Vacationer unable to enter his own rental through Booking.com

Q. I recently used Booking.com to reserve an apartment in Menaggio, Italy, for two nights. I decided to use Booking.com because of its reputation and the property’s positive reviews. Before I left, I noticed the ratings for this place had tanked, so I nervously reached out to Booking.com, letting them know my concern to make sure that they would stand behind the booking. They said that they would.

My concern was that many people were arriving and weren’t able to get into the place, which forced them to book elsewhere — basically, a fraud. A Booking.com representative assured me that they had been in contact with the host, and everything would be fine.

As expected, I arrived and could not get access to the place, although I tried for a number of hours by using all the phone numbers given to me. I immediately contacted Booking.com but did not receive a response until days later.