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I recently used booking.com for the first time, as I was in a rush and needed somewhere to stay that night. The hotel I booked through booking.com was a Best We

I recently used booking.com for the first time, as I was in a rush and needed somewhere to stay that night. The hotel I booked through booking.com was a Best Western. After the booking went through, I received a flurry of emails from both booking.com and Best Western. One of the Best Western emails encouraged me to sign up for their rewards scheme. Having liked Best Western hotels previously, I signed up, and downloaded the app onto my phone. To get rewards for the booking I just needed the Best Western booking ref. number. There wasn't one. Just the booking.com ref. number on their Emails, and no ref. number on the Best Western ones. Once at the hotel I asked for the Best Western booking ref. number and was told "As you've booked through booking.com you don't qualify for rewards on this stay, sorry." So that will be my first AND last use of booking.com. Fool me once and all that.

gommm 9y ago
That's not exactly the fault of booking.com though. Hotels have learned that if they want people to book directly with them (which gets them more money), they need to make it attractive to customers. They can't really offer a lower price than booking.com and hotels.com due to contracts they have with those companies so instead they offer a reward scheme and exclude bookings not made directly with them. They also sometimes offer lower "member only" price for members of their reward scheme as a way to get around their contract (in that case the lower price they provide than booking.com is not public but only restricted to members so it's not a breach of contract). That said, I don't use booking.com, I find their dark patterns too deceptive for me.
- skrebbel 9y ago
  > That's not exactly the fault of booking.com though. > They can't really offer a lower price than booking.com and hotels.com due to contracts See, it is the fault of booking.com. I'm not saying I'd have done it differently in their position, but their demand that hotels charge the same via booking.com as directly (even while booking.com gets a cut) is the direct cause of complicated reward schemes like this.
Joeri 9y ago
I’ve also learned through multiple bad experiences to use booking.com only to find hotels but to book directly with the hotel.

gommm 9y ago

That's not exactly the fault of booking.com though. Hotels have learned that if they want people to book directly with them (which gets them more money), they need to make it attractive to customers. They can't really offer a lower price than booking.com and hotels.com due to contracts they have with those companies so instead they offer a reward scheme and exclude bookings not made directly with them. They also sometimes offer lower "member only" price for members of their reward scheme as a way to get around their contract (in that case the lower price they provide than booking.com is not public but only restricted to members so it's not a breach of contract). That said, I don't use booking.com, I find their dark patterns too deceptive for me.

skrebbel 9y ago
> That's not exactly the fault of booking.com though. > They can't really offer a lower price than booking.com and hotels.com due to contracts See, it is the fault of booking.com. I'm not saying I'd have done it differently in their position, but their demand that hotels charge the same via booking.com as directly (even while booking.com gets a cut) is the direct cause of complicated reward schemes like this.

Joeri 9y ago

I’ve also learned through multiple bad experiences to use booking.com only to find hotels but to book directly with the hotel.