Booking.com has come under fire after reports of booking failures and payment charges by customers trying to book flights. Similarly, one of our recent customers had serious problems securing return business class tickets from the UK to Kathmandu. This became a huge problem for them this past October. Immediately after completing the payment, she received an email from Booking.com. The message notified them that, within a few hours, a separate email containing their new booking reference and their booking details would be sent.
Rather than honoring the reservation, Booking.com sent the customer a response. They made the buyer aware that the reservation had not booked. This put their customer in a tough spot. In search of a better alternative, they switched to Expedia. Ultimately, they had to rebook their flights, which cost them an additional £1,000 over what they had initially intended to spend through Booking.com.
The confusion did not stop there. We have heard from other readers who went through the same experiences, thinking that their original Booking.com reservations had just not gone through. In fact, in some instances, customers would get their booking confirmations days after they had booked. In the end, by that point they had already made other travel plans. This has posed serious questions about the dependability of Booking.com’s booking system and treatment of customers.
The last thing you want is an angry customer because of a broken booking. Their displeasure was compounded further by the lack of timely follow-up communication on Booking.com’s part once the decision had been made. The business responded to the complaint within 2 days. This last-minute delay had the potential to leave their customer without any accommodation on their lengthy travel itinerary. They first conceived the idea intending to work out their travel plans through Booking.com. Then that fell through, so they had to find someone else, which was even more expensive.
It opened the opportunity for an alternative service to win the customer. It did involve a big additional payment of £1,500 on top of their initially booked flight costs through Booking.com. This unexpected result spotlights the shocking financial impact that can be felt when travel itineraries go off course.