Posting this as a warning because I honestly didn’t think this could happen on Booking.
I booked an apartment in Krakow for Dec 30 to 31. High season, limited options, family trip. The listing was marked as Featured and had a high quality badge, so I trusted it even though it felt slightly off.
After placing the booking, it stayed in “pending” status and I got a message asking me to contact the host to confirm availability. They sent me a WhatsApp number and bank details and said prepayment was required due to the holiday. I paid. They confirmed receipt. Then they disappeared and the booking expired.
What really bothers me is how Booking enabled this:
The listing had badges and ratings that made it look verified
The host had my name and email before the booking was confirmed
There is no way to report a scam for a pending booking because there is no booking number
“Priority support” didn’t respond at all
The same scam listings are still live weeks later
I’ve used Booking for almost 20 years and have top Genius status. I never expected this level of exposure or lack of support.
Lesson learned the hard way: never send money outside Booking’s payment system, no matter how legit the listing looks.
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