Booking.com Duplicate Charge Attempt Triggers Improper Cancellation on Symi Island Reservation
On August 4, 2026, I made a reservation via Booking.com for a stay at the Nireus Hotel on Symi Island, Greece, between August 9 and August 11 under reservation number 5890.124.272, paying 267 € using a virtual card. On the exact same day, we finalized all our transfers by booking another facility on Kos Island for the continuation of our trip and purchasing our ferry tickets.
On August 9, during our scheduled ferry time while still on Kos before crossing to Symi, we noticed that due to a system error on Booking.com's part, an additional duplicate charge of 267 € was attempted on my virtual card. Because my card limit did not allow for this extra transaction, our reservation was improperly canceled. Despite this, only 2 € was refunded to my card.
Due to this hardship, we were urgently forced to make a reservation at another facility on the same day by paying 370 €. On August 10, we learned that Booking.com transferred the remaining 265 € to Nireus Hotel even though we did not stay there. As a result, our money was unlawfully seized and we suffered an extra financial loss of 103 € due to the cancellation.
Booking.com fails to reply to our messages and is actively attempting to cover up this irregularity by deleting our reviews on the platform. I demand the immediate and full refund of the fee I paid, as well as complete compensation for the financial losses incurred.
After sharing the incident I experienced on the site here, I received a message via Booking.com on 16.09. The message stated that my review was rejected because it pertained to a property I had not stayed at. That was precisely the core issue. Instead of trying to understand and resolve the matter, I got the impression that they were trying to sweep the situation under the rug. However, what followed became even more intriguing. A person named Amanda, claiming to be a Booking.com employee, contacted me and asked me to summarise the incident in detail and share the reservation numbers. She then directed me to a form on September 24 to facilitate a payment. When I entered the information in the form, I noticed that an attempt was being made to charge 87,441 KES (approximately €590). Fortunately, because I used a card with a spending limit, as on Booking.com, no unauthorized charge could be processed. For those curious, I should also note that KES is the Kenyan Shilling. When I asked when the payment would be made, I was contacted by a number with the +1 208 (USA, Idaho) area code. However, I could not pursue the matter further as I had a meeting at that time. In summary, I believe Booking.com showed no sensitivity to the issue in my experience. Moreover, because there is no proper communication and resolution channel through their platform, we risk attracting the attention of malicious actors when we try to explain the matter to third parties. The situation was genuinely a very disturbing experience for me. It is particularly concerning when a platform, while attempting to address serious security and victimisation issues faced by its users, ends up exposing the user to an even greater security risk.
