Booking.com Made Me Wait 4 Hours for Check-In and Refused to Help in 40°C Heat

I booked a hotel in the Livonia area of Portugal, and when I made the reservation, I didn’t notice the check-in time. To my surprise, the check-in was set for 5:00 p.m., something I have never encountered in all my years of travel, and I’m 56 years old, staying in hotels daily. On the day of my arrival, I was exhausted, the outside temperature was too high, and I was forced to sit in my car for hours, as the property wouldn’t allow entry until 5:00 p.m. I contacted Booking.com for support or to request a cancellation without fees, given the circumstances, but the customer service representative didn’t seem interested in helping me. It felt like they were more focused on protecting the hotel’s policy rather than considering the needs of their customer. Booking.com is supposed to uphold its own policies to safeguard travelers, but that wasn’t my experience. Instead, it seemed like they prioritized the property owner over me. I find it unreasonable to be left waiting for four hours to check in, and I’m unsure how to proceed, as this situation feels unacceptable to me.