The property (a private apartment) was not what we expected and while the location was as advertised the apartment itself was cheaply decorated its price point, parking was a nightmare and the nearly impossible approach to the property within the city of Toledo, Span made moving luggage in and out a herculean effort. One of the beds was completely broken and the only bathroom sink was totally clogged. Adding to insult, there were ants everywhere. The day after our stay I was classy enough to call the property owner via WhatsApp where she had established contact a few days prior to our stay. I now realize that she had tricked me as she should've communicated via the "Booking.com" app. After 1 night's stay we left the property for a nearby hotel and never asked for a refund. In fact I told the owner that she could re-book the remaining 3 nights as we would not be returning. We never once asked for a refund and the owner was free to keep the $900 USD we had paid for 4 nights. We had intended on leaving a review simply describing how difficult the parking and luggage situation was since in involved steep hills and steep stairs. When we returned from our trip and to our surprised confusion we were met with e-mails from booking.com informing us that since we had been "no-shows" that we might in fact incur a "no-show" fee. This mind you is after paying in full and in advance. We contacted booking.com to have the error corrected but they told us that the property owner had cancelled our stay on her end and marked us as a "no-show" and that only the owner could rectify. This was a lie designed to block a review of the property. We sent booking.com screenshots of communication with the property owner, pictures of the inside of the property and even screenshots of recent communications in which the owner agrees to set the record straight with booking.com. All we wanted was to leave a review which is a privilege not afforded to "no-shows". Booking wrote several times claiming that what we had sent as evidence did not constitute sufficient proof of us "showin-up" only evidence that we had been there. A contradiction in terms if there ever was one. How can one be inside of a pre-paid property and at the same time "not-show". A mind-boggling policy on the part of booking.com as I cynically suspect they too want to avoid bad reviews of their listings at the expense of their paying customers. After 7 loyal years, I will never be using Booking.com again and will ask our New York City friends, neighbors and colleagues to avoid this service since the reviews are completely bogus due to perverted policies.
