I’ve used Booking.com for years, level 3, never had a real issue until now. This one booking honestly killed my trust in them.
I booked a hotel back in April for a weekend in late November. Around October I started seeing reviews saying the hotel wasn’t even open. People local to the area were saying the same thing. I tried emailing, texting, and calling the hotel for weeks. Zero response.
I contacted Booking.com and they kept telling me to contact the hotel directly. I kept explaining they weren’t responding. Even Booking.com admitted they couldn’t reach them either, but still refused to help because the booking was non refundable. They told me to just show up at check in and call them if there was a problem.
There was a major event that weekend, so I booked a backup hotel just in case. Good thing I did. When I arrived, the hotel was dark, doors closed, sign saying closed. I took photos. Then 45 minutes before check in, the hotel finally texts me saying they can’t accommodate me due to renovations and that Booking.com would handle the refund.
That’s when it somehow got worse.
I spent a month chasing Booking.com. I called about six times. Every time I was told to wait 5–10 days while they “waited for the hotel to respond.” The hotel never responded. This cycle repeated multiple times. I was promised a refund by Dec 26. Nothing. On Jan 3 they asked for proof of purchase again, confirmed they had it, and promised the refund in a few days. Still nothing.
On Jan 8 they told me they were sending the hotel one last email and I had to wait another 72 hours. After everything. I finally demanded a supervisor.
Eventually the supervisor admitted I was handled poorly and that their process fails when a hotel doesn’t respond. The refund is now pending, supposedly up to 7 days.
I got my money back, but the amount of time, stress, and refusal to act when the facts were obvious is insane. For a company this big, the support was shockingly bad. One bad hotel I can accept. Booking.com’s response is what lost me.
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