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Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

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Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#61

Post by developer2 »

tibiapejagala wrote: post #57
jakub_g wrote: post #6

Booking is the website with the highest density of dark patterns per pixel I've ever seen. Red texts hurrying you to make a reservation in virtually every on the page ("only 2 rooms left", "someone just made a booking", "12 people looking", "Booked N times today", "You're lucky to see this room, normally it's booked!", "You're lucky to see it for $50, normally it's more expensive" etc.). All of those texts are flashi…

I'll take all the dark patterns they have if it means I can avoid hotel chains' own booking systems. At least I already know the dark patterns of booking.com. Tried to book a one of Starwood Preferred Guest hotel. Had to create an account, but this is a given. For a single room there are 12 offers you can choose, really simple /s. The cheapest offer is for "SPG Member Exclusive. Am I one? How do I know? I guess I'm n…

If you're only booking a hotel, rather than picking a travel vacation package, you're better off calling the hotel directly to make a reservation. The reservation staff almost always have sole discretion to negotiate prices within limits. If you are polite, and have checked for the best price you can find online, they will often match or beat that price. The trick is truly the politeness factor - "I SEE IT ONLINE FOR $50 LESS ONLINE, YOU HAVE TO MAKE IT CHEAPER!!!" will get you absolutely nowhere. They have discretion to negotiate, but are not required to do so. They deal with enough rude people on a daily basis that the moment you are abrasive, you can expect the wiggle room to vanish.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#62

Post by minimaximus »

I've been burned by booking.com's 'Free Cancellation' UI shenanigans a couple of times. In both instances I swear that I saw the free cancellation banner next to the room I'm reserving. Instantly after reservation, I receive an email saying 'non-refundable', or $400 fee for cancellation. The first time I thought I made a mistake, but when my wife saw the same thing... well, something fishy is going on.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#63

Post by JetSpiegel »

clamprecht wrote: post #13

It's a FOMO machine. I use it to find places, filtering by "wifi available", and then contact them directly.

Basically this. I use booking as the yellow pages, you search for the hotels you want and give them a call directly.

Cheaper prices and no cuts for parasite middleman.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#64

Post by viraptor »

joeframbach wrote: post #46

Could someone explain to me any reason why it would be better to book through any third party instead of directly through the hotel?

If you book enough stays through them, you get a genius status and get a discount on some of the hotels. Something like 10% in some cases if I remember correctly.

It's pretty well hidden though. I've never seen it advertised on the homepage: http://loyaltylobby.com/2013/07/22/booking-com-genius-award/

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#65

Post by usr1106 »

Using the online travel gangsters has been the worst part of travelling for years. Extorting business practices against small hotels, high fees, and when you check the small print/certificate you understand that profits go to a tax evasion paradise. If something goes wrong for whatever reason their so-called customer service is of no help whatsoever. Only one room left is not even technically lying. It just means that small hotels give rooms only one by one to the extorters, hoping to sell as many of them via a cheaper channel. Unfortunately it is not easy to find a small hotel directly on the web, search results a completely polluted by booking sites. In that context dark patterns on their sites are just a minor detail, I don't expect any better from companies with such ethics.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#66

Post by tudorconstantin »

These dark patterns are the result of successful A/B tests. They don't do it because they enjoy it. They do it because the data says the platform performs better. And I know this because I met dozens of Perl developers at conferences and I asked them explicitly about the FOMO spreading.

The question is: how can one measure the long term impact these dark patterns have on future sales?

I do my best to avoid using booking.com precisely because of these dark patterns. I love Perl, there are just a few big companies that are still using Perl as their main backend technology and whenever I can I try to give them money. Especially when they're getting involved in the community and are trying to grow the ecosystem like booking does. But when their web site tries to apply the cheapest manipulation tricks on me, I avoid them.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#67

Post by codazzo »

jakub_g wrote: post #6

Booking is the website with the highest density of dark patterns per pixel I've ever seen. Red texts hurrying you to make a reservation in virtually every on the page ("only 2 rooms left", "someone just made a booking", "12 people looking", "Booked N times today", "You're lucky to see this room, normally it's booked!", "You're lucky to see it for $50, normally it's more expensive" etc.). All of those texts are flashi…

Pro-tip: I filtered all of those out with an adblocker.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#68

Post by oskarth »

I was booking a place in Budapest this summer on Booking.com, and there was a specific area I wanted to be in. I searched for that area and found a place that was marked as having a certain location that was perfect for me. Upon arriving, it turns out this was just where their "main office" was, and the specific apartment I was renting was situated in a different area, several tram rides away. I tried to get my money back for this clear deception but to no avail.

Their excuse? The real address was available to me in my confirmation email, i.e. after I had already paid. If you can't trust their map, it serves no purpose whatsoever. A few weeks later I was trying to find the listing but it appears to have been removed.

I'd switch in an instant if someone built a useful alternative to Booking. Agoda is the same deal as far as I can tell, and it is owned by the same parent company.

EDIT: Airbnb is great - I use it a lot, more than Booking - but sometimes you just want a more professionally run hotel, hostel or apartment. In fact, after cancelling that place I ended up booking a studio with Airbnb at the last minute.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#69

Post by smegel »

oskarth wrote: post #68

I was booking a place in Budapest this summer on Booking.com, and there was a specific area I wanted to be in. I searched for that area and found a place that was marked as having a certain location that was perfect for me. Upon arriving, it turns out this was just where their "main office" was, and the specific apartment I was renting was situated in a different area, several tram rides away. I tried to get my money…

Airbnb?

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#70

Post by [deleted] »

amag wrote: post #31
aluhut wrote: post #10

I gave up online vacation reservations this year. This is the second time I wasted hours on several portals before I've found one that worked in a decent way and had a useful choice. When I've finally found a destination, I tried to book the trips I've found and they all have been "sold out". When I tried the same criteria again, I got the same results but more expensive. Again sold out when I clicked any of them. Di…

Given the state of affairs with online reservations, going to your local travel agency is is undeniably the future. Oh the irony.

[deleted]
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