I used Booking.com for my just completed 4 week trip. I don’t know about prices, but I liked the full information, especially since I needed parking and some places don’t offer it, or charge high places. In this COVID era, it was great to have all reservations in one place in case I had to cancel, which I had to do twice in 2020. This trip went just fine, though!

We also had bookings in 2020 that had to be cancelled due to Covid. Airbnb got us refunds for all., even though our cancel dates had passed. Booking.com did not deliver on one cancellation that was within the time period allowed. They promised to make good, but then became unresponsive. We finally had to get the refund through our credit card. It was a difficult period for all, but booking.com, at least in our case, failed. You may have been lucky that the hotels, not booking.com, came through for you.

When I planned the first trip for May, 2020, I failed to notice a short cancellation date for a hotel at the Nurburgring track. We couldn’t have gone anyway with the COVID ban at that time, so I didn’t stress over it until it showed up on my credit card. I tried to work with the hotel, and at one point they agreed to credit us with an alternative date in September, 2020. When there were still travel restrictions then, I asked that they extend the credit into September, 2021, which they refused. They also refused to refund directly. Booking.com wasn’t involved in that case, which is why I decided to have everything in one place. They really have a good system, with the itinerary listing each day’s hotel by date. I also carried a binder clip full of Booking.com confirmations with me into each hotel, which I could refer to if needed. We never had another issue, and liked an alternate hotel at the ‘Ring. By the time trip planning was completed, that binder clip held 1/2” of reservations, confirmations, plane and car information, etc!

Not all places can be booked directly. I saw a picture of an apartment in Limburg an der Lahn in a cycling trip report. I tried to find it on the town website, my usual method. It was nowhere to be found. I found it on Booking.com, booked it. It was great