ABOUT BOOKING.COM
Booking.com connects millions of travellers to memorable experiences, a variety of transportation options, and incredible places to stay – from homes to hotels and much more – by investing in technology that removes the friction from travel. Booking.com, as one of the world’s largest travel marketplaces for both established brands and small and medium-sized businesses, enables properties all over the world to reach a global audience and grow their businesses.
More than 28 million reported lodging listings, including more than 6.2 million homes, apartments, and other unusual lodgings, are available on Booking.com, which is accessible in 43 different languages. Booking.com makes it simple for you to go and do whatever you want by providing 24/7 customer service.
HOW DOES OUR SERVICE WORK?
We make it easy for you to compare Bookings from many hotels, property owners, and other Service Providers.
When you make a Booking on our Platform, you enter into a contract with the Service Provider (unless otherwise stated).
The information on our Platform is based on what Service Providers tell us. We do our best to keep things up to date at all times, but realistically, it can take a few hours to update, e.g. text descriptions and lists of the facilities that Accommodations provide.
WHO DO WE WORK WITH?
Only Service Providers that have a contractual relationship with us will be displayed on our Platform. They may offer Travel Experiences outside our Platform as well (so what they offer on our Platform may not be exhaustive).
We don’t own any Accommodations ourselves – we’re separate companies that have agreed to work with each other in a certain way.
Our Platform tells you how many Accommodations you can book through us worldwide – and our search results page tells you how many of them might be right for you, based on what you’ve told us.
OUR DEFAULT RANKING – SORTING OPTIONS
Our search results show all the Accommodations (hotels, apartments, etc.) that match your search. If you like, you can use filters to narrow down your results.
To see all the booking options an Accommodation offers, just click it.
When you first see your search results, they’ll be sorted (“ordered”) by “Our top picks”:
- Our top picks (default ranking). To appear high up on the page, an Accommodation needs to do well in each of these areas:
- Click-through rate. How many people click it
- Gross Bookings. How many Bookings are made with that Accommodation
- Net Bookings. How many Bookings are made with that Accommodation, minus how many are canceled
- As you can imagine, those numbers depend on lots of factors, including review scores, availability, policies, pricing, quality of content (e.g. photos), and other features.
- An Accommodation’s ranking can also be influenced by other things for example, how much commission they pay us, how quickly they usually pay it, whether they’re part of our Genius or Preferred Partner(+) Program, and whether we organize their payments in certain places*. If you’re signed in, your search history on our Platform (if any) will also be a factor.
* This ranking factor currently only applies to US accommodations booked by US-based customers.
If you like, you can sort your results in lots of other ways, such as:
- Entire homes and apartments. Homes and apartments appear higher up than hotels and other types of Accommodations.
- Price (lowest first). Accommodations with lower prices appear higher up.
- Genius. Genius Accommodations appear higher up than other Accommodations.
- Stars (highest first). Accommodations with more stars* and/or higher quality ratings* appear higher up.
- Stars (lowest first). Accommodations with fewer stars and/or lower quality ratings appear higher up.
- Top reviewed. Accommodations with higher review scores* appear higher up. If you see any instances where this isn’t the case, it’s just because we also factor in reliability (i.e. number of reviews). For example, an Accommodation with 1,000 reviews and an average score of 8.2 could appear above an Accommodation with 5 reviews and an average score of 8.3.
- Distance from (X). Accommodations that are closer to X (e.g., the city center) appear higher up the page. (When we say “close,” we mean “close in a straight line.”)
- Star rating and price. Accommodations with more stars appear higher up. Within each segment (5 stars, 4 stars, etc.) the ones with lower prices appear higher up.
- Best reviewed and lowest price. Accommodations with higher review scores appear higher up. Within each 0.5 segment (between 10 and 9.5, between 9.5 and 9, etc.) the ones with lower prices appear higher up.
PRICES
The rates displayed on our Platform are set by the Service Providers. We may finance rewards or other benefits out of our own pocket.
When you make a Booking, you agree to pay the cost of the Travel Experience itself and any other charges and taxes that may apply (e.g. for any extras). Taxes and fees may vary for different reasons, such as the Service Provider’s location, the kind of room selected, and the number of guests. The price description tells you whether any taxes and charges are included or excluded. You’ll be able to find more information about the price while you’re booking.
PAYMENTS
There are three ways you might pay for your Booking:
- The Service Provider charges you at the Accommodation.
- The Service Provider charges you in advance. We (or our affiliate) will take your Payment Method details and forward them to the Service Provider.
- We organize your payment to the Service Provider in advance. We (or our affiliate) will take your Payment Method details and make sure the Service Provider is paid.
If you cancel a Booking or don’t show up, any cancellation/no-show fee or refund will depend on the Service Provider’s cancellation/no-show policy.