VG has been in contact with many frustrated landlords who have not been paid by travel agency Booking.com.
- Many landlords are expressing frustration over non-payment from travel agency Booking.com.
- One of the landlords, Stig Flem (39), has yet to receive payment for the overnight stay and is waiting for NOK 100,000 from the company.
- In a statement to VG, Booking.com apologizes for the payment delay and says it is working to resolve issues that arose during a planned global system update.
- The company insists that its update has only affected a relatively small portion of its partners.
– It’s starting to take longer now, and some people are angry.
This is what Stick Flem (39) says. He rents out an apartment in Ålesund every summer, but no money has been transferred to tenants this year from the intermediary Booking.com.
In total, he expects NOK 100,000
– I am one of the many who have not received payment from them for some time and it seems to be an international problem. Booking.com is a big, serious company, but it’s completely trivial, says Flemm.
In the Facebook group “booking.com doesn’t pay landlords” Getting bigger every day. As of Friday afternoon, the group had 1,500 members. Landowners from all over the world, including Norway, are expressing their frustration at waiting for more money.
National broadcaster BBC Many cases have been written about the condition, which is widely affected.
VG has also received notes from several readers who are frustrated by the situation. A tipster says he has lost sleep at night over the situation, which is hitting the economy hard.
– I have 100,000 I’m waiting on, and a friend has about 100,000 she’s waiting on. It’s us! Think about how much Booking.com sits now, says Flemm.
– False promises
Flemm says the landlords were notified in June that the travel company would be performing a technology upgrade in July.
– They wrote that it would take three weeks, but it was almost two months. He says it is a bit strange to go like this.
Flem says he finally contacted Booking.com on August 1. He promised to return the money by August 4.
– That money didn’t come. Now I have to consider whether I should continue with booking.com or use airbnb or other services, says Flem, adding:
– They’re kicking themselves for doing this. Many have already left the company and opted for something else.
Booking.com: – Sorry
In an email to VG, Booking.com says it apologizes for the payment delays experienced by some of its accommodation partners recently.
– We are happy to say that most of our partners have now received what they are owed, says an official statement.
They write that they are working quickly to fix unexpected technical issues that occurred during a planned global update of their systems.
– This has affected a relatively small proportion of our partners. Although partners were notified in advance of the update, we know for some it took longer than it should have, they write, adding:
– We continue to act quickly to resolve the latest cases.
“Music geek. Coffee lover. Devoted food scholar. Web buff. Passionate internet guru.”
