Hostelbookers Reviews 9

On behalf of me and my husband, I turn to you in a matter of a misleading and lack of transparency performed by an online travel agency operating at the U.K. #hostelworld #hostelbookers #hostels dot com , #bedandbreakfatworld , #backpackeronline #scout24 owned by #WebReservationInternational
This agency,#hostelbookers (HB) denies our legal and moral right to get a refund of a payment they charged us after we cancelled a reservation at a B&B. in Amsterdam. The cancellation took place after we found out that we were misled about the services supplied via the B&B. and learn, to our sorrow, about the booking cancellation dishonest policy of HB.
On April 2014,looking for a room in Amsterdam via an Hebrew written website called Travelist we found the hostel Cribs B.B. . Both me and my husband saw that the deal at the Cribs includes breakfast. We decided to book the room for seven nights starting on May 20th (over a month in advance). Travelist directed us to complete the deal with Hostelbookers. We were asked by HB to supply our credit card details, and only after giving our bank the order to charge us on the amount of 171 Euros (25% of the deal) ,we got by email the confirmation of the deal.
Two days latter, On 12 April 2014 I read the details of the room and found out, to my surprise, that the confirmation we received does not include the detail about breakfast. Though it was promised at the original site which directed us to Hostelbookers, and though it’s called B&B. I decided to ask the costumer service of HB if the deal includes breakfast. They turned me to the Cribs declaring that we can cancel the deal, but the 25% they charged from our account is not refundable.
We decided to cancel the deal. The cancellation took place on April 18th.
From that moment on, I wrote to HB several emails explaining my demand for a refund of 171 Euros they charged from our bank account . They kept on ignoring my arguments and repeating two sentences: “no refunds” and “breakfast not included in the deal”. I wrote to them that I believe the commitment for breakfast was an honest mistake, but we don’t have to pay for it.
My main argument, completely ignored by HB (who did not bother to answer my last appeal) are these:
1. We were misled about the services we are going to get at the Cribs.
2. As a result of the misleading, we cancelled our reservation
within 48 hours.
3. The cancellation took place on April 18th: over a month before
the due hosting, on May 20th.
4. opposed to British law , we learned about HB’s cancellation policy (no refund on 25% of the deal) by email, only after we booked the room and gave HB the details of our credit card- which means they already instructed the bank to
charge us, without letting us know by email about their strict and
unfair policy.
There is also a misleading in the way the website of HB announces, in very big letters NO BOOKING FEES.
We shall be very grateful if you can order Hostelbookers to follow the law and basic decency , and order them to make a refund to our bank account. Avoid Hostelworld/#Hostelbookerd/#Hostels dot com#
#WebReservationInternational are non-compliant with EU Consumer Law.!
The main problems:
1.A lack of mandatory information on the TRADER'S IDENTITY in particular: the name of the owner, their email address, phone number, depriving consumers from an effective contact channel.
2.A lack of clear instructions on How To Complain
3. Optional price supplements , such as: Baggage Fee, Booking Fee, Insurance Fee, priority boarding...
4. The total price of the service is not indicated upfront when the main elements of the booking are first displayed.
EU Laws protects you against this:
What if that small print says :,, the deposit you just paid is non-refundable"???

What if it says:,,You cannot cancel your booking"/ contract unless you pay the company an extortionate amount in compensation???

According EUConsumers law : These types of Unfair Contract terms are PROHIBITED! EU Laws protects you from these sorts of abuses. EU Consumer Laws allows you to cancel your Booking

Watch your back!! I mean it!

They don't show the right accommodations available at the hostels.
And messes up the bookings completely. Have had a mail saying the right amount of rooms and people at the hostel. Only to show up and having 1 room with 2 twin beds for 4 people at the same price as 2 rooms with double beds.

Also been on a trip were another friend used the site for booking. None of the things he had were available at the hostel. Had booked and confirmed for a 4 person dorm room with private bath. It did not exist in the hostel. Not only that but the hostel had stopped working with hostelbookers 2months before because of payment problems from the site.

My advice "DON'T USE THIS SITE!!"

SOOOO EASY TO BOOK. VERY FAST. SITE IS SIMPLE TO USE. RAPID RESPONSE. 2ND TIME IVES USED THEM. THANK YOU HOSTELBOOKERS AND WILL USE AGAIN! MADDIE USA

They always provide me a clear explanation of conditions in all my bookings. Thanks to them I have such a great experience travelling around the world (OneWorld Ticket).

I was lured in by a 70% off special offer booking for a hotel in Ios next August. We realised it was early to book a room a year in advance but knowing we are always in Greece in August and seeing this offer - we felt it too good to miss.
I booked the room and paid the deposit only to get an abrupt message from the hotel owner a couple of hours telling me to cancel the room as the price was incorrect.
I have now emailed this most horrid company 4 times and not had any response. Their advertising was inaccurate and they cannot be trusted. As yet I have had no response. They are obviously avoiding it and customer service is abysmal.
I am away at the moment but as soon as I return to the UK I will be calling trading standards to report this awful company. Please avoid for your own peace of mind. Pay the extra and go with Expedia or booking.com

hostelbookers is far superior to hostelworld in terms of ease of use and speed.

the king's arms hostel is the best in brighton for price, location, quality of facilities, staff and ambience

I booked for 14 people in Royal Bayswater Hostel via Hostelbookers, I paid 10% deposit and got confirmation of my booking - and then it turned out I was supposed to pay almost twice as much, because we were a group!
Both Hostelbookers and the hostel declined any responsibility insisting that it was my fault, as I hadn't followed the proper steps while booking (!) Well, the information in bigger print referred to group booking for 15+...
Hostelbookers has not so far responded to my email (sent on 17 March), in which I requested the return of my deposit. I consider this as arrogance.
To book a hostel, people need to be able to rely on a competent agent providing them with clear information and reliable, customer-friendly booking process. If there are pricing differences between different types of booking, the booking process should clearly guide the user through the selection in the correct way and not allow payment for incorrect selection! Asking consumers to pay for selections that do not correspond to a real offer can only be described as scam.
The way our booking has been handled is really unfair. It has caused us a huge inconvenience and a financial loss.

I have always used hostel bookers through out my travels.

It is easy to use and provides all the necessary information that you need to make your choice as well as helpful reviews and percentage ratings.

One thing I would like to see is an option to search by room type ie double room as this might make the search easier to narrow down.

This time that I used the company I did not realise that it was a UK site so I was charged a small bank fee, but this would not stop me using the service.

One other thing to note was that with my last reservation I reserved for two people but when the confirmation came through this was just for one person but I am unsure if this was the fault of hostelbookers or the hostel itself.