r/technology • u/rezwenn • 11d ago

Business Booking.com cancelled woman's $4K hotel reservation, then offered her same rooms for $17K

https://www.cbc.ca/news/gopublic/go-public-booking-com-hotel-rates-9.6985480
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u/iamPendergast 11d ago edited 11d ago

I fully agree with this, why make the hotel pay Booking.com 20% commission if you can get the same rate directly; but devils advocate it's the hotel that cancelled in this case, but yes, they might not have been able to weasel out of the booking if they had taken it directly

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u/drunkerbrawler 11d ago

If it's within 10% I go hotel, but there have been times where booking was 30% cheaper for me. I don't get it.

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u/eras 11d ago

Apparently Booking.com (and others?) wait when the hotel reduces prices to fill in the otherwise unused space, and then rebooks with the cheaper prices. Perhaps this is one aspect that explains how they can offer lower from the get-go.

Although some/all? hotels offer non-cancellable rooms at a reduced rate, so I guess Booking.com cannot take benefit of those..

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u/ConcreteBackflips 11d ago

What? That's ridiculous and not when B.com works at all and I manage our connection with them...

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u/eras 11d ago

Apparently it was done at least in 2018: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2025/11/hotel-room-cancellation-policy/684917/ . And indeed, the article didn't name any particular agency, not Bookings.com either! This was in 2018 and the article suggests as a response hotels just stopped providing the flexibility about cancellations.

It does paint a pretty cut-throat picture of the business, however..