Travelingmom: it is really abominable, and completely indecent if the hotel charged you $9200, if it was a genuine mistake that you cancelled immediately, SO far in advance. This is a complete abuse of the 'nonrefundable' stipulation - - for one thing, it was cancelled so quickly and was so far in advance that it is an absurdity for the hotel to claim that your booking caused them financial hardship (e.g., not able to secure other bookings for that time period).

This is a matter of common decency that you may get help from, from a prominent travel blogger, or a prominent consumer advocate who reports on injustices in getting people refunds. Or, no joke, you should contact a legislator - - either someone local to you like a congressman - - or in the area of the hotel - - research which legislators tend to be prominent consumer advocates.

This is definitely an abuse of any rational principle underlying non-refundable bookings - - it may meet the letter of the law, but there are times when some form of reclamation is reasonable and deserved. Please do contact the right people in this regard, and try different options. The reason you have heard such unanimous blowback here is that blaming Booking.com is barking up the wrong tree. They should not be liable for the $9200 any more than you reasonably should. Please don't denigrate Booking.com for being in the position they are in, but please do pursue legitimate consumer advocates who can publicize and lobby on your behalf, so that the hotel, which is making money hand over fist in an unscrupulous way, that is essentially unjust, will relent.

The hotel is in LONDON - you really think a US legislator has sway?? Now - Christopher Elliot might be able to help.

Yes, he helps a lot of people who make mistakes in bookings. elliott punctuation.mark org. The second t is required.

Not political sway. Publicity sway. Calm down.

Actually the state of Texas has a large class action lawsuit against Booking.com for deceptive practices. If you operate in the US as a website you must follow US laws. The State of CA is enacting a 24 hour cancellation window as well

Probably none of which has anything to do with a contract with a London hotel. (I notice you have a total of seven posts on Fodors and every one of them is about booking.com -- seems a bit of an obsession?? )

never mind -- falling on deaf ears

Congress is currently confronting the travel industry on: 1) resort fees; hiding exorbitant charges behind what seem to be low daily hotel rates; 2) the deceptive listing of airfares without taxes and all sundry charges included. If a 'travelmom' (if she is indeed this and not a troll) can get socked for an unjust $9200 then this can lead to legislative advocacy that might be worth pursuing. It's better than pursuing Booking.com for things outside of their control.

I would stay away from them. I just respond them for one of their offers that come on my mailbox. I just read another complain about being charged in Dolars.as happened
to us when the invoice was stipulated to be paid in local currencies.

got any statistics on this? How many bookings world wide, how many complaints etc? I've always found them incredibly helpful and sensible. Did you talk to the hotel about this in a positive way?

Did you by any chance opt for dynamic currency conversion when paying at the hotel? It is not illegal . . . it is the responsibility of the customer to understand the choices offered when using a credit card whether in a restaurant, at a hotel, or in a store.

We do live in an ever more elaborately woven information age. One great thing about Booking.com is they provide the most elaborate and transparent conglomeration of information anywhere - - this is a HUGE benefit to people who actually pay attention and don't gloss over the details, though I can imagine it can be a real challenge to those who plow through webpages where everything is painstakingly and faithfully explained, but doesn't get paid attention to by those making 'top down' assumptions about what is printed there in black and white, and instead act on assumptions that are wrong, and ignore what is actually there. Booking.com is the greatest booking tool ever - - brilliantly so - - for people who actually read what is written on the page. But it gets all the blame, posted online in rants, from those who apparently have trouble coping with the vast amount of information we have to deal with in this information age.

They do make mistakes, or their client hotels do. I have a confirmation from this past summer, when I first made the reservations, which stipulated "cash only". For some reason I looked at the web site and "credit card only" was stipulated. Booking did have my credit card information and billed me for another stay when I did not pay within five days of occupancy; no problem, I did not have to worry about paying. But it turned out that the second booking--cash or credit card?-- was another kettle of fish. If the cash option was valid a few months before, logic tells me that there is a clerk to take the cash. If not, Booking would pay using my credit card information. Neither turned out to be true, and for a moment it appeared we were at the doorstep of our hotel without a reservation because we had not paid in advance.

Probably worth reading this if you have not experienced Booking.com

https://lesboutiquehotels.com/booking-com-reviews

One year I used Booking and Hotels over 14 nights, staying each night in a different hotel. Hotels was not as good.

On the other hand https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.booking.com

Thank you Bilgboburgler - - that is a clear (and very thorough) illumination of how to book at Booking.com, and what to pay attention to. If the people giving the amazing variety of 1* reviews at the TrustPilot link you also sent had read it, perhaps they would not be as vociferous in their complaints. But my guess is they won't read that article thoroughly in the same way they might not examine the details thoroughly when they make bookings.

My favorite so far is this one: Booking.com gets a 1* review solely because their listing of a hotel indicates that the room has a safe, but does not specify in all instances when the word 'safe' appears on the page that there is a charge for using the safe (in other words, the complainant did not read the page fully where they list conditions, and is slamming Booking.com for that):
"In a hotel I recently visited, using the safe cost extra. I complained to Booking, who then told me that this is what it says on the hotel's page [where they detail conditions] and that it is not listed in the room description [where they list 'safe' as one of the room amenities]. The whole thing was described in an extremely friendly manner with the statement: “We advise you to read the small print carefully next time.” It's always great when you have to refer to the small print because you don't want to just put an asterisk next to the word "safe" in the room description. If customer service writes to you with: "We advise you to read the small print carefully next time", then the customer is definitely not the focus of the company..."

Since I live with an avid small detail reader I find the idea of not reading the small print a little odd. Booking do what they say on the can, they let you make bookings. I would not lodge a card in it especially after the data loss they had more than 5years ago. Would I use any other service, well yes but only in unique zones. For instance, there is a dutch b&b service I use in the low countries, a weird french small hotel service in France and a farm stay portal in Italy, but otherwise Booking is pretty good, while there will always be people who cannot make good decisions who moan and complain trying to blame others for their own errors.

One thing I've noticed is people make assumptions. They assume things are the same everywhere. That leads to them skimming over things.

Nick +1

Just got an email. from Booking.com for a reservation I planned for next week. Your credit card will be debited for the amount of.......
But why I asked. I relay on the info you provided as I booked this hotel: The credit card info is used to reserve the stay. The payment will be done at hotel in local currencies. Why you want to charge my card. I am original from that country, and I have a vast amount of the local money from my pension. I took you at your word. I want to pay as I was informed in local currencies. Why change the rules halfway.

If they are so horrible and have "overcharged" you in the past, why in the Hell do you have a reservation with them, then?

Plain stupidity, old age and luck of commitment.

Specious complaint. I have had that exact same e-mail from Booking several times. Always on bookings with no advance payment and free cancellation up to a certain date - say 7 days or 48 hours in advance, or something like that. At that point they are correctly charging the credit card (as i expected when booking)

Then this now is 100% on you. You have other options, either use them or understand the process, as Janis explained. Oh and by the way, using another booking agency will get you the same results.

So, solution: book directly and deal directly with whatever accommodation you want to use.

No sir, not in my case. The deadline to cancel booking was till the day before my first night stay. This will be next Saturday.
Let's close this tread. To many opinions and for the sake of not losing my sanity please.

You are the one who added to it!

So, don't blame me and Janis for responding to it and for you, again, not understanding how booking agencies work.

But yes, please, mods, stop this "insanity!"

Sorry about it. I don't understand what part of "pay at the property in local currencies" is so hard to comprehend.

WHAT? I can't use recyclable deposit bottles - - or baseball trading cards? I DO have a vintage Mickey Mantle from 1965 I might add! Why does Booking.com not acknowledge my baseball trading cards?!?!?

Ok, wait a minute, was your post back on Oct 8th for this upcoming reservation for this coming weekend?!

Why don't you do this: if you still have until Friday to cancel your Booking reservation (that is, IF I understand your posts) - contact the hotel and see if you can coordinate WITH THE HOTEL your reservation. They already have your info BUT, they may ask for a credit card to hold that reservation (and may charge it in advance, by the way as a deposit).. THEN, cancel your Booking reservation. Why you didnt do this bacK on Oct 8th when your supposed issue started, I will never know.

However, if i misread your post and you do not have time to cancel with Booking, then disregard.

In the future, just book directly with whatever lodging you choose. Do not use Booking, Hotels.com, Kayak, etc. for your bookings and these issues you have will not occur (unless of course, the Hotel does something similar). Make it easier for yourself. I personally find Booking to be easy and simple, but, I'm not trying to learn the travel by internet in my 70s...

tommy the turtle, if anyone remembers that thread

Can we retire this thread? It's going around in circles.

Here’s Dobbytheturtle:
https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...update-958227/

i realize this is old, ie october dated post, but do not respond to emails if the demand conflicts with what you understand are the terms. Contact booking dot com help desk and report the hotel for violating their agreement.

In defense of the OP, my second reservation last summer with Booking.com was not consistent. The first confirmation that I printed stated "cash only". The second that for some reason I printed shortly before departure from the U.S. stated "payment by credit card".

I assumed that Booking.com would charge me automatically for the "apartment" X days before occupancy as with my first rental on this trip; WRONG. In this instance I was to pay the local rental agency directly, which was not stated in the confirmation sheet. Added complication: I do not have a smart phone which was necessary to make the payment.

Michael - why would you need a smart phone to make the payment? I never pay for anything by phone.

ditto that

Every single hotel or other hosts sets their own rules. There is often some local standard. Italian hotels tend to take payment on departure. Spanish or German on arrival.

But whatever the payment terms they should have been on the initial booking. If you go to the booking and click on "what's included for this price" it'll show payment methods accepted. No idea why this isn't more prominent on the booking. It used to be. You now need to click to a couple of different pages.

Because that would be the closest thing that I have to a computer when I travel abroad.

Yes, but why would you need a computer to pay?

Michael -

I'm still confused - when I make a reservation on Booking.com or another platform that requires advance payment, I'll provide my credit card details when I book, knowing they'll take the payment at a specified date before the stay. Or, I'll pay the deposit, knowing I'll have to pay the balance with a credit card when I arrive. Or, I'll provide credit card details to hold the booking and pay with cash upon arrival (I've booked several places in Europe that prefer cash payment).

In the case you cited with having to pay the rental agency, would that not have been accomplished by handing the agency your credit card?

I know from personal experience that a smart phone is almost essential when using Air BNB, as they often send you the check in details via the phone app (which also goes to your email) a day or two before your arrival, and I'm invaribly on the road by then. But the payment has already been set up through the app, so no payment is made via phone.

I was a hold out for a very long time, but my life got a whole lot easier when I finally broke down and got a smart phone.

Now, if we're talking about not having a credit card, that's a whole different animal. My 87 year old mom doesn't have one (or a debit card), which baffles everyone.