My experience with 3 separate booking using Booking.com is disgraceful. I made 3 bookings in December in Moscow, Kazan and Niznhy. 1) I booked a decent hostel for 4 nights for £50. I received a strange email via Booking.com last week stating the Hostel is “not functioning any more “ and that my booking was cancelled. The same hostel and rooms is now re-advertising at SIX times the prices advertised in December. Upon complaining to booking..com I was told they do not have control over hotels readvertising their rooms. 2) I booked a 3* hotel in Nizhny for £234 (expensive even back in December). My credit card was declined so I registered with another one. The hotel immediately on the same day of the booking charged me twice (£234 on each card). Booking.com refuse to intervene to recover one of the payments. 3) I booked a hostel for 3 nights in Kazan (supposedly not requiring upfront payment). I receive an email from the hostel asking for 50% within 3 days which I ignore as the booking clearly says “refundable/cancellable” (no payment due) until some time in March. The booking still appears under my Bookings on Booking.com but the hostel has emailed me to say it is cancelled. Booking.com state they are not responsible for removing bookings which have been cancelled. In total a disgrace and shameful.
Your #1 is what happened to me with an apartment reservation in Moscow. 2 weeks later they re-listed the apartment with a different name at 10x the cost. I wouldn't have known except that I clicked on my cancelled reservation and lo-and behold there it was at $1000.00+ per night. Booking made it seem like I canceled on the email.
Your No. 2 happened to me but they thankfully immediately cancelled one of the two payments. It is so ironical that one of the reasons they wanted the tournament was to make Russia look warm and welcoming and already so many people are pissed off with it 6 months before it starts.
Biggest gripe I have with Booking.com is their lack of customer service. If shit hits the fan good luck getting in touch with them or get a positive result from them. When things go fine, its great, but they're just not there if you need them.
And now just imagine when there are no such sites as Booking etc. And you ended with tons of hotels without websites, English descriptions, user reviews, valid photos, maps with directions, support lines, etc. Booking.com is not the main problem. But Hotels and Owners are...
I think its important to remember this. Even if Booking.com BANNED the hotels participating in these dirty tricks, they'd still be able to get away with it by using other websites.
Don't disagree, but the problem is also getting any issues resolved with Booking.com They don't readily publish a number, you can't seem to get help from any feasible method either.
If this helps anyone (not sure if you have to be a Genius to use it (their 'frequent' booker discount scheme, not your IQ level)): International Genius service number: +44 20 3684 7925
Yes... for some reason... anyway, I see those phone numbers even when I'm logged out in the incognito mode Note Other regions and countries link too https://secure.booking.com/content/cs.en-us.html
The issue is not about Booking.com customer service. In my experience they are very responsive by email and you can get through to them on the telephone quite easily. However, every response to the same complaint is processed by a different person (who has to read the history of the complaint) and then they just quote standard “company policies and terms and conditions” (which are totally against any form of ethical trading and professional service. They blatantly condone Hotels cancelling on you and re-advertising at 10x the price even when I presented a ludicrous email from the Moscow hostel that quoted me this; On 2018-01-17, Hostel on Lyublinskaya wrote “Hello,Jose Coll . You have made a booking in our hostel. Sorry, but in the period of the building our hostel is in reconstruction, the hostel will not work. It's not our decision, the order of the municipality. Please choose another hostel . Best regards.”