LuvToRoam

You can always get the charges reversed practically immediately on a credit card but it isn't as easy with a debit card. With a debit they have taken your money out and you have a lot of work to do to prove it wasn't you taking your money! What does Clark Howard say? Piece of trash fake MC or Visa? Using the credit card is your protection really. We travel with several. About our second night in Rome a few years ago our card was compromised at a small restaurant. We knew it was there because that was the only place we had used that card. I check email daily and there was a notice of suspicious activity from our CC company. Canceled on the spot and used one of the back up cards. Sadly, like pick pockets, this is one of the hazards we face today in this "digital" side of world travel.

sandralist

titus2014

Please post the names of the hotels you booked.

Christina

I could see how it wasn't the hotels' fault but someone figuring out how to hack into or intercept the info from booking.com. You wouldn't think it a blanket problem or there would be some publicity. Who knows. I have only used them once several years ago with no problem.

You can't really refuse to give a hotel the CCV on the back of the card if you expect them to hold the room for it, if that's what the "purchase" requires.

The OP was rather odd to me as it claimed that the card was "declined" by Expedia but then used the next day for the same ticket directly. Every time my card has been declined, it was the card company doing it, not any website where I was trying to use it. And if they suspected fraud, they should have notified the user, not just decline a card for major fraud and sit there and do nothing, but then accept the same card usage the next day on the same ticket? Who knows, maybe Expedia does do something up front, if they ask for some info and don't get it correctly, but I can't imagine why Expedia wouldn't accept a charge for a sale if the card and info on it were correct (and if the info were wrong, the card issuer would be the one declining it, say expiration date or CCV).

annhig

I have booked numerous rooms in countless hotels all over the world using booking.com with nary a problem.

perhaps I've been lucky?

and as LuvtoRoam says, if you use your credit card you are protected by your contract with the c/card company.

sandralist

annhig

That's why I asked the person who posted having a problem to specify what hotels they had booked.

Jean

The thread was started in January and is the OP's one and only post. I don't think we're going to hear which hotels were booked.

sandralist

My question was directed at titus2014 who posted on Aug 24, 14 at 10:55am.

FrankS

People who use Booking .com, do they really pass your CC# to the hotel? Shouldnt they charge you and then pay the hotel minus their fees?

Christina

no, of course not, the name of the website says it all -- booking.com. They are doing the booking, that's all. That is, in fact, why people like them, because you don't pay until you leave the hotel, as usual, and you pay the hotel directly so no possible complications with you getting there having paid and the hotel claiming you need to pay again, etc.

In fact, you can cancel usually under the same terms as if you booked yourself.

I dislike websites that make you pay them (like Expedia), and won't use them. Booking.com has the fact that you don't pay them as one of their main marketing points. Why should you pay them, anyway? They aren't the hotel and aren't providing anything.

FrankS

Then why give Booking .com your CC#? Just book directly with the hotel

annhig

In fact, you can cancel usually under the same terms as if you booked yourself.>>

not so, IME. even if the prices are the same, often the cancellation terms are better. I also like being able to access all my hotel bookings for a long trip in the same place, and I trust booking.com to cancel without quibble - the only time i had to phone them they were very helpful.

That's not always the case - the Best Western hotel i like to stay at in Plymouth allows cancellation up to 4pm on the day of arrival, which is hard to rival, so i always use their own website to book.

janisj

>>My question was directed at titus2014 who posted on Aug 24, 14 at 10:55am.<<

titus2014 registered to post that -- not very likely we'll ever hear from him again . . .

Just FYI -- his post only displays as 10:55 AM in <i>your</i> time zone. Everyone sees the time anything is posted based on where they are logged on/viewing the site.

bvlenci

I also usebooking.com and have never had a problem. You need to give them your credit card number, because if you don't show up, whatever penalty you have to pay will be charged against that card. Each hotel has its own policy regarding cancellations and penalties, so read the details.

Bugaboos

Have any of ever tried using a virtual credit card # for European hotel bookings? MasterCard has these virtual #'s and I believe Visa may have a similar system. Online at home you login securely to the MasterCard site via the web,or use a downloadable application that bypasses web browsers entirely, and then you can generate a virtual credit card number and CVC code that can only be used once. Or, you can generate a virtual # with a $ max limit and expiration date that can be used several times, but only by the one merchant. I've used them often in the US to book hotels, plane tickets, and on-line purchases, but haven't used them for European hotels. Lots safer, since your real credit card # and CVC are never seen by whoever you give it to, and with the $ limit nobody will be buying Ipads or plane tickets with it. I'm going to try using them for my Italy travel next year for some hotel bookings. And, at worst, if the number does get compromised, I'll certainly know exactly where it happened.

annhig

bugaboos - no, I've never heard of that.

next time I'm booking a trip, I'll have a look at it, thanks.

mirandaverandah

There is a thread in the TripAdvisor London Forum about a possible security breach at booking.com

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic...n_England.html

sandralist

I don't know why you concluded that was a security breach at booking.com. The OP in that thread who was targeted for the scam more likely had their e-mail inbox hacked. News stories linked to in the TripAdvisor thread repeatedly discount the possibility that there was any vulnerability at booking.com -- which would have a legal obligation to publicly disclose an actual security breach.

http://vpncreative.net/2014/08/04/ho...oking-website/

Booking.com apparently did send a general e-mail warning of scams where scamsters represent themselves as hotels booked with booking.com and asking for bank transfer payments in advance or else reservations will be cancelled. Booking.com wants everyone to known they NEVER send e-mails to customers requesting bank info or personal info.

Anyway that still doesn't address the issue of an alleged compromise of titus20114's credit card. That stands as an unsubstantiated accusation. One of the things that jumps out on the TripAdvisor thread is how many accusers who keep insisting that booking.com is the problem are one-time posters. Could be angry people looking for an outlet or ....

Google doesn't turn up any news of actual security breaches at booking.com.

RoryBr

I'll never book with booking.com again.

I've heard many stories about them passing on details to hotels, and them lying around hotel lobbies on fax documents. I dismissed them as there was to my mind no way a major ( presumably PCI compliant ) organisation like booking.com could be so incompetent. I was wrong.

I asked booking.com about what details they'd shared with a hotel I'd stayed at and they openly admitted to sharing all my credit card details.

- Was my entire credit card number shared? Yes
- Was the credit card type shared (Visa, Mastercard etc) Yes
- Was the expiry date shared? Yes
- Was the CVV code shared? Yes

There might be a weak excuse for sharing the credit card number, and expiry date, but there is ABSOLUTELY NONE for sharing a CVV code.

Whathello

I can't think of anything worse that could happen.
Glad OP took the time to create an account on Fodors to tell us so.
Whew.

Now I won't be able to sleep before I know what PCI compliant means.

janisj

RoryBr: Welcome to Fodors. >> they openly admitted to sharing all my credit card details.<<

Of course they did. The hotel has to have the info.