Paying by Paypal for holiday appartment -safe?

zerog

peachyprice wrote: »

Also check their status on Paypal, whether or not they are verified meaning Paypal will have checked their identity

This "checking" is worthless, especially outside the UK

gjs1701

Booking.com have confirmed that Paypal is the way to pay.

Greg

joerugby

gjs1701 wrote: »

The policy says pay on the day of booking.

I have insurance - so I guess if the aparments went bust I'd be covered.

Read your policy carefully

lea2012

zagfles wrote: »

Really? AFAIK you never pay booking.com. I've booked with them loads of times and never paid them, it's always the hotel you pay under whatever policy the hotel has (sometimes in advance sometimes on arrival, sometimes on departure, sometimes a deposit in advance). But always to the hotel never booking.com.

We've booked a short stay in Corfu in June via booking.com and we had to pay at the time of booking, the payment showed upon my bank statement as booking.com so I presume they then pass on the money to the hotel.

zagfles

lea2012 wrote: »

We've booked a short stay in Corfu in June via booking.com and we had to pay at the time of booking, the payment showed upon my bank statement as booking.com so I presume they then pass on the money to the hotel.

News to me! Their usual policy is you pay the hotel direct, I'm sure they used to say you never pay booking.com but I can't see it now so maybe they make exceptions.

It makes you wonder, if they take cards themselves, why can't they take card payments for those accomodations who want paying by bank transfer/paypal and pass it on. Then you can pay by card and be covered. I suppose then booking.com would take the risk rather than the customer.

shaun_from_Africa

zagfles wrote: »

It makes you wonder, if they take cards themselves, why can't they take card payments for those accomodations who want paying by bank transfer/paypal and pass it on. Then you can pay by card and be covered. I suppose then booking.com would take the risk rather than the customer.

If booking.com were to take the risk, they wouldn't do this out of the goodness of their hearts but would only do it it they were not losing money because of it.
If they were to accept the risk in taking payments and passing those payments on to the accomodation providers, they would have to take an extra percentage to cover the risks involved, something that would have to be passed on to their customers.

zagfles

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

If booking.com were to take the risk, they wouldn't do this out of the goodness of their hearts but would only do it it they were not losing money because of it.
If they were to accept the risk in taking payments and passing those payments on to the accomodation providers, they would have to take an extra percentage to cover the risks involved, something that would have to be passed on to their customers.

They already do it according to the PP! It's basically the same risk as your bank takes whenever you pay for anything by CC.

Alternatively booking.com could hold onto the money till the date of the booking - after all the hotel probably doesn't need the money upfront, they just want to make sure people don't book and then not turn up.