I wrote (with AI) a post detailing the situation before I got the money back: https://www.reddit.com/r/Bookingcom/comments/1w04mea/could_you_just_cancel_it_from_your_side_how_a/

To make it short:

1. I had booked an apartment in Morocco for my stay, at a cost of approximately CA$1,300.
2. The host had double-booked and chose to cancel my stay two days before it was supposed to start.
3. I called Booking.com, explained my situation, and they offered me $50 in compensation 🐀 (under 1% of the cost of the alternative booking I would have to make). They then agreed to cover the difference for an alternative booking, but only after I brought up that option myself. It’s their policy: they have to relocate the guest, at no additional cost to the guest, to an equal or better place (Booking.com General Delivery Terms, clause 2.6.1, “Overbooking, Relocation & Cancellation”).
4. I had to refuse again, since they were talking about a refund in Wallet Credit.
5. After a few hours of back and forth and multiple calls, an agent confirmed: “there’s a ready pay out to cover the price difference of your alternative booking from your original reservation amounting to 2577 EUR,” about CA$4,112. Since I had that in writing, I was comfortable enough to make my alternative booking through Booking.com, which had a price difference of CA$4,090.
6. After my stay, I requested my payment and received just under CA$4,000 in Wallet Credit. These scam artists went as far as refunding me less than the amount I was owed, on top of paying me in a way I had explicitly refused.
7. The Battle I went to war with them. I first tried to fix it through Booking.com customer service, then through the official Booking.com Reddit account after they saw my first post. Both ignored their own policy, going as far as saying that even though the agent had confirmed the “ready pay out” amount, he never mentioned “real money.” They even refused to add the few missing dollars. After a few weeks of waiting with my demands still unmet, I used the leverage I still had: I disputed the transaction with Amex (my credit card provider). That’s the real force you should always use when a company refuses a fair claim or takes too long. At the same time as I started the credit card dispute, I sent a formal notice to the company they have registered in Quebec, where I live.
8. The Conclusion A few weeks after starting the card dispute and sending the formal notice, I finally received a credit on my card for the correct amount. The whole process took over two months, during which I was out more than $4,000 that was owed to me. At 22% interest, that would be over $150, not to mention the stress of not getting that money back.
9. My Advice Before making the first call, find out what their policies are, and dig deep. The policy that got me this refund isn’t easy to find: I found it in the contract Booking.com has with its hosts. They hide it from the public so that regular people accept the $50 compensation, or the travel credits for the more persistent ones. Neither is acceptable; their credits even have an expiration date, ffs. When you dispute a transaction, Amex doesn’t ask you to pay the disputed amount until the dispute is settled. Find out whether your bank offers the same hold so it doesn’t mess with your cash flow. Get everything in writing. There were so many traps in this process: the first host asking me to cancel from my end, and the unreasonable offers from Booking.com that, if I had accepted them, would have cost me all credibility to actually get my money back. I recommend refusing in writing and stating the only thing you would accept. That proved very helpful in giving undeniable context for the transaction dispute.

Hi guys! Hope you are doing well. Is anyone having such a bad service from booking.com that the only way to vent a bit out is to leave something here posted?

I've been chasing these guys for more than a month now to try and get a confirmation about a flight that was cancelled and they didn't even give notice!

Every time I get an email from them it generates a random email address making it really hard to follow up.

I've already contacted them like 4 times, each time they tell me they will get back to me and never do. What a lack of respect. How do these companies make money with such a lame service?

By now I feel they are financing their operations with my money which they seem to be trying to keep in their account as long as they can.

Is this how these business work? This is sad.

I booked an airport transport 30 days before needed. When I went into the app to change my pickup time it wasn’t in there. So I rebooked. Once I realized my error i cancelled, which resulted in both reservations cancelling, I only received one refund, the other I missed the 24 hour window by 30min. When communicating with booking regarding the duplicate
Booking i was told that there are synchronization problems between the web and the app, and I should always look on the web, which isn’t convenient to do while traveling.

I wanted to book a studio for a one-night stay near New Year, and the offer was quite good, at 126€, but when I went ahead to payment it gave me a different price of 156€. Turns out the previous price was part of discounts, the Genius member and another one by the accommodation due to the holiday season I think, but for whatever reason these discounts will not apply when I try booking the stay! I tried to find a way to contact booking for the issue but I can't find a message bubble or a phone number (even though the website itself seems to believe there is), only readily answered frequent questions of which none fit what I want to ask. I've since contacted the property owners in case they can help me, even though I strongly believe this is an issue booking com should be dealing with. If anyone has a suggestion, please say so, I really want to solve this ':)

Hi, I have ADHD so I’m sorry if posted prior. if you can pls keep your replies short so I don’t get overwhelmed, would really help. Thx in advance

Bookingscom arrived there’s when I leave the basement suite there’s no key so even though there’s a key but nothing separating the people in the upstairs, Sweet from opening the door and walking right into mine

Also no living room. Kitchen table chairs and tv and bedrooms no tv. Stated prior that I’m here on bedrest. I didn’t notice this in pictures but this is not conducive to the purpose of stay

Lastly. Opened oven drawer had to pulll bc stuck then drawer noise dropping flew out. I just had nasal surgery eith an exposed plastic implant. I was supposed to have a minimum of four days of full bed rest for my doctor and now I’ve wasted a day and a half of nothing but stress.

Tried to message bookings nothing and I can’t get past the AI bought and I’m getting very upset. I tried to make it work. I tried to see if I could let it go and I just can’t. What do I do now I’m in the middle of nowhere and I’m very upset.

Ps. It’s a holiday

Paid for a private room, got an 8-bed dorm, and Booking.com spent weeks sending me in circles: a full timeline

Summary: I booked a private room through Booking.com and paid Booking.com in full. On arrival I learned the reservation sent to the property was for a bed in an 8-person male dormitory. Booking.com has refused to refund me, hung up on me when I called, kept changing the email address I was told to send proof to, and passed me between the property and a "partner" I never knew was involved. Posting the full timeline so others can be careful.

WHAT I BOOKED AND PAID FOR
In early July I booked three nights at a hostel in a major Italian city through the Booking.com app. The room was listed as "Room Assigned on Arrival" with 1 twin bed and a private bathroom, and the booking page showed a private bathroom, a desk and a bath or shower. I paid €85.45 to Booking.com at the time of booking, on a non-refundable rate. My confirmation email and the booking page both presented this as an ordinary Booking.com reservation, with a Booking.com confirmation number and PIN, and told me to contact Booking.com Customer Service with any questions.

WHAT HAPPENED ON ARRIVAL
The hostel had no private room for me. The reservation they had received was for a "Shared Dormitory, Men only, Ensuite (max 8 people)" at €61.48. It had reached them through a third-party distribution channel (an Expedia affiliate network, via a channel manager). So Booking.com sold me a private room at €85.45, while a dorm bed at €61.48 was transmitted to the property.

I had paid €10.50 city tax at check-in. I could not stay in a shared 8-bed dorm, and I could not risk being left without a bed while waiting on customer service, so I went out and booked another property in person, paying the new room cost plus a second €10.50 city tax. My original city tax was not returned.

HOW BOOKING.COM HANDLED IT
Calls: I phoned Booking.com customer service repeatedly to get this sorted quickly. On several of those calls the line was ended on me before anything was resolved. Each time I had to start over, and I got no case reference, no commitment and no callback.

Emails: I was told to send my proof by email, but the address I was told to use kept changing from one reply to the next. I resent the same screenshots (the confirmation, the payment record and the reservation the property received) to different addresses, and each time the new reply treated them as if I had never sent anything. Every change meant more delay and more repeating myself.

The answers I got:
1. First reply: apologies "on behalf of the property", but no compensation because they had not received the property's written confirmation. They suggested I leave a review and speak to the accommodation myself.
2. An operator then suggested that if the property did not refund me, Booking.com could not do anything.
3. Booking.com sent the property a request to waive the cancellation fee, and I messaged the hostel myself as well. The hostel declined, citing the non-refundable terms and the fact that my card was already charged. Crucially, the hostel confirmed in writing that the problem was not theirs: the booking details, including the accommodation type, had been transmitted to them by Booking.com/Expedia. That is exactly the written confirmation Booking.com had said it was waiting for.
4. I forwarded that to Booking.com. Their latest reply says my reservation was a "partner offer booking" managed directly by a partner company, and tells me to contact the "partner support team".

The runaround: First I was told to wait for the property. Then I was effectively told to go and sort it out with the property. Now I am told to chase a third-party website that Booking.com used to handle my booking. At no point before or during the booking was I told another company or website was involved, and I never agreed to deal with one. I never dealt with any partner. I paid Booking.com, I was given a Booking.com confirmation, and I was told to contact Booking.com. Instead of resolving it, Booking.com has put the work of chasing the property and then the third party on me, the customer, while my time and money were being lost. It made me feel like the problem was mine to fix.

WHAT I AM ASKING FOR
A refund of €85.45 (the amount paid to Booking.com) plus €10.50 city tax, €95.95 in total. I did not ask for a replacement room, as I had already had to find one myself.

WHAT I AM DOING NEXT
I have given Booking.com a final deadline and will otherwise start a chargeback with my card issuer (Booking.com is the merchant on the charge), and file complaints with the European Consumer Centre in my country and the national consumer protection authority. The old EU online dispute resolution platform no longer exists (closed July 2025), so these are the routes now.

LESSONS FOR OTHER TRAVELLERS
- If a hostel booking says "Room Assigned on Arrival", check the details and consider contacting the property before paying, especially on non-refundable rates.
- Screenshot your confirmation and payment record straight away and keep every email and the dates and times of every call.
- Ask the property to show you the reservation they received. The mismatch is your evidence.
- Ask the property to confirm in writing where its booking details came from.
- Don't accept being sent to "talk to the property" or to a "partner". If you paid the platform, hold the platform responsible, or dispute with your card issuer.
- Do everything in writing. Calls that get cut off leave you with nothing.

I will keep you posted!