How to Handle Booking.com Property Cancellations & Get Refunded Properly

I made a New Year’s reservation through Booking.com for two accommodations in Pristina, Kosovo: “Urban Nest” and “Private Apartments”. Shortly after making my bookings, one of the properties told me that a window had been broken and they would be doing maintenance during those dates, and the other property—after receiving payment—asked me to cancel the reservation because “we rent monthly”.

In both cases I stated that I did not want to cancel my reservation and asked for an alternative solution, but I was simply told that I had to cancel. I attempted to reach customer service at Booking.com, but I could not find any phone number or other contact channel. This situation caused both a waste of time and real distress.

The total amount of my reservations was approximately $116 USD (converted from ~€100) and I paid by credit card. My booking reference is 6666858655. I urge Booking.com to stop working with firms that cancel bookings using false excuses like this, and to prevent user–victimization. I don’t want to deal with problems like this all the time.