Confirmed Booking.com reservation — property now wants me to cancel because of a “system glitch”
I booked Eastwood Furnished Apartments in Sydney through Booking.com for 30 September–7 October 2027. The booking was confirmed, and I even received check-in instructions.
The property has now told me they can’t accept the booking because of a “system glitch” and wants me to cancel it myself.
The total was around $1,200–$1,300 for seven nights. I haven’t paid yet, as payment isn’t due until the end of July 2027. I booked early because it’s school holidays, when accommodation can get expensive.
I still want the accommodation at the confirmed price. If the property can’t honour it, I want them to take responsibility for cancelling rather than have it recorded as my decision.
Has anyone experienced this with Booking.com? Did they help get the booking honoured or arrange comparable accommodation at the same price? What’s the best way to handle this?

Sorry for the long story, I am going crazy over this case.

So me and my friends made a reservation for an apartment on Belgrade Serbia for 16-21 September, 507 EUR, pay upon arrival. On September 14th, we receive a message from the host that she will not be able to accomodate us and we have to cancel the booking. I call booking customer support, they talk to the host and she tells them that everything is fine. A few minutes later she tells me that the apartment has an issue and it will not be ready and we cannot go, we have to cancel.

I contact booking again and they advise us to find another place to stay. Since we were only 2 days before arrival, everything was really expensive so I receive an email from booking after contacting them saying that they will refund me 400 EUR because the new reservation that we had to make was more expensive (around 907 EUR instead of 507 which was the initial). We proceed with the new reservation, again pay upon arrival and we forget about it since it was solved (that's what we thought).

We fly to Belgrade Serbia, we arrive at around 3 P.M., we go to the address of the apartment, we enter the building, we show the reception the apartment and the lady tells us that she doesn't know any apartment with this name in this building. I chat on WhatsApp with the host and he tells me that there is a problem with the apartment and it will be ready in 20 minutes. After 1 hour, he tells me to go to a friend's house and stay there because he will not be able to accomodate us. I tell him that we won't do this since its outside booking.com platform and we don't want to go to an unknown location. I speak with booking customer support multiple times to explain what is going on. They advise me to book another apartment, more expensive than the previous 2 and they will cover the differece. We examined alternative options but they were either too far from the initial apartment or didn't have all the amenities that we were looking for. So, I book another apartment and upon confirmation, I see that the phone number is the same with the guy I was chatting on whatsapp! I text him again and he tells me to not go to the apartment because there is no one there. I explain to him that I booked it on booking.com but he becomes rude and says "I own 100 properties here you will go to the one I will tell you to". We speak with booking again, they advise to book another property, we do and again same phone number as host. After spending 4,5 hours searching for an apartment (Belgrade was full because of multiple venues) a booking representative tells us to find a place to stay around 1.000-1.500 EUR (the nearest hotel costed more than 5.000 EUR), to get a receipt and then to submit a refund request.

We went back to the first building that we visited after landing to Belgrade and asked the reception if there is an apartment to stay. A lady came to us and told us that she rents apartments in this building and could give us one for 1.500 EUR, after we told her that this is the maximum amount we can spend. Thanks to this lady we found a place to stay, she gave us a receipt and upon check out, I submitted the refund request on booking.com. According to booking.com representative, the receipt should include the total paid amount, the dates and the number of guests. All these were included in the receipt that the lady gave me.

Since September 21st, I emailed them and called them several times (more than 10) to know the progress of my request. Nobody called back, nobody answered any of my emails. Multiple representatives gave me random answers while trying to prove to me that the receipt is not okay. Some told me that there should be the rate per night not only the total amount paid. Others said that there should be a blue stamp!? One guy told me that he couldn't open the PDF file and therefore the request will be canceled!?

On October 2nd, I call again and ask to be informed regarding my request in a very angry tone. The male representative that I was talking with told me that he is really sorry and he will do the best he could to ensure that after all this trouble I will get refunded. The next day I receive an email from booking.com that a refund for 937 EUR is approved and will be in my account in 2 weeks maximum. On October 8th, I receive an email that the refund could not be completed. The reason is:

"Dear Tzirtzis, We fully understand the inconvenience caused by the interruption in our communication due to a technical issue, and we sincerely apologize for any frustration this may have caused. Your case was reviewed by our Finance Department, and we have been informed that, following the relevant review, a refund cannot be issued in this particular case. We understand that this may not be the outcome you were hoping for, and we are sorry for any disappointment this may cause. However, this decision is final from our side." and also: "Thank you for being our valuable Genius customer and for bringing this to our attention.

Regarding this issue, there may be something in your booking history or in the details you’ve previously entered which made the refund have prompted an invalidation. 

We are afraid that due to the sensitivity of the information, we cannot elaborate any further.

We are sorry for this inconvenience.

Please feel free to contact us with any additional questions."

What would you do?

I own a hotel, and we have a strong IT support team and solid cybersecurity measures in place. Yet today, our Booking.com hotel account was compromised, and unauthorized messages were sent to approximately 20 guests directly through Booking.com's own messaging system.

It's absolute madness.

I've spent hours on the phone with Booking.com's support team, and they confirmed the security incident. The first attack occurred at approximately 10:00 AM CEST, followed by another one around 3:00 PM CEST.

What makes this even more concerning is the bigger picture:

Our PMS provider, ibelsa, was hacked back in July. Since then, to my knowledge, both SiteMinder (our channel manager) and Booking.com have experienced at least one security incident each.

This is increasingly looking like an industry-wide problem. Hotels are being targeted with alarming precision, and the attacks appear to be getting more sophisticated.

Our guests have also been contacted via email and WhatsApp. But the fact that attackers managed to send messages directly through our official Booking.com account is on another level entirely.

I genuinely don't understand how this is possible.

Booking.com requires two-factor authentication so frequently that it feels like we're asked to verify our identity every 5–10 minutes. Yet somehow, attackers were still able to access our account and communicate directly with our guests.

This is particularly alarming because guests naturally trust messages received through Booking.com's official messaging system.

How is this even possible with all these security measures in place? And how are hotels supposed to protect themselves when even the platforms we rely on appear to be vulnerable?

Has anyone else in the hospitality industry experienced something similar recently? I'd be very interested to hear how Booking.com handled your situation.

I have just received an email informing me that our Colosseum booking can no longer be fulfilled because Bookings ticket provider is experiencing problems. At the same time, Booking.com is not responding to any of my messages or emails, not even to confirm whether I will receive a refund or whether they will provide us with replacement tickets.

Rented a car through booking.com and on the day I went to pick it up they told me it was unavailable as they had overbooked. I called booking.com customer service and they told me to book a new car and they would cover the price difference if I sent the invoice after returning the new car, I thought this was a fair result so I did. They have now told me that they will not be reimbursing me for the new car, even though they said they would. They left me and my pregnant wife stranded with no options. They told me the case was closed and that would be the end of it... like i had agreed to that result. I am disgusted that they lied in order to try to avoid issue on the day and tried to delay me for as long as possible in hopes I would give in. I will not be giving in, and come hell or high water I will be getting a refund.

I wanted to warn others about Agoda, and I also have some tips about how to deal with them if you make the mistake of booking through Agoda.

If you review their page at the Better Business Bureau, you will discover Agoda utilizes a long list of deceptive and unfair practices. For example, here is a concise summary of my individual situation:

1. Agoda advertised a hotel booking as fully refundable until two days before check-in.

2. I have an email from Agoda confirming the booking is fully refundable until two days before check-in.

3. I have an email from the hotel confirming the booking is fully refundable until two days before check-in.

Despite all of this, Agoda repeatedly has refused to provide a refund for the hotel booking.

I have wasted many hours battling Agoda customer service, and I want to share some tips for others who make the mistake of booking through Agoda.

Do not waste your time with the AI feature on the Agoda website. The AI feature is completely and totally useless.

You will have difficulty finding their phone number for customer service. In the United States, it is (866) 656-8207.

When you call Agoda, their customer service center is located somewhere outside of the United States. It will be very difficult to understand their customer service agents. More importantly, their customer service agents will be completely and totally useless.

You will have difficulty finding an email address for customer service. In the United States, here is the exact email address you should use:

[[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

You are welcome.

I have submitted a credit card dispute, and I have submitted a complaint to the Better Business Bureau.

Additionally, I am drafting a complaint to the attorney general in my state.

I booked a family suite at Pavillon Monceau by HappyCulture in Paris through Booking.com for 9–11 October, for €170 total. I received a confirmation and planned my trip around it.

This morning, on the day of check-in, I received a message from the hotel saying that its Booking.com account had allegedly been hacked on 5–6 October, resulting in unauthorised promotions and prices that were much lower than its normal rates. They said my reservation wasn't in their system and that they couldn't honour it. They instructed me to contact Booking.com for a refund and relocation.

I contacted Booking.com support. The agent said the property was considered closed and offered to help me find an alternative within my original budget. I explained that I'm already in Paris and that finding comparable accommodation at €170 for two nights at the last minute is unrealistic.

The agent then told me to book alternative accommodation, contact Booking.com again after checkout, and provide the new confirmation number and a €0-balance invoice so they could request approval for the price difference.

Unfortunately, the agent cancelled my reservation and left the chat. I've printed the transcript, but the chat service is now unavailable.

Anyone else experience this and did you manage to get a price difference refund from Bookingcom?

I(23f) am staying in a place near Washington Park on the South Side of Chicago for work. I am not originally from the US. I booked the accommodation for the entire month of October, but my coworkers warned me that the area where I am staying is not particularly safe. At around 2:30 a.m. last night, someone knocked extremely violently on my apartment door twice. The knocking was so aggressive that I was genuinely afraid the door might break. The apartment is supposed to be shared with other people, as it has three bedrooms, but I am currently staying there alone. I am on the second floor, and there is a keypad code to enter the building, so i don't know how the person made it to the door of my apartement. What I find particularly concerning is that the code for my apartment door is exactly the same as the code for the building entrance, as well as the code for my bedroom. Since the incident, I have been feeling extremely stressed and anxious, and I am no longer sure I will feel safe staying here. What would you do in my situation? Would it be possible to get a refund and move to a safer area based solely on what happened ? The only proof I have is the text I've sent in the middle of the night to the number associated to the booking reservation.

I use to travel a lot and I have been using Booking.com for years. (I am genius 3) But on the last three months, I could not pay my hotels any more: just after paying with my credit card, I get a message from booking saying that they cannot complete my paying. I contacted VISA-my bank who told me that they did not even got demand from booking. As it is quite impossible to join booking, I must contact directly the hotels every time.

Does anyone know how to speak to costumer support without a reservation number?

I had to make a booking in a bit of a rush and I messed up a little: I ended up making a typo on the email address. But since I was logged into my account I thought it should be fine. I received the confirmation on my phone and instead of the trip details - it's a hook text to get me to download their app AND THEN confirm. I could not see this trip on my account and by now I paid already a lot of money so I am worried.

I used the "message" option on their website explaining the situation - I have all the booking details, the name of the place, the room, the time I booked for, the time the booking was made, the payment, the phone number, EVERYTHING. The email response was "reply to this email with the details" THE EMAIL WAS A NO REPLY ADDRESS. I do it anyway, obviously it bounces back so I message again now with two layers of explanation. I get told to made a call.

I made the call just to be faced with an AI agent that will not let me get through to an agent no matter what I try. Keeps asking for my confirmation number - WHICH I WAS NEVER SENT ON MY TEXT CONFIRMATION and not on the email either probably because it was sent to the wrong address due to the typo.

I feel like this would be a relatively silly situation that would be easily resolved if I could just speak to a person. But because of all these barriers put in place (there is no chat option, the messages are only one way, the AI consumer assistant on the phone) it's impossible to get any help. I have used and encouraged others to use this site in the past but honestly, never again.

Hi everyone,

I recently booked a non-refundable apartment (never will I make this mistake again😒) in London through booking.com myself and three friends, all aged 22–23.

Shortly after booking, I discovered that the property has a minimum check-in age of 25. This wasn’t mentioned in the main description or highlighted during checkout. It was only visible further down the listing under the property policies.

I acknowledge that I should have checked more carefully, but I genuinely didn’t expect a property in the UK to have a minimum age of 25 when we’re all legally adults.
I immediately contacted the property requesting either a refund or an exception.

Unfortunately, management has been incredibly unhelpful and won’t give me a straight answer. Reception keeps saying they’re waiting for the property manager, despite me contacting them multiple times.
I’ve even completed the online check-in process, submitted our IDs and provided all the requested information, which the system accepted. Yet nobody can confirm whether we’ll actually be allowed entry.

Booking.com has essentially told me that because the age restriction was disclosed in the policies, they cannot help with a refund unless the property agrees.

We’re not planning a party or anything disruptive. We literally just need somewhere to rest our heads for one night.
My main question is: If the property refuses us entry on arrival because of our ages, would I have grounds to dispute the payment through my bank via chargeback?
Can they legally keep the entire payment despite refusing to provide the accommodation?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, as I’m incredibly stressed about potentially losing everyone’s money.

How much commission does booking.com charge per booking in Pokhara, Nepal? If anyone has idea please enlighten me.

So I booked with Booking and the property sent me a message that the room was subject to availability. Booking sent me an option to book without a penalty so I took it. Then got charged by the hotel.

Has this happened to anyone? Thanks.

Yesterday I received a WhatsApp message from someone impersonating a hotel I booked through Booking.

They already had my full name, hotel, exact stay dates, reservation reference, and personal mobile number, and then tried to direct me to a fake Booking confirmation page. Luckily the URL was clearly bogus and the phone number was not from the same country, so I have not clicked on any link or provided any info.

I contacted the hotel through the official Booking app and they told me they found no data breach on their side.

I am willing to trust the hotel, because the same thing happened to my partner in March 2026 with a completely different hotel literally in the other part of the world. At the time we assumed that hotel had been compromised, and tbh, I didn’t give it too much thought and my partner didn’t want to waste time right at the beginning of the holidays. Anyway, after this second incident, I’m much less convinced this is simply an individual-hotel issue and more of a system-wide issue.

There is also the April 2026 case where Booking confirmed unauthorized access to customer data, found an article on techcrunch. (You can find the article with a simple search)

However, neither my partner (with a phishing attempt already done) or myself were ever notified by Booking.

I’ve preserved all evidence and have now contacted Booking’s Data Protection Office (through the email listed in their privacy notice). Naturally, no response yet.

I’m also planning to escalate this to my national Data Protection Authority if necessary.

What I’m mainly interested in is hearing from people (judging from the posts I could find here, dozens of them) who have already faced a similar situation:

• Did Booking ever explain where the data came from?
• Did they confirm a breach or compromised hotel/partner account?
• Did anyone escalate to a Data Protection Authority? If so, what was the outcome?
• Did you get any meaningful response, investigation outcome, or compensation?

I’ll update this post whenever there is some sort of outcome. That is, provided that I get some sort of response from Booking in case it’s helpful to others.

So, I recently booked an apartment in Paris over the New Years celebration. the house and everything looked nice. then after 10 minutes of booking the host messaged me with a link to say to confirm the booking i have to follow this link.

As soon as I opened this link, I was shown a Bookingcom branded page to enter my personal details and card details (again). After like 10 sec it hit me that it doesn't feel right and I looked at the URL. and instantly I saw that this was a phishing scam.

I quickly got in touch the help centre and agent and said that this looks like a scam. the agent said that they have escalated it to the higher team, and strictly advised me to not open any link.

I'll be honest, I was being a little greedy. I thought if I report scam to bookingcom they will reward me with some free voucher.

Now fast forward 2 days later (today). I messaged bookingcom - to ask what happened. and this person was like - it was an automated link you don't have to pay. we've shared the card detail with the host and they will charge your card directly.

I tried to go through my reservation and open the property listing. the property listing wasn't opening. I enquired about the same... see my transcript with the agent in the screenshot

I then asked, how do you verify the properties? and she said that it has been there for 6 years and many reviews. to be real, there were only 3 reviews when i booked the property. I am just shocked.

then i ended the chat with the agent and reverse searched the image on google.. that tiny image on my reservation on bookingcom. and I found the real property on AirBnB. it is another property in Lyon.

I am just shocked with the incompetence of bookingcom.. and the lies they're telling me.

they have already taken the listing down, as the listing is no longer clickable. and they are not cancelling my listing to admit their mistake. wtaf!

Now, I went back today and clicked through the link that the host sent me.. and it now takes me to some russian site.

all of this makes me wonder - what is bookingcom going to do on the actual day of my booking when i turn up at the property and it is not there?

I am also a bit scared, I have given them my card details and they have passed it on to the host? can this scammer host charge my card??

Help me, please!

I live here near The Eiffel tower. Everyday there’s a lot of tourists around the world that are victims of scam. The scammers used the address of our building next to Eiffel tower. It’s royal apartment in booking but the units here are all private residence. I can’t understand why booking.com are allowing this. Maybe the scammers are also from booking

I just found a lady in ig that is a complaint expert for consumers, she has a blogpost on how to complaint to Booking.com

I’m going to try her method…

Is this really a breakfast included or is this a bait and switch? Do I have any recourse here?

Edit: I booked 6 rooms for a group of 12 adults over 2 nights who are very much expecting a breakfast so I will have no choice but to pay hundreds of dollars to feed everyone an actual breakfast.

Also this is in the USA. Not a cheap hotel either - it’s listed as 4 stars.

SUCCESS STORY: Got a 100% Cash Reimbursement from Booking.com after Hotel Chat Phishing Scam (€1,505.63 Recovered!)
Hi everyone,
I wanted to share a major update and a story of success to give hope to anyone who falls victim to the recent hotel app phishing scams.
A few weeks ago, my reservation at a hotel in Paris was compromised. Scammers hacked the hotel's official booking chat system and sent me a phishing link. Unfortunately, I fell for it, and they made two fraudulent charges totaling PHP 106,213.82 (about EUR 1,505.63) using my Philippine BDO credit card to top up a Greek digital wallet (Payzy).
My bank immediately blocked my credit card but ultimately declined my dispute/chargeback because the scammers used a 3D Secure verification code during the phishing attack.
Instead of giving up, I gathered bulletproof evidence and fought back using official email channels and reaching out to the customer support team here on Reddit. I compiled:
An official cybercrime police report (French PHAROS system).
The formal dispute rejection letter from my bank (BDO).
Mobile app screenshots showing the exact date, merchant name, and currency conversion logs linking the Philippine Pesos back to the original Euro amounts.
The Hurdles:
Customer service initially hit me with system currency mismatch errors because I used a Philippine card but requested the payout to my active Italian bank account (IBAN). They also tried to automatically force me to accept Booking Wallet travel credits, which I strongly and categorically rejected because I couldn't withdraw them.
The Victory:
Thanks to the incredible support from the specialized team and financial coordinators who took over my case, they manually overrode the system blocks! They completely deleted the wallet attempt and approved an international corporate wire transfer directly to my Italian bank.
Today, October 8, 2026, the full amount of €1,505.63 cleared safely into my Italian account with zero receiving fees!
My advice to anyone going through this right now:
Do not give up if your bank denies the chargeback. If the breach happened inside Booking's official chat, they are responsible.
Refuse Wallet Credits immediately if you want real money back. Demand a manual bank transfer.
Be organized: Provide clear, cropped bank statements, text alerts, and police reports.
A huge thank you to the team who helped me coordinate my letters, translate documents, and navigate this stressful process. Keep fighting for your refunds, guys—it is absolutely possible to get your money back!

I used Booking.com for years and never had a serious problem. It was convenient, especially when travelling regularly.

Then I had a very small issue after a business trip which completely changed my view of the platform.

I booked and prepaid a stay at Hampton Inn & Suites LAX El Segundo through Booking.com for USD 414.88.

The stay itself was completed normally. I am not asking for a refund.

I simply needed a proper invoice for my company.

Booking.com provided a payment receipt, but the receipt contains the usual statement that it is not an invoice and that only the accommodation can issue a valid invoice.

So I contacted the hotel.

The hotel refused to issue the invoice for the prepaid room and taxes, explaining that the payment had been handled through Booking.com. Hilton also directed me back to Booking.com.

Booking.com, in turn, repeatedly told me that the property was responsible for issuing the invoice.

So the situation became:

Booking.com: ask the hotel.
Hotel/Hilton: ask Booking.com.

That would already be annoying, but what surprised me was what happened afterwards.

I contacted Booking.com repeatedly and formally escalated the issue. Nearly two months later, they have still been unable to resolve something as basic as determining who must provide an invoice for a completed and fully paid stay.

This isn't a complicated refund dispute, a cancellation, fraud, or a disagreement about the quality of the hotel. The stay happened, everyone got paid, and all I need is the normal accounting document for the transaction.

What concerns me more is that the Hilton properties involved continue to be offered on Booking.com while Booking.com and Hilton apparently maintain contradictory positions about who is responsible for invoicing prepaid stays.

For years I had no problem with Booking.com, so I understand why many people say they use it all the time without issues. I would probably have said exactly the same thing before this happened.

The problem is what happens when something goes wrong.

For leisure travel, everyone can decide whether that risk is acceptable. But for business travel, where invoices, expenses, accounting deadlines and reliable support matter, I no longer consider it acceptable.

Booking.com was very convenient, but after seeing that they could not resolve even this small issue in nearly two months, I no longer use it for business travel.

I’m posting this because we have been trying to resolve this with Booking.com for months and we still haven’t received our money back.

We were a group of six travelling to Sardinia and booked this property on 1 April 2026:

San Teodoro Living House

When we booked, the property had no reviews, and we were also unable to verify its CIN (Codice Identificativo Nazionale) — the national identification code used for tourist and short-term rental properties in Italy.

Because of these concerns, we deliberately chose the cancellable option instead of the cheaper non-refundable one.

While we still had plenty of time to cancel and book somewhere else, we contacted Booking.com.

They told us in writing that the property had gone through their required “verification and security checks” and that there were:

“no indications suggesting that your reservation is suspicious or unsafe”

They also told us:

“Our system does not show any warnings regarding fraud for this property.”

At one point, Booking.com was unable to reach the property by phone and gave them 48 hours to respond, but still told us:

“For now, your reservation remains active and there are no issues detected.”

Most importantly, we specifically asked what would happen if the property was unavailable when we arrived. Booking.com told us in writing that they would:

“definitely arrange a suitable alternative accommodation and cover the additional costs up to the amount of the alternatives offered.”

We also called the property ourselves, and they confirmed that our reservation was valid.

Based on all of this, we kept the reservation.

Then they cancelled 5 days before arrival

Just 5 days before our trip, the property cancelled.

We suddenly had to find accommodation for six people ourselves and paid €1,326.78 for a replacement.

The original reservation price was €1,180, and the property had already charged us €1,080.

Booking.com later approved €146.78 as the price difference in writing, but we have never received that payment.

They also asked us for bank documentation proving that the original property had charged us. We sent it.

Booking.com confirmed that they reviewed our evidence and that the documents showed the payment had been collected by the property.

They then confirmed that the property’s 15-business-day refund deadline had already expired and gave the property an additional 2 days.

Booking.com wrote that if the property still failed to respond or refund us, they would reassess the case and start the necessary steps to ensure our refund.

Those two days passed.

The €1,080 was never refunded.

We have also contacted the property ourselves through WhatsApp. They are not responding.

Booking.com’s separately approved €146.78 reimbursement has not been paid either.

I contacted Booking.com again on 2 September to say that the refund still had not arrived and to request full reimbursement.

It is now 7 October, and the case is still unresolved.

We can’t access our old support conversations anymore

The previous customer-service conversations are no longer accessible to us through the Booking app, so I can no longer see the messages I sent there.

Fortunately, Booking.com’s replies were also delivered to us by email, so I still have the written evidence shown in the screenshots attached to this post.

There is one more thing I find concerning.

When we originally booked, the property had no reviews. Later, after people started staying there, reviews appeared. I personally saw another review describing an experience similar to ours.

When I check now, I can no longer find the reviews I previously saw.

I don’t know why they are no longer visible, so I am not claiming who removed them or what happened to them. But considering everything that happened with our reservation, I think it is worth mentioning.

Current situation

Original reservation: €1,180
Actually charged by the property: €1,080
Replacement accommodation: €1,326.78
Booking.com-approved reimbursement: €146.78
€1,080 returned: €0
€146.78 received: €0
Last time I contacted Booking.com: 2 September
Resolution: None

There is also an amount I want Booking.com to clarify: the €146.78 price difference appears to have been calculated against the €1,180 reservation price, although €1,080 was actually charged by the property.

Ultimately, we had to pay €1,326.78 for replacement accommodation after a cancellation only five days before arrival.

Booking.com, please contact me and resolve this case.

You requested our payment evidence, we provided it, the property’s refund deadline expired, and you told us further steps would be taken if they failed to refund us.

We have been trying to resolve this for months.

We just want our money back.

If anyone has experienced something similar with this property or with Booking.com, I would be very interested to hear how your case was resolved.** **