Man left £7,000 in debt when he arrived in Thailand and discovered no hotel existed

A British holidaymaker owed £7,000 when he arrived in Thailand and discovered the hotel he had booked did not exist. Glen Parke, 30, paid £282 for a 59-night stay at Lek Lek Residence, which was advertised on Booking.com as a ‘one-bedroom house’.

However, on arrival he found only a small roadside shop and no sign of his accommodation, forcing him to spend an additional £3,044 on alternative accommodation booked online.

To make matters worse, when he arrived at this second hotel it was fully booked, forcing him to spend a further £3,579 on a third hotel. He claims that Booking.com assured him that they would cover the costs of both hotels as an apology for the initial non-existent booking.

READ MORE: ITV News presenter Rageh Omaar issues a statement after falling ill live on air

Read today’s top Manchester Evening News stories

Stressed Glen received the money for these first and second hotels within a week, but did not receive a refund for the third hotel until April 18 when Booking.com was contacted for comment.

Booking.com has now apologized to Glen and said they did not process the refund for the alternative accommodation as quickly as they would have liked.

Glen, a construction worker from Bishop’s Stortford, Herts, said: “For the whole trip I expected to spend two or three thousand dollars, but within the first two nights I spent £7,000. I tried and tried to get my money back for months .

“The first few days I wanted to go home. I had had enough. Getting the money back from the bill for the third hotel was a real palaver.

“I was on the phone with Booking.com all week and was told there was no complaints department. They told me to send a bank statement with payment for the hotel and to call them back and they would refund the money I refund on the phone.

“I did that and called them back and they said there was nothing they could do with it and they don’t know who approved that decision. The trip was good, other than the fact that I was thousands of pounds less than I expected to be.”

Glen landed in Koh Samui on January 1, 2024, having booked his £282 hotel a year in advance. He said: “I got off the plane in Thailand and followed the map to where the hotel was supposed to be and it was just a little market stall – it just didn’t exist. I told Booking.com it didn’t exist.”

Glen was offered another hotel in and around his price range of £300, but on the island of Koh Phangan – a 50 minute boat ride, so he declined. Instead, the online travel agency allowed Glen to arrange his own room for a price of £3,196.89, according to an email from the company.

He recorded one worth £3,044.62. He said: “I got there and they said they were fully booked and Booking.com said they would refund it.

“They did refund that but it took a week for me to get it back. They said I had to book another hotel for £3,196.89.”

Glen eventually found his third and final hotel – also approved by Booking.com at a price of £3,196.89 – where he spent the remainder of his 57 days in Thailand. He found a hotel for £3,579 and decided to cover the £382.11 difference.

However, Glen didn’t get any money and said he only got his money back for the last hotel when Booking.com was asked for comment.

He said: “They told me to send them an invoice and they would pay it, but then they moved the goalposts. Booking.com kept asking for changes to be made to the invoice before they could pay out.

“The hotel was booked through my brother and Booking.com knew this. The first problem with the invoice was ‘no balance shown’, then the price had to be broken down, then the number of guests had to be shown and then it became an issue that it was in my name, then they promised to resolve it if I sent a statement related to the invoice, so I did.

“So I got a friend in Thailand to keep going to the hotel to ask them to change the invoice and send it to Booking.com, but every time I did that they said it was wrong. All these several provisions are listed separately. Actually, I see the problem that it has a different name and that’s why I confirmed it with them so many times.

“I was struggling for money. I really needed that three thousand sooner.”

A Booking.com spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear of the issues this customer has experienced with their recent reservations. After investigation we can see that we have not processed the refund of the alternative accommodation booked as quickly as we would have done. have liked.

“As this is clearly not the kind of experience we want for anyone using our site, we have refunded the customer in full and apologize for the inconvenience. Ensuring our platform is safe and reliable for our customers and partners is our top priority, and every week we facilitate millions of stays, with the vast majority happening without a hitch.

“We continually optimize the robust security measures we have in place to protect them, and take the process of verifying accommodation listings very seriously, including checks carried out by our security, local partner services and customer service teams. Problems with accommodations are very rare. “