I wonder if the hotels do this to verify the CC is good - so that in the case of a true no-show, they won't end up with a fake CC# which they can't charge the penalty.

Yes, I think so. I also noticed that our recent Paris hotel, exactly three weeks before our arrival, did a temporary authorization as well, and it fell off after a few days. It makes sense they'd want to check the card out without waiting until the last possible moment.

I've used it quite often and never had a problem. I especially like the feature that sets distance from a landmark (Central station, point of interest, etc.) and their customer service dept was very helpful the oly time I needed it. Although I do check other sites, I nearly always come back to bookings

ttt

tttt

I did a Hotel reservation through booking.com 3 days back. It was a prepaid non refundable booking. booking.com asked me for the CC details but did not charge me. Now I do not know whether my booking is confirmed or not. Has anybody faced this kind of a situation before?

Sometimes hotels are slow about charging, so I wouldn't worry too much. Why don't you contact the hotel and ensure they have your reservation?

I booked a room for Norfolk, VA for July 20th back in Feb through Booking.com. When I arrived we found our reservation had been canceled because of a question regarding the credit card we had used. No one ever contacted us about the problem. We had to look high and low for a room on a busy summer weekend and ended up paying double the original amount to secure a room. I would never use Booking.com again. I wouldn't rely on them to schedule any vacation, esp. Europe after this experience.

Also used it and had to cancel once, they were Ok.

Hmm ... I've used booking.com many, many, many times over the last 6 or 7 years and have never had a problem.

Today I took a look at a hotel and noticed for the first time a $2 booking fee plus local tax. Is this new?

I've used booking.com and have had no problems. I only use it if the rate is cheaper than the hotel itself. I've cancelled before with no problem, but as mentioned above, you need to check before booking what the cancellation policy is. I always double check on the booking.com website before I leave to make sure nothing has changed.

@Oliviae - but did the hotel cancel the booking, or booking.com?

http://www.booking.com/general.en.html?tmpl=docs/about

<i>No Reservation Fees: The Booking.com reservation service is free. We don't charge any booking fees or add any administration fees – and in many cases rooms can be cancelled free of charge.</i>

However, individual properties may charge a non-refundable deposit in my experience. It's important to read the cancellation policy carefully even with Booking.com . Even if a hotel has "free cancellation" they may still charge a deposit.

well.. they call it a service charge.

Today you'll pay US$ 0
You pay on arrival US$ 59.99
Total price US$ 59.99
(for all guests)
TAX (12.05%) not included
Service charge (US$ 2) not included

Which hotel?

IME, taxes and service charges are often listed separately on booking.com. I would not assume that a "service charge" (imposed by the hotel) is a booking fee. I have never experienced a booking fee when using booking.com.

Lots and lots of complaints over on Trip Advisor about Booking.com but have never seen any complaints about www.hrs.com which is the website that I use.

See which ones have the better deals, check the hotel website too. Sometimes the deals on hrs are better than the hotel itself.

Oliviae1939 on Jul 21, 13 at 3:07am
I see it is your first post so welcome to the fourm.
You post shows you do not understand the concept of Booking.com
The website is only a listing website. They do not guarantee your booking if there is problem with your CC. It could have been that you entered the number wrong or something.
It is the hotel that will refuse your booking. The system works very well and you do receive a notice. Maybe it ended up in your spam folder or maybe you did not fill out the email address correctly. It could be that you never looked at your email you never said how long it was between booking and arriving.
To sum up: to say it is Booking’s fault is not correct.

lincasanova I too would be grateful if you named and shamed this hotel. However a service charge in the US (I assume this is one located there) is more about tips, no?

I would also suggest everyone reads the T&Cs here:
http://www.booking.com/general.en-gb...and-conditions
It gives clear and concise details of what emails are sent and how to cancel, etc.

I've used it and had no problems at all, but never tried to cancel. I got a much cheaper rate than the hotel's rate, that's why I did it.

Also, I think there is a city "service charge" for hotels or something that might be notated separately, it's not necessarily a booking.com fee, I don't remember paying one. And a svc chg in the US is not necessarily for tips in hotels.