I love booking.com. I have used them for the last few years, and always recommend them on to anyone who asks for hotel recommendations. The site is easy to use, has great filtering options, very good prices and great coverage.
Today cemented them in my head as an exceptional company. I did a bunch of bookings for my Ibiza trip using their policy of no cancellation fee to ensure I could then discuss rooms with my buddies knowing they were safely ours should we go for one. One of the rooms at Pacha I cancelled the same day. Pacha refunded the money they had taken on a different day, meaning I lost around £20 in exchange rate fees.
I called booking.com to explain I was somewhat upset about that – in every other experience hotels haven’t taken any money until you stay (my fault, this was in the booking T&Cs for Pacha specifically, which I had assumed were the same as “normal” booking T&Cs), and after some fantastic help from a lady called “Julia” in their team, they have offered as a one off to refund the money I lost due to Pacha’s delay on refunding me.
For the sake of around £20, they have earned my complete love and admiration (and long term custom!), and maybe now some of yours too. They could easily have said sorry, not our problem, and lost me as a customer (and no doubt had a ranty tweet or blog posted from me) – but instead they’ve completely bowled me over with great customer service.
Bravo booking.com – I wish more companies made smart and kind decisions like you.