Cancelling a Booking.Com Hotel to book direct?

sparkiemalarkie

Hi I have booked a hotel apartment for Sept - October this year in Australia .
I book through Booking.com.
Booking direct is so much cheaper. What are your thoughts about cancelling and rebooking directly with the hotel?
The problem is - I can't book one direct with the hotel first, and then cancel my Booking.com, as there are no other apartments available when I want to go. I would have to cancel and rebook the same apartment.

Just wondered what your thoughts/advice was

tia

sx

Caz3121

It is a risk that there will still not be any apartments available for your dates when you cancel…there is no guarantee it will go on the hotels inventory. Sometimes third parties take a block of inventory or there may be a waitlist waiting on a cancellation that will be confirmed when you cancel

heatherw_01

There is always the chance there will be no rooms when you come to rebook.

Also does the price direct include all fees on the price you are looking at? Sometimes fees are added at the checkout point.

I personally wouldn't be risking it if it was me, but it's your choice.

luci

Too big a risk in my opinion if there are no apartments available.

What about looking for an alternative on Booking.com then pricing booking it direct?

Jemma01

Sometimes I find rooms available on booking.com and not on their website. I think it really depends on the agreement between booking.com and the hotel.

I would take the risk if the difference is significant and there's another option available if I lose that one

p00hsticks

It's very easy to say that a product is much cheaper than being offered elsewhere when it isn't actually available……

zagfles

How do you know it's cheaper direct if it's not available? Are you looking at other dates? They won't necessarily be the same, there may be some reason when you're going is more expensive eg an event in the area.

Best way would be to phone the hotel and talk to them. They should be able to tell you the score, and they might be happy to make a provisional booking subject to you cancelling the booking.com booking.

Worried_fool

Are you sure that Booking will allow you to cancel without paying? Their entries are often misleading.

Booking is almost always more expensive than contacting the hotel directly, but you pay for the convenience. (Sadly you don't get much in the way of customer service, nor protection from scams.)

TELLIT01

Certainly a risky strategy. As others have said, there is no certainty that rooms will still be available once the cancellation of the current booking is confirmed.