Deceptive Practices

<p><br />Booking.com used deceptive methods on their website.</p> <p>If you decide to use Booking.com please note the following:<br />1.) Not all bookings have "Free Cancellation"<br />2.) Not all properties are "pay at the property"<br />3.) Emails stating "Free Cancellation - pay at the property" with a "continue search" button do not take you to exclusively "Free Cancellation - pay at the property" properties<br />4.) Their search filters do not work properly and will include properties outside the filter parameters<br />5.) Be sure to get a screenshot of each screen through the booking process and check your confirmation carefully to confirm it's what you requested<br />6.) My experience is they use deceptive practices and will not honor the price quoted if the confirmation is different than what was booked<br />7.) Watch closely for "non-refundable" notation under the number of beds on the room selection page<br />8.) Pay close attention to cancellation fees which only shows if you select the i symbol located before the non-refundable designation on the "Next step" page<br />9.) Pay close attention to prepayment requirements, which only shows if you select the "i" symbol located before the "Non-refundable" designation on the "Next step" page.</p> <p>One of Booking.com's big advertising offers is No Cancellation Fee. That is not clear on the website for properties that charge a cancellation fee, in my case it was going to be $161 on a $181 reservation. Another one of Booking.com's big advertising offers is "pay at the property", my credit card was charged 2 days after the confirmation was received.</p> <p>I was using Booking.com due to their repeatedly stating "Free Cancellation - pay at the property" and having properties available that allowed 6 people in one room. I was shopping for hotels for 3 couples sharing a room so was filtering "6 people", "no cancellation charge" & "no prepayment". Comfort Inn was at the top of the list. When Comfort Inn is selected the Booking.com website takes you to a page that shows a picture of the property. Above the picture of the property it states "FREE cancellation". I was careful to note that the reservation was for 6 people and "non-refundable" was not noted until I chose the room. The Cancellation charge amount and prepayment requirements do not show unless you select the i symbol located before the non-refundable designation on the "Next step". Throughout the reservation process I was double checking that it stated 6 people at each step because the same room type was offered at a lower prices for less people. After I booked the room for 6 people at Comfort Inn at 40%+ off totaling $181, I received confirmation saying max 3 people, prepayment and $161 cancellation fee. I emailed through the confirmations "contact us" form and received no response. I phoned Comfort Inn and they said the max people in that room was 5 and I would need to phone Booking.com. I phoned Booking.com and sat on hold for quite a while and then spoke to Nicholas. He was professional and put me on hold so he could phone Comfort Inn. He returned to the call and said he received permission for 6 guests. I asked him for that in writing because I didn't want to arrive and be turned away. He said he'd see what he could do but for 6 guests it was going to be $209, instead of the $181 I was quoted or I could cancel it. I explained when I booked it was at 40+% off and after I received the confirmation stating 3 people I tried to recreate the booking but the current discount was 38%, a lesser discount than when I booked, but it clearly shows that a 6 person room was an option so I had a screenshot of the current rate for the 6 person option, that's the option I chose at the deeper discount for a total of $181. I spent a lot of time on deciding on the property and had to check with two other couples before booking it and would need to check with them again which was more time. He then asked me to email the screenshot. He sent me an email which I rep**** to with the screenshot. Once he received the screenshot he said they would honor the 6 people in a room but it would be today's rate of $215 and did I want to accept that rate. I told him I expected Booking.com to honor the original deeper discount. I told him that Booking.com is using deceptive practices and that if they refused to honor the price quoted at the time of booking I would add my bad review to the tons of bad reviews already out there. He had me hold again while asking if he could honor the original amount, then came back on the line and said they had cancelled the reservation at no charge and I would be refunded. Certainly not the outcome I expected. The phone call with Nicholas took 45 minutes. If a refund is not show up on my credit card within 5 business days I will be disputing the charge.</p> <p> </p>