Booking.com price dropped after you booked?
First, find where the lower price is.

The short answer

Find your confirmation, then find the cheaper price. Where it is decides the route.

Lower on Booking.com itself: rebook, then cancel

This only works if your booking has free cancellation. Booking.com's own guide to cancelling says to log in to your account, find the reservation and look for the cancel or modify options. Check the cancellation policy on your confirmation. Then, in this order:

1. 1

   Read your deadline, with the time. Booking.com's guide says the cancellation deadline is usually calculated in the hotel's local time zone, not yours. For a hotel abroad, work out what that is where you are.

2. 2

   Check that the new rate is the same stay. Same room type and beds, same guests, same meal plan, and compare the total with taxes and fees on the checkout page, not the headline price. Read the new rate's cancellation terms too: if it is non-refundable, you can't rebook again if the price falls further.

3. 3

   Book the new rate first, and wait for its confirmation email.

4. 4

   Then cancel the original before its deadline, and keep the cancellation confirmation. Check your card until any charge or hold from the old booking is gone.

Pick one route per booking: a booking you have cancelled can no longer be price matched. The full checklist, for any site, is in how to rebook a hotel for a lower price.

Catch the drop before your deadline

A drop only helps if you notice it before your deadline. If your Booking.com stay has free cancellation, we can look for you. If the lower rate turns up on another site, you can book it there, or file a We Price Match claim with it when it matches every condition.

• You tell us what you paid per night, with taxes and fees, and the last day you can cancel for free.
• We check the rates listed for your hotel and dates once a day.
• We email you once if a listed rate is at least 5% lower than what you paid (and at least $5 a night lower, or about that in your currency) on two daily checks in a row. The email names the site and the price.
• You check the room before you rebook. A lower rate can be for another room, bed type or meal plan. You book and cancel yourself; we never do either.
• We stop at your free-cancellation date. We need two checks in a row, so a rate that first drops on your deadline day itself comes too late for an alert.

Free, no account. We never ask for your booking number, your name or your payment details.