Booking.com room not as described (County Aparthotel, Newcastle)

itm2

We've just returned from a one-night stay at the County Aparthotel in Newcastle. We booked a Standard double room (via booking.com). When we arrived after a long day of travelling (at around 11pm) we were told that we would be checked into a "small double room". I immediately pointed out that we had booked a standard room, not a small room. The person at the desk heard me, but apparently ignored me, as when we got to the top-floor room we found that it was tiny - barely large enough to be considered even a single room. More importantly, the bed was extremely small (see attached photo). Looking at the hotel's website, they advertise "small double rooms" and "standard double rooms" separately. This was not evident anywhere on the booking.com website, which only had one option: "Standard room,1 double bed".
We are both quite slim people, but neither of us were able to get much sleep due to being crammed into such a small space. I raised a complaint with the front desk in the morning (having been too tired to go all the way back downstairs and deal with it the previous night), and explained that my conversation with their colleague the night before seemed to have been ignored by him. I was told that the problem was due to me booking via a third party, and that if I had read the "fine print" I would have seen that there was no guarantee regarding the type of room that we would actually be allocated.
I contacted booking.com and told them what the hotel had said to me. They are accepting no responsibility for the situation. I've had 3 responses from them which have all said basically the same thing, suggesting that I contact the hotel (despite me telling them 3 times that I had already done so, and relaying what the hotel had told me).
This was the most recent response from booking.com:
"Unfortunately, your reservation (11640210698471693316) was facilitated by a partner company. Therefore, in case you have any further questions about this booking, we encourage you to get in touch with the hotel directly for better assistance. Since this reservation is offered by the hotel, we have no right to access or permission to interfere with this booking from our side."
Can they really get away with mis-describing a room in this way?
I conducted the entire transaction on the booking.com website. The payment was made using my Chase debit card, and showed up on my statement as "Partners on Booking Bv".

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

itm2 said:

I was told that the problem was due to me booking via a third party, and that if I had read the "fine print" I would have seen that there was no guarantee regarding the type of room that we would actually be allocated.

Nonsense! trader's right to vary terms is very limited but no one is going to book and pay for e.g a suite and the get stuck in a single for the same price because the terms said so.

OP Booking.com are correct in that they are an agent and the issue is for the hotel to sort.

They appear to be a UK company, what is the difference in room rates and what was the purpose of the stay? 

eskbanker

itm2 said:

the bed was extremely small (see attached photo)

No kidding, that looks more like a single than a double!  Did you measure it?

itm2

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

itm2 said:

I was told that the problem was due to me booking via a third party, and that if I had read the "fine print" I would have seen that there was no guarantee regarding the type of room that we would actually be allocated.

Nonsense! trader's right to vary terms is very limited but no one is going to book and pay for e.g a suite and the get stuck in a single for the same price because the terms said so.

OP Booking.com are correct in that they are an agent and the issue is for the hotel to sort.

They appear to be a UK company, what is the difference in room rates and what was the purpose of the stay? 

The "small double room" is listed on the hotel website @£69. They don't have anything described as a "Standard" double room, but the lowest cost double room not described as "small" is £99. So a £30 price differential. We paid  £72 at booking.com, who only list one type of double room.
We were in Newcastle for a funeral.

I had assumed that because our booking and payment was made with booking.com they would be the responsible party?

itm2

eskbanker said:

itm2 said:

the bed was extremely small (see attached photo)

No kidding, that looks more like a single than a double!  Did you measure it?

I wanted to, but didn't have a tape measure handy.

eskbanker

itm2 said:

eskbanker said:

itm2 said:

the bed was extremely small (see attached photo)

No kidding, that looks more like a single than a double!  Did you measure it?

I wanted to, but didn't have a tape measure handy.

It seems self-evident from the photo that there isn't enough space to place two pillows side by side - I don't know if there's any minimum dimension for a room/bed to be advertised as a double though....

Edit: I think you've been sold a pup - your room looks identical to what they advertise as a single:


https://www.countyhotel.co.uk/rooms/bedrooms/city-single-room/

TELLIT01

itm2 said:

I had assumed that because our booking and payment was made with booking.com they would be the responsible party?

As you have discovered, Booking.com claims just to link purchaser and vendor.  They will say you haven't booked WITH Booking.com, you have used them as a link to the hotel.  I'm not saying I agree with that argument, simply stating their stance on the situation.

Jumblebumble

This gets worse
this is the description from Booking.com  for Friday 5 June

Queen size Bed  in an 8 feet squared room Ha Ha 

The worse thing is the imbeceles at Booking,com are aware that their description is nonsense but don't bother to  fix it

Small Double Room

Room

Private bathroom

Flat-screen TV

Minibar

Free WiFi

Room size 8 ft²

1 double bed

Comfy beds, 8.4 – Based on 1,730 reviews

This standard double features a UK queen-size bed. These unique rooms include tea/coffee making facilities, a flat-screen TV and complimentary toiletries in the bathroom

Jumblebumble

itm2 said:

We've just returned from a one-night stay at the County Aparthotel in Newcastle. We booked a Standard double room (via booking.com). When we arrived after a long day of travelling (at around 11pm) we were told that we would be checked into a "small double room". I immediately pointed out that we had booked a standard room, not a small room. The person at the desk heard me, but apparently ignored me, as when we got to the top-floor room we found that it was tiny - barely large enough to be considered even a single room. More importantly, the bed was extremely small (see attached photo). Looking at the hotel's website, they advertise "small double rooms" and "standard double rooms" separately. This was not evident anywhere on the booking.com website, which only had one option: "Standard room,1 double bed".
We are both quite slim people, but neither of us were able to get much sleep due to being crammed into such a small space. I raised a complaint with the front desk in the morning (having been too tired to go all the way back downstairs and deal with it the previous night), and explained that my conversation with their colleague the night before seemed to have been ignored by him. I was told that the problem was due to me booking via a third party, and that if I had read the "fine print" I would have seen that there was no guarantee regarding the type of room that we would actually be allocated.
I contacted booking.com and told them what the hotel had said to me. They are accepting no responsibility for the situation. I've had 3 responses from them which have all said basically the same thing, suggesting that I contact the hotel (despite me telling them 3 times that I had already done so, and relaying what the hotel had told me).
This was the most recent response from booking.com:
"Unfortunately, your reservation (11640210698471693316) was facilitated by a partner company. Therefore, in case you have any further questions about this booking, we encourage you to get in touch with the hotel directly for better assistance. Since this reservation is offered by the hotel, we have no right to access or permission to interfere with this booking from our side."
Can they really get away with mis-describing a room in this way?
I conducted the entire transaction on the booking.com website. The payment was made using my Chase debit card, and showed up on my statement as "Partners on Booking Bv".

I would have no hesitation in charging back 
Then at least a real person and not some cretinous bot will look at this

itm2

TELLIT01 said:

itm2 said:

I had assumed that because our booking and payment was made with booking.com they would be the responsible party?

As you have discovered, Booking.com claims just to link purchaser and vendor.  They will say you haven't booked WITH Booking.com, you have used them as a link to the hotel.  I'm not saying I agree with that argument, simply stating their stance on the situation.

Looking at my debit card statement, the room payment was made to ""Partners on Booking Bv"", but the £50 deposit taken when I checked in was credited to "County". This suggests (to me, at least) that booking.com didn't simply redirect me to the hotel's reservation system.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

itm2 said:

We were in Newcastle for a funeral.

Sorry to hear OP

itm2 said:

Looking at my debit card statement, the room payment was made to ""Partners on Booking Bv"", but the £50 deposit taken when I checked in was credited to "County". This suggests (to me, at least) that booking.com didn't simply redirect me to the hotel's reservation system.

An agent can facilitate payment, or part of between the parties (i.e you and the hotel). They are sadly just an agent.

I'd be looking at the cost difference back between what you booked and actually received. 

There is loss of enjoyment with this kind of booking but I'm not sure the specific reason for the stay allows such. If it did it would be a small sum which most would colloquially label as "compensation".  

Push higher within the hotel, if no joy letter before action (templates on Google), not sure it's worth the headache of small claims but certainly worth a bad review at the very least.