Reserva de hotel con cena obligatoria de año nuevo

Mediante el presente escrito deseo formular una reclamación formal contra la plataforma Booking.com por la falta de transparencia y la omisión de información esencial durante el proceso de contratación de una reserva. El día 20 de Octubre, realicé la reserva para un alojamiento en Dubái, con fechas del 28 de diciembre al 2 de enero, revisé toda la información facilitada por la plataforma, incluyendo la descripción del establecimiento, las condiciones de la reserva, los servicios incluidos y el precio total que se mostraba. Durante todo el proceso, Booking presentó los contenidos íntegramente en español, y en ningún momento se advirtió de la existencia de un cargo adicional obligatorio por una gala de fin de año, cuyo coste asciende a aproximadamente 1.400 euros. Esta información no fue mostrada de forma visible, clara ni accesible antes de efectuar el pago. Una vez abonada la cantidad de 2.068 euros correspondiente al alojamiento, el establecimiento me comunicó que existía un cargo obligatorio adicional por una cena de gala. Al consultar la información en detalle, pude comprobar que dicha condición aparecía exclusivamente en una sección secundaria, dentro del apartado de políticas, redactada únicamente en inglés, y no se encontraba traducida ni destacada dentro de las condiciones visibles al consumidor en español. Esto implica que la plataforma no cumplió con su deber de mostrar de forma clara, comprensible y completa la información esencial de la contratación, especialmente tratándose de un cargo obligatorio que modifica sustancialmente el precio del servicio. El propio hotel me ha confirmado que esta situación no es nueva, que ha ocurrido en múltiples ocasiones previas y que han advertido reiteradamente a Booking de que esta información no se muestra de forma correcta en la plataforma. El establecimiento también ha informado de que, si no realizo el pago adicional de la cena antes del check-in, procederán a la cancelación de la reserva sin devolución del importe ya pagado, dejándome completamente desprotegida y sin alojamiento pese a haber abonado más de 2.000 euros. Ante esta situación, contacté con Booking para solicitar una solución. Sin embargo, la plataforma se ha negado a asumir responsabilidad alguna, indicándome que no pueden cancelar la reserva sin penalización, a pesar de que la falta de claridad en la información depende directamente de la forma en que Booking presenta, traduce y gestiona la oferta. Booking también se negó inicialmente a facilitarme una vía oficial para presentar una reclamación interna, asegurando que “no se podía hacer nada”, y únicamente tras insistir en mi derecho a reclamar afirmaron que me enviarían un enlace por correo electrónico. La realidad es que contraté un servicio basándome en una información incompleta y no transparente, con un precio final que no coincidía con el realmente exigido. La existencia de un cargo obligatorio oculto en un idioma distinto al seleccionado por el usuario, en un apartado secundario y sin advertencia previa durante el proceso de pago, constituye una práctica que no respeta las obligaciones legales de claridad, accesibilidad y transparencia informativa. Ello me ha colocado en una situación de indefensión, en la que debo elegir entre asumir un sobrecoste que nunca acepté (y que repercutirá en el resto del viaje) o perder más de 2.000 euros ya pagados. Por todo lo expuesto, solicito formalmente que Booking asuma su responsabilidad como intermediario y proveedor de la información contractual, y que se proceda a la cancelación íntegra de la reserva sin ningún tipo de penalización, dado que la contratación se vio afectada por una falta clara de transparencia, información esencial omitida y condiciones no comunicadas adecuadamente antes de la reserva. Asimismo, solicito que se inste a la plataforma a revisar y corregir la forma en que muestra este tipo de cargos obligatorios para evitar que otros consumidores sufran situaciones similares.

------------------------------------ Marc Letanneur (CS Global) 4 ago 2026, 9:34 CEST 4 August 2026 Your ref: Our ref: 5228165325 Dear Susana Pérez Amenabar, Following a review of the above-referenced claim dated 29 January 2026, please be kindly informed as follows: INTRODUCTION On behalf of Booking.com B.V., the current response is submitted by a member of the Customer Service Legal Support Advisor Team of Booking.com Customer Service Center (Netherlands) B.V., a company incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands. This customer service company is an affiliated support company of Booking.com B.V., a private limited liability company, incorporated under the laws of the Netherlands and registered with the trade register of the Chamber of Commerce in Amsterdam under registration number 31047344. Booking.com VAT registration number is NL805734958B01 (Booking.com or “We”). Booking.com is part of Booking Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: BKNG). Before addressing the claim (see paragraph 3), you will be presented with further background information in respect of Booking.com, and the affiliated support companies around the world. Definitions ‘Booking’ means the booking of a Travel Experience on our Platform, whether you pay for it now or later. ‘Travel Experience’ means one of the travel-related products or services on the Platform. ‘Service Provider’ means the provider of a travel-related product or service on the Platform, including but not limited to: the owner of a hotel or other property (for an 'accommodation' Booking), a museum or park (for an 'attraction' Booking), or a car rental company or airline (for a 'transport' Booking). ‘Platform’ means the website/app on which you can book Travel Experiences, whether owned or managed by Booking.com or by a third-party affiliate. ‘Upfront Payment’ means a payment that you make when you book a product or service (rather than when you actually use it). ABOUT BOOKING.COM B.V. Booking.com and the Booking 2.1.1. The Platform is operated by Booking.com. When you complete your Booking, you accept the customer terms of service (the Terms) and any other terms that you’re provided with during the booking process. 2.1.2. Through the Platform, Service Providers can offer their services to the visitors of the Platform and such visitors can discover, search, compare, and purchase the relevant service from the Service Provider. Information displayed about Service Providers (e.g. facilities, house rules and sustainability measures) and their Travel Experiences (e.g. prices, availability and cancellation policies) is based on what they provide to us. They are responsible for making sure it is accurate and up to date. (See B2.1-4 of the Terms) Platform and place of business Booking.com operates the Platform in and from within the Netherlands (with servers located in the Netherlands, United Kingdom and Germany). To the extent permitted by law, the Terms clearly state that its (Platform) services are governed by and construed in accordance with Dutch law; therefore, no laws other than Dutch law shall apply to Booking.com in respect of the Platform. The Terms (see A3) clearly state the following in respect of Booking.com operating the Platform, and the role and position of the affiliated group companies (collectively the Support Companies). A3. About Booking.com 1. When you book an accommodation, flight or attraction, Booking.com B.V. provides and is responsible for the Platform – but not the Travel Experience itself. 2. When you book a rental car, or private or public transport, Booking.com Transport Limited provides and is responsible for the Platform – but not the Travel Experience itself 3. We work with companies that provide local support services (e.g. Customer Support or account management). They don’t: control or manage our Platform have their own Platform have any legal or contractual relationship with you provide Travel Experiences represent us, enter into contracts or accept legal documents in our name operate as our ‘process or service agents’. Once the Booking was made, Booking.com automatically transmitted a confirmation of the details of the Booking to the Service Provider and to you (Confirmation). This Confirmation serves as evidence of the agreed terms of the contractual relationship between you and the Service Provider. From this point onwards, the Service Provider is (and remains) responsible for providing the Travel Experience booked in accordance with the terms accepted and agreed to by you. THE CLAIM Claim and understanding of the facts The email of Susana Pérez Amenabar claims the following: You demand that the original booking conditions be honoured or, failing that, that the reservation be cancelled without penalty, because the mandatory New Year's Eve dinner charge was not clearly disclosed at booking(the Claim). STATEMENT OF EVENTS On 30 November 2025, You contacted our Customer Service regarding the compulsory New Year's Eve gala dinner charge set by the Service Provider, and at your request the confirmation of your booking was resent to You. Following this, our Customer Service raised a request with the Service Provider asking whether, as a one-time exception, the reservation could be cancelled free of charge, given that You had made other plans for the evening. You contacted our Customer Service again on 1 and 2 December 2025, and on each occasion the request for a fee waiver was forwarded to the Service Provider. The Service Provider maintained that the gala dinner was mandatory for all guests staying over 31 December 2025 and that the non-refundable policy applied. The reservation remained in place under its original non-refundable terms, and You stayed at the property as booked. CONCLUSION Before addressing the substance of your claim, we would like to outline how our role in this reservation is defined. As set out in Clause B2.1 of our Terms: When you make (or request) a booking, it's directly with the Service Provider – we're not a 'contractual party'. We can appreciate how unwelcome it was to learn of a compulsory New Year's Eve gala dinner charge that You had not anticipated, particularly where separate plans had already been made for the evening. The reservation was, however, concluded directly between You and the Service Provider, with Booking.com providing only the Platform through which the Accommodation was booked, together with the related Customer Service support. This is further reflected in Clause A4.3, which addresses where responsibility for the stay itself lies: Our Platform is not a recommendation or endorsement of any Service Provider or its products, services, facilities, vehicles, etc. We're not a party to the terms between you and the Service Provider. The Service Provider is solely responsible for the Travel Experience. The New Year's Eve gala dinner, and the compulsory charge attached to it, form part of the Service Provider's own arrangements for guests staying over 31 December 2025. As Booking.com is not a party to those arrangements, it is the Service Provider that determines whether such a charge applies and whether any exception can be made. On the specific question of how such charges and policies come to be shown, Clause B2.4 confirms: Information about Service Providers (e.g. facilities, house rules and sustainability measures) and their Travel Experiences (e.g. prices, availability and cancellation policies) is based on what they provide to us. The gala dinner charge and the non-refundable cancellation policy were set by the Service Provider, and the corresponding information — including the compulsory charge for stays over New Year's Eve — was clearly mentioned during the booking process and set out in the confirmation of your booking. The booking was made on a non-refundable basis, under which the full price of the reservation applies in the event of cancellation or non-arrival. When You raised concerns about this charge, our Customer Service sought to assist. As per Clause A17.1: We may help you communicate with your Service Provider, but that doesn't mean we're taking responsibility for the Travel Experience or anything the Service Provider does/doesn't do. We can't guarantee that they will read anything from you or that they'll do what you ask. In itself, the fact that you contact them or they contact you doesn't mean you have any grounds for legal action. On more than one occasion our Customer Service put a request to the Service Provider asking whether, as a one-time exception, the reservation could be cancelled free of charge. The Service Provider declined, maintaining that the gala dinner was mandatory for all guests staying over 31 December 2025 and that the non-refundable policy applied. Facilitating that contact did not transfer responsibility for the charge or the policy to Booking.com, and we are not in a position to require the Service Provider to waive a charge or set aside a policy that it applies under its own terms. We recognise that You consider the information about the gala dinner charge to have been insufficiently clear at the time of booking. The charge is one levied by and payable to the Service Provider, and it was applied in line with the policy the Service Provider had set; the reservation ultimately proceeded and the stay took place as booked. Where any question arose over the gala dinner, that information was available in the confirmation of the booking and could be raised with the Service Provider or with our Customer Service, as indeed it was. As the charge and the non-refundable policy were the Service Provider's to set and apply, Booking.com is not in a position to override that decision or to direct any reduction or reimbursement. Furthermore, the information, although in english, was clearly displayed as the first item of the Important Information on our Platform. Accordingly, as the charge was applied in line with the Service Provider's policy and Booking.com is not in a position to override that decision, we must deny liability and reject the claim. I hope (and trust) that I have informed you sufficiently. Kind regards, Marc L. CS Legal Support Advisor Booking.com Customer Service Center (Netherlands) B.V. Copyright © 1996–2026Booking.com. All rights reserved This e-mail was sent byBooking.com, Herengracht 597, 1017 CE Amsterdam, Netherlands [6ZR2GN-XV6YD]