I arrived at the property and the room was honestly not livable. Unhealthy conditions, so staying wasn’t an option.
I immediately told the host. They said if I canceled the booking, they would confirm it on their side and I’d be refunded. I canceled, and in the Booking.com chat the host clearly agreed to the refund.
After that, things just stalled. When I contacted Booking customer service (twice), they said they couldn’t see the host’s confirmation, even though it’s right there in the message thread. The booking even showed as canceled in the app, but no refund.
Two days later, Booking emailed me saying they “could not reach an agreement with the property.” I genuinely don’t understand what that means when the host explicitly agreed in writing to refund me.
I had to book another place last minute that cost about 10x more. Booking gave me a small solatium, but it doesn’t even come close to covering the actual cost.
At this point, what are my options?
Has anyone successfully escalated something like this with Booking?
Is going to my bank / credit card dispute the right next step?
Anything specific I should say or provide?
This whole thing has been incredibly frustrating.
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