Lack Of Professionalism - Booking.com

I am writing to express my extreme dissatisfaction with the service provided by Bookings.com during my recent booking at Holiday Inn Express. Unfortunately, the entire experience has left me and my family deeply disappointed and inconvenienced.

Upon our arrival at the Holiday Inn Express, we were shocked to discover that the hotel had not received confirmation of our booking from Bookings.com. Despite repeated calls to your customer service at 16:30, we were consistently promised callbacks within 5 minutes, which never materialized, forcing us to initiate multiple calls to resolve the issue.

Bookings.com presented us with an alternative, inconveniently located far from our initial booking. When we requested to keep our preferred location in Umhlanga, we were provided with another option that was significantly pricier than the original booking. We were urged to pay the full amount with the assurance that a refund would be investigated.

Given our budget constraints as holiday goers, we found this approach unreasonable and disappointing. The lack of accommodation and assistance from both Bookings.com and Holiday Inn Express's manager, Nhlanhla Mbhele, compounded our frustration. Despite his apologies, Mr. Mbhele remained unhelpful, leaving us to fend for ourselves.

Fortunately, at 21:20, with the assistance of Mrs. Thabisile Ngema from Holiday Inn Express, we managed to secure alternative bookings. Mrs. Ngema's hands-on and helpful approach stood in stark contrast to the unprofessionalism displayed by Bookings.com and the lack of assistance from Mr. Mbhele.

This experience has marred what was supposed to be an enjoyable holiday and has left us questioning the professionalism and reliability of Bookings.com. We lost an entire day of our holiday. I urge you to investigate this matter thoroughly and take appropriate measures to prevent such incidents from occurring in the future.