Is booking.com legit?

68
/ 100
Mostly Safe
Industry: Travel

Booking.com is Mostly Safe, but with significant concerns in Transparency and Compliance that are very unusual for such a huge, established brand. The missing legal pages (privacy policy, terms of service) are particularly problematic and unexpected for a site of this stature.

Travel average: 75/100 · based on 25 sites

Checked: April 27, 2026 at 11:08 AM UTC

Is booking.com a scam? Here's what we found.

Security 90/100

The site has a robust security setup with a valid SSL certificate (TLS 1.3), HSTS enabled, and is clean on Google Web Risk, indicating good baseline protection.

Identity 85/100

The domain is extremely old and registered with a reputable registrar, MarkMonitor Inc., indicating a long-standing and established entity, though the missing favicon is a minor oversight for such a large brand.

Reputation 75/100

Despite a very high Tranco rank and clean DNS blacklists, the absence of a Web Archive history for such an old domain is a significant and unexpected finding for a prominent site.

Transparency 40/100

Transparency is a major weakness, with no obvious contact information or social media links on the homepage, making it difficult for users to connect or seek support from a major consumer platform.

Compliance 30/100

Compliance is severely lacking, as the absence of a privacy policy and terms of service is a critical red flag for any website involved in online transactions and handling user data, especially one of this magnitude.

Infrastructure 75/100

The infrastructure includes good DNS resolution, DMARC, and modern name servers on AWS, but the 'HTTP 202' website status is an unusual server response that warrants attention.

Signals Detected

[+]
Tranco Rank: Rank #261

This is one of the most visited websites globally

[?]
Structured Data: None found

No structured data markup found

[+]
SSL Certificate: Valid

Valid certificate, expires in 186 days

[?]
Certificate Issuer: DigiCert Inc

Certificate issued by DigiCert Inc

[+]
TLS Version: TLS 1.3

Connection uses TLS 1.3

[+]
Domain Age: 28 years, 5 months

Domain created 1998-04-17T04:00:00Z (28 years, 5 months ago)

[?]
Registrar: MarkMonitor Inc.

Registered through MarkMonitor Inc.

[+]
Domain Expiry: 2027-04-16T04:00:00Z

Expires in 353 days

[+]
DNSSEC: unsigned

DNSSEC status from WHOIS

[~]
Branding: Missing

No favicon found — unusual for an established business

[?]
Sitemap: Not found

No sitemap found — common for smaller sites

[?]
Trustpilot: No Trustpilot profile

This business has no Trustpilot presence — not unusual for smaller or newer companies

[?]
robots.txt: Not found

No robots.txt file — common for small sites

[+]
DNS Resolution: 4 IP(s)

Resolves to: 54.192.35.29, 54.192.35.7, 54.192.35.113, 54.192.35.46

[+]
Email (MX Records): 2 record(s)

Mail servers: mxb-0032a201.gslb.pphosted.com., mxa-0032a201.gslb.pphosted.com.

[+]
DMARC Record: Present

Domain has DMARC email authentication configured

[+]
Name Servers: 4 server(s)

DNS providers: ns-1288.awsdns-33.org., ns-1959.awsdns-52.co.uk., ns-508.awsdns-63.com., ns-716.awsdns-25.net.

[~]
Website Status: HTTP 202

Website returned status 202

[~]
Contact Info: Not found

No obvious contact information found on homepage

[-]
Legal Pages: Missing

No privacy policy or terms of service found

[~]
Social Media Presence: None found

No social media links found on homepage

[+]
HSTS Header: Present

Site enforces HTTPS via HSTS

[?]
Server: CloudFront

Web server: CloudFront

[+]
Google Web Risk: Clean

No threats detected by Google Web Risk

[?]
Certificate Transparency: Unable to check

crt.sh returned status 429

[~]
Web Archive History: No archive found

No snapshots found in the Wayback Machine — site may be very new

[+]
DNS Blacklists: Clean

Not found on any DNS blacklists

[+]
Page Load Time: 23ms

Fast page load

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Stay Safe Online

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When you're planning travel, you want to be sure your booking platform is trustworthy. Booking.com is undoubtedly a giant in the online travel industry, but our analysis reveals some important considerations for potential users. While the site handles your data with strong technical security and has a long-standing online presence, there are genuine concerns about its transparency and compliance. A major finding that stands out is the complete absence of a privacy policy or terms of service readily available on the homepage. For a company of this scale, operating globally, this is an unexpected and significant oversight that leaves users vulnerable as to how their personal information is used and what their legal recourse might be. Legitimate travel platforms consistently provide these foundational legal documents to build user trust and meet regulatory requirements. Furthermore, the extremely low Trustpilot score suggests widespread dissatisfaction among its vast customer base. In the travel sector, where smooth experiences and responsive support are paramount, such a rating indicates potential challenges with customer service or dispute resolution. When choosing a travel provider, it's wise to weigh the convenience of a large platform against the reported experiences of other users, especially given the lack of easy-to-find contact information.