Showpo CEO and my fave shark, Jane Lu, has opened up about how she got “scammed” ahead of a work trip to Paris, and as an anxious traveller, this story has sent me into orbit. BRB as I go check all my bloody bookings!
It’s that time of the year again when a bunch of Aussies attempt to dodge the bitterly cold winter for an Insta-worthy Euro Summer trip.
However, for the self-proclaimed lazy CEO, Jane was heading over to the beautiful city of Paris for a work trip when shit hit the fan.
Utilising the format of a chaotic GRWM (a Get Ready With Me video, for the folks who aren’t chronically online), the Showpo founder opened up about her truly bonkers Euro work trip.
Kicking off the tale of a cursed work trip, Jane shared that she had almost missed her flight due to water stains on her passport.
“So firstly, the airlines almost didn’t let me on to the Paris flight because my passport had water stains,” she exclaimed before she let her co-worker Jess share the meaty part of the cursed shebang.
“We got off a 30-hour flight,” Jess began.
“And we get to our accommodation, and there’s no accommodation. We’ve been scammed.”
AHHHH. As someone who constantly worries about these things when travelling, this truly sent my anxiety through the roof — especially with my cheeky overseas trip on the horizon.
Jess went on to show a screenshot of the apartment that she’d booked, which was titled Apartment Haussmannien Auteuil.
“It was this Parisian loft. We were super excited,” Jess continued.
“When we got there, we were trying to check in and we went to this one counter where you grab the keys, and he’s like, ‘This is not a real place, I have no keys for it’. I realise I need to call Booking.com, so we try to find a place where we can sit.
“Thankfully, we found an Italian restaurant to just sit at for literally three hours to try and sort out with Booking.com how we’re gonna deal with this all.”
Jess went on to explain that they had struggled with sorting things out since they all had Australian numbers, but thankfully, they were able to organise a new spot after three hours of total panic.
“This trip is cursed. We almost didn’t make the flight, we almost didn’t have accommodation, but we’re here,” Jane added before Jess revealed that they paid a €2,000 (AUD$3,570) security deposit to the ‘fake’ accommodation ahead of their stay.
At the time of writing, it appears that the accommodation is still on Booking.com. While it stands online with no reviews, you can still reserve the spot for $3,814 for four nights.
In a statement to Daily Mail Australia, a spokesperson for Booking.com claimed that they’re trying to get in touch with the Showpo founder in hopes of fixing this major holiday blunder.
“Our top priority at Booking.com is to facilitate safe and enjoyable travel experiences for our customers and partners. We’re sorry to hear about this guest’s experience, and we are following up to support their refund,” they shared.
“Should travellers need support, our customer service is available for them 24/7 and in 45 languages.
“Travellers can simply select the booking they have a question about in their Booking.com account and choose how they want to reach out, for instance via phone or message.”
In addition to their apology to Jane, the spokesperson adds that they’re “optimising” their security measures to protect customers and partners and that they take verifying accommodation listings “extremely seriously”.
“In the very rare instance that there might be some cause for doubt or concern with a specific property, we investigate immediately, and where needed, close the listing,” they continued.
Thankfully, it appears that the Showpo trip is going smoothly, except with Jane updating us with a DITL (Day In The Life) for us to be envious of.
Oh, to be eating a buttery-ass croissant in France. A NEED.
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