You’re heading overseas next summer for a much-needed vacation, and you’re nothing short of excited. You’ve made your plans, and you’ve even reserved the apartment you’re going to stay in. Life seemed perfect.
But then everything just fell apart. For one, your apartment reservation site drops a bomb upon you. For two, your booking has been cancelled.
And for three, four and five; your refund’s looking hopelessly out of reach, attempts to contact the person in charge are failing miserably and…
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There was never such an apartment in the first place.
Sounds like a nightmare? It sure does. But if you thought that it’s just that, a nightmare…
Think again.
Ghost Apartment
A Malaysian man booked a holiday through popular travel site Booking.com, only to find out that the apartment in question never existed in the first place.
Shell-shocked, he then took to Facebook to warn others about the scam.
But before we continue, let’s just go through a very quick backstory.
It started well enough
Having wanted to visit the shopping district in Myeong-dong in Seoul, he looked up Booking.com for some appropriate apartments that he could stay in during the time period.
And that, he certainly did. A particular apartment, named Cynosure Studio, caught his eye, and he promptly reserved two rooms for eight nights.
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Incidentally, the stay cost some RM 4,760 (S$1,576).
Despite the trip still being months away, the host, Eric, contacted him for payment services.
Which is kind of weird, since from what I understood, the host or hotel doesn’t contact the guest directly. But anyways.
Maurice complied. Later on, he received the confirmation of payment via email.
So far, things were going well.
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Pity there’s an emphasis on the so far.
Reservation wasn’t confirmed
When Eric didn’t confirm the reservation, Maurice smelled a fish.
And when Booking.com straight up cancelled the reservation, he smelled an entire koi pond.
Alas, it seems like the fishes arrived a tad too late.
Loads of fishes here
It seems that Maurice wasn’t the only victim here, as a look at TripAdvisor revealed not one, not two, but eighteen “Terrible” rated reviews (the lowest score one can give). This figure was derived as of 15 Oct.
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So really, Maurice could have done with checking out TripAdvisor for reviews beforehand. But as one would put it, there’s no use crying over spilt milk.
Or rather, missing milk.
But of course, there is a possibility that eventually, booking.com might refund the cash. But hey: not sure if he’s still in the mood for some kimchi now, no?
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