Misleading "Full Refund" Policy & Exhausting Administrative Runaround
Avoid Traveloka if you value your time and money. I booked a hotel night in Thailand through Traveloka and later needed to change the booking dates. Traveloka advised that this could only be done with a price increase, so I chose to cancel instead, as the booking was clearly eligible for free cancellation before March 2026. Traveloka initially confirmed this in writing: 26/12/2025: “Your booking is eligible for free cancellation before 27-Mar-2026.” 14/01/2026: “We have successfully cancelled and processed your refund… amounting to AUD 44.98.” After this confirmation, the process became unnecessarily frustrating and unreasonable. Despite repeatedly providing all requested information, I was sent in circles with new and redundant demands, including: Confirmation of the bank account holder’s name Proof of payment screenshots showing the payer’s name Re-submission of bank details that had already been provided, including: Account holder name BSB (routing code) Residential address Each time I complied, I was asked for something else — often the same information again — with no clear explanation as to why it was insufficient before. Finally they asked for a SWIFT code In the end, despite multiple written assurances of a full refund, I received only a partial refund, directly contradicting Traveloka’s own statements. This experience was misleading, time-consuming, and extremely disappointing. If it were possible, I would give minus five stars. I strongly caution others to be very careful: Traveloka’s advertising around “free cancellation” does not reflect the reality of their refund process. Because they are based in Indonesia, they seem to feel they can ignore Australian Consumer Law and their own policies Avoid the stress and avoid this company. The Latest result: "Dear Mr/Mrs Thank you for your patience. After escalating to our payment specialist, we inform you that.... the difference in the amount you received refers to the fee from cross border process based on the bank. We understand that this information is not in line with your expectations, but we greatly appreciate your understanding regarding this cross border fee."