LILLINGTON, N.C. — Imagine booking and paying for a hotel online, only to make the trek to the beach and arrive to find the hotel shut down.

That’s exactly what happened to Brian Sexton and his family. The family drove to Kill Devil Hills in the Outer Banks, excited for a getaway, only to discover the hotel they had reserved through Booking.com was closed.

Instead of a warm welcome, they found garbage trucks in the parking lot, a locked gate, and a “No Trespassing” sign.

“I was confused. I was like, there’s no way. How are we going to find a place? I was so angry. I was upset,” said Sexton.

A quick Google search confirmed the worst: the hotel was permanently closed.

“I tried calling Booking.com immediately, but it was around 8:30 or 9:00 at night, and nobody was answering,” Sexton said. “That’s when I disputed it with the credit card company.”

Sexton managed to find another hotel that night, but he still wanted a refund of the $1,200 he paid through Booking.com.

“At first, they were like, ‘We can’t do anything for you because you didn’t check in,’ and I’m like, ‘Well, I couldn’t check in because the property is closed.'”

He says he emailed Booking.com repeatedly but kept receiving the same response – that the company was waiting to hear back from the property.

“After hearing that a couple of times, I finally said, you know what, I’m going to get a hold of Diane Wilson,” Sexton said.

Sexton reached out to Wilson, the investigative reporter for our sister station WTVD, for help.

When Wilson reached out to Booking.com, a representative provided this statement: “Our Customer Service team investigated this matter and, unfortunately, in this case, the accommodation did not notify us of its closure, which briefly left the listing active. The listing has since been removed. We can confirm that the customer initiated a chargeback through their bank, which currently prevents us from issuing a refund. Our Customer Service team has been in touch with the customer to explain next steps and remains available should the customer choose to cancel the dispute with their bank and instead proceed with our resolution.”

It took some time, but Sexton says his credit card company ultimately ruled in his favor, and he received a full refund.

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