The pitfalls of Booking. How to book a hotel on Booking - step by step instructions Why booking does not accept a card

To register in the Booking online booking system, you need to specify not only personal information about the client, but also the details of his payment card. This fact confuses many users who do not want to leave such data on the network. Read more about why Booking asks for the user's payment card data, and whether it is safe, read on.

How Booking works

Booking.com is essentially an exchange. Here, numerous hotels publish their offers, and users choose and make a reservation for the options that suit them. Booking transfers the commission from the hotel, which attracted customers using the online system.

Almost all actions related to booking a room or apartment are carried out on Booking.com. For this reason, some users think that they transfer payment to this service. This opinion is wrong. Booking is just an intermediary between the hotel and its future guests.

The first determines the price, accommodation conditions, controls the correctness and relevance of the published information, and also receives notifications from Booking about completed bookings. Booking confirmation is also produced by the hotel. Its representatives communicate with the client about the living conditions, transfer or cancel the reservation, accept payment.

Booking is just a platform and tools that allow both parties to the transaction to interact with each other.

Why does Booking ask for card details?

When, when making a reservation, the user agreed to make an advance payment, the card number and other details must be entered in order for the hotel to debit this amount.

Important! For those who do not want to pay for accommodation immediately and give a room bank card, the option "Booking Guarantee" is in effect. The hotel guarantees future guests the provision of a room in exchange for a promise to pay for it. This promise is reinforced by the business reputation of the hotel itself and the Booking online booking system.

When a user decides not to book a place and then forgets to notify the cancellation, the room will be idle and the hotel will lose revenue. It is for such situations that Booking asks for the number, the name of the owner and the CVC code of the card: if the guest cancels the booking later than the date that he indicated in the system, he will have to pay a fine. The hotel will write off this money from the card, the data on which was given to the representatives of Booking immediately after booking.

About the security of providing data

Is it safe to book rooms on Booking and leave payment details there? When card details are entered into the system, they are transmitted using an encrypted protocol - even a fraudster who has already intercepted the channel will not be able to see them. The data becomes vulnerable when it reaches the hotel.

Booking has two-factor authentication, which gives secure access to the hotel system: only an authorized employee has the right to request the payer's details. He must write off or freeze the money without using the bank card data for any other purpose.

In the agreement drawn up between Booking and the hotel, the latter undertakes to process payment details in accordance with established security standards. At the same time, the document does not indicate any verification methods or options for punishment for violating the order.

If printouts with information (card number, CVC) are carelessly stored in the hotel, there is a risk that they can fall into the hands of not only employees, but also guests.

When the hotel representative saves all the data about the future guest to the computer, the Booking system disclaims any responsibility. If in the future any problems arise in connection with this, they need to be solved with the hotel.

You saw the same hotel and decided to make a reservation on it. What should you pay attention to when booking?

What are the conditions for booking on booking?

Focus on the cost of the room. Prices for the same room may be different, it depends on the conditions of the reservation. Booking has two of them: there is the possibility of canceling the reservation, there is no possibility of canceling the reservation. And if two options are indicated, the second is always cheaper (either the price for the room is purely symbolic or a 50 percent discount).

Cancellation of a non-refundable booking.

If you choose a more economical option, the hotel will charge you the entire amount (hotel, not booking) today. It will also be from the conditions that it will become almost impossible to refuse a number, and even force majeure in the form of illness, flight cancellation or bad weather will not help. But! It often happens that the hotel can go to a meeting, solve the problem amicably and cancel the booking (in this case, you can refer to a service glitch). It is not worth hoping for such an option and I recommend booking on the terms “without the possibility of cancellation” only when you are sure that the trip will not fail.

But if you want to cheat and block the card, then the hotel has the right to demand that the bank debit these funds from you. And if the card is debit, then the bank can drive it into a minus, operating with an agreement.

Blocking funds.

If you took a room where the conditions state that the money will not be withdrawn from the account, the hotel may well block them. Hotels can check the card for validity and reserve a certain amount of money and, in case of no-show, withdraw it as a fine. Such a fine can be equal to the price of one night. But this is optional. Hotels may not check your card at all. And the blocked amount is returned after 30 days. You can also contact the bank and make a request to cancel the block.

In fact, all hotels behave differently: someone blocks 1 euro, someone blocks the cost of one night, and someone blocks the entire amount of the stay (and if 20 nights?). And if you make a reservation on a bare card by checking it, the hotel may cancel the reservation.

Can the hotel charge money? Withdrawing funds from the card.

Also, the hotel may not block the funds, but write off completely, although this is not correct. It can happen, but very rarely. If this happens, you need to contact the booking support, call the Russian-language number, they will oblige the hotel to return the money. But if you, despite such, to put it mildly, ugly behavior are still going to come to this hotel, then you can endure it.

Which card can be used when booking hotels?

Booking on booking can be done both on credit and debit cards (it depends on the hotel). All hotels accept visa, mastercard, american express, not always diners club, jcb. Visa electron, mastercard maestro cards will not work. You can pay for the room in any currency. Funds are withdrawn in the currency of the country where you are going at the rate of your bank + a percentage of the conversion. If you are worried that the hotel may write off all the money, then replenish the card for the amount of two nights of stay. But you need to be ready to deposit the necessary amount into the account if the hotel wants to check the card by withdrawing a larger amount.

What additional fees can be at the hotel?

Some states, namely the Netherlands, do not include city tax in the room rate. Let's say in Amsterdam it's 5 percent.

Breakfasts are also paid separately if they are not included in the room rate. This information can always be seen when booking. But once in a German city we were asked for money for breakfast already included (we paid online in advance). By the way, breakfast was not cheap - 15 euros per person. But we were so tired that we did not understand, but simply paid.

Criticism fell upon me, saying that it was necessary to call the call center, where they solve all problems.

And just a few days later I had a problem again.

I tried to book a hotel in Warsaw, when booking I noticed that this was the last free room of this category.

I press "Book" and an inscription pops up on the screen informing me that someone is ahead of me and there are no more available rooms of this category and I am offered to start a new search.

After some time, I decided to fill in the address in the navigator and go back to Booking and see there that I have two reservations. It turns out the first hotel is also booked. And so I have two active bookings for the same date.

Hotel Rialto, which I was denied booking due to lack of available rooms, and Hotel Bristol, which I booked next.

Without delay, I call the Booking support service and ask to solve this problem. I tell you how it was, they recommend me to cancel the reservation at the Bristol Hotel, as it was the second reservation. I am trying to explain that I did not make the first reservation, or rather I tried to make it, but was refused by the system and it would be more logical to cancel what was booked by mistake, without my knowledge.

To this, the operator Dmitry assures me that there were no failures in the system. Then I realize that I got into a stupid situation, and later I find out that the Rialto Hotel (which I booked by mistake) has already deducted the entire amount from me and I call the support service again.

Dmitry tells me that if the money has already been debited, then the chances of returning it are 0 and recommends blocking the card in order to avoid debiting from the Bristol Hotel. After Dmitry asks for time to contact the Bristol Hotel and ask them to do a free cancellation. After a while, I find out that I succeeded in canceling, but the cancellation penalty will be 100%, and if I do not reset the card, then 35,000 rubles will be written off from me.

Of course, I reset the card and ask that they try to solve my problem in a not so radical way, since logically I just throw the hotel with money and exactly the hotel that I booked myself.

Upon arrival at the Rialto Hotel, we are informed that the rooms of the booked category are over, but they are ready to upgrade to a premium suite. This once again confirms the fact that the reservation was made by a system error.

Upon arrival in Moscow, attempts are made to debit money from my empty card, the amount of 35,000 rubles, a fine for canceling a reservation at the Bristol Hotel, which I have not been to.

I call Booking again and ask to solve this problem, because I am waiting for a transfer on the card and which is more than the amount of the fine. Booking promises to call me back and disappear. I didn't hear them again.

I go to Sberbank and reissue the card.

I don't know yet if the Bristol Hotel will continue to pursue me to write off the fine. But now I know for sure that Booking is completely unprepared to solve customer problems, especially those that occurred due to a failure in the application.

It's good that the card is debit and without an overdraft, otherwise I would not have been able to avoid being charged. So think before you link credit cards. And when you link debit cards, try not to keep large amounts of money on them, as there are failures. And then it will be difficult for you to prove something.

And how would you solve this problem, faced with something similar?

As a result, I unlinked all the cards from the booking and I’m not sure that by linking a new one, they won’t try to write off the fine for canceling the reservation from me again. I will use the Agoda application for now, although it also belongs to Booking.

Now all the insides are on my Telegram channel

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Today, many travelers refuse the services of travel agencies, preferring to independently reserve accommodation through numerous Internet services. Booking.com has become one of the most popular in this area, offering the largest database of hotels, hostels, apartments and guesthouses around the world. If you have never used this site, but want to finally master it, we advise you to carefully study our article. Here you will receive detailed instructions on how to book a hotel on booking, and learn about all the nuances of the service.

Step #1. Registration

In order to make a booking on Booking, you do not need to register. However, we recommend that you create your own account on the site: it only takes a few minutes, and registration will greatly simplify the management of future bookings.

After you have entered all the required data, click on the "Start" button.

In subsequent windows, you can specify the phone number and select your preferences. Entering this information is optional, so for now, feel free to click on the "Skip" button in the lower right corner.

At the final stage of registration, you need to go to your mail specified during registration and confirm the correctness of the information. In a matter of seconds, your mailbox should receive a notification with the title "Confirm with one click", in which you only need to click on the blue "I confirm" bar. Now you have your booking account.

Note!

1. Be sure to enter a REAL email address when registering. Upon completion of any booking, a code will be sent to it, which you will need when you check into the hotel!
2. When setting up your profile, we recommend that you specify a phone number and an address at which the administration of the accommodation facility can contact you in the future, if necessary. It should be taken into account that many (but not all) hotels require prepayment, and in order to book a hotel through booking, you may need bank card details. Therefore, you can assign card data to your account in advance at the registration stage.
3. In order to select the currency in which prices will be displayed on booking, go to the currency icon in the top center. Here you will also find a label in the form of a flag, with which you can change the language of the site.

Step #2: Finding a hotel

The second step is the most time-consuming, but also the most exciting, during which you have to choose a hotel that meets all your requirements. To search for a hotel, you need to refer to the search blocks placed both on the main one,

In the first line of the search, you need to specify the destination: the name of the hotel, country, island, city, resort, etc. Here you also need to select the dates for which the trip is planned. If you haven't set your exact travel time yet, enter approximate numbers to get an estimate of the cost of your stay and check availability at the hotel. It is important to indicate the number of expected guests, because the price directly depends on this factor.

After you have entered all the data, click on the "Check prices" or "Find" button. You will see a list various options accommodation, next to which the cost of the reservation for the entire period of your stay at the hotel will be displayed. See the list of search criteria on the left. Using these options, you will filter your search and book a hotel on booking com that best suits your needs.

Apply filters on the left side of the page: here you can mark the criteria you are interested in, such as the star rating of the hotel, type of accommodation, attractions, your budget, food, etc.

At the top of the list with hotels, there is also a filter that sorts options by stars, prices, proximity to the city center, ratings and service recommendations.

If you like any hotel from the list and want to know more about it detailed information, simply click on the photo or name of the hotel or below on the tab "See our latest available rooms".

To find out detailed information about accommodation, go to the table with room types (on the same page below), in which you will see the parameters of the rooms and how they are equipped, as well as the price for accommodation in different room classes.

For more information on meals and cancellations, hover over the question mark in the blue circle. Here you will also find out whether it is possible to book a hotel without payment. To go to the photo gallery, just click on the name of the room type.

Note!

Step number 3. Booking a hotel

In this part of our guide, you will learn how to pay for a booked hotel on Booking.com. Having studied all the accommodation options on the site and choosing the hotel you like, you proceed to the third and final stage - booking a hotel room. To do this, in the table you need to specify the number of rooms and click on the "I'm booking" button.

Next, you go to a page where you need to enter personal data in a special block. Here you must indicate your first and last name, email address, number of guests and their full names, your wishes and preferences (optional).

You can also ask questions to the representatives of the hotel by writing a letter in the form below. It is advisable to indicate the approximate time of arrival: in this case, the hotel administration will meet you on time and register you without any problems. After entering the required data, click on the "Next: final data" tab.

Then a new page will open in front of you, where you will be asked to enter the country, phone number and card information (if you have not assigned it to your account yet).

You must enter the holder's name, card type, card number, expiration date and CVC code. Then click on the "Complete Booking" tab.

Now you can be congratulated on your first booking on booking! After you complete your room reservation, you will receive a booking confirmation email in your inbox. In the letter, you can check all the data again and use it to save the reservation electronically to your phone. From here you can proceed to cancel the reservation.

When making a reservation, pay attention to the following details:

1. You can always manage your booking through your Booking account. By going to your profile, you will be able to book another property, change travel dates, request breakfast, increase/decrease the number of guests, cancel a booking, etc. (if it does not contradict the rules and conditions of the hotel).
2. If you booked a room but your plans change, you must notify the hotel in advance. As a rule, you need to cancel the reservation at least one day before the expected settlement. Some hotels in such cases require you to notify them two days in advance. You can send a request to cancel a reservation from your personal account. After that, you should receive an email confirming the cancellation of your booking.
3. In some cases, it is impossible to book a hotel without a card: this happens when the property wants to guarantee itself timely payment. To do this, he sometimes blocks some of the funds on your card. This amount can be equal to both the cost of one day's stay at the hotel, and the price for the entire booked period. If you cancel your reservation following the rules set by the hotel, then no penalty will be imposed on you. If there are not enough funds on your card, the property has the right to cancel the reservation itself.

How to book a hotel without a credit card

The service offers enough hotels in different points world, for booking rooms in which a bank card is not required. How to book a hotel on Booking without paying? In order for only such options to be displayed in the list for the direction you specified, you need to turn to the filter on the left, where in the column "Free cancellation and other" you should tick the option "Booking without a credit card".

Note! This option will only be available if you enter travel dates.

Of course, situations may arise when you like a hotel that does not require prepayment, but you can’t book it without a card. And if you are also afraid to leave such important information on the site, then there is only one way out - to try to indicate the data of a valid card, which stores only a small amount or no funds at all. Often this option works well.

Conclusion

We hope that we were able to give you a clear idea of ​​how to book a hotel on Booking.com. If you have never used the service before, then following our instructions, you will quickly figure out all the options and management on the site. And if you have additional questions, we will always be happy to answer them in the comments.

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06.02.18 122 961 4

Who at the hotel knows your card details

Six months ago, I traveled around the USA and booked the last hotel with a friend's American card.

Irina Nikolaeva

travels a lot

The hotel found it suspicious that one person booked the room and another paid for it. To confirm that everything is in order, we had to indicate in a special form all the card details, up to the CVV code.

I was sure that only scammers asked for CVV, so I called the hotel. The conversation with the hotel operator dragged on, she was tired of explaining and said in her hearts: “Well, in short, enter the numbers 578 in this field.” It was the CVV of a bank card, which we entered at Booking an hour ago.

That's how I found out that Booking transfers all bank card details to hotels. I’ll tell you what else I found out about booking hotels and how I now protect my money.

The best protection for money is an additional card

In any incomprehensible situation, pay and indicate the details of the additional card. Issue it to the main account, set a limit and relax.

Set the limit as much as you are willing to spend on a hotel. When the card is not needed, set a limit of 10 R.

If scammers get your card details and try to cash out, they will not be able to withdraw anything, and you will receive an SMS.

The additional card is free. Issued in Internet Banking.

How Booking works

Most of the client's booking activities take place on the Booking website. Therefore, clients sometimes believe that they “booked a hotel from Booking”, “paid Booking”. This is wrong. On Booking, two independent entities meet - the hotel and the client.

The hotel sets the cost and other conditions of accommodation, is responsible for the correctness and relevance of these data and receives booking information from Booking. It is the hotel, and not Booking, that confirms the reservation, communicates with the client about the conditions, transfers or cancels the stay and accepts payment. Booking only provides a platform and tools for interaction between the hotel and the client.

Why does the hotel need your card

If you do not want to pay immediately, the concept of "booking guarantee" comes into play. The hotel promises to provide you with a room in exchange for your promise to pay for the room.

The hotel's guarantee is backed up by its business reputation and the Booking booking system. The honest word of the client, unfortunately, is not enough for a guarantee.

If the client changes their mind and forgets to report the cancellation, the room will remain empty and the hotel will not receive any profit. Therefore, hoteliers want to receive a financial guarantee: if the client cancels the reservation after the specified date, he will have to pay a fine.

To be able to charge a fine, the hotel needs your bank card details. Booking provides this data to the hotelier immediately at the time of booking.

Who knows your details

When you enter card details on the site, Booking transmits them using an encrypted protocol - if an attacker intercepts them, he will not be able to read them. The vulnerability occurs when your data is received by the hotel.

Booking provides two-factor authentication for access to Personal Area hotel: only an authorized employee of the hotel can see the client's data. Theoretically, he should only withdraw or freeze the amount stipulated by the booking conditions and cannot use the card data for other purposes. As a result, the fate of the money on your card depends only on the decency and responsibility of this employee.

In the agreement between the hotel and Booking, the hotel undertakes to process card data in accordance with the data security standard of the payment card industry. However, the contract does not spell out any verification methods or sanctions for violating the safety standard.

If the hotel carelessly stores printed bookings, for example, leaving them at the front desk, then the card data can become the property of not only hotel employees, but also other guests. If, a couple of months after your trip, someone in China buys a bike with your card, you won’t even immediately understand where the attacker got your data from.

At the moment when the hotelier saves your data on his computer or prints it out, Booking disclaims responsibility.

How to safely book a hotel

If you do not want to transfer your card details to the hotel, you can do without it. Let me tell you about a few methods I have tried.

Self-advance payment to the hotel. There are ads on Booking that say "You can make a booking without a credit card." To find them, select the filter "Booking without a credit card" in the menu on the left.

To guarantee your reservation, the hotel will offer to make bank transfer, transfer via PayPal or to a bank card. The booking will only be confirmed upon receipt of such prepayment.

The advantage of this method is that the hotel will not recognize your card details.

Personal agreement. In some cases, in correspondence with the hotel, it is possible to save the reservation without financial guarantees. Two guest houses in the Seychelles, after my letter, agreed to keep a room for me without preliminary transfers and freezing money.

Such a concession is a right, not an obligation of the hotel. If the hotelier has already encountered dishonorable or unnecessary guests, he may refuse to book a room for another tourist without prepayment.

Separate card for booking. I chose this method because this way I don’t have to do unnecessary actions and enter into correspondence with hotels every time. At the same time, I am completely confident in the safety of money on the main card.

Before booking a room, I transfer the necessary amount to a separate bank card and make sure that after the trip there is no money left on it. Even if an attacker gets my data, the savings will remain safe. I only use this card for hotel bookings.

The main thing in 30 seconds

Immediately after booking, Booking transfers to the hotel all the bank card details you entered. Even CVV if you specified it.

This happens regardless of the terms of payment and cancellation. Even if the hotel does not withdraw or block your money, all your card details immediately appear at its disposal.

Authorized hotel employees have access to the card data. If they neglect security rules, an attacker can find out the details of the card.

It is possible to book a hotel without a card, but this does not work with every hotel and will require more movements than paying with a card.

A rational way to protect your money is to use a separate card for booking.