A group of friends looking forward to a weekend in Cardiff were left disappointed with the apartment they got. Laura Newcombe from Llanelli and her three friends had booked the apartment in February ahead of Saturday, June 4, during the Jubilee weekend.
According to Laura, who booked the accommodation through online travel agency Booking.com, it was listed as a two-bedroom apartment. Photographs showed it offered two bedrooms with double beds, modern décor and a balcony overlooking the city.
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The group of friends were told there would be parking available, and the cost of the apartment came at £300.00 for one night. " This was our first weekend away after Covid," Laura explained to WalesOnline.
"As mums, we find that we don't always get time off, so we were looking forward to celebrating the Jubilee Weekend in Cardiff together. We had saved towards this weekend since February and were excited about staying in this beautiful apartment advertised on their website."
However, on the morning the group of friends were set to travel from west Wales to the capital, not all was as it seemed. "On the morning of the Saturday, I had not received any information from the host. I sent a text message asking how we could access the apartment, and a couple of minutes later I received a text giving me directions and telling me a key was under the mat.
"Following the directions given, we arrived at the accommodation at 3.45pm. We were told to park in parking spaces 11 and 12, but when we got there there were cars already parked in these spaces and leaving us nowhere to park.
"We then found that the accommodation was a one-bedroom apartment and looked nothing like the photographs on their website. The apartment smelled of stale smoke and was dirty.
"The facilities were extremely poor with grubby bedding, only two towels left for four adults to use, not enough crockery - there were four bowls and one plate, no coffee machine or complimentary coffee, there was no balcony and the keypad on the door was broken.
"There was a worn out sofa bed in the lounge that was stained and no additional bedding had been supplied, for example duvet covers and pillow cases. There was a stark difference between the apartment we got and the apartment we had booked via the website."
Laura rang the host four times, but received no answer. She then rang Booking.com's helpline and got through to a customer service representative called Joyce, who was based in Singapore. According to Laura, Joyce also tried to get in contact with the host but received no answers. Joyce then emailed the host.
"At this point the host sent me a text to tell me that there had been a mistake with the booking, and he had our request as two beds and not two bedrooms," Laura said. "I didn't understand how this mistake could have happened, as their website and our booking clearly showed we had booked a two-bedroom apartment with a double bed in each room.
"He then advised us that there was a sofa bed in the lounge but as I had already pointed out the sofa bed was dirty, and we had no bedding. Meanwhile, Joyce offered to find us alternative accommodation but told us we would have to pay for this ourselves and Booking.com would refund us within 15 days.
"I thought this was unacceptable. We had been put in a situation through no fault of our own and had already paid Booking.com for accommodation. To make matters worse, the alternative accommodation offered to us was in Weston-Super-Mare, which is 52 miles away and over an hour's drive from Cardiff."
After much deliberation, Laura and her friends had to make the difficult decision to cancel their weekend away and return back to Llanelli the same night. She explained: "We were stuck in Cardiff with nowhere to go. We had not received the accommodation we had booked, we had no money for alternative accommodation in Cardiff and the only accommodation Booking.com could offer us was a hotel 52 miles away, which we would have to pay for ourselves.
"We could not stay in the apartment as it had no facilities for two of our party. Being four women, we did not feel safe since the key pad was broken and the key had been left under the mat, meaning that anybody could have taken it at some point and made a copy of it.
"Not only had our weekend been ruined, but we had also spent money on buying food to prepare and eat at the apartment prior to our night out in Cardiff, plus the cost of fuel travelling to the city. With no money and no support from Booking.com we were stranded in Cardiff and our only option was to get in our car and drive home."
Following up on their complaint, Laura says that Booking.com has agreed to refund for the apartment. But Laura is concerned over the fact that the apartment is still being advertised on their website.
She said: "I am just very disappointed with Booking.com. It was an implied in the term of our contract that the accommodation would be as advertised on their website, but this was not the case - it's false advertising.
"To make matters worse, this apartment is still being advertised on their website, despite us highlighting to their customer service representative that this is false advertising and fraudulent. I believe that this is a scam and am concerned that other customers will be a victim of the host and his 'modern apartment'."
In response, a spokesperson for Booking.com said: "Our primary aim at Booking.com is to enable smooth and enjoyable travel experiences. We are disappointed that the property did not meet expectations and have since apologised to the customer.
"We will be covering all expenses incurred, as well as offering a goodwill gesture for the inconvenience caused, and will be working with the partner to ensure this does not happen again."
