Why did Booking.com take £800 for trip I couldn’t make?

Ms L.W. writes: I booked an apartment in London through Booking. com and paid almost £800, but two weeks later everyone went into lockdown so we were unable to go. I agreed to postpone the trip, but when I later tried to rebook I found the apartment was no longer listed, but Booking. com had already handed the money over to the apartment’s owner.

YOU tried to claim a refund from your credit card issuer, but were told that you could not have your money back as you did not book directly with the apartment owner. In short, your dispute was with Booking.com.

Normally, Booking.com only transfers payments to property owners after the dates for which the property was booked. It is not clear whether Booking. com was fully aware of the agreed change of dates, but staff there confirmed to me that they did not know until it was too late that the apartment owner had simply stopped renting it out.

Booking.com has now given you a full refund of £794.