I made a reservation for the Embassy Suites Louisville Downtown, and received a confirmation email. The process seemed rather easy, but after reading several negative reviews about booking.com, I decided to call the hotel directly to be sure they had my reservation. The hotel had no record of my reservation. booking.com advised me that my reservation was confirmed and that it was confirmed immediately upon my receiving the confirmation. Not so said the hotel. Back and forth I went, wasting time and effort with each party pointing a finger at the other, and the hotel unwilling to honor the reservation. They apparently were running short on rooms by the time I made my follow up call. booking.com was unable to free up a room for me at the hotel despite that I was allegedly CONFIRMED. To be fair, the booking.com representative tried to book me elsewhere, but I would not use booking.com again. You cannot be sure that you really have a reservation even when you get your confirmation from booking.com. If you choose to use booking.com, my suggestion is to follow up immediately with the hotel and get a confirmation in writing from the hotel. But if you are going to bother with that, why not just book with the hotel directly in the first place. Buyer beware!