I thought I had made a reservation with IBIS Styles at Lisbon airport, but when the confirmation arrived I realized I had made a mistake and instead had booked a) through an agent - Agoda, and b) the IBIS Styles Lisboa Centro Liberdade NE. I wanted to change directly but I could not through Manage my Booking and instead called the number provided. An Agoda agent.
They said, no problem, we can cancel the booking and make instead at the IBIS Styles at Lisbon airport.
However, as cancellation fee they charged the full price paid for the 1 night stay and the cost for the new booking at the IBIS Styles at the airport was also elevated.
When raising this matter with the hotels in question directly, they said that under these circumstances, i.e., booking to be cancelled directly upon receiving the confirmation and realizing that it was a mistake, they would fully reimburse the price paid. However, since the booking came via a third party, Agoda, they would he to make the request.
They did not. E-mails sent to them bounce back. One e-mail I finally got through to them, which they he on their web-site as the one to use to send back-up information, but the automated response came back stating that this inbox would note monitored and they could not assure that it will be answered.
Instead they direct you to an AI chat, which asks for booking reference numbers. I ge them all three - original booking, replacement booking and cancellation, in all kinds of formats, but it always stated that they could not recognize these numbers (taken from their confirmations).
To me, it all seems to be done on purpose to make it difficult/to frustrate people t give up.
I find it outrageous that companies can operate this way in Europe - this should not be allowed. I also find it surprising that Booking.com, the parent company tolerates this. Presumably it's a very profitable activity and whilst tainted, most people probably don't associate it with Booking with no direct impairment of its brand.
7 December 2025Unprompted review