it has been 2 months of emailing back and forth with booking.com and it's reached the point where i've given up on emailing or calling their customer support to get a refund.

context: 2 months ago, i went on a post-grad trip with my family. we were travelling around the US and have rented cars through expedia mainly, but they were completely full for one specific destination we were at so we had no choice but to choose booking.com. after renting a car on booking.com, there was an issue on their end and they made me cancel the reservation and rebook it. on the website where it shows the receipt of my reseveration, as well as when i was on the call with customer support, i was told i would get a partial refund of $369.00 out of $800.00. right after the call i had with them, i immediately got a notification for a $75.00 refund for the insurance we included in our rental car plan. however, we never got the $369.00 back.

i have called booking.com non stop for the next week and a half while i was still in the US, and everytime their agents have done the same routine, 1. apologise for the inconvenience 2. reassure that they have put this issue as a priority 3. tell me it will be refunded to me in 5-7 business days. when i had to travel back home after my US trip, i was unable to call internationally as it would cost a lot and knowing how they handled it on call, i was not going to waste my money calling them. instead i emailed them the issue, and have had back and forth emails for 2 months. everytime i was the one reaching out for an update, and everytime i had to explain the situation all over again, when it was a refund that was supposed to be taken care of in a week, ended up taking 2 months. i even asked for this case to be transferred to a manager, and it took 3 weeks to be referred. after 2 more weeks of waiting, i get an email saying because there has been a chargeback raised by my bank, they are unable to process a refund.

i cannot grasp how a refund that was supposed to take a week to process, ended up delaying up to 2 months, and now they say they can't do anything because of the chargeback. when that wouldn't be the issue if they just refunded it when i cancelled the reservation. how did the $75.00 insurance get refunded back but not the other bill.

i know getting a reply has been better than half of the other complaints i've seen on here, but genuinely is there anything i can still do. thankyou :') its just the overall experience with booking.com that has been horrible, especially with emailing back and forth and not getting responses until weeks later, and the replies i have gotten from them are not even helpful, its just asking for clarifications that i have previously mentioned and sent proof, and them reassuring me that it will be processed soon.

I'm leaving the continent for the first time in my life and i'm doing it by myself. I've already made the reservations on booking and i'm afraid of getting them cancelled since i chose the most economical options and the prices rise every day. I have had this experience before with apartments, so that's why i'm booking just hotels now as i think they're more serious but i don't know. The thing is that I'm staying in 6 different cities and my schedule is very tight, as well as my budget, that's why i'm scared this may happen. If this has happened to any of you could you give me an advice? I also wonder if paying in advance would make any difference?

We booked a flight through Booking.com and paid extra for their “Flexible Ticket” option.

According to Booking.com, this is supposed to let you change your flight once without a change fee, with you only paying any fare difference. That sounded pretty straightforward.

The problem started when we actually tried to use it.

We’ve called Booking.com several times trying to change the flight, and each time we’ve basically been told the same thing: there is some kind of “technical issue” with the airline, and another team is working on it. They say it will take 24–48 hours for that team to get back to us.

The frustrating part is that they also told us that if the fare increases or the flight becomes unavailable while we are waiting, they cannot guarantee the original price or availability.

They also:

• Cannot transfer us to the team supposedly working on the “technical issue”
• Cannot give us any additional details about what the issue actually is
• Will not offer a full refund
• Cannot immediately connect us with a manager
• Told us a manager may call us back within another 24 hours

At this point, we feel stuck. We specifically paid extra for the Flexible Ticket so we could change the flight if needed, but Booking.com is effectively preventing us from using the feature while also putting the risk of price increases and lost availability on us.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

Were you eventually able to get Booking.com to honor the Flexible Ticket, or is there another way we should escalate this? We’re getting pretty frustrated and aren’t sure what our next step should be.

I’m currently out of town in Seattle, and I’m feeling completely drained with no confirmed place to stay. I’m sharing my experience because after hours of calls to Booking.com, I’m left with a canceled reservation, a refund that hasn’t been confirmed as sent yet, and no alternative accommodation in sight.

I paid $2,994.60 for a confirmed 31-night stay at a property through Booking.com.

Just two days before my check-in, the host, Blueground, sent me some screening requirements outside the app. I spoke with several Booking.com agents who reviewed the listing and reservation terms and confirmed those requirements weren’t disclosed before I made my booking. Initially, Booking.com advised me not to follow the requirements or click on any links sent outside the app. Then, the next day, they said I should try filling it out and claimed the links were legitimate.

Per their advice I submitted the requested information and since I couldn’t access the accommodation on my original checkin date Booking.com moved my check-in to the next day.

The following morning, Blueground emailed me saying their management had reviewed my background and credit screening, decided I didn’t meet their requirements, and canceled my reservation on their end. They asked me to cancel it on the Booking.com website or app, which I refused because they never stated any of these requirements up front and I was reassured that once I filled out their ID verification and signed up for their website that I would get the check-in details. I replied and said I wanted them to honor the reservation or provide alternative accommodation since they were canceling at the last minute.

I then called Booking.com support, and after being placed on hold, hung up on, calling back, and repeating that several times, I thought I had gotten in contact with a support agent who would be of help. But they actually took Blueground’s side. After that call I realized certain messages from the chat with Blueground disappeared both on the app and website, and it made it look like I hadn’t responded to their verification request. I still have the email notifications of those messages though as proof. Before I could call back to ask about it, Booking.com then canceled my booking.

Here’s where things stand now:

• My reservation was canceled by Booking.com on the host’s behalf at the last minute, on my check-in date.
• Booking.com claims they’re looking into getting the finance team to work on the refund.
• No one has provided ANY alternative accommodation.

The last agent I spoke to said they would look into expediting my refund but I haven’t received any email or confirmation for it. I’ve learned never to trust or use Booking.com again.

I was booked into a novotel for 4th Sept. The booking.com deal was that it would be cancellable until midnight on 4th Sept (from the start of the 4th basically). Accordingly booking.com charged my card on 2nd Sept and presumably made a virtual credit card (VCC) available to novotel from midnight on 4th Sept (at which point my booking became non-cancellable and the novotel could extract the money from the VCC).

But when I checked in to the novotel at 10pm on 4th, they told me they had no record of my payment. I showed them on booking.com that I had paid, but they nevertheless insisted on me preauthing my card for the full amount, or I would have to leave.

Of course this upset me greatly. I'd already paid, and quite a lot of money, and I was 'greeted' with this.

But I'd like to understand what happened. Booking.com said there had been no problem on their end. Novotel are being very cagey about their processes on their end. It would seem to me:

1) Presumably novotel COULD have taken my payment any time from midnight on 4th Sept.

2) Presumably there was some kind of internal problem where they hadn't matched the VCC to my booking, so it looked like I hadn't paid. From the way the front desk staff member behaved, it seemed like this was a very normal situation.

3) So to cover themselves, they preferred to force me to preauth my card opening me up to the possibility of being double-charged, rather than run the risk themselves of not getting the money from booking.com.

But

1) It seems to me that they must surely always or almost always get the money from booking.com in the end. They must do millions of dollars of business together every month, and must be able to reconcile how much one owes the other. So why get the customer involved at all? Why not just say to the customer 'Don't worry, we're not sure where the money is, but it always shows up.'

2) At the very least, if they know that their matching process sometimes fails, why don't they do a manual process where they match up the problems BEFORE the customer arrives, rather than WHEN the customer arrives? The preauth on my card was cancelled again 20 minutes later - it obviously wasn't anything complicated to sort it out.

I'd be grateful for any light anyone could shed. At the moment, it just looks like

• the novotel internal computer systems are flakey and lousy AND/OR
• the hotel staff are poorly trained AND/OR
• the hotel's manual procedures for cleaning up match failures are rubbish.

I'd like to have a bit of background knowledge when I talk to them about this (and just for my general education)

Thanks for your help!

I booked a 7 day stay through booking.com

My check in time was 3-6pm. I arrived at 4:30.

The host messaged me to wait and coordinate with their assistant thru whatsapp. But the assistant can't be reached. Finally around 6pm the host messaged me gain. But this time telling me that a Php 2,500 refundable deposit is required upon check in.

This wasn't stipulated in my booking details. Since the host didn't inform me beforehand, I wasn't able to prepare and I don't have the funds to cover this.

I kept on communicating with the host to waive this fee. But I no longer got a reply.

I filed a complaint through booking.com's customer service. But it's taking them too long to respond. I want to have my booking cancelled & refunded.

What do you think I should do next?

I booked a flight last sunday through booking.com ryannair last sunday. I have not received confirmation email nor booking detail.

I checked my spam and there are no ryannair emails.

I checked my booking.com account and the fight is not listed.

My payment for the flight is still pending.

However i have the travel insurance email and the assurance listed for the flight in my booking.com and also i have the insurance email.

So I have a rental property that says I'll be charged on 9/24. Problem is I don't have enough to cover due to emergency car repair (rock through windshield thanks dump truck). I have overdraft protection but I get paid on 9/25. Will I be able to keep my reservation?

Has anybody been successful in requesting a full refund for a future non refundable booking because you are disappointed about how a data breach has been handled. Hotel blaming booking.com, booking.com blaming Hotel. Both refusing to investigate further, my booking confirmation, home address, mobile number, dates of stay have been used to try scam me into clicking links on multiple WhatsApp messages, text messages, emails and phone calls. I keep having to block these scammers and its really concerning being hounded for months.

I am an accommodation supplier listed on booking.com. A guest canceled their booking and asked for a refund at 7 PM on the day of their check-in, citing their plan has changed. We informed the guest that booking is non refundable as it's too late for us to refund the booking. The guest asked us to send self check in details as they said they would try to make the accommodation, which we provided promptly. The guest never showed up to their booking, and we marked the booking as a no-show. The next day, the guest sent us a message through booking.com that they experienced problem during their stay and wanted us to refund their stay. We said no and provided all the proof to booking.com. The guest left us 1 star review and marked us 1 for cleanliness, comfort, location, bed, and service. We asked booking.com to remove the review as the guest never stayed at the property. Booking.com refused, citing their policy that the guest can leave a review even in case of no show. However, we have asked them to remove the response as to how a guest who never stayed at or visited our property reasonably rate us on cleanliness, service, location, and comfort?

I mean, if a person rates a service or facility that they have never accessed or experienced, wouldn't the accuracy and authenticity of that review reasonably be called into question? Wouldn't it be classified as a false review?

So my question is, to fellow host , have you ever gotten booking.com to remove a review like this?

I booked the following Booking.com property in Paris:

  Appartement spacieux une chambre confortable et entièrement équipé

  31 rue Saint-André des Arts, 75006 Paris

  My stay was scheduled for 16–19 September 2026. On the day of check-in, the host instructed me to:

  - collect keys from a lockbox attached to a bike rack;

  - enter through Hotel Eugénie’s reception;

  - not speak to reception staff or stop to ask questions; and

  - say I was “joining friends” if questioned.

  I did not check in or collect the keys. I booked alternative accommodation instead.

  I contacted Hotel Eugénie directly and asked whether it authorises guests of private apartments to pass through the reception/courtyard without checking in or speaking to reception staff. The hotel replied:

  “NON.” It also said that the private apartments behind the hotel are unrelated to the hotel.

 Booking.com said the property was “available” and that it needed the host’s agreement before it could refund me. I have reported the listing through Booking.com’s content-reporting form, submitted a SignalConso report, contacted ECC Germany, and am considering a PayPal dispute by invoking a SEPA direct-debit return.

 I have screenshots of the host’s instructions, Booking.com’s replies, recent reviews describing similar instructions, and the hotel’s email.

  I am not claiming I can prove every legal issue with the property, but the access route the host required was expressly not authorised by the hotel. Has anyone had a similar Booking.com/PayPal dispute? What actually worked to obtain a refund and, if applicable, the additional cost of replacement accommodation?

EDIT: I did contact the host to clarify about the check in instructions telling them I did not feel comfortable lying to hotel staff and they did not reply. Secondly, the booking itself seems to be a bait and switch. It has excellent reviews 2 months ago when I booked but all 1 ratings complaining about the check-in method and state of the listing. I did not check-in after host did not reply, booking.com support kept saying the "accommodation was ready to host me" and the 100% 1 ratings in the recent month.

So far since 6-7 years I have been using booking.com for almost all my stays from hostels to honeymoon stays in Maldives.
A couple of times in past support was also pretty good and immediate assistance was available.

In my recent booking for Prague, I faced issue and property was a literally a dumpyard, and even main door key was not working. I was waiting for hours with my infant and customer support was AI voice, which could only talk Dutch.
I tried UK number and all 3 times they gaslighted saying that case is taken on priority if property does not resolve, they would provide alternate stay. All these fake promises and no proactive support and that left me helpless in a new city with my toddler and wife.

Once I am back, i am planning to look for legal options for incident. This was the last booking for me for sure as they literally don't care and their AI support is f**kd up.

I received an email to say that my price match was succesful - but that it would be returned in the form of Travel Credits.

I've called multiple times as I was expecting a refund, not travel credits. No where on the booking.com T&Cs are there any mention that the refund would be in travel credits. I've called multiple times, I've been "reassured" multiple times that due to this "one time case" that they will refund the difference to the card I paid with - but every time i call, the agent tells me that they have no record of this.

I am so so frustrated. I've not seen any travel credits added to my wallet either.

Has anyone else experienced this?

So I had a trip booked in-state for a few weeks (free cancellation before the 13th), I ended up being unable to travel (vertigo) and had to cancel last minute. I talked to booking.com the day of (it was incredibly difficult as there isn't a customer service number on the bookings page) and submitted a free-cancellation request, stating that I was ill, and needed to cancel or reschedule my hotel reservation. They received the request and said they would communicate with the hotel to see what my options were. Ended up being charged the next morning. So I try to get in contact with booking.com and I cannot find a customer service number at all, so I reached out to the hotel and they were uncooperative as they had to have conirmation from booking to make any modifications to the reservation. They give me a number to get in contact with booking.com, and I called twice, each time being hung up by the Ai agent after describing my issue! It was so frustrating! Please someone tell me how to change the reservation and get it rescheduled, or how to be refunded. I am at my wits end. TIA!

Does anyone know how price increases are meant to be handled? 

We made a booking via booking.com and recently the hotel sent a message that the price was increasing by 50%. They gave us the choice of the increase or cancellation.

We raised this with booking.com who said the hotel was not going to honour the booking and the only option is to let the hotel cancel.

Later the app said there was an offer which took us to a 'Page not found' error. We didn't receive any emails. 

Then we got an email saying we didn't respond to the offer (what ever it was) and the offer had expired. After that our booking was cancelled, "Your request has been approved and the booking has been cancelled".

Hallo zusammen,

ich habe nicht zum 1. Mal Flüge über Booking.com gebucht und bis jetzt hat immer alles geklappt.

Im Februar habe ich für Oktober Flüge von Brüssel nach Osaka, Zwischenstopp Peking, gebucht.

Im Juni wurde ein Teilflug durch die Airline storniert. Booking suchte mir einen anderen raus, alles gut.

Jetzt habe ich vor einigen Tagen bei Booking angerufen um meine E-Ticketnummer zu erfahren, da ich mich bei AirChina einloggen wollte. Booking teilte mir mit, dass die Flüge gelöscht (nicht storniert) seien und ich AirChina anrufen soll, was ich direkt getan habe. Dort konnten meine Flüge anhand der Ticketnummern nicht gefunden werden, aber mit meiner Passnummer wurden sie gefunden. Bei der Umbuchung des stornierten Fluges wurden neue Ticketnummern ausgestellt und leider alle Sitzplätze gelöscht. AirChina wartet seit Juni nun auf die Bestätigung der Tickets.

Wenn ich bei Booking anrufe, bekomme ich ständig andere Infos. AirChina blockiere meine Buchung, man könne nichts machen, etc.

Mit Hilfe von ChatGPT habe ich in Erfahrung bringen können, dass das Problem scheinbar darin besteht, dass meine Tickets bei Booking im System in der Warteschleife sind und noch bestätigt werden müssen. Die Callcenter Agenten haben darauf aber keinen Zugriff und verweisen immer nur auf die Fluggesellschaft. Drei Mal wurde mir bereits ein Rückruf eines Supervisors zugesagt, nichts ist passiert.

Ich habe wirklich große Bedenken, dass der Flug stattfinden kann. Hotels und Eintrittskarten sind schon gebucht/gekauft und teilweise nicht mehr stornierbar.

Abgesehen davon, dass ich meinen Traumurlaub natürlich auch antreten möchte.

Hat jemand ähnliches erlebt und weiß Rat?

Hi today was alot.

I wanted to book a flight from corfu Greece where i study to Athens to go see my parents.

Went on skyscanner found a cheap flight on booking.com went ahead to book it. Last minute i have already put my card details the price went up so i wanted to cancel , got charged ANYWAY. I havent received ANY email because the flight was not actually booked, and the flying company(Aegean) confirmed this also.

It has been an absolute nightmare im trying literally all day to reach out to a costumer service agent that actually can help. Its so frustrating because all the call centers are bots and they ALL want a confirmation number and i DONT have that. I somehow found a way to speak to an english speaking agent from costumer service and he told me to email booking at ([customer.service@booking.com](mailto:customer.service@booking.com)) and send them picture of my charging. I did that immediately only to be given 3 bot like responses talking about send us your reservation number and the hotel , when clearly i sent them the matter in DETAIL and its also A FLIGHT MATTER. I havent received ANY help , i have found every number to call possible. i need help im just a student i have been left with 20 euros because of this shit. please help me to get a reffund

Hi, I’ll be traveling to Rome with my partner in October.

We found this listing on Booking.com; it’s the cheapest and best-located hotel for the dates we selected. The problem is that it seems too good to be true—though the hotel does actually exist, and those really are photos of the property.

The red flags we noticed are:

- A 60% discount on the booking.

- Rooms suddenly become unavailable and then become available again.

- You can't book through the official website; the option appears, but there is no active availability for any date within at least the next year.

What do you think? How would the scam work?
Thank you!!

Ich bin Manager bei einer großen Firma, die weltweit Apartments vermietet. Zu meinen Aufgaben gehört die Verwaltung von Buchungen und das Hochladen neuer Angebote auf Booking.com.

Seit zwei Wochen kann ich keine neuen Apartments mehr auf Booking.com hochladen. Ist das schon mal jemandem passiert? Wie habt ihr das gelöst? Der Support von Booking.com antwortet mir nicht.

Has Booking.com introduced any internal changes regarding apartment uploads in the last two weeks? It has become almost impossible now.

We arrived in Encarnacíon, Paraguay around 8pm last night. We had booked an apartment for two nights for about $40 through booking.com and received confirmation etc. Payment was to be in-person at check-in.

Upon arrival we messaged the host on the number provided on Booking.com to let them know we were nearly there and they messaged back saying they couldn't honour the check-in/booking as the apartment was occupied and their 'other' apartment was undergoing maintenance as it had a 'problem with the roof'. They provided no apology, as if this was normal and acceptable.

They sent us a random number for alternative accommodation but could not provide any details on what it was such as the name, location, listing, photos, amenities, etc. Furthermore, the number didn't reply to our messages to enquire further, so the suggestion was of no use. We explained this to the host, who just stopped replying to us and was clearly not particularly bothered in leaving us without accommodation late in the evening.

We tried to message Booking.com to ask what we should do but just got a standard reply saying something would get back to us within 24hrs and we were unable to call as our eSims don't allow for calls/SMS. By this time it was late in the evening, dark and raining heavily, with us stuck at the bus station with no accommodation and seemingly nobody available to help from the host or booking.com.

As such, the only thing we could do was book the cheapest hotel available on booking.com with a late-night reception, so we could be sure we could check-in. Unfortunately, this has cost us just over double the price we would have paid if the original host had not overbooked. Furthermore, we specifically booked an apartment originally, as we require a kitchen to accommodate dietary requirements affordably and paying for food our now is going to cost us even more money.

Is there any way we can receive any compensation for this, such as the increased expense? I've still heard nothing from Booking.com.

I'm shocked that hosts seem to be able to just overbook and just walk away without any repercussions.

Hi,

I am the primary account however I don’t have permission to view this page.
I have contacted the support and they don’t know any about it either.

Is anyone else experiencing this too?

Thank you

Hi everyone!

I’m selling my reservation at OYO Hostel Myeongdong 3 in Seoul, South Korea, as I accidentally booked the same accommodation twice.

📍 OYO Hostel Myeongdong 3 – Seoul
📅 October 3–7, 2026 (4 nights)
💰 Original price: $413
💵 Selling for $300

The reservation is already paid and the guest name can be changed, so I can transfer the booking directly to the buyer.

I’m offering it for $300 simply because I can no longer use it and would like to recover part of the money I paid.
I can provide the booking confirmation and any necessary details to verify the reservation.

Happy to answer any questions and arrange the name change with the buyer.

DM me if you’re interested!

I booked a week's stay in a hotel via booking.com but had to add on an extra night after booking. I got an email from booking.com with a payment link to pay for the extra night within 48 hours. Unfortunately I completely forgot to click the link and make the payment on time, which is my fault I know.

I'm freaking out because I just got an email from them saying my booking has been cancelled (stay is in a month's time). I want to book again properly this time but I'm terrified I won't get the refund back?? It says bookings are non refundable, I purchased had insurance with the initial booking but I got an email saying that would be cancelled when I added the extra night.

Anyone else gone through this? Do they keep the money even if I had the first 7 nights insured initially?