Rey Utami and Pablo Benua Share Losses After Being Scammed by an Online Travel Service Provider

Kapanlagi.com - The New Year's Eve is often used by families to vacation together, just like what Rey Utami and Pablo Putra Benua did. Rey and Pablo celebrated the transition to 2022 by staying at a villa in the Badung area, Bali.

Apparently, during their stay there, an unexpected incident occurred that disappointed the couple. Yes, Rey and Utami felt they had been scammed by one of the hotel booking service platforms they used, where the accommodation they had booked turned out to be not as advertised in the application, and it had been closed for 2 years.

"The villa was very dirty and actually looked like a haunted villa. It was poorly maintained and not like the photos we saw when booking through the application," Rey said to the media.

1. No Good Faith from Accommodation Service Provider

Accommodation condition occupied by Rey and Pablo / Photo Credit: Personal Documentation

Rey and Pablo immediately contacted the management of the service provider, but they did not receive a positive response. When they expressed their concerns, the couple, who officially got married on July 23, 2016, were always asked to wait and have not found a solution until now.

"We were asked to wait for 30 minutes multiple times. There were many reasons, from data verification, ensuring to the management, offering a refund, and so on, but there was no clear answer," added Pablo.

2. Many Netizens Experience Similar Things

Frustrated by the incident, Rey and Pablo then expressed their concerns on social media. To their surprise, not only they suffered losses from the online travel, but hundreds of netizens also shared various negative experiences they had.

"Many of my followers turned out to be affected. From booking plane tickets to hotels that never received refunds or 'haunted accommodations'. In fact, we have identified a total of 800+ victims," said Rey.

Rey Utami added that this loss was not the first time she and her husband experienced it. In 2017, they also had a similar experience where they booked a villa worth Rp 15 million but it was already occupied by someone else. At that time, the party involved was considered to have no good faith.

(kpl/pur/gtr)