Bookings.com misleading practice, be aware!

Aga_2 · 28 March 2017 at 7:51PM

Fellow travelers, be aware that Bookings.com is not transparent to say the least, about the free cancellation vs deposit for the hotel booking.
I booked with them many times in a past and again now - the weekly stay in Barcelona for more than 2 months in advance as the hotel was advertised all over the page: Free cancellation up to a day before the actual stay.
The cancellation may be free of charge (yet to find out) but the website doesn't state clearly that despite free cancellation the hotel may take a deposit from your card immediately, which happened my case.
After an unpleasant conversation with Bookings.com CS person who was basically shouting over me, I found out that she was right, not me. Well, sort of.
It turns out that the information about the deposit is on the website but only visible if you hover your mouse over breakfast info. There is a little question mark next to the breakfast price, which will show you a small pop up message about the deposit. Since I wasn't interested in breakfast - I didn't see it.
Now I've cancelled that hotel (Hotel Axel in Barcelona) and I'm waiting for 10 days to see if the monies will be refunded.
It would be very easy for Booking.com to state this clearly prior or during the reservation process - but they decided that all the overlays pop ups like: Two other people are looking at this hotel now! Last room remaining! Price match! etc etc. are more important than the information that hotel will take deposit from your card...
Very poor practice from the travel giant and makes me question their integrity as a business.

jpsartre · 28 March 2017 at 8:49PM

Free cancellation does not mean that no pre-payment is required. I don't find the pop-up you refer to but you are told in numerous places that this hotel charges the first night as pre-payment. When you enter your booking details there's a pop-up next to the "Free Cancellation" headline both at the top and bottom of the page. There's also a link on the left (just underneath the payment breakdown) which says "Read me - I'm important!" and which states that pre-payment is required. Then on the page where you enter your payment details, the pop-up at the top is still there, as is the "Read me - I'm important!" link, plus there a link to the booking conditions at the bottom which you agree to when you book which also states the pre-payment.

So, spread over two pages, the pre-payment is mentioned in 6 different places! How you missed all this not once but twice is baffling to me. How much more notice do you need and at what point does personal responsibility kick in?

Aga_2 · 28 March 2017 at 8:58PM

jpsartre wrote: »

Free cancellation does not mean that no pre-payment is required. I don't find the pop-up you refer to but you are told in numerous places that this hotel charges the first night as pre-payment. When you enter your booking details there's a pop-up next to the "Free Cancellation" headline both at the top and bottom of the page. There's also a link on the left (just underneath the payment breakdown) which says "Read me - I'm important!" and which states that pre-payment is required. Then on the page where you enter your payment details, the pop-up at the top is still there, as is the "Read me - I'm important!" link, plus there a link to the booking conditions at the bottom which you agree to when you book which also states the pre-payment.

So, spread over two pages, the pre-payment is mentioned in 6 different places! How you missed all this not once but twice is baffling to me. How much more notice do you need and at what point does personal responsibility kick in?

Working for Bookings.com by any chance or you went for all this effort just to prove me wrong? :rotfl:
And no - it shouldn't be a pop up message - it should be a fixed info visible all the time during the reservation process as clearly as the: Free cancellation! message.
Plus the website says: you don't need to provide your card details - yet it uses my 'saved card' to obtain the money from my account.

jpsartre · 28 March 2017 at 9:15PM

I could be the owner of Booking.com, it doesn't the fact that the info you missed is listed in 6 different places. If you can't be bothered to click a link that says "Read me - I'm important!" or read the booking conditions then you've got nobody to blame but yourself.

I don't know where the website says you don't need to provide your card details. As far as I know you always need to provide a card to book a room through Booking.com.

leylandsunaddict · 28 March 2017 at 9:48PM

As you've been told on Trip Advisor the info was there, and not next to the breakfast info, you just chose not to bother reading it.

Plus the website says: you don't need to provide your card details - yet it uses my 'saved card' to obtain the money from my account

The site doesnt retain your card details. It just passes them on to the hotel, and they process payments. You have to enter your card details in order to book so it's those details the hotel uses.

Aga_2 · 28 March 2017 at 10:26PM

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

As you've been told on Trip Advisor the info was there, and not next to the breakfast info, you just chose not to bother reading it.

The site doesnt retain your card details. It just passes them on to the hotel, and they process payments. You have to enter your card details in order to book so it's those details the hotel uses.

So if I didn't provide the card details for this particular reservation how the hotel took my money?
They have space to bombard you with all the 'call the action overlays' but turned out to be savvy on showing the important bit?
Give me a break...

Aga_2 · 28 March 2017 at 10:28PM

jpsartre wrote: »

I could be the owner of Booking.com, it doesn't the fact that the info you missed is listed in 6 different places. If you can't be bothered to click a link that says "Read me - I'm important!" or read the booking conditions then you've got nobody to blame but yourself.

I don't know where the website says you don't need to provide your card details. As far as I know you always need to provide a card to book a room through Booking.com.

And since you're the owner of Booking.com

or at least employed there can you tell me what was the reason that they didn't provide this info during the two page reservations? Not enough space on the internet? :rotfl:

Aga_2 · 28 March 2017 at 10:44PM

leylandsunaddict wrote: »

As you've been told on Trip Advisor the info was there, and not next to the breakfast info, you just chose not to bother reading it.

The site doesnt retain your card details. It just passes them on to the hotel, and they process payments. You have to enter your card details in order to book so it's those details the hotel uses.

How do you know 'I was told' anything on TripAdvisor than? Monitoring the Bookings.com keyword closely? :rotfl:
And FYI - I wasn't informed about anything on TripAdvisor yet...

CakeCrusader · 29 March 2017 at 1:02AM

I booked a hotel last night and it did say before the confirmation page that the hotel may take the charge off my credit card before the date of the booking. It also states on the email booking confirmation;
"Payment
You have now confirmed and guaranteed your reservation by credit card.
^The total price of the reservation may be charged at any time after booking.^
Please note that your credit card may be pre-authorised prior to your arrival." It is there on the site, and it is there on your booking confirmation (it's at the bottom). They are not misleading, you just missed it

Aga_2 · 29 March 2017 at 1:18AM

CakeCrusader wrote: »

I booked a hotel last night and it did say before the confirmation page that the hotel may take the charge off my credit card before the date of the booking. It also states on the email booking confirmation;
"Payment
You have now confirmed and guaranteed your reservation by credit card.
^The total price of the reservation may be charged at any time after booking.^
Please note that your credit card may be pre-authorised prior to your arrival." It is there on the site, and it is there on your booking confirmation (it's at the bottom). They are not misleading, you just missed it

If I could paste the image here I'd show the response I got from Bookings CS - because it confirms - it is a pop up message if you hover over breakfast option and under the link on the side - read me. It's not permanently visible on the page or during the reservation.

ShatelBurkinson · 29 March 2017 at 4:59AM

I've found that they've been okay. They definitely have some "unclear" terms and conditions and I would always advise double checking any bookings to make sure they are correct.

As always, if you DM a company on Twitter, I've found it to be very helpful.

Bookings.com misleading practice, be aware!

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free