The internet has made travel much easier than it used to be, and given us the capacity to book accommodation and cars in countries all over the world at the stroke of a few key. But sometimes the technology can be found wanting and people can be badly let down, as three stories in connection with Booking.com illustrate.
The first story is from a reader named Ann. She got in touch on behalf of her daughter, who is travelling to Canada in September.
“Last April, she booked accommodation in Vancouver using Booking.com. She used a credit card (mine!) to reserve the accommodation with an option to cancel for free,” Ann writes.
In early May, the accommodation debited the total amount (which was around €467) from Ann’s card, but then contacted her daughter to say that the accommodation was no longer available.
“They promised a refund within 12 days,” she writes. “It never came. My daughter contacted the Booking.com telephone line and spoke with someone who promised a refund (as she had booked through them) within five days. That didn’t come through either.
“We contacted Booking.com again last week and have now been told that there is a ‘policy’ in place to not ‘elevate’ the claim until after the original checkout date for the cancelled accommodation. They say that once the claim is ‘elevated’, it will take a further 12 days before it is paid. This means that a refund may not come until the end of September. Meanwhile, through no fault of her own, my daughter has to fork out for new accommodation, and I’m down €467.”
When Ann and her daughter asked to see a copy of this policy, they were told they couldn’t have it.
“Is this practice legal? Have we any further avenue to be refunded?”
It would be great to get the message out that people should add flight numbers to bookings in order to avoid the misfortune and stress that we went through on our own holiday
— Pricewatch Reader
We then heard from a reader named Declan who was similarly struggling to get money back from the platform.
“I made a booking with them in November to travel to Dortmund with my seven-year-old son to see a match at Euro 2024,” he says.
“The match took place on June 25th, and we had booked for one night as we were flying home the next day.
“The instruction on the Booking.com website stated that one should contact the property in order to get the key. This I did on June 24th, via the ‘Message the property’ option on Booking.com. However, I received no reply and two phone calls to the property went unanswered.”
Early on the morning he was due to travel, Declan contacted Booking.com, as he was “beginning to get suspicious. The customer service representative said that they would investigate the matter and get back to me. I stated that I was only contactable by email as I was about to board a flight. She assured me I would be sent an email promptly.”
When Declan and his son landed in Dusseldorf, there was no email.
“I rang customer service again. This time, I was told that the property I had booked was closed due to legal compliance issues. I was told I would be sent an email with instructions about what to do in the next 30 minutes. But 45 minutes later, no such email had arrived.”
By this time, he and his son had reached Dortmund city centre and still had no idea where they might be sleeping that night.
So Declan rang Booking.com again and again spoke to customer service.
“I stated the urgency of the situation and stipulated that any alternative accommodation must be in the city centre, as we would be getting an early train to Dusseldorf airport the following morning. I was told I would receive an email immediately. Approximately 15 minutes later, I received an offer of alternative accommodation 24km from our original accommodation,” he writes.
He says that Booking.com outlined that they were willing to add €22.58 to the cost of the original booking, which cost €75.25.
“I rang again and said this was entirely unsatisfactory, and reiterated my demand for city centre accommodation as I had originally booked. After much wrangling, eventually it was agreed that I could book alternative accommodation, and that Booking.com would refund the difference. I was instructed that an invoice as proof of payment should be provided and be emailed to them in order to process the refund.”
The invoice was duly mailed on June 26th.
I stated I would not be expending any more time and energy on the matter, and that should it not be resolved to my satisfaction promptly, I would be reverting to the small claims court
— Pricewatch Reader
“I then received a message saying that this was not satisfactory, as it did not display a zero balance. I then rang customer service again. I was on hold for 20 minutes before I spoke to a customer service agent. I had to explain the whole story from the start. I was put on hold for 15 more minutes before the call dropped on their end. I then rang back and started the process again. I was put on hold for another 40 minutes while the agent spoke to his supervisors.”
When the customer care agent returned, he said the difference between the two bookings was “way too much” and that Booking.com were only willing to refund the €22.58 alluded to earlier. I stated that I had a written undertaking that Booking.com would refund me if I made an alternate booking. The new accommodation cost €381.58. I accept that this is far more expensive than my original booking, but this was done on a day when the city was packed with football supporters. All city centre accommodation on Booking.com was expensive and the new booking was by no means extravagant.”
He adds that the second booking was also made on the platform.
“I informed the agent that his colleague had given me written instructions that Booking.com would refund me if I booked my own accommodation. Again, he put me on hold to speak to his supervisors. Twenty minutes later, he returned to say that the refund would be processed if I could provide proof of payment from my bank account. I asked if a screenshot of my online bank account would suffice. I was told that it would. The screenshot was duly emailed to them.”
But Declan then received a further message saying that the screenshot was not sufficient, and that an invoice displaying a zero balance would need to be provided.
“I emailed the hotel again. They replied stating that the first invoice clearly shows that payment was received. I asked for another invoice, but received no reply.”
He then got another email from Booking.com asking for an invoice that displayed a zero balance. He attached the email correspondence between himself and the hotel in which it was confirmed that payment had been received.
“I further reminded them that I had also sent them proof that the money has left my bank account. I stated I would not be expending any more time and energy on the matter, and that should it not be resolved to my satisfaction promptly, I would be reverting to the small claims court.”
When Declan contacted us, he was “totally exasperated” and said the online platform “seem to be determined not to process the refund, despite me more than proving that I have paid the bill and them giving me a written undertaking that I would be recompensed. Meanwhile, I am out of pocket to the tune of €306.37”.
Finally, there was a slightly different but no less exasperating story from a reader named Euan, who said he was “writing in case you can help anybody else avoid the unfortunate experience we had earlier this year”.
He added that it had taken him “several months to calm down following my experiences at Oslo airport in February – you’ll see why if you get to the bottom of the below missive”.
Euan booked a rental car from Oslo Gardermoen airport with Thrifty using the Booking.com website.
“Our flight was slightly delayed and we were relatively slow coming through passport control and duty free, given that we were in no rush and our two children were excitedly picking up and putting down everything in the duty free shop,” he writes.
“We had booked the car for 12pm, I don’t remember the exact time we arrived at the desk but let’s say it was after 1pm, probably closer to 2pm, but not after 2pm I don’t think.”
When Euan arrived, he had misgivings as the car hire company representative couldn’t find his booking.
“After a few minutes, he asked if we might have booked via Booking.com. When I explained that we had, he told me that that might explain things – that bookings are automatically cancelled when customers are more than an hour late – unless they supplied flight details at the time of booking. Amazingly, his colleague just happened to have the relevant section of the fine print of the rental terms to hand,” our reader says.
“I was surprised, to say the least. I can think of another few adjectives but things were to deteriorate before they improved. Thrifty unfortunately didn’t have any other car availability and advised that I go back to Booking.com. When I called Booking.com I was advised that there was no mistake, nothing that the agent could do, and that as well as cancelling our rental car we would be charged for the privilege.”
Euan says that at this point he was “incandescent”, adding: “It hadn’t even occurred to me that we would be charged to not have access to the vehicle that we needed for the week!”
It then emerged that Booking.com were willing to refund the original booking “as long as we immediately rebooked another vehicle with them – it may not surprise you to learn that the best available option was around five times the price of our original rental”.
Through no fault of her own, my daughter has to fork out for new accommodation, and I’m down €467
— Pricewatch Reader
Euan declined their kind offer, “and managed to obtain a partial refund of around 2/3rds of the original cost as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. Luckily, we then managed to obtain an alternative vehicle the next day from a different rental company, at a much more reasonable price.”
He says that since his return, he has continued to follow up with Booking.com but has been getting nowhere.
“In short, it would be great to get the message out that people should add flight numbers to bookings in order to avoid the misfortune and stress that we went through on our own holiday.”
We contacted Booking.com. With regard to the first two stories, a spokesman said it was “not the level of customer service we aim to provide and we are sorry for the delay these customers experienced in receiving the refunds owed, and can confirm that they have been processed with both customers informed”.
The response to Euan’s story is unlikely to do much to ease his pain, both financial and emotional.
“Grace periods are common in the car rental industry and are set by the companies that list on our platform and not Booking.com,” the spokesman said. “While the length of the grace period can vary between different car rental companies, they can be easily viewed by clicking on ‘Important Information’ during the booking process.
“To support our customers, we have made it possible to add a flight number to their booking that allows the car hire company to track the customer’s flight, so that they can try and make adjustments on their side – a tool which we do not believe was used by this customer in this instance.”
