My worst accommodation experience

After more than ten years of traveling—first alongside my aunt, and for the past year on my own—I thought I had enough experience to avoid complicated situations. I book carefully, read reviews, look at photos, compare neighborhoods. Still, this year, traveling alone to Paris to celebrate my 25th birthday, I had one of the worst accommodation experiences of my life.

The apartment I booked through Booking initially looked exactly like the photos. There was no major visual scam or anything like that. The only difference was a small detail: the listing advertised free Netflix, but in reality you had to log in with your own account. Not a big deal. Up to that point, everything seemed fine.

The first sign that something wasn’t right was the building itself. It was under construction. The hallways didn’t have finished floors—just raw materials, dust, uneven surfaces, and areas that felt unsafe to walk through, especially with luggage. To reach the apartment, there was a spiral staircase that didn’t inspire much confidence either. It caught my attention, but I decided not to give it too much importance.

That same day, I went out to explore Paris—walk around, enjoy myself, take photos, try to get into travel mode. The real problem started when I returned to the apartment that night.

While I was inside, I noticed someone approaching my door. They didn’t knock or ring the bell, but I could clearly see their shadow under the door. The person stood there for several minutes. Then they left… and came back. This happened multiple times throughout the night. The next morning, they even tried to open the door.

From the sounds, I understood it was a neighbor, because after standing outside my door for several minutes, I could hear them closing their own door. Still, the situation was extremely uncomfortable and distressing. I was alone, in a building under construction, in another country, with someone lingering outside my door for hours. It wasn’t something I could ignore.

I contacted the apartment owner to explain what was happening. Their response was that the noises were probably just the lock opening and closing, that they had no previous incidents like this, and that supposedly there were cameras in the building. Basically, they completely downplayed what I was experiencing.

Given that response, I decided to contact Booking. I explained that I felt unsafe and needed to cancel the reservation and receive a refund for the two remaining nights (around €200), since I was leaving after the first night. Their response was that the accommodation claimed they had no record of anything like this, so no refund would be issued.

At that point, my priority stopped being the money and became my safety. I couldn’t stay there another night. I ended up paying around €180 for a hotel for the remaining nights. In total, I lost about €380 between the non-refunded booking and the new accommodation.

Did it hurt financially? Yes. Would I do it again? Also yes. Because no reservation is worth more than peace of mind and personal safety.

This experience left me with several important lessons. Now I pay even closer attention to:

• The condition of the building, not just the apartment
• The exact location and surrounding environment
• Real cancellation policies, not just what you assume will happen if something goes wrong
• Most importantly, listening to my intuition: if something doesn’t feel safe, it probably isn’t

Traveling alone is an incredible experience—full of growth and freedom—but it also means making difficult decisions when something isn’t right. Telling these stories is part of showing the real side of travel, not just the pretty photos and perfect places.