A HOLIDAYMAKER was horrified after claiming to have spent almost £225-per-night for an apartment rental to find faeces left behind on a grotty toilet brush.
Gary James, from Edinburgh, was disgusted when he found mould and dirty items at the apartment in Leeds, West Yorkshire last week.
The 31-year-old and his four friends paid a total of £674 for three nights at the “four star” apartment on booking.com after being taken in by the images online.
When the group arrived to the property, Gary claims he found cobwebs within the lampshades and mould inside the fridge and freezer.
And on the last day of the trip, Gary said he discovered a vile toilet brush which was absolutely covered in human poo.
Gary complained to the online booking platform and claims he was told he would not be refunded but instead could have 10% credit to use for further bookings.
The social media marketer shared his dismay on Twitter yesterday, writing: “Found actual human faeces in our @bookingcom property as we cleaned before we left.
“Logged a complaint – I included the fact the fridge and freezer was mouldy and a few other unsanitary issues.
“Landlord refusing any refunds at all and booking wanna give me a 10% CREDIT.”
He attached images of the accommodation which were met with disgust from social media users.
One person said: “Absolutely minging. Imagine having mould and s***e in a rental property during a pandemic”
Another added: “Ewwwww. Never using @bookingcom again!!”
Speaking today, Gary said: “We were there for three days. The majority of the mess was found before the last day.
“We just dealt with it up to that point but the faeces was the thing we found last and that was the final straw.
“Knowing it had been sitting there for some time felt so dirty.”
“The property manager refused to give any refunds on the premise that I had to tell them about problems before I even found them.
“So if you find anything on your last day, it doesn’t count for some reason?”
Gary also chased up booking.com directly for some sort of reimbursement, but was met with an offer of 10% credit with the company – which he refused.
In his messages to the customer service line, Gary said “How can we live in a pandemic and there be a company that lets unsanitary profits be listed to generate profit and then support the landlord refusing to offer a refund?
“I don’t believe booking.com would really be supporting this. You’re willing to accept that we found actual human faeces and that we aren’t entitled to any refunds?”
Speaking today a spokesperson for Booking.com said: “The health and safety of our customers is a key priority for us at Booking.com and we were therefore disappointed to hear about this guest’s stay.
“Issues such as this are very rare, but if a property does not meet expectations, we seek to rectify that immediately.
“We have now apologised to the customer, as well as offering a refund. We will also be contacting the accommodation owner to address how they prepare their property for visitors to ensure all future guests have a good experience.”
