This goes for all of you who continue booking through Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Agoda, Trivago and company, thinking that it is «more comfortable», «safer» or that «this way I save trouble».
And I know that with this I’m going to get into a LIOUS mess!!! because booking.com is always on the lookout… and today will have consequences… but… someone has to say it !!!!!
I will tell you how these platforms work:
They resell reservations, hide customer data, charge us wild commissions and, when there is a problem, they disappear.
No help, no attention, no responsibility. Just middlemen making money at our expense and yours.
The numbers do not deceive:
Booking.com alone invoiced almost 24 billion euros in 2024, only in commissions.
I repeat: 24 billion ONLY in commissions.
That means that the total volume of bookings that have passed through their hands is around 247 billion eurosat least.
And now comes the best part: a large part of that turnover is channeled through tax havens.
Get it?
While we work our asses off and pay our taxes, they take it all, without giving anything back to the system.
And on top of that, they take it all. we support you with every booking. You and us.
We are financing an unfair system that squeezes us and on top of that we are not taxed where we should be.
The real case (because this is not theory):
Some Swiss clients made a reservation at MasTorrencito through Booking.com.
Booking, without notifying the client or me, resold the reservation through Agoda.com, which is also theirs (although they deny it).
And I receive the reservation with no phone number, no email, no way to contact them. Just a name and a virtual card.
And this is not a hotel with 24-hour staff.
It’s a rural house, in the middle of the countryside.
I need to be able to contact clients, send them instructions, guide them…
But these platforms block everything.
Did I try to solve it? Of course you did:
- I call Agoda: they tell me that they can’t give me the data, that they are «a gateway».
- Llamo a Booking:
- More than 40 minutes of waiting time.
- Three different people.
- Zero solutions.
- They tell me that the reservation is «not theirs».
- I tell them that Agoda is from the same group. They deny it.
- And they take me for a fool.
- I call AGODA again… and more of the same… that they will send an email to Booking.com to contact us… but the reality is that at this time… when the client has already left… NOTHING at all….
And the clients?
They didn’t know anything. They thought they had booked directly with Booking.
But luckily, this time it worked out well.
They arrived at the famous yellow door.
They called on the phone. I answered.
I gave them the code to enter. I waited for them.
I explained everything to them, I did the check-in in person, and also the check-out.
Thanks to that, there was no drama.
But what if they had arrived later? If they had arrived after 22:00 h that my phone is silent???? Who would have opened the door? Who would have contacted me?
If they had not called? If they had been lost in the middle of the field without coverage?
What would have happened then?
Whose fault would it have been?
Of course, neither from the client nor from me. BUT THE NEGATIVE CRITICISM FALLS ON ME… YES OR YES
But Booking, Agoda, Expedia and company wash their hands and continue to charge as if they were offering a service.
What about Expedia, Hotels.com, Trivago, etc.?
They do the same thing.
They resell reservations.
They hide information from you.
They charge outrageous commissions.
And if you have a problem, look for yourself.
So please open your eyes:
- If you book through these platforms, you are paying more without knowing it.
- They are destroying direct treatment, personalized service, and our margin for survival.
- And in case of a problem, they don’t show their face and they don’t solve it.
And the saddest part of all this….
We are «forced» to be on these platforms.
Because if you don’t appear on Booking, Expedia, Trivago or similar, you don’t exist.
Just like they used to say:
«If you’re not on Google, you don’t exist.»
So now it’s:
«If you’re not on these platforms, you’re off the map.»
They hold us digitally hostage.
They squeeze us, they make us invisible if we do not pay, and on top of that they channel their profits out of the country to avoid paying taxes.
And the worst part: we continue to feed this monster among all of us.
MORALEJA (for the last time, clearly and bluntly):
Book directly.
It’s cheaper.
It’s fairer.
And if something happens, you talk to a real person who really cares.
Because Booking, Agoda, Expedia, Hotels.com, Trivago and company are not trustworthy services.
They are unscrupulous money-making machines that only leave us the crumbs… and they don’t even pay their share.
REFLECTION: THE PLATFORM TRAP
The hardest part of all this is not that they steal commissions from us.
It is not that they hide basic information about our own guests from us.
It is not that they resell our rooms as if they owned them.
It is not even that they treat us as if we were stupid when we try to complain about something.
The hardest thing is that we cannot escape.
We are «forced» to be on Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda, Hotels.com, Trivago and all that swarm of intermediaries.
Because if you don’t appear there, you don’t exist.
Because most people, out of habit or ignorance, still enter these platforms as a first step to look for accommodation.
We are trapped.
Digitally kidnapped.
They squeeze you inside, they demand visibility, but they make you invisible as a person.
Because as soon as something goes wrong, No one shows their face. Nobody answers. Nobody takes responsibility.
And if the customer gets lost, if they can’t get in, if there’s a problem, the blame falls on you.
Because for the customer, only you exist.
To the platform, you are just a number in its database.
And all this while they bill billions a year (Booking alone in 2024: 24,000 million euros in commissions),
channel their income through tax havens to avoid paying taxes,
andpresent themselves as «partners» of the tourism sector.
They are not partners.
They are predators.
What about us?
We who open the door. Those who welcome. The ones who clean. The ones who cook. The ones who answer calls at ten o’clock at night.
We are the ones who save the customer experience, in spite of them.
We are the ones who put the body, the face and the phone.
And yet, we still pay.
And the saddest thing is that travelers, with no ill intent, continue to support this system every time they book through there.
Every time they click «confirm booking» on Booking or Expedia, it costs us money, time and dignity.
That is why, when we ask for direct booking, it is not on a whim.
It is out of necessity.
Because if we do not cut this wheel between all of us, they will continue to exploit us and cheat you.
And the day will come when there will be no more cottages with yellow doors, no more personal service, no more hosts who answer the phone at 22:00.
There will only be automatic interfaces, opaque commissions and customer service with a robotic accent from a call center in Kuala Lumpur.
And then it will be too late to recover what we lost:
humanity in hospitality.
From MasTorrencito we wish you a good day and may your dogs be with you!!!!
If you want, you can see our vouchers for weekends, retirees vouchers, at an incredible price… go to www.mastorrencito.com or if you want you can read more history and anecdotes that have happened to us in MasTorrencito… Click here … https://mastorrencito.com/en/
