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After Frances Dooley's hotel booking is canceled, Booking.com says it will refund her new room's higher cost, but then it goes silent. What can you do if a company breaks its promise?

Q: I reserved a hotel on Australia's Gold Coast through Booking.com for a family reunion, but they canceled my reservation because of an overbooking. Booking.com promised to refund the difference if I rebooked a pricier room, so I paid an extra $655.

But after months of unanswered emails and failed phone calls, I still hadn't received the money. Booking.com's customer service has gone silent, and I can't reach anyone. What should I do to hold them accountable? -- Frances Dooley, Jannali, Australia

A: Booking.com should have honored its promise to refund the $655 price difference immediately. Under Australian Consumer Law, businesses must fulfill guarantees that are made to customers. The company's own policies also say that it will cover costs if it cancels a reservation. But most importantly, you had Booking.com's promise in writing. (Nice job in securing this promise, by the way.)

You did everything correctly. You kept detailed records and followed up repeatedly. Always save correspondence like emails and screenshots -- they're critical evidence. If a company ignores you, escalate your case to executives. I publish key contacts for Booking.com on my consumer advocacy site, Elliott.org.

It's not clear why Booking.com ghosted you, but this kind of thing is becoming more common. A company will make a promise, then go silent, pretending it never had the conversation. And this leaves you in a difficult position. You can drop the matter, or you can take it to court.

But did Booking.com really promise you a refund? I reviewed the paper trail, and it looks like the company used a few weasel words in its "promise."

A representative told you, "If you have any additional charges at the new place, please send us an invoice after your stay so we can look into a refund for you. We may need to share this with the accommodation in order to confirm your claim."

This is a half-hearted promise. My recommendation would have been to seek clarification from Booking.com before proceeding with the new reservation. You want to make sure that you're covered. If not, you can always look for less costly accommodations.

In some consumer disputes, you can also file a credit card chargeback, but not in this case since Booking.com already refunded your first hotel. It knows that your only option is to take it to court, and for $655, I think the company knows that you're unlikely to do this.

A win for Booking.com? Not necessarily. You applied polite and persistent pressure. I see that you called Booking.com, which was minimally effective. Writing is always better because you have a paper trail and proof that you tried to resolve this.

Remember, silence from customer service isn't the end. It's just time to level up. I reached out to Booking.com. A representative confirmed that they'd "investigated" your complaint but would not elaborate on what went wrong. Booking.com issued a full refund of the extra $655 you had to pay.

Now this is what I call a win!

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Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy (elliottadvocacy.org), a nonprofit organization that helps consumers solve their problems. Email him at chris@elliott.org or get help by contacting him at elliottadvocacy.org/help/.

(c) 2025 Christopher Elliott

Distributed by King Features Syndicate, Inc.