**** accommodation by booking.com

We booked the Cape star hotel in Gordon's bay through booking .com and 2 days before the stay we received an email requesting R250 for the key, when we arrived at the hotel it was a to let and a neighbor told us it was a **** we were the 4th group that came there for the same reason. Problem is booking. Com didn't tell us to look for an alternative place until we waisted money by calling them and after their inquiry for the place they told us to pay again for an alternative stay which was from where we were and in a very poor area and it was already very dark