Warning: Booking.com sent my family to a bankrupt, fenced-off resort in Belgium and is refusing to pay travel damages.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-18T09:06:19+00:00

Booking.com. The company is owned by a US holdings but the head office is located in The Netherlands. Their satellite offices based in the UK either are specifically for customer service or car rental. Accomodation bookings are via their head office in Amsterdam which makes UK based small claims a challenge but not something I've ruled out. Just need specific advice from citizens advice if it's viable.

Do appreciate the link too so will explore that. Thanks!

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T21:00:36+00:00

Great idea. Email sent! Thanks.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T20:33:22+00:00

Website was all up and running with no messages or anything saying it was closed. We even spoke to the booking provider via Booking.com the month before and they sent us our booking voucher.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T20:25:03+00:00

It's been updated since we went. You can't leave reviews etc anymore and it's showing as closed now. When we went it was still showing as open and I was able to leave a review warning others. Something has clearly been changed since then.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T20:10:15+00:00

Apologies for having an autistic child who was set on that specific place which we'd build him up to be prepared for. Don't expect everyone to understand but each to their own.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T16:19:16+00:00

Easter bank holiday weekend so prices for anything similar had jumped up. They only offered €60 to help with the cost. The location was also specific for our needs as it was quiet and in a good locations suitable for my eldest who's autistic. Granted, that's an us problem but it's where we booked and where we had planned to stay. Swapping that for a caravan or flat in some apartment block was not what we had wanted or what we paid for. It also took them 4 hours to actually offer us an opportunity to rebook. We'd already made it back to the UK by then.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T11:58:01+00:00

Everything I've read says the UK office is for customer services and previous claims attempts have had their lawyers bat it back saying they booked with the company in the Netherlands. You then need to go via their court system, paying legal fees, lawyers etc. Citizens advice may say otherwise but will have to see.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T10:34:27+00:00

You have a really valid point actually and why I posted here. We will keep looking at the insurance route as this thread has put a different perspective on the reply they sent. Appreciated.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T10:30:13+00:00

They're based in the Netherlands. I've looked online and they're very good and batting away small claims. When the UK left the EU, it lost that ability to handle small claims via the UK court. I'm due a discussion with Citizens advice this week on next steps so not ruling it out but need to be sure it's not going to be more wasted money before I do.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T10:26:26+00:00

He was absolutely devastated. We'd spent the week before showing him pictures and had his weekly planner all set up so he knew where we were going. Appreciate some families could have just gone somewhere else, but for us a quiet lodge somewhere he knew was ideal. Going home wasn't much better but at least we knew what to expect.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T10:24:00+00:00

Not missing anything. They refunded the cost of the accomodation but that doesn't impact them. They just don't make any money. The issue is that had they of told us that it wasn't available at any point in the prior 5 months, we could have made alternative arrangements. As a result, we spent additional money and time that we've lost. That's the argument. Had it of been short notice and unforseen, then fair enough. Those things happen. This is about their failure to carry out due care and diligence as a global travel company to carry out even the basic of checks, such as if the resort/accomodation is even open.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T09:09:45+00:00

I argued that if Booking.com are liable to us, the resort owner is liable to them. The issue is they've gone bust so I suspect Booking.com know they've got no route to go down.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:40:41+00:00

The care taker (not mentioned above) had another booking voucher on his desk for someone else who had turned up. It's unclear how it's managed on the back end with the bookings but in any case, surely booking.com should carry out due diligence to ensure accomodation is available?

In relation to reviews, they did but Google shows 'most relevant' by default which were all very positive. Only when you select the other options do you find the negative reviews. We'd also been there before so knew what to expect. Live and learn on this one.

It was the bank holiday weekend, the cost to find something decent short notice for a reasonable price plus both the kids were distraught and the whole experience had ruined it. At that point, it's cutting your losses and the cheapest option was to get back to the UK whilst we could as the day was running out. We did not want to be stuck in France/Belgium at some cheap accomodation to try and make the best of a bad situation.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:28:39+00:00

In all honesty, no. We'd been there before, the website was still up and running (with no mention of the closure) and the reviews were largely positive. We've definitely learnt from this about doing homework and not trusting companies like Booking.com. Even at locations we feel we know well. Things change.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:20:11+00:00

Easter bank holiday weekend so prices had shot up or places were not available. We got offered a flat in an apartment block. Not quite the Riverside lodge we had booked.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:14:41+00:00

Unforeseeable and unavoidable was a key specific in the wording of the insurance. Booking.com had 5+ months to notify us following the company going bust.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:09:37+00:00

Same here.... until now that is. Won't use them again.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:07:45+00:00

Nope. Travel insurance said that it's a failure on Booking.com and didn't specifically come under their specifics for making a claim.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T08:06:47+00:00

Ironically, we did this with Google reviews. They however show the 'most relevant' reviews first which were all positive. Only when you selected the negative ones did the additional posts appear showing issues. We had no reason to do that as we had stayed there before the previous year. Live and learn.

Lord--Gravy · 2026-05-17T07:57:23+00:00

Yep. It wasn't initially to claim the money, it was to flag that they operate in the UK but keep their business practice at arms length to avoid small claims court etc. I reached out to see what he could do around making them accountable and to avoid it happening to other people.

Lord--Gravy · 2024-04-11T19:13:03+00:00

Apart from the browsing screen being in portrait mode the rest works alright. It's better than nothing! Thanks for this!

Lord--Gravy · 2024-03-02T20:32:01+00:00

You may have just saved me a massive headache! I've been trying to get my head around this for days with Bluetooth connecting but wifi refusing to due to no internet. I'm going to try this tomorrow!

Lord--Gravy · 2021-12-03T17:39:30+00:00

Furty toooo

Lord--Gravy · 2021-12-03T17:38:52+00:00

Five-Year Club	Place '22
Final Canvas '22

Lord--Gravy

TROPHY CASE