The Licious Holiday ****mer - Ballito

In September 2024, my husband and I started looking at reservations for our up-and-coming holiday in December 2024 to Ballito. Little did we know that a happy time away from the hustle of JHB would turn into a nightmare.

The night of the 19th of December 2024 my husband received a message from the property owner of The Licious stating " Sorry to have to do this to you but unfortunately, I have rented out the unit on a month-to-month basis and have double booked, please contact booking.com to arrange alternative accommodation: I'm sorry, we need to do what!!!!!!!

I then get onto the phone with booking.com whom say we can accommodate you, but you will need to pay an additional R15 000 to stay at said alternative hotel/apartment. Of course, my answer was no. we have already paid R15 000 to stay at "The Licious" and now we need to fork out another R15K I think not, we do however get a second option of a place for R17 000 which we need to also now pay.....and the best of all, it's not even in Ballito...this was also not an option.

So, we tell Booking. Com and the Property "The Licious" we are going to cancel the booking and we would like to request a refund which we get told 10-15 days...but in the meantime the property owner has said he will pay us back in 3 days...that comes and goes, we get a message, "Sorry bank doesn't allow immediate payments (*** story), then "Sorry I was in an accident, I will pay soon" then DEAD SILENCE.

I have now spoken to Booking.com on numerous occasions and still been pushed from pillar to post.

First Call: We will Cancel your booking and arrange a refund (19 December 2024) Second Call: Please advise if you have been able to reach the property owner for a refund...answer: yes, he will pay over in 10-15 day - 20 December 2024) Third Call: 15 days have passed can you tell what the issue is. We now need to send booking.com a statement proving that we paid them in SEPTEMBER Already, so that they can give the property owner 5days additional days to pay...fine done. Fourth Call: we have contacted the property owner which has sent a formal consent to Booking.com stating he will pay us by the 3rd of February 2025 only as his account has been put on hold and can't make payments nor receive payments (*** story again). We have now been told to send yet another official bank statement to Booking.com so that if the property owner doesn't pay on the 3rd of Feb, they will then take over and make payment which will then take a further 7-12 working days to reflect into my husband's account.

At this point I am at a loss of words and can't tell if these issues will be resolved or if we will even see that money that was spent on a place that we didn't event get to stay in.

SO, WARNING TO PEOLPLE WHO WANT TO BOOK THE LICIOUS ON BOOKING.COM (DONT DO IT) ITS A F....****!!!!!!!!!!!