We used to do quite a bit of travelling ten years ago and we used booking.com quite often. In those early days of booking online, there was a period when you could call the help line and actually talk to someone from America or Canada. And they were always helpful. We got messed up bookings back then and we always got help and figured things out. At one point, we were booking so often, we got to know one or two of the operators we kept talking to in London, Ontario.

Fast forward ten years later and I would not recommend any of them any more. All of them send you to a call center in either South / Central America, Philippines or India and like your comment said, they do absolutely as minimal as possible to do anything and keep you waiting on the phone as long as possible.

None of them work any more and it is far better to use them to shop around for quality, reviews and recommendations … then book directly with the hotel.

Use the sites and services as a guide, then find a direct phone number to the hotel and book directly with them.