Not to speak of the horrible dark patterns - count down timers, "only 3 rooms left!!!!", alarming colors, confusing interface. There was a time, oh what a time

Not to speak of the horrible dark patterns - count down timers, "only 3 rooms left!!!!", alarming colors, confusing interface. There was a time, oh what a time, when I could use hotels.com and booking.com to get really good prices and still stay at very nice hotels if I was ok with booking close to the date. Remember a time when a friend and was given a literally shitty room (with overflowing toilet) in Cairo via hotels.com. Hm, doesn't rime well with the paragraph above. :)