Booking.com Charged Me for Auto-Confirmed Future Hotel Date I Canceled Within Minutes

I attempted to book two single rooms at Samos Bay Hotel by Gagou Beach through Booking.com, but postponed confirming the reservation because I hadn’t finalized my ferry ticket date. After securing my ticket, I reopened the page to proceed, and a pop-up appeared saying “Complete your reservation.” Without realizing, I clicked through, paid for both rooms—and only then noticed that the booking had been auto-confirmed for a date in October, months after my actual trip.

In a panic—since I’m traveling on a gate visa and had already purchased ferry tickets—I immediately tried to change the date, but got a “no availability” error. Despite trying multiple times, I had no choice but to cancel the reservation within minutes. Yet only one room was refunded. The other was fully charged, even though this was a same-day cancellation for a stay months away.

I’ve reached out to Booking.com, the hotel, and even my bank through emails and messages in both Turkish and English. I included screenshots and documentation, but received no replies whatsoever—not even an automated confirmation. My bank also sent an email, but no response. The only message I eventually received from Booking.com about the cancellation arrived days later in my spam folder, stating that part of the fee was non-refundable.

I believe this reservation was completed unintentionally through Booking.com’s auto-fill mechanism, and I acted in good faith by canceling it immediately. It is absurd to think a minute-old reservation for a date months ahead caused damage to the hotel or Booking, yet I lost nearly ₺10,000, wiping out the entire budget I had saved for my 3-day vacation.

This feels like a predatory, rigid policy that punishes users for UI design flaws and leaves no room for reasonable human error. I demand a full refund and a proper investigation into how this booking was processed. If not, I will escalate this to social media and advise other travelers to avoid Booking.com altogether. This is unfair, unacceptable, and must be resolved immediately.