Studios Maria

The Google Maps pin is wrong, and the owner knows it but hasn’t helped guests find the right place. I’d booked there and was trying to drop my bag at reception before catching a bus, part of a day planned around several connections to see the island. I called, and her mother tried her best despite speaking little English. The host didn’t answer my questions about where the property was after I told her I was standing at the Maps location and it wasn’t there. No corrected pin or message with directions meant I missed my first bus, which disrupted the whole day. I suggested she message guests to explain the Maps location is wrong and direct them to the next street. Instead, she insisted I should have checked the Booking.com map and blamed me. I was very upset, since the whole mess could have been avoided. Later, another traveler and I arrived around the same time and were told to wait five minutes. After at least half an hour, delayed by traffic and picking up kids, the host finally came home. She said Booking.com had cancelled my booking and asked if I’d received the notifications, saying they’d been messaging and calling all day. I was traveling without roaming and only had WiFi, so I hadn’t received messages. She said she was on the phone with them, told me to wait, then said there was a room after all. When I checked my Booking.com messages, I saw they hadn’t cancelled my booking as I’d assumed. In all my many bookings with them, Booking.com had never cancelled one. The host had cancelled it, then said that was a mistake and that a room was available. I told her she wasn’t communicating clearly: when she first arrived, she said the booking was cancelled, so I thought I’d need to find another room. She replied that she didn’t like my attitude and didn’t want me to stay. Someone was on speakerphone to Booking.com the whole time, though I don’t know why. After waiting an hour for a room, I chose not to stay. I wasn’t comfortable with someone who blamed me for failing to find the property because her directions were unclear, then blamed me again and cancelled my booking because I was upset about not getting proper directions.