Booking.comReviews 4,274

I had a terrible experience with booking.com this past month. After trying to use their site to book a hotel while stuck at LAX for a 15hr layover, I received a message on their payment screen saying that my payment didn't go through. So thinking that it actually hadn't, and being so damned exhausted after my rushed flight from Auckland, trying to get home to Canada to be with my family after my father's sudden death - I stayed in the airport, waiting for my flight. It wasn't until after we had landed in Canada that I saw in my email that the booking had in fact, processed. I called booking.com to explain the situation and after being fobbed off by their joke of a customer service line, I was told they still were going to shaft me for the $250 hotel cost, because I was a "no show". Thankfully I was able to contact the hotel directly and was actually assisted with my situation. The Hyatt showed far more compassion and decency than this damned website, and next year, when I go back to Canada for my father's memorial service I will be booking directly from the Hyatt website. DO NOT set yourself up for heartbreak and use booking.com. They are TERRIBLE!

I feel like I've been scammed. My credit card was charged shortly after I made my reservation, which was not supposed to happen. I had to cancel my reservation & received an email from Booking.com confirming my cancellation & stating that I should call the hotel with any questions. When I called the hotel to inquire about my refund, they told me that the reservation had not been cancelled & that I need to contact Booking.com about my refund. I called Booking.com a number of times, but never got through to a person so I emailed them 3 times stating very specifically what my issues were. I have never received a response. I'm still out the cost of the room that I never stayed in. Booking.com is not a trustworthy company. I'll never use them again & suggest others follow suit.

Very very disappointed with you Booking.com. Having used your services for years - I am a Genius Booker - you have not replied to either of my emails with reference to why I have been charged the FULL amount including taxes and services for a Condo stay in the USA for May next year when it is advertised on your website as free cancellation. Your caption 'Tip: Stay flexible. Since your dates are a while away, choose free cancellation to stay flexible. A change of plans is no problem when you have free cancellation! A TOTALLY MISLEADING STATEMENT. The Condo Company have refunded my cc, however with credit card transaction fees for different currencies I am now out of pocket by £68.06 for a booking I only had for two days! This is just on one booking and I am currently awaiting a refund from another 'FREE CANCELLATION' booking for May next year. Your advertisements for these properties should not read 'they MIGHT take a test, prepayment or an amount' it should read 'THEY WILL TAKE THE FULL AMOUNT ON RESERVATION' and then you have to get it back yourself.

I went online to book a room at a hotel we've stayed at before, a clean little out of the way, family owned place. Google brought up Booking.com, so I went there to locate the hotel I wanted. I was shocked to see the room rate was over $250 per night, even before fees and taxes! We've stayed there before and have never paid anywhere near that rate. I called the hotel direct, mostly to see why things had changed so much (remodeled rooms? New owners?), and was told by the hotel owner that the $250+ was NOT their rate, and I was able to book the same room for $140. I don't understand why anyone would waste their hard earned money using Booking.com

Don't use this service. I booked an apartment in Madrid, Spain. It was misrepresented (amongst other problems) and staying there spoiled my enjoyment of that city. When I wrote a review, booking.com asked for "bad things" and "good things" in separate lists. The only thing in my "good" list was the location (which was central and convenient but did not make up for the negative things) and my "bad" list was lengthy. Booking.com only published the "good" bit on its website! Very misleading.

I booked a room on my I-phone while traveling thinking it was the direct hotel site for the Silver Legacy in Reno Nevada, but was directed to Booking.com I make a mistake on the dates but did not see it until I confirmed and my credit card was charged, less than 5 minutes later after the Hotel in Reno Nevada tells me I have to call Booking.com to make the one day change I was told the price changed due to the days of the week which I agreed too. Then to my surprise they tacked another cancellation fee of $287 on to the total.
They did not say a word about that fee. Remember this was mistake on the date by one day and less than 5 minutes passed until I discovered the mistake. Screw glued and tattooed by Booking.com.

I and my friends are big users of Booking.com, both as a guest and a host. This is an example of our world, and all that is wrong with it. The whole website is designed to give essential "moneymaking" information to a surfer, and to manipulate this information, in order to get a booking achieved in the shortest possible time. Its main goal is to make money fast.
Some people will love Booking.com. These will be the people who want a room fast, and want fairly accurate marks and descriptions, but in fact we now know that the surfer only really looks at the photos. They want the price to correspond to the photos they see. The website works well on this level, and bookings can indeed be achieved fast.
But many errors get made. Descriptions and marks get falsified. Customer information is stored and misused. Neither the host, nor the guest has any real recourse on anything that goes on. Customer Service is carried out by a team of people who have no real time experience of booking and hotelling themselves, and all they do is placate the Customer until he gets tired.

You find the perfect house for vacation rental, they take all information on internet, 2 days later another company calls to verify who you are. You provide them information, upload "selfies", credit card, drivers license and when you ask is everything fine, 2 days later they can't find it. Quoted a price, deposit due by "date". Deposit taken immediately, not an issue. Found out deposit to be held $300, when the actual person who owns the home contacts me its not $500, they have no ideal why Booking.com would say $300. Fast forward the ask for the SAME EXACT INFORMATION to send to the. I ask, why aren't you sharing this information for the same property with all concerned. Response: they are a middle man. By the time, I booked this house, jumped all the hoops, I cancelled. NEVER AGAIN

We booked a hotel stay at the Washington coast based on Booking.com reviews. The reviews were stellar but the resort was absolutely horrible. We left a day early! When I wrote a negative but honest review Booking.com let me see all the other horrible reviews. They assigned a 5/10 to my review and, like all the other negative reviews, never published it! This isnt an honest company and shouldnt be trusted for accurate information. I sent the company a long e-mail and they never responded. I will NEVER use them again.

I went to New Jersey on a whim and didn't book anywhere to stay. Booking.com was able to find me rooms that came open immediately when not much was available. After we arrived at the hotel the woman said we were lucky because they had a very last minute cancellation and they just opened back up to book it so it worked like a charm for us two nights in a row when finding another hotel. Not problems at all.

On another note, while trying to book in Panama City the rates looked great for a week at a hotel. When checking out, the price was at least $300-$350 more than the advertised price. I understand there are taxes, etc. but just seemed like a huge increase. So I went to the hotel site directly and found a promotion and booked the same exact room, etc. and got it over $350 cheaper. What's nice about Booking.com is you can use PayPal and get 6 months to pay unlike going straight to the source to pay which usually doesn't take PayPal. So, overall, my experience has been okay with Booking and I'd use them again.

Within the first 3 minutes in the room I killed 2 gnats on bathroom mirror & thought nothing of it till I saw the shower; There was black mold on the grout throughout, not just 1 spot. The staff sent someone to clean it. But upon return from speaking with desk clerk, I killed another 9 gnats & an additional 16 only moments later! We then asked for another room. They accommodated us cheerfully. This room was better but killed two bugs on the floor during stay, The carpets were filthy in both rooms and pillows smelled bad in the second room. The staff was friendly and accommodating but the owner of this facility needs to invest back into this property in regards to cleanliness and sanitary conditions.

It saddens me to read the poor reviews of Booking.com and again highlights the lack of knowledge from the reviewers. Booking.com is providing a service for many million small businesses to sell their rooms to potential customers. It is the provider that creates the rules and details regarding their properties and Booking.com promotes these. It is the same as reviewing Ebay as terrible because the dress from a seller did not fit on arrival. Please review all the details before posting such nonsense. Booking.com is the best service because it works but it is actually necessary to read clearly the offer being purchased beforehand.

I know I should be more aware of everything at everything when I book. So some of this is me being me. But some of us ppl are not made for computing, and me being easily stressed was really bugged by registering while the stupid page says there's only four rooms left and ppl are booking. So I somehow missed that the dates were wrong. Booking.com offers suggestions which involve contacting the hotel and asking for goodwill about the fees, but the hotel said my relation was with the third party.
In my humble opinion, hotels should not offer this "gamble deal" on booking.com, because it is honey to ppl travelling without the strongest budget, and if something goes awry, you are not secured by insurance or at booking.com. Booking.com poses a solution that is not real. It does not guide you to the solution it proposes. I would insert a screen print here, but as I said I'm not computer friendly.
This is sad.