Taylor Swift fan had concert tickets and a place to stay. Then Booking.com pulled the rug out from under her

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A Taylor Swift fan says she's got bad blood with Booking.com after the travel booking giant left her with no accommodations for the upcoming T-Swizzle concert in Toronto.

I was kind of freaking out, Sarah Fournier told Go Public after the accommodations she'd secured early, and at a good price, for the dates around the concert were cancelled — and then at least one of them was relisted at a higher price.

I just knew something was not right, she said. 

After cancelling her reservations, Booking.com refused to help Fournier find a similar place at a similar price.

A legal expert in technology says her experience shows consumers can't trust that what they book on travel sites is locked in — and that they'll actually get what's being offered.

• Got a story for Go Public? Contact Rosa and the team at GoPublic@cbc.ca (new window)

Often consumers believe that the platforms, in this case like Booking.com, have their back, said Jonathan Penney, a law professor at York University who researches legal and ethical impacts of technology.

[Instead] they've wiped their hands of it. Walk away and say 'you're on your own'. That's a real problem, he said, referring to Fournier's situation. 

Booking.com was the most visited travel website in the world last month, with 556 million visits, far ahead of Trip Advisor, Airbnb and Expedia, according to Statista.com. 

Prices were up to 8x higher 

When the mega music star announced she was coming to Toronto last August, Fournier immediately started making plans with her brother and friends to travel from Montreal for the November 2024 show.

The concert was more than a year away at that point, and Fournier had no idea if she'd score hard-to-get concert tickets — but she knew accommodations would be in high demand, too.

My first thought was to go to Booking.com, the 22-year-old said. 

At the beginning of August, she secured the two vacation rentals on Booking.com for her group of four to stay in Toronto from Nov. 21-24. She paid about $1,100 and $1,500 for the three nights. 

Soon after, they scored the concert tickets.

Just when Fournier thought everything was set, Booking.com pulled the rug out from under her — emailing her to say her reservations had been cancelled.

By then, prices and demand had skyrocketed and the site was listing similar properties for between $3,000 and $8,000 — almost eight times higher than when she booked.

Prices were up to 8x higher 

When the mega music star announced she was coming to Toronto last August, Fournier immediately started making plans with her brother and friends to travel from Montreal for the November 2024 show.

The concert was more than a year away at that point, and Fournier had no idea if she'd score hard-to-get concert tickets — but she knew accommodations would be in high demand, too.

My first thought was to go to Booking.com, the 22-year-old said. 

At the beginning of August, she secured the two vacation rentals on Booking.com for her group of four to stay in Toronto from Nov. 21-24. She paid about $1,100 and $1,500 for the three nights. 

Soon after, they scored the concert tickets.

Just when Fournier thought everything was set, Booking.com pulled the rug out from under her — emailing her to say her reservations had been cancelled.

By then, prices and demand had skyrocketed and the site was listing similar properties for between $3,000 and $8,000 — almost eight times higher than when she booked.

Prices were up to 8x higher 

When the mega music star announced she was coming to Toronto last August, Fournier immediately started making plans with her brother and friends to travel from Montreal for the November 2024 show.

The concert was more than a year away at that point, and Fournier had no idea if she'd score hard-to-get concert tickets — but she knew accommodations would be in high demand, too.

My first thought was to go to Booking.com, the 22-year-old said. 

At the beginning of August, she secured the two vacation rentals on Booking.com for her group of four to stay in Toronto from Nov. 21-24. She paid about $1,100 and $1,500 for the three nights. 

Soon after, they scored the concert tickets.

Just when Fournier thought everything was set, Booking.com pulled the rug out from under her — emailing her to say her reservations had been cancelled.

By then, prices and demand had skyrocketed and the site was listing similar properties for between $3,000 and $8,000 — almost eight times higher than when she booked.

Prices were up to 8x higher 

When the mega music star announced she was coming to Toronto last August, Fournier immediately started making plans with her brother and friends to travel from Montreal for the November 2024 show.

The concert was more than a year away at that point, and Fournier had no idea if she'd score hard-to-get concert tickets — but she knew accommodations would be in high demand, too.

My first thought was to go to Booking.com, the 22-year-old said. 

At the beginning of August, she secured the two vacation rentals on Booking.com for her group of four to stay in Toronto from Nov. 21-24. She paid about $1,100 and $1,500 for the three nights. 

Soon after, they scored the concert tickets.

Just when Fournier thought everything was set, Booking.com pulled the rug out from under her — emailing her to say her reservations had been cancelled.

By then, prices and demand had skyrocketed and the site was listing similar properties for between $3,000 and $8,000 — almost eight times higher than when she booked.

Rosa Marchitelli (new window), Jenn Blair (new window) · CBC News ·