Booking.com, Alpharooms etc... Trustworthy?

pandamoanium

Hi all,

I'm looking to book a hotel for a few days in Spain over Xmas.

Normally I'd book through the hotels directly however I've found some really good prices through Booking.com for a hotel I'm interested in which is much cheaper than booking direct with the hotel.

I've never used these "middlemen" operations before to book a room and I'm just wondering how reliable/reputable they are?

I've heard of people being conned in the past, money paid and no room booked in the end etc...

Can anyone vouch for the two companies named above or recommend any other similar sites?

Thanks everyone!

Limerick91

I have used booking.com all over the world.

Excellent website. It has saved me a fortune

You usually don't pay upfront with booking.com.

Your credit card just holds the room

PM me if you need more info

mkem

Have used booking.com loads of times, absolutely spot on. Also you should try www.lowcostholidays.com/ , Used them last august, great deals to be had with them also.

mikedragon32

+1 for booking.com I use it when booking groups so I don't get hit with a big bill up front.

Very helpful staff too, if you end up having to ring them.

Ponster

Booking.com

Priceline is the parent company of the European organisation Booking.com.

Booking.com is Europe’s leading online hotel reservations agency by room nights sold, attracting over 30 million unique visitors each month via the Internet from both leisure and business markets worldwide. Established in 1996, Booking.com offers rates for any type of property, ranging from small independent hotels through to a five star luxury. The site is available in 24 languages and offers over 73,000 hotels in 71 countries.

tweety76

Hi,

I've used both alpharooms and booking.com several times. No issues and bookings always 100%.

fonzy157

+1
Have used both sites regularly with no problems

wintear

venere.com is also a good sight for booking Hotels, I have used it for places in Austria and Italy.

Maybe worth checking the price on these sites and then contact the Hotel directly to see if a cheaper price is available?

elainesnuffles

my mother recently booked accomodation with this company, she paid in full with her creditcard., and two hours later due to bad news she received she told me she was unable to go. the booking was for end of january, this was in november. i cancelled 2 hours later and received an email from them saying i would be notified with further cancellation details. they never contacted me.
after hours of ringing them their phone was finally answered (we live in ireland) they told my mam there was no cooling off period even though the transaction was cancelled within 2 hours. they explained there was a cancellation fee of €48 which she accepted she would have to pay,
however when her credit card bill arrived they still charged her the full amount €278 plus the cancellation fee.
she spent ages trying to ring them again and i emailed them and got no reply.
i have now received an email telling me that they will refund the amount minus the cancellation fee, but my mams credit card bill is all over the place.
i found them very unhelpful and also their web site quoted their prices in euro but on the credit card bill it was converting £ to €.
i will never again book with this company

finbarrk

elainesnuffles wrote: »

my mother recently booked accomodation with this company, she paid in full with her creditcard., and two hours later due to bad news she received she told me she was unable to go. the booking was for end of january, this was in november. i cancelled 2 hours later and received an email from them saying i would be notified with further cancellation details. they never contacted me.
after hours of ringing them their phone was finally answered (we live in ireland) they told my mam there was no cooling off period even though the transaction was cancelled within 2 hours. they explained there was a cancellation fee of €48 which she accepted she would have to pay,
however when her credit card bill arrived they still charged her the full amount €278 plus the cancellation fee.
she spent ages trying to ring them again and i emailed them and got no reply.
i have now received an email telling me that they will refund the amount minus the cancellation fee, but my mams credit card bill is all over the place.
i found them very unhelpful and also their web site quoted their prices in euro but on the credit card bill it was converting £ to €.
i will never again book with this company

You don't say which company it is though. I doubt it's booking.com as they don't charge in advance.
Advice for the OP, just call the hotel to confirm the booking and you will be happier.

elainesnuffles

sorry finbarrk, it was alpharooms
im only new to this forum and only learning as im going alon

Ponster

elainesnuffles wrote: »

im only new to this forum and only learning as im going alon

As are the rest of us !

Welcome to the Travel Forum

rossie1977

booking.com, alpharooms, 1800hotels, otel.com.

use them all the time with no problems

used lowcostholidays a few years ago, they rang me to tell me i had been moved to a new hotel next door before i flew out, was a lovely hotel to so they also get a thumbs up

it difficult not to use those sites when booking somewhere like the canaries because most of the apartments there don't have direct booking facilities or even their own websites

LyonsTea

Have used both booking.com and alpharooms lots of times with no problems. I have booked places on booking.com just to hold them and when I see better offer always cancel without any problems

shiibata

Have Alpharooms and Booking.com merged by any chance. Just booked a hotel on alpharooms, I got an email from alpharooms and booking.com at same time, different ref numbers, both thanking me for booking with them:eek:

Nonoperational

Same, used both many times with no issues.

DB83

Have used both several times without any issues

Booser

I used booking.com for booking motels in america last summer and several places around europe. Never had a bad experience with them. I was booking a hotel in New Orleans but then cancelled it later when I switched to another. I didnt get charged anything for it. However its the hotels themselves that set the rules on what they charge you when you make the reservation, and also their cancellation policy. You just need to be careful when choosing and reading the Hotel Policies part of the page. A lot of the time its not the websites fault when things like that happen as its the hotel that charges the card.