Booking.com Removed Free Cancellation Without Clear Notice
In November, I made a reservation through Booking.com for Novotel Suites Malaga Centro, choosing the free cancellation option. The system showed the free cancellation deadline as approximately January 16. Because my visa process was uncertain, I specifically chose a hotel with free cancellation from the very beginning.
Later, on December 8, I updated my reservation dates only to change the dates. Since I believed my reservation still had free cancellation, I treated this as a routine update. However, without any clear or explicit warning, the system converted my reservation into a non-refundable, non-cancellable booking, reflecting a total amount of €1,313.17 under these new conditions.
Currently, my Booking.com account shows the stay dates as April 11 – April 18. Because I have not been able to obtain a visa, I need a reservation with free cancellation, which is why I deliberately selected a free-cancellation hotel in the first place. Despite this, I do not accept that my reservation terms were changed so critically and without notice simply because I updated the dates.
I contacted both the hotel and Booking.com. I communicated through Booking.com’s messaging system, and the last message I received—on Tuesday, December 9—stated that they were “waiting for a response.” Since then, I have received no follow-up. The hotel first asked whether I wanted a cancellation or a modification, then stated that cancellation was not possible and that a deposit had already been taken. However, when I spoke with my bank, I was clearly informed that no amount has been charged to my card. In other words, there is no charge on my card and no reasonable explanation, yet my reservation has still been converted into a non-refundable, non-cancellable booking.
My reservation/confirmation number is 644517**. I absolutely do not accept that my free-cancellation reservation was converted into a non-refundable booking without any clear and visible warning during the date change process. I request that my reservation be restored to free-cancellation terms, or alternatively, that it be fully canceled without any penalty or fee, and that this issue be resolved urgently.
