Booking.com
reviews and complaints

Booking number: [protected]

WARNING: When searching for particular dates in booking.com they may still show you properties that are available on dates outside of your parameters - often times with "1 room left" urgency encouraging a rushed purchase decision for a room not actually available during your original search window.

When searching for a quick vacation destination on booking.com for myself and my fiance, we selected filter parameters for check-in Dates September 3rd - Check out September 4th.

We were shown several properties and found one at Crowne Plaza at Lake Placid (5.5 hours from us) and there was only ONE room left so we booked it at 3:28pm on Friday, September 2nd.

We woke up at 4am this morning (September 3rd) and drove 5.5 hours to Lake Placid, NY only to discover that the reservation was made for FRIDAY, September 2nd - - not Saturday.

They were fully booked for Saturday and our card was charged. We could not find any hotel that had room for us last minute (not to mention we already lost $230) so we had to get back in our car and drive another 5.5 hours back to New Jersey.

Upon reviewing the receipt I see the date was for the 2nd (not the 3rd) however, I requested a refund from booking.com on the following grounds.

1) My search parameters were for Saturday-Sunday (not Friday) so why would I be given an option to select a booking for Friday? I did not select "flexible dates" as they were not flexible.

2) I marked my check-in time as NOON (assumed for Saturday) however I made the reservation at 3:28pm. If you system saw my request to check-in hours earlier than humanly possible, why would it not alert me to the error thus preventing the sale to go through?

As a Vice President of a National brand - I gave booking.com the opportunity to correct this issue with their site and do the right thing and issue my refund. I understand legally they are "covered" because the confirmation email had the erroneous dates and I did not "catch it". I am simply asking for booking.com to do the right thing under the two considerations I posed to you above.

They have replied to this complaint above with denial of my request so I choose to post this review on every site I can in order to at minimum prevent other consumers from going through the same experience I did.

On Wednesday 31st August I contacted the telephone number as stated on my booking form in order that I would have access to the keys for the accommodation booked for the evening of Tuesday 6th September 2016, which was Stassinou Suite, 46 Stassinou street, Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus.
(+[protected]). I was informed that this accommodation was not available as it was being refurbished and I should have been notifed by Booking.com. Had I not contacted this number I would have made a long journey to Nicosia to find that there was no accommodation available. Needlesstosay I am not very pleased and it is more than likely that I will not be using booking.com in future.

Rushing to long island to see mother out of st. Francis hospital. Told i might need to stay in hotel. At about 5 pm i booked thru booking.com a "no pay unless you stay" at inn at great neck, li, ny. Put expected arrival at 10:00 -11:00 pm. At 7:45 pm ish i tried to cancel and no option. Only option was cancel at reduced price of room 160.00 as opposed to 179.00 roommate. Hotel said too bad. Booking.com said nothing they could do. And hotel not even going to agree to reduced price which was moot point. I read all before booking room and it was stated as 'no stay no pay." totally unethical. Felt cheated especially when i think how my mom could use that 179.00 . I thought great neck inn & booking.com were better than that especially since great neck inn near hospital and must get distraught last min hospital visitors. At a loss . Can you help?

I made a booking via booking.com to st pancras renaissance london. Due to other commitments, i cancelled it in due time and receive a no fee cancellation email from booking.com. I was charged anyway for a no-see fee - 1 night at the hotel plus tax -. I reached at booking.com and the hotel and despite providing all necessary documentation to prove the charge on my credit card, still awaiting my refund, one month later. Booking.com again? No way.

Booking. com flooded me with "free cancelation" emails so I gave them a try. I have booked travel all over the world using these types of sites.

I booked a 3 night stay for september 15-18, 2016 on august 1st and canceled it on august 4th. The booking. com site promised free cancelations. I was then charged $291.90 cancelation fee from erik's retreat. Their official policy is a 70% charge if canceled 30 days in advance and 100% charge after that time. I didn't read the policy carefully but assumed that I was well within any window by canceling 45 days out. I tried to work this out with them and they not only would not return my call, but I received an email from their attorney. I am a very experienced traveler and have lived over seas - never have I been charge a fee for canceling a hotel room - let alone after canceling in only 3 days and with 45 days notice. Please be careful! Even a seasoned traveler can get cheated! What's even worse is that they gave me the excuse that they are a non-profit and it is a "donation for autism". I actually donate to that cause so it is really insulting that this is how they conduct their business. Please be very careful with both booking. com and erik's retreat in edina minnesota.

I submitted 2 hotel reports to Booking.com recently; only the positive one has been published. It's one of the reasons why I'll not use their services anymore. I can see you absolutely cannot trust that website and their ratings.

I travelled to Colombo, Sri Lanka and I had booked a Villa via Booking.Com for 2 nights, Booking Number [protected] PIN CODE 6249. Half an hour after I had checked in my room, Reception called to inform me that there seemed to have been a glitch in the system because even with my confirmation, Booking.com had overbooked the room and they had no choice but to move me to another hotel (which I had no idea where it was or whether I wanted to move, I am pregnant by the way so you can imagine the inconvenience !)
I find this kind of overbooking completely unacceptable which leaves you with little or no choice of where the other hotel wants to bump you, particularly when you have come for a short stay.
I will not be using Booking.com again and I will not be recommending it to anyone else.

After a recent booking made via booking.com, they deducted £75 from my bank account without my knowledge. They were able to do this because I had trusted them with my bank details since joining their site 3 years ago. I paid for the 2 rooms in cash on arrival (£100). The first I knew of the additional charge was in an email a few days later, telling me I was being charged for a stain on the mattress. I contacted Booking.com about it, hoping they may reconsider or at least be prepared to compromise with me when they heard my side, but they stood by their action, which was to compensate the hotel for damage which had been there long before our arrival. The main message I want to warn other customers about is that Booking.com deduct monies from your account without your permission. I have seen other warnings by customers warning of the same. they tell you your details are used only to guarantee your booking but it seems to me that they see it as their right to use your account to pacify disgruntled or unscrupulous hotel owners. I was wrong to trust Booking.com and am closing my account with them after this disappointing experience.

Hi. I made a hotel reservation for 2 weeks but travelled with a bad e-coli infection which got worse; I had to go to the hospital and left the hotel after 2 nights. The hotel owner agreed that I leave money for 2 nights. The day after I left the hotel made a hold on my debit card for the whole 2-weeks amount. Booking no. [protected]

I assumed this was a secure resource for confirming a hotel reservation I was profusely mistaken. I booked a room using my American Express card. The room was confirmed and I was extremely happy. Two days later a receive an email from the hotel saying they did not accept American Express only Visa And MasterCard, two cards which I do not have. I called booking.com to cancel the reservation and they were not helpful at all they said I would still have to pay the hotels cancellation fee even though I was never told the hotel doesn't take American Express and the reservation was made and confirmed. Very very bad. I will never use them again.

We booked a room from 13th-19th june 2016 through booking. com at the premier inn watford north, st alban's road, garston, watford, wd25 0lh. We specifically requested an accessible room with walk-in shower to allow myself as disabled the necessary access for personal hygiene. Without these basic but essential facilities my basic needs are not fulfilled. We were assured at the time of booking that our requirements would be provided. However upon checking in at the reception on arrival following a car journey of 245 miles and taking 4.5 hours (From hartlepool, cleveland) we were informed by the hotel reception that not only were we not provided with an accessible room but that the hotel did not have any disabled rooms at all. We feel that we have been sold a product that clearly was not available. We point out the staff at the premier inn were helpful as could be but this did not alleviate the situation. A call to booking. com proved little success although we were told that if we could find alternative hotel accommodation then a refund of our paid £657.88 could be provided. As we were visiting family to see our first grandchild a return to the north east was not an option. We desperately tried to book a different hotel but for whatever reason something must have been going on in watford and so we had no luck in finding suitable accommodation. I repeat that we have been missold a service that was not even available and that compensation should be forthcoming. Fortunately the birth of our grandchild alleviated a lot of our pent-up disappointment.
Mr michael codner
33 millston close
Hartlepool
Cleveland ts26 0px

Hi,

I made a booking at appart'city using booking.com on 24/07/2016 at 2pm IST. I made a free cancellation reservation with which I will pay at arrival and they asked for credit card no. Only. Then at 11pm I got a message from my bank that 8K has been deducted from
My card. With no security key or anything shared I lost my money. This booking.com is fraud. Please stop giving your credit card no. To them.

I made a 3 nights booking at Villa Ananda in Boracay and paid via credit card to booking.com. When I arrived, the villa was not at all up to expectations. Finally I decided to move to another accommodation.
The villa owner had told me that she was willing to take refund 2 nights of what I had paid. However later she told booking.com that she was not going to refund any monies.
The customer service agent Janine at Booking.com was the most horrible customer service agent I have ever come across in my life. She told me that there was nothing I could, and that there was NO consumer protection policy at booking. com. !
I will never use this site again! Please remember that if a deal goes wrong, booking.com is not going to help you in any way.

July 2016, hova sweden
I booked a non-refundable room at hova hotell. I booked it for four nights as it looked ok on the booking. com site, and the the price was a last-minute offer.
So far so good.
As we arrived at the hotel in the afternoon we didn't see a hotel as described on the booking. com site. The place looked abandonded, and every door was locked. The building itself was more like a ruin.
We could quickly decide that we had to cancell the booking. I found a phone number on one door, and as I was dialing the number the was opened. The person who opened was not able to to anything but calling someone else. I got the receiver, and I told the man that we could not stay in a hotel like that.
I called booking. com who asked me to take some pictures which I sent soon after.
The end of the story is (So far) that booking. com has charged me for one night at the hotel thus saying that there is no lower standard for what could be called a hotel.
I feel booking. com is selling rotten fish and mouldy bread.
Even if someone has booked a non-refundable room there must be a standard. Every deal between a company and a customer must be based on trust.
As long as booking. com cooperate with hotels like hova hotell they should not be trusted.

Booking #[protected] PIN code# 6232
Property: The Grand Guesthouse
1116 Grinnel St, Key West, Fl 33040

On July 15, 2016 I used Booking.com to book a hotel for a weekend getaway to Key West for my family and myself. The trip was for Aug 12-15. While searching for a place I used the filter to find properties that were kid-friendly. I have 2 children, ages 5 and 8. The filtered search narrowed the search from over 100 properties to approx. 30. At the top of this list was The Grand Guesthouse. I liked the pictures and the price so I booked it.
The next day I received the confirmation email. While reading the fine print I noticed it said "we can not accommodate children under 14", even though it came up in the search for kid-friendly properties. This meant I had no choice but to cancel, since I'm traveling with the kids. I contacted Booking.com customer support to ask for help in getting The Grand Guesthouse to waive the cancellation fee. I was then told The Grand Guesthouse has a strict policy and will not refund my $50 cancellation fee. I don't know who to blame here, but I know I was misled by the filtered search on Booking.com that was supposed to be only kid-friendly locations. I was only told "we're very sorry" and "next time you should really read the fine print before booking". Why is there even a feature where I can filter my search to meet my very specific needs if it's not accurate? Booking.com tried to request my $50 refund from The Grand Guesthouse, but they were unsuccessful. When I tried to contact the hotel about it, they were very unwilling to even deal with me.
I believe Booking.com should find a way to refund my $50. I caught the problem the very next day after booking, and there was still, at the time, 26 days until the date of the trip. I understand the hotel has a strict cancellation policy but I was clearly misled by an inaccurate list of search results. This was not totally my fault. At the very least I should have $50 credited to my account for a possible future vacation. I have booked several vacations through Booking.com and I would like to continue booking through them, but if this is how I'm going to be treated, I will never do business with them again.

I booked the Hotel Henry in Venice through Booking.com. I was supposed to pay at the END of the stay according to the website. The Hotel was a pig sty, they never gave me the room i had booked, the one shown on the website, stating it wasn't available. The bathroom had rust and peeling paint, and the management didn't want to deal with any problem. On my return to the UK I complained to Booking.com and they told me i should have complained to them FROM the hotel and that I should have complained to the Hotel directly. I did complain and they just shrugged their shoulders each time. They had charged me on arrival and it's no wonder. They then had my money and I had to try and get it back.
After going back and forth with booking.com i will not get any re-imbursement for a terrible hotel stay. Booking.com accept NO responsibility for anything that happens with a customer's reservation. They take their 15% and on they go. As a part of the Priceline Group they have only a responsibility to their investors and shareholders, NOT the customers who provide those profits.
This is an irresponsible company who will eventually be brought to justice by the American legal system for conning customers. Expect to see them on front page news in the future being fined by the US department of whatever who love to prosecute companies.
The Reference was 709.502.670. Booking.com offered me a 25 Euro refund which was an insult to my intelligence. I sent them photos about this dump of a place but it didn't matter to them. It could have been a garbage tip and they wouldn't have cared. I had my room switched and was given a room next to the lobby where I was able to hear every word spin that lobby, morning noon and night. i had to go out twice and tell the people to be quiet.

Hi guys, about this cancellation policy on booking.com. I booked on a hotel more than 2 months ahead but I found a cheaper place so I cancelled my booking before I book another and they said cancellation was free. When I placed my first booking, the full amount for five nights stay has been immediately reflected to my credit card. Booking.com wrote on their site that the amount would be on hold but would not reflect as actual charge on my credit card so I was not worried yet. When I cancelled it, the amount on hold remained but Booking.com already email-ed me about the cancellation and that it cost me no amount at all (Like what they advertised on their site) and saying they are updating my info so that the cancellation will reflect everywhere. My question is, from the time I cancelled it, when will the held amount on the credit card be available for my use? Now, I cannot use the amount they held which amounts to 5 nights stay. It is a big amount for me! I emailed the hotel and they sent an automatic response saying I have to deal with Booking.com. I sent multiple emails to booking.com but as of now, I have not received any reply yet. I hope they will notice this and respond to me.

I have booked a hotel room via www.booking.com and received a confirmation email that everything was fine and payment successfully went through.
I was so excited about my vacation trip until I actually got to the hotel. The hotel manager said that they had no record about my booking and there were no free rooms to stay! I spent my fist night on a street with all my luggage! Great way to start a vacation!
Booking did not reply no matter how many times I've tried to reach them and later they charged me again for who knows what! Had to call my bank and block these guys from stealing my money.
People do not use this website!

In November 2015 we booked a 1 week holiday in Waikiki, Hawaii in what they described as "Waikiki Grand One Bedroom Condo". When we arrived we found it was just a studio/hotel room which did not even have a table and chairs and not even a wash basin or power point in the bathroom. A far cry from a One bedroom condo! Furthermore the advert stated:
-the condo was 46m when in fact it was only 28m
-that toiletries were supplied when they weren't
-that the condo had a city/garden view when all you could see was the leaves and branches of a huge tree hard up against the window.
-that it slept 2-4 but the other 2 had to sleep on an uncomfortable, work out sofa bed.
The apartment was significantly sub-standard.
When we brought all this to the attention of booking com they simply forwarded our complaint to the apartment advertiser and took no responsibility for their part.
The advertiser of the condo naturally refused the refund request and the advert still remains with the same deceitful, misleading description.
Seriously both the advertiser of the property and booking.com should be held accountable and brought to justice.
Like others here I wont be using them ever again.

I had a paid hotel reservation at Domus Nova, which closes early. I had made every attempt to be at the hotel by the hour set by Maurizio. I was at the LaSpezia train station by 1330. I was sent to the wrong track. So I watched my sign stating the hour of the train, and then all of a sudden the lit sign disappeared. I went to the ticket counter in tears saying I had somehow missed my train. They said the next one was in 2 hours. I went to the help desk in hysterics, and they said to come back there, and they would walk me to my track.
I emailed to Maurizio, and then took the next train. There were 3 trains to take, and by the time I arrived in Mantova, I was on the last train of the evening, and there were no taxis around the station. I walked to the Domus Nova, and also got lost along the way. I rang and rang the bell and knocked several times to no answer. By then it was dark and I was afraid of what to do next. I went to the Police, and they called Maurizio who would not come back to open. They found another listing for me also thru Booking.com. The Police took me to this Hotel del Gonzaga.
The Police nor the Hotel ever told me that this was a double pay situation, or I would have gone back to Domus Nova in the next morning. Needles to say I was shocked when Del Gonzaga gave me a full bill at checkout. They called Booking.com and I tried to explain my situation by phone.
I want my money back for the double booking based on the following:
1) I did all I could to get there in time.
2) I contacted Maurizio with the problem.
3) The Police acted as though they had changed my booking, or I would have at least gone back to Domus Nova the next morning.