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.