The owner of a Victorian Airbnb, which was rated Australia’s best holiday home in 2020, may not find itself in pole position at the end of 2021.
The owner has been charged with allegedly threatening a guest who left a one-star review of the property. The property is called Clifftop At Hepburn. It is a luxurious property which, at the time of writing, is being advertised on Airbnb for $563 a night.
The businessman, Matthew Taylor, left a negative review of the property on TripAdvisor after his booking was cancelled. This allegedly sparked a stream of menacing messages from the host, David Penman.
The messages were reportedly sent in June last year. The review was left that same month.
The (one star) TripAdvisor review reads as follows: “Horrible experience, lucky it didn’t go further Yesterday we booked via Qantas for 4 nights at clifftop online. We followed up with a phone call to clarify some things and have a chat with the lady there.”
The property is currently being advertised on Airbnb. Its achievements are also evident on the page.
“CROWNED AUSTRALIA’S NO.1 FROM 55,000 HOLIDAY HOMES IN 2020,” the description on Airbnb reads.
“Australia’s Tesla Destination 2020. Australia’s No.1 Holiday Home 2019. Australia’s No.1 Most Unique Accommodation 2019. As seen on The Today Show 2019. Ranked one of the world’s Top 60 places to elope.”
There are also many positive reviews of the property on both Airbnb and TripAdvisor. It has an average review score of 4.97 stars on Airbnb and, of the 29 TripAdvisor reviews that have been left of it, 25 of them are ‘Excellent’ (one is ‘Very Good,’ one is ‘Average,’ one is ‘Poor’ and one is ‘Terrible’).
Practically everyone who has actually stayed there appears to have had an amazing time, with Instagram being full of fabulous photos, and review platforms being full of praise.
One Instagram post by Instagram account @clifftopathepburn reads: “Clifftop at Hepburn. Luxury accommodation so good that were often chosen as the location to launch new brands.”
What caused Mr Taylor to leave a bad review is not the property itself (which it seems he never ended up staying at, with Mr Penman cancelling his booking after their price dispute), but a minor price dispute (and how it was dealt with).
This isn’t the first time this luxurious property has come under media scrutiny. Mr Penman took another would-be guest to court last year.
