Bookabach Reviews 101

Don’t trust the reviews of batches. I booked a batch and couldn’t go because of Covid restrictions. The batch owner was horrible to deal with and he kept all of our 1700 dollars. I tried to write a review on Bookabatch and it was sent to the batch owner and not published as a review. This is the idiot „Hosted by Chris Stewart“ Waiheke Island - Stylish waterfront retreat - dramatic 180 degree views!

Absolute bunch if rip off scam artists.

Ripped off people, look it up.

Book a Bach in muriwai.. Mr Young.

Don't use this service!!

Absolutely disgusting business all for profit and not care. Paid upfront for 3 nights in a luxury Bach in Diamond Habour, turned up and it was an absolute dump! Nothing if like the description and very very selective photos we left immediately. Contacted Bookabach to sort it out and they didn’t do anything. I lost 900 NZD!

Be carefull when booking with this company. Ive reserved a bach and money was taken from my account immediately! but host cancelled after no response for almost a day, and when I called CS they didnt helped at all and said that booking is still active in their system, and they cant refund unless host cancelled. Phone connection was so poor and I could barely understand CS lady. They gave me his phone number and he said he will cancel but he still hasnt. I will never again use this website, and Im still waiting on my full amount paid, and for anyone to get back to me.

Book-a-Batch. Booked 13 MONTHs in advanced, and had to change after 2 weeks as our family wanted to have a family reunion for the same time, in cancelling cost about $160. Even though it was rebooked and plenty of notice. NEVER used them again. I had always used them, had a 5 star payment and cleaning record. THEY DONT LOOK AFTER THEIR CLIENTS.

Bookabach used to be a nice Kiwi website that tried hard and had some actual customer service.
Now its' owned by a horrible big American company called Homeaway, Who appear to also have been swallowed by 'Vacation Rentals by Owner' (VRBO).
both are horrible big American companies with no personal face and no customer service.

It is just disgusting that they hold the renters money for 3-6 months, take about 20% commission off the top and only pay us after the guests have already arrived.

We had a group of 9 move into our lovely beach home on Sunday 20th. - We only received payment today - the 25th.

Why should we have to finance everything that we put into the house prior to the guests arriving.

All we finally got from 'customer service' was some 20 year Asian who spoke poor English and who asked about 6 verification questions before even listening to our issue.

For next high season I am tempted let them book then just cancel prior if we get another booking that is pre paid. If we haven't received any payment then we don't actually have a 'contract' with them.

We left a negative review of a disgusting bookabach place in Martinborough in Pinot grove and they edited most of the review making it look rather good the place was gross with soiled sheets!!!!!!! I don’t believe reviews anymore on either bookabach or airbnb as they either don’t post them or edit as they please.

Even when you can prove a host has lied about the number of bedrooms, beds, and used fake photos, they say it's between you and the host. In other words they have their profit, they don't care any further. Never again. Accommodation was unusable so had to stay elsewhere.

My friend and I loved our stay in this cozy wee cabin. If you want a refreshing change from the usual city stay, a more unique experience and you're willing to sacrifice the luxury of a 4 or 5 star hotel, then I highly recommend booking this! Where else can you drift off to sleep listening to the gale outside and the roar of the ocean. We also enjoyed our walk along the coast road to the reserve, stopping to enjoy the little treats along the way- the funky little cottages, the 'wind telephone' to call your lost loved ones, and the 'stones of kindness'. Wellington at its best! A memorable experience. Shower and toilet facilities, although in separate rooms, were clean and totally sufficient and the shower was lovely and hot. Thankyou for a really fun stay!

Right on the lake - Wanaka house view.

This house is like stepping back in time, large and homely. The price for actual lake frontage is amazingly cheap. Where else could you stay with a great price on lake front!!! Highly rate this home!!!

Terrible host constantly cancelled we had one cancel on us and triple the price for stay

This was my experience:
1 - I searched for properties for 10 Adults
2 - I was showed properties for this number of adults in our desired area
3 - I booked a property
4 - I received confirmation and money was taken
5 - A day later I am told that I "exceeded the number of people allowed at the property and that our booking is declined" - despite it already being approved
6 - I was told I would get money back 3-5 days later.
7 - I was offered no financial compensation for their error in firstly showing me this property I apparently couldn't book, and secondly approving the booking and taking my money.

In no way did I go out of my way to book a property that exceeded numbers. I was honest about our group size from the get-go, and respectfully booked a property that stated they would accomodate us. We have stayed with bookabach before and received glowing reviews. You would think for a repeat customer some compensation would be provided for not one, but two errors on bookabach staff's part.

I recently used the Bookabach service.
I booked a bach for a 2 night break with family.
The fee was $900 of which bookabach took a service fee of $100 (totally exorbitant given the electronic nature of the booking and the fact that they are clipping the ticket in a similar way for hundreds of other bookings for the same weekend). When I tried to contact them to discuss I kept getting an error message on their website. I still don't know what the service fee is for.

I had to cancel my booking due to the COVID lockdown. The owner kindly authorised a full refund on Mar 23. BUT. Still no refund - now 7 weeks later. I've phoned Bookabach twice and get platitudes about the delays and they'll look into it....

Awful. I stayed at a lovely bach on the 15th March. My damage deposit of $500 was released by the landlord on the 24th March. I followed the instructions on the website and waited until after 4 weeks. I wrote to them twice - no reply. I called them 4 times and each time I was promised that they would "investigate" the payment. Honestly, they didn't have a clue. Despite being given reference numbers, etc, every time I called, they asked me to check my bank records as though I wouldn't be aware of a $500 payment. I'm not Jeff Bazos. Every conversation I've had with them, they have lied and passed me off. They have also refused my request to speak to a manager or someone with more authority. I have complained to the Commerce Commission about this. I feel they are possible going bankrupt and holding people off until the go into liquidation. Its very fishy. DO NOT BOOK WITH THESE CHARLATANS!!!

Same thing as many others on here it seems. I asked for a refund on the 24th March for a place I had booked to stay during the school holidays, the owner kindly initiated a full refund.

Many emails later to Bookabach and I'm still waiting for my money to be refunded, and its a different excuse every time.

Not good enough Bookabach

I would never book a again with bookabach from the current experience I have had with them. It has been over six weeks now since I was promised my my full refund back for a Easter weekend holiday that was booked and due to COVID had to be cancelled. Every time I ring to check where my refund is I get a person who can cannot speak a word of English and tells me the same lies every time that my refund is processing and will be there shortly and they will put me on to their manager!
Reading the below comments most people are in the same situation! How can they treat people like this and especially when people haven’t even stayed in these places and during such a hard time. It’s simple stealing and bookabach needs to pay big time! You think they should be doing all to keep their business alive currently no ripping off their own people!
If my money does not appear soon I will also be taking this further!

***UPDATE..it took almost 8 weeks but they have finally repaid the bond (refundable breakage deposit). ***
I also booked with Book a Bach and am awaiting my refundable deposit apparently put through on the 21st of March. It has now been 6 weeks and I have still not been paid. All their information says there is a delay of 3-4weeks. This is clearly incorrect and an outright lie. I would never use them again. They need to update their website to real time expected refund timeframes

I am also still waitng for a refund which was authorised by the property owned on 21 March
I am wondering how many more are waiting for refunds
All I get is emails promising payment in a few days .... and the phone people claiming to be from a different department but can see the complaint is being actioned..... but canno=t giver the fdirect contact details for those "looking into in issue"
If my refund is not received by monday I am goiing to the commerce commoission and the serious fraud office
How many more out there are still waiting

Our trip was cancelled and refund was initiated by the owner on 22nd March. Nearly 6 weeks later I am still waiting on the refund from Bookabach\Homeaway I have given 3 timeframes when this should have been completed, all of which have passed. Bookabach\Homeaway are now blaming the credit card company which is nonsense. Other organisations have managed refunds in a shorter period of time. I encourage all property owners to remove their properties from the bookabach website.