{"id":639319,"date":"2026-09-29T08:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/639319\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T08:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T08:02:11","slug":"man-paid-about-e400-on-booking-com-for-hotel-that-turned-out-to-be-closed-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/639319\/","title":{"rendered":"Man paid about \u20ac400 on Booking.com for hotel that turned out to be closed \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have another story about Booking.com<\/a>\u2019s phantom bookings and hotels that are listed on the platform despite no longer being available. <\/p>\n

A reader named Mark travelled to London recently and booked a hotel via Booking.com. Things did not go according to plan. <\/p>\n

On August 4th, Mark booked the Park Grand Paddington Hotel for three nights at a cost of just under \u20ac400. The money left his account and went in the direction of Booking.com a day later. <\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, the evening before travel on Monday, August 10th, as I was doing final checks, I noticed, with alarm, that the hotel I booked was listed as \u2018permanently closed\u2019 on Google Maps and that it had been removed from the website of its family hotel group.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a bit of a flap \u2013 understandably \u2013 Mark urgently emailed both Booking.com and also the hotel group seeking clarification and advice, as he was due to travel the following day. <\/p>\n

\u201cI received no response that evening,\u201d he says. \u201cI also rang Booking.com and the hotel, and got no answer.\u201d <\/p>\n

With little option, he says, he went in search of another place to stay and booked and paid for another hotel in the English capital. <\/p>\n

\u201cI made numerous attempts to phone and email Booking.com and the hotel group on that Tuesday to Thursday, but I only got automated responses or an AI-type phone operator, [which] did not sort out my issue,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Eventually, he heard from the new owners of the hotel he had originally booked, and they told him the Park Grand Paddington Court Hotel had indeed closed and had changed ownership.<\/p>\n

He then heard from the hotel group and says they accepted \u201cfull responsibility [for the mix-up] and that they had already approved a full refund\u201d.<\/p>\n

That might well have been that. <\/p>\n

Only it wasn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have contacted Booking.com on numerous occasions via their customer helpline, and they accept that I am owed a full refund \u2013 however, they say they need time to engage with the \u2018partner hotel\u2019,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

He says he was \u201cverbally told over the phone to expect the refund by the weekend of August 28th and subsequently on September 4th. Both dates elapsed without receiving a refund. I felt these promises were made to get me off the phone.\u201d<\/p>\n

He says he told Booking.com they were the company he made the booking with and were the company he had the contract with, so he expects the refund to come from them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you can imagine, the entire experience was and is still extremely stressful, particularly so as I was travelling with an elderly relation who I didn\u2019t want to burden with the details of having to book entirely separate accommodation at short notice, literally the night before travel, essentially paying on the double,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have provided Booking.com ample opportunity and time to refund me the \u20ac399.85. At this point I am beyond frustrated with Booking.com and its efforts at customer service.\u201d<\/p>\n

We contacted Booking.com, and while we were waiting to hear back from the platform \u2013 and we were left waiting a long time \u2013 Mark got in touch.<\/p>\n

He said that after we had made contact with Booking.com and supplied it with details of his phantom booking, he got the following message. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are writing to confirm that your refund of \u20ac399.85 for [the] reservation has now been issued as cashable credit,” he was told. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe sincerely apologise for the delay and for the inconvenience caused while you were waiting for the refund. We understand how frustrating this must have been, particularly given the circumstances surrounding your accommodation. Thank you for your patience and understanding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We have another story about Booking.com\u2019s phantom bookings and hotels that are listed on the platform despite no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":639320,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[43593,943,61,60,9825,80],"class_list":["post-639319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-booking-com","tag-cost-of-living","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-pricewatch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639319","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639319"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639319\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639319"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639319"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639319"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}