Originally Posted by
LovePrunes
this is likely a scam. Booking.com has been the victim of hackers doing the exact thing you were contacted about.
just google "booking.com scam emails"
don't send any money to the people who have contacted you. speak directly with the hotel and don't use any numbers or emails in the message you received.
your reservation is with booking.com and is safe, but if you send money in addition to arrangements made with booking.com/aa hotels, you'll likely never see the money again and it most certainly will NOT be applied to your stay.
be careful!
That was our very thought. But my wife had the hotel's phone number in her phone already (we've stayed there previously, booked directly with them, and we were friends with the previous owner prior to his death). So she called them directly and spoke to someone there on site who gave the information. It's just such a clunky way to do business if you're already using a portal like Booking to manage the actual reservation. I'm sure that money went to the right place, it's just a really cumbersome way to manage it for all sides. Nevermind that without her Brazilian bank account, I would not have been able to make the deposit! Those bank transfers don't work internationally, so it's just a crummy way to operate a tourist business. But her city is pretty third-world still and I don't mean that pejoratively, but many homes in the city don't have running water indoors for example, so we sometimes just have to roll with it.
I wouldn't even mention it if we booked directly and the hotel themselves asked for the deposit - it just feels awfully unnecessary to have to do that when you booked it through a US site in the first place, who holds the reservation for you.