Is it Worth it to Use Booking.com?

Outside booking plane tickets (ugh) the part of travel planning that gives me the most anxiety is trying to figure out where to stay. 

Sometimes the choice of accommodations can make or break your trip. After a long day of sightseeing, you want to know that you’re going to be able to sleep comfortably before you’re up and at ‘em again the next day. 

That’s why—when it comes to choosing accommodations—I start all my travel planning at Booking.com. If you can’t travel away from your hometown or very near it, you can try a hotel staycation.

Using Booking.com for hotel stays 

Booking.com is a popular travel booking platform for stays, flights, rental cars, attractions, and airport taxis. Where they really excel is with booking accommodations. 

The company was started in The Netherlands in 1996. They claim to have more than 28 million (!) listings around the world, nearly a quarter of which are homes, apartments and other places to stay that aren’t traditional hotels. 

You can find a HUGE number and variety of places to stay through Booking.com all over the world, and it’s available in 43 languages. 

At first, I found using Booking.com rather overwhelming (there are so many properties to choose from). But after I dove in and familiarized myself with how the site works, I now almost always start planning for my hotel reservations on Booking.com. 

I don’t always choose to make my reservation through Booking.com, but I always start there. 

Benefits of using Booking.com 

• You can find a wide variety of accommodations from tiny “mom & pop” B&B’s to large hotel chains and even vacation rentals and homestays. 
• It’s a great way to book with very small, local businesses who don’t have a way to make reservations on their own website. Often these businesses list themselves with Booking.com to find their perfect guest…you! 
• If you have questions about a particular property that hasn’t already been answered, you can send a message to them through Booking.com’s “Ask a Question” feature. 
• It’s quite easy to search for accommodations in a particular area with the map view.
• You can score mobile-only discounts if you book with the easy-to-use app. 
• You can keep all your reservations together in one place (even if booking only independently owned B&B’s), which is perfect for complicated road trips with a lot of stops. 

I love using Booking.com’s map view feature. With the Map View you can easily find the perfect accommodation at the perfect location. 

You can filter your search on the left, zoom in and out of the map with the “+” and “-” on the lower right, and hover over the pins to get a snapshot of the property. 

A pin filled with red indicates the property is not available for the dates of your trip. 

When searching for properties on Booking.com, I prefer NOT to view the results by the default “Top Picks.” These properties are arranged in the way Booking.com wants me to see them. 

Instead, I choose “Review Score & Price” or I click on the three dots on the right and choose “Top Reviewed.” This way I’m seeing results listed in such a way that features the best properties as chosen by those who have stayed there and supplied reviews after their stay. 

I believe that where Booking.com excels is in providing a platform to book unique accommodations, and I use it almost exclusively for this. 

We have elite status and a lot of points with Marriott, so when we want to stay there, we book directly through the Marriott website. 

Check out my full discussion of which is better: Booking.com or direct with hotel.

Booking.com FAQs 

Is it safe to book through Booking.com? 

Absolutely. Booking.com is a reservations platform only. You will deal directly with the accommodations if you have questions and you can send messages to them through the platform. 

What if I need to cancel? 

You can cancel your reservation. But please pay very close attention to the cancellation terms before you book anything. They will vary based on where you book and also what kind of room you book. 

I once had to cancel a major trip, which meant I had to cancel several reservations I had booked with a flexible rate (free cancellation) but had also pre-paid for. I received a full refund for each and every one in a timely manner. No problems at all. 

I’ve seen bad reviews about Booking.com on the internet. Should I be concerned about using them? 

I’d read the review in full and any responses to that review. Sometimes travelers forget that their reservation is not with Booking.com but the actual property they booked and don’t communicate with the property when they have an issue. Or sometimes they don’t realize that they booked a non-refundable rate. 

If you have any concerns when you need to cancel your reservation, you should always communicate with the property to handle any issues. My own experience with booking many accommodations I had to cancel was nothing but stellar.

When I rescheduled my trip and wanted to rebook my accommodations, I went right back to Booking.com. 

Do you pay immediately on Booking.com? 

It depends. Your search results listing will indicate which properties offer free cancellation.  

And when selecting your accommodations, make sure you look at the notes in the “Your Choices” column when you click into the property.

It will tell you whether your selection offers free cancellation, no prepayment needed; free cancellation; or if it’s non-refundable. 

You can also filter your search results to only show those property that offer free cancellation. 

Can I earn rewards points through my preferred hotel brand loyalty program? 

You should check with your preferred hotel brand’s loyalty rewards program. Many, if not most, exclude third-party bookings from earning points for hotel stays. 

The bottom line. 

If you are looking for unique accommodations, I would absolutely use Booking.com. If you prefer to stay with major hotel brands where you can earn loyalty reward points, then I would recommend booking directly with the hotel. 

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