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A warning about using Booking.com when booking hotels and holidays!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted: Sun May 2, 2021 11:58am
3 replies163 views2 members subscribed
Marksy

Posts: 123

19 helpful points

Location: Los Alcázares

Joined: 22 Jan 2021

I booked a hotel (in March) in Almeria for 1 week in June via Booking.com.  With just over 30 days to my holiday I was contacted by Booking.com by email to say they had cancelled my hotel booking, no reason or explanation of suggestion on how to rectify the situation.  When I eventually got through to someone after a couple of days as they just ignored by messages and emails to customer service to ask why they had cancelled my booking they told me the hotel had cancelled the booking?.  I pointed out previously when a hotel had cancelled my booking they told the hotel to sort out a new booking with another hotel at no extra cost to myself - and this has worked in a number of different countries.  I also pointed out that the hotel was still advertising on Booking.com for vacancies 3 days after my cancelled booking.  They have said "sorry" we are unable to help - despite me pointing out that I had BOOKED WITH Booking.com   The cost of bookings a three days later than my booking had gone from 600+ € to over 1100+ € in these few days.  They are just not interested so I have a few months over the next 12 months accommodation etc booked with Booking.com and I am going to cancel them all - my point is DON'T book with Booking.com as there is always the possibility of them cancelling your booking and you will be left trying to find another booking at normally vastly inflated cost to yourself at very short notice, lost travel costs and inconvenience  or worse (happened to me once) where on arrival at a hotel in the middle of the night and the hotel is closed down I contacted Booking.com and they found me accommodation for 1 night and organised other accommodation for the rest of my stay - in my opinion NOW that will not happen and you will be left out in the street!!!!!!!

Mags44

Posted: Sun May 2, 2021 3:52pm

Mags44

Very helpful member

Posts: 917

790 helpful points

Joined: 1 Sep 2019

Posted: Sun May 2, 2021 3:52pm

Marksy wrote on Sun May 2, 2021 11:58am:

I booked a hotel (in March) in Almeria for 1 week in June via Booking.com.  With just over 30 days to my holiday I was contacted by Booking.com by email to say they had cancelled my hotel booking, no reason or explanation of suggestion on how to rectify the situation.  When I eventually...

... got through to someone after a couple of days as they just ignored by messages and emails to customer service to ask why they had cancelled my booking they told me the hotel had cancelled the booking?.  I pointed out previously when a hotel had cancelled my booking they told the hotel to sort out a new booking with another hotel at no extra cost to myself - and this has worked in a number of different countries.  I also pointed out that the hotel was still advertising on Booking.com for vacancies 3 days after my cancelled booking.  They have said "sorry" we are unable to help - despite me pointing out that I had BOOKED WITH Booking.com   The cost of bookings a three days later than my booking had gone from 600+ € to over 1100+ € in these few days.  They are just not interested so I have a few months over the next 12 months accommodation etc booked with Booking.com and I am going to cancel them all - my point is DON'T book with Booking.com as there is always the possibility of them cancelling your booking and you will be left trying to find another booking at normally vastly inflated cost to yourself at very short notice, lost travel costs and inconvenience  or worse (happened to me once) where on arrival at a hotel in the middle of the night and the hotel is closed down I contacted Booking.com and they found me accommodation for 1 night and organised other accommodation for the rest of my stay - in my opinion NOW that will not happen and you will be left out in the street!!!!!!!

Why are you blaming the agent? Booking.com merely acts as an agent for hotels, apartments and private accommodations and it is not their fault if a hotel cancels bookings. I'm sure that Booking.com is as fed up as everyone else with the instability of the tourim sector at the moment. If a hotel is unable to open because of the pandemic or has found itself in a financial situation that is likely to involve it going into administration, it's not in a position to give you an alternative offer and it's up to you to look for an alternative within the current selection of offers on Booking.com, if you haven't paid for your original booking or have been given a refund. Most of Booking.com's properties offer cancellation up to 48 hours before the arrival date, which under the current situation, would be the logical way to make the booking. When you say that your booking has gone from 600+ € to 1100 + € in these few days, you surely had the choice of whether to book that option or not? You cannot blame Booking.com or any other travel agent for the fact that many hotels are not able to open their doors for June and maybe not even for July and surely, booking a holiday in March for June, when we are still virtually in lockdown, seems somewhat risky anyway? We are still in the State of Alarm and even when that ends, it's possible that certain provinces will continue with their own rules about allowing tourists in or limit the places from where these tourists are coming from. I've used Booking.com lots of times and have never found any reason to complain about them. I had a booking for a hotel in the Canary Islands for last July but the hotel cancelled it with just a few weeks' notice because they had to close then hotel for the pandemic. I was disappointed but I didn't throw my toys out of the pram!

Marksy

Posted: Sun May 2, 2021 6:25pm

Marksy

Original Poster

Posts: 123

19 helpful points

Location: Los Alcázares

Joined: 22 Jan 2021

Posted: Sun May 2, 2021 6:25pm

Mags44 wrote on Sun May 2, 2021 3:52pm:

Why are you blaming the agent? Booking.com merely acts as an agent for hotels, apartments and private accommodations and it is not their fault if a hotel cancels bookings. I'm sure that Booking.com is as fed up as everyone else with the instability of the tourim sector at the moment. If a hotel i...

...s unable to open because of the pandemic or has found itself in a financial situation that is likely to involve it going into administration, it's not in a position to give you an alternative offer and it's up to you to look for an alternative within the current selection of offers on Booking.com, if you haven't paid for your original booking or have been given a refund. Most of Booking.com's properties offer cancellation up to 48 hours before the arrival date, which under the current situation, would be the logical way to make the booking. When you say that your booking has gone from 600+ € to 1100 + € in these few days, you surely had the choice of whether to book that option or not? You cannot blame Booking.com or any other travel agent for the fact that many hotels are not able to open their doors for June and maybe not even for July and surely, booking a holiday in March for June, when we are still virtually in lockdown, seems somewhat risky anyway? We are still in the State of Alarm and even when that ends, it's possible that certain provinces will continue with their own rules about allowing tourists in or limit the places from where these tourists are coming from. I've used Booking.com lots of times and have never found any reason to complain about them. I had a booking for a hotel in the Canary Islands for last July but the hotel cancelled it with just a few weeks' notice because they had to close then hotel for the pandemic. I was disappointed but I didn't throw my toys out of the pram!

I have used Booking.com for over 12 years and also have been a hotelier and I did on an occasion need to change a booking, due to a sudden death in the close family and Booking.com totally ignored my reasons and got me to provide alternative accommodation at an extra cost to me of 55 € per night for the 5 nights, the guests did not turn up and the card details were incorrect, so a major loss for me but that is business - and not really my original point about Booking.com because the hotel I booked in March is part of a major internal chain so they would not force them to to provide alternative accommodation of which there are many open in early June.   I have contacted a number of travel journalists including a travel editor of a national newspaper and a number have replied to me that they are very disappointed but have recently heard of this happening with Booking.com and some are going to take up this recent change of stance by Booking.com.  I have not "thrown my toys out of the pram!".  IF the hotel(s) is not going to be open in June then they should not be advertising their rooms as a number of them have done .  But when my hotel was still advertising on the day of my cancellation it does not go down well!!  I am pointing out to warn others that if they book via Booking.com they can just cancel a booking with NO alternative options or suggestions or support as an agent should do.  I have seen on other sections of this site, and many other well known travel websites that this is a growing issue with Booking.com.  What I pointed out was correct insofar previously they would force the hotel/accommodation to offer something else but this time NOTHING.  Also with a number of establishments they use Booking.com to take the cost of your accommodation, either before you arrive or at time of booking - so if it is cancelled it will take up to 10 days to get your money back!!!!  As I said originally my point is that as Booking.com have changed the way they deal with customers, everyone needs to be aware that even a confirmed booking does not really mean it will be available!!!!!!!!!!!   

Mags44

Posted: Mon May 3, 2021 2:22am

Mags44

Very helpful member

Posts: 917

790 helpful points

Joined: 1 Sep 2019

Posted: Mon May 3, 2021 2:22am

Marksy wrote on Sun May 2, 2021 6:25pm:

I have used Booking.com for over 12 years and also have been a hotelier and I did on an occasion need to change a booking, due to a sudden death in the close family and Booking.com totally ignored my reasons and got me to provide alternative accommodation at an extra cost to me of 55 € per nigh...

...t for the 5 nights, the guests did not turn up and the card details were incorrect, so a major loss for me but that is business - and not really my original point about Booking.com because the hotel I booked in March is part of a major internal chain so they would not force them to to provide alternative accommodation of which there are many open in early June.   I have contacted a number of travel journalists including a travel editor of a national newspaper and a number have replied to me that they are very disappointed but have recently heard of this happening with Booking.com and some are going to take up this recent change of stance by Booking.com.  I have not "thrown my toys out of the pram!".  IF the hotel(s) is not going to be open in June then they should not be advertising their rooms as a number of them have done .  But when my hotel was still advertising on the day of my cancellation it does not go down well!!  I am pointing out to warn others that if they book via Booking.com they can just cancel a booking with NO alternative options or suggestions or support as an agent should do.  I have seen on other sections of this site, and many other well known travel websites that this is a growing issue with Booking.com.  What I pointed out was correct insofar previously they would force the hotel/accommodation to offer something else but this time NOTHING.  Also with a number of establishments they use Booking.com to take the cost of your accommodation, either before you arrive or at time of booking - so if it is cancelled it will take up to 10 days to get your money back!!!!  As I said originally my point is that as Booking.com have changed the way they deal with customers, everyone needs to be aware that even a confirmed booking does not really mean it will be available!!!!!!!!!!!   

If you were a hotelier, then you would know how booking agents work. It's not the same booking hotel accommodation directly with the hotel and entering into a contract with them, in which case, they are obliged to find you alternative accommodation. I worked for 30 odd years in the hospitality trade - 10 years in the UK and 21 years in Spain and started off as a holiday rep in the Canary Islands and experienced over-bookings again and again. Booking.com is just a middle man and can only sell what they have available at the time. They do not "buy" rooms in hotels and apartment blocks to sell on, as most of the UK tour operators (TUI etc) do. If the hotel chain was advertising availability for June, it is because they hoped that they would be able to open then. They're hardly going to wait until the day that the government allows them to open, before they advertise. They are dependent on being told when they can open, what they can open and how many rooms they are allowed to occupy, whether they can open the pool, the bars, the restaurants and so on. What about all those people who were booked into hotels that were open just before Christmas and were then ordered to close by the government? Many of them were sitting on a plane on their way to enjoy their holiday and weren't informed about the closures until they arrived. Booking a holiday during a world-wide pandemic, is a risky thing to do as the Spain is still closed to tourists from various countries - the UK being one of these. Taking out travel insurance is important, just in case something like this should happen, especially if the trip involves separate flights, car rentals and accommodation. I can understand your anger but so many exclamation marks....!

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