Booking.com Canceled My Athens Apartment and Left Me Paying More for a Worse Option

I’m incredibly disappointed with how Booking.com handled my reservation for Beautiful Elegant Apartment Next to Monastiraki (confirmation #4667002429), which I booked on March 13 for the Ramadan Bayram holiday in Athens. It’s already hard to find a clean, well-rated place at a reasonable price during this time, so I was thrilled to secure this 75m² apartment with a perfect 10/10 rating and 100% free cancellation.

Then, out of nowhere, on March 23, Booking.com emailed me saying the property could no longer accommodate my stay and canceled my reservation without offering a proper equivalent. Instead, they proposed a much smaller 27m² lower-rated property, saying they’d cover a €25 price difference. That day I couldn’t even reach anyone for support.

On March 24, a rep finally contacted me, agreed that I was right, and then an hour later offered another totally unrelated place—this time with a much lower rating of 8.3—and said they’d cover up to €95.5. I had no time to wait anymore with my trip on March 29, so I booked a new place myself, but it cost significantly more, and now Booking.com refuses to pay the full difference.

They also told me the refund from the canceled booking would take up to 15 days—even though I had nothing to do with the cancellation. Why am I being penalized for their failure?

I demand Booking.com fully reimburse me for the price difference caused by their last-minute cancellation. I did everything right, and they left me scrambling, overpaying, and without proper support.