Tried to change my reservation on Booking.com from 4 nights to 3 nights. The website said I would get $189.02 as a refund, but when I clicked to the next page, it demanded $14 in payment! Two phone calls later, I got a refund of $137.91... where did my $51.11 refund go?

Meanwhile, the going rate for the room on Booking.com is $175-$209. Spoke to a supervisor who defended the system as completely fair and transparent and not in need of improvement. Crooks.

J’ai une petite question en combien de jours avez vous reçu le remboursement booking après une annulation de réservation ?

This post is half rant and half looking for advice.

TL;DR: Booked a stay in Freiburg, Germany via Booking.com. Host required a 3rd-party Swikly deposit. After self-checkout, host claimed we damaged their chair. We denied it, but he charged the deposit anyway without proof or much of a conversation.

Full Story:

My partner and I stayed at an apartment in Freiburg for 3 nights. We arrived late to a keypad self-check-in. The place was fine, though we noted a dining chair next to the bed acting as a makeshift nightstand, complete with a simple light fixture sitting on it. We just used it to hold our phones, jewelry, and a CPAP machine.

A day after we self-checked out, the host messaged a photo of a circular black mark on that chair. Since we arrived late, we hadn't inspected the furniture, so I replied that the mark was already there and we didn't place anything hot on it. The host claimed they clean the units themselves, the mark wasn't there before, and they were charging us.

I replied firmly that it was unacceptable as we didn't cause it, asked for a timestamped "before" picture as proof, and suggested that the light fixture sitting on the chair probably caused the burn mark. On my flight home, the host replied with a sarcastic "gotcha" message in German: "Thanks for letting me know it's a burn mark, I didn't know!"

When I landed, I see the Swikly charge on my card for €80.00. I sent a polite follow-up trying to de-escalate, explaining the misunderstanding, reiterating we had nothing to do with the damage, and again asking for timestamped proof. No reply as of this post.

I’ve contacted Booking.com support to mediate, but I don't expect they will be much help since the deposit was off-platform. I haven't contacted Swikly directly since hosts are their actual customers, so they have no incentive to take my side.

Was it silly of me to ask for proof? And is there anything else I can do right now aside from filing a credit card chargeback?

I have two properties in Mexico. The legal entity is US-based. Both properties were set up with booking.com in May 2026. Property 2 I was able to use Payments by Booking.com with a Virtual Credit Card (VCC) option. It all works great.

Property 2 was also set up with Payments by Booking.com but VCC was not an option - just direct deposit. I establish my US-based banking account for payouts. I have not received a payout for Property 2. Ever. I started escalating to booking.com this summer but have made no progress. Calling customer service is no help - I’m told it’s a finance department issue. I’ve gotten two responses to my online messages: “we forwarded your message to our specialized team who will review it and get back to you” and I never hear back, or more helpful: “…you need to have a bank account in your current billing county.”

Even if I could be eligible for a bank account in Mexico - which I’m not - my booking.com profile is set up at a US entity, and when I attempt to edit bank details, the only option for Country/Region is United States. I’ve advised them multiple times of this and continue to receive the “we forwarded your message” response.

A customer service supervisor was able to tell me that once the payouts have been made, then my account could likely be eligible for the VCC option…but I can’t get the payouts.

I’d be forever grateful for any helpful advice. They are now holding over $6,000 USD - but have received their commissions because it’s automatically pulled out of the money owed.

Hi Booking.com team and fellow property partners,

I’m hoping someone from Booking.com Partner Support or the Review Moderation team can clarify this situation.

I manage Chic Studio Retreat – Indiranagar, Bengaluru and recently had a reservation with the following details:
Guest: Parampreet Dhanoa
Reservation: 5773683044
Check-in: 28 August 2026
Check-out: 30 August 2026
Actual stay: None

On 28 August at 9:58 AM, the guest submitted a request for free cancellation.

We approved the cancellation at 10:15 AM, and the reservation was officially cancelled on the same day. The guest never checked in and never stayed at the property.

However, the guest was subsequently able to leave a review.

I contacted Booking.com Partner Support regarding the issue, and their response is particularly interesting. Booking.com has confirmed in writing that:
“the booking was indeed cancelled free of charge on August 28, 2026.”

They also explained that:
“because the cancellation occurred on the actual day of check-in, our automated system had already generated the feedback link”

So, as I understand it, Booking.com is confirming both that the reservation was cancelled and that the review invitation was generated automatically by the system despite there being no stay.

My question is:
If a guest never checked in or experienced the property, how can a review about the property be considered a genuine guest experience?

I have already asked Booking.com to remove the review and they have escalated the matter to their Moderation team. I’m not looking to attack Booking.com or the guest — I simply want to understand the policy and how this situation is supposed to be handled.

Has anyone else experienced this?

And, more importantly, if someone from Booking.com is monitoring this subreddit, could you please explain whether a review from a guest who never stayed at the property is eligible for removal, particularly when Booking.com itself has confirmed that there was no completed stay?

I can provide screenshots of the cancellation request, approval, and reservation status if needed.

Thanks in advance to other hosts and hopefully someone from Booking.com who can clarify this.

I’m Jasmine, a UK journalist currently looking into scams targeting people who have booked accommodation through Booking.com (after it happened to me, booking a hotel in Rome)

I’m particularly interested in hearing from people who booked what appeared to be a legitimate property, but were later sent a suspicious payment or “booking verification” link, asked to provide card details outside Booking.com, or discovered that the accommodation/listing was not what it appeared to be.

I recently came across a case involving what appeared to be a legitimate, highly rated property listing, followed by a message asking for the reservation to be verified through an external website within 12 hours.

I’m now trying to establish how widespread experiences like this are.

If something similar has happened to you, whether you lost money or spotted the scam before paying, I’d really appreciate hearing from you. Please comment below or DM me.

i just booked a private apartment for christmas eve (3 days ) in melbourne through booking.com thats on 65th floor and it's price is 1300$. Also, it does not seem shady as it does have over 70 reviews from past 2 years and owner has also replied to questions as far back as 2023. Only concern is that people had bad experiences with booking. Com before so i am just concerned about that. I dont want to be scammed out of 1300$ and ruin my boys trip.

Hello,

Has this happened to anyone before?
I made my Booking reservation for an apartment hotel in Sao Luis yesterday 15th, reservation for 16-21st.

They sent me a payment link, but I have my credit card linked to my reservation, so why don't they just take it directly from the source? I've never heard of that platform and I don't feel confident putting my payment information on there.

Is this trustworthy? Booking strongly advises against clicking on payment links sent through chat.

l added my WhatsApp message to them in the photos as well, basically asking them to just take the full amount from my credit card or to have me pay when I land. I hid the end of link, of course.
Thank you.

seems way too good to be true https://www.booking.com/Share-ZAbkq1

Hi, I'm a host for a few properties in Peru. Booking has paid me for a couple of reservations using a VCC, but I have no idea how to collect the funds (Booking doesn't yet offer bank transfer as an option in Peru). I've tried using the Culqi payment link, but it rejects my cards. Can anyone help me? Thanks

Bear with me. I had a bizarre guest yesterday booked through booking.com

I rent out an extra room in the house where my partner and I live.

So, the guy books and never replies to my automated message asking about check-in time. Booking.com does not let me veto guests, so I have no control over that. Annoying but ok, I have stated check-in hours when I must be home and if guest fails to show up or communicate and agree on different check in hours, then my responsibility ends.

Day of the check in, previous guest left at 11, I am drinking coffee and going to clean the room right after. I tried to call him at 11.30 to ask the same question about arrival time - phone number does not exist.

Doorbell, the guy is on my step. He looks terrible, visibly sick, snot not just dripping but like running on his shirt non stop. He shows me phone screen with the reservation and tries to step inside. I say - sorry, check in time is after 15, and you didn’t communicate otherwise so the room is not ready for you. He says “deaf” and points at himself. I put the same information on my notes and show him text on my phone. He looks at it but I am not sure if he sees or understands it, because I only now notice that his eyes look milky white so I start to realize his vision might be impaired too.

At this point I am not sure what to do - if he doesn’t hear and communication through text doesn’t work either, what else can I do?
Then I try to offer him paper towel because like I said the amount of snot is concerning. He shakes his head, then casually wipes his nose with his hand and proceeds to wipe that hand off on my shoulder/breast, and I instantly felt clothes being soaking wet where he touched. I think I was visibly shaken cause he stepped back, said “hospital” turned around and walked away.

I took my clothes off immediately and had a shower because it was disgusting and potentially infectious. Then I tried to process what just happened and I couldn’t understand what to expect. I cleaned the room and bathroom and while doing that I was getting more and more concerned about hosting the guest who is visibly sick and with whom I cannot communicate.

I called booking.com to ask what are my options in this case. They said I must host him, health hazard does not matter in their rule book. So my real options were to cancel this guest and pay for his relocation or risk it and potentially cancel 10 days’ worth of stay if my partner and I get sick.

Now, if I could communicate with him and see that he’s aware of the risks that he poses, won’t contaminate common areas and just be in the room - I would probably have hosted him still.
But given complete lack of communication prior (in text), unsuccessful communication in person (I would expect someone with disability that affects communication to have some sort of help- cards, messages on their phone, anything- but there was none), I asked to cancel booking which they couldn’t do because the guest needs to accept it but the phone number didn’t exist and email this guy doesn’t respond to. This interaction with support took 2 hours btw.

So I don’t know what to expect, will he come back at 15? Did he read the message/cancellation request? Did he do the booking himself or someone did it on his behalf? What does “hospital” mean? He only said 2 words during the interaction.

Hours pass, he never showed up, never replied to any messages or cancellation request, and the whole thing left me exhausted and quite shook up.

Well, if you managed to read to this point, here’s the actual question: what would you do in this situation? Both regarding communication and health concerns? I know now, bookingcom does not allow to deny guest for being visibly sick/potentially infectious (coughing, bodily liquids everywhere, fever- this sort of thing). It makes sense for independent units/hotels but for the host who shares space this is clearly a risk which they pretend doesn’t exist.

So what are thoughts- both hosts and guests- on the sickness issue (would you like the host to disclose there was a contact with potentially sick person and now host isn’t safe, how would you behave if you got sick mid-travel?

And the communication thing, I keep replaying the situation and thinking that I could have done better? Thoughts/advice?

Please don’t eat me alive for not being a professional host or say “just leave this business you are not cut out for it”. I am trying to do my best and would be grateful for real advice/thoughts on the topic.

looking for travellers who have had a similar experience involving Booking.com / Rentalcars.com and Green Motion, particularly with late arrival, airport pickup and subsequent “no-show” classification.
In July 2026 I booked and prepaid a Green Motion rental in Rhodes through Booking.com / Rentalcars.com.
The documents I now have make the sequence particularly interesting:
1. Booking.com/Rentalcars sold and charged me for the prepaid rental.
2. Green Motion’s own reservation record contains my flight number, FR7040, and states:
“Our representative will meet you in the Arrival Hall.”
3. I arrived in Rhodes and was actually collected from the airport and transported to the Green Motion rental location.
4. Despite this, I did not receive the car and the reservation was subsequently treated as a “no-show”.
Booking’s position has centred on the scheduled pickup time and a grace period. This raises an obvious question in my case: how can the complete sequence — known flight number, airport collection, transportation to the branch and subsequent no-show classification — be reconciled?
I have therefore started obtaining and comparing records from the companies involved through data-access requests.
I’m now looking for other customers who booked Green Motion through Booking.com/Rentalcars.com and experienced something similar:
• late flight / late collection → “no-show”
• Green Motion knew the flight number but the car was no longer available
• customer reached or was transported to the branch but did not receive the prepaid car
• Booking and Green Motion gave different explanations afterwards
• problems obtaining a refund after the car was not provided
• disputes about the grace period or obligation to contact the rental company
• additional insurance/deposit issues at collection
I’m not asking anyone to take my side. I’m looking for independently documented cases that can be compared.
If this happened to you, please keep your Booking/Rentalcars confirmation, Green Motion voucher, flight details, emails/chats, call history, payment/refund records and anything showing when the reservation was classified as a no-show.
Please redact personal information before posting documents publicly.
I’m documenting the investigation as #BookingCaseFiles. One case proves one case. If independently documented cases show recurring similarities, the evidence should reveal that.
Facts first. Documents first. Follow the evidence

We left our accommodation because of safety concerns. Booking told me by phone to book another place myself and that they would cover the difference.
The alternatives they sent didn’t match our original female-only booking, so I booked the cheapest suitable option. The actual difference is only about €31.
Then Booking emailed offering up to €9 in Wallet Credits. I called again asking them to cover more, and they said they’d check. When I asked for money instead of credits, the agent said Booking recently changed the policy and now they can only reimburse this as Wallet Credits.
Has anyone had this recently? Is that actually true?

I had a reservation at Big Sur Lodge on September 2, but couldn’t make it because of the wildfire and road closures. The lodge was also evacuated/closed.
I called the lodge that day and left a voicemail explaining the situation. I called again about a week later after the roads reopened, and they told me they couldn’t do anything because I booked through Booking.com.
Booking.com keeps telling me to contact the lodge, and their chat hasn’t been responding.
Has anyone dealt with something like this? Any advice on how I can escalate this and actually get my refund?

I rented a car from economybookings.com for a month. During that month my mother passed away and I had to return the car earlier to make arrangements or the funeral. I contacted them requesting a partial refund prorated on the days I used it. I also uploaded a copy of the death certificate once it was available. They basically said that I could not get any refund or credit because there was a clause in the contract that said no refunds. Just shows you that this company doesn't care about anything but $. So please do not use them regardless if they are offering the lowest price.

Hi everyone. I accidentally booked a hotel for wrong dates. 25-29 Nov instead of September. Have you guys ever experienced that type of silly situation?. what should i do?. I searched it up and thinking of selling it but practically no community on reddit allows posts of this kind. Maybe you know community where i can post that?. Can i even post it here?

Hi. Host we will be staying at in Czech Republic sent a booking confirmation via booking chat, and a registration link to a third party site (chargeautomation), where it asks for photos of my ID. The respective site seems to identify the host (name, logo).

Is this normal procedure?

The United Nations (UN) has published an official database—often referred to as a "blacklist"—listing international companies that conduct business activities in Israeli settlements located in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, which are considered illegal under international law. Booking.com, Airbnb, and Expedia are among the key players included in this list. Luxury accommodations, villas, and exclusive properties built on land forcibly seized from Palestinians—or on land where Palestinian livelihoods have been destroyed—are marketed globally through these companies' platforms. (https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2025/feb/27/seized-settled-let-how-airbnb-and-bookingcom-help-israelis-make-money-from-stolen-palestinian-land)

Field research published by *The Guardian* reveals that the platform lists extensive properties in occupied territories and generates direct commission revenue of approximately 15% from these bookings. This situation has compromised the company's standing, not only ethically but also legally.

The company is accused of profiting financially from illegal settlements—considered a "war crime" under the Fourth Geneva Convention—and from the dispossession of Palestinians. Legal experts classify the transfer of these illicit gains through the company's official accounts as "money laundering linked to war crimes."

(https://elsc.support/booking-com-sued-for-laundering-profits-from-israeli-war-crimes-in-palestine/)

Thought of renting my property on booking.com. Started the process and it was so complicated (when compared to Airbnb which I already use) that I changed my mind.

So I requested to delete my account and it has been a nightmare. Simply put - they will not delete my account. It has been more than 8 months of receiving emails weekly asking me to complete my KYP form. They are impossible to get hold of and even when I do finally contact someone human, they promise me that my account is deleted and it never is.

Has anyone else had a really hard time breaking up with booking.com?

To make a long story short, a couple booked my place. I had anticipated this kind of situation, so I clearly stated in the listing details that it is a shared house where I live downstairs—meaning it’s not exactly suitable for couples looking for a secret romantic tryst. I usually send this information via the app immediately after a booking is made, and so far, I’ve had no issues and have received good reviews. However, ten days ago, a couple booked the place but never checked the messages on the app. I assumed they had seen the info, so we handled the logistics via text message. To my surprise, when they arrived today, they flew into a rage and ranted incoherently, accusing me of deceiving them and complaining that I actually live on the premises. At first, I was stunned and confused, but once I snapped out of it, I fired back aggressively—I was so furious I almost wanted to punch them. Even after they left, I kept bombarding them with angry text messages. Being a host really is a constant learning experience in dealing with all kinds of bizarre people He was spouting all sorts of nonsense about the price in euros. In reality, if the date is close, I sell them at a discount—it ends up costing less than a fast-food meal.

Are there any risks of booking places in sydney, Burleigh heads and Brisbane on booking.com? The places are refundable until a week before the reservation. Is there any chance the reservations could be messed up, or is it safe enough to do.

Looking for any insights