It is more like an AirBnB type of apartment that is bookable from Hotel.com. With this setup, you could encounter the similar problems with AirBnB owners or the property management companies, e.g. could not get in, could not get hold of the owner or the manager, etc.
Readings the customer's reviews is probably the most important way to avoid this kind of situations. If there is no or very few reviews, better find an another one.
