Have you changed how you will make travel bookings in future due to Covid-19?

JimmyVik

I have.


In future I will NEVER have more than one flight booking outstanding at a time. I used to book 4 or 5 return flights for the year ahead at any one time.



When it comes to hotels, I will never book one that doesnt have free cancellations again.


I will never book car hire that doesnt have free cancellations again.


I will never book a holiday that requires a final payment more than a month in advance again.

kenmm

I think its too early to even make such predictions on what options will be available to you. Who knows how the travel industry will change, with many firms going under.

Hotels and car hire may never be able to offer free cancellations.

JimmyVik

kenmm wrote: »

Hotels and car hire may never be able to offer free cancellations.

No hotels or car hire for me then

spurious

Having seen how they treated customers during this crisis, I will not use booking.com again.
I had often booked directly with the hotels. Will do that all the time in future instead of using an intermediary.

endofrainbow

I'd be very reluctant to fly with Aer Lingus again after they left us stranded in the US.

Ich liebe Berlin

endofrainbow wrote: »

I'd be very reluctant to fly with Aer Lingus again after they left us stranded in the US.

How did you get home?

endofrainbow

Had to purchase a one-way ticket home with United Airlines.

Good jib!

I probably won't change anything about the way I book related to COVID. I will try though to book directly with the hotels I want to stay in, as booking.com charge a huge mark-up which we're obviously then paying indirectly. It's not always possible though as some hotels don't seem to be set up anymore for direct bookings.

Mr rebel

spurious wrote: »

Having seen how they treated customers during this crisis, I will not use booking.com again.
I had often booked directly with the hotels. Will do that all the time in future instead of using an intermediary.

What happened?
I like booking.com as a lot of the times, they do offer lower rates than the hotel itself, and their cancellation option is very straightforward compared to some hotels where you need to email them if you want to cancel.

gipi

I'll probably only book where there's free cancellation too - although in fairness, the hotel I had booked for hols this week have given me a voucher to be used before Oct 2021 (booked via booking dot com, no refund option chosen at the time).

For airlines, I'm not sure what I'll do - still waiting on a refund voucher from Aer Lingus, which I requested in March.

As an aside, I was told by a B&B owner that booking dot com charge 15% commission - she told me to phone her directly if I visited again.

GazzaL

spurious wrote: »

Having seen how they treated customers during this crisis, I will not use booking.com again.
I had often booked directly with the hotels. Will do that all the time in future instead of using an intermediary.

It's generally better to book direct anyway. The hotel gets the full amount rather than paying commission to Booking.com, so there's always a chance of getting a better room or better service than someone who's booked through a third party.

I will tend to book with good cancellation terms, or through a travel agency. Like OP I love to have my trips lined up, half the joy is looking forward to them. One group tour I was booked on has been cancelled, and I told company a voucher will do, as I will use them again-presuming they survive. I’m booked on a cruise at Christmas with a good company, who have assured full refund if they cancel, and also if I choose to cancel up to 4 weeks before departure. I got a huge discount by having booked early and bring in a loyalty program. I have already got Covid-19, so hope I don’t have to worry about catching it again in at least medium term, and until a vaccine is available.

spurious

Mr rebel wrote: »

What happened?
I like booking.com as a lot of the times, they do offer lower rates than the hotel itself, and their cancellation option is very straightforward compared to some hotels where you need to email them if you want to cancel.

In short they didn't stick to their cancellation terms. People were assured they would get their money back and then booking said get it from the hotel and hotels said get it from booking.

There are facebook pages about it and even their own traveller discussion forums are full of frustrated customers. They have been badly hit by it and are not responding to people's complaints, except by bot.