Booking.com free cancellation feature

jme2010

The hotel has gone ahead and charged for the first night as stated in the confirmation email.

What happens if I cancel the booking? I assume a refund from the hotel.

Anybody know how long the refund takes or have you had any issues with this?

Thanks in advance.

Gatica

The T&Cs of your booking should state this. If you made a fully cancelable booking, then whatever they charged, they should refund. How long it takes depends on hotel policy unfortunately... you can always call them to see if they can speed it up.

Jrop

I've a nightmare with booking.com. I booked a hotel for November with booking.com. What wasn't made clear was this was a NON refundable booking. Now i can't go away and can't get a refund. Be very wary

Gatica

All their bookings are non-refundable unless it states otherwise, I don't know how it wasn't made clear as it's in the description of the booking before you enter your payment info in the account.

Jrop

Gatica I didn't see that anywhere. Lesson Learned the hard way

endofrainbow

jme when you cancel your booking, booking.com will pass the cancellation on to the property. How long it takes is at the discretion of the hotel but I have found, a quick call to Booking.com gets it sorted within a few days.

Mary63

I thought with Booking.com no money is taken until you arrive at the hotel.Obviously if you don't turn up then the first nights accommodation at least will be charged.

It is easy to book a non refundable option,its usually slightly cheaper.You have to be very careful that you choose the free cancellation option.

endofrainbow

Mary63 wrote: »

I thought with Booking.com no money is taken until you arrive at the hotel.Obviously

depends on the property

Mary63

Really,how can you check that out.

I booked three hotels this summer with booking.com and all clearly showed how long I ad to cancel the booking.No money was taken until we arrived at the hotel.

I assumed this was the way the site worked.

endofrainbow

from their Terms and Conditions :

Does the hotel need a deposit or a payment in advance?
Most hotels do not require an advance payment or deposit. If they do you will find the details under ‘Hotel Policies’ on the hotel’s Booking.com page and in your confirmation email.

jme2010

Mary63 wrote: »

Really,how can you check that out.

I booked three hotels this summer with booking.com and all clearly showed how long I ad to cancel the booking.No money was taken until we arrived at the hotel.

I assumed this was the way the site worked.

There is a section on 'fine print' or 'T&Cs' Just before you book.

I have 3 upcoming bookings with them and they all where under different category's:

1. The hotel will take the full amount immediately
2. The hotel will take for the first nights accommodation at any time and pay the balance on arrival
3. Pay nothing now. Pay full amount on arrival.

Also on all the 3 bookings I have the option to cancel before a deadline for full refund. That option was very clearly advertised before I booked.


Been using booking for a few years now but thats the first I've seen the status bar of canceling above. Actually love the company never had an issue.

spurious

The 'full amount immediately' rates are usually substantially less than the 'pay at the hotel' ones.

Kerry Gooner

spurious wrote: »

The 'full amount immediately' rates are usually substantially less than the 'pay at the hotel' ones.

Yet they still describe the more expensive rate as "Free Cancellation", hardly seems free to me.

jme2010

spurious wrote: »

The 'full amount immediately' rates are usually substantially less than the 'pay at the hotel' ones.

Not true.

I have one 'pay at hotel' booking of $100 total.

Another that cost $400 and they took it immediately in full

The third took the first night of around $100 and I pay $300 when I get there.

All with the option with free cancellation.

RobertKK

I booked 6 nights in Rome for Easter on booking.com, going alone so booked something very cheap as I just really need somewhere to lay my head and get a wash.
I have until a few days before I go to cancel. It is collect money when I arrive to stay.
It all depends on the property you want to stay at.

Mr rebel

The only issue I've encountered is when I thought a hotel had taken the first night's payment from my account when it was a "free cancellation" booking.
I contacted booking.com and they reassured me it was a pre-authorisation which hotels are allowed to do, and the funds would be released back into my account after a few days. They were correct.

Dodge

Mr rebel wrote: »

The only issue I've encountered is when I thought a hotel had taken the first night's payment from my account when it was a "free cancellation" booking.
I contacted booking.com and they reassured me it was a pre-authorisation which hotels are allowed to do, and the funds would be released back into my account after a few days. They were correct.

This is very common in France from my experience.

_kookie

I love this feature of booking.com
That feature alone makes me use booking.com above any other hotel booking site.