A DREAM family vacation in Thailand turned into an Airbnb nightmare – and handed some desperate travelers a few crucial life lessons.
Alicia Walters, one half of the Passport Couple who document their global voyages to thousands of social media followers, wanted to treat her parents to the vacation of a lifetime.
Alicia and Nate were shocked when they found the state of the apartment they booked in Thailand two years ago[/caption]
Exposed wires in the swimming pool shocked the American family who were dreaming of enjoying the trip of a lifetime[/caption]
Alicia’s parents flew from the United States to meet their daughter in Thailand – but the trip was a disaster because of a dodgy Airbnb rental[/caption]
DREAM TURNED INTO A NIGHTMARE
The group arrived in South East Asia with high hopes of a modern property, resplendent with a swimming pool, lovely BBQ area and more.
The reality, however, was a stomach-churning mixture of dangerous exposed wires, mold in the fridge, and food ground into the carpet.
“We checked in late at night after a long flight, so we didn’t notice much,” she told The U.S. Sun.
“But the next morning, it was like we woke up in a completely different place.
“We honestly didn’t feel safe. The place looked like it had been used for parties and never properly cleaned or repaired afterward.
“And it smelled bad. It just wasn’t somewhere you’d want your parents staying.”
Along with boyfriend Nate, she splurged on what she thought was a sumptuous villa to treat her mom and dad in April 2023.
But to their horror, they discovered the photos which tempted Alicia in the first place were, in fact, from a renovation completed over a decade ago.
The shocking state of the supposedly luxury lodgings even surprised seasoned, experienced travelers such as Californians Alicia and Nate, who are currently enjoying the time of their lives in Albania.
The next day, upon realizing the horror situation at the “gross” accommodation, was spent trying to contact Airbnb to figure out a refund.
That, however, meant the whole first day of what was supposed to be a trip of a lifetime for her parents — who had traveled all the way from the U.S. — was completely ruined.
In the end, they were required to stay a second night, for a total of two nights at $646 ($323 per night).
A refunded $1,270 was issued for the unused nights, but the bad taste remained.
“It still felt like a loss given how much of our trip was affected,” Alicia added.
A happy birthday balloon was found in the pool, indicating the property hadn’t been properly cleaned[/caption]
FIGHT FOR HELP
Although Alicia was able to reach a resolution with the hosting company, it was a struggle, claiming “they were no help at first.”
“It felt like we were completely on our own,” she moaned.
Airbnb responded in length to The U.S. Sun, stressing they “took action” against the hosts for falling short of company standards.
“At the time these experiences were reported to us, we provided support through refunds, rebooking, and coupons,” a spokesperson, who also claimed the situation was resolved within 48 hours, said.
“All hosts must meet Airbnb’s quality standards, which cover areas like listing accuracy and cleanliness, and in the rare event of an issue, our 24/7 customer support is on hand to help.”
Alicia says the financial hit wasn’t the most troubling issue — it was more that the “special” trip for mom and dad had quickly morphed into “one of the worst travel experiences we’ve ever had.”
After finally leaving the rotten property, they attempted to book a new Airbnb, but that listing required host approval.
That’s not uncommon. The problem, however, was that the owner was on a flight and uncontactable.
With options running low, they booked into a hotel for two nights.
Airbnb later issued them a $128 relocation credit, but Alicia says it barely “scratched the surface” of what they went through.
“Everything about that place was deceptive,” she said. “The photos were probably over ten years old.
“Nothing looked like what we saw online. It felt like a scam — and we’re still shocked that Airbnb allowed it to be listed at that price.”
Airbnb did finally provide a full refund and the vacation wasn’t totally obliterated.
AWFUL EXPERIENCES
Sadly, Alicia’s ordeal is far from unique.
While in Albania, the couple arrived at a rental apartment, where the keys were left in a pitch dark parking garage.
The “super sketchy” place was full of graffiti and flashing lights and, upon entering both balconies were covered in scaffolding and had construction workers walking by.
Another supposedly pristine place in Malaysia had a used bar of soap in the bathroom, holes in the sheet and the couple’s key with their room number was just left in the lobby for anyone to grab and potentially steal all their belongings.
There are other, well documented, horror stories.
In Paris, a Canadian tourist made headlines after discovering hidden cameras in the bathroom and bedroom of her rental in 2023.
The host had secretly installed recording devices throughout the property. Airbnb banned the host — but only after international media picked up the story.
And in London, a woman showed up to her booked flat in 2021 to find it occupied by squatters.
She was threatened at the door and forced to flee, spending the night in a hotel. Airbnb eventually removed the listing, but gave no further explanation.
These troubling experiences are fueling a growing concern among some holidaymakers about how thoroughly rental online marketplaces monitor listings on their website.
Airbnb maintain that in April 2023, they updated their hosting quality system to take a more “targeted, holistic approach to identifying listings that may not meet our community’s expectations for quality stays”.
“So far, we’ve removed over 400,000 listings and continue to evaluate every listing after each stay to help ensure they provide the best possible experience for guests,” the spokesperson added in a lengthy email to The U.S. Sun.
Alicia and Nate certainly learned some important lessons the hard way.
They warn fellow adventure seekers to “think twice” when seeing properties that look too good to be true.
“I’m not saying I’ll never use Airbnb again,” she said. “But I’ll never trust the photos.”
“We have made improvements to our customer service, including updates so when guests message us, we are able to better match them with the best agents to resolve their specific issue, faster,” countered Airbnb. “We have seen a reduction in customer service issue rates and credit card chargeback rates, while guest net promoter scores have improved.”
The initial photos looked very promising, yet the reality was anything but[/caption]
