[BoJack]

Guys need help!

I and my brother made a booking through booking.com from 21/3/21 to 26/3/21 for an amount of 2491 AED, we booked the hotel a few days in advance and we got the confirmation mail. But when we got to the hotel at around 7:30PM after a very long day (flight delayed by almost 3 hours, bad traffic due to some accident on our way from the airport to the hotel) they were not able to find our booking and the receptionist advised us to get in contact with booking.com.

We called them and after almost 45 minutes on the phone they told us they will send links to a few hotels we can choose one from those and we should pay again for the new booking and the amount for the old booking will be refunded we agreed as we were exhausted and it was getting late. After 15 minutes we called again since they have not mailed any links yet. We were connected to a different executive, we explained our situation once again this time we had to be on the call for 2 hours for them to say the same thing the first executive told us, but this time they actually sent a link but when we opened the link there were no rooms available.

It was getting late and we were exhausted so we started to check for other hotels, keep in mind we are in Dubai and the expo is ending soon so the rents are very high. So we called again and was on the phone for another few hours finally we just asked to give us a refund which they agreed. Today we got a mail stating that our booking was cancelled and it was not eligible for a refund. I fail to see how this is not booking.com 's fault. Can anyone suggest a proper course of action? We were initially planning to go back today (26/3/21) but my brother has some things he needs to take care of before going back so we will be here till next Sunday.

Excuse me for any mistakes. Mod feel free to merge to a different thread, I couldn't find an appropriate thread for this topic.

[dicor]

Hey BoJack, I can feel you. This had happened to me once in the past and I had been through similar lengthly and not solution orietnted process. The only difference was it was Goibibo and the destination was Ganpati Pule.

To avoid any future occurences, I started confirming the booking by calling the hotel after few hours of booking.

I read your post twice but could not understand what help you are looking for? I would suggest consider this as a life lesson and chance to improve our future working.

Do post the pictures and experience of expo please.

[Turbanator]

Originally Posted by BoJack

made a booking through booking.com from 21/3/21 to 26/3/21 for an amount of 2491 AED, they were not able to find our booking and the receptionist advised us to get in contact with booking.com.

Raise the dispute with your credit card issuer, in case payment is made via direct debit or other means, it can get tricky.

Booking.com is a big portal, escalate with them, maybe use social media like Twitter.

I always use these aggregators to check the best option but book directly with the hotels or airline even if little expensive. Last week I booked Marriott in Ahmedabad almost outside the hotel directly at their site and turns out they had sold out but the room was booked due to a technical glitch. They arranged alternate accommodation, though much higher in the other Marriott property and even got me dropped there.

[GTO]

I use makemytrip.com a lot, followed by booking.com a little. I always reply to the confirmation email, copy the hotel email addresses on it and throw in a special request or two. Never had an issue. Yes, you must always confirm the booking with the actual property as this entire aggregator <-> hotel thing is messy. Plus, many hotels (like airlines) will overbook at times, expecting a small number of no-shows.

Raise a stink with booking.com and on social media. They're big guys and not here to cheat.

[BoJack]

Originally Posted by dicor

I read your post twice but could not understand what help you are looking for? I would suggest consider this as a life lesson and chance to improve our future working.

Do post the pictures and experience of expo please.

I was hoping to get some tips on how I can get the money back because it's not like I can just give away almost 2500 AED to booking.com. Will post photos after I get a chance to visit the expo.

Originally Posted by Turbanator

Raise the dispute with your credit card issuer, in case payment is made via direct debit or other means, it can get tricky.

Booking.com is a big portal, escalate with them, maybe use social media like Twitter.

I always use these aggregators to check the best option but book directly with the hotels or airline even if little expensive. Last week I booked Marriott in Ahmedabad almost outside the hotel directly at their site and turns out they had sold out but the room was booked due to a technical glitch. They arranged alternate accommodation, though much higher in the other Marriott property and even got me dropped there.

Already notified the card company. The thing is, I was responsible for booking the hotel and my brother specifically told me to book directly with the hotel 2 weeks prior but I couldn't and by the time I came around to book the hotel the rates were astronomical for even the half decent hotels so looked at bookings.com for other options. This was my first experience with booking.com. Will update if there is any development.

Originally Posted by GTO

Raise a stink with booking.com and on social media. They're big guys and not here to cheat.

Called them today, they are unsure about the refund. I will post on Twitter soon.

[ece2k2]

I am pretty sure you could get your money back by raising a dispute with your credit card company. Just make sure to document the issue properly by submitting relevant emails etc. I faced a couple of similar issues in the past with Agoda (Italian hotel) and another small booking website (Austrian hotel), but was able to recover my money with the help of Citibank.

[Shreyans_Jain]

I am a regular with Booking.com, never had any issue with them. I usually add a request or two, something basic like non smoking room or king size bed. And I call the hotel after the booking in confirmed on the app.

[BoJack]

Originally Posted by ece2k2

I am pretty sure you could get your money back by raising a dispute with your credit card company. Just make sure to document the issue properly by submitting relevant emails etc. I faced a couple of similar issues in the past with Agoda (Italian hotel) and another small booking website (Austrian hotel), but was able to recover my money with the help of Citibank.

But how can I blame the credit card company when booking.com has not yet issued a refund? I am not sure how this works.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by BoJack

But how can I blame the credit card company when booking.com has not yet issued a refund? I am not sure how this works.

You are not blaming the credit card firm. You are disputing the transaction on the grounds that you didn't get the service that you paid for. Check with your cc issuing bank for the process for disputing transactions. They will have the process and timelines on a FAQ page or customer care would be able to help you with this.

If the bank is able to determine that you have valid grounds, they will be able to reverse the transaction and refund you the amount. You are availing a service of the bank offered for credit cards. And the earlier you raise the dispute, the better.

For example, HDFC's dispute process/form is here.

[adisan]

Originally Posted by BoJack

I am not sure how this works.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Check with your cc issuing bank for the process for disputing transactions.

In general, banks will require that you made an attempt directly with the merchant to get the issue resolved, before raising a dispute on the transaction. The communication between you and the merchant might have to be submitted as proof.

[BoJack]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

You are not blaming the credit card firm. You are disputing the transaction on the grounds that you didn't get the service that you paid for. Check with your cc issuing bank for the process for disputing transactions. They will have the process and timelines on a FAQ page or customer care would be able to help you with this.


For example, HDFC's dispute process/form is here.

Thank you guys for the input, I will update after I get in touch with the credit card company.

Originally Posted by adisan

In general, banks will require that you made an attempt directly with the merchant to get the issue resolved, before raising a dispute on the transaction. The communication between you and the merchant might have to be submitted as proof.

We have email conversations with booking.com regarding this, hope that suffice.

[mygodbole]

Having used Booking for over 15 years, I am shocked at what happened with you. First and foremost, your money is SAFE. Reassure yourself that you will not lose (all of) your money.
Booking has a complaint escalation system that 'works'. Escalate your complaint, have plenty of patience. If your original booking was non-refundable, it is still possible to get a partial refund by escalating your complaint. I will repeat myself: Have patience.

Both booking and the hotel have a record of your booking process. Escalate your complaint and demand, via email, a record of the entire transaction. This will take time, so have patience.
Any booking is generally 'cancelled' under specific circumstances. These include 1) no-show; 2) overbooking by the hotel; 3) non-compliance with regulations; 4) Incomplete facilities offered by the hotel and other rare circumstances.

If the hotel claims that they cannot 'find' your booking, inform booking with the relevant reference number from the original reservation. One step at a time. If booking and hotel agree that there was a 'reservation', then either the hotel is at fault or booking is. That is their problem to sort out and process refund.
If the hotel claims a no-show, re-escalate to booking, referencing your telephone conversations with booking executives. Use local (Dubai) time as a reference. ALL calls to booking helplines are recorded so they can check their own internal records. Again, have patience.

All 'clicks' on booking links are recorded, so booking will be able to ascertain if and when their emailed link was actually used to process booking.
If the hotel claims over-booking, rest assured your money is SAFE. May take time for booking to process refund.
If hotel claims 'non-compliance' with regulations, booking will get an explanation from the hotel and then you can decide on course of action.
If you want, inform booking of the actions you took AFTER the hotel refused to host you. Alternate hotel reservation and expense receipt will inform booking that you are a genuine customer.

You need not be in Dubai to do all these things. Booking is a global player and you are a global citizen.
On a side note, the only time I lost money on a booking was when the cancellation policy of 'one week before' expired and three days before my flight, the (proxy) embassy denied me a visa. That was in 2016.

[denny_ace]

Hi BoJack,
If I understand correctly, you were charged a prepayment for the total price of your hotel stay i.e. AED 2491. It is important to ascertain from your credit card company whether the payment was charged by the property or booking.com. Agreed that you entered the credit card details on booking.com but usually the credit card is pre- authorised by the property (in the case of international bookings also). Please see the attached screenshot from an earlier booking of mine. Certain transactions get lost mysteriously like in the 'Bermuda Triangle' and are not visible until reconciliation at the end of settlement cycles. This is rare though. Hotels get overbooked especially during times of international events (Dubai Expo in this case). I feel that your money is safe and it's only a matter of time before you get the refund.

[BoJack]

We raised a dispute with the bank and also talked with booking.com (was walking around the expo while I was put on hold by them) today. Booking.com told they will refund the amount within 7 working days albeit after being on the phone for more than 3 hours with them, so that's great. Will update when there is any development. Thank you so much for all the responses!

[top_gear]

Originally Posted by BoJack

Guys need help!

I and my brother made a booking through booking.com from 21/3/21 to 26/3/21 for an amount of 2491 AED, we booked the hotel a few days in advance and we got the confirmation mail. But when we got to the hotel at around 7:30PM after a very long day (flight delayed by almost 3 hours, bad traffic due to some accident on our way from the airport to the hotel) they were not able to find our booking and the receptionist advised us to get in contact with booking.com.

We called them and after almost 45 minutes on the phone they told us they will send links to a few hotels we can choose one from those and we should pay again for the new booking and the amount for the old booking will be refunded we agreed as we were exhausted and it was getting late. After 15 minutes we called again since they have not mailed any links yet. We were connected to a different executive, we explained our situation once again this time we had to be on the call for 2 hours for them to say the same thing the first executive told us, but this time they actually sent a link but when we opened the link there were no rooms available.

Welcome to Dubai.

I would advice following points to ensure your refund.

1. Take official mail from hotel you have booked stating there was no reservation and even though you tried to check in on booked date but you could not. This will ensure that it was not "No Show" on your side and you were not able to use hotel booking you paid for.

2. Next ask for refund with immediate written request to booking.com. Use mail as per point 1 if they don't budge.

3. Once you get refund on your credit card, highlight inconvenience caused to you and you can expect some courtesy voucher from them.

4. Not sure if this is your trip dubai, if yes, feel free to get in touch with me for any information needed in dubai. I would be happy to do it as fellow Bhpian.

5. If you dont have car to go to Expo, don't waste your money on Taxi/Metro. You get free shuttle to/from expo from different boarding points like Mall of Emirates etc.

6. Your hotel should provide you with Free Expo entry pass - if requested.

7. Most important, do share expo feedback after your visit. (Yeah, i could not go to expo since last 6 months )