Booking.com
4,293 reviews
AI reviews summary
Pros
Cons
Verdict
Overall sentiment leans strongly negative, with many users expressing frustration over unresolved disputes, difficulties securing refunds, and unresponsive customer service. While the platform is frequently described as convenient for initial searches, a significant number of reviewers advise booking directly with accommodation providers or airlines to avoid third-party complications when travel plans change.
Had a terrible experience in Malta (written previous review to explain) I got a $A500 credit (for a week costing approx A$1500) credit only lasted 12 months-now expired. As I didn’t want to take the chance to book through Booking.Com again I had to forfeit it as they would not agree to a cash deposit credit. Be warned THIS IS A COMPANY THAT IS BEING INVESTIGATED FOR WRONG DOING!
Complete scam. Did book an apartment, gas stove had gas leak, ac had water leak. One of the room had no light. Contact customer support team, no help. No help from owner either. Booking.com didn't even proceed refund. Always stayed with booking.com in past and Would Never do again and suggest everyone not to waste money here.
complain about our stay at president hotel our weekend was ruined by the smell of canabis on the landing I specifically made sure there was no smoking as I have recently had half my lung removed with cancer the full landing was absolutely stinking of drugs and ruined our stay as we had to stay away from hotel as much as possible because if the fumes Show details
Reviews with attachments
Honestly, I will never use Booking.com again. They are impossible to reach when you actually need help — no phone number, no real person to talk to, nothing. When things go wrong, you’re completely left on your own. I missed my Virgin Atlantic flight because of an oversight with the dates, and instead of showing any empathy or support,… Read more
Booking.com did absolutely nothing. I had to rebook new flights myself with Jetstar.
Their website clearly said we could bring two bags up to 7 kg each, but in tiny fine print at the bottom, it says “check with the airline.” Of course, not everyone notices that, especially when you’re already stressed and trying to fix travel plans. When we got to the Jetstar counter, we were told the two bags had to combine to 7 kg total — not 7 kg each. Because of that, we were forced to pay an extra $55 at the airport.
It’s just misleading information and zero customer support. When you travel, you need a company you can rely on, and Booking.com is definitely not one of them.
Do not book flights. No responsibility taken by Gotogate, the agent for Booking.com You will get nowhere with refunds or cancellations Show details
I booked 6 nights in a Denia, Spain apartment and while there was a Google map showing the port of Denia, there was no address other than 03700 Denia, Spain. I showed the taxi driver the map and he took us to the maritime museum on Esplanada Cervantes saying it's here and promptly left. My wife and I are in our 80s and we were tired after the 7… Read more
hrs bus ride from Madrid. We spent 4 hrs searching the area with the help of port security, shopkeepers and two police. We all failed. I asked the police if we could sleep in the police station as we had nowhere to go and there were no taxis to take us to alternative accomodation. After I had notified the apartment that we had not received a reply from them giving us a clear address, we had no option but to look an alternative. One police officer telephoned the Zurich number!! and got an English speaking voice. He handed the phone to me and the screaming voice asked why we had not gone to the office to pick up a key. I pointed out that I had not been informed about this until now. Why didn't Booking.com make sure the instructions were explicit?? I told them voice we wanted a full refund and also informed Booking.com. it's now over 24 hrs and I have had no response, so much for customer care. I shall boycott Booking.com for this and for the fact that they are breaking international law by advertising properties in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.


- +3
Worse service ever , not helpful, they do not care about customers, no email to put any complaints or uploads any photos or videos ,DI NOT book with them at all if there is less than one star I will give it to them. This room ruined my holiday and is still ruining my life after! I am not sure how many times I can be scammed by the same merchant. … Read more
This room ( Liverpool brand new 2 Bedroom APT view & parking) was advertised as brand new, but it is anything but that… stains on the beds, on the couches, on the pillows, on everything. Constant loud noise from the AC, smallest amount of wind and the room feels like it’s about to be blown off!
The beds, I could not sleep! After a 10–12 hour trip, I was so tired but I could barely even sleep. The bed given wasn’t a bed… it was just a thin mattress on a metal frame that killed my back.
I paid over $2,000 for a 1-star room! No service, no nothing, with a barely liveable room that I am certain wouldn’t pass inspection!!!
When I contacted the merchant, they were initially responding so fast. As soon as they knew I was displeased with this room, they started to not reply to me. I told them I would leave the room the next morning, which I did, and booked a hotel with a similar price but a much better experience — a place that actually has service, clean beds, and rooms.
I informed them I would like a refund for the remaining nights and I am happy to pay for the only night I stayed in. They said they would contact me the following afternoon; it took them days to get back to me!
They asked for photo evidence. I sent it to them via email, which they claimed they couldn’t open, so they asked for it via their number, which I sent to them — but they said this isn’t their number and told me to send it to a different number, despite this number being provided by them.
Still, they claimed the photos and videos weren’t received by them. I was trying to call them, but it wouldn’t ring, so I tried the other number. When I called, they said to call someone else they gave me a different number, and said it belongs to the the lady who has been managing my inquiry, and it was the lady who I have been texting on booking.com.
I called the number, and the lady claimed she didn’t know what was going on, claimed she had no idea about the messages and that she wasn’t the person that I was speaking to via messages! She had no idea of what was going on apparently…
All in all, there were 5 different numbers given, and all of them stopped answering my calls — but when I dialed their number from a different phone, they answered!
They even apologised for the issues with the room and offered only a $200 refund, but shortly after, they claimed I had not returned the keys in the lockbox and the lockbox was missing! Accusing me of stealing this — despite me having evidence of returning the key in the lockbox and not stealing anything!
They even claimed that they are going to charge me for this.
They lied about the room they advertised, they lied about the key and lockbox — this ruined my holiday and till today I am dealing with these devious people!
I am under suspicion that these people are operating from China, as their number on Booking.com is a Chinese number, and their English is very poor.
These are not even serviced apartments or hotel rooms — these are rooms that people live in via purchase or rent, which makes me wonder if what they are doing is even legal.
Please stay away from them and stay away from Booking.com. When I tried to raise this up with Booking.com, they claimed they couldn’t do anything!


- +3
Decieving!!! Do not book through this site – Disgustingly filthy 41/138 high street south port, 4215. The Host is rude does not care, and is texting a family of 7 to look at another accommodation at 8:45 pm with no sense of responsibility to call or discuss our full refund, we feel cheated with young kids the pictures were decieving, such kind of ppl should be blacklisted there is probably a very good reason they don't exist on Air BNB. We trusted your sites and feel absolutely cheated. Show details
Still waiting for the refund as they had promised, its been 4 months
We booked a short term stay and upon arrival bed was completely broken we sent over 22 emails, chat messages and calls to both booking.com and the host they refused to fix, refund or relocate dispute the bed being unusable and unsafe, we sent photos and videos which they acknowledged was a major safety issue and unusable. Show details
CRITICAL ERROR: Billed AUD $392.97 for an impossible 42-minute cross-continental car rental.I am writing this to warn other Australian consumers about a severe failure in Booking.com’s location mapping system and their subsequent customer service refusal.On Friday 4th September, I attempted to book a local emergency car rental at Newcastle… Read more
Airport, Australia. The automated booking platform instead routed the booking to Newcastle International Airport in the United Kingdom (Booking #728919447).The confirmation email hit my inbox at 12:48 PM AEST, demanding a physical vehicle pick-up at 1:30 PM AEST on the exact same day. The system allowed a physically and logistically impossible 42-minute window to travel from Australia to the UK, clear customs, and arrive at the rental desk. At that exact hour, the Green Motion UK rental counter was closed (3:30 AM local UK time).I contacted support immediately, but lines were closed. After following up via email, a customer relations representative formally closed the case, refusing a refund because I did not cancel 48 hours in advance—ignoring that the booking was created and scheduled to start within a 42-minute window.Booking.com processed an explicitly labeled AUD transaction from an Australian resident with an active +61 phone number for a service that was physically impossible to fulfill. Charging for un-suppliable services breaches standard consumer fair trading expectations. This matter has been escalated to Greater Bank for a formal Visa chargeback dispute.
Totally shocked with Booking.com, the amount of accommodation holidays I’ve booked with this site even the fact I have booked accommodation again through them for next year to Queenstown. Somehow for no reason at all, I am blocked from using their site. I’ve been looking to book accommodation in Park city for January next year as mentioned. I… Read more
already have accommodation booked for Queenstown in June of next year through Booking.com.. So as I’ve been searching over the past week or two, it says my account is disabled. I have no idea why, I have not abused anyone or done anything wrong. I cannot contact them I have tried and tried to the point have given up.. So after what happened now I will never use this side again. I only just booked previously last month for ski trip staying at Cooma not a problem at all. Hopefully someone from Booking.com will see this review and contact me explain what has gone wrong but at this stage I’m extremely annoyed could not be any worse than the way I feel at present. Maybe someone has hacked into my account I have no idea but I have not heard from them at all trying to contact their support team . If a team member sees this reach out to me, you have my contact details. Send me an email explanation and reactivate my account . I prompt every person not to book or use this website from what has happened to me.
My experience with Booking.com during two serious payment issues and dispute with the accomodation - has been one of the worst customer service experiences I have encountered. After the owners closed the front door on me while I was still standing at the threshold because I asked to go to my room and not “joke around” and be roasted, I… Read more
immediately attempted to seek assistance from Booking.com. Instead of receiving help, I spent approximately two hours making around 16 telephone calls to Booking.com across the Phillipines, Egypt, and the Netherlands. Calls repeatedly disconnected, I was never called back, and despite repeatedly requesting escalation to a supervisor, this either did not occur due to repeated argumentation and refusal, they are “all at meetings” or the calls disconnected before I could explain what had happened.
Shockingly, Booking.com began communicating with the accommodation before ever obtaining my account of events. Because the repeated call disconnections prevented me from explaining what had occurred, I repeatedly asked how Booking.com could possibly investigate the dispute or discuss it with the property when no one had successfully taken my statement. Despite raising this concern numerous times by phone, email and social media, it was largely ignored.
Rather than investigating whether the accommodation service had actually been provided, Booking.com treated the matter as though I was simply requesting an exception to a non-refundable cancellation policy based on “checking in late”. At no point did I ever check in late - truly bizarre, I was an hour before cut off. That fundamentally misunderstood the complaint. I had travelled to the property, arrived during the stated check-in period, presented at the door with my luggage, and attempted to check in. The issue was that I was confronted with overfamiliar “jokes”, repeatedly interrupted, falsely accused, denied any meaningful opportunity to respond, and ultimately had the door closed on me while I was standing at the threshold. This was a service failure, not a voluntary cancellation.
Even after the matter was escalated to a senior manager, the phone call they apparently tried to make once failed again, and they sent an email containing lies that they had called multiple times- PLUS significant factual errors remained. I was incorrectly told that I had attempted to check in after 8:00 pm, despite objective evidence showing I had travelled from the railway station before 7:00 pm and arrived well before the deadline. This gave me little confidence that the evidence I had submitted had actually been reviewed.
One Booking.com in one of the 16 phone calls representative argued unnecessarily over my reservation number before eventually admitting it was not required after all, spend the whole phone call defending his inconsistency rather than assisting me. Another terminated the call after I politely gave feedback on the lack of empathy shown during the conversation. Throughout the process, I never once had my complaint heard before their bodgy investigation.
I use them for work bookings as well as holidays and that seems to go okay because it’s the same few places again and again but do not book them for anything important… The dispute-resolution process was fragmented, inconsistent and extremely difficult to navigate. The repeated call failures, lack of effective escalation, poor communication between staff, and apparent failure to properly investigate the underlying complaint left me with very little confidence in Booking.com’s ability to support customers when they most need assistance.
For a company of Booking.com’s size, I expected a robust complaints process. Instead, I experienced repeated technical failures, inconsistent information, poor ownership of the case, and an investigation that appeared to proceed without first obtaining the complainant’s full account of the events. That was deeply disappointing.
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Dishonest service. On trying to cancel a booking due to serious safety concerns with the hotel, Booking.com staff advised that they would refund me as I was a valued customer. My account says that booking has been cancelled but they now refuse to pay.
I stayed at the IBIS hotel in Lt. La Trobe St Melbourne. Nothing short of awful. The self service check in didn’t work. Valet parking was $70 per day. Rooms are TINY and overlooked other hotels across the street. The bathroom was so small, the sink was in the middle of the bedroom. Would I stay here again, NOT A CHANCE.
I am writing that I have very strange booking cost. When I search a hotel and make booking through booking.com is more expensive than non member price. Show details
- +7
They've got to be kidding offering this as even reasonable accommodation. Just disgusting. Outside: Ramshackle house situated on an unsealed gravel road with an unsealed gravel driveway. Verandah timber flooring dirty and slippery when wet, with well established weeds growing in-between some slats. Timber railings dirty and need painting. Front… Read more
metal screen door covered in rust. Front timber door rotting at the bottom. Photos attached Inside: Window sills and blinds filthy dirty throughout the house. Kitchen sink has broken sieve. Fridge absolutely filthy inside and outside, showing streak marks where cleaning the outside has been attempted. Left over food in the freezer section, and food debris left on the floor near the fridge. Kitchen bench top badly marked showing numerous surface cut marks. Dining table chairs has graffiti written on one, with others showing material falling apart and deep cut marks. Bathroom shower has multiple areas of mould, so much so that we didn’t use it, preferring to wait until we arrived at our next destination to do so. Toilet – paper roll left on top of the waste bin which is situated on the toilet floor. Classy. Photos attached Other: AUD$80 ‘Cleaning fee per stay’ charged as part of the AUD$323 cost paid for one night. Verging on the absurd, refer to previous comments about the filthy condition in this review. ‘International surcharge fee’ AUD$11.31 imposed by our bank. Basically, best of luck to anyone staying there. For us, a major disappointment and rip-off, well deserving of a full refund.
false advertise price match. Have reported booking.com to the consumer watch dog for falsely advertising price matching. read the response i just got from booking.com !!! fyi - trip.com has much better pricing with better cancellation policies Show details
- +7
I am an executive Genius member, and Booking.com’s customer service is an absolute nightmare. They allowed a scam on their platform, forced me into a hazardous relocation, and are now withholding my money. Here is the exact timeline of their incompetence: The Easter Sunday Nightmare: I spent the entire Easter Day on the phone, practically begging… Read more
customer support for the €100 relocation refund they owed me. I explicitly told them I was traveling with 4 other companions and we needed to split the costs. Forcing this refund into the "Booking Wallet" as platform credits is an insult—how am I supposed to split corporate virtual tokens with 4 different people? A real monetary refund was clearly implied and legally required.
The €34.31 Bait-and-Switch: Less than 24 hours before my final payment, the price suddenly jumped by €34.31 due to a "system error." I contacted support immediately, stating that if this increase persisted, I would use my free cancellation right. Their agents explicitly reassured me and promised a refund if I proceeded. Now? Those €34.31 are nowhere to be seen—not even as pending—and they are trying to deny it.
Almost Zero Protection in a Hazardous Allotment: The relocation apartment Booking provided was disgusting and dangerous. There was no hot water, thick dust everywhere, leftover trash from previous guests, and literal metal spikes sticking out of the sofa. Booking provided almost zero protection or assistance while we were stranded there: an insignificant 10% (that €47.27) that I can't spend if not on their platform (Why would I use booking.com after this experience?).
The Current Fraud: It took them two full weeks of non-stop complaints just to drop €147 (€100 + €47.17) into my Wallet, which is now trapped there because they refuse to activate the cash-out option. To top it all off, their chat support has completely ghosted me for 12 days straight. Absolute radio silence. Booking.com is a multi-billion dollar company holding €181.48 hostage from a customer they deeply wronged. I had to file to the European Consumer Centre (ECC-Net) and spend another who-kowns weeks if not months of strees for this matter and I think this is unexpectable.
Latest follow-ups
Paid extra for nothing! – We are in Australia and renting a car here and paying in Australian dollars, but were charged a fee for overseas transaction!!! Now I have wasted hours trying to get hold of them! At the very least they should have warned me of the charge up front! … Read more
Then, as our flight was delayed, we phoned the Car Rental place but they didn’t answer so we left a message saying that we would be late. When we arrived, we phoned them again and they said that they were closed at 6 pm so we will have stranded at Airport And forced to take alternative transport. Now they won’t refund the money that we paid for the rental vehicle, not even part of it! NEVER AGAIN!
Follow-up · No, it has not changed. Our flight was delayed and we notified the car rental company before we lft Melbourne. When we arrived we found that they closed at 6pm and there was no way of getting a car. We were stranded and had no car to travel the 1 hour drive to our accommodation. A kind traveller ended up offering to take us. We could not get back… Read more
Very disappointed with Booking.com customer support. If they are going to offer Australian properties then they should have a direct contact in Australia so you can contact them directly about disgusting accommodation they recommend. I sent photos… Read more
of a mouldy room with rising damp and dirty room that I feel shouldn’t be available for people to stay in and Nothing was done to refund or offer any assistance. Bloody poor service like the room booked.
Follow-up · No facilities available besides a freezing cold room for breakfast. Location was away from any food or drinks clubs or restaurants. Yes breakfast was available however the options were very limited and poor facilities to cook your own food.
Price match promise is just a hoax – I have been a regular booking.com customer for many, many years. After recently booking accommodation I found the exact same room available on Agoda for $1400 less. Every detail, such as breakfast inclusion, cancellation policy, fees and payment… Read more
details were exactly the same. I contacted booking.com asking them to price match, as they promise to do. I received an email asking me to send through webpage link, and other inclusions, which I did within an hour of the request. I also sent a screenshot so they could see the date and time that the room was seen. Two days later I received a message on the app, not a reply to my email, asking me to send the link. I resent the link and explained that this had been done when first requested. I also stated that I was disappointed with the time they were taking as prices were changing and rooms were booking quickly. Another two days went past and I then received an email stating they would not honour the price match as the room was no longer available on Agoda’s website. I requested that they honour the price match as I had the screenshot of the room available at the time I made the request and it was their incompetence that meant it took so long for them to check it. That was over a week ago and I have had no further communication from them. Needless to say I have cancelled my booking with them and won’t be using them again. Since the room then became available due to my cancellation i went straight on to Agoda and booked the exact same room, with all the inclusions I originally had, and saved myself $1400! Thanks Agoda!
Follow-up · I have been asked to do a follow up but there is nothing to add. I had no more contact from Booking.com and have not booked with them since.
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Positive reviews
Charles Sturt Motel in Cobram was fantastic place to stay with enormous room with great service and extremely clean. A good variety of Food options within a short metre walk. Super friendly service , staff very welcoming on arrival made you feel important. Show details · 1
Here’s the 5 star review of this hotel and the MINUS 5 Star and Thumbs Down review of booking.com and Priceline Partner Solutions. Long story short—our recent Egypt trip was cancelled due to hostilities in the region. I called Pyramid Parks Resort, and they kindly recognized the extraordinary situation of things, assured me there would be no… Read more
fees, granted a refund of any and all cancellation fees and sent me a email to that effect. Bless their hearts.
I told Booking.com this and they refused to refund our pre-paid reservation without a written statement from the hotel granting the waiver. I sent booking.com the hotel email confirming waiver of the cancellation fees. Booking.com claimed that the hotel denied the waiver of the fees.
Shame on booking.com! How can this be more blatant bad faith? It is nothing short of bald-faced consumer fraud…! Don’t deal with this company! Avoid Priceline. com and never book through booking.com. Tell all your friends too!
I obtained a booking.com Travel Credit reward which I promptly used towards booking accommodation in the Sunshine Coast. A few days after booking confirmation received, I received an email advising that my booking had been cancelled. I had not… Read more
done this. I immediately went on to the booking.com App and rebooked the accommodation. I then noticed that there had been unauthorised activity in my account, whereby someone had been searching flights and had actually booked a flight from Malaysia to Jakarta using my Travel Credit rewards. I screenshot all this unauthorised activity and sent them in an email to customer service. After getting confirmation direct from the accommodation that I had booked, I advised them that I had not cancelled the initial booking and they were quite alarmed. I removed all my payment options from my App but when payment was due for the accommodation, I had to log back in to my App and could not find the booking and how to pay for it. I searched through the App and then requested a new confirmation email of the booking which I received which then allowed me to make payment using PayPal. I received all the confirmation emails of the payment being received. What happened next was hard to believe..... my accommodation booking was cancelled, once again!!! I did not cancel this. Fortunately, my payment was refunded to PayPal. booking.com's excuse was that my credit card was not valid, yet I had paid by PayPal not a credit card. Also, the Travel Credit rewards were never reinstated to my account, they had been stolen on the unauthorised flight booking. Plus, the cost of the accommodation had risen since my initial booking had been made. This issue is still ongoing with booking.com. they are always asking for information which has already given by me to them in screenshots and emails and a timeline. Their customer service has been abysmal. I have ended up making alternate accommodation arrangements in this instance.
Follow-up · I was advised to update my password and security, which I did. I have left my credit card details off the account for now, although that hadn’t been accessed thankfully. My stolen rewards credit was reinstated to my account by booking.com.
Negative reviews
I had to leave the platform as the complaint resolution was so poor. On one occasion, we were actually at risk in a booked car, were not taken to our destination and booking.com effectively dismissed our complaint as false and refused to compensate. They are happy to take the money but the minute there is a problem are not interested. Expedia has been much better
I had used Booking.com for years without any major issues, so I had never needed to contact them directly for help. I mistakenly assumed that if something went wrong, Booking.com would support its consumers. My experience has shown me otherwise. I made a reservation in good faith at the advertised price, received confirmation and coordinated a… Read more
family trip involving four families around the property’s availability. I was later told to accept a significantly higher rate or risk having the booking cancelled because of a pricing issue between Booking.com and the property.
Despite sending six emails and using the online chat, I received no meaningful assistance or practical resolution. I repeatedly requested clarification, a complaint reference, escalation to a supervisor and confirmation of whether my booking remained valid. Instead, I received generic responses asking for information I had already supplied. The chat representative eventually ended the conversation without answering my final message.
Booking.com also provided contradictory information—telling me the property had cancelled the reservation while my account continued to show it as confirmed.
I attempted to escalate the matter through the Department of Fair Trading but was advised that it could not assist through its usual process because Booking.com is based in the Netherlands. This appears to leave Australian customers with very limited practical recourse when Booking.com refuses to resolve a complaint.
Consumers should be aware that when something goes wrong, obtaining meaningful assistance or accountability from Booking.com may be extremely difficult. I have now lost all trust in the platform, closed my accounts and will use other accommodation providers in future.
Booked a studio apartment in January, in Sydney through booking.com, paid when requested last week. received a message today 30/9 that we had to cancel because booking.com had overlapped the apartment. Messaged back to say not acceptable, we only have 1 weeks notice, and has now compromised our family holiday including flights booked. i also… Read more
stated bookings had done this to us in the past but with lots of notice. Rang service management, unable to provide a alternative option or solution. Rang Booking.com complaints line AI transferred me to customer service and told me wait time was 10min, waited 1hr and 4mins then I hung up.... tried to write a review on booking site unable to proceed as did'nt have property ID, i looked but could'nt find any.. I feel like Booking.com are unable to resolve issues promptly. and ignored me.
Recent reviews
Pretty terrible. Initiated a price match request with detailed evidence, however it’s been weeks and no response from the customer service team. Followed up on three separate occasions but their customer service reps either don’t reply or end the chat abruptly. Terrible customer service. Lesson learnt, use them to find accommodation and then book directly with the provider.
YOU WILL GET CHARGED A LARGE INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTION FEE. Avoid Booking.com for car rental hire if you are based in Austalia or anywhere outside the UK. If your car rental is close to $1000 your fee will be over $30 AUD which outweighs the savings from using another comparison site. Booking.com's dismissal of my complaint was also appauling and… Read more
they should be investigated by NSW Fair Trading. Also there is no offshore indicators on their site which the Bank said is how customers could know.
Extra Information
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1st video is noisy AC if you turn it off. Room will be get hot so either to sleep with the nose… Read more