expectations. After reading many reviews, and other guests response to a review, it would seem most guests have enough sense to not pay attention to the best, or worst reviews, but only pay attention to those in the middle. I would like to assist you further, can you provide me with your hotel ID number?

Regards,
Kristen
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Mar 26, 2014 6:07 am EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi there,
I have just replied to your private message. This matter has been forwarded to our hotels team and you will be contacted as soon as possible.
Regards, Tal
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Apr 07, 2014 7:51 am EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Tim,

Thank you for the info. I have located your booking and I see my colleague has sent you an email in regards to this case 3 days ago. I have sent you a private message with more info. Feel free to let me know if you have more questions.
Aug 08, 2014 1:04 pm EDT
Booking.com customer support contacts
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Herengracht 597, Amsterdam, 1017CE, NL

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Hi Leonard,

I'm sorry to hear you feel this way. If you would like I can take a look at the guest's review and check to see if I can do anything about it. Please provide me the guest's booking number. Alternatively, you can email it to "customer.web@booking.com" while referencing this post.

Regards,
Brian
Booking.com Customer Service Team
Resolved

The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer's satisfaction.

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49 comments
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Emmanuel and Veronica
, GB
May 22, 2018 12:41 pm EDT

Contact information for your booking [protected] B&B Casa Florinda, First and last time booking with Booking.com I am not happy with your reply or lack of support of Booking.Com via a poor assistant named George, I will be contacting PayPal as well to inform them that throughout the booking procedure the cancellation Policy is hidden away. The Booking was made in good faith late on the 19th May my wife was taken by ambulance to hospital on the 20th May 2018 and is still there, I called the Hotel in between visiting my wife in hospital first thing in the morning of the 21st May 2018 3 days before our check in time to notify the hotel in advance of my wife’s unfortunate unforeseen health situation and were not prepared to refund. The trip included a booking with Expedia in a hotel in France for a day earlier . Expedia immediately refunded the full amount .
I will make this as public as possible because of the hidden way you present the booking fine print and at which point it appears. Your cold attitude of dealing with this matter must not be repeated to others so I will be informing as many people as possible.

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Viktoriaathens
, GR
Mar 01, 2017 8:18 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Hello people,

I recognize these problems with Booking.com. They are a nightmare.

They have send us invoices with completely wrong company details etc so we refused to pay them ( the tax company will not accept this invoices ) now Booking.com suspended our account, so we are not bookable on booking.com at the moment, until we pay the ( incorrect ) invoices. Loss of income!

Also i have another question for the people with their accommodation on booking.com... did you know that booking.com sometimes checks the validity of credit cards that are provided by guests?

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Dmitry B.
, US
Mar 20, 2017 11:18 am EDT

Hi, regarding your question about guest's credit cards - yes. I knew about it when received a booking cancellation and ask guests why they did so. They answered that they did not! After that guests returned with info that Booking.com cancelled their stay because of some problem with their card. Finally, I lost these guests.

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martyblueyes
, BR
Feb 20, 2017 7:10 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I am not trying to have any reviews removed but as a small hostel in Rio De Janeiro, I think it is totally unfair that a guest can leave a review anonymously and not give the establishment an opportunity to reply. This has happened to us on several occasions and although the reviews are anonymous, we know exactly who left them and the reasons that that left them. Any guest can say that a room smells musty or that the bed was uncomfortable or that the breakfast did not meet their standards. We had a guest leave a bad review and the reason was not at all what was stated in the review. She didn't want to buy a R$2 bottle of water and insisted that we give her filtered water, which we do not serve at our hostel. As a spite she left a negative review. Ok fine. We have enough positive reviews to offset the occasional bad ones that we receive. But to be able to post the review anonymously is, in my opinion, cowardly to say the least. And to not allow the establishment to respond is even more cowardly.

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Dmitry B.
, US
Dec 20, 2016 11:57 am EST

Another masterpiece from Booking.com:
Please be informed that:
By signing the agreement with us, you accepted the guest reviews and the fact that we are not responsible for posted reviews.
We will not enter into any further communication with you about this review.
We will not remove or amend the review.
The contract you entered into is with Booking.com BV, subject to Dutch law and Amsterdam courts as exclusive jurisdiction.
If you want the review to be removed, then you require to terminate the agreement, after which the review will be gone forever.
Kind regards,
Alan
Booking.com Partner Services Team

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JSt390
, US
Jan 02, 2017 8:49 pm EST
Replying to comment of Dmitry B.

This is the most insidious reply I have yet read from a business to a partner. This man is obviously wrong. They certainly are responsible for what they publish. If they publish defamatory and untrue reviews they are liable. But, of course, they know if you sue them they will cancel the agreement, which is again subject to a claim for damages. But who can and wants to take them on?

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Dmitry B.
, US
Dec 16, 2016 9:43 am EST

Brilliant, not rude and very professional:))))) reply from Booking.com:

Please kindly note that our different departments have already informed you multiple times that the review of this guest cannot be deleted. You are welcome to send us an official letter from your lawyer and we will see if there is anything else that can be done. At this point, this is just the personal opinion of the guest and it has not breached our policies. Please, note that you are not supposed to contact the guest or seek for more information from them about the review. You can, however respond to their review.
Unfortunately, there is nothing else we can do to assist.
Thank you for your cooperation.
Kind regards,
Zhala Labib
Booking.com Customer Service Team

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JSt390
, US
Dec 14, 2016 8:49 pm EST

The worst part of booking.com is their review system although their Extranet could do with a few improvements too, e. g. that the hoteliers themselves can adjust all relevant data, especially their so-called opportunities.
But the review system clearly is practically a breach of any business ethics underlying a normal business relationship. Booking.com claims unbiased reviews. Of course, they are not. If you give guests a little extra they are not likely to write a negative review, and many hotels resort to this.
The major point, however, is that guests can write anything they want. Short of the 4 or 5 criteria booking.com has for deleting a review, e. g. accusation of theft, etc., guests can complain about everything whether true or not. They can insult the hotel owner, call him a cheater, dishonorable, or whatever, booking.com will not take the review down
Next worse thing is that booking.com arbitrarily changes guests' reviews. They give guests 4 option to rate a hotel - fair, good, very good, excellent. This is converted into a 10 point system by which a guest's very good turns into a good, e. g. a straight 7.5 (very good) from the guest will show as less than 8.0 (good) on their website. Any attempt to have that changed over 3 years have failed. Their claim is that they tested the system and it has proven to be the best. Basically, what booking.com engages in is unfair and deceptive trade practices which in most jurisdictions in the Western world is illegal and subject to complaints for damages, or at least injunctions to cease and desist. Obviously, no hotel owner has had the gumption to take on booking.com for fear of being shut out of their system. It would be quite easy to take booking.com to court in Holland, their corporate headquarters. Holland has this law on the books and wherever the hotel is located is of no importance as it can sue booking.com in Holland. From what I understand the majority of booking.com's hotel partners are small and medium-sized businesses that don't have the money to file a complaint.
Periodically, booking.com has a research firm do a survey. From insiders I have learned that the most complaints hotels indicate is booking.com's review system. Again, over a number of years nothing has changed. The result most certainly is that hotels will make every effort to become as independent of booking.com, and other large OTAs such as Expedia and Agoda, as possible.

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Dmitry B.
, US
Dec 15, 2016 6:15 am EST
Replying to comment of JSt390

Hi, have read your post with interest! Thank you! As I suggested in previous post to change the situation we should gather and place one claim from many owners. Don't you know how expensive it could be to sue Booking.com in Holland?
Also, today I've decided and sent complaint to Booking.com CEO:) She replied and copied in MD of EMEA to look into the problem with review. Let's see.

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JSt390
, US
Dec 16, 2016 10:30 pm EST
Replying to comment of Dmitry B.

I sent a letter by snail mail to the CEO too. It remained unanswered. Booking.com has more pros than cons but the cons are very weighty and can ruin many potential bookings. It undoubtedly has enormous marketing power. Their main interest is to get guests to book on their website. They don't care which hotel it is; the pricier the better but, on the other hand, they lure guests with discounts that falsely calculated, in other words they are misleading guests. But to be honest, the main beef I have is their review system and I just hope that they will eventually adjust it to reflect a more balanced interest for both the guest and the hotel partner.

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Dmitry B.
, US
Dec 17, 2016 2:18 am EST
Replying to comment of JSt390

Yes, I absolutely agree. My main concern is their review policy too. And you are right that review system is the biggest problems for accommodations. That's why maybe there is any sense to claim to regulators about Booking.com unfair competition? I've already done it in my country and should receive the reply in a 30 days. I'm sure we must act because the situation is affecting our business.
P.S. Recently Booking.com has decided to screw owners again - now you should choose your commission size more than 15% if you want your property is seen more higher in search results. You can even choose to pay 50% commission to Booking.com. It means that since now more you pay than better you rank and your review score is not important any more?

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Dmitry B.
, US
Dec 11, 2016 5:05 am EST

As we all can see Booking.com doesn't care about owners problems - no replies to the latest posts.
From their site: Booking.com is a distributor (without any obligation to verify) and not a publisher of these comments and responses.

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Dmitry B.
, US
Dec 11, 2016 12:58 am EST

Hello to all owners who are trying to do business with this company!
I've got the similar problem as many here - defamatory, offensive, untruth review with mark 4.6. The story is very simple: reservation ID: [protected], there was a statement that "You have a booker that prefers communication by email". Not a problem, most of the guests prefer email. I sent them comprehensive information about the flat, phone numbers of our staff and WiFi info, on October 10th, eight days before check-in. They didn't reply to my emails at all. I also tried WhatsApp and Messenger, but with the same result. No reply, but the msg in WhatsApp was shown as read. I sent another several emails, but nothing. Try to call at last. I had to ask Booking.com to help me to contact the guest - nothing again. On October 18th I received a call from unknown (without numbers) number suddenly, the guests was there. They said that they stood near the door and couldn't enter. I helped them to get in. They merely forgot to include this in the review. I kindly advised them to check email. Since that there were no calls, no msgs, nothing. I was sure that everything was fine. But then surprise-surprise:) they left the review:
“4.6
2016-10-21 Reservation number [protected] Your Booking.com reviews page
Yeming, (GB)
Owner of this studio lives in Russia, never could reach him if you have problem!
Location is good
Wifi is not working. There is a Wifi note, but you never could find this Wifi. Owner of this studio is living in Russia, when we want to call him to ask wifi, never answer us, the phone number he gives us is a Russia number, if you have any problem during your stay, it's impossible to find this guy and reach any service. our neighbour booked same size apartment from another owner from airbnb, similar apartment they pay 250 pound for 5 nights, we pay 220 pound for 2 nights, that's shocked us. Castle view is outside, you can't see any castle view when you stay in the apartment.”

I really can't understand such behaviour. I always available by phone, email or messengers. Our experienced staff in Edinburgh are always ready to help as well. Also I was wonder to see "GB" near the name because he is from China actually. After this review my score has fallen to 8.9.
As everyone here I can't receive any help from Booking.com, they said during phone call that they are posting EVERYTHING what guests want to say without any obligation to verify. It is an absurd situation when it is possible to post everything if it is not breach Booking.com rules! Another absurd - there is Defamation Act 2103 in the UK, but Booking.com B.V. doesn't follow it at all. Regarding this Law I sent them Notice of Compliant with request to delete that review. And guess what happened? Right! Nothing! Booking.com thinks that the Law is not about them. Also, they don't know what client oriented approach means:) So I've been living with this review since October 2016. Spiteful joke - this review is automatically chosen as "Reviewer's choice" everyday! As result - many cancellations, just several bookings from countries where English is not native. Also, I don't understand advice from Booking.com review team to leave a reply. Why should I leave a reply to lie? I'd like to post review of these guests instead, so other owners can avoid to host them:)! The most interesting point - they know that the review contains absolutely lie, they confirm it during the call!
I think we can change this only if we gather and send one compliant to Booking.com or Regulatory organization or to the Court with thousand owner's signs. We have to stop such behaviour of the company, it is our business and only we must decide what is good for it! We're paying commission not guests! We must have opportunity to defend our rights and business!
Kind regards,
Dmitriy

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Ursula Magdalena Walsh
, US
Nov 23, 2016 10:30 am EST

Booking.com I am getting really angry with your support towards us business owners...People can walk out without pay and yet you still charge the commission even though I report it, stole from us, give us anonymous bad feedback, that we cannot reply too, false feedback and you say you cannot do anything about it...
Where is OUR RIGHTS as a business owners ?
I see above comments people complaining about the same thing ...
When we complain you don't even reply ...Not a good way to be a business representative I say...

Regards Ursula Mountainview B&B Coromandel town New Zealand

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Ursula Magdalena Walsh
, US
Nov 21, 2016 11:03 am EST

There should be a name and shame site so we can put these people up I am almost positive we would have a same people that go around and putting false feedback...

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Ursula Magdalena Walsh
, US
Nov 21, 2016 10:42 am EST

Hi I have a B&B in Coromandel Town I am really disappointed that people can put up lies about my facility and I cannot do anything about it
For example I had a guest and he said no exhaust in the bathroom----he broke the switch and don't even let us know He put dirty towels and dirty carpet We just opened for the season on the 17th of November Each season we buy quality new towels, we just had the carpet cleaned 2 day before they arrived...we have a huge bathroom and large shower he complained about poor bathing facility ? Give me a break
These people can ruin our business and we just sit there and let that happen ?
I think as our provider Booking.com and trip advisory should be on our site and do something about it...
There should not be Anonymous feedback so we can even reply...
I have a 9.6 review and I don't think I got it if I don't have a clean facility and someone like them can just put up lies because they are miserable...
i will think twice to advertise in the coming year unless somehow you can figure out the way to deal with this problem...
Kind regards Ursula

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debbiejl
, GB
Sep 01, 2016 2:30 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Subject: Reviews This guest stayed with us - during her stay they set fire to the carpet and we had to evacuate the house. This was a very serious matter, I called in to you on the day it happened and your colleague recorded "malicious guest". I corresponded with the guest and she paid £400.00 to replace the carpet, we did not report it to the police, as she agreed to pay. I have spoken to my solicitor and he has advised that because you are publishing the review, you are responsible for the defamation of our name and business. This review is to be taken down today, by 5 pm today this review is to be removed - if its not down I will be suing booking.com for defamation. Reservation ID: [protected]

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Neil Coxhead
, US
Jan 09, 2016 1:22 am EST

It is typical to read so many times from booking.com 'customer help' that they will look in to it if we provide the details. It is obvious that they will not ever satisfactorily address the problem of false reviews and not being able to comment on them. So please stop saying you will look in to them and start saying WE WILL SOLVE THE PROBLEM. You are insulting us by pretending to be concerned, the business policy of Booking.Com is to screw over hotel owners in any way they can to increase their profits.

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Dawn Lee
, US
Nov 24, 2015 1:33 am EST

On the whole my guests give very positive reviews 9+ and I am steadily building up my score and trying to get it as close to 10 as I am able. I have just had an anonymous review with a score of 6.7 and this will no doubt undo some of the hard work I am putting in to my small business. There is no constructive feedback on the review and I have no way to reply. It seems out of kilter with all the other glowing responses and surely there should be someway to veto responses or at the very least respond to them. Compared to other posts on this forum, my complaint seems quite minor but every review is so important, especially when it comes to future guests booking their stay. Surely Booking.com wants to help businesses increase their bookings = larger commission!

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Mazen7777
, UA
Apr 15, 2015 12:22 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Hello

Im facing also alot of issues with booking.com, i have a house and i rent it with them, im my house review was 10 total, suddenly they changed the guest review an people starting commenting as anonymous, they protect the people who are a booking, and not the hotel or guest houses owners, this is so un professional and im really thinking of closing my website and stop working with them, i had some arguments with one of the clients that was really really rude and unprofessional, one employee from booking.com sends me a very bad email telling me how to act with customers in a rude way, my review score 9.5 which shows how im professional, i really want to complain on that particular employee to complain

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Axlsuma
, CL
Jan 19, 2015 4:31 pm EST

A customer in her review called me scam, without saying anything else, HOW CAN BOOKING.COM ALLOW THIS? Calling me a scam in her review may kill my business, which is a family business.

She argues that she was cheated, that we charged her 35% more and that we promised somehow a jacuzy, imagine how many complains I would have if that was the case, it is even childish and Booking.com says that they can't remove it. I asked to put it in hold at least meanwhile I send them documentation that shows that we never overcharge her.

Please booking.com help me here

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SUHAIL_111
, AE
Jan 14, 2015 1:09 am EST

booking.com cheaters and not careing at all about their customers. even customer services not helping you at all during any problem with hotels and also most of the hotels information about services and star rate not correct. what happened with me several time and i will add the booking number for your review .

my name is suhail from UAE i book a otel in dubai the hotel name was golden sands with booking # [protected] when i reach the hotel i found that this reservation for 3 hotels not only 1 hotel golden sands 3, 5 & 10 and the best one of them they which i book golden sands 3 they said its fully booked and they send me to the worst hotel is in my life i refused to take it, then i cancel the booking because they cheating me by changing the hotel. the booking.com they said we can not do any thing about this problem because the hotel not agree to cancel the reservation without penalty first night payment should be pay.

i send many email to booking.com but they answear me that we explain to you many time that the bank policy like that we cant do any thing to them they not accept. SO TO SAVE YOUR MONEY AND INJOY YOUR HOLIDAY BE AWAY FROM BOOKING.COM BECAUS THEY ARE NOT CAREING THEY ARE LOOKING FOR THEIR BINIFITS ONLY.

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Leonard Lords
Bellevue, US
Aug 04, 2014 8:58 pm EDT

We have been a big advacate of hotel.com since we opened, now two customers who probably thought it is fun just lied and ripped apart our motel and all the efforts and hard work we do every day. We have had many people cancel their reservations and when I called booking.com, expecting them to understand and want to keep our business, they just said there is nothing they are willing to do and people can lie about your motel and we are happy to publish it. So we are currently looking for a competitor of booking.com who cares about their customers.
Leonard Lords Manager
The High Country Motel Bellevue Idaho

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India Chez-Moi
, CO
Jun 03, 2014 1:16 pm EDT

Same thing here. I run a small boutique hotel in Bogota and we had a very bad review from a guest thinking he was arriving in a Sheraton (these are his words), and very frustrated and rude since his arrival.
We tried to make him happy, upgraded him for free even though he had a 50% discount (that we will never do again, btw) etc. and even like that he gave us a very bad grade, WHITOUT any comment, and anonymously, obviously.
I had several email exchanges with our account manager in Bogota and it was like talking to a stubborn camel. Unfortunately, Booking.com is playing the game of the dirty competition, which means that if tomorrow my competitors want to send me a fake guest and a bad review just to put my score down, they can do it with complete tranquility...

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John Sipleiton
, AU
Apr 07, 2014 6:52 pm EDT

I have responded to that email from 3 days ago in great detail straight away and followed it up again yesterday, hence my post on this forum. I have not received and further emails and I am not satisfied with the outcome. Being accused a liar is defamation, especially when you can prove that you are not. This can not possibly be tolerated by the booking.com reviews team. - I don't get private massages here as I am not displaying my identity on this forum as you can see from my login names - please contact me by phone or email as you have all my details.

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John Sipleton
Sydney, AU
Apr 06, 2014 6:48 pm EDT

The review in question is 232.286.795 and I have sent detailed information and proof of our points we raised to Marie. She promised me a call and I waited up for hours late at night and the call never came. - Tim

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John Simpleton
, AU
Apr 03, 2014 6:41 pm EDT

Forget it to ever have your reviews removed by the booking.com reviews team. They are stubborn and non understanding about the issues that are close to the heart of an accommodation operator. The fact they do not even provide the operators with an option to response to such slanderous reviews borders on negligence and facilitates the death of our reputation through comments made by the few disgruntled guests we all have to deal with occasionally.

Pathetic job, booking.com

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Vorsicht Glas
, FR
Mar 26, 2014 1:58 am EDT

I have now replied to Andrea at booking.com to have our negative review either removed or identified (so we can correct the "problem"!) . Will keep you all posted on outcome.

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Vorsicht Glas
, FR
Mar 22, 2014 3:37 am EDT

I agree with all the other hoteliers about the negative anonymous reviews. We have just received our first anonymous negative review (well not so negative but some items were negative) . How can we respond / react if we do not know WHO made the complaint and WHICH room they were occupying? We cannot " apologise" publicly on booking.com because we have no idea what we are apologizing for!
This (anonymous reviewing) has got to stop or I am sorry Booking.com, but we will have to withdraw OUR services.
You need us but won't help us.

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Demi07
Bairnsdale, AU
Feb 03, 2014 9:20 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Booking.com post on here with a reply for us to provide our hotelier details and they will look into it, but they DON'T. Numerous times and nothing from them despite their promises.

I am beginning to wonder if they just reply with that to make it look like they will do something, as I for one have had nothing done at al

it might be time for me to remove my listings with them I think

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Demi07
Bairnsdale, AU
Feb 03, 2014 3:17 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Still no contact from my Account Manager. It seems people like to put on here that something will be done and the matter looked into but NO ONE actually follows up on it.
When is this going to be sorted out?

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Demi07
Bairnsdale, AU
Jan 29, 2014 3:17 am EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Unbelievable, despite numerous contact on here on messages that i will be contacted NOTHING has been done.
Very poor service

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Demi07
Bairnsdale, AU
Jan 15, 2014 10:44 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I still haven't had anyone contact me regarding this

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Marcorvi
, CR
Jan 14, 2014 5:10 pm EST

I too have a problem with this and it is not that the booking.com staff will DISCUSS this with us but take action into this... just let us, hotel buisnessmen, share OUR version of the story. in booking.com. we are telling you already if the bad review were in fact to be true we wouldnt complain about you but with ourselves.

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Demi07
Bairnsdale, AU
Jan 13, 2014 8:13 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have sent you a direct message.
Seems my emails to booking.com are going unactioned and when I phoned I got given an email address to write to about my concerns that bounced back as "no longer a valid email"
Great customer service on that operators part providing an email that isn't in service.
Heres hoping something can be done from this as nothing is being done via the calls and emails I am sending
Regards
D

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Demi07
Bairnsdale, AU
Jan 10, 2014 8:51 pm EST
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I have just had this happen to me and my business. I was harassed by a guest, doorways blocked so I couldn't leave the room then blocked in the kitchen by a ranting abusive guest who is lying on their review, under anonymous but I know who it is. This person is saying I said things I never did, the whole thing is defamation and clearly as the only person running my establishment he is indicating a person ( saw earlier comments saying as long as it doesn't single out a person etc its allowed). I had to tell this guest I would call the police if he didn't leave my kitchen and stop abusing me for his to stop! Now booking.com wont allow me to respond nor will they remove his comments which are blatant lies and the complete opposite to every other comment I get.
Booking.coms response is to tell me my review rating is high so his comments shouldn't affect business. Not good enough, he is slandering the business and me personally and I should have a right of response or the ability to remove it. Booking.com charge the most of any provider I list with and i have had the most issues technically with regard to cancellations and so forth then any other provider. What am I paying them for?

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StephenR
Penzance, GB
Dec 29, 2013 8:22 am EST

We have received a bad review from a guest who stayed with us for two days. He was booked into a single room and he was upgraded to a double as it was available. At the time of his stay, he did not mention any of the negative points he raised in the review. He mentioned when he was here that the breakfast was superb, and that he was perfectly happy with the service he received and that he had slept well and was comfortable.

His review, however, stated that the room was not clean, which was not true, and that the hotel smells of dogs. We have five stars for food hygiene and cleanliness, so are at a loss to understand how he could have arrived at that conclusion. We have one medium-sized dog, who does not go anywhere near the bedrooms and who swims regularly. Surely, if the hotel were as bad as he stated and such poor value for money, he could have checked out and stayed elsewhere.

As mentioned above, booking.com does not give the right of reply to establishments; this is a major failing.

Stephen

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valerie84300
, FR
Nov 11, 2013 1:04 pm EST

Completely agree! We run a guesthouse in France, an we have been very upset by the lack of honesty from certain guests and Booking.com's answer.
Example: this summer one of our small room was booked. Knowing that another visitor for a much larger room did not came we decided to upgrade our guests for free. Even thought, after leaving this visitor gave us the worst rating in our history with the following comment:
"Beds really small. No air conditioning No TV or wifi".
Our announcement gives precisely the size of beds, states precisely that we do not offer air conditioning, the room features a private lounge with TV and wifi works perfectly !
Our request to the teams Booking was however denied. How to fight against hosts that do not read the description of the place and then complain about what's missing? We really helpless in front of such acts and booking clearly endorse this type of behavior ...

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Justjonesx4
Llandudno, GB
Apr 04, 2013 8:38 am EDT
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So, as far as Booking.com are concerned it is perfectly acceptable for a guest to blatantly lie as long as they dont name the persons who run it or work in it. False statements are perfectly acceptable. It is worth noting that at no time has anyone from booking.com made contact with me over this to discuss what elements are lies by the reviewer so clearly the attitude of booking.com is that they accept responsibility for promoting false statements on their website.
I attach without edit the response from booking.com for you to see who they trust.

Dear Hotel Partner,

Thank you for working with Booking.com.

We have sent your email to our reviews team for investigation.

The response we have received back is as follows:

Kindly be informed that this review does not fulfill the condition of Booking.com to be removed. Our
system of guest reviews is based on the experience of a guest after his stay in one of the property
we have online.
In this particular case, the guest did not like the room, the internet service, the heating... ect.
The guest is only describing his experience and feeling about the hotel. The review is negative however
it is not discriminatory or does not mentioned any named of personnel working in this establishment.

Additionally, we wish to bring back to mind that the opinions expressed by our mutual guests are just
that: opinions. We invite guests to share their experiences so that others may potentially benefit from
them. Just as different individuals perceive the same experiences in different ways, so too will those
who read of them.

We understand the hotel concern about the review as it indeed expresses strong criticism; however, we
do not consider it insulting. Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to find out the true story behind
every negative review that we receive. Therefore, we apply the same rules to all our hotel partners
and unfortunately, we cannot make exceptions.

The average score of this hotel is 9.5 and makes it exceptional, the potential guest visiting the page
of this establishment never stop after reading only one negative review but will appreciate the global
score as reading a few reviews in order to make their own decision. Keep in mind that negative comments
bring balance to the guest reviews system by adding credibility to the positives ones. They can be used as a valuable source of information with regards to the service the hotel provides.

If you have any questions regarding this, please feel free to contact us.

Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Kind regards,

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Justjonesx4
Llandudno, GB
Apr 03, 2013 5:22 am EDT
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Dear Mac,
Thank you for your sympathetic and patient response.
I have sent you the details after your instruction to do so.
Regards

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Justjonesx4
Llandudno, GB
Apr 02, 2013 10:15 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

Thanks for your response Tal, but why is it that when We phoned your 'help' team we were told that its the customer prerogative to say anything they like on a review and that its their right and we have to accept that. Yet now that we have complained you suddenly want to have more details?. The reviewer tells the world what they want and you are accountable for the validity of it as you publish it on the World Wide Web. I can prove that at least one statement made by the reviewer is a lie and therefore you have published across the world a lie about myself and my business and have failed to respond to this when I have raised it to you through the procedure you state I should follow. You are therefore accountable for publishing this lie. It is my human right to defend myself against lies and the legal process is there to support me in this. Why should I give you another chance ?

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Justjonesx4
Llandudno, GB
Apr 02, 2013 5:59 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

I run a guesthouse in a Victorian town and am becoming increasingly frustrated at the attitude of booking.com to us the backbone of they're business. Without accommodation providers they have no business, yet having received a defamatory review the 'help' teams are totally dismissive and sometimes actually rude to us when denying us any right of challenge or reply. I have joined the British hospitality association and am seeking their advice regards legal action against a defamatory review as I am fed up with the dismissive attitude I receive from the help team. Tripadvisor at least show the reply from the proprietor or owner now which helps balance the feedback but Booking.com only allow us to reply to the guest direct which I have done, but the guest has failed to answer my queries as to why they said one thing to us at the time of staying yet slated us falsely after. I am now looking to use a variety of other agents and take my substantial business away from Booking.com as they have no care for the accommodation providers. Our rating varies between 9.6 and 9.5 so we are not a shoddy outfit and are ranked 17th out of 139 on Tripadvisor which reflects the truth of our business.

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Joe in die Kaap
, ZA
Mar 15, 2013 11:11 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

That is what I mean.

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Joe in die Kaap
, ZA
Mar 12, 2013 7:53 am EDT
Verified customer This comment was posted by a verified customer. Learn more

What is the point of this blog? Nothing gets discussed. We all see the complaints of hotel owner. Most of them I agree with. Over the last year I must have send at least 50 emails about being overcharged. I sent it to ALL existing booking.com email addresses. Not 1 reply. But again, what is the point of this blog? Booking.com does not discuss anything on it. They just say contact us so the rest can't see how they deal with this. What a joke!

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Gaston_G
, LU
Feb 06, 2013 9:10 am EST

I have had the same issue, with a person who was very unhappy because her Director got a fine for smoking in the rooms. We nearly had to take her to court, but first got a threat from Booking.com than when she decided it was unreasonable and asked booking.com to alter her comment... booking.com refused! I only ask the right to comment on posted reviews and a verification process for people who continuously post bad reviews about all placed they go.