karenkay

i've not had a problem with them either, the few times i've used them, but Spiff's account above does give me pause. (the one post wonders, not so much ) i do research all hotels independently, so that might protect me somewhat.

we have an upcoming european trip where i'm planning to use them extensively...i'll report back if we have a problem, but i'm not anticipating one.

mailtosourabh

What a misleading and fraud website. I booked a hotel today (15-June-2015) on their website,

where it was showing final payment as SGD 661.50. I paid this amount. An hour later I got a

call from my bank that there is a transaction of SGD 777. I called up Booking, they told me

that taxes are included, but it clearly mentioned there that taxes will be charged by the

hotel when I stay there.
the website is so misleading that you don't know that taxes are pending as those are

mentioned in a consistent small font never added anywhere.
customer care is the worst.

Please do not book through booking.com

Lkeade

I've used them for European trips in 2012 and 2015 and both turned out great.

In Germany we stayed at 4 boutique hotels over the course of 10 days and had no problems at any of them. Everything was exactly as described.

We used them for Italy (last month) for an apartment in Rome and a hotel in Florence. Again, both were great.

We had one issue with the first apartment we reserved in Rome, about 10 months in advance. The owner decided to no longer list it and cancelled on us one month prior to the trip and we were hustling to find a new apartment. The website was great in assisting us in finding something in the same neighborhood and price range.

Kaysee

I booked my hotel stay for 2 nights with my wife at Oslo Apartment - Donningensgate, Oslo in Norway, back in November 2015. I supposed to check in in October 2016. This month, April 2016, I unfortunately lost my job and decided not to proceed for a long waited vacation in Norway. I emailed to the property regard my predicament and request to cancel/waive my booking since I not yet been bill. Upon reading my email, immediately I was abruptly charged with full two nights stay... 5 months from the month I was sacked. This is so uncalled for... so inhuman and negative attitude. They knowingly knew my current situation in not in their favor, and immediately charged payment into my credit card. Attempted to explain to them my situation, they insisted I have to pay for the 2 nights. This is completely unprofessional conduct, without compassion and uncooperative attitude. What happened if there if death in my family (like my wife)? They will still charge it to your credit card!!! I am officially boycotting booking.com and will never use their tyranny method in doing business. To all readers, join me to boycott booking.com and teach them a lesson....

PilgrimsProgress

Just a data point. Friends of mind made a reservation for a week in October 2015 on booking.com with a cancellation up to one week before arrival. They subsequently changed their mind and made a booking at a different property directly. They simply forgot to cancel the reservation on booking.com. It was entirely my friends' fault for not remembering that reservation and cancelling it on time. They only remembered the reservation when the property called them on the day of arrival to ask if they are arriving late. My friends were completely not expecting that call.

Anyway, my friends were willing to forgo the deposit because it was their fault but when they called booking.com, the agent said let me see what i can do, called the property and worked with the property to refund the entire amount. My friends were thrilled beyond belief at the service.

For this type of customer service I would use booking.com over directly booking with a small property where the customer service may not be at quite that level!

tom911

Assuming the rules did not allow you to cancel the booking at anytime and was prepaid and nonrefundable? Bet the property was concerned the credit card you had provided might be at some risk once you brought up your situation. I'm curious why you didn't call booking.com instead of the property. Did you think you'd have better chances if you dealt with the property directly? I would have done just the opposite and called booking.com first and took my chances with them, particularly when your stay was months out.

I have an upcoming hotel stay through another site next month that hasn't been paid for yet. I fully expected them to charge me at booking being that it is prepaid and nonrefundable. This is not the first time this has happened, and I expect it's more likely they'll charge me when I check in. What were the terms of your booking? Could it be that the property was within its rights to charge you anytime after booking prior to arrival?

I'm not quite ready to join you there. Although I'm sorry to see you've lost your job, I imagine hotels must hear all sorts of reasons why nonrefundable bookings should be made refundable. I can only think of two times I had a hotel refund a nonrefundable rate. One of those was within days of 9/11 when air travel was restricted, and the other when an airline delay prohibited me from getting to the hotel. They weren't required to refund either of those, and I would not have called for a boycott of the booking sites if they hadn't.

Welcome to FlyerTalk

slowly

I'd suggest boycotting prepaid and nenrefundable rates instead. But looks like you want the discount of prepaid rate without the downsides (nonflexibility). That's not how it works.