Bungalo

Normally, I would give zero stars. We've been booking holiday homes in Iceland through Bungalo for about five years. Everything runs smoothly; we never had to contact Bungalo or the owner until this year, which was so disastrous. We had booked a house with Bungalo, where we had already stayed three times, but this time the key code was missing. I also contacted the owner by email five weeks before departure, as stated in the holiday home description, but received no response. Four weeks before departure, I received an email from Bungalo stating that our accommodation had been canceled due to water damage (it can happen). Of course, four weeks before departure, during peak season, it's not easy to quickly find an affordable holiday home for four people for two weeks. I contacted Bungalo several times to find a solution, but it took half a week each time to get a response, and they were no help. In short, it's difficult to find accommodation at the moment. We then accepted the refund Bungalo offered us, which we still haven't received to this day. We took matters into our own hands and searched all the portals again. I ended up having to book two different cabins because we couldn't find anything affordable for two weeks. We also needed a B&B for one night because the cabins didn't overlap and were four hours apart by car. The whole thing wasn't conducive to a relaxing vacation, but rather a lot of stress. The whole thing ended up being 47,100 ISK more expensive than planned. For the first four days, we stayed in a cabin next to the one we originally booked and then discovered there was no water damage and that the cabin was rented to an Icelandic resident. We then wrote to Bungalo again because we hadn't received our refund yet. They were confronted with the water damage and weren't really interested in it, referring us to the owner. I also asked Bungalo for compensation, which was completely ignored, but I would have been happy to just get the refund. We came back, and after nine weeks and over a dozen emails, we still haven't received any money. In the meantime, they had the wrong credit card number and supposedly transferred the money there. They then asked for the account details for the direct transfer, but nothing came of it. The whole thing seems like a stalling tactic to me until they can keep the money and we give up. Then they referred us to another department. After several emails and conflicting replies, I now receive an email stating that it was returned to the booked credit card, again with the wrong credit card number, and that we should contact our credit card company. I have presented the booking confirmation of the credit card charge several times, which shows the unique credit card number, name, etc., and they still claim theirs is correct. I don't know what to say anymore. This whole thing would be so easy to resolve if they would simply use the booking confirmation and transfer the money back to the number listed there. Bungalow made a mistake with the refund, and now we're being blamed for the error, even though we only had problems—a rebooking due to non-existent water damage—and no refund. I will never book through Bungalo again. There are so many better portals with good support.

Great experience with Bungalo. The house was exactly as described and it was easy to email with the owner even before we decided on a place. We will definitely use them on our return trip to Iceland. The house rates were very reasonable.

I wish could give 0 for this company. We booked a house through Bungalo back to Feb 2022 and paid in full. One week prior to departure we tried to confirm the detailed information with property owner and property owner said they have never seen our reservation. It makes us very nervous. We contacted Bungalo immediately and no response for a few days until we wrote review on google. After a few email conversations Bungalo promised to refund the booking cost but we have to take the lost for the foreign exchange. Bungalo made mistake and we have to pay the price it is not acceptable! Then they promised to give us full refund if we remove the bad review on google. We did but now we have been back from Iceland we haven’t heard anything from them. If you don’t want to get trouble at last minute don’t book through this company. Update: thanks Bungalo for fully refund our booking with extra $200 compensation.

August 22nd Wrote: It is very unfortunately to share the recent experience here. We booked a house 6 months ago and paid in full, just a week ago when I tried to contact the property owner, the lady said she has never seen my reservation. I completed shocked and it is a dream trip for us to visit Iceland in a busy season. It is already 4 days no one from Bungalo replied my email, respond for the property owner message, no live chat can be reached out....We are still trying to contact them in any way we can try. If Bungalo staff see this message, please respond my e-mail and property owner message ASAP. Your company need to take responsibility. The way you are dealing with your customers are really not acceptable! We need immediate attention. September 12th, after Bungalo management involved in my case, they refund me the lost ($80) and plus a bit more appreciation token. I trust the management team did realize the custmer's anger and tried to be in a better public reputation. I am honestly to tell public what they have been done.

Do NOT book accommodations with these people. Before a stay in Reykjavik (from traveling in other areas of Iceland), I emailed the owner of the property we were supposed to stay in about picking up keys and got no response. When I attempted to contact the Bungalo office, no one answered. When I finally got through, I was told they'd check on it and call back. No one ever did. After calling numerous times again, I finally got through, only to be told, in these words, "To be honest, the reservation was cancelled due to an error in the system." To be honest?! Why weren't they honest the first time---it would have allowed us to find a property in Reykjavik on our own sooner, because the Bungalo staff offered no assistance in helping us find something else. We did, but we were lucky, since we were an odd number and traveling during high season for tourism. The person on the phone also said he'd initiate an immediate refund, which they naturally did not. My credit card company will take care of it. In the meantime, I'd highly advise anyone against reserving through them. They won't help you if something goes wrong, and they don't care if you get your money back.