Booking.com is moving its customer service staff to an outsourcing company

Post by soco » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 11:05 AM UTC

oblio wrote: post #97

charcircuit wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it illegal to fire people in Germany?

Because they're not firing. They're jerks, trying to force them out by moving them to a crap subsidiary without benefits, maybe forced relocation to another country (!), etc. Firing people means paying severance. They want to avoid doing that and for obvious reasons in many countries that's illegal. I guess they figured possible lawsuits are cheaper.

Post by dazc » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 11:06 AM UTC

grogenaut wrote: post #93

culturestate wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to do this, but recently I (somehow) got kicked into the upper tier of Booking.com’s genius program. The 20% discount you get by using B.c in that tier is unbeatable - I’ve actually had hotel front desk staff in multiple countries over the last few months tell me straight-up that they can’t price match that low and I’d be better off just using B.c.

This is actually true with many online booking systems, especially the ones people actually use. I've been told this using at least 10 different booking sites at over 20 hotels since 2005. At one major chain in downtown Cincinnati the clerk brought the manager over, who looked at the rate, and proceeded to pick up the phone and contact corporate to adjust the rate up, they manager told me they were losing money at th…

Post by YXNjaGVyZWdlbgo » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 11:07 AM UTC

Post by soco » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 11:09 AM UTC

pembrook wrote: post #108

quickaskq wrote: post #6

The one time I used booking.com I got screwed over. Their website is riddled with dark patterns and has probably been A/B tested into oblivion. The tactic they used that screwed me over was that they advertised 100% refunds on last minute cancellations. I used booking.com for this exact reason as I didn’t know if I’d be staying the night in the city I was driving past. Well turns out I didn’t need the booking but whe…

Anecdotal, but I’ve canceled booking.com reservations probably 50+ times over the past decade without issue. They certainly use nefarious UX patterns like “10 people just booked this location!!” But I’ve always found the “free cancellation by” dates to be reliable. On the other hand, booking hotels directly is an absolute nightmare of interfacing with whatever broken systems the underfunded “IT” departments of said h…

Post by soco » Fri, Feb 11, 2022, 11:11 AM UTC

gingerlime wrote: post #119

pembrook wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anecdotal, but I’ve canceled booking.com reservations probably 50+ times over the past decade without issue. They certainly use nefarious UX patterns like “10 people just booked this location!!” But I’ve always found the “free cancellation by” dates to be reliable. On the other hand, booking hotels directly is an absolute nightmare of interfacing with whatever broken systems the underfunded “IT” departments of said h…

Or just pick up the phone and call? found it to be a better option in some cases. Got better prices than booking.com too. The only problems we had with booking.com is that they give you no protection whatsoever. One case, the hotel clearly gamed the reviews and posted false info. It was so bad that we had to leave. But we were still charged the full amount, and booking.com just stood aside. Just recently, my wife boo…