Unfortunately, Booking.com dominates much of the short-term rental market, but in my experience, they fall short in several critical areas—particularly when it comes to host support.Recently, I dealt with one of the worst guests I’ve had in thousands of stays. From the start, they were trying to scam me out of a free night. They showed up two hours early, were irate they couldn’t access the property, and I still accommodated them with an early check-in, one hour before standard time.Within minutes of entering, they called complaining that the couch was "too hard" and expected a completely different one. Keep in mind, this was a budget-friendly unit renting for $100/night. They insisted I upgrade them to one of my 3- or 5-bedroom properties priced between $300 and $500/night. I declined.Next, the wife called demanding a discount on the already discounted rate. Again, I said no—but I did offer a full refund if they chose to leave. Instead, they stripped the bed and “found a hair,” which they deemed unacceptable. When I pressed further, she admitted the sheets had “probably been washed,” acknowledging the hair could’ve been from the laundry process. Still, she continued angling for a refund.At this point, I asked them to vacate with 100% of their money back. They refused. I contacted Booking.com to explain that it was unacceptable for such an abusive guest—Erika Nelson, Reservation #4489431677—to stay, exploit my property, and then have the opportunity to leave a retaliatory review.Booking.com's customer service initially agreed and assured me that if the guest insisted on staying, they wouldn’t be allowed to leave a vindictive review. But predictably, they did exactly the opposite. When I followed up, another rep told me that “guests can leave any review they want,” so long as it doesn’t include profanity or hate speech.I explained that the issue wasn’t the written policy—it was that Booking.com made a commitment to me as a host. Their reps asked for my info and the reservation number but clearly never read the conversation history. I escalated to a supervisor, only to have the call drop—yet another “customer no-service” tactic.After 2.5 hours wasted today alone, I gave up. I’m now committed to sharing my experience across every platform possible.The real problem isn’t just the lack of support—it’s that Booking.com makes false promises, possibly just to close tickets and silence frustrated hosts. Of all the platforms I’ve worked with, Booking.com has been by far the worst in handling host concerns with integrity.
