Booking.com, a premier agency for travel reservations has come under fire lately for a number of reasons. Many clients are uncertain whether the agency can be trusted. Just how reliable is Booking.com?
It is reasonably safe to use Booking.com for securing your travel accommodations. From full, honest property reviews to accurate cost quotes, Booking.com provides transparency and full disclosure to their clients. They also provide the phone number and physical address of the hotel booked, along with an interactive map to make it easier to locate your accommodations.
Booking.com partners with literally millions of property owners around the globe, so there’s bound to be the occasional unpleasant experience now and again. Let’s examine Booking.com’s practices to see if they can be trusted.
Is Using Booking.com Safe?
Booking.com is one of the safest travel agencies available. Their honesty and transparency bolster their legitimacy as a booking agency.
While policies and procedures can be confusing to the layman, if time is taken to truly read and understand, one will find that everything is spelled out in their terms and conditions.
Full Disclosure Ensures an Informed Decision
Booking.com leaves nothing to the imagination when it comes to booking information. Every hotel for which they book has an overall rating based on customer reviews. That rating will be at the top of the hotel’s blurb.
Customer reviews, both good and bad, will be available so you can make an informed decision based on reviews of:
- Hotel cleanliness
- Customer service
- Noise level
- Comfort
- Amenities
- Accessibility
These reviews will help you to decide if the hotel experience is worth the price. Plus, reviews will give you an extra sense of security if you are trying something new like staying at hostels.
Complete Information Gets You to Your Destination
Upon booking a reservation with this agency, they provide you with the full contact information of the hotel you booked, including:
- Phone number
- Physical address
- Interactive map of the hotel and surrounding area
This ensures that you can find the location of your accommodations with little to no trouble at all.
The interactive map includes easily recognizable landmarks near the hotel so that even the most directionally-challenged traveler can find their destination.
Also, this makes it easier if you need to change something about your reservation. You have the hotel’s phone number so that you can talk to them directly about any changes or upgrades to your reservation.
It allows you to call the hotel and confirm your reservation before arriving. This will prevent any nasty surprises resulting from human error.
Encrypted Card Details Keep Your Identity Safe
When you make a reservation through Booking.com, a pending charge will be placed on your credit or debit card. Your card will not be charged until you check in to the reserved hotel.
Booking.com encrypts all card information to prevent identity theft. Your information is never sold to third parties.
But you should be aware that Booking.com sends your encrypted information to the hotel where your reservation is made.
This hotel can do anything they wish with your information and Booking.com has no control over that.
Can You Get Scammed on Booking.com?
I won’t say that you could never be scammed, but it is highly unlikely that any agency booking more than one million rooms per night could participate in a scam without getting caught right away.
There are plenty of reviews claiming scam, but when the full story comes out, the truth usually is that the client failed to do their own due diligence in researching the property they were booking.
Client negligence does not constitute a business scam.
The simple fact is most of these complaints involve:
- Ridiculous, petty demands
- Failure to read the hotel’s policies
- Failure to show up on time
This is in no way a scam on the agency’s part. So, while caution is encouraged in any business dealing, it is not accurate to say that Booking.com is a scam.
Does Booking.com Have Hidden Fees?
No. The price you see on the website when you book your reservation includes Booking.com’s service fee.
However, you should be aware that some hotel may charge a transaction fee to your credit card. This is because they are charged every time they process a credit card transaction, so they pass that expense along to you.
This is not the fault of Booking.com, nor do they receive any part of this fee. This is strictly the hotels prerogative.
For this reason, it is a good idea to research the hotel terms and conditions as well as the agency’s terms and conditions. Otherwise, you may end up angry with the wrong entity when you see an unexpected charge on your card.
Who Is Booking.com Owned By?
The owner of Booking.com is a company known as Booking Holdings, formerly called Priceline Group. The company is based in the United States, but the agency’s headquarters are in Amsterdam.
It seems to have some difficulty with upper management having gone through three CEOs in less than ten years. Perhaps this lack of leadership is to blame for some of the scandals that are currently erupting around the travel agency.
Booking.com has integrated with Booking.com Limited, formerly known as Active Hotels Limited, garnering more than one billion dollars in profits for the parent company.
Many other partnerships across the world has positioned Booking.com as a global travel agency with its website programmed in 43 different languages.
In each country or territory there are many support companies that supply Booking.com with the information it needs to continue making reservations for clients.
However, these groups do not in any way act on behalf of Booking.com or offer travel services to customers.
Can Booking.com Cancel My Booking?
There is much confusion over this issue. In fact, it has been one of the major complaints lodged by clients against the agency in recent months.
Some say their reservations were cancelled with no explanation and no refund.
According to the Booking.com Terms and Conditions page, they do reserve the right to cancel some reservations without prior notice and with no refund.
This does not apply to all reservations indiscriminately. Specifically mentioned reservations at risk for cancellation are those requiring partial or full down payment or pre-payment.
In addition, these cancellations are not always the fault of the agency. The hotel itself will have policies in place that may differ from Booking.com’s policies.
Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that many of the complaints lodged against Booking.com may rightfully belong at the feet of the hotel owner.
That is not to say that booking.com never cancels reservations; they most certainly do. But one would be well served to read all the fine print including that of the individual hotel before making a reservation.
As for refunds, Booking.com makes it clear on their website that not all reservations are eligible for a cancellation refund. One must read very carefully to ascertain whether their reservation is entitled to a cancellation refund.
Do Your Own Research
In recent months, Booking.com has been besieged by a growing mountain of complaints regarding their customer service.
Clients complain that Booking.com is unreliable and uncaring about their customers’ needs. Complaint topics include:
- Inaccurate hotel information on the agency’s website
- Misleading hotel information on the agency’s website
- Cancellations with no explanation or refund
- com’s failure to substitute lodging in cases of unexplained cancellations
- Unwarranted card charges
- Unhelpful customer service agents
- Unwillingness to settle claims
There has even been talk of a scam operation involving Booking.com, although that has not been proven.
It must be remembered that any business is only as good as the people who work there. If the employees are careless and unscrupulous, the service will be careless and unscrupulous.
It should also be remembered that in times of high stress, people look for a scapegoat to blame all their problems on. They feel their inability to control what is happening in their lives, so they lash out at whoever is handiest.
After reviewing countless pages of the complaints against Booking.com, it seems that the tidal wave of disgruntled customers can be attributed to four things:
- A misunderstanding of the agency’s role in making reservations
- A lack of understanding how individual hotel policy shapes the process
- A sense of customer entitlement
- Legitimate instances of human error
These four factors can prove devastating to any business because the disgruntled parties are bent on spreading their disgruntled message as far and wide as possible.
Conversely, people who are satisfied with their experience rarely leave reviews. So, it looks as if the agency has only negative reviews from clients.
Independent Research Yields The Best Results
Research the hotel you’re interested in before you book through the agency. Hotel information is not always up to date on the website.
This could be due to the hotel not communicating changes to the agency or the agency not getting changes documented promptly.
With over twenty-eight million listings, it would be humanly impossible to keep everything up-to-the-minute.
Do your own due diligence before you accuse Booking.com of negligence. Go to the hotel’s website and search in-depth to find if they have what you want.
Always Confirm Your Reservation with The Hotel
A few days before your arrival date, call ahead to the hotel, not the agency. Make sure that your reservation is on the hotel’s roster and that your reservation information is correct.
This can save you grief later when you learn that the hotel never documented your reservation, and you need to find another place to stay at the very last minute.
If you want to upgrade your room or ask about amenities, call the hotel directly. They are the only ones that can answer these questions.
This should also be practiced with flights. Make sure to call ahead or check your ticket to be sure you make it onto you flight. And if you need a pocket size travel game for your trip, check out the ones in that article.
Booking.com can’t possibly know first-hand all the changes that their property owners have decided to make in the last six months.
It’s your trip; take responsibility for it and learn as much as you can about a property before booking it.
Knowledge Is Power
Know how your banking information is handle by the hotelier. Learn their processes for safeguarding your identity.
Ask about cancellation and refund policies. Ask about transaction fees and hidden charges. Ask every conceivable question of the hotel itself, not just the agency.
While no transaction is without risk, especially in this digital world of cyberthieves and hackers, you can minimize those risks by putting in a little work yourself to learn how the process works. This is especial important during solo female travel.
Always Read the Fine Print
Nearly all the accusations mounting against Booking.com involves a customer’s neglect to read the fine print.
Either the agency fine print or the hotel fine print. It must be remembered that the terms and conditions of both entities come into play in the reservation process.
Agencies like Booking.com can be helpful in planning your travel accommodations, but they do not negate your responsibility to make sure you fully understand everything you are agreeing to before you click the Book Now button.