“First I would like to warn anyone who is thinking of Booking with this company that now the have no offices in the UK and we are no longer in the EU then you cannot use the Small Claims Court any more to get your money back when things go wrong. They also will not supply you with the information that will allow you to pursue the owners of the accommodation and ignore your emails. Below is my experience with them.
I would like to share my experience with all of those thinking of making a reservation through Booking.com in general or with The Copthorne, Conwyn Bay in particular. I had a reservation to stay the week beginning the 5th October, but on the 1st October the Welsh Government introduced a travel ban into or out of the Conwyn area for all but essential travel and going there for a holiday was not considered essential. This meant that I would be breaking the law to travel there. I therefore asked for a refund or a voucher for the amount of my booking so I could rebook in the future as I believed that under the Frustrated Contract Act 1943, that as I would be breaking the law to honour my part of the booking contract, it became a Frustrated Contract and therefore I was entitled to cancel it and get my money back. I also noted what the CMA was saying with regards to Covid19 and bookings. Both of these were refused so I asked to be able to change the booking to a date when the travel ban was no longer in place. After making a number of attempts and only after I threatened legal action was it agreed for me to change the dates of my stay. I was offered a short time frame as to the dates I could change to and was told I had to book them before the 5th October. Through out the 2nd October I made many attempts to change them, even stating I was willing to pay the extra costs associated with the new dates. Late in the afternoon and still being unable to book the new dates I reached the conclusion that the reason I could not book them was because the original booking was still there so I cancelled it. Because of this I was told the offer to rebook had been withdrawn and when I asked why I was told the owners of the accommodation was refusing now to let me rebook. When I contacted the owners they blamed Booking.com and when I again contacted Booking.com they blamed the owners and now both of them have now refused to reimburse me or let me rebook the stay and only paying the increase in the cost of the new booking compared to the original.
Both sides have handled this very badly and now I am having to take further action to recover my money. Booking.com asked me so many times to contact The Copthorne myself that the owners stated that I was harassing them and I believe this is why they refused me to change the booking. I would now not recommend anyone to use Booking.com or book The Copthorne whilst the virus is still with us unless you want to risk losing your money. I have also noticed that they are now offering free cancellation.”
“I booked a stay at the Bellagio with Booking.com and although the T&Cs clearly states that all fees are covered, the hotel charged me resort fees and taxes on top. This was 7 months ago and I am still trying to get the fees back from Booking.com or the Bellagio. The Booking.com customer service tried to stall my request by asking for more and more detailed receipts, which the Bellagio refused to provide. Now, after 7 months of calls and emails in the double digits, Booking is claiming that I can't get my money back, because I used their Booking base" tariff and did not opt for their premium service. Needless to say that this is not correct and the T&Cs still apply in my case. Conclusion: Booking is a total scam and I will pursue legal action.”
“Disgusting company. Refused to refund any of our £2300 holiday due to Covid-19, despite easyJet cancelling our flights. I am looking for every travel website I can find to warn people that this company is parasites and exploiting the global pandemic to make a profit. DO NOT use.”
“no refund despite the promise and the host "Aloni Neve Zohar Dead Sea" is utterly ignorant
after calling them for hours they made a promise to refund the trip due to cover, but know 2 weeks later still no money, and the is no way to call anymore and every email reply is looking like i have to start over every time , its either automated or clueless.
the host from "Aloni Neve Zohar Dead Sea" is not returning call or emails either”
“Never had an issue, very good customer service.
All of hotels have been same as pictures and surroundings also the same. Always happy using booking.com”
“Unbelievably bad service. We booked a hotel in mid-February and want to change the date by 1 day due to a change in plans.
My wife called the hotel directly who immediately agreed to the change in date but said that Booking.com need to make the change on their system.
I called Booking.com customer service who completely refused to change the date, provide a refund, speak to the hotel themselves, or allow me to speak with a manager.
Avoid this terrible company and book direct with the hotel.”
“Refusing to acknowledge my emails, despite sending them with outlook's recorded add-ons. Does not want to refund me for a stay that was a nightmare. Hostel River in Pilzen - keep your distance! The same with Booking.com - 'responding not com'”
“I booked early check in. Got confirmation.
When i arrive after 30 hours of flights, my room was not ready. Had to wait more than 3 hours
The booking site refuse to post my review on the hotel on theyre website.
The Hotel has 5 stars reviews only...now i know why!”
“Cancelled a booking 2 days before stay, B&B still took the money from my account against policy, refused to refund, booking.com said I did not cancel but applied for the cancellation, fobbed me off, never use them again”
“I have faithfully used them for years but then I had a failed booking which cost me £202 and they are absolutely not prepared to take any responsibility although I booked it through them in good faith. I almost cannot avoid using them sometimes which frustrates me as they have such a strangle on the market however wherever I can I avoid using them now.”
“Excellent service. Makes it very easy to find suitable accommodation whenever you're away travelling. Always a good range of choice and prices, with good info and reviews on each property to help decide. Would recommend the app for an extra ease in making and managing bookings when on the go.
Also a nice bonus to get £15 after a recent booking for using a friend’s referral link.
If you’re going to make a booking of over £100, feel free to use my link to do it and you’ll get £15 back too. Even if you already have an account.
https://www.booking.com/s/34_6/75cb428e”
“Really bad experience arrived at the hotel and they never communicate the hotel that we we arriving, the hotel was fully booked and I had to find a place to for family to sleep at the same day, we had elder people on our group it was really stressful, the reservation was still confirmed and the website the moment we were at the hotel hall and they had no information from booking.com, the website canceled our reservation as if they were doing a favor, never going to use it again”
“Unacceptable!! Never again.
F**king up my holiday by cancelling my booking for NO. REASON.
Emailed me to update my card details, do it at lunchtime, get confirmation that all is good. Guess what? 9h later I get a cancellation email that I have not responded to them.
I mean....customer service people do not talk to each other? Is the system down?
Providing inconsistent information, destroying my holiday for no good reason and now I am facing at least 30% bigger rates because of THIS?
To hell with it. Unacceptable!”
