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Apparently they owe alot of $$$ to the hotels, might go bankrupt anytime like Zuji.com. Please go and book directly with the hotel's own website or app.
Josh Taylor
@joshgnosis
Sat 30 Sep 2023 20.00 BST
Travel website Booking.com has left many hotel operators and other partners across the globe thousands of dollars out of pocket for months on end, blaming the lack of payment on a “technical issue”.
The issue is widespread in Thailand, Indonesia and Europe among hoteliers who are venting their frustrations in Facebook groups as rumours swirl about the cause of the failure to pay.
Usually, if a customer makes a booking for a hotel through the website Booking.com and elects to pay upfront, the site takes the payment and passes it on to the hotel operator, minus a commission.
Booking.com’s partners have reported issues receiving payments since July, and in some cases months earlier. While Booking.com has continued taking payments from customers, the company has not always passed on the amount owed to hotel operators and others whom the Guardian has spoken to.
In August, the Booking Group reported total revenues of $5.5bn and a profit of $1.3bn for the second quarter of 2023 – up 27% and 51% on the previous year respectively.
“Both room nights and gross bookings came in ahead of our previous expectations as a result of the favourable demand environment,” the CEO, Glenn Fogel, said at the time. “Revenue growth of 27% in Q2 also nicely outperformed our expectations.”
Loren Infeld operates hostels in Koh Phangan, Thailand, and he has worked in the travel industry for 20 years. Booking.com stopped passing on payments to the American national for one of the hostels in mid-April.
“There was one chunk that got delayed, separate from the rest, and then all payments disappeared. So six months without payment,” he told the Guardian.
Infeld leases the building that is home to Loud: A Full Moon Beach Hotel, as part of the Wild & Wandering group. After payments from Booking.com ceased, he said he was forced to pay the rent and other costs out of his own pocket until he was down to his last $3.
He said he is owed about 125,000 baht – about US$3,500 – which he says is a lot for a business in Thailand.
Infeld said the property has since been seized by the owners over failed rent payments, leaving him broke while trying to run his other businesses.
Part of his frustration has been the struggle to get in contact with anyone at Booking.com about the issue.
“There is no way to contact them. Online it says you must talk to finance or credit control, neither of whom have a phone number or email address.”
He said you can call a contact centre, which then lodges a ticket for those teams. But the ticket expires every four days, requiring another phone call to lodge a new ticket. The Guardian has been told by multiple hotel operators that this is the practice.
It has led many to attempt other ways to reach the company, including LinkedIn messaging, directs emails to the Booking group CEO and looking up individual financial officers online.
Emily Stanley, an Australian running a two-bedroom villa in Bali, managed to get paid out last week for the A$11,000 she was owed since March by tracking down a finance officer on Facebook.
Loren Infeld says he was forced to pay the rent and other costs for running one of his hotels in Thailand out of his own pocket.
“I feel like that’s the only reason, because I tried everything else. I was calling, emailing and everything but nothing. And then it just was funny that the day after he replies, the money’s in my account.”
Stanley said the payment delay meant she couldn’t pay rent on her own home, and was forced to take a travel nursing job where accommodation was provided for free.
“It was a very hard six months. Very stressful, many tears. I’m trying to be glass-half-full but it’s really hard holding on to that negative energy because people are just walking all over you.”
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/aug/09/apple-maps-cycling-transport-google
Trandafir Rat, a villa operator in Denmark, said he was also forced to take on extra jobs to cover debts. He says his electricity will be cut off in the start of October unless he gets paid the €10,000 he says Booking.com owes him.
“We ask you to send me the amount [owed] in the shortest time possible because I risk to lose all my whole life work!!!” Rat said in an email to Booking.com, seen by the Guardian.
Others affected include travel bloggers and websites that are paid affiliate payments when customers click through a link on their site.
Travel website Booking.com leaves hoteliers thousands of dollars out of pocket
As the website boasts about increased revenue, some partners say they have not been paid for monthsJosh Taylor
@joshgnosis
Sat 30 Sep 2023 20.00 BST
Travel website Booking.com has left many hotel operators and other partners across the globe thousands of dollars out of pocket for months on end, blaming the lack of payment on a “technical issue”.
The issue is widespread in Thailand, Indonesia and Europe among hoteliers who are venting their frustrations in Facebook groups as rumours swirl about the cause of the failure to pay.
Usually, if a customer makes a booking for a hotel through the website Booking.com and elects to pay upfront, the site takes the payment and passes it on to the hotel operator, minus a commission.
Booking.com’s partners have reported issues receiving payments since July, and in some cases months earlier. While Booking.com has continued taking payments from customers, the company has not always passed on the amount owed to hotel operators and others whom the Guardian has spoken to.
In August, the Booking Group reported total revenues of $5.5bn and a profit of $1.3bn for the second quarter of 2023 – up 27% and 51% on the previous year respectively.
“Both room nights and gross bookings came in ahead of our previous expectations as a result of the favourable demand environment,” the CEO, Glenn Fogel, said at the time. “Revenue growth of 27% in Q2 also nicely outperformed our expectations.”
Loren Infeld operates hostels in Koh Phangan, Thailand, and he has worked in the travel industry for 20 years. Booking.com stopped passing on payments to the American national for one of the hostels in mid-April.
“There was one chunk that got delayed, separate from the rest, and then all payments disappeared. So six months without payment,” he told the Guardian.
Infeld leases the building that is home to Loud: A Full Moon Beach Hotel, as part of the Wild & Wandering group. After payments from Booking.com ceased, he said he was forced to pay the rent and other costs out of his own pocket until he was down to his last $3.
Loren Infeld
He said he is owed about 125,000 baht – about US$3,500 – which he says is a lot for a business in Thailand.
Infeld said the property has since been seized by the owners over failed rent payments, leaving him broke while trying to run his other businesses.
Part of his frustration has been the struggle to get in contact with anyone at Booking.com about the issue.
“There is no way to contact them. Online it says you must talk to finance or credit control, neither of whom have a phone number or email address.”
He said you can call a contact centre, which then lodges a ticket for those teams. But the ticket expires every four days, requiring another phone call to lodge a new ticket. The Guardian has been told by multiple hotel operators that this is the practice.
It has led many to attempt other ways to reach the company, including LinkedIn messaging, directs emails to the Booking group CEO and looking up individual financial officers online.
Emily Stanley, an Australian running a two-bedroom villa in Bali, managed to get paid out last week for the A$11,000 she was owed since March by tracking down a finance officer on Facebook.
Loren Infeld says he was forced to pay the rent and other costs for running one of his hotels in Thailand out of his own pocket.
“I feel like that’s the only reason, because I tried everything else. I was calling, emailing and everything but nothing. And then it just was funny that the day after he replies, the money’s in my account.”
Stanley said the payment delay meant she couldn’t pay rent on her own home, and was forced to take a travel nursing job where accommodation was provided for free.
“It was a very hard six months. Very stressful, many tears. I’m trying to be glass-half-full but it’s really hard holding on to that negative energy because people are just walking all over you.”
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/aug/09/apple-maps-cycling-transport-google
Trandafir Rat, a villa operator in Denmark, said he was also forced to take on extra jobs to cover debts. He says his electricity will be cut off in the start of October unless he gets paid the €10,000 he says Booking.com owes him.
“We ask you to send me the amount [owed] in the shortest time possible because I risk to lose all my whole life work!!!” Rat said in an email to Booking.com, seen by the Guardian.
Others affected include travel bloggers and websites that are paid affiliate payments when customers click through a link on their site.
