Booking.com - how to avoid

[Fluke]

It seems nearly impossible to book a hotel room anywhere in Europe without being shunted through booking.com via one of its many online disguises.

I’ve had a couple of horror stories with them lately and I want to avoid like the plague. I’ve just been trying to find hotels near the airport in Fuertaventura and even when I had the name of the hotel the only option to book was through booking.com. I couldn’t find the hotels own website. There’s probably a number, I haven’t tried that yet.

Booking.com seems like a many headed monster of the european hotel world. The only thing I can think of is airbnb, but I just wanted a simple no nonsense hotel room.

Anyone else or just me?

[Lanark]

I do the same thing, my approach to find them is this:

Find the hotel on booking.com and copy the address and hotel name into google.
This should find you a few reviews that are not directly on booking.com, (though they will often link to booking.com)

So at this point you look for the hotels phone number or email address somewhere in the review.

Add whatever you find onto the google query, and that will probably be enough to find the hotel's website.

If that still doesnt work also add in the country code (so FR for france, GR for greece etc).

[MickR]

Hotels.com is my other go to site, or Expedia, though I think Expedia owns Hotels.com so will have the same list

[pje16]

I have used booking.com many times with no problem
airbnb was my problem
I would search for a hotel in an area and up came airbnb with a place over 80 miles away (talk about desperate to lure you in)

[bluedonkey]

We find booking.com is useful as it allows you to reserve a place with no payment and no cancellation fee. I think.

[pje16]

We find booking.com is useful as it allows you to reserve a place with no payment and no cancellation fee. I think.

I think that depends on the accommodation
Last year I booked five places for a driving tour, some I paid when booking, others at the venue

[richfool]

I find booking.com very useful. I research hotels and the related reviews through them, (and also through the likes of Trip Advisor), as well as make bookings through them. When under any particular hotel, you progress through to: "Select Rooms", it will then usually offer you a variety of room, bed and board choices and cancellation options. The cheapest price may well be non-refundable, then it will progress through some being cancellable and refundable from a period of a week or more before the arrival date to right down to the day before the arrival date.

As mentioned in a post above, one can usually obtain the hotel's contact details through the site, if you wanted to book direct.

I've sometimes booked through booking.com for an initial stay and then subsequently extended my stay directly with the hotel (more cheaply) when there. Most of the ones I booked in Thailand last November were reserved on a credit card and payable on arrival. One I paid in advance as booking.com offered me a better price to do so.

[terminal7]

Never take the rack rate.

Always approach hotel direct and negotiate - any hotel worth its salt will have its own website with contact details Just pick up the phone and haggle - just like car insurance in the UK.

If you uncomfortable with such a direct approach - just email and ask for the business rate. Of course at the height of the season less wriggle room.

Never pay for breakfast - you will certainly get it thrown in if you agree to pay rack rate

T7

ps - you can get a good idea what a good hotel accepts if you look at flight/hotel packages and take off flight costs

[AF62]

It seems nearly impossible to book a hotel room anywhere in Europe without being shunted through booking.com via one of its many online disguises.

Booking.com doesn't seem to have many 'disguises' - agoda and kayak being the main ones (https://www.bookingholdings.com/brands/booking/) but if you want to avoid them then the obvious one to try is expedia.com which owns a whole different set of brands - hotels com, trivago, and vbro, being the best known.

The only thing I can think of is airbnb, but I just wanted a simple no nonsense hotel room.

Airbnb is a completely different beast altogether, and is similar to vbro with individuals renting out rooms, houses, or flats.

I’ve just been trying to find hotels near the airport in Fuertaventura and even when I had the name of the hotel the only option to book was through booking.com.

Just use Google maps. Doing that shows the nearest hotel to the airport to be the El Mirador and it gives links to the booking.com site, the hotels.com site that is Expedia, or the hotel website with an email address and phone number.

Always approach hotel direct and negotiate - any hotel worth its salt will have its own website with contact details Just pick up the phone and haggle - just like car insurance in the UK.

You don't always get the best price that way, as some hotels will unknown to the reception staff 'dump' rooms through room brokers that supply tour operators directly.

Occasionally you can buy these bargain rooms through the tour operator without a flight but if you try to cut out the travel agent and contact the hotel directly to price match they will deny such rates exist because the management don't want to be seen to be offloading rooms at such low rates.

[Lootman]

Always approach hotel direct and negotiate - any hotel worth its salt will have its own website with contact details Just pick up the phone and haggle - just like car insurance in the UK.

You don't always get the best price that way, as some hotels will unknown to the reception staff 'dump' rooms through room brokers that supply tour operators directly.

Occasionally you can buy these bargain rooms through the tour operator without a flight but if you try to cut out the travel agent and contact the hotel directly to price match they will deny such rates exist because the management don't want to be seen to be offloading rooms at such low rates

Yes, I sometimes get a cheaper rate through hotels.com than booking direct with the hotel or its chain site. This holds true even if you hold the top status with that chain (I am Diamond with Hilton and Accor).

Note also that if you book through a third party then you do not get loyalty points, nor the perks of status like room upgrades, free breakfast/drinks, early/late checkin and out. But hotels.com does give you the 11th night free.

[Fluke]

But if you book direct with the hotel you’re unlikely to get a garbled message less than 24 hours before you’re due to fly to say that the hotel you booked wasn’t booked at all and now you’re going to have to stay somewhere else, or not go, up to you. The somewhere else you find out once you’re through airport security and waiting for your gate number to come up is not only not in the town you had chosen (as they promised) but not in any town, it’s in the middle of nowhere with no bus service and no shops to buy food. It is in no way comparable to the place you booked. You need a car, the alternative is taxi which is €25 each way to the nearest town. But I haven’t got my drivers licence with me, I didn’t need it nor want to hire a car. In that case you can sort your own airport transfer out even though the address of the new place is buried somewhere in the garbled message.

You’re unlikely to receive a call from the hotel 3 days before you’re due to travel saying sorry your trip is cancelled. What do you mean cancelled? Just is, sorry. But what about my flight? It’s booked and paid for! Sorry.

And I’ve now heard similar stories from others. I’ve used them many times too with no problems but never again. It’s direct all the way for me from now on.

[Dicky99]

I have used booking.com many times with no problem
airbnb was my problem
I would search for a hotel in an area and up came airbnb with a place over 80 miles away (talk about desperate to lure you in)

I've also used Booking.com many times without issue. In fact on one occasion when my hotel cancelled my booking due to a covid matter I found alternative accommodation and Booking.com emailed me to enquire as to whether I needed to claim an out of pocket expense.
Similarly when a hotel I'd departed inexplicably charged my card I complained to Booking and the money was credited back the next day.
I would not consider booking direct with the hotel. I've seen too many reviews of people who've ended up in one to one disputes over money or other matters.
The biggest advantage though for me is being able to pay a few quid more for the privilege of cancellation up to a day or two before without penalty

[TaurusTheBull]

Hi,

I use booking.com a lot, very useful at busy times or when arriving in an unknown place. Unlike airbnb, the price is the price.

Turkey doesn't allow access, so I download Opera which includes a free VPN option.

Once, in Sofia a hostel wanted more than the price quoted on booking.com. I pointed this out to the manager, but he wasn't interested. I then suggested I book via the hostel Wifi. Still not interested. So I left. There's nothing as queer as folk...

Taurus ☺

[jaizan]

I've used Agoda a lot, obviously part of Booking.com. Even some of the Agoda bookings come through as Booking.com bookings at the hotel.

Whilst I dislike supporting a near monopoly, Agoda have mostly been OK. They even supported me when the Campanile Venice locked me out of my room until I paid the "City Tax", even though I had a booking "including taxes". Agoda swiftly refunded the city tax.

The one thing I dislike about Agoda is the default to charging me in my home currency, at an almost criminal poor exchange rate. So every time I have to change it to charging in local currency & may forget about once a year or so.

If I'm travelling in Thailand, Laos etc, a few years ago, Hotels.com had almost as many listings. Now it's getting to a near monopoly situation where I have to use Agoda or Booking.com.

[richfool]

I've used Agoda a lot, obviously part of Booking.com. Even some of the Agoda bookings come through as Booking.com bookings at the hotel.

Whilst I dislike supporting a near monopoly, Agoda have mostly been OK. They even supported me when the Campanile Venice locked me out of my room until I paid the "City Tax", even though I had a booking "including taxes". Agoda swiftly refunded the city tax.

The one thing I dislike about Agoda is the default to charging me in my home currency, at an almost criminal poor exchange rate. So every time I have to change it to charging in local currency & may forget about once a year or so.

If I'm travelling in Thailand, Laos etc, a few years ago, Hotels.com had almost as many listings. Now it's getting to a near monopoly situation where I have to use Agoda or Booking.com.

I have a Wise account within which I hold funds in several currencies. Then when booking hotels in foreign countries, e.g. Thailand, I use my Wise card, so the funds are then deducted from the relevant currency.