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Well, what the title says. I have a booking but none of my payment cards works for the pre-payment. I asked a relative if I could use their card, but they are hundreds of kilometres away from me. So we have the following options:

  1. They send me their card number by mail/SMS/skype/phone...: very unsafe

  2. I send them my login information for booking.com: fine with me (I trust them) but still doesn't sound correct

  3. I share/transmit the booking into their account: however, I haven't found such option in booking.com

So the question is: Can we do Option 3 somehow, or will we have to stick to Option 2?

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  • 3
    You could get the credit card details over the phone. For added safety you could make sure your friend is at home and not sitting in a public place yelling out the numbers. Yes this might be suboptimal but will leave no tangible traces: no written messages/emails/skype chats/etc. I don't see the need to be paranoid. The NSA might get a hold of your friend's credit card number, but I bet they already have that. :)
    – JoErNanO ♦
    Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 15:21
  • @JoErNanO Yeah, I considered this as well, especially since I'm in a hurry now and they're not at the internet. Well, I'll leave it the question as is for some time, if no better thing is found, I'll re-word it so that your comments fits as an answer. Is it fine with you?
    – yo'
    Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 15:28
  • @JoErNanO That's what I meant. Well, you can probably post the answer even now, I'll just wait with the accepting to see if some other solution is found.
    – yo'
    Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 15:31
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    For added security you can split the number and give one figure or two in an email and the rest on the phone, or such strategy - the phone is more secure than the email though, so give more information over the phone than in the email.
    – Vince
    Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 15:42
  • Giving a credit card number over SMS, skype or phone might not be a “best practice” but isn't it a bit of stretch to consider it “very unsafe”?
    – Relaxed
    Commented Nov 10, 2014 at 15:54

1 Answer 1

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OTAs usually allow third party payments, but it is normally the 3rd party that does the booking ie: your relative makes a booking and pays for it with on your behalf. That way their address, contact and payment information is in the record and you are listed as the room occupant only.

In your case, you have already made the booking so your address and contact info is part of the booking. This would cause their payment to be declined due to address mis-match.

Why not check to see if you can make the same booking again (see if the rooms and rate are still available). If they are, cancel your current booking and then get your relative on the phone and have them make / pay for a new booking.

Otherwise your best bet is to call booking.com and see if they will allow a third party payment from outside the original booking. Some OTAs do have a payment form that can be filled out and signed, so that an outside party can pay.

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  • Well, what exactly I am supposed to do on the booking.com website?
    – yo'
    Commented Nov 11, 2014 at 1:11
  • For which suggestion?
    – user13044
    Commented Nov 11, 2014 at 1:41
  • I have done the booking, and now I need someone else to make the payment. Your answer doesn't seem to say anything about it. What is OTA? Why do you say "your relative makes a booking" when the booking has been made months ago by me? How can they even try to pay for it while the card info is supposed to be submitted through my profile on booking.com?
    – yo'
    Commented Nov 11, 2014 at 2:37
  • OTA - Online Travel Agent. If you are adamant about them paying for your existing booking, then you need to call booking.com and ask the procedure.
    – user13044
    Commented Nov 11, 2014 at 4:34
  • wow, I was confused, totally read OTA as Over the Air.
    – Mark Mayo
    Commented Nov 11, 2014 at 6:27

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