Originally Posted by
Atlas Shrugged
Another ludicrous premise of a thread. The scale and influence of Booking.com is enormous in the lodging industry and these old wives tales of getting a better deal or better rooms directly are things of the past. It’s all about ratings scores and that is the primary driver for success in the industry. Can you imagine how it would go over as you’re tucking into your free breakfast to find out the person sitting beside you got a better deal because they phoned directly bypassing Booking.com. Take a look at the following table regarding the size of their business. Imagine the rock the OP must have been living under if he wasn’t aware of Booking.com and then came to that opinion.
I use them extensively especially as I have moved on from sleeping in a tent or on the ground. Their support whenever I have needed it has been amazing.
If I understand correctly, you are in Europe and the OP is in the US. A web search suggests that Booking Holdings overall revenue split is:
= ~60% of Booking Holdings revenues come from Europe where the brands have almost half the European reservations for short-term rental
= ~25% of Booking Holdings revenues come from Asia-Pacific, including the Agoda brand which is the most visited site in the region
= ~15% of Booking Holdings revenues come from the US, where the brands have ~8% of the short-term rentals
So there may be some of that background coming into the conversation. However, I agree with you that for parts of the world, they are my primary source to make hotel reservations.