Family rushes children from Booking.com rental after unsettling discovery behind the wall

The washing machine shouldn’t have been running, and the owner had said he wouldn’t return. A one-night family stay in Gorey, County Wexford, ended with two frightened children being hurried from the house after their parents uncovered a dark space and a voice coming from behind thin plasterboard.

A running washing machine made the family search the house

Therese, her partner and their two children had booked the property for one night while attending a family birthday at the weekend. She told RTÉ Radio 1’s Liveline that the accommodation had been advertised through Booking.com as an entire-home rental. The family arrived at around 5pm and were met by the property owner, who showed them around.

Therese noticed laundry drying and asked whether he would be returning to deal with it. According to her account, he told the family he would not be at the house later. When they returned from the birthday celebration, however, the tumble dryer had been emptied and the washing machine was running. Concerned that someone might have entered while they were away, Therese asked her partner to check the rooms.

During that search, the couple noticed what appeared to be a thin plasterboard partition upstairs. Part of it was secured by a nail, but another section could move. When her partner shifted it, Therese said they saw darkness and heard a man call out from behind it.

“Get the kids, and just leave right now,” she recalled telling her partner.

A single bed and television were concealed behind the partition

Therese said the dark area behind the plasterboard contained a single bed and a television. The man found there was allegedly the same person who had met the family when they arrived. This was not, as some accounts have suggested, evidence of somebody literally living inside the building’s walls. The family described a concealed section of the property hidden by a movable partition.

Therese said the children were so frightened that their parents had to pull them from the house. The family contacted Gardaí and spent the remainder of the night with a relative. According to her account, the man later came outside and initially claimed that he had not met the family before. When Therese challenged him over what had happened, she said he responded: “Well, my Google reviews don’t say that.”

The exact property has not been publicly identified, and its former Booking.com listing was no longer available following the company’s intervention.

Booking.com suspended the Gorey property while it investigates

Booking.com confirmed that the incident had been reported and that the County Wexford property had been suspended from its platform. “We take safety and security very seriously,” a company spokesperson told the Irish Sun, adding that an investigation began as soon as Booking.com learnt of the incident and remained ongoing.

Gardaí also confirmed that officers in Gorey attended a residential property following the family’s call. Police said no criminal offence had been disclosed at that time.

Therese also alleged that another family reached the property after her initial report to Booking.com. The company has not publicly addressed that specific claim.

Booking.com tells travellers to report host misconduct twice

Booking.com’s published safety guidance advises travellers facing alleged misconduct by a host or property worker to contact local law enforcement first and then report the incident to its customer service team. The platform also explains that accommodation bookings normally create a contract between the traveller and the property’s service provider. Information shown in a listing is largely based on details supplied by that provider.

For travellers reserving a house or apartment, the Gorey case highlights the importance of checking whether the listing promises an entire property or shared accommodation and keeping screenshots of that description. The family said they retained photographs of both the listing and the partition.

The property remains suspended while Booking.com investigates. Therese said the experience had left her children frightened of rental accommodation and made her reluctant to book anywhere other than a hotel again.