DeeDee M.

I've used this site because it offers airline points and good prices. However, I've found twice that properties penalize you for going through 3rd Party sites. (ie. The Hard Rock Cancun refused to put our rooms together, give us a true Ocean View (looking at a pipe), or accommodate any requests because I had not booked directly with them). The hard part is when you complain. You get thrust into a Dantesque Inferno where every request is answered with "contact the property." I'm starting to feel Booking.com is like the Wizard of Oz. There's one little man in the Netherlands, automating responses from his parents' basement. If they have live people to ever help anyone, I've never encountered them -- and I've tried. So my instinct now is to go straight to a site unless there's some other incentive. Also I realized the same properties often show up cheaper on VRBO.

I used to work for one of the magazines I subscribed to that never arrived. When I complained to the "live" agent, she said it was because I had cancelled -- which I had done mere minutes before contacting her. When I explained that, she didn't get it. I swear it was a bot. What little money I paid is lost. I don't care. Just want to alert others to not ever deal with these folks. But there's a sucker born everyday. Nothing you can do about that.