A family was forced to pay £1,000 after arriving for a vacation in Newport, Isle of Wight, only to discover they’d booked a stay in Newport, South Wales.
Louise Turner, 37, paid £1,000 on a guesthouse she claims was listed for the island, only to be disappointed when she and her family discovered it was 130 miles away.
As a result, Louise and her 46-year-old husband Jose Pacheco were obliged to pay £1,000 for a hotel room and are now seeking a refund.
The mother-of-two says the mistake was made because the Welsh city was listed incorrectly online – under the Isle of Wight section.
Booking.com said it was sorry to hear of the family’s disappointment, but it ‘would urge all customers to thoroughly check all details before confirming any reservation’.
Louise, who lives in Norwich, Norfolk, with Jose and their two children, said: ‘Despite the accommodation mix up and our horrible new hotel, we still had a nice holiday.
‘I just wish this hadn’t happened to us, it’s not fair.
‘It was this big rigmarole and now we are £1,000 down for the new accommodation. That’s money we don’t have and Booking.com aren’t giving us our money back.
‘They’re not even replying to me now. It’s so unfair.’
Louise, who does not work due to a disability, booked a cottage for their first week of their trip in summer 2021.
She said she had also secured guesthouse for their second week in Newport – finding both by searching the area on Booking.com.
Leaving their first cottage in the morning of July 31, the family couldn’t book into the guesthouse until 4pm that afternoon – so enjoyed a day walking around the island.
Climbing into their car after a fun day of exploring, Louise entered the postcode from her booking confirmation – and was shocked when it directed her to Wales.
Louise said: ‘I totally freaked out.
‘We called Booking.com who admitted they’d made an error in their listing by putting it in the wrong Newport area but they wouldn’t help us find somewhere new to stay.
‘It was late in the day, it was the middle of high season, we were just scrambling for somewhere to stay.
‘But we were on a tight budget and Booking.com kept saying they’d refund us but not doing it.
‘We ended up borrowing money from my dad to stay in this horrible hotel which charged us £1,000 to stay for six nights.
‘It was disgustingly dirty.
‘There were cobwebs behind the couch, there was rusty cutlery in the drawer, and it smelt so bad that we had to eat out for every meal because we couldn’t eat in there.
‘But we were just desperate for somewhere to stay.’
Louise has since been in talks with Booking.com, who she says have since changed the guesthouse to accurately appear in the Newport, Wales section.
She added: ‘We only borrowed the money from my dad because we thought we were getting a refund from Booking.com but they’ve never done anything.
‘They changed the listing on the website really quickly but they have never given us our money back, it’s so wrong.
‘Booking.com are the ones that made the mistake, but they tried to pawn it off on the guesthouse.
‘We phoned them anyway and they said what I expected them to say – that Booking.com need to refund us.
‘We have never received a refund from either Booking.com or the guesthouse.
‘Both of them just started becoming more and more rude and then just stopped all contact.
‘It was this big rigmarole and now we are £1,000 down for the accommodation and more for the meals we had to eat out because the room smelt so bad that we did manage to find.
Despite the accommodation mix up and our horrible new hotel, we still had a nice holiday, I just wish this hadn’t happened to us, it’s not fair.’
A spokesperson for Booking.com said: ‘At Booking.com our overarching aim is always to facilitate a smooth and enjoyable travel experience for our customers.
‘We have looked into the reservation in question and have checked that all address details in the original listing were correct, including all of the information sent in the customers confirmation email, which confirmed the property details and location via a map.
‘Though we were sorry to hear of the customers disappointment, we would urge all customers to thoroughly check all details before confirming any reservation.’