Beware Booking.com

Booking.com A ****?

Lost ZAR44 000 on 10 days accommodation in Florence, Italy in May 2023. We stayed 1/2 a night in Mamo Florence.

Ruined our entire, long-awaited trip. The accommodation was nothing like the photos used in the advert which were obviously 'staged and beautifully lit and photographed'. The photos showed the bed with beautiful scatter cushions and side lamps all in turquoise and furnished. We climbed 3 flights of stairs into a 'sh ...t hole' called Mamo Florence. The host handed over the key, didn't unlock the door but just turned around and ran down the stairs. It was 2 am!! We walked into an unfurnished room. There were two single beds put together under one double duvet but the bed fitted exactly to the walls on either side of it. You had to shift yourself from the bottom of the bed to the pillows on the other end. There was no hanging space, no shelves, no cupboards but a washing machine in the narrow cupboard space. There was no furniture other than a fold-up cube that could become a single bed. There was a tiny fold-out tableand just 2 chairs in the entire apartment. Only one window opened onto a courtyard below that was covered in dead birds that could not escape - feathers everywhere! We switched on the kettle after flying for 24 hours -we needed a cup of tea. All the lights immediately fused!!! We left the next morning distraught, exhausted and ******. We called Booking.com and the person, called Lupa, assured us she would speak to her manager straight away to sort it out.

We have been calling them for 6 months and we keep getting the same 'we will sort it out' answer. It appears that all customer service staff, wherever they sit in the world, are specially trained in the ART Of LYING because they all give the same answers and nothing happens! We had to find and pay for alternative accommodation at a great BnB, with a full English breakfast, in the same street - AT HALF THE PRICE!

If anyone has any idea of how we go about getting a refund and some decent communication with the management of this organization - Booking.com - we would appreciate your advice.

This company should be investigated urgently! Their practices are highly dubious and dishonest.