Hostenga

We recently booked an apartment in Saint-Gervais-les-Bains, France through booking.com with the Hostenga agency for a stay from January 1 to January 6,2024. Unfortunately, our arrival on New Year's day turned into a nightmare. Despite prior communication, there was no one to hand us the keys, leaving us waiting for hours in the evening in a freezing parking lot. Multiple attempts to contact the agency by phone, messages and email went unanswered. As it was getting late and with no alternative, we had to drive back down into the valley to secure a last-minute hotel room at IbisHotel in Passy, incurring an unexpected expense.
The next day, after talking to a number of helpful local people living in the area around the apartment, I managed to get a direct phonenumber of - luckily - the correct person who manages a couple of apartments in the same complex. We finally got everything sorted and the key in the afternoon of January 2,2024. At no point did we receive an explanation or excuses for the events.
They don't reply to emails, but as a reply to my (bad) booking.com review, they now claim that I had not paid for the reservation and it was cancelled. I do have two emails from Hostenga confirming receipt of the payments and the reservation on 31/12/2023.
I had booked the apartment with Hostenga through booking.com on 31/12. Hostenga refused my creditcard payment through booking and sent 2 emails to ask for payment through their own platform: one for the rental fee (which was already 20 euros more than the fee advertised on Booking, that should have been a red flag!) and one for a deposit of 300 euros. I paid both the rental fee and the deposit in full by creditcard on 31/12/2023. For both the rental fee payment and the deposit reservation I have received confirmation by email from Hostenga on 31/12/2023.
For a company with hospitality as their core business, that is beyond atrocious to leave a family out in the cold and then even victim blaming and lying about it.

An experience I do not wish on anyone, as a traveler I would not recommend booking with Hostenga ever again!
As an owner I would never let Hostenga manage my properties, it will reflect badly on the quality of your accomodation!