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Booking.com Host demanding undisclosed deposit after booking and refusing to honour booking
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Booking.com do not provide accommodation as has previously been pointed out.
They provide a site for hotels & rental properties to advertise their services. Nothing more nothing less. Think of it like Autotrader of Rightmove.
OP started thread & appears never to been back. So we have no idea if they paid BC ?
Life in the slow lane0 -
Unfair terms would fall under the unenforceable or not incorporated category. Terms that go against statutory implied terms would also fall into the unenforceable category.
The fact that businesses tend to settle claims does not mean you have a solid legal position. Let's assume you are right though, so booking.com are in breach of contract for failing to provide the accommodation by the host. Your remedy under the Consumer Rights Act is either (a) repeat performance or (b) a price reduction, up to 100% of the price paid.
Booking.com can't repeat performance because they don't own the accommodation nor would they have access to the host's booking calendar or even if they did the host could cancel, which leaves a price reduction. Where in your contract with booking.com does it say you will pay them a sum of money? The money paid belongs to the host provider less any % commission taken by booking.com (commission is not the same as a price so you can't recover that either).
The answer is that you've not agreed to pay booking.com anything, so for breach of contract in failing to provide a service, you are able to recover a grand total of £0. Consumer rights laws does not assist you here because it hinges on you having actually paid booking.com a price or fee that you owe them.
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"Everything was fully confirmed and paid straight away."
From the OP"s first post.
The OP at the time of their last post was entitled to a refund of that payment.
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Hi everyone,Sorry I haven’t been back sooner — it’s been an extremely stressful few days, but I can finally give an update.
Booking.com were initially unhelpful and kept insisting that I had to travel to the property and attempt to check in, even though I had already explained that I didn’t feel safe doing so.
Yesterday was the day my stay was due to start. At 9am the host phoned my mobile out of the blue, was rude, threatening, demanded money, and then hung up. They immediately started calling repeatedly and sending threatening text messages. I took screenshots of everything and forwarded them to Booking.com, and I refused to travel to the property.
I sent one message through the Booking.com app asking the host to stop contacting me, as the calls and texts were becoming harassment.
After that, the host began sending further threatening messages through the Booking.com chat. When I didn’t respond, their partner also started calling and texting me. I was called names, told to stay away from the property, and threatened with being reported to the police — despite the fact that I had done nothing wrong, I had never been anywhere near the place and had not even left home. Eventually I had to block their number.
I went back to Booking.com again and told them I was being repeatedly threatened and harassed, and asked them to intervene. After a lot of persistence, they finally agreed that the host’s behaviour was unacceptable. By this point it was too late for me to travel anyway.
Booking.com cancelled the reservation on the basis of host cancellation, not mine, and they are processing a full refund.
Thankfully the host has gone silent today. If the messages had continued, I would have reported them to the police for harassment.
It’s been a horrible experience and has left me very shaken, but I’m relieved it’s now resolved.
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What do they do then lease them? I assume so? Does booking.com lease hotels then? Nope, so what was the point of even writing that!
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Your assumptions are incorrect.
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The long and the short of it though is they do not in any way shape or form run a single hotel so stop pretending they do!
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Why would anyone pretend that they run a hotel ?
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