My complaint:
We booked one night at the Hotel Saint Georges in Troyes, France. We had the car loaded for our return to London and chose a hotel which offered parking, which for us was a key requirement. We thought we had the parking at the Hotel as it was listed in the description of the structure in Booking.com. When we arrived we were told that there was no parking available and that we should have it pre-booked. We said we thought we had and in any case could he please help us find a secure parking in town as an alternative. The host said ‘no’ it was not his problem. We reiterated that we needed a secure parking and that we had booked his structure because it said if had parking. He shrugged his shoulders and repeated he had no parking. We said we couldn’t stay unless we found a secure place for the car and he repeated that it didn’t matter to him whether we stayed or not – the room was pre-paid and not refundable. At which point we said we could not stay and that we will give him a review reflecting the experience we just had. At that point he started to shout and gesticulate menacingly, shouting that we leave immediately and being verbally abusive. We left, had to find another hotel with secure parking, and lost the money for the booked room at the Saint Georges. Above all, we were shocked by the abusive behaviour of the host, his complete lack of care and helpfulness (I’m sure he must have known about public parking places in Troyes that he could have mentioned to us) and his breath-taking arrogance and aggressiveness in not caring one little bit about his customers and feeling he could treat them abusively just because the room was paid for and was not refundable – he got his money and didn’t care about anything else. Booking.com must take its share or responsibility in this unacceptable incident because we booked through them and they should make sure that not only the hotels they list are described correctly (if parking was to be pre-booked it should have stated so very clearly at the booking stage) but also that the owners of these hotels have a behaviour that is not abusive towards clients. I have written to Booking.com about this incident and am awaiting their reply. I will pursue the matter with other relevant organisations if needed (Chambers of Commerce and other EU bodies) and I have written my complaint on Complain.biz
Suggested solution:
Booking.com should 1) refund the full amount of the night not spent at the Hotel Saint Georges - it was not our choice not to stay, it was the host who refused us to stay. 2) We want a full apology from Booking.com about this incident. 3) We want a full apology from the host of Hotel Saint Georges in Troyes.
