I booked and paid for two rooms via Booking.com on Thursday, 9th October for a stay at The Hoxton Hotel, London on Saturday, 11th October. Each room cost £246, and the booking was made through one of their “partner” providers. The following day, I called the hotel to arrange an early check-in, only to be told that no booking existed under my name. The hotel explained that partner bookings sometimes only appear on the day of arrival — but they were almost sold out, so I tried to cancel through Booking.com. Booking.com refused to cancel and instead told me to contact the third-party provider, reportedly a company in China, but they wouldn’t share the company’s contact details. When I looked online, I found numerous reports from others experiencing the same issue — bookings made via Booking.com’s partners that never reached the hotel. When I arrived in London, the hotel still had no record of my booking, so I had to pay for two new rooms at £284 each. Had the hotel been fully booked, I would have arrived with no accommodation at all. I’ve now spent around £1,000 for two rooms, when Booking.com failed to deliver the service I paid for. I submitted a formal complaint to Booking.com yesterday, and they responded by asking me to call to resolve the issue. However, when you call and mention the words “complaint” or “refund,” they immediately cut the line. I’ve called twice — both times, the call was terminated mid-conversation. This experience has been appalling from start to finish — no accountability, no transparency, and no customer service. I will not be using Booking.com again and would strongly advise others to avoid using partner bookings or the platform entirely.