Booking.comReviews 4,273

I mistakenly put in the wrong date and realized it five minutes after booking. Try to get them on the phone- good luck. Very poor service. This whole non-refundable pricing is a scam.
After a week I was given a phone number by the hotel to contact Booking.com. I called- got a live person who conducted a cancellation with the hotel for my extra night stay. Easy. Okay so Booking.com gets another shot at redemption. Based on this I raised my rating to Three stars- but still Buyer beware.

Me and my husband made reservations and got a confirmation for our rooms in Destin, Fl. Everything was paid for and they gave our room to someone else. They ended up getting us another room 2 hours away from where we originally planned on staying and the room was half of what we paid for originally. It was definitely a downgrade. After hours and hours on the phone with them they were a complete waste of our time. Save yourself and DO NOT book with them. Worst customer service that I have EVER came across.

I booked a hotel room through booking.com. A few hours later, I found the same room, same days, etc. on Expedia for $50 a night less. I called booking.com and the woman I spoked to confirmed that yes, Expedia is a lot less. She then had to put me on hold, call her mgr who told her to call the hotel to confirm the price, then she had to call her mgr again. 25 min into the phone call, the woman says that since it's such a large price difference that it would have to go through the complaint Dept. Really? I told her I could have cancelled my reservation with booking. Com and made a new reservation with Expedia in 2 min or less, which is what I ended up doing.

I performed a Google search to book a room in Bellevue, NE. I was taken to a Reservationcounter.com which allowed me to book a room at a hotel that had been booked for several weeks. I received my confirmation through Booking.com, which apparently controls Reservationcounter.com (along with Travelpass and several others, so be aware). I had to contact the hotel myself to find out that they did not have my reservation. I then contacted Booking.com and was put on hold by a person in Honduras for 30 minutes. They (Gabriel) then hung up on me. I called back and was put on hold for another 20 minutes (by Cindy). I was then contacted by a Nicole Atkins at Booking.com, who sent me an email about finding me another hotel in the area and I asked her to remain on the line (as I had been on hold for far too long) while I reviewed the option and she hung up on me mid-sentence. I tried to call her back and was told she was unavailable. I then tried to cancel my reservation immediately and that was another 15 minute process and I was again put on hold. I also tried to cancel through the link that was sent to me via email and there was no way to cancel via that route. Finally, after about a two hour process, I was able to cancel my reservation, which never really existed. Be aware that Booking.com is affiliated with the following companies: Priceline.com, KAYAK, agoda.com, rentalcars.com, and OpenTable in addition to the ones mentioned above.

I reserved a room in May via booking.com. I specified that I wanted a non-smoking room at that time. When I went to my assigned room after check in and opened the door, the room REEKED of cigarette smoke. I have asthma and a smoky room is NON-NEGOTIABLE. I went back to the office and was told that because I booked through booking.com, they didn't receive my preferences and that there were no non-smoking rooms available. (I wasn't even aware that I booked through booking.com. I booked through Mapquest, which I guess uses booking.com.)I was also told that I would have needed to contact the motel directly regarding any preferences. The employee offered to have housekeeping go spray the room. While the housekeeper sprayed, I called around to local hotels and motels to find another room, which I did. When I requested a refund, the employee initially told me that she could not give me a refund because I booked through booking.com. I told her that, while I reserved via booking.com using a credit card, my card was charged by Motel 6 at check-in so Motel 6 needed to issue the refund. After contacting her manager and housekeeping to insure that the room was left clean, she finally issued a refund. I told her if the room wasn't clean at that time, it never had been, because I literally never entered. I opened the door and smelled cigarettes and turned right back around and left. I'm done with booking.com AND Motel 6. Done.

We booked Illusion Playa del Carmen and Belizean Shores in Ambergris both pictures and descriptions of the hotels did not tell the full story or indeed let you know at any time, both hotels were next to building sites. We have been called racists by Booking.com had the telephone put down on us been told its ok to stay next to a building site, we have asked for an apology but received nothing but offered 25 euros in compensation! This must surely be admitting some sort of liability. In our view Booking.com have too many destinations and cannot monitor them properly or do not have efficient or well trained staff to deal with awkward situations. We certainly will not be using them or recommending them to any body who cares to ask.

BEWARE - very few negative reviews make it onto the booking.com site due to the following dishonest practices by them; r
1. Negative reviews may be posted, but are then removed shortly after,
2. If you post one or two negative Feedbacks, booking. Com will then remove you from their automated emails seeking any further Feedbacks on future bookings,
3. It is impossible to provide feedback on bookings if booking.com remove you from their automated email feedback loop/s
It is sad that they feel that they need to seriously mislead and deceive their customers! We will not be using them again!

I booked at Booking.com not realizing that it wasn't a legitimate website. Here is the issue: Booking does not check into any of the people who post rental listings on its website. Moreover, it does not keep your information secure. Booking passes your credit card and personal information on (sometimes by fax - not secure whatsoever) to whoever wants to post something to rent and takes no responsibility for this. They also don't disclose any of this to you before you make a booking.

I tried to make a rental not realizing any of this and soon after received an email from the "condo" asking me for all sorts of extra personal information over email, including another credit card number. They also said that I'd need to pay for the room upfront in cash. Obviously, alarm bells started ringing with me here. They said if I wanted to cancel due to all these completely undisclosed and shady terms that I'd need to pay a fee for that, too. Unauthorized charges appeared on my card soon after, and I was forced to dispute and cancel the card.

I contacted Booking about this and explained the situation. They absolutely refused to help or take any sort of action against the scammer. All they did was send me my reservation again. Stay away, and book somewhere that takes responsibility for your information and its listings.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-*******/Expedia-booking-com-face-OFT-investigation-price-fixing.html

The above link is one of many.

But to summarize...

Booking.com is being investigated along with trip advisor for anti competitive behavior.

Their dominance has compromised hotels from offering better pricing and ensured uncompetitive pricing

My conversations with several hotels shows they are being charged 15-20% per transaction. But if you book direct they will do a better deal (Room breakfasts. Etc.) and take the whole margin.

Booking.com pay millions to Google to get top of page dominance and ensure the hotels web sites are many pages back when you search for them. Every search you do with a key word like, hotel, accommodation... will always bring booking. Com to the top.

What this has done is effectively removed the individual hotels from sight. Also booking.com and others are now basically setting the market price and stopping the hotels from competing.
Think about it. Hotels etc... could be 15-20% cheaper if booking.com was not involved.

Please people... book direct!... I Do and it's easier and better and cheaper. Just search until you find their website and email them!

I've booked (2) reservations with booking both have ruined my vacation. The first resort was booked in advance when we arrived to check in no room that matches what we had booked was available. We booked a 3 BR 3 Bath because we had (2) families with 4 small children. They put us in a 2 BR 2 bath and charged us the same price. After about 20 hours on the phone in all and 3 months working with Booking customer service the issue still hasn't been resolved. I thought the problem was with the resort as that I what Booking customer service had told me.

I booked another reservation with Booking yesterday. While I was booking the reservation it said free cancelation and pay on arrival nowhere did it say paid upon reservation submission or that I couldn't cancel until I received the confirmation email. The resort withdrew all funds within 24 hrs of the reservation. When I called them they said there's nothing they could do and I should've reviewed the confirmation email! I did and called them but they were no help... They shouldn't be able to say one thing to get you to reserve a room and then another in the confirmation email!

I booked a holiday through booking. Com only to find out 3 days before we went, by a phone call I made to the caravan park that I wasn't booked in, why? Because Union Cottages didn't actually own a caravan on the site.
I e. Mailed booking. Com who took 3 days to respond only to ask if I rebooked elsewhere don't forget to send them booking reference number.
I didn't have the money to go anywhere else as I was waiting for a refund for the first holiday.
Customer service absolute joke!

My dad has a business on booking.com and I am sick and tired of having to hear him phone and complain about their diary system! They are constantly double booking his customers and which is their fault and then expecting him to fix it himself. When ever he tries to complain about this they tell him a manager will phone back but never do. The people on the other end of the phone are extremely rude and refuse to take responsibility. This is my dads income and they are the most popular accommodation site at the moment unfortunately. So just remember when booking with them that they treat the little guys, that actually make their company, like crap!