The online booking system is the most popular resource for independently searching and registering accommodation anywhere in the world. Almost all Internet users have visited at least once to find out about hotels, conditions, and prices. Hundreds of transactions are made through Booking every day. However, today we are interested in booking cancellations.
Booking.com is an advertising resource whose marketing techniques are aimed at getting you to immediately click on the “book now” button. Sometimes such a step is thoughtless, and the next day a person thinks about how to cancel the deal.
System advantages
Why today more and more people choose Booking.com instead of travel agencies?
- Canceling a reservation on this resource does not entail unpleasant consequences for the user. But more on that later.
- The database has a huge selection of hotels, hotels and boarding houses.
- "Booking" is the optimal cost. Moreover, if a better price is discovered, the resource undertakes to return the difference.
- There is no risk of throwing away extra money if the trip does not take place.
The last point requires clarification. Why then enter credit card information when reserving a room? Very simple. So as not to end up with a client who books rooms left and right just like that, just in case.
Hotel guarantees
This side is also protected when placing data on Booking.com. Cancellation of the reservation is possible, but according to the conditions specified in the contract, the hotel can withdraw the agreed amount. Please note, not the entire amount of accommodation, but only the amount that was declared. Most often this is the cost of one night. By the way, this measure is only for the case when the client does not inform about changed plans.
In most cases, the hotel administration agrees, and the Booking.com system adheres to the same policy. Cancellation of a reservation is completely free no later than one day before check-in at the hotel. In some cases, the rules may become stricter to 3-7 days, but this is rather a necessary measure.
Data from your card
Every person worries when they have to enter their credit card information on various resources. Don't worry, they are completely protected here. Booking hotels online requires confirmation that the client has the required amount. In this case, the money will be debited from the card upon completion of the transaction.
Before entering data, you need to clarify the conditions of a particular hotel. If something seems unprofitable for you, it is better to refrain from the transaction. There is always the opportunity to contact the hotel administration and ask clarifying questions. Because when penalty interest is debited from your card, it will be too late to study the conditions of the chosen hotel. In some cases, the amount can be much higher than average, for example, staying 2-3 days in a room. And if you cancel your reservation on time, the hotel is obliged to return the money within five days. As you can see, booking hotels online is very convenient and quite safe.
How does payment work?
The withdrawal procedure looks something like this: Once you have completed the required forms, the hotel will send a request to your bank to withdraw the funds. Of course, through the described Internet resource. The bank rejects the application if there is not enough money in the account. In this case, you don’t have to think about how to cancel your hotel reservation on Booking; everything will happen automatically. A notification about this will definitely come from the resource. By the way, check with the bank in advance whether such an operation is possible with your card. In some institutions, money cannot be written off without the express permission of the owner.
Confirmation
Speaking about whether it is possible to cancel a hotel reservation, I would like to note that the easiest way is to avoid a mistake. For this purpose, Booking offers a number of confirmations.
Upon completion of the operation, the system sends an email with the ability to print it. Be sure to do this. The letter contains all the information about the hotel: name, address, telephone number and guest information. Please read the contents carefully. It is in this document that the hotel notifies you of the conditions under which the cancellation of the transaction will be carried out.
Checking your reservation
After receiving the above letter, do not forget to check again whether everything is correct. The letter contains a link to the booking.com page where you can view your reservation.
To check the conditions, date and other data again, you need to log into your account. On the top line of the screen you will see the “My Bookings” menu item. Data about all transactions made on this resource is stored here. Even those trips that were carried out or canceled earlier will also be reflected here. By the way, the resource booking.com receives information about clients in a certain way based on their history.
Manage your booking
You can select the “View booking” button. Now you are taken to a page with detailed information about the cost and the hotel booked. Here each client can adjust the order at his own discretion. If you are thinking about how to cancel a hotel reservation, then this is where you should start. On the page you can change your card details for payment and select a different hotel room. If you are completely satisfied with these measures, then click the “Save Changes” button and receive confirmation of the adjustments by email.
Cancellation
Sometimes life brings surprises, and you may not have the necessary time to make a trip. In this case, you must also go to your personal page. Please remember that this is a last resort and may result in fines. Therefore, check whether the free cancellation period has expired. It is marked on the indicator, which is located right in the center of the dialog box. In addition, the cancellation link was in the letter sent to you from the resource when completing the transaction.
Penalties
As a matter of fact, hotels display them. This measure is necessary, because the number was idle, waiting for you on a specific date. Sometimes there is no time to find new guests, and the establishment suffers losses. “Booking” is just a tool or a link between the client and the hotel.
But in general, fines are very individual. Some hotels are quite flexible about cancellations. Others, on the contrary, even if the client communicated his decision in advance, will still remove the fine. Therefore, before making a transaction, carefully read the conditions of each hotel. Then it will be much more difficult to refuse the agreement.
How to avoid a fine
How to cancel a reservation on Booking without any consequences? The only way to do this is to meet the free cancellation deadline. In this case, if money is debited from the card, you will have a reason to go to court. But it happens that a person remembers too late. The rhythm of life is to blame for this, but most often one’s own laziness and careless attitude. Then you can go one of the following ways:
- Before canceling the transaction, transfer money from the card to another account.
- If this is not possible, then go to the bank and set a ban on debiting without your consent.
- If the write-off has already occurred, then it will not be possible to return the money.
These methods do not guarantee that the hotel will not find a way to collect money from you. Moreover, they are not very desirable. Therefore, it is much better to be attentive to the transactions you make and keep a diary so as not to forget anything. If there is an emergency, then first of all go to the website and cancel the reservation, and then contact the hotel and apologize.
You saw that same hotel and decided to make a reservation. What should you pay attention to when booking?
What are the booking conditions?
Focus your attention on the cost of the room. Prices for the same room may vary, depending on the conditions of the reservation. Booking has two of them: there is the possibility of canceling the reservation, there is no possibility of canceling the reservation. And if two options are indicated, the second one is always cheaper (either the price of the room is purely symbolic or a 50 percent discount).
Cancellation of reservation if non-refundable option.
If you choose a more economical option, the hotel will deduct the entire amount from you (the hotel, not the booking) right today. Also, one of the conditions will be that canceling a room will become almost impossible and even force majeure circumstances in the form of illness, flight cancellation or bad weather will not help. But! It often happens that the hotel can agree to a meeting, resolve the problem amicably and cancel the reservation (in this case, you can refer to a service glitch). You shouldn’t rely on this option and I recommend booking on a “non-cancellation” basis only when you are sure that the trip will not be disrupted.
But if you want to cheat and block the card, the hotel has the right to demand that the bank write off these funds from you. And if the card is a debit card, then the bank can put it in the red using the agreement.
Blocking of funds.
If you take a room where the terms and conditions state that money will not be withdrawn from your account, the hotel may well block it. Hotels can check the card for validity and reserve a certain amount of money and, in case of no-show, withdraw it as a fine. Such a fine can be equal to the price of one night. But this is optional. Hotels may not check your card at all. And the blocked amount is returned after 30 days. You can also contact the bank and make a request to cancel the block.
In fact, all hotels behave differently: some block 1 euro, some block the cost of one night, and some block the entire amount of the stay (what if 20 nights?). And if you make a reservation on a naked card, after checking it, the hotel may cancel the reservation.
Can the hotel write off the money? Debiting funds from the card.
Also, the hotel may not block the funds, but write them off completely, although this is not correct. This can happen, but very rarely. If this happens, you need to contact booking support, call the Russian-language number, they will oblige the hotel to return the money. But if, despite such, to put it mildly, ugly behavior, you are still going to come to this hotel, then you can endure it.
Which card can I use when booking hotels?
Booking reservations can be made using either a credit or debit card (this depends on the hotel). All hotels accept visa, mastercard, american express, not always diners club, jcb. Visa electron and mastercard maestro cards are not suitable. You can pay for the room in any currency. Funds are withdrawn in the currency of the country where you are going at the rate of your bank + percentage of conversion. If you are worried that the hotel may write off all the money, then top up your card for the amount of two nights of stay. But you need to be prepared to deposit the required amount into the account if the hotel wants to verify the card by withdrawing a larger amount.
What additional fees may the hotel have?
Some countries, namely the Netherlands, do not include city tax in the room rate. Let's say in Amsterdam it is 5 percent.
Breakfasts are also paid separately if they are not included in the room price. This information can always be seen when booking. But once in a German city they asked us for money for the already included breakfast (we paid online in advance). By the way, breakfast was not cheap - 15 euros per person. But we were so tired that we didn’t bother to look into it and just paid.
As you know, corporations do everything for the sake of multi-billion dollar profits. The company, in principle, is no different from the rest and uses cunning marketing tactics with some omissions and tricks so that tourists book a hotel as quickly as possible for as much money as possible. In this article I will tell you about these tricks and tricks that you should not fall for.
Delicious breakfasts
If you see the following inscriptions in the hotel parameters: “Very good breakfast; Amazing breakfast; Good coffee!; Delicious breakfast", then you can safely book a room without breakfast or choose another hotel.
I don’t like such inscriptions, because... they distract from looking at the really necessary things: room equipment, WiFi availability, swimming pool, hotel location.
At first I thought that such a rating was made by voting by tourists after visiting the hotel or according to some specific parameters, but after 2 times in a row in hotels we came across a disgusting, disgusting, tasteless breakfast, we stopped believing this inscription.
As I understand it, such inscriptions are made for SEO, because how else can you explain the use of various words added to almost all hotels?!
Here’s a look at the screenshot of one hotel, the price of a room without breakfast is € 233, and with a very good breakfast included € 255. As you can see, if you immediately book a room with breakfast, you will save € 4. Be aware that if you buy a room without breakfast, you can always purchase it separately at the hotel, sometimes for even less money.
Taxes
Now you have found a suitable hotel for a holiday in a quiet place, close to the beach or attractions, now you need to be careful when booking, because... the price may be indicated without taxes and various fees. Look at the screenshot below: the room rate is 22,694 rubles, and it is indicated that VAT of 10% and breakfast are included in the price. But taxes are not included. What does this mean, you ask? And no one will answer this question until you arrive at the hotel and they bill you. Agree, it’s not very pleasant to see + 1-100% on your bill while on vacation. It is not clear how such a corporation as Booking with a staff of programmers, managers, content specialists, support in a bunch of languages, misses such hotel descriptions without specific data on the final cost of the room.
If you browse the Booking website, then, depending on the city, you can see the following types of taxes, which not included in the bill: VAT approximately 10% to 20%. Tourist tax or City tax, which depending on the city can be € 1 — 5 per day. In Venice, for example, it is € 4.5; in Paris € 2.48; in Berlin - 5% of the cost of living. In New York you will be charged 14.75% tax and $3.50 city tax per night. There is no tourist tax for children in some cities, but in Berlin your child will also be charged a tax.
Hotel booking pages may show a variety of taxes and fees that are not included in the final room price, such as a 10-28% "Property Service Charge."
Parking at the hotel for an additional fee
If you are traveling by car, then when searching for a hotel on Booking, you can tick one of the criteria - this parking. A normal person, checking this box, especially on a phone, may not notice that parking will be paid, and hopes that the hotel has a private, guarded parking lot that the hotel client can use for free. Because this price is not added to the cost of the room, but is simply described in the hotel services.
As you can see from the screenshot, upon arrival at the hotel the person finds out that private parking will cost him some $18 per day. And in some Paris, the cost of a parking space at a hotel will cost € 25 per day. At the same time, it is not written whether this is a guarded parking lot, because this is important for car travelers. When we travel by car, we try to find hotels with free private guarded parking. But normal hotels, for example in Munich, provide a free pass for public transport if you arrive by car.
Rushing clients
The next trick that Booking uses is to constantly rush clients. Inscriptions such as “The number of available places is limited”, “Don’t miss your chance”, “Book the last room”, “Seven rooms left”, “Booked 10 times in the last 24 hours” seem to encourage people to make a reservation quickly. Any psychologist will explain to you that no one wants to be left without a bird in their hands and will try to book at least something, and red reminders throughout the site get on your nerves and help you make a decision faster. And then you arrive at the hotel and see that there are a lot of empty seats, three cripples come for breakfast, and only one family is splashing in the pool.
The same method is usually used by realtors or dealers in the car market. So you approach it and ask how much the car costs, how many owners it has had, whether it has been in an accident. And, having examined the car, you are about to move on, and they see you off with the words: “Don’t think too long, otherwise today many people were interested in the car, and, you know, whoever brings the money first gets the slippers.” And a month later you come to the same market, and this car continues to be sold, apparently the owner is holding the car for someone.
Discount scam
When choosing a hotel on Booking, we often come across hotel rooms with similar inscriptions: “Save 33% today!”; "Today's Super Offer!". On the screen you see the price crossed out and the new price drawn in bright red! In theory, you can be glad that just today you can save quite a lot on accommodation. And then you go to the website tomorrow or a week later, and there is the same inscription on the same hotel. It turns out that the discount can be valid not only today, but also tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Hotel payment currency
Another problem with Booking is the currency used to pay for accommodation. Yes, when searching for a hotel, you can choose any currency, but you will always pay for your stay in the local currency. And on Booking itself you can see the following wording: “You pay the hotel in local currency (€). The indicated amount (in RUB) is indicative and is based on the current exchange rate." In fact, the final amount of accommodation depends on the type of your card, the cross rate and currency in the country, and the error can be up to 10%.
That’s why I always pay for hotel stays only in cash and in local currency, so as not to spend extra money on cross rates and changes in rates.
Unauthorized withdrawal of money from the card
Don’t be surprised if suddenly, after booking a hotel, they start illegally withdrawing money from your card. This happened to us in the winter: we booked a hotel in Phuket with free cancellation and payment on the spot. The terms and conditions also stated that not a cent would be charged from the card. In fact, after entering the card details when booking a hotel on Booking, they immediately wanted to withdraw the entire amount from us. We received a call from our bank saying that a hotel in Phuket was attempting to withdraw an unauthorized amount of money and the transaction was declined. We thanked the bank employee and said that we would sort it out. Immediately after this we wrote to the hotel and Booking, and they all began to pretend that they were just checking whether we had money on the card.
As it turned out, the site rules say: “Booking.com is not responsible for any (authorized or possible) unauthorized or erroneous) debiting of funds by the Supplier and will not refund any amounts legally charged or pre-authorized by the Supplier (including prepayment, no-show or cancellation fees) on your card.”
I don’t know how Booking does this, bypassing EU legislation, but in Europe you cannot indicate one thing in the terms of service, but in fact act completely differently and, moreover, transfer personal data (in our case, card data) to third parties .
Agree, it’s nonsense: you find a hotel on Booking with a specific price, enter your card details there, and your card details are leaked to the hotel, which can easily withdraw any amount unauthorized, and no one is responsible for this, because this is written in the Booking rules!
Booking provides services for free
The most epic lie of Booking is the story that the site’s services are free, you can take the time to find the following in the site rules:
“Our Service is free to you because, unlike many other companies, we do not charge you for our Service, nor do we add additional (booking) fees to the price.”
Suppliers pay a commission(a small percentage of the price of a Booking.com product (e.g. room) after a user has used a product or service provided by a Supplier or a guest has stayed at the property (and paid for the stay)."
If the hotel pays a commission, how can the service be free? This commission is included in the cost of accommodation, and you cannot make a reservation without a commission, and if so, then this is definitely not a free service. And according to hoteliers who ask not to disclose their data, Booking’s commission is approximately 15-20% of the reservation. Agree, this is not such a small percentage, which Booking writes about on its website.
Booking does not have the lowest prices
Conclusion
With all its small marketing tricks, it is still unrivaled, and most often you have to book a hotel on this service. In my ideal world, I would like the site to contain only reliable, honest data. Until this happens, be extremely careful when booking hotels, because even the most advanced travelers fall for these tricks. Well, keep in mind that in popular tourist destinations, rooms in good hotels are actually booked six months in advance, for example, in Barcelona, Paris, Rome, New York or London.
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Who at the hotel knows your card details?
Six months ago I was traveling around the USA and booked my last hotel using a friend’s American card.
Irina Nikolaeva
travels a lot
The hotel found it suspicious that the room was booked by one person and paid for by another. To confirm that everything was in order, we had to indicate in a special form all the card details, down to the CVV code.
I was sure that only scammers ask for CVV, so I called the hotel. The conversation with the hotel operator dragged on, she was tired of explaining and said angrily: “Well, in short, enter the numbers 578 in this field.” This was the CVV of the bank card, which we entered an hour ago at Booking.
This is how I found out that Booking transfers all bank card data to hotels. I’ll tell you what else I found out about booking hotels and how I now protect my money.
The best protection for money is an additional card
In any unclear situation, pay and indicate the details of the additional card. Apply it to your main account, set a limit and relax.
Set the limit to how much you are willing to spend on a hotel. When the card is not needed, set a limit of 10 RUR.
If scammers get your card details and try to cash out, they won't be able to withdraw anything, and you'll receive an SMS.
Additional card is free. To be completed via Internet Banking.
How Booking works
Most of the client’s booking actions take place on the Booking website. Therefore, clients sometimes believe that they “booked a hotel from Booking”, “paid to Booking”. This is wrong. At Booking, two independent entities meet - the hotel and the client.
The hotel sets the cost and other conditions of stay, is responsible for the correctness and relevance of this data and receives information about the reservation from Booking. It is the hotel, and not Booking, that confirms the reservation, corresponds with the client about the conditions, reschedules or cancels the stay and accepts payment. Booking only provides a platform and tools for interaction between the hotel and the client.
Why does the hotel need your card?
If you don't want to pay right away, the concept of a "booking guarantee" comes into play. The hotel promises to provide you with a room in exchange for your promise to pay for the room.
The hotel's guarantee is supported by its business reputation and the Booking reservation system. The client's honest word, unfortunately, is not enough to guarantee.
If the client changes his mind and forgets to inform about the cancellation of the reservation, the room will remain empty and the hotel will not receive a profit. Therefore, hoteliers want to receive a financial guarantee: if the client cancels the reservation after the specified date, he will have to pay a fine.
To be able to collect a fine, the hotel needs your bank card information. Booking provides this data to the hotelier immediately at the time of booking.
Who knows your details
When you enter your card details on the website, Booking transmits them via an encrypted protocol - if an attacker intercepts them, he will not be able to read them. The vulnerability occurs when your data is received by a hotel.
Booking provides two-factor authentication for access to the hotel’s personal account: only an authorized hotel employee can see the client’s data. Theoretically, he should only withdraw or freeze the amount due under the terms of the booking and cannot use the card data for other purposes. As a result, the fate of the money on your card depends only on the decency and responsibility of this employee.
In the agreement between the hotel and Booking, the hotel undertakes to process card data in accordance with the payment card industry data security standard. However, the contract does not stipulate either verification methods or sanctions for violating the safety standard.
If a hotel carelessly stores printed reservations, for example leaving them at the front desk, then card data may become available not only to hotel employees, but also to other guests. If, a couple of months after your trip, someone in China buys a bike with your card, you won’t even immediately understand where the attacker got your data from.
At the moment when the hotelier saves your data to his computer or prints it out, Booking declines responsibility.
How to book a hotel safely
If you do not want to transfer your card details to the hotel, you can do without it. I'll tell you about several methods that I tried.
Independent prepayment to the hotel. There are advertisements on Booking with the note “You can make a reservation without a credit card.” To find them, select the “Reservation without a credit card” filter from the menu on the left.
To guarantee your reservation, the hotel will offer to make a bank transfer, PayPal transfer or to a bank card. The reservation will only be confirmed upon receipt of such advance payment.
The advantage of this method is that the hotel will not recognize your card details.
Personal agreement. In some cases, in correspondence with the hotel it is possible to keep the reservation without financial guarantees. After my letter, two guest houses in the Seychelles agreed to keep a room for me without prior transfers or freezing money.
Such a concession is a right, not an obligation of the hotel. If the hotelier has already encountered dishonest or unnecessary guests, he may refuse to book a room for another tourist without prepayment.
Separate card for booking. I chose this method because this way I don’t have to perform unnecessary actions every time and enter into correspondence with hotels. At the same time, I am completely confident in the safety of the money on the main card.
Before booking a room, I transfer the required amount to a separate bank card and make sure that there is no money left on it after the trip. Even if my data is obtained by an attacker, my savings will remain safe. I only use this card for hotel bookings.
The main thing in 30 seconds
Immediately after booking, Booking transfers to the hotel all the bank card details you entered. Even CVV, if you specified it.
This occurs regardless of the terms of payment and cancellation of the reservation. Even if the hotel does not withdraw or block your money, all your card data immediately appears at its disposal.
Access to card data is available to authorized hotel employees. If they neglect security rules, an attacker may find out the card details.
It is possible to book a hotel without a card, but this does not work with every hotel and will require more transactions than paying with a card.
A smart way to protect your money is to use a separate card for booking.
