A British tourist who thought he was staying in an Airbnb house in Amsterdam was shocked to find it was just a shipping container by the side of the road.
Ben Speller, from London, was visiting the Netherlands to watch football and had paid £100 for the one night stay, which he had booked on May 8.
But despite the ad describing a ‘clean house in Amsterdam with private bathroom’, he discovered the accommodation was just a bed in a container with a gate attached.
The host had messaged Ben on his way to the “house” to let him know there would be no running water.
He asked if he wanted to cancel, but Ben refused, thinking it would be too late to make other arrangements.
He said The online journey of the sun: ‘When we arrived, we drove past the container three times in the taxi because I couldn’t believe it could be that.
“I then checked the listing again and he had changed it to a container house.”
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Ben was then forced to check into a £230 hotel instead and decided to share his story on social media, joking that he got his money’s worth in “comic value”.
One person replied, “Well, at least it’s a self-contained container.”
While another laughed: “Call this five star in Liverpool.”
Ben said Airbnb has since reimbursed him for the room – despite the host’s refusal to do so.
The company also paid him for his £230 hotel stay.
The shipping container was then towed away by the city, Dutch news site AT5 reported.
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “We have removed the host and listings from our platform. Misrepresented or fraudulent listings have no place on our platform, and our team is working hard to constantly strengthen our defenses and stay ahead of bad actors.
“Over half a billion people have traveled on Airbnb, and with over 2 million guests checking into an Airbnb every night, issues like this are incredibly rare.”
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