Bookings.com is clearly not a reliable platform.

On the 10th of December, I made a reservation on bookings.com for a 2 night stay at Abalone Hotel and Villas in Paternoster. The booking was paid for in full, and I received a confirmation email ( I am not questioning the authenticity of this email). The booking was for the 15th of December to the 17 of December. I arrived at Abalone Hotel and Villas on the 15th around 15h30, the hotel staff told me that they could not see my reservation on their system. They made several attempts to confirm the reservation with Bookings.com via telephone, and on two accounts (the very few times we were able to get hold of them), the representative at Bookings.com also could not confirm the reservation on their side and gave us a run around. I was told by Abalone staff that I would need to resolve the mattter with Bookings.com myself but they would also help too, and provisionally I will be offered a room to wait in while this is being resolved, failure to which i would need to pay extra. I was obviously not happy with this arrangemnent, I tried myself to call bookings.com but could not reach them. Abalone stuff messaged booking.com via their online platform (using my profile) to gain clarity. In the meantime after several hours of crying and getting frustrated I decided to call the bank to ask that the transaction be disputed, as the hotel staff made it clear but in not so many words that this would be my problem to resolve (as i made the booking with bookings.com and not directly with them) - this was disappointing to say the least because the hotel is obviously partnerd with bookings.com. I told them I will be leaving, and that I need them to give me a confirmation in writing that they cannot see my booking on their system - which they did (eventually after literally have to fight them to put this in writing for me) - in the absence of this in writing, it is just my word against the hotel, isn't it?. 4 hours later with no help, I was on my way back home. Around 7pm I received an email from booking,com claiming that my booking is valid and the hotel staff should see it in their inbox ( I am questioning the validity of the said email) - this was too late as I had given up and was already heading home (2 hour drive). I did not hear back from the hotel. Just so you know, you have ruined my birthday. PS to the reader: should your reservation go south, good luck in reaching Bookings.com for assistance