Booking.com Forced to Pay for Unusable Accommodation in Macedonia

Hello. I traveled to Macedonia with a group of 6 for business. I made a cancelable reservation for 2 rooms at Hotel Square in Skopje through Booking for one night. The last free cancellation date was April 26th. On April 28th, the hotel messaged me, stating that their elevators only go up to a certain floor and we'd have to use stairs beyond that. When I expressed my concerns about this, mentioning our heavy luggage and unsuitability for it, the hotel assured they would assist. Even if they did, we couldn't afford to wait for one person to unload bags for six early in the morning. So, we moved to another hotel and requested a free cancellation from the first. Despite informing them after the cancellation deadline, they refused, and shortly after, I received a notification of a charge on my credit card. When I contacted Booking, they simply said the hotel refused a refund. Paying for a service I didn't receive is absurd. Either refund me or cover the higher cost of the hotel we stayed at, which exceeds the Booking reservation fee.