persimmondeb

I don't usually book with them, but I may need to for a couple of nights for this trip. (They'll let me book three adults into a room, and also let me book for next spring--neither of which the hotel's own website is letting me do.)

I understand that their customer service isn't the best, but I think of them as fairly reputable. Or at least unlikely to sell me an imaginary hotel room. Is this a reasonable assumption?

historytraveler

I have been using them for years and have never had a problem. Probably the best booking site. There have been a few times when they didn’t offer the type of room I wanted at a specific hotel such as twin beds. Then I go directly to the hotel’s website. Ive seldom found it cheaper to book directly with a hotel

Traveler_Nick

They won't be the problem. But if the system is allowing you to do something it might be because the hotel messed up. Everything you see on booking.com is controlled by the hotel. Prices,rooms,terms etc. If they differ from the hotel website it's because the hotel entered the terms that way.
If the booking isn't non refundable no real risk. Book what you want and than via the contact system send a message to the hotel about three guests in a room.

thursdaysd

I have used booking.com a lot. The rare occasion when I have needed to contact customer service, I have been pleased. However, properties pay a hefty commission, you may save money contacting the hotel directly - try email or the phone if the website is a problem.

Sassafrass

I have used them and been happy. Just pay attention to rules about cancellation for each hotel.

MmePerdu

I've had nothing but excellent customer service on the rare occasion I've needed it. I book with the hotel directly or with booking.com if the price or terms are better, no other.

janisj

"I understand that their customer service isn't the best, "

Not sure where you heard that -- I've used Booking at least 20 times and have never had bad service.

dreamon

Booking.com is very convenient to use and makes booking easy. However, I've been told that accommodation providers do pay a fair whack to them in commission. I'm surprised that you need to book this far in advance, especially given the uncertainty of events at the moment. Even under normal circumstances, many smaller places won't be accepting bookings this early.

janisj

I personally would not book (or even start looking) this far out - the hospitality landscape in the UK will very likely be much different at the time of your trip.

Re the fees properties pay Booking -- I sometimes will contact a property and they will match or slightly beat Booking's quote. However, one of my favorite properties in London - where I've stayed 5 or 6 times - their own website has always been 20% or 25% higher then what Booking quotes . . . and a 5 or 6 night stay, in central London, 20+% is a lot of money.

Tulips

Since they pay a commission to booking.com, hotels usually prefer that you book with them. The hotel is not allowed to undercut Booking, but can offer extra's such as free breakfast or an upgrade. A hotel where we stay often in Amsterdam, offers free breakfast if you book directly with them, for example. And an upgrade if available. You may get a better room by booking directly with the hotel.

If Booking lets you book 3 adults in a room but the hotel does not, something is not right. The maximum number of adults in a room is not determined by Booking.com.

I would check with the hotel directly, and see what they offer.

Traveler_Nick

Compare what an ad in a glossy magazine costs versus the booking.com commision. Factor in that the hotels only pay the commision if the guest stays.

The hotels all can have websites. Many do. Problem is it would cost the hotels far more money to get people to book direct

There is also a second reason. Hotels can vary prices on booking.com at will. That means if they have many empty rooms they can easily drop the price. They won't do that on their on websites. Partly because it's harder. They may need to pay the web designer to change things. Partly because once they do it sort of sets a new standard price.

dreamon

I don't think I've ever stayed anywhere that would consider placing a glossy magazine advert. Different market to the places I stay. I have heard that the commission paid to booking.com is higher than using competitor aggregators. Of course, that's only hearsay from accommodation providers. There's no certainty about whether the hotel's own website will be cheaper or more expensive - you just have to check it out for each stay. There is little doubt that we all pay more because of commissions paid - but with the advantage of significant convenience.

Traveler_Nick

Yes there is. Prices are more a function of local competition. Businesses charge what they think the market will bear.

Fodorite018

We have been using Booking.com for quite a while and so far, never had an issue. We have changed dates, number of people in a room, and done cancellations for nonrefundable rooms. I was impressed this summer when we had to cancel our Iceland trip, one hotel we booked through them was nonrefundable and when I went to cancel, there was a little pop up that said to contact the hotel to ask about a refund due to Covid. I was not going to, thinking we were just going to have to eat that loss, but I did and the hotel was excellent in how they handled it. So when I rebooked or next summer, I did book directly through the hotel (refundable this time) so that they wouldn't incur any fees. So it helped both of us out.

HappyTrvlr

I have used them successfully for years. But since COVID, I had trouble canceling and feeding refunds. I went directly to the hotels and they took care of me. I was surprised booking.com didn’t do this but perhaps it is a policy?

historytraveler

I cancelled a number of hotels on booking.com due to Co-Vid and had no problem. They were all cancel 24 hours refundable.

Will add that in trying to book so early, you can run into a number of inconsistencies and this may be why booking shows a 3 adults in a room and hotel website doesn’t. Just wait until after the first of the year which is soon enough.

Southam

Booking.com is one of the world's biggest travel companies, worth billions a year (although less this year, I expect.) It has plenty of rivals and I prefer Hotels.com because of its rewards scheme. Shopping among this agencies will show that hotel rates can vary from site to site. In my experience, these agencies often undercut the "rack rate" of a particular hotel -- that's the stated price. I don't know why, for sure --- bulk booking perhaps, discount campaigns, your guess is as good as mine. But the old wisdom, back before Internet sales, was never pay the rack rate. Still true.
"Service" is only a factor when something goes wrong. It rarely has, for me. If special needs or services are required, the customer might be wise to go directly to the hotel management. But for my simple itineraries, I'm sure I've saved a lot using on-line agencies.
PS: My advice for booking air tickets is exactly the opposite. Most of the time the airline website prices can't be beat and other services, such as advance seat assignment, are more easily accomplished at the source.

Treesa

I've been using booking.com for at least ten years. Never had an issue. Website is easy to use and gives you lots of options.

Christina

That's a major company, no they don't sell you imaginary rooms. I've used them for many years. the fact that companies that use them "have to pay a whack" doesn't concern me, there isn't any reason a company should get free advertising, free website and a major internet presence for free. Those are business expenses, nobody is forcing any hotel to sign up with any company like that. Hotels have to pay staff on the PR, marketing and advertising team also, plus IT and website designers. Many smaller hotels never had a chance of competing with the majors until stuff like this allowed them to.

I only use them when the rate is cheaper, though. A lot of people tout the idea that you should take advantage of websites like that,but then haggle and call up a hotel to try to get a lower rate. I have never once had any hotel offer me cheaper rates by calling them on the phone versus the rate on their own website. In fact, I haven't had booking's rates be cheaper than the hotel's own website very often, but it has happened a couple times which is why I used them. I wouldn't really respect a hotel that offered different rates to people who called them up versus what their own website stated, I think rates should be standard and available to everyone. I don't think it's exactly a blanket fact that a hotel isn't allowed to offer a lower rate than on booking.com.. I do get lower rates on some hotels on their own website, actually, and sometimes a different category of room is available than on booking. It might be some "special rate" rather than the standard one but one almost anyone can get (join some free program, belong to AAA, be a certain age, whatever), I don't remember all the categories but it isn't that hard to get one.

This article says such rate parity requirements are illegal in many places, such as most of the EU
https://businessblog.trivago.com/rat...dustry-status/

Of course the usual caveats, I might make sure the hotel had your reservation at least a few weeks before travel or something like that. Becuase my one negative experience with them was with a major US chain hotel when they had neglected to actually make the reservation with the hotel. Luckily, the hotel had a vacant room and agreed to honor the rate I was quoted (which was lower than they themself would have charged me). The hotel couldn't explain it because they said if there was some glitch in the software that connected them for the resrvation, they could have called them up or emailed them to make sure it was made. Which is why I would always make sure the hotel actually has the reservation if it were some major trip abroad or something like that, where it could disrupt your plans.

persimmondeb

Good to know. I thought they were fairly reputable, and it's good to confirm that.

I'm not expecting to have anything go wrong, although I'm not booking anything I can't cancel.

My suspicion is that the difference in the booking terms (the rooms will clearly hold that many people) is international market vs. UK. (It's Alton Towers' own hotels under discussion.) I did try emailing them, although they seem not to have gotten back to me.