A COUPLE have been devastated after they arrived at what they thought could be a luxurious lodge - solely to seek out it wasn't what they have been anticipating.
Sebastian Alexander, 33, stated he endured a "vacation from hell" when he and his spouse Amy turned up at their Airbnb lodge in Costa Rica to find it had been deserted nearly two years prior.
The married couple had forked out greater than £1,000 for a 10-day keep at Lodge Casa Blanca in Tamarindo over New 12 months's Eve.
However after they arrived on the finish of December, they discovered the lodge was abandoned and fenced up.
The Airbnb itemizing promised blue skies and a palm tree coated seashore, however Sebastian claims he was as a substitute confronted by a bleak, deserted property.
The couple contacted Airbnb however didn't hear again for 5 days, by which period they'd already been pressured for pay £2,000 on various lodging.
Sebastian, from Hertfordshire, stated: "It actually was a nightmare. It was a kind of holidays from hell conditions.
"Once we obtained there, it was all boarded up. It regarded fairly run down with the fences up and no foliage exterior. It'd simply form of been left there.
"It was actually like a jail camp. You could not get in there, it'd been gutted.
"We regarded on [other websites], in every single place, each single property was absolutely booked. Tamarindo is the place to be for New 12 months in Costa Rica.
"The one different place we may discover was [a large chain hotel] which was £4,700 an evening. It was that insane.
"We journey rather a lot and that is our factor. It has been two years and it was meant to be a pleasant journey to Costa Rica for 3 weeks.
"After the expertise, I do not need to use Airbnb ever once more."
On its web site, Airbnb marketed a classy and well-kept lodge with glorious browsing seashores close by.
The couple could not imagine what they have been seeing after they have been dropped off exterior the 'luxurious lodge'.
Sebastian stated: "The motive force stated 'proper, we're right here' and it was solely from wanting on the photographs and asking the fellows subsequent door [that we found it]. We simply broke down and have been sat within the bar subsequent door.
"We arrived on the boarded up place at about 2pm and we have been like 's**t, it is going to get darkish within the subsequent two hours'. We would have liked to type one thing out.
"We have been sat on the seashore and there are crocodiles in Costa Rica. There are massive indicators in every single place saying 'watch out - crocodiles'.
"Fortunately, the barman subsequent door helped us out. His spouse labored at a lodge up the hill and we managed to ebook someplace for New 12 months's Eve and New 12 months's Day for £400 an evening.
"We stayed there for 2 nights then moved all the way down to the opposite finish of the seashore to one thing that was about £1,200 for eight days.
"We have been within the restaurant subsequent door and the fellows stated 'it is horrible. As quickly as Covid hit, the house owners handed the keys again and it has been vacant ever since'."
'HOLIDAY FROM HELL'
The pair stated they contacted Airbnb as quickly as they found the issue, however that they did not get any help from the corporate.
Sebastian stated: "We contacted Airbnb they usually saved simply closing the chats. We pressed the 'I am in Misery' button to try to get some assist, however nothing materialised. It stated they promised to contact us throughout the hour.
"We did not know the place we have been going, what we have been doing or if we have been going to get our a refund.
"For 10 days we have been simply sat there on this actually costly lodge. We have needed to pay about £1,500 to £2,000 additional that we can't get again.
"We're simply out of pocket actually. We needed to ebook the accommodations final minute so needed to pay a premium.
"Airbnb's authorized workforce got here again and stated 'on account of our phrases and circumstances we are going to refund you your keep and provide you with a token of goodwill in your subsequent keep' as a result of we did not rebook by means of Airbnb.
"We're out of pocket by fairly a considerable sum of money and are usually not very completely happy. You need to rock up on the seashore and simply calm down, however as a substitute we spent days and days transferring accommodations."
The couple stated Airbnb initially refused to supply any compensation in direction of the cash the couple spent on various lodging, which was greater in value because of the last-minute bookings.
However after being contacted by journalists, Airbnb claimed to have supplied 'reimbursement for extra bills' incurred throughout their keep.
Nonetheless, when requested if they've any processes in place to verify in with hosts to see if properties are nonetheless obtainable for the reason that pandemic, Airbnb did not reply the query and easily stated that if visitors discover a host 'unresponsive' on arrival their buyer help workforce is readily available.
A spokesperson for Airbnb stated: "Our unique dealing with of this matter fell beneath the same old excessive requirements we set for ourselves.
"We now have reached out to the visitor to apologise and provide additional help, and have suspended the Host from the platform.
"With greater than 1 billion arrivals up to now, destructive experiences on Airbnb are uncommon, however the place they do occur, we work exhausting to make issues proper and our customer support workforce is readily available 24/7 to assist."
In different Airbnb information, a lady booked lodging for her good friend and was left with a £5,000 invoice after they left burnt cushions and canine poo behind.
And a person was left surprised by a 'tropical' Airbnb in Birmingham for £50 an evening - solely to seek out it is only a tent.
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