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Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

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Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#71

Post by tzs »

AJ007 wrote: post #37
tyingq wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Booking.com is the white label hotel provider for many websites. Kayak, American Airlines, Southwest Airlines, etc.

Per excellent report by Ben Edelman, which I strongly recommend reading for anyone interested in the booking platforms http://www.benedelman.org/publications/ota-bias-12jul2017.pd... Priceline Group: priceline.com, agoda.com, booking.com, cheapflights.com, ctrip.com, KAYAK, Momondo.com, Opentable.com, rentalcars.com, Rocketmiles Expedia, Inc.: Expedia.com, Carrentals.com, Classic Vacations, eLong.com, HomeAway, Hotel…

Does that mean that the different sites within each group have the same listings and deals as the other sites in the same group?

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#72

Post by BillinghamJ »

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…

Did you initiate a chargeback?

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#73

Post by oskarth »

BillinghamJ wrote: post #72
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…

Did you initiate a chargeback?

No. Booked with debit card, not credit card, which as far as I know makes the requirements for chargebacks higher.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#74

Post by desas »

mandarg wrote: post #14
pingec wrote: post #8

Even as a host using booking.com I dislike many shady things they put you through but at the end of the day these dark patterns must work in practice as there is no other platform that delivers even closely as many guests as booking.com.

What are some alternative sites that send you guests? I have used hotels.com sometimes (has dark patterns too, but fewer of them). I would definitely prefer using something that was more...sensible. I would naïvely think that booking directly with hotels would be cheapest, but I have definitely seen deals on these aggregators that were unavailable on the same hotel's own site – which is the only reason I even think a…

The aggregators I looked into working with (5+ years ago) required that you offer rate parity. You had to guarantee that for a given room+date+conditions you would give the lowest price to them as you would anywhere else.

The way around it was to offer more flexibility for direct bookings or throw in breakfast.

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#76

Post by pmlnr »

codazzo wrote: post #67
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.

Are the patterns shared somewhere?

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#77

Post by justboxing »

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 see booking.com's BOT posting the same multiple jobs on @whoishiring's thread every month. Ex: Sept 2017 => https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15148950

Looking at all the negative observations about booking.com here, I'm curious. Has anyone from here actually applied to any of their job postings on @whoishiring ?

How has your experience been?

The one positive thing I've seen is that they mention that they sponsor work visas for their successful candidates (in Europe / Amsterdam location only I think).

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#79

Post by samastur »

JetSpiegel wrote: post #63
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.

So parasite middleman is for you a company that enables you to find those hotels in the first place?

Do you find all middleman parasitic or is there something else booking should do to stop being in this group?

Re: Bad UX: How Booking.com deceives clients

#80

Post by ce4 »

codazzo wrote: post #67
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.

would you mind to share your booking specific adblock rules?
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