Hotel booking charged full amount with free cancellation

cb7

Booked hotel through booking.com with free cancellation for next year. After booking it I was charged the full amount straight away to my credit card. I cancelled later that same day (as did want to pay for straight away). I have contacted booking.com and they have said this shouldn't of happened. Sent evidence in with statement etc. Panicking as it's over 2 grand. Has this happened to anyone? Did you get it resolved?

Zhane

Did it say ‘Pay at Property’ or ‘pay before xx/xx/25’?

you can still have free cancellation and pay for it upfront. It’s only when it says Non-Refundable does it take the money upfront that you have to be cautious about.

JVince

Probably an incorrect setup by the hotel.

Booking.com is purely a booking engine. The hotel controls almost all aspects of it.

Probably will take a few days to sort out.

cb7

It said free cancellation by a certain date. It did not say non refundable

cb7

I have started to Google about this hotel and it seems to be happening a lot. So now very worried.

ted1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826223#Comment_121826223

they can charge the full amount at booking ( it’s an option ) and still give a refund if you cancel.

id say you selected the pay now option

finbarrk

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826326#Comment_121826326

That's what happened I'd guess.

Shauna677

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121826227#Comment_121826227

Its big lump sum to grab at once, you will get it back.

Oscar_Madison

From booking.com faqs

If your booking is non-refundable you cannot cancel. If your booking is free cancellation or partially refundable, check your confirmation email or confirmation page in the Bookings section of your account for the cancellation costs.

So i assume the fact that you cancelled means you’re at least entitled to a partial if not full refund - your email you received confirming booking should have all the terms and conditions

Living Off The Splash

I am seeing hotels and booking.com charging identical prices.

The Booking.com site says free cancellation but the hotel site usually says non-refundable on their own website.

I usually point this out to the hotel with the comment.......it seems to be more favourable to book with Booking.com than book direct.

A person really needs to find out these things before booking anywhere as you can get caught out easily.

Sheep Shagger

If the money doesn't come back, what did the hotel say? Communicate to them via email as you'll need that to support a chargeback with your card provider.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121836432#Comment_121836432

Booking.com is simply a booking engine - the accommodation provider controls every aspect of the listing.

When you book on booking, you are effectively booking directly with the provider

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845992#Comment_121845992

But the hotels have 100% control of the listing.

Living Off The Splash

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121846177#Comment_121846177

You would wonder then why Booking.com often have better photos, information etc about the hotel than the hotel's own website.

I use Booking.com for all my research and then book with the hotel.

10-10-20

Please be aware of the apparent booking.com scam which some users on here have experienced:

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121839799#Comment_121839799

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121845288#Comment_121845288

I use booking.com frequently for work and calling them just a booking engine isn't true.

I can decide to pay the hotel directly, but my booking is with booking.com.

I've had hotels that had to cancel at last minute and it's booking.com that had to make the alternative arrangements for me, not the hotel.

And there are definitely options to pay booking.com directly, rather than pay the hotel.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848833#Comment_121848833

It is extremely easy to add photos to the Booking listing - you could login on your phone and its 2 clicks. If you can use a smartphone, you can add great pics in seconds.

For a hotel website, you need some basic knowledge of the layout, probably login from a PC, find the image file, upload from a pc after sending from your phone, possibly need to resize too.

JVince

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848887#Comment_121848887

They have various options and also work with other resellers, but the booking is always with the company placing the listing

Here's what they say and they are very clear that the booking is with the provider

https://www.booking.com/content/how_we_work.en-gb.html#sep2023_how_we_work_accommodations_how_subheading

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121848878#Comment_121848878

It’s the hotel itself was hacked here, so hacker could get into their login system and send such messages. Might have even been an ex staff member providing the login/password which owner had not updated frequently enough.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121836432#Comment_121836432

That’s exactly why I book most accommodation through booking dot com. Have made 3 booking very recently on a complex enough itinerary, was very easy to communicate with hotels too about arrival times of flights as some places don’t have traditional reception arrangements. Often hotel’s own websites are solely in the local country’s own language, especially some of the small boutique hotels I stay in.