A solo female traveller who flew thousands of miles for a once-in-a-lifetime break in one of the world’s most stunning destinations has told of her horror after arriving to find the “paradise” homestay she had booked was completely deserted, with no staff, no guests and no way of contacting the outside world.
The woman, whose experience was captured in a now-viral video, had reserved the remote overwater property through Booking.com after it scored a glowing 8.5 out of 10 and carried recent positive reviews. Instead of the welcoming tropical retreat she had paid a substantial sum for, she stepped off a boat into an eerie, abandoned complex of wooden bungalows on stilts amid the turquoise waters and dense rainforest of Raja Ampat in West Papua, Indonesia.
Video footage shows her arrival by boat across crystal-clear shallows, with a local boatman present, before she walks along a long, weathered wooden pier past empty thatched structures. “Absolutely no one was here,” an overlay on the clip states. The place looked recently vacated rather than long-derelict: half-drunk coffees sat on an outdoor table next to a sun hat, the kitchen was cluttered with plastic containers, a thermos, bowls and water bottles, and a bedroom contained a mattress under a mosquito net. Wooden walkways and paths leading into the forest were overgrown with leaves and vegetation, while doors and structures stood open to the elements.
“I trusted the rating and the reviews from just a few months earlier,” the traveller is understood to have said in accounts of the ordeal. “You spend a fortune planning this dream trip and then you’re completely alone in the middle of nowhere with no internet and no easy way to leave or get help.”
Raja Ampat is renowned for its biodiversity and overwater bungalows, but the remote location means many properties rely on boat transfers and have limited or no reliable phone or internet service. In this case, the isolation left the woman stranded after discovering the listing did not match reality. Traveller forums and local associations have repeatedly warned about problems with third-party listings on major platforms in the area, including unauthorised or outdated entries, last-minute cancellations, and properties that fail to operate as advertised. Local groups often recommend booking only through specialised sites that work directly with community-run homestays.
Booking.com and similar platforms state they have systems to investigate complaints and remove problematic listings, and guests can usually pursue refunds or chargebacks when properties are unavailable or substantially not as described. In remote Indonesian destinations, however, resolving issues on the ground can take time and require local assistance or alternative transport arranged at extra cost.
The incident highlights the risks of booking sight-unseen in far-flung locations where positive online scores can lag behind sudden closures, ownership changes, or operational failures. Experts and frequent visitors to the region advise cross-checking recent guest photos and reviews across multiple platforms, confirming current contact details directly, and having contingency plans for transfers and communication when heading to places as isolated as Raja Ampat’s outer islands.
For anyone planning a trip there, the safest approach remains using well-established local booking networks that prioritize verified community homestays and provide support if something goes wrong on arrival.
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