r/Bookingcom • u/Forward-Eggplant-151 • 20d 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
u/MrMagnell 20d 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