Booking.com

[Armada]

Hi All,

This is new to me so I would value all opinions.

I booked a hotel through booking.com yesterday for a 5 night stay in Queensland. I gave my CC number as usual and accepted the terms and conditions. I agreed that I would pay in full on arrival to the hotel, would pay $50 if I cancelled before a certain date and more if I cancelled within 7 days of arrival. All fine.

This morning I received an email directly from the hotel, thanking me for my $200 deposit which has already been taken from my CC account and informing me that if I cancel now I will pay $100 to them in admin fees and pay in full if cancelled within 30 days of the arrival date. The deposit has been deducted from my overall amount due.

Now this is not a major problem either way for me, but the reason I used booking.com in the first place was for their flexability and cancellation terms. Obviously booking.com has passed on my card details directly to the hotel.

The hotel in question seems to have ignored them and have their own policies in place.

I would be interested to hear if others have come across this and if so how you dealt with it.

 

[Locke]

Hi Armada,

I have used booking.com, for the same reasons, flexability and the like.

I have noticed that on certain hotels they have a note saying that their booking policies conflict with booking.com's policies.

It might look a little like this:

Attention: booking policies differ from general hotel policy!

It might be worth having a gander at your hotel on booking.com to see if the same applies.

Locke

 

[Armada]

Hi Locke,

Taken from booking.com's website re: the hotel I booked,

1.
"Cancellation
If cancelled up to 7 days before date of arrival, a fixed amount of AUD 50.00 will be charged.
If cancelled later or in case of no-show, the total price of the reservation will be charged."

2."For cancellations received less than 7 days before date of arrival, payments will only be refunded if the apartment can be re-let. "

3."The hotel reserves the right to pre-authorise credit cards prior to arrival."


Does pre authorise credit cards mean they can actually take out money?

 

[Locke]

This is from Booking.com's FAQ:

What does pre- authorization mean?

Pre-authorisation is a type of credit check. It is used to ensure that the credit card is valid, and that there are sufficient funds to cover all or part of the reservation costs.

The hotel has charged my credit card, what should I do?

Booking.com does not charge your credit card - Please check the payment conditions in your confirmation email to ensure the charge is not just part of the hotel’s reservation policy. If you feel you have been charged incorrectly, please contact the hotel directly.

 

[Armada]

This is from Booking.com's FAQ:

That is exactly what I thought re the pre authorisation.

I guess to contact the hotel directly is an option but I do want the booking and probably have no choice but to let it stand. Pricewise it was identical on the hotel website but I chose booking.com because of their terms and conditions.

I'm beginning to question the wisdom of that decision now if it seems the hotel can do its own thing basically.

It seems to me that booking.com do not want to get involved if they tell you to contact the hotel if you have an account query. I would have thought that was their job if they made the booking.

Thanks Locke.

Ps: This was not a Hot Deal or such... in fact it was actually cheaper on agoda but I did not want to prepay!

 

[Locke]

There needs to be a little clarity on the booking in that sense. It should be stated in the T&C's from the Hotel that the will take that amount.

Anyway, enjoy hol!

 

[Laramie]

Similar thing happened with Jess. He choose a hotel in Amalfi because it stated on the Alpharooms site that there was a late check out, 12 midday. He had a late flight home so wanted to stay as long as possible in his room. However the hotel's policy was a 10 a.m. check out with a €30 charge for a later check out.
No harm to check the hotel's own website rather than rely on what the discounters website says.
Clint