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I once booked a room in a reputable international chain hotel through booking.com. My sister (living in a different country) booked the same hotel for the same

I once booked a room in a reputable international chain hotel through booking.com. My sister (living in a different country) booked the same hotel for the same night for a different price and paid with her card in a different currency. The only "link" between the two bookings was that we booked rooms in the same hotel for the same nights, the bookings were made within an hour of each other, and we share a surname. A few days later I checked my credit card statement and I had two charges. My sister hadn't been charged at all, but one of the amounts I was charged corresponded to what she paid. Booking.com said "talk to the hotel" and the hotel said "talk to booking.com". We ended up getting free breakfasts but I'd have loved to know what really happened there.

jan_Inkepa 5y ago
> Booking.com said "talk to the hotel" and the hotel said "talk to booking.com". I got trapped in a loop there as well, it was pretty wretched. Hotel would only except credit card details sent via plaintext emails (on the phone I couldn't reach anyone at the purported hotel, just a call center, where they couldn't deal with processing), nobody would release me from the obligation to pay, neither booking.com nor the hotel hotline. I just ignored their emails after a certain point, deleted my account, and hope nothing ever comes of it.
- INTPenis 5y ago
  > Hotel would only except credit card details sent via plaintext emails This seems very common issue in hotel business. I regularly travel with Amex business travel and our travel agency sends a temporary cc# to the hotel so I don't have to pay for the room. So that's a temporary cc# which is a little safer, but it's e-mailed in cleartext to the hotel regularly for thousands of guests.
  - lotsofpulp 5y ago
    It is because the major hotel brands franchise their brands, and want the franchisees to take on all the merchant account risks of chargebacks and whatnot. Marriott/Hilton/Hyatt/IHG/Choice/Wyndham/etc collect 5% to 20% of top line revenue from the hotel, and do not want to deal with losses from things like chargebacks and whatnot.

jan_Inkepa 5y ago

> Booking.com said "talk to the hotel" and the hotel said "talk to booking.com". I got trapped in a loop there as well, it was pretty wretched. Hotel would only except credit card details sent via plaintext emails (on the phone I couldn't reach anyone at the purported hotel, just a call center, where they couldn't deal with processing), nobody would release me from the obligation to pay, neither booking.com nor the hotel hotline. I just ignored their emails after a certain point, deleted my account, and hope nothing ever comes of it.

INTPenis 5y ago
> Hotel would only except credit card details sent via plaintext emails This seems very common issue in hotel business. I regularly travel with Amex business travel and our travel agency sends a temporary cc# to the hotel so I don't have to pay for the room. So that's a temporary cc# which is a little safer, but it's e-mailed in cleartext to the hotel regularly for thousands of guests.
- lotsofpulp 5y ago
  It is because the major hotel brands franchise their brands, and want the franchisees to take on all the merchant account risks of chargebacks and whatnot. Marriott/Hilton/Hyatt/IHG/Choice/Wyndham/etc collect 5% to 20% of top line revenue from the hotel, and do not want to deal with losses from things like chargebacks and whatnot.