An Airbnb customer has told of his 'holiday from hell' after finding his hotel was boarded up after its owners 'abandoned it two years ago'.
Sebastian Alexander from Hereford, Herefordshire, said his 'luxury' trip turned into a nightmare when he arrived at the resort that looked 'like a prison camp'.
The 33-year-old forked out over £1,000 for a 10-day stay at Hotel Casa Blanca in Tamarindo with his wife Amy.
The listing had promised the couple blue skies and a palm tree-covered beach that looked to be a dream trip.
But when they arrived at the end of December the hotel was deserted and boarded up with mesh fencing.
LEFT: Expectations. RIGHT: Reality. Sebastian Alexander from Hereford, Herefordshire, said his 'luxury' trip turned into a nightmare when he arrived at the resort that looked 'like a prison camp'
Mr Alexander, a business owner, said he desperately tried to contact Airbnb but claimed he received no response until five days later.
By then the couple had already been forced to fork out almost £2,000 on alternative accommodation.
He said he was refunded by the company after two weeks but has not been given a reason why the empty property was still on the website.
Airbnb have since apologised and said their 'original handling of this matter fell below the usual high standards'.
LEFT: Expectations. RIGHT: Reality. The 33-year-old forked out over £1,000 for a 10-day stay at Hotel Casa Blanca in Tamarindo with his wife Amy
Mr Alexander said: 'It really was a nightmare. It was one of those holidays from hell situations.
'When we got there, it was all boarded up. It looked pretty run down with the fences up and no foliage outside. It'd just kind of been left there.
'It was literally like a prison camp. You couldn't get in there, it'd been gutted.
'We looked on [other websites], everywhere, every single property was fully booked. Tamarindo is the place to be for New Year in Costa Rica.
'The only other place we could find was [a large chain hotel] which was £4,700 a night. It was that insane.
'We travel quite a lot and this is our thing. It's been two years and it was meant to be a nice trip to Costa Rica for
