THE BOOKING.COM CRISIS: A Global Pattern of Corporate Negligence and Consumer Betrayal,Why the EU and USA Must Terminate Booking.com’s Era of Unregulated Impunity,has evolved from a travel convenience into a global liability. While its marketing promised seamless exploration, the reality for millions is a predatory ecosystem of systemic billing fraud, ghost reservations, and the total abandonment of travelers in crisis. The Hidden Tax of Hidden Fees,pricing model has become a “bait-and-switch” trap. Confirmations are frequently ignored in favor of:Post-hoc Price Gouging: Travelers arriving to find their “guaranteed” rate has inflated by 20–40%.Ghost Cancellations: Malicious use of cancellation fees on non-refundable bookings that the platform itself failed to secure.
Billing Anarchy: A total lack of oversight regarding how partner properties handle sensitive financial data, leading to unauthorized secondary charges.
The most egregious violation is the platform’s “Silent Support” strategy. When a reservation fails—often due to Booking.com‘s own API errors—the company’s response is not a solution, but a disconnection.
The “Stranded” Protocol: Documented cases show travelers left on the street in foreign countries after being “verified” for non-existent rooms.
Weaponized Inefficiency: Customer service lines are designed to exhaust the consumer, utilizing endless hold times and sudden call terminations to avoid issuing refunds or providing emergency rebooking.Complicity in Deceptive Advertising.By failing to vet its listings, Booking.com acts as a clearinghouse for fraud.Visual Fraud: The platform knowingly hosts AI-enhanced or completely fabricated photos that bear no resemblance to the squalor travelers find upon arrival.Safety Negligence: By ignoring reports of broken locks, unsafe environments, and utility failures.As the merchant of record and the primary point of contract, their attempt to deflect blame onto individual hotels is a calculated evasion of liability.The era of “self-regulation” for travel aggregates has failed. The evidence suggests that Booking.com’s business model thrives on the friction of its own failures. We call upon the EU (CPC) Network and the U.S. (FTC) to:
Freeze Deceptive Algorithms: Audit the pricing and availability engines that lead to overbooking and “hidden” price hikes.
Mandate Emergency Restitution: Require an escrow fund for immediate, no-questions-asked rebooking of travelers stranded by platform errors.
Impose “Tier-One” Fines: Punitive damages must exceed the profit margins gained through deceptive fees to force a change in corporate behavior.
Blacklist Negligent Entities: Force the removal of “ghost” properties and repeat-offender listings that compromise guest safety.
Bottom Line: Booking.com is currently operating as a high-risk gamble disguised as a service. Until regulators strip away their shield of “intermediary immunity,” travelers remain at the mercy of a platform that profits from their misfortune
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