I’m looking to book a weekend stay in London and received the following message from the host instead of paying through Booking.com, which I have always done in the past.
You may have noticed that during booking there was no option to enter a credit card or a pay now button.
Payment by card via Booking.com is not available for this rate.
This is part of our tariff plan and Booking.com payment rules. We only accept payment for accommodation via bank transfer (SEPA) to our corporate IBAN account. It is fast, reliable, and without commission for you.
This is a standard and completely safe practice in Europe.
I am sending you the account details officially via the booking chat. Please open the booking chat where you will find the official invoice with our IBAN details.
You can make an instant SEPA transfer for GBP 747.90 to confirm your reservation.
⏳ Payment deadline: 24 hours. If payment is not received, Booking.com will automatically cancel the reservation and the dates will be released again.
This immediately raised red flags for me and feels suspicious. I was expecting payment to go through Booking.com as usual.
Has anyone seen this before? Is this a legitimate payment method on Booking.com or likely a scam?
0