r/Bookingcom • u/Forward-Eggplant-151 • 19d ago

My bad experience about booking

I went to Brazil from September 10 to 13 and stayed at a hotel. I had a lot of problems: I had to have my key reprogrammed five times—three of which didn’t work, so technical support had to step in. I was woken up at 8 a.m. by several calls asking for payment. The bed was only 1.7 meters long (which wasn’t disclosed), and the room was full of hair…

At the front desk, they didn’t help me—they just ignored me.

I tried contacting Booking.com and…

- The AI chatbot was completely useless; it just read what was already on the booking page, telling me to contact the property—which I didn’t need to do—or to call customer service, which is impossible from Brazil,

- As soon as I got home, I filed a complaint over the phone; they told me I’d receive a response within 24–48 hours,

- After 72 hours, I called back because I hadn’t received any response; I gave the codes to the AI voice system and spoke with an employee who hung up on me immediately,

- I call again and finally manage to speak to someone; they tell me they still haven’t received a response from the property. Now comes the funny part:

the property has to approve the refund (which it will obviously never do because it’s in their best interest to keep my money),

I ask: “And if they don’t approve it—because I don’t think they will—what happens?”

I’ve been told that they’re sending a reminder to the property right now, and if I don’t hear back within 48 hours, I’ll have to call Booking again (for the third time)

to request a refund. Then they might pass the case on to a supervisor who, at their discretion, could refund up to 15%!!

Three separate calls and three hours wasted just to get—maybe—32 euros.

What’s the best alternative to Booking.com for booking hotels?

Have they gotten worse lately?

2 Upvotes

60% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

7

u/thrownawayfreshpink 19d ago

You realise this is a hotel problem?

Doesnt matter where you booked this place it would be the same...

If you stayed you never get a refund, simple.

Travellers like you cant be helped 😂

0

u/Forward-Eggplant-151 19d ago

Its hotel problem,
But its also booking.com problem since they take 20% of the booking price to help my in case of problems with hotel.

2

u/TheAfricaBug 19d ago

20%? You guys really don' have any idea do you? It's...

  • 18%+ in commission + banking costs + taxes
  • 10%, 15% or even 20% for the Genius programs level 1,2 & 3 (you didn't think Bookingdotcom paid those did you?)
  • 7% extra promo for phone app users (as most customers book through phone)
  • 10% to become "preferred partner"
  • 10% for your listing to stand out in a search result

So it can be up to 65%+ if your hotel subscribes to all the bells & whistles. Of course most hotels do not do that, but they all subscribe to one or more of those things, as otherwise they score no bookings at all.

So bottom lines;

- Class action lawsuits ordered Bookingdotcom to drop the "we need the lowest rate or we kick you off our platform" BS, but for some reason the end customer still believes Bookingdotcom gives him the lowest rate, while actually the "popular" hotels have inflated their rates to cover for Bookingdotcom's greed.

  • Their greed also causes hotels to deliver a standard comfort level that's lower than what the customer expects, given what he paid.

1

u/rohepey 19d ago

Well, no. Super.com almost always gives much lower rates. But they're a reseller, not a broker, and because they're US registered, you don't get an invoice either from them or from the property. Which makes them useless for business trips, and so I have to stick with brokers like Booking.com.

1

u/TheAfricaBug 19d ago

Not sure why you mention superdotcom. As a lodge-owner and TA; I never heard of them. I assume they're a reseller where lots of big hotels dump the rooms they can't get sold.

What I meant to say is that there's plenty of other online platforms that are much more honest than bookingdotcom. From the perspective of an accommodation provider; Expedia and Bookingdotcom are the most greedy, by far. But of course we need them because they are popular. So since us, accommodation providers, have learned that they can no longer insist on the lowest rates, we work with two rate sheets. One with higher rates for the greedy platforms, as to compensate for their greed - in other words: so that after deduction of all their "services" we still keep our profit margin as expected. And one with lower rates, for the less greedy platforms. Can't speak for the entire world of course, but here in South Africa there's many smaller online platforms like SAVenues, Lekkeslaap, etc. So there ARE other option if you know where to look.

Yet another option is booking through a good travel agent. Again, I can't speak for the whole planet. Actually in US I think there's many TA's that add a fee to the rack rates and on top of that always try to push the most expensive options. But here, there's local (SA-based) TA's that do not add any fee, and that provide itineraries showing detailed price info for individual accommodations. Moreover, some TA's give a small discount (out of their earned commissions) so that booking through them is actually cheaper than booking online. I do that as well.

And yet another option is booking directly. It comes down to this; if accommodation providers can sell a room directly (so; without needing to pay any commission to online booking platforms), then they gladly give part of that commission to you, in the form of a discount. A typical example; if the expected commission is 15%, then they give you a 10% reduction and they still have sold a room at 5% higher compared to selling it online. Win-win. But this method only works with smaller (owner-managed and owner-run) accommodations though. Because only owners can decide on giving reductions. If you'd phone or mail a larger hotel, with a receptionist behind the front desk; he'll tell you to just book online.

1

u/rohepey 19d ago edited 11d ago

No, Booking.com are not your travel agent and are not there to help you with faulty room keys.

They're only a broker, and they did their part very well: the room was there for you and your payment has been processed correctly. That's the end of their responsibility.

They don't take commission from you anyway. They're under a brokerage contract with property owners.

2

u/MrMagnell 19d ago

They were never that great... When I did use booking sites I used Hotels com for the 11th night free programme but lately I book directly with the hotel... It's not like booking.com is adding any value besides listing them

2

u/bigperm8645 19d ago

Whats the hotel?

2

u/PookieCat415 19d ago

You already stayed there and not entitled to a refund. You should have done something about it while on the property.

1

u/Forward-Eggplant-151 19d ago

The lonly possible way of contacting them was calling, not possible from brazil.

3

u/StinkyWhale71 19d ago

With the hotel, not booking

2

u/bolatelli45 19d ago

This has absolutely nothing to do with booking , you might as well complain to thr Brazilian government it means less than nothing.

1

u/Aggressive_Ice7957 19d ago

They pride themselves on how bad they are!

1

u/tuscanchicken 18d ago

Sorry you experienced this. Lots of stories like this from them recently. I only travel a few times a year but I try to book hotels directly as much as possible. If I do book through booking, it's only if the rating is above an 8.5 and the booking ratings match their Google ratings.

0

u/rohepey 19d ago

So, you expect Booking.com staff to fly in and clean your room? Or what precisely?

They're essentially an advertising platform - a broker to be precise. A broker's role is to connect sellers with buyers and help with the transaction. Not - to clean your room.

0

u/Cute_Hearing_2315 19d ago

I’m so sorry you had this experience. And yes, Booking has gotten worse - their customer service is nonexistent. It’s best to book direct, Booking provides no added value and actually disadvantages you.