A woman booked an Airbnb in Bali, only to find the listing she planned to stay in was actually an abandoned villa.
Bree Robertson, originally from New Zealand, quit her nine-to-five job in June. Since then, she has been living on the Indonesian island and documenting her travels under the TikTok username @atypical_adventure.
Last week, Robertson shared on TikTok that she had booked an Airbnb listing in East Bali as a “romantic getaway” for herself and her partner. The lodging was $80 a night and had some great reviews, according to Robertson. The listing on the Airbnb website also said the host had a response time of an hour, leading her to believe that the rental was still active.
Robertson posted a video of the abandoned building to TikTok on 16 July, and it quickly gained more than three million views on the app. In the short clip, the villa looks completely desolate with overgrown brush and broken windows.
“When you book an Airbnb in Bali and it’s an abandoned building,” Robertson said in the TikTok. “Completely overgrown, no one home, smashed windows”.
The viral video raised many questions from fellow TikTok users wondering how an active Airbnb listing could turn out to be abandoned. Robertson clarified in the comments section that she “assumed it was still open” because the website said the host had a response time of an hour.
The listing also included photos of the villa before it had been abandoned. “It was sad to see because it was definitely the place in the photos, just all in disrepair!” Robertson commented. Luckily, Robertson reported the abandoned property to Airbnb’s support team and thankfully received a refund.
“Guess it’s yours now,” joked one TikTok user.
“Move in, fix it up and live there,” said someone else.
“Such a shame that it looks like a wonderful place if still running,” a third person wrote. “Many places in Bali shut down because pandemic. I hope airbnb update their listing”.
Others offered advice to Robertson for booking rentals in the future, such as asking for live feed video of the listing’s current condition, and checking for recent reviews no older than one year.
In an interview with Stuff, Robertson explained that the Airbnb listing was “super misleading” because of the host response time indicated on the website. However, an Airbnb spokesperson confirmed to The Independent that “the listing is no longer on the platform”.
“We were disappointed to learn about this experience and provided our support to the guest at the time, including a full refund,” they said. “We hold Hosts up to high standards and the listing is no longer on the platform. In the rare event something isn’t as expected on arrival for a stay, our Community Support team is on hand 24/7 to help.”
The Independent has contacted Bree Robertson for comment.
