Online Travel Booking and Bidding Agencies - How useful is booking.com?

This question is mostly aimed at folks who do a lot of European travel.

Few people know it, but booking.com is one of the highest market-capitalization travel companies in the world. This Dutch company is actually owned by Priceline.com, and accounts for almost 9/10ths of Priceline's profits. The market cap of Priceline is now more than $32 billion which, for example, is more than the entire US airline industry combined.

Outside of Wall Street, though, few Americans have ever heard of booking.com. It's website doesn't look particularly impressive and American travellers tend not to get terribly excited by online travel agencies anyway (since they don't really "do much" for you as a traveller, at least in the USA).

So what about Europeans and booking.com? It does look like booking.com offers more small hotels than competing travel agencies. Are the prices good? And is it better to book with them than direct with the hotel? And are there other European travel agencies who offer something similar?

I understand that hotels have to pay booking.com a 15% commission, which seems rather high, and would make me think that both traveller and hotel would prefer to avoid this middleman. Is that not the case, though?

Any insight in to why booking.com is or isn't better than other online travel agencies would be very helpful to me, as (for investment purposes) I'm trying to understand the company better. Thanks!

Booking.com also has issues with selling rooms that are not actually available, at least here in the US. The hotel I work for quit using them about a year ago for this reason, and I know of several other hotels that have also done so. I think it had to do with real time availability, etc. Many times people would show up to the hotel, and not have a reservation. They would have a confirmation from Booking.com, but the reservation never made it to the hotel. This is just my own experience with them. Never used them to actually book a hotel.

I used to like booking.com a lot (before I discovered FT), and actually booked hotel with them a couple of times. Since I started FT I stopped using it because I won't get points for staying at e.g. Marriott. They have a big coverage of hotels, the site lists hotel policy very clearly (having 3 small kids travelling with us we need to know if we all can squeeze into a room without problem).

A handfull of times I used the site for Marriott LNFs, but for price wise they are not any cheaper than other online booking agencies. Very importantly they don't offer cash back and any kind of loyality programme. So if you'd like to book a hotel and see it somewhere else at the same price - would you still book from booking.com?

Interesting responses, thanks. The problem with not having a confirmed reservation is curious. Do you think most of the mistakes are made by booking.com or by the hotels? Unless the hotelier was loading incorrect data (or, more likely, not updating it), why would booking.com sell a room that wasn't available?

It does seem pretty obvious to me that the main thing booking.com "brings to the table" is online, immediate booking of smaller hotels. Like if I'm looking for a room in a small town in Germany, booking.com might have 2 dozen listings (often for smaller, less expensive hotels) and other websites might have 3 or 4. You can see this if you look on an aggregator site like kayak.com. I would think that a traveller who was in a hurry or didn't feel comfortable knowing how to contact the hotel direct would use booking.com to make these reservations. And perhaps other hotels in these towns who saw their competitors listed on booking.com would feel like they should participate, too (even if, perhaps, they didn't like paying a hefty commission for the booking).

For many reasons, this doesn't strike me as the greatest business in the world -- and I don't see any barriers to entry of other online travel agencies doing it -- but it seems like that's their primary advantage now: small hotels that you can't easily book online any other way.

It does seem pretty obvious to me that the main thing booking.com "brings to the table" is online, immediate booking of smaller hotels. Like if I'm looking for a room in a small town in Germany, booking.com might have 2 dozen listings (often for smaller, less expensive hotels) and other websites might have 3 or 4.

Yes they do list out tons of small guest houses in Germany, but when you look into the details a lot of them don't take credit card. They take EC (German payment card) or cash - they are very primitive privately owned hotel. Put it this way I'll never book those place even though Mr. Nacho speaks German.

Yes they do list out tons of small guest houses in Germany, but when you look into the details a lot of them don't take credit card. They take EC (German payment card) or cash - they are very primitive privately owned hotel. Put it this way I'll never book those place even though Mr. Nacho speaks German.

What's wrong with small hotels? If they get very good reviews, and the price is right, I'd take a chance.

I'm just not sure why I'd use booking.com for my reservation.

I believe they also provide booking engines for some of the independent/small chains in Asia I have stayed with. Booking direct through the hotel's website ends up being indicated as booking.com

What's wrong with small hotels? If they get very good reviews, and the price is right, I'd take a chance.

I'm just not sure why I'd use booking.com for my reservation.

The people that I know that do use booking.com, use it because they do not take any money up front, and most hotels are cancellable. Where as you have to pay up front for Expedia.

On the flip side, since they do not take payment up front, they FAX your credit card information to the hotel, along with mailing address, etc. Personally I would rather pay up front and have my info more secure.

15% commision is not a lot compared to what Expedia is paid. But then the exposure is not near as good either.

I really would not hesitate to use Booking.com if they had what I was looking for at the right price. But they normally dont offer me anything I cant find somewhere else easier.

I really would not hesitate to use Booking.com if they had what I was looking for at the right price. But they normally dont offer me anything I cant find somewhere else easier.

Thanks. Well, yeah, that's my question. The USA stock market is pricing this company as if booking.com DOES offer something very special. I'm trying to figure out what that is!

From what I have seen, those small places normally requires a deposit, and not sure those reviews are real. I wrote some reviews at TA at hotels that I stayed in and they got rejected for no reason. I have stayed in hotels that are highly rated by TA and got disappointed. TA was good about 2years ago but now I think it's getting too commercialised.

It's true that booking.com sells a lot of small hotels that no other major hotel sites does. Those German B&B are normally available through German sites and if they sell through booking.com they could reach more potential customers.

Another thing I like about booking.com is they state hotel policies very clearly, even better than the hotel's own page. We have 3 small kids and we don't want to rent 2 rooms so browsing through booking.com would give us an idea if it's ok that we all stay in 1 room.

From what I have seen, those small places normally requires a deposit, and not sure those reviews are real. I wrote some reviews at TA at hotels that I stayed in and they got rejected for no reason.



I have a small B&B in Pennsylvania and began listing my property with booking.com last July when they solicited my business - it was free and commissions were only charged on reservations made and kept. I also have a business listing on Trip Advisor which cost several hundred dollars but does not charge a commission. Both websites have brought significant new business to my B&B.

TA brings mostly new US visitors. Booking.com brings many new USA guests but also has increased our foreign visitors from less than a handful a year to about 20 in the 9 months since our listing went live.

The difference in Trip Advisor reviews and booking.com reviews are that only people who have made a reservation through booking.com and actually stayed at a property may post a review to booking.com which is solicited by booking.com after the guest stay - whereas, anyone can post a review to Trip Advisor. There is NO mechanism to determine if the reviewer ever set foot on the property they are reviewing making their system subject to artificial manipulation from competitors or supporters both - though TA says their software prevents most fake reviews from appearing. However, as a counterbalance to fake positive or fake negative reviews, TA allows management to respond to reviews and booking.com does not.

As for deposits....let me weigh in from a small property owner's point of view. In twenty years of running my B&B I had never required a deposit to make a reservation. But after a few months of receiving reservations through booking.com I began to understand that some people making reservations with "no skin in the game" treat the reservation as if it was made with huge hotel chains - reservations casually made and just as casually discarded. Several people reserved one of my 3 rooms many weeks in advance of their stay. I turned down multiple requests to hold the room for them, only to have them cancel on the last day to do so without a charge. I now require a 20% deposit for the first 3 days of a reservation.

In the 9 months since listing with booking.com, I have had 56 reservations of which 14 were cancellations....but only 1 cancellation since I instituted the deposit requirement. The reservations made are somewhat fewer....but those making them are not doing so frivolously so the number of reservations that actually take place has remained steady.

As to nacho's rejected review....TA has some funny guidelines and it could have been something quite innocent that caused your review to be rejected. On one occasion I submitted a management response to a very positive review a guest left for me on TA. I mentioned in the response my appreciation of the information the guest had shared with me about their hometown of Williamsport, PA and the Little League World Series. The response was rejected because apparently the mention of that (even though the event is in the guest's hometown and not near my B&B) was considered promotional.

The comments about not trusting small properties really makes me smile and shrug. In twenty years we have hosted thousands of guests from all over the world and have loved doing so. Based on reviews from our guests, the feeling is mutual. Do your homework in checking reviews but don't be afraid to try a smaller property - you will likely be very pleasantly surprised.

Thanks, hats. Your perspective is interesting.

I'm a bit surprised that tripadvisor hasn't gotten you foreign clients. They have websites all over the world in many languages.

Do you participate with other online travel agencies? Why or why not?

And, if you don't mind telling us, what commission do you pay booking.com, and do you consider it fair? And if guests book direct, do you offer them lower rates?

I've used booking.com frequently for the reason mentioned above - cancelable reservations. And as atleast10hats noted, I've used them for backup reservations that I later cancel if I've been able to beat them. Recently, though, I used them for a small property in Istanbul. I made one in Vienna, but found a better deal almost immediately after at the hotel's own website (the hotel offered a "single occupancy double" rate that booking.com didn't.) Booking.com is very clear about the rooms offered, including size in sq. feet or meters and included amenities and other costs (including wi-fi) So it's often one of the first places I check.

Hi,

Ironically I saw that some hostel companies have a nice system of actually taking a 10% non-refundable deposit. On a two-day private room that might be under $10. Enough to avoid a lot of vapid bookings made with little intention of use, but not so much that if your plans change (stay with friends, go upscale) you would be particularly upset. It can act as your first-line assurance, that you know you have a reasonable room in your name.

The hostel booking company even has an insurance thing for a fraction of that, so if you cancel ahead of time properly, then credits even that deposit into your hostel (world or bookers, one or both) company booking account (remember, these places book B&B, small hotels, etc. also). So if you use the small bank in another booking you only lose maybe $1 a day, the cost of the insurance.

Seems like all this is a nice compromise. Generally, I don't book hotels so I dunno if the hotels themselves or the big hotel booking companies can do similar on web reservations. However it seems like this would solve a lot of the problem (the booking company could give the hotel or B&B the option to insist on the small deposit). Granted more is involved in a $150 room for a week, so the numbers might have to be a bit different (maybe 5%, maximum loss, $50 or $100).

I realize all this might exist already :) .

Steven

I dislike the deposit system because:

a. I really dislike being so tie up with a reservation, especially if it's booked far in advance and you are travelling with small children; Or you are on a road trip and suddenly you got stuck due to bad weather.

b. I don't like to pay 'forex' fee twice in case I cancel a reservation.

What are those "hotel points" everyone keeps talking about? Can somebody maybe can give me a link where I can read about this?

On topic: I used Booking.com many times for booking in UK and France. I like it, can't compare it to other websites though.

What are those "hotel points" everyone keeps talking about? Can somebody maybe can give me a link where I can read about this?

On topic: I used Booking.com many times for booking in UK and France. I like it, can't compare it to other websites though.

Hotel points = points awarded by a hotel's loyality programme. e.g. If you book directly through Marriott.com for a Marriott hotel, then you get points for your stay and if you get up to a certain points you can redeem your points for free nights.

That's the MAIN reason why I don't book through 3rd party sites.

I've used booking.com frequently for the reason mentioned above - cancelable reservations. And as atleast10hats noted, I've used them for backup reservations that I later cancel if I've been able to beat them. Recently, though, I used them for a small property in Istanbul. I made one in Vienna, but found a better deal almost immediately after at the hotel's own website (the hotel offered a "single occupancy double" rate that booking.com didn't.)

This is what I don't understand about booking.com. I might use them to "get an idea" about small hotels in a certain city, but then I'd just email the hotel direct. Now if the booking.com rate were lower, I'd book that, but that seems highly improbable. Are people just "too lazy" to contact a hotel directly? Especially with a smaller property, things are much more likely to go smoothly if you're dealing direct with the hotel -- and your rate will likely be less, too. I would think most travellers would understand this.

This is what I don't understand about booking.com. I might use them to "get an idea" about small hotels in a certain city, but then I'd just email the hotel direct. Now if the booking.com rate were lower, I'd book that, but that seems highly improbable. Are people just "too lazy" to contact a hotel directly? Especially with a smaller property, things are much more likely to go smoothly if you're dealing direct with the hotel -- and your rate will likely be less, too. I would think most travellers would understand this.

I haven't experienced a cheaper price when looking through hotel's own website - it's always the same price as listed on Booking.com. Am I doing something wrong here?

I haven't experienced a cheaper price when looking through hotel's own website - it's always the same price as listed on Booking.com. Am I doing something wrong here?

I have booked at booking.com and found out that the hotel's own site offered a cheaper rate.

I have booked at booking.com and found out that the hotel's own site offered a cheaper rate.

Unless you're incredibly time-pressed, it ALWAYS pays to contact a small hotel and ask them if they have a promotional rate they can offer you -- and if your first email doesn't provide the rate you want, it often pays to ask a second time!

I find this an effective strategy at least half the time on small hotel bookings.

Guys, can someone please provide the link where I can read all about those "points" and stuff? Also, on those Programs that people have mentioned on their profiles (like, for example, nacho has: Miles and More, Eurobonus, Flying Blue, KrisFlyer, Marriott, A-Club) - what does those mean? THANK YOU!

Guys, can someone please provide the link where I can read all about those "points" and stuff? Also, on those Programs that people have mentioned on their profiles (like, for example, nacho has: Miles and More, Eurobonus, Flying Blue, KrisFlyer, Marriott, A-Club) - what does those mean? THANK YOU!

Here on FT you can find threads about all these 'clubs'. Google them then you will be able to see the official pages of these clubs.

I have seen it go both ways - cheaper rates on booking.com and cheaper rates on the hotel site.

I have tried a couple times to get a hotel to match the rate on another site, but did not get anywhere. The hotel may allocate X rooms to another site, and those rooms are at a cheaper rate than the hotel is willing to offer directly. If I see a cheaper rate for a hotel I want, then I use the site I found it at, as why shouldn't the site get some compensation for negotiating that?

Booking.com (or other sites) may also provide a more official booking and cancellation than the sometimes haphazard small hotel setup.

I have seen it go both ways - cheaper rates on booking.com and cheaper rates on the hotel site.

I have tried a couple times to get a hotel to match the rate on another site, but did not get anywhere. The hotel may allocate X rooms to another site, and those rooms are at a cheaper rate than the hotel is willing to offer directly. If I see a cheaper rate for a hotel I want, then I use the site I found it at, as why shouldn't the site get some compensation for negotiating that?

Booking.com (or other sites) may also provide a more official booking and cancellation than the sometimes haphazard small hotel setup.

Well, when it comes to booking travel, no solution works all the time.

I agree that, when you use an online agency, you sometimes get a more official cancellation policy. But I find that is greatly outweighed by the increased odds of something going wrong with your reservation, getting the worst room, paying more, etc. It stands to reason that a small hotelier is going to take "better care" of the patrons who book direct, whether intentionally or not. That said, there is always an exception to any travel "rule," so you never know. If I could get a lower rate through an agency, I'd obviously book it that way. Other than through opaque channels, though (traditional priceline or hotwire) or when I'm using some sort of coupon discount, I find this to be quite rare.

Booking.com is one of the partners we search on Room77 so I can provide some idea of why they are doing extremely well worldwide and you'll start seeing them much more in the US.

- Agency model for hotels means a lower commission than what hotels pay other online travel agencies.
- Manage your own inventory through Booking.com and choose what you want to sell and at what price. Many smaller hotels are exclusive to Booking.com because they provide their booking engine, it's basically a low-cost way to have a world class inventory management/booking system without a lot of investment.
- Pay later option at most hotels means no upfront payment required. This is a big deal especially in Europe where credit cards are less common so you would essentially have to put a deposit down from your debit/checking account if you had to pre-pay.
- Consistent high quality merchandising - I tend to find that they have really good room information because their systems are more modern and hotels are encouraged to load information in a much more logical way. That's why you can see clear cancellation and deposit policies (try looking at the GDS) and find great room level photos as well as info like sq. ftg clearly listed.

Of course you can use them to search and call the hotel directly but why if it's the same price and you get the convenience of booking online.

Thanks for your insight, Roger. BTW, I've never heard of Room77. Perhaps not so good for you, but it's obviously a tough, crowded business (which, of course, makes me incredibly skeptical of priceline's $35 BILLION market cap). I'll certainly give your site a try.

To me, though, the problem with your analysis is that the type of systems you're talking about only apply to very small hotels. This is obviously a larger category in Europe than in America -- where large chain hotels completely dominate the market. Perhaps you can give me a percentage of rooms booked at "mom & pop" hotels in the USA? I'm guessing it's under 5% of total room nights -- giving booking.com zero advantage in the USA.

As far as booking.com's commission, isn't it something like 20%? That's not so little in my mind. I would think any sophisticated traveller (and I'm guessing sophisticated travellers make up a large percentage of total room nights booked) looking at smaller, independent hotels would first go to tripadvisor.com (small market cap, btw), look for reviews, and then go to a site like kayak and find the lowest price -- or book direct. Kind of the no-brainer strategy of hotel booking, which is why being a travel middleman doesn't seem like the greatest business in the world to me.

BTW, now that kayak HAS tripadvisor links on their hotel search, I wouldn't want to be their competitor. Sorry.

I have used booking.com for many years and have good luck with them. Great page layouts and information. I usually check their rate and then go to the hotel web site and check theirs, whichever is lower I book or if the same then the hotel's. I do not book non refundable rooms however, I book the lowest refundable room on booking.com and then as my travel date gets closer I go back and if the lower non-refundable rate is still available I will cancel and rebook it. I have also found it useful to re-check now and then the booked rate because in some instances it has been reduced. The one thing I do not like is when it shows only 1/2 rooms left, as this is misleading to many as some may think the hotel is sold out and only a few rooms left but that is not true it is only the booking.com inventory for that hotel that may have only a few rooms left. I give them a 9 out of 10 for a booking web site.

LoyaltyTraveler says that TripAdvisor's Tingo.com site has built a better hotel booking mousetrap.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2012/03/22/tingo-com-to-corner-the-hotel-booking-market-with-rate-refunds/

The idea of capturing lower rates as they become available does seem quite clever to me and -- if I routinely used online travel agencies to book hotel roons -- I'd certainly give it a shot.

Which makes me wonder why Wall Street thinks booking.com is going to grow to the sky.

LoyaltyTraveler says that TripAdvisor's Tingo.com site has built a better hotel booking mousetrap.

http://boardingarea.com/blogs/loyaltytraveler/2012/03/22/tingo-com-to-corner-the-hotel-booking-market-with-rate-refunds/

The idea of capturing lower rates as they become available does seem quite clever to me and -- if I routinely used online travel agencies to book hotel roons -- I'd certainly give it a shot.

Which makes me wonder why Wall Street thinks booking.com is going to grow to the sky.

Out of curiosity, I searched Tingo for an upcoming trip to Berlin: 280 hotels vs. upwards of 700 on Booking.com, before filtering. Obviously quantity does not trump quality, but Tingo also offered a higher/identical price on the places I bothered to check (=the ones I was considering for myself that appeared on Tingo).
As far as I've seen, the percentage of 'small hotels' (as you call them) in many places in Europe is much larger than in the States. However, that doesn't necessarily mean that they are small enough to want/be able to book email reservations for cheaper prices, preferring instead to use services such as Booking's.

PS: Tingo also doesn't seem to offer "Money Back" for most hotels, and when it does - it's only for some of the room types.

Now that I travel with small kids, I use only booking.com Sadly most hotel´s own site´s or competitors like hotels.com etc do not list correctly extra beds, child policies and usually do not offer rooms for anything other than 2 adults. yet the very same hotels do accept kids in parent´s room if booking through booking.com. This is true for chain hotels like ICHG and small independents as well. To me it´s a mystery why hotels do not bother to make their own websites as informative.

Now that I travel with small kids, I use only booking.com Sadly most hotel´s own site´s or competitors like hotels.com etc do not list correctly extra beds, child policies and usually do not offer rooms for anything other than 2 adults. yet the very same hotels do accept kids in parent´s room if booking through booking.com. This is true for chain hotels like ICHG and small independents as well. To me it´s a mystery why hotels do not bother to make their own websites as informative.

I agree that the chains (and individual hotel websites) do a generally lousy job of accurately describing child policies. But this is a classic example of a time when it's crazy not to contact the hotel DIRECTLY to see what they can do for you. I have kids and I'm always playing "let's make a deal" when it comes to lodging with them. Invariably, with minimal effort, I find a hotelier willing to accomodate my children for little additional expense (especially at independent hotels, but also sometimes at chains).

Ninety percent of the time, I am able to conduct this discussion by email in English, but Google translate can also be helpful if the innkeeper does not speak English well. I can't imagine booking a room on booking.com (or elsewhere) without first contacting the hotel to see what they can do for my children (unless, perhaps, I'll be staying at a large USA resort and will just play "hide a kid").

For those of you who do not know, I volunteer at Traveler's Aid at EWR. Each week, we get a handful of passengers who need to overnight due to missed connections.

I have found that Booking.com offers a few hotels in the area for less than can be found on other sites (the hotel direct included.) While by no means is the price lower at every hotel, I can usually find passengers a decent hotel room for their 10pm until 5am stay. Hardly worth paying top dollar for just a few short hours.

I use Booking.com when it offers an approximately equal OR better price than what I see elsewhere. But that said, I find that about 8 of 10 times, it's beaten on price by a huge margin by other booking engines I frequently use, such as Otel.com, olotels.com, etc.

I say "approximately equal price" as I earn bonus points (2 points per Euro spent) on my Star Alliance FFP (Aegean) if I book ANY hotel via hotel.aegeanair.com, which is powered by Booking.com - they're exactly the same thing. So, if the price difference isn't tremendous, I just pay it. I love this arrangement - it lets me milk points out of hotel stays which wouldn't earn points anywhere otherwise. The most recent example was a Lithuanian guesthouse...so that goes to show that Booking.com does have a nice broad selection of establishments.

Any insight in to why booking.com is or isn't better than other online travel agencies would be very helpful to me, as (for investment purposes) I'm trying to understand the company better. Thanks!I've been away and am coming to this thread late.

For me, booking.com came into its own when we were touring South Africa. They have many, many more SA hotels which other booking engines don't have, and when they do, booking.com is usually competitive.

Now to get on reading the whole thread ...

I have used booking.com numerous times and have no complaints. The most recent stay was for the Novotel at BHX on Sunday night. The room exceeded expectations and the £55.00 price was an excellent price.

I too use the Aegean link when booking.

I don't know if any other folks do this but before I book via booking.com, Kayak, Orbitz, etc., I check with the hotel's website to verify amenities and such. I also check against Trip Advisor for reviews.

I booked a room in April via booking.com
since I wanted to be sure everything was ok, I contacted the hotel I booked the room at, and they have told me that booking.com never forwarded the reservation to them. How can this be happening, I'm supposed to travel in a month, and still have no hotel to stay at, even though I received a confirmation from booking.com ? Should I be worried? Thank you so much

This is the first time I'm travelling and I'm not very experienced, so I'd really be grateful for any informations

I have used them for numerous stays in Europe without any issues at all. The do have a lot of hotels that do not appear on the more popular search engines like Expedia or Travelocity. After I find a hotel that looks good, I do a search for the hotel's own website to compare their rate as well. I have also cancelled quite a few reservations with them with no problems at all.

They have always forwarded any special requests to the hotel I was booking. (The last two hotels I stayed at even read my instructions back to me verbatim).

Can definitely rec this website.

Can you earn Marriot Rewards point or Hilton HHonors points when booking via booking.com? Can't you just give your number at check in? Will the hotel not accept?

I have used Booking.com for some hostel/hotels. Usually it comes up cheaper on the booking site or the same price (I check both before I book). Easy to cancel as well, and I like to lock in specific dates without paying a penalty.

I have had good experiences with booking.com also. I believe that their traveler ratings are fairly accurate.

I used booking.com to book a studio apartment in France, when it was apparently the only way to reserve online. When Capital One decided not to process my card for the deposit a few days before I arrived (despite my travel notification), the apartment manager emailed me to notify me of the problem, which I very much appreciated,

Hi, I booked Ibis hotel with booking.com in Paris recently, and had to cancel my reservation, I did so, but my card was still charge full amount, I contacted booking.com they ignored me saying they canceled it, so that hotel mistake, then hotel is saying now they didn't receive any cancellation and there is nothing to do any more, so basically i lost my money thanks to booking.com is how useful they are!

Hi Kozi79,

Sorry to hear you feel this way. Please provide me with your booking number so I can investigate what happened.

Regards,

Booking.com Team

I have been using Booking.com for last six months and find that it is a simple booking process. However when it comes to resolving issues they are very quick at referring to the Terms and Conditions on their website. Out goes any desire to understand and empathize with the customer. No interest in understanding the customer issue or how to assist the customer. They seem only interested in their commission from the booking.

I recently had a case where I flew 24 hours from Sydney to Manchester with my son only to find the property that I had booked was not what it was made out to be on the website. There was no one there to receive me and security guard at the property told me there was no such hotel at the address. I had a confirmed booking at the premises and had informed them of my arrival time. When I called the contact number for the property there was no answer.
The Booking.com agent was very helpful but when I was put to her supervisor he threw the book at me. I incurred approx USD200 in roaming costs trying to convince the Supervisor that they had responsibility to find me another accommodation and for the additional costs that I was incurring as a result of the property not being there. He kept on referring to the fact that they were not liable. I am very disappointed in their attitude and I could carry on about my experience. They agreed to find me alternative accommodation 30 miles away from Manchester. However they told me that the travel costs to and from the hotel to Manchester will be my costs. It was the night of the United Vs Real match and according to them there were no properties available in Manchester. I had taken my son to watch the match and had booked the so called hotel three weeks in advance knowing how difficult it would be to find a hotel. I requested the supervisor to find me a non listed hotel but no luck. He kept on referring to the property 30 miles away. Not sure if Liverpool is 30 Miles away or further as the hotel was in Liverpool. I walked around Manchester with my son from 9am to 1:30pm calling into all the hotels until we found one.
My expectation was that they would find me alternative accommodation, pick up any additional costs to travel from that property and also my mobile roaming costs while on the phone to Booking.com trying to resolve the issue.
I think they see their customers as the hotels and properties that list with them and we are just suckers who pay for it and do not deserve any service or empathy.

Hi yoda181,
Please accept my sincere apologies for any inconvenience faced. Please
help us to get to the bottom of this by posting your Booking.com reservation number.
Our specialised team will get in touch with you as soon as possible.
Regards, Sergejs
Booking.com Team

I made a booking for a cabin in the Andes Mountains near Santiago, Chile. The place turned out to be similar to a junkyard that had shacks lined up around it. The owner of the junkyard had listed that there was a restaurant on site, that WiFi was available, that the reception desk was open 24 hours a day, that a free breakfast was included and that each "cabin" had kitchen facilities. None of these were available and the bathroom smelled like an open sewer. I stayed in the "cabin" for about 10 minutes, got disgusted and departed. I later found out that the owner reported me to booking.com as a no show and that he was going to bill me USD100 for a full night's stay. Booking.com fully supported this fraud artist and said he had every right to fully charge me even after I fully explained the situation to them. They said that this situation was my fault and that the criminal wasn't guilty of anything. So there you have it. Fraud artists are using booking.com as a front for their criminal activities and booking.com is guilty, through their support of the criminals, of being an accessory to fraud. My lawyer has initiated legal action and criminal fraud charges against booking.com are pending.

Upon doing some research it turns out that even bolder criminals have been using booking.com to sell accomodations at hotels which they don't even own. What booking.com's reaction to this I don't know. They don't inspect and visit all the properties which they sell on their website so probably they would side with the criminals again. It would be terrible to arrive at a hotel only to find they are not even a supplier to booking.com. To make things even worse booking.com is giving our credit card information out to these criminals. So if you want to get ripped off and not get the hotel room you paid for and in the bargain get your credit card maxxed out by the criminal then booking.com is who you should be using to make reservations.

I made a booking for a cabin in the Andes Mountains near Santiago, Chile. The place turned out to be similar to a junkyard that had shacks lined up around it. The owner of the junkyard had listed that there was a restaurant on site, that WiFi was available, that the reception desk was open 24 hours a day, that a free breakfast was included and that each "cabin" had kitchen facilities. None of these were available and the bathroom smelled like an open sewer. I stayed in the "cabin" for about 10 minutes, got disgusted and departed. I later found out that the owner reported me to booking.com as a no show and that he was going to bill me USD100 for a full night's stay. Booking.com fully supported this fraud artist and said he had every right to fully charge me even after I fully explained the situation to them. They said that this situation was my fault and that the criminal wasn't guilty of anything. So there you have it. Fraud artists are using booking.com as a front for their criminal activities and booking.com is guilty, through their support of the criminals, of being an accessory to fraud. My lawyer has initiated legal action and criminal fraud charges against booking.com are pending.

Upon doing some research it turns out that even bolder criminals have been using booking.com to sell accomodations at hotels which they don't even own. What booking.com's reaction to this I don't know. They don't inspect and visit all the properties which they sell on their website so probably they would side with the criminals again. It would be terrible to arrive at a hotel only to find they are not even a supplier to booking.com. To make things even worse booking.com is giving our credit card information out to these criminals. So if you want to get ripped off and not get the hotel room you paid for and in the bargain get your credit card maxxed out by the criminal then booking.com is who you should be using to make reservations.

Welcome to the big bad world of online hotel booking. NONE of the online travel agencies actually visit the hotels they book and make sure what is listed is accurate. ALL of them will give your credit card number to the hotel if you do not pay in advance. Sounds like you left without contacting booking.com first, to allow them to make it right. I believe that is probably in the t & c's. I do not personally like booking.com, but I do think these claims are not quite what they seem.

It is a shame this happened to you, but really, there are simple ways to keep this from happening, such as researching a hotel BEFORE you make a reservation in it.

I made a booking for a cabin in the Andes Mountains near Santiago, Chile. The place turned out to be similar to a junkyard that had shacks lined up around it. The owner of the junkyard had listed that there was a restaurant on site, that WiFi was available, that the reception desk was open 24 hours a day, that a free breakfast was included and that each "cabin" had kitchen facilities. None of these were available and the bathroom smelled like an open sewer. I stayed in the "cabin" for about 10 minutes, got disgusted and departed. I later found out that the owner reported me to booking.com as a no show and that he was going to bill me USD100 for a full night's stay. Booking.com fully supported this fraud artist and said he had every right to fully charge me even after I fully explained the situation to them. They said that this situation was my fault and that the criminal wasn't guilty of anything. So there you have it. Fraud artists are using booking.com as a front for their criminal activities and booking.com is guilty, through their support of the criminals, of being an accessory to fraud. My lawyer has initiated legal action and criminal fraud charges against booking.com are pending.

Upon doing some research it turns out that even bolder criminals have been using booking.com to sell accomodations at hotels which they don't even own. What booking.com's reaction to this I don't know. They don't inspect and visit all the properties which they sell on their website so probably they would side with the criminals again. It would be terrible to arrive at a hotel only to find they are not even a supplier to booking.com. To make things even worse booking.com is giving our credit card information out to these criminals. So if you want to get ripped off and not get the hotel room you paid for and in the bargain get your credit card maxxed out by the criminal then booking.com is who you should be using to make reservations.

Just advise your Credit Card Company no Card Company has an obligation to pay any merchant [i.e. Hotel] who has not had sight of card and processed it through their machine. Of course if you gave it them when you checked in then you could have a problem.

I DID and always check hotel websites and reviews before reserving a room with any supplier website.
Check out this con artist's website. The place looks legitimate and pretty nice, right?

http://www.cumbresdelmaipo.cl/index.html

Welcome to the big bad world of online hotel booking. NONE of the online travel agencies actually visit the hotels they book and make sure what is listed is accurate. ALL of them will give your credit card number to the hotel if you do not pay in advance. Sounds like you left without contacting booking.com first, to allow them to make it right. I believe that is probably in the t & c's. I do not personally like booking.com, but I do think these claims are not quite what they seem.

It is a shame this happened to you, but really, there are simple ways to keep this from happening, such as researching a hotel BEFORE you make a reservation in it.

Yeah, some due diligence is required when booking an independent hotel. Fortunately, tripadvisor and related sites make this relatively easy in most cases.

As booking.com signs up smaller properties, there are certainly more risks involved in the process. That said, in some odd locations, they can be useful. For example, I was looking for a hotel in Bali at a peak travel period. The rates on booking.com for some properties were significantly lower than direct from the hotel (perhaps because the properties didn't raise their booking.com rates for seasonality). I booked one small hotel that was supposed to send me a direct confirmation. When they didn't, I emailed booking.com (I wanted to make sure I really had a reservation). This prompted the hotel to contact me, and everything seems well.

So, I would suggest, booking.com is a useful additional travel tool in some circumstances.

Hi GlobeHopperMan,
I am sorry to learn about your experience. Could you please post your booking number?
I would like to investigate this matter and I will contact you as soon as possible.
Thanks, Tal
Booking.com Team

No. I've already had a train of emails that's way too long which all blame ME for the 'cabana' owner's lies. I will not waste any more of my time with booking.com. Neither will I ever use booking.com again. But I will post the same review of booking.com's criminal actions on every website available on the internet. In case anyone is interested this guy's website is http://www.cumbresdelmaipo.cl/index.html

No. I've already had a train of emails that's way too long which all blame ME for the 'cabana' owner's lies. I will not waste any more of my time with booking.com. Neither will I ever use booking.com again. But I will post the same review of booking.com's criminal actions on every website available on the internet.

I hope you also will post the resolution of this situation, rather than being a "2 post wonder" here. You mention legal action. I think people would like to hear the end of this tale.

I also think people might like to hear booking.com's side. You don't have to post your booking number here in public, but you could give it to them privately and give them your permission to post their side here.

Right now all you've done is give booking.com a general dirty face, but you haven't given us enough details to avoid the particular property if we would want to.

While you post the name of the agent (booking.com), you don't post the name of the property. That could be helpful to other members here.

Somebody else mentioned this already, but you didn't respond. Did you do any checking prior to your booking? TripAdvisor just cleared 100 million reviews. They might have had the property amongst those.

I've been happy with a number of hotels I've booked through booking.com.

Romelle

No. I've already wasted too much of my time with your good treatment of the criminals who use your website and the mistreatment of of your revenue-generating clients.

If anyone is interested this fraud artist's 'cabana facility' is called Cabanas Cumbres del Maipo. I've posted his URL twice but it keeps magically vanishing.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/cl/cabana-cumbres-del-maipo.en.html

No. I've already wasted too much of my time with your good treatment of the criminals who use your website and the mistreatment of of your revenue-generating clients.

If anyone is interested this fraud artist's 'cabana facility' is called Cabanas Cumbres del Maipo. I've posted his URL twice but it keeps magically vanishing.
Bad form IMHO. They're trying to help. + why cut off your nose to spite your face ?

because i've generated a train of emails with booking.com that is about 3 feet long. in all of them they protect their suppliers, fraud artists or not, and not us, their clients. need anymore info? don't assume that i'm a moron, you know what they say about people who assume

I don't assume anything. Haven't a clue where you got the '"moron" thing. What I'm saying is, here's your chance to get your $$ back - TAKE IT. If it was worth the untold hours of e-mails, it's worth another minute. Booking.com is obviously sensitive to the bad pub. The object of the exercise is not to get even. It is to get what you want.

i feel that posting this same review on as many forums as possible is going to cost booking.com far, far more revenue than the USD100 i lost. it does not amaze me that there are hundreds of criminal fraud artists using booking.com's website. what is amazing and appalling is that booking.com takes sides with them. I dealt with at least 4 different "customer service agents" by email and they all repeated the same script. i even had the misfortune to by chance meet and speak with one of them and she had the script memorized and repeated word for word what the email 'agents' had parroted. one can flog a dead horse only for so long.............

sorry if i misunderstood you and the moron thing but i've been a tech rep for a large multi-national for over 40 years and thought that i had seen and heard everything about international travel. fraudsters showing up on booking.com threw me for a loop.