Payment Taken but Booking Cancelled – No Support from Booking.com

I made a booking via Booking.com for Radisson Hotel Cape Town Fores**** on 28 April and completed the full payment successfully. Everything appeared fine at first. However, when I later checked my Booking.com account, the reservation showed as cancelled, with no upcoming trips reflected, despite my money being deducted from my bank account. I contacted the hotel directly and was informed that:

They have no record of my booking They did not receive any payment They were also told that the card used was “inactive,” which is incorrect, as the payment went through successfully

I have proof of payment from Booking.com as well as confirmation from my bank, yet resolving this has been extremely frustrating. Attempting to get help from Booking.com has been almost impossible, with no clear assistance or resolution provided. This experience has been stressful and disappointing. I would not recommend using this platform unless customer support and payment issues are seriously improved.