Can I make a booking without a credit card? A valid credit card is required to guarantee the reservation. We also offer a small but growing number of hotels that do not require a credit card to guarantee your stay. You can also place an order using someone else's card, if you have the permission of its owner. In this case, please include in the Special Requests field the name of the holder and make a note that you have been given permission to use the card.? In most cases, Booking.com will ask for your credit card information to confirm a hotel reservation on your behalf. Your credit card may be verified (pre-blocked) to ensure it is valid and has sufficient funds. After verification, the entire balance of your card will be at your disposal again. In some cases, your credit card details will be used to pay for your reservation during the booking process. Your credit card will only be charged if you made a prepaid reservation or if the cancellation policy in the Hotel Policies or Conditions column in the room description has not been followed. Does the hotel charge a deposit or prepayment? Most hotels do not require prepayment or security deposit. If the hotel requires a prepayment or deposit, you will find Additional information Please refer to the Hotel Policies section of the hotel's page on Booking.com and your email confirmation of your reservation. What types of credit cards can I use when making a booking? The following types of credit cards can be used when booking on our website: MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Diners Club. However, the hotel may not accept all of the above types of credit cards. Therefore, please check the "Accepted Credit Cards" box at the bottom of the page under Hotel Policies before booking. Is it possible to pay for the hotel stay in advance? It depends on the hotel. Please contact the hotel after completing your reservation to arrange a prepayment. You can find contact details on your booking confirmation email and under My Booking.com. Can I pay for my stay at the hotel with a credit card that was not used to make the reservation? In most cases, you will be able to pay for your hotel stay with another credit card or cash. Please ensure the hotel accepts the new type of credit card or cash in advance. Can I use a debit card when booking? In most cases, the hotel does not accept debit cards as a guarantee of reservations. However, please check the details of each hotel you are interested in in the "Accepted Credit Cards" section of the hotel page. How is my credit card information secure? Information about your credit card sent through a secure server. We use the latest, most secure technology currently available to encrypt all personal and credit card information. The encryption method we use is the "Secure Socket Layer" (SSL) encrypted data transfer protocol between the client and the server. Our SSL certificate is issued by Thawte.
As you know, corporations do everything for the sake of multi-billion dollar profits. The company, in principle, is no different from the rest and uses clever marketing moves with some reservations and tricks so that tourists book a hotel as quickly as possible for a lot of money. In this article I will tell you about these tricks and tricks that you shouldn't fall for.
Delicious breakfasts
If you see the following inscriptions in the hotel parameters: “Very good breakfast; Awesome breakfast; Good coffee !; Delicious breakfast ", then you can safely order a room without breakfast or choose another hotel.
I don't like such inscriptions, tk. they distract from viewing really necessary things: room equipment, availability of WiFi, swimming pool, hotel location.
At first I thought that such a rating was done by voting by tourists after visiting the hotel or by some specific parameters, but after 2 times in a row in hotels we came across a disgusting disgusting tasteless breakfast, we stopped believing this inscription.
As far as I understand, such inscriptions are made for SEO, because how else to explain the use of various words added to almost all hotels ?!
Here is a screenshot of one hotel, the price for a room without breakfast is € 233, and with the included Ooooo good breakfast € 255. As you can see, if you book a room with breakfast right away, you get € 4 savings. Be aware that if you buy a room without breakfast, you can always buy it separately at the hotel, sometimes for even less money.
Tax
You have found a suitable hotel for your holiday in quiet place, near the beach or attractions, now you need to be careful when booking, because the price may be quoted without taxes and miscellaneous charges. Take a look at the screenshot below: the room rate is 22,694 rubles, and it is stated that VAT at a rate of 10% and breakfast are included in the room rate. But taxes (English Taxes) are not included. What does this mean, you ask? And no one will answer this question until you arrive at the hotel and you will not be invoiced. Agree, it's not very pleasant to see + 1-100% to the bill on vacation. It is not clear how such a corporation as Booking with a staff of programmers, managers, contenders, support in a bunch of languages skips such hotel descriptions without definite data on the final cost of the room.
If you climb the Booking website, then, depending on the city, you can see the following types of taxes, which not included in the bill: VAT about 10% to 20%. Tourist tax or City tax, which, depending on the city, may be € 1 — 5 per day. In Venice, for example, it's € 4.5; in Paris € 2.48; in Berlin - 5% of the cost of living. In New York, you will be charged a 14.75% tax and a $ 3.50 city tax per night. There is no tourist tax for children in some cities, but in Berlin your child will also be taxed.
Hotel booking pages may show a wide variety of taxes and fees that are not included in the final room price, for example, 'Accommodation service charge' of 10-28%. "
Parking at the hotel for an additional fee
If you are traveling by car, then when looking for a hotel on the Booking, you can tick one of the criteria - this is parking lot... A normal person, having checked this box, especially on the phone, may not notice that parking will be paid, and hopes that the hotel has a private secure parking, which the hotel client can use for free. For this price is not added to the room rate, but is simply described in the hotel services.
As you can see from the screenshot, upon arrival at the hotel, the person learns that private parking will cost him some $ 18 per day. And in some Paris, the cost of a parking space at a hotel will cost € 25 per day. At the same time, it is not written whether this is a guarded parking, because it is important for car travelers. When we travel by car, we try to find hotels with free private secure parking. But normal hotels, for example, in Munich, provide a free travel card for public transport if you come by car.
Rushing customers
The next trick that Booking goes to is to constantly rush customers. The inscriptions in the form “The number of vacant places is limited”, “Do not miss your chance”, “Book the last room”, “Seven rooms left”, “In the last 24 hours, booked 10 times” seem to push people to make a reservation as quickly as possible. Any psychologist will explain to you that no one wants to be left without a tit in their hands and will try to book at least something, and red reminders on the entire site get on your nerves and help you make a decision faster. And then you come to the hotel and see that there are a lot of empty seats, three cripples come for breakfast, and only one family is splashing in the pool.
The same method is usually used by realtors or hucksters in the car market. Here you approach him, wondering how much the car costs, how many owners there were, whether you had an accident. And, having examined the car, you are going to move on, and you are seen off with the words: “Don't hesitate for a long time, otherwise today there are already many who are interested in a wheelbarrow, and, you yourself understand, who is the first to bring money, that and sneakers.” And a month later you come to the same market, and this car continues to be sold, you see, the owner is holding the car for someone.
Discount cheating
When choosing a hotel on Booking, we often come across rooms in hotels with similar inscriptions: “Save 33% today!”; "Today's Super Offer!"... On the screen, you see the price that is crossed out and the new price is drawn in bright red! In theory, you can be glad that only today you can save a lot on accommodation. And then you go to the site tomorrow or in a week, and there on the same hotel flaunts the same inscription. It turns out that the discount can be valid not only today, but also tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
Hotel payment currency
Another jamb of Booking is the currency of payment for accommodation. Yes, you can choose any currency when looking for a hotel, but you will always pay for your stay in local currency. And on the Booking itself, you can see the following wording: “You pay to the hotel in local currency (€). The indicated amount (in RUB) is indicative and based on the current exchange rate. " In fact, the final amount of accommodation depends on the type of your card, cross-rate and currency in the country, and the margin of error may be 10%.
This is why I always pay for my hotel stay in cash and in local currency so that I don't waste any extra money on cross-rates and rate changes.
Unauthorized withdrawal of money from the card
Do not be surprised if suddenly after booking a hotel your card will be illegally charged cash... We had it like this in winter: we booked a hotel in Phuket with free cancellation and payment on the spot. It was also written in the conditions that not a cent would be withdrawn from the card. In fact, after entering the card details when booking a hotel on Booking, they immediately wanted to withdraw the entire amount from us. We received a call from our bank and was told that a hotel in Phuket was unauthorizedly trying to withdraw a certain amount of money, and the transaction was declined. We thanked the bank employee and said that we would figure it out. Immediately after that, they wrote to the hotel and Booking, and they all began to smear, that they were just checking if we had money on the card.
As it turned out, the site rules say: “Booking.com is not responsible for any (authorized or possible unauthorized or erroneous) debiting of funds by the Supplier and does not return any amounts legally debited or previously blocked by the Supplier (including prepayment, no-show or cancellation fees) on your card. "
I do not know how Booking does this, bypassing EU legislation, but in Europe it is impossible to indicate one thing in the terms of service provision, and in fact act completely differently and, moreover, transfer personal data (in our case, card data) to third parties ...
Agree, it turns out nonsense: you find a hotel on Booking with a specific price, enter the card details there, and your card details are leaked to the hotel, which can easily unauthorized withdraw any amount, and no one is responsible for this, because this is written in the booking rules!
Booking provides services Free of charge
The most epic lies of Booking is a story about the fact that the services of the site are free, you can take the trouble and find the following in the rules of the site:
"Our Service is free for you because, unlike many other companies, we do not charge you for our Service, and we do not add additional fees (for booking) to the cost."
Suppliers pay a commission(a small percentage of the price of a Booking.com product (eg room) after the user has used a product or service provided by the Supplier, or the guest has stayed at the property (and paid for the stay). "
If a hotel pays a commission, how can the service be free? This commission is included in the cost of living, and it is impossible to make a reservation without a commission, and if so, then this is definitely not free service... And according to hoteliers, who ask not to disclose their details, the booking commission is approximately 15-20% of the reservation. Agree, this is not such a small percentage that Booking writes about on his website.
On Booking not the lowest prices
Conclusion
For all its small marketing tricks, it is still out of competition, and most often you have to book a hotel on this service. In my ideal world, I would like to have only reliable honest data on the site. And while this is not the case, be extremely careful when booking hotels, because even the most advanced travelers fall for these tricks. Well, keep in mind that in popular tourist destinations, rooms in good hotels are really dismantled six months in advance, for example, in Barcelona, Paris, Rome, New York or London.
Today, many travelers refuse travel agency services, preferring to book their own accommodation through numerous Internet services. One of the most popular in this area is booking.com, which offers the largest database of hotels, hostels, apartments and guesthouses around the world. If you have never used this site yet, but want to finally master it, we advise you to carefully study our article. Here you will get detailed instructions on how to book a hotel on the booking, and learn about all the nuances of the service.
Step # 1. Registration
In order to make a reservation on the booking, you do not need to register. However, we recommend that you create your own account on the site: it only takes a few minutes, and registration will greatly simplify the management of future reservations.
After you have entered all the required data, click on the "Start" button.
In the following windows, you can specify the phone number and select your preferences. Entering this information is optional, so for now, feel free to click on the "Skip" button in the lower right corner.
At the final stage of registration, you need to go to your email address specified during registration and confirm the correctness of the information. In a matter of seconds, your inbox should receive a notification with the title "Confirm with one click", in which you just need to click on the blue strip "Confirm". Now you have your booking account.
Note!
- When registering, be sure to indicate a REAL email address. Upon completion of any booking, a code will be sent to it, which you will need when checking into the hotel!
- When setting up a profile, we recommend that you specify the phone number and address, which in the future, if necessary, the administration of the accommodation facility will be able to contact you. It should be borne in mind that many (but not all) hotels require prepayment, and in order to book a hotel through booking, you may need bank card details. Therefore, you can assign card data to your account in advance at the registration stage.
- In order to select the currency in which prices for booking will be shown, go to the icon with the currency in the top center. Here you will also find a flag in the form of a flag, with which you can change the language of the site.
Step 2. Finding a hotel
The second step is the most time consuming, but also the most exciting, in the process of which you have to choose a hotel that meets all your requirements. To search for a hotel, you must refer to the search blocks placed as on the main one,
In the first search line, you need to specify your destination: the name of the hotel, country, island, city, resort, etc. Here you need to select the dates for which the trip is planned. If you have not yet set the exact travel time, enter the approximate numbers to find out the approximate cost of living and check the availability of rooms in the hotel. It is important to indicate the number of prospective guests, because the price directly depends on this factor.
After you have entered all the data, click on the button "Check prices" or "Find". You will see a list of various accommodation options, next to which the cost of the reservation for the entire period of your stay at the hotel will be displayed. Check out the list of search criteria on the left. Using these parameters, you will filter your search and will be able to book a hotel on booking com that best suits your needs.
Apply filters on the left side of the page: here you can mark the criteria you are interested in, such as the star rating of the hotel, type of accommodation, attractions, your budget, food, etc.
At the top of the list with hotels, there is also a filter that sorts the options by stars, prices, proximity to the city center, ratings and service recommendations.
If you liked any hotel from the list, and you want to know more about it detailed information, just click on the photo or the name of the hotel or below on the "View our latest available rooms" tab.
To find out detailed information about accommodation, go to the table with the types of rooms (on the same page below), in which you will see the parameters of the rooms and how they are equipped, as well as the price for accommodation in different classes of rooms.
Or, hover over the question mark in the blue circle for more information on meals and cancellations. Here you will also find out if you can book a hotel without paying. To go to the photo gallery, just click on the name of the room type.
Note!
Step 3. Hotel booking
In this part of our instructions, you will learn how to pay at the booking booked hotel... After examining all the accommodation options on the site and choosing the hotel you like, you proceed to the third and final stage - booking a hotel room. To do this, in the table you need to indicate the number of rooms and click on the "I book" button.
Next, you go to a page where you need to enter personal data in a special block. Here you must indicate your first and last name, address Email, the number of guests and their name, your wishes and preferences (optional).
You can also ask your questions to the hotel representatives by writing a letter in the form below. It is advisable to indicate the approximate time of arrival: in this case, the hotel administration will meet you on time and register you without any problems. After entering the required data, click on the "Next: Final Data" tab.
Then a new page will open in front of you, where you will be asked to indicate the country, phone number and card information (if you have not yet assigned it to your account).
You must enter the holder's name, card type, card number, expiration date and CVC code. Then click on the "Complete Reservation" tab.
Now you can be congratulated on your first booking at the booking! After you complete your room reservation, a confirmation email will be sent to your email inbox. In the letter, you can check all the data again and save your reservation in electronic form to your phone using it. From here you can proceed to the cancellation of the reservation.
Please note the following details when booking:
- You can always manage your booking through your booking account. By going to your profile, you have the opportunity to book another object, change travel dates, request breakfast, increase / decrease the number of guests, cancel a reservation, etc. (if it does not contradict the rules and conditions of the hotel).
- If you have made a reservation but your plans have changed, you must notify the hotel in advance. As a rule, you need to cancel your reservation at least one day before the expected check-in. Some hotels require two days' notice in such cases. You can send a request to cancel a reservation from your personal account. After that, a letter confirming the cancellation of the reservation should be sent to your email inbox.
- In some cases, it is impossible to book a hotel without a card: this happens when the object wants to guarantee itself a timely payment. To do this, he sometimes blocks some of the funds on your card. This amount can be equal to both the cost of one day of stay at the hotel, and the price for the entire booked period. If you rent a reservation following the hotel's rules, then no fines will be imposed on you. If your card does not have enough funds, the facility has the right to independently cancel the reservation.
How to book a hotel without a credit card
The service offers enough hotels in different parts of the world that do not require a bank card to book rooms. How to book a hotel on booking without payment? In order to display only such options in the list for the direction you have specified, you need to turn to the filter on the left, where in the column “Free cancellation and other” you should put a tick on the option “Booking without a credit card”.
Note! This option will only be available if you specify travel dates.
Of course, there may be situations when you like a hotel that does not require prepayment, but you cannot book it without a card. And if you are also afraid to leave such important information on the site, then there is only one way out - to try to indicate the data of a valid card, which contains only a small amount or no funds at all. This option often works fine.
Conclusion
We hope that we were able to give you a clear idea of how to book a hotel on the booking. If you have never used the service before, then following our instructions, you will quickly figure out all the options and controls on the site. And if you have additional questions, we will always be happy to answer them in the comments.
Related entries:
You saw the same hotel and decided to make a reservation on it. What should you pay attention to when booking?
What are the conditions for booking a booking?
Focus your attention on the cost of the room. Prices for the same room may be different, it depends on the conditions of the reservation. Booking has two of them: there is the possibility of canceling the reservation, there is no possibility of canceling the reservation. And if two options are indicated, the second is always cheaper (or the price for a room is purely symbolic or a 50 percent discount).
Cancellation of a reservation for a non-refundable option.
If you choose a more economical option, the hotel will charge you the entire amount (hotel, not booking) today. It will also be from the conditions that it will become almost impossible to refuse the number, and even force majeure in the form of illness, flight cancellation or bad weather will not help. But! It often happens that the hotel can go to a meeting, solve the problem amicably and cancel the booking (in this case, you can refer to the service glitch). You shouldn't hope for such an option and I recommend booking on a “no cancellation” basis only when you are sure that the trip will not fail.
But if you want to cheat and block the card, then the hotel has the right to require the bank to write off these funds from you. And if the card is debit, then the bank can drive it into a minus, operating with an agreement.
Blocking funds.
If you took a number where it is stated in the conditions that the money will not be withdrawn from the account, the hotel may well block them. Hotels can check the card for validity and reserve a certain amount of money and, in case of no-show, withdraw it as a fine. Such a fine can be equal to the price of one night. But this is optional. Hotels may not check your map at all. And the blocked amount is returned after 30 days. You can also contact the bank and make a request to cancel the block.
In fact, all hotels behave differently: someone blocks 1 euro, someone the cost of one night, and someone the entire amount of accommodation (what if 20 nights?). Alternatively, if you make a reservation with a bare card and verify it, the hotel may cancel the reservation.
Can the hotel write off money? Writing off funds from the card.
Also, the hotel may not block funds, but write off completely, although this is not correct. This can be, but very infrequently. If this happens, you need to contact the booking support, call the Russian-speaking number, they will oblige the hotel to return the money. But if you, in spite of this, to put it mildly, ugly behavior are still going to come to this hotel, then you can endure.
What card can I use when booking hotels?
Bookings can be made on a credit or debit card (it depends on the hotel). All hotels accept visa, mastercard, american express, not always diners club, jcb. Visa electron, mastercard maestro cards will not work. You can pay for the number in any currency. Funds are withdrawn in the currency of the country where you are going at the rate of your bank + percentage of the conversion. If you are worried that the hotel can write off all the money, then top up the card for the amount of two nights of stay. But you need to be ready to deposit the required amount if the hotel wants to check the card by withdrawing a larger amount.
What additional fees can the hotel have?
Some countries, namely the Netherlands, do not include city tax in the room rate. Let's say in Amsterdam it's 5 percent.
Breakfasts are also paid separately if they are not included in the room rate. This information can always be seen when booking. But once in German city we were asked for money for the already included breakfast (paid online in advance). By the way, the breakfast was not cheap - 15 euros per person. But we were so tired that we didn't understand, we just paid.
The question is how book a hotel without a card online, very relevant. Indeed, in most cases, this requires a bank card. What if there is no valid card, or it is not suitable for payments on the Internet, or you don’t want to “shine” on its data, and you desperately need to book a hotel here and now?
Access to card data for hotel booking: yes or no?
Lately we have been diligently we avoid entering card details when booking hotels even on well-known and respected online booking systems. The reason for this is one incident involving Booking.com, a popular self-service hotel search and booking service.
The site is very convenient. Just select the desired city, dates and number of residents in the search form, click "Find hotels" and on the search results page on the left you will see the option - "Without a bank card"... This allows you to sort only those hotels in which you can make a reservation without a card.
By the way, in the window on the right you can see their location on the map and choose the right one.
The principle of operation is the same as for. When searching, select on the left “no credit card” and you will receive a list of hotels. The base of hotels that allow you to book a room without a card is slightly smaller, but the prices are quite reasonable.
What is the best way to book a hotel without a card?
In our experience, the easiest way to find the right hotel is on booking.com. Simply because it is unlikely to find hotels on other booking platforms that are not on the Booking. By the way, if you have never booked hotels on Booking - a surprise for you! Follow our link, book and get 1000 RUB on your card! Especially when it comes to Europe or America. Across Asia, for example, Agoda.com has an impressive database of hotels and guesthouses. To be honest, we do not like this service - opaque booking conditions, the price often does not include tax, and the interface is disappointing - but all this is not for everybody.
Found a suitable option? Check it out on, suddenly somewhere there is a lower price for it or the booking conditions are more pleasant!
That's basically all. If there is a need to issue hotel reservation without card, look for suitable hotels and book safely. This way you will protect the money on the card and avoid unnecessary expenses if your travel plans suddenly change.
