Booking.com, a company that does not care about its customers

September 2023. I have to go to Rome with all my family. It was unexpected. I called Hotel X. The gentle receptionist answered: “Dear Sir, we do not take reservations over the phone. Please go to the Booking.com website and make the reservations by yourself.”

“But I am here now. I can give you my credit card details if you make the reservation,” I answer.

“Sorry, sir, I cannot. Go to the Booking.com website,” she answered and hung up.

Then I tried another hotel. Same answer. Third and fourth hotel. The same response again. And, my dear reader, please notice that I was calling up all kinds of hotels, from 5-star to 2-star hotels.

Booking.com dominates the market. If a relatively underdeveloped tourist market like the Italian market is so dependent on Booking.com, what about more developed markets like the French or the German market?

No wonder the European Commission has an ongoing investigation into the monopolistic power of Booking.com and its acquisition of Sweden’s eTraveli Group.

Booking, whose brands include Booking.com, Rentalcars, Priceline and Agoda, announced the proposed acquisition of ETraveli, owned by private equity firm CVC Capital Partners, in November 2021.

I know what you think, my reader: we all know that. So what?

Please be patient because the story is much more than what I said.

Then I gave up. I went on my laptop and made the reservation on Booking.com.

I admit I was in a hurry. I relied 100% on Booking.com. They are a giant in the market. They must help me out in any single situation. Right? Wrong, my reader.

They do not. They behave just like a small website in the third category. They do not care about their customers. You do not believe, right?

Let’s carry on the story.

I made the reservations for four people going to Rome. On the website, there were the terms and conditions, which I admit I did not read entirely. I just read that, generally, Booking.com guarantees the reimbursement or the postponement of your reservation.

I relied 100% on Booking.com. Would such a monopolistic company earn on a small customer like myself if I had a problem with my trip?

Indeed, it would not, you think, my reader. Wrong again. They would. They do it all the time. We are all hostages of Booking.com. We are forced to go there to make reservations. But we lose all our money if something goes wrong with our trip. They do not do anything and make 100% profit on you.

You do not believe, right? Read below.

As an international journalist, I have to change my trips from one day to another. That happened. I went to the Booking.com website and tried NOT to get the money back. Just to postpone my reservation. From mid-September 2023 to mid-January 2024. A quiet period in Rome. Everything should be ok. 4 months in advance.

Maybe for big companies, but not for Booking.com.

Wait, but Booking.com is the largest company in Europe in the travel business, a monopoly. How can that be possible?

And here we come to the heart of the problem.

Booking.com is indeed a giant. It is a company which dominates the market in Europe and elsewhere. A monopoly. But they behave like a small company. They are a company which does not help its customers.

Why?

Simple. Because they are a monopoly. They know you must make reservations with them no matter what you do, think, or act. They are a monopoly.

End of the story. The hotel said no to any postponement of my trip. Booking.com embraced the hotel’s view 100%.

I lost 100% of all my money. And next time I travel I have to make a reservation with Booking.com.

What about the EU? Online System Hotels must have “easily legible and unambiguous” reservation buttons in case persons are on the hook for charges, the European Union’s top court has said in the past. Does it happen? It does not.

One question is left open: What else is waiting for the European Commission to intervene and stop this outrageous behavior of a monopolistic company that does not care about its customers and leaves us without protection? At the same time, they make billions of euros on us.

Just as a reminder what Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President in charge of competition policy said on Booking.com on 16/11/2022:

“Booking is by far the strongest online travel agency in Europe, intermediating between thousands of hotels and millions of Europeans. By acquiring a large player in the flights intermediation sector, it is extending its reach to other activities in the travel ecosystem. Given Booking’s strong position in Europe, we need to carefully assess whether this merger will strengthen Booking’s position even further or distort competition in parts of the travel sector.”

P. S. After getting distressed with Booking.com customer service, a gentle email from the site asks me: What was the interaction with Michala of Customer Service?

Please put an emoticon: a smiling or an angry face on the interaction questionnaire.