A group of French friends were left shocked when they arrived at what should have been the luxury $7,000 villa they'd booked for their two-week holiday in Croatia, only to find nothing but wasteland.
Parisian Chloé Melin, 22, and her 11 friends travelled to Hvar on Sunday, excited for what they thought would be an idyllic seaside vacation.
They thought they'd successfully booked a villa through Booking.com for €6,240 ($6,907), but it turned out not to exist.
Initially, the friends presumed they had the wrong address so they went to ask neighbors and nearby shop workers.
In doing so, they learned that the same thing had happened to some other tourists in July. According to Melin, Booking.com knew about this but didn't do anything about it, Le Parisien reports.
Melin said they felt "completely humiliated."
In a screengrab shared by Melin on Twitter of the villa's listing, it was advertised as being five-star with a pool, hot tub, pergola, terrace, and outdoor kitchen.
The group immediately tried to call the supposed owner using the contact number provided, but no one picked up.
According to Melin, the "owner" had previously been responding to their messages, but shortly after their payment had gone through, about a week before the group's arrival, they had fallen silent.
The group tried contacting Booking.com next, speaking to various people but not getting anywhere for over five hours.
@bookingcom Arrivés en Croatie ce jour 18/08/19. La villa que nous avons réservé et payé 6420€ pour un groupe de 10 personnes, située sur l’île de Hvar s’avère être une arnaque. Après avoir contacté le service client et s’être fait raccrocher au nez une première fois,
À la porte d’un terrain vague quand on est arrivé à l’adresse donné par @bookingcom suite à 5h d’appel avec le service client de @bookingcom aucune aide ni geste commercial.
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Melin says someone from the company even told them it wasn't the company's fault if they slept outside.
They were ultimately offered a reimbursement for the money within 10 working days, according to their tweets.
@bookingcom Arrived in Croatia this day 18/08/19. The villa that we booked and paid 6420€ for a group of 10 people, located on the island of Hvar turns out to be a scam.
After contacting customer service and getting hung up a first time, the only offer is a refund within 10 business days, or booking another villa at our expense. So we find ourselves in Split without housing and without solution!
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However, Melin believes they may never have received this response had she and her friend Julie not documented the whole experience on Twitter, which duly went viral.
"Villa Felipa" has now been removed from the property rental platform, and Booking.com has apologized.
"Because we live for our customers and are super invested in helping to connect them with incredible travel experiences, in the very rare instance that something goes unexpectedly wrong at an accommodation, our dedicated customer service team is on hand 24/7 to support in every way we can," a spokesperson for Booking.com told Insider.
"We are very sorry for the difficulties that this group encountered. As this is not the experience we want for any of our customers, we have provided a full refund for their original reservation, are covering all relocation expenses and have offered an additional amount as a gesture of goodwill."
The company added: "This property has also been removed from our site. We successfully facilitate hundreds of thousands of bookings every day that result in great stay experiences for our customers all over the world and we are committed to that mission."
