Booking.com mistake

gizmo81

So, booking a few different hotels for an upcoming holiday I booked one that wasn't free cancelation.

I have emailed the hotel and apologised and explained I was confused by the green font. It's 5 months away and less than 48 hours since I booked. So I'm hoping they understand.

In the event they don't I used my Revolut card for the booking. If there's no money on the card what happens?

Feeling stupid.

Anyone similar experiences?

Mr rebel

If there's no money for them to take they will automatically cancel your booking anyway I would imagine, which they might have already done as usually hotels take the money almost immediately from your account on a pre-paid rate.

drunkmonkey

Use booking.com customer care as their the ones that can let you change on their website not the hotel itself.
Call 01 9075882 or email them.

gizmo81

Thanks, so booking.com got back to me and said the hotel refused the request to cancel without penalty. So i cancelled anyway. There's no money to take on the card. I emailed the hotel since and again apologied so will see if I hear back.

Will report back

peckerdara

It's usually up to the hotel - can you leave a review - maybe that will help change their mind?

nhunter100

peckerdara wrote:

It's usually up to the hotel - can you leave a review - maybe that will help change their mind?

A review? The OP hasn't stayed there. Why would you suggest this. The hotel didn't make a mistake.

Doltanian

gizmo81 wrote: »

Thanks, so booking.com got back to me and said the hotel refused the request to cancel without penalty. So i cancelled anyway. There's no money to take on the card. I emailed the hotel since and again apologied so will see if I hear back.

Will report back

IF you topup your revolut card they may deduct then, get revolut to issue you with a new card and number to be safe.

gizmo81

Yeh was thinking along this line too.

Doltanian wrote: »

IF you topup your revolut card they may deduct then, get revolut to issue you with a new card and number to be safe.

peckerdara

nhunter100 wrote: »

A review? The OP hasn't stayed there. Why would you suggest this. The hotel didn't make a mistake.

I agree it is not their mistake but it is still, IMO, very poor customer service.

I would understand if the booking was days away and the hotel may be left with an empty room, but it is 5 months away.

It is clearly a genuine mistake and should have been handled better by all.

gizmo81

Update: The hotel got back to me and said the payment was declined so they won't pursuing the payment.

Thanks for all the replies and advice.

thelad95

peckerdara wrote: »

I agree it is not their mistake but it is still, IMO, very poor customer service.

I would understand if the booking was days away and the hotel may be left with an empty room, but it is 5 months away.

It is clearly a genuine mistake and should have been handled better by all.

I disagree, hotels are there too make money and most people are wary enough to realise what they're getting themselves into when booking.

Especially booking.com, everything is bolded and explained thoroughly on every step of the process, I don't know how the OP didn't realise that they were paying up front.

gizmo81

Because they had Free Breakfast (Included) in the same green font as they usually have Free Cancelation.

thelad95 wrote: »

I disagree, hotels are there too make money and most people are wary enough to realise what they're getting themselves into when booking.

Especially booking.com, everything is bolded and explained thoroughly on every step of the process, I don't know how the OP didn't realise that they were paying up front.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

thelad95

Just a tip. With some hotels (especially smaller three star ones, not chains), if you ring the reception and quote the booking.com price, they may give you a cheaper option because with direct bookings they don't pay commission so it's a win-win.

Graham

thelad95 wrote: »

Just a tip. With some hotels (especially smaller three star ones, not chains), if you ring the reception and quote the booking.com price, they may give you a cheaper option because with direct bookings they don't pay commission so it's a win-win.

+1

or for the same rate the hotels will throw in breakfast, spa-visits, free-parking, newspapers.

Stationmaster

Graham wrote: »

+1

or for the same rate the hotels will throw in breakfast, spa-visits, free-parking, newspapers.

This should be done a lot more. Many hotels are paying high commissions to booking.com and other sites and would only be too happy to quote a better price or offer more for the same price. I have always done this and it has always worked out better. Hotel is much happier too.

Mr rebel

At least for me, the real charm of using booking.com is how easy it is to cancel a booking again with just one click. If you book through a hotel and want to cancel, you'd usually have to go to the bother of ringing them up.

Graham

Mr rebel wrote: »

At least for me, the real charm of using booking.com is how easy it is to cancel a booking again with just one click.

That convenience is offset by the time you'll waste opting out of the 437.2 daily marketing emails you'll receive from booking.com telling you about your points, or the special offers, or the extra-special-super-secret-squirrell-vip rates that you're now qualified to receive. :mad:

killbillvol2

Graham wrote: »

That convenience is offset by the time you'll waste opting out of the 437.2 daily marketing emails you'll receive from booking.com telling you about your points, or the special offers, or the extra-special-super-secret-squirrell-vip rates that you're now qualified to receive. :mad:

I never get marketing emails from booking.com and I use it about 20 times a year. You can opt out you know.