Francesca C.

I used the booking.com site on Thursday night to purchase a hotel/room in Manhattan for October 27 to October 28 at Splendid Apartment in Times Square for a total of $455. I paid with my credit card and I booked the hotel. About an hour after I booked the hotel I received a email from booking.com stating my credit card is invalid and that it could not be processed however my booking was still valid and they suggested I contact my card provider. I went to the website and re added my card information. Then again another hour passed and I received the same email and did the process again with reentering my card information but this time I scanned it to make sure none of the information was incorrectly entered. I also emailed the email I was given with the credit card issue. I emailed them October 5 at 11.06 PM after I entered in the credit card information for the second time. I stated that I booked a from through booking.com, and received a email stating my credit card was invalid. I updated it and received another email however everything was correct so I asked what else i can do to fix the issue. They emailed me back stating they tried to charge the card twice and it was declined. They will try one more time however their merchant transaction provider will only let them charge three times. So I know the card has money on it so when they told me it was declined I first called my bank and asked what was going on. I told them what they apartments stated and asked how I could fix this issue. My bank told me on their part nothing was declined and that no transaction of that amount by that provider even tried to take out money. They said nothing is pending so they have no idea why the apartment stated it was declined because their is enough funds, and they accept international transactions. So I called the apartments on Friday morning October 6, and asked to speak with someone about this issue. I told them what my bank stated and confirmed over the phone the card information. The hotel personal told me they were going to call me back within the hour after they speak to their financial department and we might need to try a new card. I waited for a call back for about three hours until I contacted the hotel again. They told me they apologize that they got busy because everyone was checking in and out and they were going to contact me soon. I waited till the next day to then receive an email on October 7 at 530PM stating my reservation was canceled. Now I am extremely upset I contacted the hotel and they were extremely rude refusing to help me stating it was a Saturday night and to call back on Monday, which for one is extremely unprofessional as they stated they were going to contact me back to get the issue fixed and then decided to cancel without my permission. Now I am not sure what to do, if they would have contacted me back like they promised they were going to I would have provided them with another card even though the first one should have worked. Without warning they canceled my booking now I am out of luck at a place to stay for that date. The hotel staff that was rude on Saturday night stated they have nothing to do with this website and that they have no fault. Now if that was the case they should not offer their services on your website. Please help me correct this ASAP, we have a trip planned for that date and this hotel was specifically picked for it location and price. I am currently very upset and do plan on contacting other sources if this issue is not fixed. I am not happy with how the hotel handled this situation especially because I was patient waiting for them to contact me when I was told my the hotel staff my room is saved and the issue will be fixed.