I just made a booking for a hotel in Guangzhou yesterday via Booking.com and this morning they charge 50% deposit to my credit card. Is this normal? When I booked, it says that no prepayment is required and pay when we stay.

Thanks. I've emailed booking.com to check and see what they say.
I booked a total of 3 different hotels in China via Booking.com yesterday and none of them has charged my card, only this particular one. Have not encounter any hotels that will charge my card before when I book thru booking.com the past few years. This is the first time the hotel has charge and the check in date is like almost half a year away. -.-

Did the terms there said prepayment needed? I understand that they will charge if the hotel need a deposit for the booking. But usually they will state clearly when we book.

Thing is, the hotel that I booked, under the room conditions there put "• FREE cancellation, pay when you stay".

Yes I do understand that they will charge deposit if its needed. Those conditions will put "Pre-pay your stay for less ".

Do you mean that even when they stated "pay when you stay", they will still charge a deposit sometimes? That's very misleading considering that other hotels got room conditions that stated "prepay for less".

I usually book with booking.com because of the free cancellation policy. Prepay on booking.com usually means if we cancel or change the booking, then 1st night will be charge in full.

So I spoke to booking.com and their reply as below:

My credit card company SMS inform me that it was "charged". Hence the confusion. Spoke to the credit card company again today and they confirm the amount is blocked, not charged. This is a first for me after booking with them for so long, so just sharing if it ever happens to anyone out there as well.


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