Booking.com advice

marco

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can anyone help here im going to book a hotel in USA which is on booking.com and was wondering if they take payment off your credit card straight away, i have found this on the site- ''the hotel reserves the right to temporarily hold an amount prior to arrival''. so the word 'temporarily' do they take it out and put it back or hold payment,if they hold payment does it show as unavailable credit and do you pay interest from that day
 
I've just returned from Vegas recently and used booking.com for my hotel they took a down payment of the first night only to reserve the room rest was paid when i arrived hope this helps!
 
Booked 9 different hotels on a trip to Hong Kong, Aus and Singapore earlier this year and used Booking.Com for them all. Had previously used them too so qualified as a Genius member meaning 10% off. For 8 of them I paid straight away. Only had one problem which was in Melbourne when they said they needed the debit card, swiped it again and said it was standard process and no payment would be taken.and it was due to the commission they were owed or something. Realised later they had took payment again. Raised with Booking.Com when I got back and they refunded straight away.
 
Booked 9 different hotels on a trip to Hong Kong, Aus and Singapore earlier this year and used Booking.Com for them all. Had previously used them too so qualified as a Genius member meaning 10% off. For 8 of them I paid straight away. Only had one problem which was in Melbourne when they said they needed the debit card, swiped it again and said it was standard process and no payment would be taken.and it was due to the commission they were owed or something. Realised later they had took payment again. Raised with Booking.Com when I got back and they refunded straight away.

from what i understand booking .com don't take payment they simply pass your details on to the hotel,,can i ask when you were actually charged by the hotels-within hours of making the booking or did the hotels process it during/after your stay, i presume it works like this- you book and the hotel puts a hold for a certain amount on your card, this action confirms you have the funds and the card is not stolen and is security for a no show' at this point you are not charged interest on your credit card as the funds are only on hold', during/after your stay the card is debited for the full cost plus any incidentals.Its not very clear on Booking.com, i'm not traveling until October and my concern was if i drip up say 1K in hotels i would be paying interest from today on my card until i can clear it which will be after the holiday
 
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Booking.com are indeed just agents.

Hotels, irrelevant of what the blurb says on booking.com's site will all work differently, until you book you'll really have now idea if a)they'll take nothing in advance b)take a minimum amount to make sure your card is live or c) take the full amount.
 
Booking.com are indeed just agents.

Hotels, irrelevant of what the blurb says on booking.com's site will all work differently, until you book you'll really have now idea if a)they'll take nothing in advance b)take a minimum amount to make sure your card is live or c) take the full amount.
In my experience this just isn't true. They usually give you different prices for paying up front, paying later or paying at the hotel. If you book a hotel with free cancellation, they will tell you what the latest cancellation date is, and assuming you haven't cancelled, will take payment in full a day or so after this cancellation date, or sometimes at the end of the stay. If the hotel needs a deposit, this is usually made clear, and also whether this is refundable should you cancel.

If you pay with a credit card you are buying on booking.com's terms and conditions, not the hotel's, so have protection. Take screenshots of the terms and conditions and receipts detailing payment terms in case these aren't clear in the confirmation emails, is my advice.

OP, if they are asking to hold an amount prior to your arrival, or cancellation date, then you shouldn't pay any interest on that. It's just an amount blocked on your card but isn't a transaction UNLESS they call it a deposit/pre-payment. It's worth noting these blocks can sometimes take a month to clear when cancelling, which can affect available credit. Have a read through the Ts & Cs associated with the room details, it should explain the hotel policy. Pretty sure if you hover over the question mark in the 'Your choices' column it will explain the procedures and timescales for payments.

It's useful to have your banking app on your mobile when travelling for monitoring credit card spend. Payments show up immediately these days.
 
from what i understand booking .com don't take payment they simply pass your details on to the hotel,,can i ask when you were actually charged by the hotels-within hours of making the booking or did the hotels process it during/after your stay, i presume it works like this- you book and the hotel puts a hold for a certain amount on your card, this action confirms you have the funds and the card is not stolen and is security for a no show' at this point you are not charged interest on your credit card as the funds are only on hold', during/after your stay the card is debited for the full cost plus any incidentals.Its not very clear on Booking.com, i'm not traveling until October and my concern was if i drip up say 1K in hotels i would be paying interest from today on my card until i can clear it which will be after the holiday
We booked all our hotels in March 2018 for our stay in Jan 2019 - have checked statements and all payments were taken from us in March 2018 - we were also charged a Non - Sterling Transaction Fee for each hotel we booked. For the hotel we were effectively double charged for, the only thing I had to supply Booking was a copy of bank statement of the payment I made when I stayed in Jan 2019 and for which I was refunded.
 
thanks for your advice guys,,done quite a bit of research and trip advisor seems to be one of the best for giving late cancellation dates and being charged at the hotel on arrival,,not the cheapest but if you don't like the idea of having debits held against your card 'having no control' and money being taken out 6 months before you travel then i would use them
 

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