Booking.com - what a scam

Diddums

Diddums

Diddums

Caporegime
Joined
24 Oct 2012
Posts
26,618
Location
Yer nan's knickers
We've been using Booking.com for years, never had any issues. Booked a hotel this weekend as it had an 8.3 rating on the site, and is the second highest scoring hotel in the area that I could find.

Sent link to wife who looked in to it more, and found that on other sites, the hotel is basically a rundown dump that would make a 3rd world country blush. The reviews are spectacularly crap:

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Messaged the hotel not even 20 minutes after booking to cancel, "soz lol thanks for the monies" came the automatic reply. Rang them up, took four attempts before someone answered the phone, explained that the booking was made in error, "soz lol thanks for the monies".

So I started digging in to this, and found that this hotel is not only stuffing its reviews with fake one-word perfect score reviews, but they're also writing reviews in the names of people who stayed there.
I messaged Booking.com, didn't get a response, and then raised a complaint. Effectively I've booked a hotel based on their fraudulent scores, and the hotel doesn't give a toss, and wants to keep the money.

Fortunately the payment hadn't been taken yet so I've just frozen that card, but I started digging. Turns out Booking.com has been sold to some chap in Pakistan who now runs the place, and anyone can list a hotel on there and just blag whatever they want.

Safe to say that's my last interaction with Booking.com, hopefully this helps anyone else who uses them, they are certainly not the company they used to be!
 
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Booking.com is a decent aggregator but I’ve never booked directly with them. Hotels are always the same price or cheaper direct. You’ve done the right thing by checking the place out independently.

Hopefully something comes of your complaint.
 
Maccy said:
Perfect, any issues then your card company can sort it for you
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That's actually one piece of advice I can thank this very forum for, that section 75 protection. Never heard of it until some folks mentioned it on here and I learned to use a CC for stuff like this. It's actually saved me a couple of times already!
 
Booking.com is great for finding hotels in the area you want to visit. However, as above, once i have identified the hotel(s) i like the look of, then i usually book direct (using discount codes if i can) or through an offer website.
 
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Yeh they are crap. I booked a flight through their website because the airline's own website was in a foreign language, otherwise I would have booked direct. The flight didn't go ahead due to airport strikes and Booking.com basically didn't give a **** and kept ignoring my request for a refund.

Unfortunately all of these sites are the same and are fine until something goes wrong, then they are useless. Best to just make sure you have booked with a credit card and have travel insurance.
 
Diddums said:
That's actually one piece of advice I can thank this very forum for, that section 75 protection. Never heard of it until some folks mentioned it on here and I learned to use a CC for stuff like this. It's actually saved me a couple of times already!
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I buy everything on a credit card. The banks care way more about their money than they do about mine.
 
I just booked something through them last night, at least it's pay on arrival, time to find alternate!

edit - found it £8 cheaper elsewhere anyway!
 
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I've not had a problem with them (yet) but only ever book a place that you can cancel and don't take money up front.
 
Uther said:
I've not had a problem with them (yet) but only ever book a place that you can cancel and don't take money up front.
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I have £35 credit in my account with them, will probably spend it on the next trip, and using pay on arrival option.
 
shifty_uk said:
Booking.com is a decent aggregator but I’ve never booked directly with them. Hotels are always the same price or cheaper direct. You’ve done the right thing by checking the place out independently.
Click to expand...

I used to use booking.com, but now I do this as instead. Use the website to find hotels in the right area and price, approach the hotel directly.
 
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Booking is just full of scams, no diff to airbnb now.
I got caught by one few months ago, listing stated "whole place to yourself", then when I get inside, its literally an granny annex attached to the kitchen of the main 5 bedroom house of the owner and their kids.
Photo's had been edited to remove certain elements of the property. Even the reviews for the property seemed false after viewing it.
Booking.com basically told me it was my fault, non-refundable, sided with the awful scamming owners.
Not used booking.com since.
 
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