Booking.com blocking my free cancellation

Chivito550

I booked a night in a B&B for August for a wedding through booking,com. The booking has free cancellation. Today I got an email (see below) off booking,com saying that the B&B can no longer honour my booking, and they would like to offer an alternative. The alternative is not near where I want to stay, and the location shown on booking.com is actually completely incorrect. I log in to cancel my booking, only to find that the free cancellation button has disappeared completely. It still says I have free cancellation, only now there is nowhere to actually activate this free cancellation. They have quite clearly blocked my free cancellation so that I will re-book into another hotel through them.

I'm absolutely furious at such a level of cheek. I have replied to them, and tweeted them on this matter and it has been radio silence thus far.

Has anybody ever come across this? What should I do? I dont want to re-book through booking.com if I can find a better deal elsewhere.

We are contacting you to discuss your reservation at XXXX B&B.

XXXX B&B is unable to accommodate your reservation _______. We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

This relocation is due to the property being closed for personal reasons for the date you have booked.

We’ve found an alternative for you:

Link: __________
Name: YYYY Lodge
Star Rating: 5
Review Score: 9.7
Phone Number: +353______
Address: ________
Distance (from original): 2.0 km
Room:1 x Double Room
Total Cost: € 90

If you like this option, here are the next steps:
• Make a new reservation at _________
• Share your new booking number with us by replying to this email

We’ll take care of cancelling the old one at no cost to you.

If you like this option, please let us know right away. The property will confirm your new booking and we’ll take care of cancelling the old one.

Please feel free to contact us for further help if you are not satisfied with the alternative offered. We’re available to discuss other options and your accommodation needs.

By providing your receipts, you give Booking.com B.V. permission to share this information with XXXX B&B. We’re committed to protecting your privacy and will only use the receipts to confirm your claim. We only keep this information as long as necessary.

Thanks for choosing Booking.com. If you need us again, we’re always here.

Kind regards,

October

I had to cancel a booking with Booking.com recently but I found they would take up to 48 hours to reply. I was past my free cancellation time so I didn’t have the cancellation button.

thelad95

I think you may be misreading the situation. “We’ll take care of cancelling the old booking” means you don’t need to press any cancel button.

They’re simply offering you an alternative with no obligation on your behalf to accept.

Chivito550

thelad95 wrote: »

I think you may be misreading the situation. “We’ll take care of cancelling the old booking” means you don’t need to press any cancel button.

They’re simply offering you an alternative with no obligation on your behalf to accept.

Well it is making it far more of a pain in the ass for me. If they kept the cancellation button there as normal then I'd have cancelled by now. Instead I have to communicate with somebody who takes an age to reply. It's quite obvious they have disabled the cancellation button so they don't lose my potential business so easily.

They dont want to simply cancel my old booking. They want to cancel my old booking but put me into a new hotel through them. I may not want this. I may find something on Air BnB or elsewhere that I prefer.

Flipperdipper

Drop them an email stating that under the circumstances you are cancelling without penalty as per your original contract. At the same time email your credit card company instructing them to make no payment this instance and explain why. Three minutes typing, job done, relax.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Much adu nattin

Eponymous

You could just ring booking.com. I've done that before and they're actually quite helpful. They cleared up a serious mess for a group booking that would have left me about €1,000 out of pocket because the hotel I'd booked changed their T&Cs about a week before departure.

This just looks like you don't have a cancellation button because you haven't actually accepted the new booking yet. A phone call will clear that up for you.

grimm2005

Based on their email it looks like the original is already canceled automatically hence the lack of a cancel option so unlikely any further action is required on your part. Maybe send a quick email reply saying you're not interested in the alternative and you'd just like your original booking canceled but I can't see a situation where you'd be charged by a hotel that's closed.

thelad95

Chivito550 wrote: »

Well it is making it far more of a pain in the ass for me. If they kept the cancellation button there as normal then I'd have cancelled by now. Instead I have to communicate with somebody who takes an age to reply. It's quite obvious they have disabled the cancellation button so they don't lose my potential business so easily.

They dont want to simply cancel my old booking. They want to cancel my old booking but put me into a new hotel through them. I may not want this. I may find something on Air BnB or elsewhere that I prefer.

You don’t have to communicate with ANYONE. Booking.com have cancelled the original booking by lieu of the hotel being closed and have offered a new booking.

If you don’t respond then this is the same as declining their offer as they can’t book you into a room without your go ahead.

killbillvol2

You can't cancel your booking as it's already cancelled.

They've offered you an alternative which you can refuse. End of issue.

You're having a hissy fit because they haven't responded immediately to an email regarding a booking that's 4 months away? I'd like to think that they prioritise issues that are more immediate and CS may be busy dealing with customers who have a problem with bookings today or tomorrow.

Chivito550

The booking is not cancelled. When I log into the booking it is active. If it was cancelled it would say cancelled in big letters. I’ve cancelled a few times before and I know the difference between a cancelled booking and one that is not cancelled.

Read the email in the OP. They say they will cancel my original booking once I have provided them my new booking reference.

They have cancelled nothing.

LiamaDelta

They'll cancel it if you ask them. Either way the booking won't go ahead so you won't be charged. I have a similar issue at the moment with them and I have found them excellent to deal with. I refused their alternative and they came up with another and they also offered to refund the difference if the alternative was more expensive. They emailed and followed up with phone calls each time.

thelad95

Chivito550 wrote: »

The booking is not cancelled. When I log into the booking it is active. If it was cancelled it would say cancelled in big letters. I’ve cancelled a few times before and I know the difference between a cancelled booking and one that is not cancelled.

Read the email in the OP. They say they will cancel my original booking once I have provided them my new booking reference.

They have cancelled nothing.

Christ on a bike.

“We’ll take care of canceling the old booking” what part of this sentence do you not understand?

This sentence is independent of the fact they have offered alternative accommodation. If you took no action the following will happen:

Your original booking will not be charged for as the hotel is closed and although the booking may be shown as active it definitely isn’t.

You would not be booked into alternative accommodation as the site can’t do so without your permission.

You cannot click cancel as there’s nothing to cancel.

Chivito550

thelad95 wrote: »

Christ on a bike.

“We’ll take care of canceling the old booking” what part of this sentence do you not understand?

This sentence is independent of the fact they have offered alternative accommodation. If you took no action the following will happen:

For somebody with such attitude, you're not so great with the reading.

If you like this option, please let us know right away. The property will confirm your new booking and we’ll take care of cancelling the old one.

They have said they will confirm the new booking and cancel the old one all within the one sentence. It is not clear here that cancelling the old booking is separate from their offer of new accommodation.

Also notice the use of "we'll". They WILL cancel the old booking. Future tense. If they had cancelled it, they would say "we have cancelled your old booking".

LiamaDelta

Ah here....talk about looking for something to be annoyed about.

Your initial question: Has anybody ever come across this? What should I do? I dont want to re-book through booking.com if I can find a better deal elsewhere.

People have given their advice:
A) do nothing if you don't want to, your booking will no longer go ahead.
Accept their alternative if you want to
C) Contact them and discuss the matter like a rational adult.

or you can continue to spend time posting on boards and picking holes in other peoples advice and being pedantic about tenses.

grimm2005

They aren't going to book the new accommodation without your approval, as they've stated in the email. Similarly, the hotel is closed during the dates of your stay so they aren't going to charge your card (booking.com are only a middleman, the hotel ultimately is the one who authorises charging your card). Just because it isn't showing in your profile as cancelled doesn't mean it's not or won't be canceled. You've also emailed them saying you're not interested in the alternative.

There's nothing more you need to do here.

Chivito550

Well I was right. I've just got an email off them now saying that as requested they have now cancelled my booking. So the booking had not been cancelled. They were hoping I'd just re-book so they would not lose the business. It is now cancelled.

Lock the thread please mods.

LiamaDelta

Yeah lock it quick, in case one would actually have to thank people for their advice, when really all I wanted was to be outraged and prove that I am right.

grimm2005

Chivito550 wrote: »

Well I was right. I've just got an email off them now saying that as requested they have now cancelled my booking. So the booking had not been cancelled. They were hoping I'd just re-book so they would not lose the business. It is now cancelled.

Well yeah, they're a business. Your booking was cancelled due to an issue outside of their control so they tried to organise an alternate option rather than leave you in the lurch (some might call it good customer service). You said no thanks, they said no problem, saga over. No need to get uptight and jump to conclusions suggesting that the company were trying some nefarious tactic to trap you into booking something you didn't want.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Good thread, well done

LiamaDelta

Should probably be moved to the Liveline thread. it'd get at least another 50 sympathetic outraged posts there:D