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Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
Head-to-head

Hilton Honors vs Booking.com

Hilton Honors 4.9★ · Free to download 65
Winner Tie
Booking.com 4.8★ · Free to download 60

For direct hotel bookings and loyalty program benefits, Hilton Honors is the better choice despite its recent app stability issues, while Booking.com is suitable for those prioritizing a wide range of travel options and competitive pricing, provided they are cautious about third-party services and customer support.

Full reviews: Hilton Honors · Booking.com

Hilton Honors offers a dedicated loyalty experience with perks like digital keys and room choice, though recent updates have introduced significant bugs. Booking.com provides a broad selection of accommodations and travel services, but users frequently report issues with customer service, hidden fees, and unreliable third-party bookings.

Head to head

Features & Functionality tieR4R6R7R8
Hilton Honors Hilton Honors users appreciate features like choosing their room and the digital key, which saves time at check-in R8. However, many recent reviews highlight significant bugs, such as frequent 'That was unexpected' error messages, app crashes, and issues with the digital key not working reliably R4R7R13. Users also miss the ability to add reservations to their calendar, a feature present in older versions R6R12.
Booking.com Booking.com is praised for its ease of use in finding and booking accommodations, flights, and other travel extras R68. Users like the free cancellation option and the ability to see other users' opinions . However, the app has been criticized for issues with its 'favorites' feature, creating new lists for every town , and for problems with its customer support chat function .
Reliability & Stability tieR4R7R9R13
Hilton Honors The Hilton Honors app suffers from significant reliability issues, with many users reporting frequent crashes, error messages like 'That was unexpected,' and the digital key not consistently working R4R7R13. Some users also report problems with the app not finding their reservations or not allowing them to create a profile R9R16.
Booking.com Booking.com users report issues with double bookings and cancellations by hosts, sometimes on the day of arrival . There are also reports of car services booked through the app being unreliable or fraudulent . Some users experienced their flight times being changed without notification .
Price & Value tieR25R27R68R79
Hilton Honors Hilton Honors users sometimes find better pricing for the same hotels on competitor sites like Booking.com, even though Hilton pays commission to those sites R27. Some members feel that their status benefits are not honored, with the app offering to sell room upgrades that should be complimentary R25.
Booking.com Booking.com is often praised for offering great deals and being one of the cheapest options available R68. However, many users report hidden fees, such as foreign transaction fees when prices are shown in USD but charged in Euros R81R83, and unexpected cleaning fees R79. Some users also report being double-charged for reservations .
Customer Support edge: Hilton HonorsR10R16R19R25
Hilton Honors Hilton Honors users report difficulties reaching a real person through the app's support, often encountering useless AI chat features R19R25. Some users experienced long wait times when calling support or were told to check in at the front desk after issues with digital keys R10R16.
Booking.com Booking.com receives extensive criticism for its customer service, with users describing representatives as rude, unhelpful, and unresponsive R77R85R93R99. Users report being hung up on, not receiving refunds for cancelled bookings or fraudulent listings, and difficulty resolving issues like double charges R93.
User Experience & Interface edge: Booking.comR1R6R7R12
Hilton Honors Hilton Honors recently updated its app, with some users liking the cleaner, more modern look R6. However, the update also removed popular features like adding reservations to the calendar R6R12 and introduced numerous bugs and crashes R7R13. Users also complain about deceptive push notifications for ads even when disabled R1R28R37R45 and issues with dark mode glitches .
Booking.com Booking.com is generally found to be easy to use and navigate . Users appreciate the app's ability to find the best options and its friendly interface . However, some find the search functionality lacking, with difficulty filtering for specific criteria and the favorites feature creating too many lists .
Pick Hilton Honors if

You are a loyal Hilton customer who values loyalty program benefits like digital keys and room choice, and you are willing to tolerate occasional app bugs and less-than-perfect customer support R8.

Pick Booking.com if

You prioritize a wide selection of accommodations and travel services, often finding competitive prices, and are comfortable with potentially navigating customer service issues or hidden fees R68.

Evidence note: Both apps have a high lifetime rating, but recent reviews for Hilton Honors are heavily skewed negative due to app stability issues and unwanted notifications. Booking.com's recent reviews also show a significant number of negative experiences, primarily related to customer service and issues with third-party bookings.

Frequently asked

Does Hilton Honors app reliably offer digital keys?
While the Hilton Honors app offers a digital key feature, many users report it is unreliable and often does not work, requiring them to go to the front desk for a physical key R4R10R30R35.
Are there hidden fees when booking with Booking.com?
Yes, Booking.com users frequently report hidden fees, including foreign transaction fees when prices are displayed in USD but charged in Euros, and unexpected cleaning fees R79R81R83.
Can I turn off notifications in the Hilton Honors app?
Despite in-app settings to disable notifications, many Hilton Honors users report still receiving unwanted ads and promotional push notifications R1R28R37R45.
Is Booking.com customer service helpful?
No, Booking.com's customer service is widely criticized by users as being rude, unhelpful, and unresponsive, with many reporting difficulties resolving issues like refunds or double charges R77R85R93R99.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R4] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Rage Review: I used to think highly of this app, until after a VERY long day and getting to the airport late, I could not open my door with it, despite having checked in and my digital key “working.” I had to go back down to the desk to get a physical key the experience sucked. Therefore your review sucks. Congrats, Hilton.
  2. [R6] Hilton Honors 3/5 · US Nice update but lacks ability to add to calendar: Overall I like the new look and interface in the app now. It is cleaner and more modern look. For some reason the ability to add a reservation to your calendar is gone. Please bring back this functionality.
  3. [R7] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US A flying piano…: Just downloaded the most recent Hilton Honors Application update effective 07/07/2026 and yes folks, it continues to be a hot mess, in a dumpster fire, on a train wreck. Why so subterranean in my assessment you may ask? Let’s review together. 1. Upon opening the App; after deleting reinstalling of course. The ubiquitous, “That was unexpected”. Sorry for the interruption. Let’s tr
  4. [R8] Hilton Honors 5/5 · US You decide: Hilton gives the customer a chance to make decisions on room choices, which is great for people who want to be away from elevators and ice machines
  5. [R9] Hilton Honors 3/5 · US Can’t create: Downloaded but will not let me create a profile.
  6. [R13] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Bugs make this app useless: « That was unexpected «  bug on repeat makes this app useless
  7. [R25] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Miserable app. Zero stars: Digital key never arrived. What a fumble with developers Membership has zero perks! They offer to upgrade you a room when your status says complimentary if available. Apparently it’s available if your lame app is offering to sell to me at checkin. Chat feature is slow and you have to go through a bot to get to real person. This is reason I went from Diamond to reg
  8. [R27] Hilton Honors 3/5 · GB Pricing in honours: Often find much better pricing for the same hotel on Booking. Com even though they pay that site 18% commission. Why can’t they discount for Honours people?
  9. [R68] Booking.com 5/5 · US Easy bookings: Always easy to use and always find great deals on hotel stays
  10. [R79] Booking.com 1/5 · US Not with it book direct: When looking for a place to stay in Las Vegas I shopped booking. The rate seemed fair so I took the risk of not booking direct and go with booking. Upon arrival to the hotel I realized I made a bad choice when the hotel charged me 150 for cleaning. During my 2 night stay not once did palms place give us fresh towels or clean our room. I would never recommend booking or pal
  11. [R10] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Bad start: Received an email about getting room key on phone and skipping the front desk. Don’t work. Corporate office couldn’t find res. Connected me to hotel. After 15 minutes was told rather bluntly “just check at the front desk. Wasted half hour of my time.
  12. [R16] Hilton Honors 2/5 · US garbage: can't find my reservation, and when i call the support number nobody answers. ended up having to check in the regular way. pointless app.
  13. [R19] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Useless AI support: The app is horrible for Diamond members. No real person is available and their “AI” chat is useless.
  14. [R1] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US App does not respect push notifications settings: I would like app notifications about my stay so I did not block notifications on the ios level but I disabled all notifications in the app settings, and yet I still get ads.
  15. [R12] Hilton Honors 3/5 · US Good, but old one was better.: I liked that I used to be able to add my stays to my calendar.
  16. [R30] Hilton Honors 3/5 · GB Mr: Digital key function has never worked for my stays, I am always required to use reception so I am not sure of the reason for this function
  17. [R35] Hilton Honors 4/5 · US It needs more access to stay feedback: The app is easy to use. The digital key did not open the side exit doors to the outside amenities so I found my self locked out a few times. It open all inside amenities doors fine. This is a helpful idea but needs more work. Also I wish I could give feedback of my stay directly to you the mothership and the hotel staff. I have comments for the hotel we stay
  18. [R81] Booking.com 1/5 · US Got charged Foran transaction fees for the prices shown in the US dollars?: I recently made multiple bookings for hotels and day trips using Booking.com all the prices were shown in the US dollars. With no warning or indication that my credit card will be charged in a Foreign currency now I have close $200 in foreign transaction fees. I have other credit cards that do not charge for transaction fe
  19. [R83] Booking.com 1/5 · US Misleading! Be aware!: Shows the prices on the app in us dollars but charge you in euros. Customer service is non existent .
  20. [R28] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Deceptive use of Push Notifications: App hijack push notifications for ads and promos instead of delivering the updates or tasks users actually need. Get notifications when you are on travel for deals. Total misuse of notifications. Very frustrating.
  21. [R37] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Does not honor notification preferences: I had ONLY “Stay reminders” on, and continued to get push notifications about earning points and staying elsewhere. So after my last stay, I turned off even that one. Well, now with ALL push notifications set to “off” in the app, I am STILL getting ads about spending my points on some stupid show. If Hilton can’t even honor a simple setting like push noti
  22. [R45] Hilton Honors 1/5 · US Ads: Now once you use your key to get in the room, you get ads.
  23. [R77] Booking.com 1/5 · US Terrible rude customer service: I’ve been using booking for all my travel for several years and the representatives I spoke with today were some of the rudest, could not care less to accommodate or help at all. If I missed my flight and had to stay with my kids at an airport for several days, they would not have seemed to care at all to go one bit out of their way to attempt to not make that happe
  24. [R85] Booking.com 1/5 · US Horrible customer service: We used booking.com quite often for our son’s wrestling tournaments and never had an issue until now. When booking the hotels, I find them by typing in the location that his tournaments are at so I know the hotels are close. This time, the hotel booked was over an hour away. When searching the name of the location, the exact same hotel pops up, but with the location need
  25. [R93] Booking.com 1/5 · US Foreign Scammers: This company has horrible customer service. They charged me a $50 damage deposit, fully refundable. It’s been 16 days and I haven’t received my money back. Hotel says contact booking. Booking has hung up on me twice.
  26. [R99] Booking.com 1/5 · US No customer service: Worst customer service ever

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store