A woman who had booked a “glamorous villa” in Bali on Airbnb arrived to find an eerie, overgrown abandoned villa.
Bree Robertson, from New Zealand, had booked the rental for one night, after reading some reviews of the place, to celebrate her first anniversary of moving to the island with her travel companion.
The listing said the rental villa had an infinity pool, on-site restaurant, and rainforest views.
In a TikTok video that now has over 4.4million views, Ms Robertson said the villa cost her $80 (£41) for the night.
However, when she and her partner arrived at the property, the villa was completely abandoned, with shattered windows and a swimming pool overgrown with algae.
“When you book an Airbnb in Bali and it’s an abandoned building…broken windows…no one home,” says the voiceover of her video.
“The place was $80 and had good reviews. Airbnb also said the host had a one hour response time so I assumed they were always open,” Ms Robertson added in the comments.
The restaurant was closed, windows smashed, and there were piles of chairs outside the building, and there wasn’t a single person on the property.
“All we could do was laugh. We were so exhausted and so tired. It was the perfect end to a not great day,” Ms Robertson said. Initiated.
To make matters worse, she added below the video, “It started raining right after and we had no sleeping bags.”
The video has since raised many questions from many TikTok users who wonder how an active Airbnb listing could end up being an abandoned building.
“You just booked without communicating with the host?” said one commenter, to which Ms Robertson replied: ‘Ahaha, that’s usually how AirBnb works.’
The listing included photos of the villa before it was abandoned.
“It was sad to see because it was definitely the place in the pictures, just in bad shape!” Ms. Robertson commented.
“It looked like a beautiful place and had previous reviews, I’ll know for the next one,” she added.
“At least you can stay as long as you want I guess,” another follower joked.
“Move in, fix it and live there,” another suggested.
Ms. Robertson flagged the listing, which was taken down by Airbnb; the pair also received a refund.
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “We were disappointed to learn of this experience and provided our support to the guest at the time, including a full refund.
“We hold hosts to high standards and the listing is no longer on the platform. In the rare event that something doesn’t go as planned upon arrival for a stay, our Community Support Team is on hand 24/7 to help.
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