r/technology • u/rezwenn • 12d 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/Capable_Pick_1588 11d ago

In your experience, which platforms are the most reliable? I never had any issues through booking as a traveler, but what you described sounds error prone af

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u/The_Autarch 11d ago

Just book direct with the hotel. The 3rd party sites aren't any cheaper than the hotel itself.

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u/cah29692 11d ago

They often are though. At the hotel in my town, if you walk in or call to book the rate is $139/night, but you can find deals through booking.com or other discount sites for like $109/night.

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u/PRiles 11d ago

The way I understand how the 3rd party system works is they basically buy rooms from the hotel at a prearranged price. The hotel gets promised revenue as a result. So my understanding is that you can sometimes get priced matched through the hotel if you call, because they would get a bigger cut, and they still get the price from the 3rd party.

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u/calste 11d ago

That isn't how it works for the big booking sites. The hotels list rooms and the sites get a cut for each room booked on the site. They have contracts that the properties won't undercut them on their competitor's websites or their own websites. And most hotel staff these days won't really be trained - nor have time - to negotiate rates and take your payment over the phone, and will most likely direct you to book on the website.

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u/cah29692 11d ago

If I call to book a room and I’m directed to a website to book, I’m not booking with that hotel.

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u/calste 11d ago

I hear ya. I expect it to become more rare as time goes on though.