juliane c.

I booked accommodation in Europe for myself and nine work colleagues. I collected the money for a deposit on a chalet and flights, €5,000 in total. I booked the chalet through Booking.com, entering my credit card details, which according to the website "guaranteed" my booking. I then put the deposit money on to my credit card. After this I booked ten flights which came to €2,500 approximately (unrefundable). Next thing, I find the accommodation through Booking.com has been cancelled. According to Booking.com, the so called owner "emailed" me asking for the deposit to be wired to him and because he didn't hear back immediately he/she went ahead and cancelled the booking.
I check my emails very carefully and saw nothing that requested such a payment. Just previous to this I had telephoned Booking.com and enquired how I could pay the deposit, which at that stage was almost fully collected, as I wished to pay sooner rather than later. Booking.com said they weren't sure how I could pay it but I should ring back when I had collected the money and they would see if they could contact the owner of the accommodation for me. However I never go that far as the booking was cancelled soon after, despite the full deposit sitting on my credit card ready for collection by the owner if he/she so wished.
I don't believe any emails were sent. Otherwise I would have seen them. I received my booking confirmation email without a problem. I check my junk mail carefully. Surely if the owner were that keen to collect his deposit he would have perhaps rang Booking.com or even rang me with the phone number provided on the booking? I then rang Booking.com and tried to pay there and then stating that I had no problem paying the deposit and that there was €3000 sitting on my credit card, which I could wire immediately if necessary. Customer service was unhelpful. All they would say in parrot fashion was that this so called owner said he had emailed me and that I didn't respond and that was that. My belief is that this owner simply got a better offer and took it before cancelling my accommodation. Just be careful. Do not think that because you have a so called guaranteed booking that it is in fact guaranteed. I have since found out that if you book hotels through online agencies like Booking.com, they can wash their hands of you, claiming that your contract is with the individual hotel, not with them. I am now in a horrendous position. There is no accommodation left in the area concerned. Whereas I can return the accommodation money no problem, the flight money is unrefundable. I will never use Booking.com again and I will (hopefully) never to be so gullible again as to trust such an agency in the future. I learnt the hard way.