Hostelworld

This is a scam company, please please please avoid them or you will be a victim like me. (1) when you book directly at the hostel, it is cheaper (2) they charge a scam deposit under the pretense of "insurance fee" - this deposit doesnt even go to the hostel, but is unrefundable and pocketed by hostelworld (3) customer service is really bad

I booked a hotel through hostelworld. I paid a deposit and received a confirmation email. When I turned up at the hotel they said they had no record of my booking and had no available rooms for me. Although they said they would help me find another hotel, they said I would have to pay for it. Being New Year's Eve I didn't have the £300 to pay for another room and was subsequently kicked out on to the streets of London by myself for the night. Hostelworld blame the hotel and it had taken 8 days just to get them to acknowledge that my deposit needs to be refunded. Other than that iv had a measly apology for the 'inconvenience'. Trying to get a response from them is like trying to draw blood from a stone. The entire thing has been dealt with horrifically. They clearly have no regard for their customers safety and there is no way I would book anything through them again. I'd advise other to stay far away!

I was scammed by a hostel in Lisbon (they took my money from my bank account but I couldn't get inside or contact them for the 2 days I booked for). I booked through Hostelworld because I thought I would have some kind of protection for the huge commission they charge, but no. They really don't care. I haven't had any response from their customer service about this scam. They are just allowing these kinds of things to happen to their customers with no recourse.

Please folks

If you want to rent a room or hostel go directly to the hotel or hostel. The music city hotel gave me a refund and hostel world refuses to issue my refund. They pretty much kept my money fir no reason. They are thieves! If I would've went to music city hotel directly they would've given me my money back for a room I never stayed in. Boycott hostel world! Be safe guys

I cancelled two reservations within the legal deadlines to obtain a refund of the amounts paid.

I've never seen those values. The problem is that I received an email with a print screen saying that they had returned it to me, this never happened.

To my surprise, the cancelled hostel charged me the full amount. As soon as what happened, I sent an email to which they responded quickly asking for proof.

I sent the proof and they never responded. Situations like this cannot go unpunished.
Don't book in this platform, they are liars. Companies that cheat people shouldn't be in business.

I made a reservation less than 24 hours before my expected arrival, and immediately canceled it. They refused to refund my deposit because it was less than 24 hours prior to arrival. This is a completely unreasonable policy.

They removed their phone number "due to covid 19" (which was 3 years ago).

So you email them, only to receive an auto reply telling you that their email inbox doesn't exist any more.

It tells you that you have to download the app to contact them, which is a joke.

So you download the app and fill out their for. It asks if any of the suggested articles solve your query. You say thay it doesn't and send your message.

Then you get an automated response saying your ticket has been auto solved as it contains the word "cancel" and this topic should be solved by reading an article, even though the article doesn't help.

Then it tells you to respond to the message if your message shouldn't be auto solved and needs a response, so you reply and say it needs a response.

Then you hear back five hours later but not from a human, finally, but from the customer satisfaction survey, telling you that your ticket is solved and asking if you're satisfied.

As a Zendesk consultant who helps teams improve their Zendesk experience, this is literally how I would design their CX flow to piss off as many customers as possible. It's actually hilariously bad.

Except it's not funny, as they still have my money and I want it back. Zendesk ticket *******

Hostelworld was fast easy to join and set up an account BUT the 'Flexible Cancellation' service, managing my account, and canceling a res. Within the 72 hour time frame, was not; so my credit card on file was charged. Email contact with Customer Service was not fruitful with us each reasserting our positions and their business model. The software seems intentionally clunky and I was charged for a stay I attempted in good faith to cancel. Additionally, Hostelworld had no info under Account/FAQ's/Privacy & Settings, on how to cancel my account. I had to Live Chat to get their support to close it! As Hostelworldgroup manage Hostelworld, Hostelbookers and Hostels.com, I will not be using any of their 'services'.

I made a solo trip to Florida and the hostel I had booked through hostelworld left me stranded at 130am without a place to stay. Both the hostel and hostelworld were completely unsympathetic about if.

My daughter booked with them …Had a issue with the credit card she tried to pay …I called the credit card n was told no one ever tried to send a charge thru …They canceled her booking n gave it to someone else without letting her know.She tried calling and spoke to someone very rude and refused to help her …I emailed them numerous times and the response I got was …we are looking into the issue n get back to you and was never … I will never book anything with these people ever again …lesson learned …my first experience will def be my last …*******@aol.com…-Awful customer service …rate them below zero

I used Hostelworld to book a hotel for early January 2023. The quoted rate was $100/night. I booked it. I paid Hostelworld $254.60 and $1455.39 for thirteen nights to the hotel upon arrival. My hostelworld account only showed the amount charged, not the amount quoted at time of booking. The amount charged came out to $131/night, not the $100/night I was quoted. When I pointed out the discrepancy and asked them to show me the quoted rate at time of booking they said they couldn't do that but if I had screenshotted the quote, they'd take a look at it. Of course, I didn't screenshot. Who does that? I won't ever use them again but if you use them SCREENSHOT EVERYTHING!

I created a booking, and I canceled immediately (within 10 mins). They did not pay any money to the hostel, but they would not return my deposit to me either because it was non-cancelable. I understand that it was my fault, but I lost $280, and they would not consider even letting me use it for some other booking. I am just disappointed by their policy. I would rather use Expedia or some other site to book who makes it extremely clear while booking, using red markers and warnings that the deposit would not be returned.

Do not using this cheaters Hostelworld, hostelbookers and hostelsdotcom owned by the same company. They have charged 20% of each reservation and masked this service charge like a,, deposit". Maybe because on the first page you can see,, No Fees", Very old software and there many bugs, but terrible customer service. I do not use it again. There are many inovative websites, like locktrip or hotelbonanza with 0% commission and 15-20% less from this fake company!

Well, as I mentioned in my post, although it may have been the hostel's fault, the paying customer should not be penalized. Hostelworld, if it were a reputable company, should have refunded my money and charged the hostel instead for messing up the booking. On the surface, Hostelworld acts as a representative of the hostel, going so far as to charge between 12% -60% of the fees that SHOULD be paid to the hostel, but if there's a problem, it essentially washes its hands and says, "Hey, we just provide listings

Hosteworld.com, Hostelbookers.com, Hostels.com, BedandBreakfastworld.com, Backpackonline.com, Scout24.com are all branches of the same poison tree - Web Reservation International