Booking.com Refused Refund After Family Tragedy And Failed Cancellation

I made a reservation through Booking.com for the “Penthouse downtown Appleton Wisconsin, Chase building” in Appleton, Wisconsin, for the dates June 19 to June 22, under reservation number 5566421132. I paid a total of $687 by card at the time of booking, which was made last Wednesday around 2 p.m. Unfortunately, my brother was in a serious car accident and passed away the next morning. Because of this tragedy, I needed to cancel my stay. On the evening of June 15, I contacted the host through the Booking.com messaging system to explain the situation and request a cancellation. They told me they would check with their operations team and get back to me. Later, I received a message that my money would not be refunded due to the “within 7 days” rule, and when I explained that I was unable to find where to cancel, they simply sent me back to the same page I had already tried. During this time, I was told that there is 24/7 messaging and that I could call for any needs. Both my sister and I tried to find any option to cancel the reservation, but we could not locate a proper way to do it on the site. I also called the phone number listed, but the call would not go through, so I was not able to reach anyone by phone. Because of these issues, I could not complete the cancellation when I first tried, and by the time they responded, they said I was too close to the check-in date and not entitled to a refund, even though I had attempted to cancel earlier. Given that I reached out in good faith as soon as this tragic situation occurred and that I was unable to cancel due to technical and communication issues, I find it very unfair that I am left with a total loss of $687. I kindly request that Booking.com and the property review this case as an exception and provide at least a partial refund, and ideally a full refund of the $687 charged. I am sharing this so that my case can be handled with understanding and so that other guests in emergency situations do not experience the same difficulty in canceling.