Booking.comReviews 4,273

When you read that Booking.com is a scam IT IS! If I had not experienced it for myself. They DO NOT OFFER refunds or credits. If you book directly you would so much better off.

I say use Booking as a search engine to simply find a hotel of your choice and call the hotel directly. I assure you the price will be lower or cheap AND if you have a delay in your plans or even need to cancel the hotel will work with you much easier.

In this case why even deal with the middle man schmucks! I see ppl have lost thousands I lost $333.49 but still who wants to pay for crap they never used?

In a nutshell DO NOT USE BOOKING! For those who are use to the days of old use a freaking rodary phone and call up the hotel for crying out loud and BOOK!

I recently booked the herods hotel on tel aviv Israel through BOOKING.COM
The day after making the booking I got an email from booking.com saying that an upgrade for my room was available for approx $US260. The upgrade was for a room with a balcony and a view of the Mediterranean. I took the upgrade.
On checking into the hotel I asked whether I had a room with a balcony and a sea view and was told that all rooms have a balcony and a sea view.
I complained that I had been charged extra and her answer was I should take it up with booking.com.
I've called booking.com several times in the last month and emailed several times. I got a reply from booking.com saying that indeed they agreed that the room I got was the same are similar to my original booking and they would talk to the hotel about a refund.
Tonight I got an email from booking.com saying that the Herod hotel will not refund the amount as the upgrade was for an extra child. Why on earth would I pay for an extra child if I don't have one.
My advice is never ever book a hotel through this company. They are scammers!
Disgusted that they wouldn't refund me.
They offered me the upgrade they should refund me.
My booking number is *******.

Don't use Booking.com they are a sham, misleading their customers through false advertising. Avoid at all cost. If they are going to advertise a best price guarantee they need to honor the best price if an equivalent is found cheaper elsewhere, and of course they won't. Their communication on the matter has been exceptionally poor, poor English with some sentances unreadable. We have referred them to the advertising standards agency so they can investigate the legality of their best price guarantee advertising and hopefully they will be made to remove this from all of their advertising as it is untrue and misleading and so no one else will actually be conned it to booking with them under the illusion they will be getting the best price and don't shop around. Shop around Travel Republic are way better, much easier to deal with and often cheaper!

The advert for Chailey Court Basingstoke
Says

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!

FREE cancellation - PAY AT THE PROPERTY

Prepayment: The total price of the reservation will be charged at least 7 days prior to arrival.
=============================================================
I was booking 40 days in advance, nearly 6 weeks away.
When my credit card statement came I found that
On the day I booked I was charged the full £520.
Nearly 6 weeks in advance.

I had booked 2 apartments
I sent 3 emails asking questions about the accommodation
I had no replies, so I cancelled on 24 April and 8 may.
After receiving my next credit card statement with no refund
I phoned Booking.com on 22 May and they got me a refund.

I found their advert very misleading and I do believe booking. Com
Should make it clearer that all the money is taken on the day you book.

Instead of sayingThe total price of the reservation will be charged at least 7 days prior to arrival. They should say all money will be taken the day you book.
But will not be refunded the day you cancel.

To me it seems like for Chailey Court Basingstoke with booking.com
Should be avoided. They did not answer any emails I sent and they took
£520 for six weeks.

So my wife and I booked an apartment for 3 nights to celebrate our wedding anniversary here in Hungary, Budapest.
Our experience with using booking.com was a nightmare. The guy from Emerald gave us a different apartment which was 3 times smaller than the one we were supposed to have. He was very rude and even told us we can cancel the booking if we want. (the cancellation costs is equal to the price for renting the apartment which for him was an excellent deal)
We decided to stay in the smelly, ugly and very dark apartment rather than staying on the street...
I definitely do not recommend booking.com I think they should be responsible for the service of those businesses that are using their website.

I stayed at a hostel at an outer suburb of rome "Thousand Sunny", i paid in cash and was later charged for cancellation. I showed the owner which then got violent (threats, shoving et). I notified booking.com instantly of the situation, and provided evidence too (including references from other roommate of the situation and of the double charge though i actually stayed the night). They charged me the cancellation and is due to me staying the day after, however, how could ive stayed the day aftee the agreed date when i lodged the complaint on that day?! I find that booking.com doesnt care even with all the evidence (references, logic-breakdown et). Ive used booking.com for a long time, but this situation was a definite highlight. I am now motivated to share this injustice to everyone in my circle and more (Aus, Asia, US, Europe) to warn them of booking.com and their scamful acts

We rented an apartment in Sarlat via booking.com and faced a brutal scam orchestrated by the apartment landlord Alex Chemel. The apartment was rented for 3 nights and paid by credit card 440 and as a standard condition we provided a security deposit of 500 for case of damage. We left the apartment in the allotted time and the concierge handed the keys, leaving all in order. On the same day in the evening we received a mail from booking.com which said that the owner has requested 500 for damages yet no evidence of the damage was provided. The owner did not respond to our calls, moreover soon came a new mail from booking.com stating that the owner complains about harassment and they ask us to stop calling him. On the next day 500 was withdrawn from the credit card. Our attempts to find out any details have failed, Alex never not answer direct phone calls, only when we called from Skype using US calling number. The booking.com sent us a mail that in the future we have to deal directly with the owner of the apartment and was eliminated from involvement in this process. Thus we have not received any support from booking.com, despite the fact that for many years were his clients and had a flawless history of tens to stay in different parts of the world.

Stayed at a 2 bedroom apartment in downtown Vancouver advertised as good for 6 guests! Actually a one bedroom corner unit wth small dining room converted into a second bedroom with flimsy plastic wall material. 3rd couple couple has to drag extra mattress from main bedroom to small living room! Arrived late in the day yet cleaning lady still in premises packing pizza boxes and trash of prior guests. Pick up and drop off keys two blocks away- perfect time wasters looking for address if unfamiliar with city! Even if you paid me, won't book this listing in booking.com as 2 BEDROOM APARTMENT IN DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER! Beware. This is my 3rd booking at Booking.com and proving to be unreliable so far. We have two cities to visit and anxious about next disappointment!

Tried to book a hotel in Glasgow with the site but the website crashed before confirming the room and said it was not available to book at the time. Did not receive any emails to confirm a booking but was still charged for the room! Contacted the hotel who said I needed to speak to booking.com and was then sent an email by booking.com to say my room had been cancelled but what being charged the full room price. Emailed them twice to explain what happened and had no reply after 4 days.

This was my first time booking through booking.com and I made couple of "non refundable" mistakes. After reaching out to booking.com for money back and talking to the most helpful stuff member(Krzysztof Zbudniewek) i was refunded all my money.
As far as hotel goes, i am surprised that people who left negative reviews, didn't research their hotels through trip-advisor and such to make sure that the place has excellent reviews form other sources.

Stay away from Booking.com
On May 10,2016, I booked a Hotel in Dubai for 7 nights through Booking.com and same day I received a confirmation no. *******. But the next day I received an e-mail from Booking.com that says that the price of AED50 is too low and it was an error committed by the Hotel and requested me to increase the price to AED190 or cancel the booking. I replied that I will not agree to new price and on May 13,2016, Booking.com cancelled my booking unilaterally and they wanted to get off the hook without giving me any further remedial action to mitigate my problem. This is a very bad business practice and potential Booking.com customers should know that they can never be sure that their booking will be honored as they can cancel it at any time under any pretext written in their terms and conditions that seldom customers care to read.
Aklilu

Do not trust promises made by booking.com

I booked a furnished 2 bedroom suite in at Furnished Suites in Corporate Center in Santa Monica through booking.com As I subsequently saw from other reviews, they often double book. They did so to us (see full story below). Booking.com promised in writing to reimburse us for the additional cost. It is now 2 weeks later and I don't have my reimbursement of over $800 and they won't even respond to my emails! I thought they were a legitimate company.

I showed up with my kids to get the keys. I called and left messages. I finally got through to someone and they said the apartment was no longer available. They said they had another location available. I considered it because I had no choice but they didnt tell me where it was. After calling them at least 6 times and asking for Sarah Avery who seems to work an "affiliated" company called Pelican Executive Vacation Suites, (I spoke with someone who said her name was summer who said Sarah would call me back and then said May would call me back), and consistently being told that someone would call me back, it was clear that they had nothing for me. I called booking.com and they called them on my behalf and they admitted that they had nothing for me! Booking.com then tried to find me another suitable location (it was more expensive as we were paying a little over $300 and this new location was about $1200 but they said that they would make sure we would be reimbursed) but tried to get me to go to a different town which didnt work for us. So they authorized me to go to a location that I found myself in Santa Monica (which was cheaper than the alternate location they had proposed $831 as opposed to over $1200). They said I should pay for it and send then the receipt and they would reimburse. It is now more than 10 days later and 4 unanswered emails and I do not have my reimbursement and no reply from booking.com!

I was just at the Firehouse Inn on this week. I booked this hotel based on the ratings set by booking.com. Cleanliness was the highest rating for this hotel. Truly a deception. From the restaurant to the rooms upstairs the carpet, area rugs, & floor was filthy. The end tables in the room was dusty. From the restaurant to the room their was a musty smell. I am baffled as to how this place got such a high rating on cleanliness. Makes me wonder if the ratings are legit.

I have been using this company for 2 - 3 years and have only had a problem of being sent to a double booked hotel once ( and even then we were taken by the owner to another hotel). I like it because you can read the reviews of people who have stayed in the hotel recently and check the rating from 1 - 10. I try for something around 7.5 plus. When you sign on with them you get cheaper deals as well.

I booked a room on March 13 and tried to cancel it on May 8. The reservation is for June 8. I was told I was going to be charged for the entire stay. I called the hotel they said they cannot access reservations made through booking.com as they are bought in blocks. I called booking.com and they said that it was the hotel refusing to cancel that they did not accept any fees. After putting me on hold for 10 minutes pretending to be calling the hotel. I called the hotel back and they said booking.com is known for doing this and that they are lying. After reading all these reviews, I guess I believe the hotel.

Hotel that we booked at with booking gave our reservations we made 5 months in advance to someone that booked after we did. We were told that 20 or so people had the same thing happen to them at this hotel that weekend. Booking notified us minutes before check in on this. We had went by the hotel earlier that day & were told that we had reservations but couldn't check in till 3pm. We told them it would be late before we could check in due to being at a concert. Lady we spoke with at the hotel said that was fine. Booking was no help at all in this matter. They don't hold the hotels responsible for bookings made through them!