AVOID MUSEUM 1783, VENICE

I made a booking via booking.com on 6 Nov 2019 for a hotel called Museum 1783 in Venice at EUR170. Free cancellation policy before 8 Nov 12am Venice time. I realised my friend made another booking so we were double booked and I cancelled the booking at 1am Venice time on 9 Nov, exactly 1 hour too late for free cancellation. I immediately informed Booking.com as well as the hotel and kindly requested a refund. They did not respond, only after the second request on 11 Nov did I receive feedback from the hotel in Italian that they will not refund as it is their policy! 1 hour too late and not even open for negotiation. Then when I tried to rebook my cancellation, the hotel was fully booked for those dates so they double money! Booking.com advised they will refund their cost of EUR40, which I received back. EUR170 is a lot of money for South African currency and I find this attitude disgusting to rip people off.