Pension An Der Elsterbr¬øcke

I paid €354.00 for a last-minute “deal” on Booking.com for six nights, and left deeply unhappy with the stay and what happened afterward. The accommodation was dirty and looked unfinished in several places, with paint and plaster residue seemingly everywhere. Many of the advertised kitchen items were missing, and the kitchen sink had no hot water. Neither the main entrance nor the bathroom just inside it could be locked. When I raised this with the host, he was combative from the start. He said it wasn't a kitchen for cooking and that I'd have to pay more for a kitchen, that I didn't need locks because it was just him there, and called me a troublemaker, saying nobody else had complained. I later found plenty of negative Booking.com reviews, some years old, about these same issues. I contacted Booking.com customer service right away. They assured me I would get a full refund if the “not-as-described-accommodation” issue couldn't be resolved. The next day, after several appointments nearby, I returned in the late afternoon and found that items in the only lockable area had been disturbed. I'd set up a home office there with sensitive documents and expensive equipment, including laptops. The host had entered that locked private area without my consent or knowledge. I told Booking.com I was leaving immediately. I saw the host outside and recorded our conversation. When I confronted him about entering, he was combative again and threatened to call the Police if I kept harassing him. I called the Police myself so there'd be a report that I left the accommodation in perfect condition, that most of it couldn't be locked, and that the host had entered while I was away without my knowledge. He admitted it to the Police. They were very helpful, recorded all the information and compiled a report. After I left, I posted a negative review on Booking.com. Almost as soon as it appeared, the host texted threats of legal action for defamation and kept harassing me by sending positive reviews he'd screen grabbed from the Internet. He also filed a claim with Booking.com saying I hadn't stayed there, in an effort to get my review removed. I've updated the Police about the harassment after my review, and the next step is Small Claims Court. The host refuses to refund me, and Booking.com says it can’t or won’t help because it's “just a facilitator between host & guest”. In response to the host's perfectly damning reply: I didn't book the wrong apartment. I booked what I needed based on the Booking.com listing, but the description doesn't match reality. That's 100% the host's responsibility, and weeks later it still hasn't been updated to fix the discrepancies. It's good to see the host clarify that renovations had just taken place. Clearly they weren't finished, and no cleaning had been done before the accommodation was rented out. Is that normal? Yes, I want my money back, as any reasonable consumer would after paying in full for services that weren't delivered. Read the negative reviews, look at the pictures, and choose wisely.