terms and conditions<\/a>. And also Vrbo, which says agreements are between guests and the travel providers. \u201cWe are not a party to any such agreements,\u201d it says.<\/p>\nThe consumer campaigner Martyn James says that by stating they are not part of the contract, these companies can argue they are only acting as a conduit and are not responsible for the supply of goods or services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis hasn\u2019t really been tested in law massively, but I\u2019d be willing to bet that the courts would take a dim view of the businesses operating in these grey areas,\u201d he says<\/p>\n
Complaints<\/p>\n
Travellers who have contacted Guardian Money have been frustrated by Booking.com\u2019s inability to force hosts to pay up.<\/p>\n
Before arriving at a hotel he had booked in Mongolia, John Taylor* was charged \u00a31,177 \u2013 \u00a3120 more than the agreed price. When he cancelled, there was no refund, he says, even though free cancellation was part of the booking.<\/p>\n
After \u201crounds of chasing\u201d and giving Booking.com evidence of the payment, he was told by the website he was entitled to a refund but that the hotel had not engaged with Booking.com. He had still not received a refund when he contacted the Guardian in April. It eventually arrived in the middle of June.<\/p>\n
One reader faced accommodation problems during a weekend break in Paris last summer. Photograph: Tom Nicholson\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Another reader, Kate Worthing*, booked a Parisian apartment for a weekend last summer. It was described as having an \u201celegant and refined\u201d location. But the apartment building was in the middle of a refurbishment, with uncovered electrical wires in the communal hallway, and there were automatic lights that did not function. The rental itself contained worn fixtures and fittings and a melted electrical socket, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main reason we left was because we didn\u2019t feel safe. The electrical faults and wooden staircase, with no discernible fire escape, were not an option, and we were not prepared to put our family at risk,\u201d she says. When she managed to contact the host, she was refused a refund of the \u00a31,700 she had paid, as they claimed it was safe.<\/p>\n
Booking.com told her that it \u201cfacilitates reservations between guests and accommodation partners, and in refund matters we are bound by the property\u2019s policies and their final decision on waiving fees\u201d.<\/p>\n
It said it could not issue a full refund but offered \u00a3417 in travel credits as compensation.<\/p>\n
Guardian Money contacted Booking.com about these and other cases. It said the hotel or apartment owner is responsible for providing refunds if something goes awry.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019d expect our accommodation partners to be on hand for guests during their stay, but if there is an issue at check-in, customers should contact us as soon as possible,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs well as relocations, we can also advocate on their behalf and raise issues directly with the accommodation provider, and work to reach a resolution. If there are repeated issues with a property, we can and will address these with the accommodation owner to ensure future guests have a good experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
For travellers worried about being caught in the gap between a platform and a host, James says people should try to book directly with the provider, but use caution.<\/p>\n
\u201cI use these [aggregator] sites to compare and contrast, then look into booking direct,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you call the hotel, you might even get a discount from them for doing so. Watch out for private apartments, though. This is where fakes have lurked, and any firm that asks you to pay by bank transfer knows that you can\u2019t recall the money if things go wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n
* Name has been changed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jane Ripley* spent some time researching the best apartment to stay in for her family\u2019s trip to Batumi…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":722653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[84,59,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-722652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-gb","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=722652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/722652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/722653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=722652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=722652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=722652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}