Booking com does not work in Crimea. Sanctions are sanctions, and money ahead - how Crimean hotels take revenge on Booking

On the Booking.com service, it is no longer possible to book accommodation in Crimea for recreation. This was reported on the website of the online booking system. “Unfortunately, in this moment on our website it is impossible to book accommodation in Crimea for the purpose of recreation, ”the service issued such a message when trying to find accommodation options on the peninsula from August 8 to 15.

“As a global company, Booking.com goes to great lengths to ensure compliance with applicable laws. As a Dutch company that offers services from the Netherlands and has a website there, Booking.com has adjusted the website and booking process to make sure that users who want to book a property in Crimea can do so, provided that that their purpose is only a business trip,” the company said.

The customer support service stated that such problems often arise with booking a holiday in the Crimea.

At the same time, if you check the box next to “I travel for work” under the search box, the service will display more than 2.5 thousand options for a weekly vacation. The support service noted that there is no difference between booking "for leisure" and "for work".

“You are not the first person to call about this. If you check the box that you are traveling for work, then all objects will go out in our system. If removed, then no. It's just because of the sanctions. In fact, no one will check it. It’s just a formality to tick the box, ”the Booking.com operator explained.

When asked by Gazeta.Ru about whether these restrictions were initiated by the service’s headquarters in Amsterdam, the operator answered in the affirmative: “Of course, they themselves decide what to adapt to. Under any laws - European and others. For some reason, such a regulation was put up for us, and now we definitely need to tick this box.

The day before, the owner of the Sudak hostel, located in the city of the same name, Natalya, complained about blocking her site on the site. She said that since July 16, her customers can no longer book accommodation on the peninsula, rate and leave reviews.

“No one sees, including the owners of the facilities, the ratings of the guests and there is no way to write a review,” Kirichenko wrote on Facebook.

The woman also attached to her post the official response of the online service dated July 13, 2018, which states that Booking.com is obliged to comply with trade sanctions against Crimea, as the organization is based in the Netherlands.

“According to these sanctions, the company is not allowed to offer any services directly related to tourism activities in Crimea. While business travelers can still book accommodation in Crimea, any reviews they share could be misinterpreted by authorities as Booking.com offering travel services in the region.

Back in April, the head of the Svoi TS tour operator, Sergey, sent a proposal to restrict the activities of Booking.com in Russia. In his opinion, the service receives more favorable conditions from hotels than Russian travel companies.

The site is actually engaged in tour operator activities, while not being a tour operator and not paying fees, Voitovich stated. He also estimated the share of Booking.com in the market of booking services in Russian hotels at 60-70%.

The Ministry of Culture, in turn, redirected the citizen's request to the relevant department - Rostourism, while noting that the department was "categorically against" blocking the service.

The online booking system Booking.com was created in Amsterdam in 1996. At the beginning of April 2018, the site's database contains about 1.7 million accommodation facilities in 227 states. The service has 42 language versions.

Head Oleg Safonov previously reported that the department was interested in Booking.com having a rival on Russian market, which could compete with the service both in Russia and abroad. According to Safonov, this is the task of business, not the state.

Crimea and Sevastopol became part of Russian Federation as subjects after the referendum held in March 2014 in accordance with the norms. More than 96% of Crimeans and more than 95% of Sevastopol residents spoke out in support of the reunification of the peninsula with Russia. Kyiv did not recognize the results of the plebiscite and continues to consider Crimea its own, but temporarily occupied territory. Moscow has repeatedly stressed that the issue territorial affiliation Crimea is closed to Russia.

After that, some tourist services ceased to provide their services on the territory of the peninsula. So, in February 2015, users reported that they could not book accommodation on the Airbnb private housing rental service in Crimea. In response to complaints, they received the following message from the company: “Due to the recent economic sanctions imposed on Crimea, we are required by law to deactivate all ads in this region.

We also need to delete all Airbnb accounts located in Crimea, and until the sanctions are lifted, we need to prevent future bookings from being made in this region.

If guests are currently on a trip and staying with you, they will be allowed to complete their trip, however, any subsequent bookings that have not yet begun will be canceled,” Airbnb said in a statement.

Booking.com hotel booking service has changed the rules of work in the Crimea. Hotels have not yet experienced any particular problems in this regard, but complain about the lack of customer reviews and ratings of accommodation facilities.

After the site boooking.com made reservations for hotels in the Crimea, there were no problems with the hotels of the peninsula, but their representatives complained about the lack of ratings and reviews.

The letter from booking.com, which was sent to hotels (available from RBC), states that all existing guest ratings and comments will be deleted. The service notes that it must comply with EU sanctions against Crimea and cannot offer tourism services on the peninsula. Despite this, the user can book a hotel by selecting the "I'm traveling for work" option. Earlier, in the press service of the Ministry of Resorts and Tourism of the Peninsula, this ban was “conditional sanctions” and noted that 90% of Russians booked Crimean hotels through booking.com.

“While business travelers can still book accommodation in Crimea, any reviews they share could be misinterpreted by authorities as booking.com offering travel services in the region. To avoid any misunderstandings regarding the type of service we offer to travelers in Crimea, unfortunately we must deactivate guest reviews for all accommodations in Crimea until further notice.

According to the owner of the hotel "Villa Oneiro" Svetlana Rus, ratings and reviews were an important component for choosing hotels through booking.com. “Hotels received rating awards. And now it's been turned off. The hotelier called me. He said that he did not pass the reservation either from Russia or from Ukraine. About the fact that you need to choose a "business trip", he knows. This has been operating for about six months, ”she told RBC. Russ also added that the hotel does not experience any problems from changes in the work of the service, because the rooms are booked until the end of September. Although booking.com is great for finding clients for one night, as it comes up first in the search, she noted. “Now there will be more customers through tour operators,” Rus concluded.

At the Soldaya Reservation Department Grand Hotel And Resort also complained to RBC about the lack of reviews and ratings. “The opinion of the guests is important for us: we need to understand what they like and what they don’t. The eco-hotel Levant told RBC that the ratings on booking.com are “really true and not false” and this is an important aspect for travelers when choosing a hotel. “The new rules will affect the demand of those hotels that work exclusively with booking.com. So far, everything is fine with us: travelers have alternative booking services,” the hotel said.

On the online booking site Booking.com, it is no longer possible to book holiday accommodation in Crimea. The owner of the hostel complained about these restrictions - in response to her letter, the company said that the service is obliged to comply with EU trade sanctions against the peninsula. According to them, Booking.com is not allowed to offer any travel services. Customer support reported that every time “something new” appears in the issue of the service in the Crimea.

“As a global company, Booking.com goes to great lengths to ensure compliance with applicable laws. As a Dutch company that offers services from the Netherlands and has a website there, Booking.com has adjusted the website and booking process to make sure that users who want to book a property in Crimea can do so, provided that that their purpose is only a business trip,” the company said.

The customer support service stated that such problems often arise with booking a holiday in the Crimea.

What to do if Booking does not allow booking accommodation in Crimea?

But these Booking sanctions are very easy to bypass.

In fact, you just need to check the box that you are traveling for work, and immediately writes that 2078 accommodation options have been found.

Just check the box that you are traveling in Crimea for work and calmly book hotels for yourself.

Of course, it should be noted that a lot of hotels in Crimea do not work through Booking, they are also cheaper, so if you are interested in an economy option or just rent an apartment, then you need to act not through Booking.

Separately, it is worth noting that other online travel services of the American group of companies Priceline operate in the Crimea, for example, the well-known RentalCars.com service right now offers various car rental options at Simferopol Airport.

By the way, if international online booking services still leave the Crimea, or from the whole territory of Russia, then this will additional features domestic business, which is hard to compete with such big monsters as Booking.com, Expedia.com, Agoda.com, Hotels.com or TripAdvisor.

Recall that in May, the Ministry of Culture proposed to ban the operation of an online booking service in Russia. hotel rooms Booking.com. Rostourism this offer did not support. The Booking.com Internet service allows tourists to book a hotel, accommodation and rent a car in 228 countries around the world. It is available in 42 languages.

Booking turned vacation in Crimea into a lottery

“The owners of all hotels and guest houses located on Booking were sent information letters: in connection with the sanctions against Crimea, the format of work is changing, tourist destination is no longer supported, the service is available only for business travelers, - the owner told RIA "New Day" guest house"Trier" (Sudak) Alexander Bodnya. – In principle, such restrictions were introduced back in 2016. The problem then, and now, is solved by a checkmark next to the statement “Traveling for work.” The new restrictions resulted in the sites removing the placement rating based on guest reviews and the reviews themselves.”

Greetings! Important information for everyone who is going to Crimea in the near future. In July 2018, the Booking.com hotel booking system (based in Amsterdam) stopped working with hotels in Crimea, reviews of Crimean hotels were deleted and there is no way to publish new ones. What to do and how to book accommodation in Crimea through Booking.com? There is a way out, and, as of the day this article was written, it partially works: you can book accommodation, but you won’t see guest reviews about the hotel.

The reason for the refusal of booking through Booking.com is known - sanctions. And if Crimeans are no strangers to these restrictions, then for residents of other regions and countries, such actions can cause inconvenience. Crimean hoteliers also suffer big losses at the height of the holiday season.

“The official response from the service is that it must comply with EU trade sanctions on Crimea due to being based in the Netherlands. According to the sanctions, Booking.com is not allowed to offer any services directly related to tourism activities in Crimea. While business travelers can still book accommodation in Crimea, any reviews they share could be misinterpreted by authorities as Booking.com offering travel services in the region.” - Interfax

If you want to book accommodation in the Crimea through the Booking form, you just need to check the box "for work" under the main booking form.

After that, all Crimean accommodation facilities registered in the system will appear.

Other options for booking accommodation in Crimea:

Many Crimean accommodation facilities already have official websites on the Web. True, the price on popular hotel booking sites is lower.
You can use the Roomguru booking service. The system is an aggregate that stores in its database the offers of various sellers, including Booking.com. My personal experience shows that the prices for hotels in Crimea are not always the lowest on Booking.com, Roomguru finds the most profitable options.
If you did not find anything suitable on Roomguru, try searching on Daily.ru.

The problem is solved for those who book verified accommodation in Crimea. But what about those who make their choice based on the reviews of hotel guests?

I can advise the popular TripAdvisor service (Tripadvisor), where there are reviews of hotels, restaurants and attractions, I myself have been using it for a very long time. The downside is that there are far from reviews for all Crimean accommodation facilities. Reviews for Trivago and Islet are also published from tripadvisor.

If new information appears on the topic of booking Crimean hotels through Booking.com, I will supplement this article.

Thank you for your attention!

Today, major media in Runet came out with the headlines “Booking.com stopped working in Crimea” (Kommersant), “Booking.com supported sanctions and stopped working in Crimea” (Vesti.Ru), “Booking.com service stopped working in Crimea” ( Vedomosti), “Booking.com supported sanctions against Russia” (Lenta.ru), “Tourists will not be able to book accommodation in Crimea through Booking.com” (Interfax).

Many of these publications even made it to the main page of Yandex. But most of The media provided factually unreliable data on the operation of the online hotel booking service in Crimea, or rather, in pursuit of clicks and traffic, many of our media gave yellow headlines (clickbait) that do not reflect real situation of things.

Booking.com not working in Crimea? Works!

Back in 2017, the authorities of neighboring Ukraine managed to reach out to the owners of the Booking.com service (the American company Priceline Group, headquartered in Amsterdam in Europe) to heed requests to impose sanctions on Crimean hotels. This was reported back in May 2017 by the Ukrainian prosecutor's office, Russian media, as well as industry portals and travel sites.

Politics is politics, but both Americans and Europeans know how to count money, capital always finds loopholes, like a mountain stream. So at that time, Booking.com made a "knight's move", although the service officially joined the sanctions against Crimea, but retained the possibility of booking hotels in Crimea. If you decide to use the "Booking" service to select a hotel or inn in Crimea, then when booking, the service will initially give you a message:

Unfortunately, at the moment it is not possible to book accommodation in Crimea for the purpose of recreation on our website.

And you will receive an empty list of hotel search results for a particular city of Crimea, but this does not mean that the service has stopped working on the Crimean Peninsula.

Check the box “I travel for work” and the search for Crimean hotels and inns immediately starts working as usual:

If you went directly to the page of a particular Crimean hotel from your bookmarks, then before booking, Booking.com will ask you to check the box “I hereby confirm that this booking is for business purposes only.”

You can check for yourself, I just went to the page hotel complex Yalta-Intourist (located in the Crimea on South Shore in Yalta) on Booking.com and tried to book a room in this hotel.

As you can see in the screenshot, the possibility of booking Crimean hotels and inns has not disappeared anywhere, Booking.com works in Crimea in full, although you need to make one extra click to agree with the clause “Bookings are allowed only for business purposes”.

By the way, here is a special selection of popular Crimean hotels, compiled according to the TrustYou™ travel rating service.

By the way, if international online booking services still leave Crimea, or from the whole territory of Russia, then this will provide additional opportunities for domestic business, which is hard to compete with such large monsters as Booking.com, Expedia.com, Agoda.com, Hotels.com or TripAdvisor.

We will follow the news of the official website of Booking.com, and in case of a change in the policy of the portal regarding tourist complexes located in the Crimea, we will definitely give a detailed publication on this matter. In the meantime, you can continue to book through Booking.com by checking the boxes and agreeing that the purpose of your booking is purely business. And you can always read reviews about the top Crimean hotels and leave them on the pages of our website.