A supporter traveling to Switzerland to cheer on the England women’s football team during Euro 2025 has encountered a frustrating accommodation issue that has left her out of pocket. She was going to stay at a hotel in Zurich, but a Booking.com mistake left her facing a costly penalty. Now, she’s having to deal with challenges she never anticipated.
In the first months of the year, this excited fan desperately attempted to reserve her hotel room from his cell phone. In particular, she wanted to check availability at the hotel for England v Netherlands on July 9. She was being fiscally responsible and picked a non-refundable room rate. Despite knowing that the hotel had “free cancellation” options with amenity fees fully refundable up to July 8 for £30 to £40 more per night, she persevered.
Yet when she went to book, she encountered a frustrating snag. Then, the dreaded “spinning wheel of death” came up, freezing her transaction in that critical moment. At long last, she heard back with a confirmation email for her £1,215 booking. To her disappointment, the reservation date moved from July back to January, well outside the range of the tournament dates.
That’s put a huge financial burden on her given the circumstances. Almost two weeks wages were wrapped up in the booking and losing that kind of money simply wasn’t something we could afford. It was a no-go on civil litigation, she won her case and achieved a £1,000 partial refund. Yet this sum was not enough to pay off her entire down payment.
“I am pleased to have some spending money for the trip,” the fan remarked, highlighting her relief that some funds were recovered. She has since booked her arrangements to stay in a different hotel for her trip to Switzerland.
Booking.com responded in an issued statement to the circumstances, outlining their policy to non-refundable rates.
“Upon reviewing the case, we can see that the customer booked a non-refundable rate and requested to change the dates after the booking was confirmed. In such cases it is at the discretion of the accommodation partner to decide if they agree to a free cancellation and modify the dates, which, unfortunately, in this specific case they declined. However, we can confirm that we have offered the customer a partial refund as a gesture of goodwill, which the customer accepted.” – Booking.com
With Euro 2025 on the horizon, fans such as Joyce are ready to start cheering for their teams. Beyond that, they’re addressing the difficulties of piecing together travel itineraries. Even with all the obstacles she had to overcome to have accommodations, she is still looking forward to going to the matches and supporting the Lionesses.