Booking.com - property already occupied on arrival - emergency replacement booked

rnem170

Hi, Need some advice.  

I'm recently back from a holiday in Ireland.  When I turned up at the property booked via booking.com (booked in Euro to avoid DCC charges) there was someone in it in a long term let.  The renter had not bothered to inform me in advance - even when I notified them or arrival time on the day.  

I called booking.com in the UK after finding a number buried in their site.  I made several calls whilst outside the property - to the owner (17:45 on a Sunday (voicemail)) and then to booking.com (18:15, 18:28 (cut off after being on hold/waiting) and 18:49).  All they said was they would try and contact the owner.  They did not advise what to do regarding emergency accommodation for my family and I as sleeping in the car wasn't an option.  Bear in mind we were in a small village 1.5+ hours south of Dublin so not much choice.   Booking.com had no availability locally. 

We managed to find an two Airbnb with similar facilities available and arranged with the owner of the cheaper one to book it at an hours notice.  Booking.com hadn't even called us back, despite saying they would.  The Airbnb was more expensive of course.   

Over the next few days I made multiple calls with booking.com and they were less than helpful.  They offered me €179 in compensation - but are refusing to pay the difference in accommodation fees.  They did, 4 days later offer me an alternative property - which was considerably more expensive than the airbnb I booked.   They also said because I have booked it myself, they would not cover the difference.  Clearly they wanted me and my family to live out of a car for 3 days.

On return I have taken up the matter again and booking.com have refused to accept my Airbnb invoice as this is in GBP.  Airbnb are refusing (saying it's not possible) to issue me an invoice in EUR, despite the property being in Ireland.  I don't believe it's possible to pay in 'local/property' currency anyway with Airbnb.  

Not too sure what to do next as I'm significantly out of pocket.

Voyager2002

Did you pay Booking by card?

rnem170

Voyager2002 said:

Did you pay Booking by card?

Yes, and they refunded it in full.  Paid in Euro, refunded in Euro and exchange rates fell in my favour - but not to the tune of the difference between the two properties.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

Hi OP

Booking.com are just an agent, the contract for accommodation is with the owner, possibly falling under Irish law. 

If this was a UK booking I’d say you’d be entitled to the difference as damages (paid by the owner rather than Booking.com) but if Irish law I’m not sure.

Do you have any terms which state what law the contract is governed by?

Do you have details for the owner and where they are based? 

Olinda99

agree - it is the owner you should be going for, not booking.com

GDB2222

Whilst we were part of the EU, it was an awful lot easier to sue someone in Ireland than it is now. Unless there’s a large amount of money involved, I would not bother.   

rnem170

Thanks all.  Booking.com have stepped up and compensated me nearly €550 (their calculation of the property price delta), which when added to the money made on the currency exchanges covers the majority of the difference and I'm only £140 out of pocket.  This is probably down to the extortionate airbnb "fees" which get applied to any stay.