Bluestar

I'd appreciate any suggestions from knowledgeable readers!

Each May my colleagues and I attend a trade show in Geneva. (You can just hear the "ker-ching" of cash registers at those last four words - already high prices become obscenely expensive.) To avoid last-minute high prices we booked four hotel rooms last January for late May, and found a reasonable deal through Booking.com: a flexible booking of four rooms for our stay in May which included the freedom for me to cancel until the week before. It was held with a credit card number but there was no deposit payable.

All well and good. Rooms sorted, we can relax. Right?

Not so much, it turns out. Just the other day we needed to make a change to one of the rooms (person leaving a day early). Our assistant calls Booking.com, who makes the change - "no problem." Unfortunately a day or two later a Booking.com email arrives cancelling that room altogether. This is strange but perhaps there's a minimum-stay policy at the hotel during the trade shows? Our assistant calls the hotel, only to discover that they don't have any record of any of our reservations, and they have been fully booked for that week since January.

Call to booking.com: "no, your reservation is fine, there's no problem."
"Are you sure? The hotel is saying they have no record of it."
"OK, we'll check and call you back straight away."
We have had that conversation 4 times with Booking.com in the last 2 days, and they have yet to call back.

Another call direct to the hotel this morning: I spoke to the (irritated) owner, who said, "why do people keep calling me about this, we don't have this reservation, we've never had it, you are not the only one with this problem with Booking.com, I'm sorry, but there is nothing I can do."

So I'm surmising that somewhere back in January, something went wrong with someone's inventory and some rooms got oversold.

However this leaves us in a situation where we are now looking for last-minute rooms in obscenely expensive Geneva, which will cost us an arm and a leg - the very situation we were trying to avoid.

My question: does Booking.com get to wash its hands entirely of responsibility for this? It hasn't even notified us that our reservation has been cancelled (I'm on the Booking.com website now, which is still happily reassuring me "Congratulations! Your booking is now confirmed.") I recognise that its Terms and Conditions assert that it is just a portal and that there is no contract between the booker and booking.com, just between the booker and the hotel, but this seems a very convenient get-out, especially when the hotel is saying "we never received your reservation" and when the hotel terms and conditions (as provided by Booking.com) just cover items like the cost of breakfast, not the contractual liability for cancellation. I'm not looking for Booking.com to cover a stay in the Beau Rivage , but I'm struggling to see whether they have any accountability at all in this case, given that the hotel is washing its hands of the whole thing. Or do I need to be chasing the hotel, despite their professions of complete ignorance? Does the concept of "consumer protection" exist in Switzerland, or is it just for bank customers?

This is the first time I've had a problem with a hotel reservation through an OTA, but this makes me think that I should be calling the hotel separately to confirm each reservation I make. That's an annoying level of hassle, but I don't see much alternative if I can't actually rely on a printed "Confirmation" to mean anything of the sort.

Thanks for any suggestions!
B*

Often1

Unless you have a confirmation from the property, you have nothing. Booking.com may have legitimately booked you and it may be the property which has reneged, Booking.com may have made an error, or Booking.com may have committed some sort of fraud (although I'm not sure how it monetizes this).

I would suggest a three-way call with booking.com and the property. It won't likely get you anywhere, but it might push booking.com into finding you something and eating the cost differential (highly unlikely).

As a caution for others, bottom line is that the property holds your room key and if you can't confirm your reservation with the property, there is always a problem. If you book through an opaque third-party site, always call the property directly to confirm that it too shows you as confirmed. In this case, at least OP would have known back in January that the approach had not worked.

I don't hold out much hope here.

Artpen100

And people think I worry too much because I do this!

callum9999

I've had hundreds upon hundreds of bookings with the likes of Booking.com and never had a problem. If I added up the time and money it would take me to call every single one of them then I could still be better off in a future scenario where my $20 hostel bunk is overbooked and I have to take a cab to a $500 luxury hotel instead!

Artpen100

When I am travelling, it is usually international and on business, and timing and location are important, so to me it is worth it to make sure nothing goes wrong. I have had problems with Orbitz. Mainly, I don't trust third parties for international bookings.

CruisingwitSmile

Sorry about this experience Bluestar, well i know my response it a bit late but, i have to post this b/c it might be useful to other's.

I know how fustrating this can be, in that case i will suggest calling the management of the hotel to make enquiries about the availability of room in their hotel on a given date before booking. Also, let them about your intention of booking through specific travel site (engine) specified the name of the site to the hotel management.

If, they confirm's this, go ahead to book and send copy to them via email to ensure they are aware of your dealing with the third-party (travel agency).

NOTE: it's important to always ask the name of the person you are dealing with when making such enquires. When such situation arises you donot know who is the game player because anyone can easily come up with story as long as doing so is a convenient option at that moment

Thanks
CruisingwitSmile