No one will argue that the Booking.com aggregator site is one of the most popular and in-demand among travelers around the world. Its interface is clear and user-friendly, so it's easy and simple to use. What should you pay attention to when booking a hotel through this website and what nuances you need to know?
Please be aware that numbers differ by type of payment, which means you need to pay attention to this. The first category includes Refundable rooms, that is, refundable, and the second category includes Non-refundable rooms, that is, non-refundable.
The second point that you should know concerns payment. When you find a suitable hotel room and enter the personal data required to confirm your booking, the system will ask for your credit card number for payment. And here you have two options that you can apply. If you really decide to stay in a room of this hotel and do not plan to change anything, you can indicate the details of a valid credit card, on which the amount will be blocked in the near future, and we recommend booking a Non-refundable room. These rooms are always cheaper.
If you book a room “symbolically”, for example, in order to provide this data for the embassy for a visa, and plan to stay elsewhere, then book a Refundable number and indicate the number of a credit card that has already expired, that is, invalid. In either case, you will receive a confirmation of your hotel room reservation. If you don't need a reservation, just cancel it in advance so as not to get into the blacklist of the site system.
Now let's dwell on payment in more detail. So, if you have booked a Non-refundable room, then the system of the Booking.com website will block the amount for accommodation on your credit card in the near future (usually no later than 1 or 2 days). If the funds are not enough or for other technical reasons the amount is not blocked, you will receive a message in which you will be asked to indicate the correct card number, make a payment or the reservation will be canceled within 24 hours.
When booking a Refundable room, the Booking.com system can block the amount equivalent to the cost of the room per night, but this happens extremely rarely, since, in general, with this type of booking, travelers pay for the room already at the hotel.
A third case is also possible when nothing happens to your credit card. The system will not block funds or send any messages, and the reservation will be valid. You can always check it out.
Experienced travelers rarely leave their details with a valid credit card, since confirmation comes in any case, but blocking funds on the card is not satisfactory for everyone, since it is necessary to pay for the stay at the hotel anyway. So it turns out that sometimes money is not unblocked immediately, but after a while, which is not convenient for everyone. In general, look at the situation.
Another important point - cancellation Policy... Never ignore these rules. Remember that their violations can lead to the fact that you will be included in the blacklist of the system, which means that you will no longer be able to use such a profitable and convenient service for independent travelers. Most often, users who forget to cancel a reservation and do it quite often fall into the blacklist.
And finally, one more life hack: if you decide to book accommodation on Booking.com, then by doing it through the partner hotel.aegeanair.com you can earn Star Alliance miles. Little things, but nice.
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