Thinking of renting an apartment from Travelio? Don’t.
5 months after I checked out, Travelio still has my deposit. They stalled me, contradicted themselves and lied to me, and people have been describing the same thing since 2019. Save yourself the misery.
Real reviews, screenshotted
Screenshotted from Trustpilot and Google Play, so nobody can say I made them up.
Staff avoided confirming in writing that everything with the apartment is same when asking directly. Lastly when asking to confirm about…
Trustpilot★★★★★
We booked and paid for 2 nights almost 6 months ago. Two hours before we were due to arrive they cancelled. They changed the lease…
Trustpilot★★★★★
There was mold everywhere, the room was extremely dirty, no hot water, insects everywhere. They charged me 25 euro or 500k rupiah for a…
Trustpilot★★★★★
They didn’t refund me by charging crazy interest and penalty on the last electric bill that doesn’t get to me after I left. They charged 2%…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Deposit thievin goblins. Wouldn’t give my deposit back even though I checked beforehand before checkout if they would. They said yes. Do…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Three years renting from them. The first and second units took more than a month to return my security deposit after extensive follow-up.…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Don’t expect to get full deposit return, they’ll find a way to cut it, if not take the whole of it. It’s more like a scam rather than a…
Google Play★★★★★
After checkout my deposit did not come back until a week later. They said the bank name was different from the booking name. I always use…
Google Play★★★★★
Still fighting with them to get my security deposit, in excess of USD 500, and they keep finding one after another unreasonable request and…
Trustpilot★★★★★
There were cockroaches in every room. We had to fight with them for hours just to get our deposit back, while they kept asking for the same…
Trustpilot★★★★★
My friends were kicked out from the unit whilst they were not there, and got no replacement room. That unit had been paid for 6 months…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Deserve minus stars. Never communicated that IPL [the building service charge] has to be paid 3 months up front. Very late in sending the…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Staff avoided confirming in writing that everything with the apartment is same when asking directly. Lastly when asking to confirm about…
Trustpilot★★★★★
We booked and paid for 2 nights almost 6 months ago. Two hours before we were due to arrive they cancelled. They changed the lease…
Trustpilot★★★★★
There was mold everywhere, the room was extremely dirty, no hot water, insects everywhere. They charged me 25 euro or 500k rupiah for a…
Trustpilot★★★★★
They didn’t refund me by charging crazy interest and penalty on the last electric bill that doesn’t get to me after I left. They charged 2%…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Deposit thievin goblins. Wouldn’t give my deposit back even though I checked beforehand before checkout if they would. They said yes. Do…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Three years renting from them. The first and second units took more than a month to return my security deposit after extensive follow-up.…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Don’t expect to get full deposit return, they’ll find a way to cut it, if not take the whole of it. It’s more like a scam rather than a…
Google Play★★★★★
After checkout my deposit did not come back until a week later. They said the bank name was different from the booking name. I always use…
Google Play★★★★★
Still fighting with them to get my security deposit, in excess of USD 500, and they keep finding one after another unreasonable request and…
Trustpilot★★★★★
There were cockroaches in every room. We had to fight with them for hours just to get our deposit back, while they kept asking for the same…
Trustpilot★★★★★
My friends were kicked out from the unit whilst they were not there, and got no replacement room. That unit had been paid for 6 months…
Trustpilot★★★★★
Deserve minus stars. Never communicated that IPL [the building service charge] has to be paid 3 months up front. Very late in sending the…
Trustpilot★★★★★
The star rating that fooled me
I made the foolish mistake of trusting the star rating on the App Store. I never read what people had written underneath it. Everything that later happened to me was already there, in reviews from people who booked before I did.
The numbers bear this out. Travelio holds 4.37 out of 5 on Apple's App Store in Indonesia, from 26,149 ratings, yet of the latest 500 reviews people actually wrote there, 195 give one or two stars. It holds 3.5 on Google Play across 52,989 ratings. On Trustpilot, where people go to write about a company rather than rate an app, it holds 2.0 out of 5, and 81% of those reviews are one star. Same company, same period, two completely different pictures. One of them is the one you see before you book.
How the star rating gets manufactured
This is not speculation. Customers on the App Store and Trustpilot, writing years apart, describe the same thing: staff demanding five stars before they hand over the key, pushing for them at check-out while the deposit is still held, dangling a voucher for them, or taking the phone and doing it themselves. One was told it was SOP.
App Store
They refuse to expedite the deposit and instead told me to give them a 5 stars review in hopes of winning a voucher of 800K rupiah. What kind of service bribery is this?
Every time I rent a unit by the day, the room boy forces me to give a five-star review first, before I have even entered the room or been given the key. They say it is SOP.
At check-out the room boy changed the subject and pushed me for a five-star review. The problem was not resolved and the deposit had not been returned, but they were already busy asking for a good rating.
Another surprising thing is, at my niece's travelio account, someone had put their version of their review on the apartment and had given 5 star ratings.
I was shocked to receive an email thanking me for the review on certain unit in this app while I have never submitted any reviews. I chose not to give reviews as I was not satisfied with the unit but the reviews came with all 5 stars.
Straight from Apple's App Store, checked every day. Last checked October 27, 2026.
App Store★★★★★
As an owner, I will not use Travelio again Repairs on my unit were carried out unilaterally by Travelio and the cost was charged to me, at an amount that exceeded my income. In a single day there could be dozens of repairs and it kept happening over and over, and some of those repairs, in my view, did not need to be done. As an owner I totally lost out…
ROTTEN SCAMMER APP THE TRASHIEST APP I HAVE EVER USED. I booked a nice unit and they just cancelled it on me as they pleased, claiming it was for repairs, but when the room boy chatted me it turned out it had been given to another guest with a monthly booking. I had booked weekly first, so my booking dates should have stayed mine. Don't…
facilities not as described facilities not as described, lots of things can't be used, wifi doesn't work, the stove can't be used, the unit's floor is dirty!!, the power even went out twice! CS not helpful
Bad Service - Unit wasn't cleaned first at check-in, lots of mold on the walls - they just cut the deposit without telling and explaining it to the customer in advance - bad communication - room boy unresponsive, just ends the chat - CS statements all different, not consistent
If you are a property owner, this concerns you too
Landlords complain about Travelio as well, and have since 2019. Repair costs charged to owners for damage they say was not theirs. Occupancy guarantees that went unmet. One owner struggled to get the keys to their own apartment back after ending the arrangement. Another had to publish twice because the first complaint changed nothing. Owners hold the one thing tenants do not: the flat itself.
The complaint record
41 complaints from 2019 to 2026, each dated and linked to its original, with Travelio's own published replies kept alongside them.
An owner who handed an apartment in Jakarta to Travelio to manage reports that within a year the fridge had broken, the AC was leaking and had caused water damage, the veneer on the kitchen cabinets had been ripped apart, the toilet door lock no longer worked and the front-door keys had been changed without the owner's agreement. When the owner raised it, Travelio management never replied. The owner says Travelio charges damage like this to owners rather than to whoever caused it.
A tenant describes the apartment as "so dirty and old", with poor facilities, a late check-in and unhelpful customer service, and says that a guest who does not like the unit cannot get a refund, a different unit or even a prorated return of what they paid.
An owner who had entrusted units to Travelio reports that a property sat vacant for more than three months and that Travelio twice refused the owner's request to discuss it. On ending the contract, the owner was charged over IDR 1 million citing "wear and tear", while the repairs, the owner says, "were not neatly executed by the Travelio team."
A consumer demands a refund on the grounds that the apartment unit differed significantly from the images it was advertised with, and additionally raises concerns about the handling of personal data.
A reviewer reports being denied a refund because of penalty charges on an electricity bill, claimed as a late payment that arose after the tenant had already moved out.
A Google Play reviewer reports that after check-out the deposit did not come back until a week later, because Travelio said the name on the bank account differed from the name on the booking. The reviewer says they always use the same account and had entered the bank details in advance.
Reviewer: "The second you pay for the place you can forget about any refund if problems arise," and reports that at check-out staff avoided confirming in writing that the apartment was in the same condition as at check-in.
Reviewer describes "mold everywhere" and "insects everywhere" in the room, along with no hot water, dirty bed sheets and furniture "broken in many places".
App-store reviewers report that Travelio declined to process a cash refund and offered a discount voucher in its place. Others describe waiting a full month for a deposit after checking out correctly.
The tenant checked out early from a unit at Tokyo Riverside Tower Dotonburi on 21 October 2025. As Travelio instructed, they left the access card and key in the mailbox and recorded it on photo and video. Travelio’s room attendant then said the key could not be found and billed a Rp400,000 replacement fee. The tenant reported this to customer service, which checked the next day, confirmed the key had been found in the mailbox and said the fee would be cancelled. When the deposit came back, Rp400,000 had still been deducted, with no explanation. When the tenant complained again, Travelio said the key fine could not be corrected.
A follow-up letter from the same consumer acknowledging that Travelio resolved the mini-refrigerator charge. Published four days after the original complaint. Recorded here because a record that omits resolutions is not a record, and because the sequence is itself the finding: the charge was reversed after the complaint became public, not before.
A tenant reports paying a deposit of IDR 6,100,000 and receiving only IDR 2,740,000 back in February 2025, a shortfall of IDR 3,360,000, with no itemised statement of what the difference was spent on.
A tenant who booked a six-month stay at Osaka Riverview on 27 December 2024 paid the rent and deposit and was sent a lease (PSM) the owner had not signed. Building management required the lease to register the tenancy and issue a parking pass, so with an unsigned copy the tenant put both on hold. The tenant says they reminded Travelio every day and were told the lease was only a 'pengajuan', a proposal. After two weeks Travelio said the owner was abroad. Three days after the tenant suggested signing digitally with an e-meterai, the matter was still unresolved.
An owner publishes a second complaint about the management of multiple units, notable because it is a repeat filing: the first complaint did not resolve the matter.
A published letter praising Travelio’s Instagram customer-service team as professional and helpful. Included because selective publication is how a documentation project loses its authority. Note the channel: the praised service came via a public social channel, not the in-app support queue where other disputes in this archive stalled.
A consumer thanks MediaKonsumen for mediating the resolution of an earlier Travelio complaint. Published two days after the post-charge letter of 15 October 2024. The second documented instance of a dispute resolving only once it was published.
A family stayed at Parahyangan Residence Ciumbuleuit, Bandung, from 11 to 13 October 2024 with a Rp300,000 deposit. On the afternoon of check-out day, Travelio’s room attendant sent photos of a broken chair on the balcony. The guests say they never opened the balcony door and never saw the chair. They were told the damage was theirs and the Rp300,000 deposit would not be returned, because they had not reported it at check-in. In a follow-up letter two days later, the writer said Travelio had phoned on the day of publication and the complaint was settled.
Travelio's head of owner relations replied point by point to the owner's complaint of 16 February 2024 about repair charges. Travelio said its agreement lets it make repairs costing up to IDR 1,000,000 without the owner's approval, that the vendor's invoice had been provided at the owner's request, and that before-and-after photos are available in the monthly statement and the Lio Partner app. It said the air-conditioner damage came from repeated use, which the agreement charges to the owner, and that the replaced TV part was not kept because it could not be reused.
A consumer confirms their complaint was resolved by Travelio. The earliest documented resolution in this archive, and like the others it follows publication rather than a private support ticket.
Travelio's head of owner relations replied to the owner's complaint of 31 January 2024 and said that together they had resolved all of the owner's questions and problems. Travelio explained how its dynamic pricing is set and said the units the owner compared against had prices set by their own owners. It said its owner-relations team had been reorganised by type of problem from 22 January 2024.
A reviewer who rented an apartment for a month reports that it had not been cleaned, that the toilet, bedroom AC and washing machine were broken, and that Travelio refused any refund. The reviewer says Travelio then withheld the deposit, claiming items were missing, "even though their own staff checked the unit and signed it off when I moved out."
A tenant booked a one-year lease and paid in full, including a Rp510,000 cleaning fee and the deposit. At check-in on 31 July 2023 the unit was unfit to live in: rubbish everywhere, a dirty bathroom, a leaking air conditioner, broken kitchen equipment, insects in the kitchen drawers and part of the balcony ceiling close to falling. Complaints by app and phone went nowhere. Travelio’s only answer was that the matter was closed because the tenant had checked in through the app. The tenant says they were left facing more than Rp3 million in repairs that Travelio should have covered, and that a request for a 50% refund was ignored.
Travelio's property management team replied point by point to the owner's complaint of 2 June 2023. It said the sofa had been cleaned, the broken wardrobe glass replaced, the cracked kitchen glass repaired and the replacement table delivered between 6 May and 7 June 2023, and that it was still waiting for the current guest to answer about the curtains. It said upkeep of the sofa after repeated use is the owner's responsibility, put the utility-bill difference down to billing periods that do not match the guest's stay, and asked the owner to reply to its messages on WhatsApp or in the Lio Partner app.
A customer booked a unit in Surabaya for one month on 4 June 2023. Mobile banking showed no confirmation, but the bank statement showed four payments totalling Rp8,200,133. Asked by chat to refund three of them, Travelio’s staff gave convoluted answers and in effect refused. At the apartment the next day, one of the payments, Rp2,113,556, had still not been passed on to the building, so the customer was given fingerprint access for only two days while Travelio settled it.
An owner who has let a Green Pramuka City unit through Travelio since 2020 lists problems raised with owner relations that were not followed up: a sofa reported dirty in 2021 and still dirty in May 2023, missing curtain linings, wardrobe glass broken during a repair the owner had been charged for, and a replacement table the owner bought that had not reached the unit. Each time, the owner says, the answer was 'waiting for confirmation from the field team'. Travelio replied publicly on 14 June 2023, saying the sofa had been cleaned, the glass replaced and the table found and delivered.
The complainant reports the amount returned did not match the deposit paid, with deductions taken for water charges and for dirty walls. The deduction is described as applied unilaterally rather than agreed at inspection.
An annual tenant in Surabaya checked out on 5 April 2023 and asked customer service when the deposit would be returned. The tenant says there was no answer, only that Travelio was waiting for the water and electricity bills, although those had already come out on the 5th. After complaining, the tenant was told to contact the building directly about the service charge, electricity and water, even though Travelio’s customer service had sent these bills every month. Screenshots with the letter show Travelio deducting Rp56,925 from the deposit for service charge and sinking fund for 1 to 5 April. In the chat the tenant says bills already paid were being deducted again, and Travelio replies that it will check with its billing team.
A published account describing customer service without empathy, a defective lease-extension feature, and damage claims the tenant characterises as invented (mengada-ada).
A tenant who stayed from 17 September 2021 to 17 December 2022 with a Rp4,500,000 deposit got Rp932,415 back five days after check-out. Travelio deducted Rp267,585 for water and electricity, Rp800,000 for a cracked glass table and Rp2,500,000 for a sagging mattress. The tenant accepted the table charge, since an existing crack had widened during the stay, but says the mattress was already like that on arrival and was never used. None of the pre-check-in photos Travelio shared showed the mattress. The earliest documented instance of the post-charge pattern.
A property owner who had placed a unit at Azalea Suites, Cikarang, with Travelio from 16 September 2022 gave notice on 28 November to end the agreement after three months, as the contract allowed if Travelio missed its 20% occupancy target. In those three months the unit was let for one day, and the owner says that income was never paid out. At the time of writing, Travelio had still not handed back the keys, saying the owner first had to pay its bills: Rp410,700 for modem rental and internet, though the owner says the modem was never in the unit, and Rp199,800 for property insurance whose certificate did not match the agreement period.
The writer’s wife booked a one-year lease from 3 December 2022, viewed the unit on 22 November and paid the same day. The booking stayed pending until 1 December, just before check-in, when Travelio announced an extra charge. The couple chose a refund, which they say Travelio agreed to. They sent their bank details and followed up every day. On 6 December Travelio said the owner had now confirmed the unit and the refund could not be processed.
A customer booked seven days at Braga City Walk, Bandung, for a younger sibling. On arrival the unit was very disappointing, and Travelio’s on-site staff said the other available units were in much the same state. The key was handed back the next day and a refund requested because the unit did not match what the app showed. Travelio would refund only three days, treating it as an early check-out with no relocation requested in the app. The customer asked for five.
A tenant rented an apartment in Bandung through Travelio from 4 August to 4 September 2021. Travelio said it would return the deposit once the water and electricity bill was out, which for that unit is the 5th of each month, and on 9 September customer service said it would aim to have the deposit back by 14 September. After that, every follow-up got the same reply, 'waiting for billing confirmation', though a relative with a unit in the same building confirmed the building issues its bills on the 5th. By 20 September the deposit had still not come back, Travelio said the bill was still being processed, and repeated calls to customer service went unanswered.
Travelio replied to the complaint of 8 January 2019 and apologised for the inconvenience. It said the booked unit was managed directly by its owner, so its availability needed the owner's confirmation. It said the refund for the booking had been paid to the registered account on 8 January 2019.
Travelio replied to the complaint of 8 October 2020 about a five-million-rupiah down payment. Travelio said its checks showed the transaction was made outside its agreement, directly between the complainant and the unit owner, and that its contract with that owner had ended on 16 September 2019. It said no charge the owner imposed or received was connected to Travelio or requested by it, and gave a phone number and email address for further discussion.
Travelio's owner-relations team replied to the property owner's complaint of 22 November 2019. Travelio said the matter had been settled amicably with the owner and that the handover of the apartment had been completed. It thanked the owner for the feedback and said it would try to serve customers better in future.
A prospective tenant reports paying a five-million-rupiah down payment directly to a unit owner, who said they were ending their contract with Travelio. After the tenant pulled out, the owner said they would deduct IDR 1,500,000 for a Travelio penalty and refund the rest, but as of 6 October 2020 nothing had been returned.
A property owner on a one-year contract that promised at least 20% occupancy in three months describes poor maintenance and repair costs deducted several times a month. The owner decided to stop before the new contract period began, but says Travelio demanded a penalty of millions of rupiah to end a renewal the owner had not agreed to or signed. In the new period the unit was let for one day in several months, while maintenance, electricity and water costing millions a month still fell on the owner. A year later Travelio replied publicly that the matter had been settled amicably and the unit handed back. The earliest owner-side complaint in the archive.
The earliest complaint in this archive. On 22 December 2018 a customer booked an apartment for New Year’s Eve. Travelio then cancelled by WhatsApp because the unit had already been let through another provider, and offered a very different replacement. The customer asked for a refund and was told two to five working days. With no follow-up, they phoned the call centre, were told the refund was on a waiting list, and then received a check-in email for the cancelled unit. Travelio’s reply, published two years later, says the unit was managed directly by its owner and the refund was paid on 8 January 2019.
Imagine how terrible the customer service and the service have to be for me to dedicate an entire website to warning you about it. And even then you are wrong. It is much worse.
If it is too late for you, how can you file a complaint?
You are not the first and you will not be the last. These are the bodies that have to take your complaint, what each one is good for, and exactly where to file. All of it is free.
Recommended steps to make sure you have every sneaky tactic on record
Screenshot the entire in-app chat with Travelio, top to bottom, before your access ends with the tenancy.
Save the booking confirmation, the signed terms, and proof of the deposit payment showing amount, date and account.
Gather every photograph and video you took at check-in and check-out, with timestamps visible.
Write the timeline: check-out date, the date you first chased the deposit, and every date you were promised something.
Note the exact words of every reason you were given. "Waiting for billing confirmation" is a documented pattern, and quoting it links your case to the others on record.
1
BPKN, National Consumer Protection Agency
The national body. A filed complaint creates an official record that exists whether or not Travelio ever replies to you.
What to do: WhatsApp is the channel to use. Send the timeline, payment proof and chat screenshots straight to 0815 3153 153. Their online portal at pengaduan.bpkn.go.id was returning a certificate error in October 2026, so if it still fails, stick to WhatsApp or phone. Keep the reference number they give you.
2
LAPOR! (national public complaint portal)
The government-wide complaint system. It routes your case to the responsible ministry or agency and tracks whether they respond.
What to do: Submit at lapor.go.id and select Badan Perlindungan Konsumen Nasional (BPKN) as the destination. It issues a tracking number you can cite in every later message to Travelio.
3
BPSK, Consumer Dispute Settlement Body
The one that can order your money back. No lawyer required, and it does not care what passport you hold.
What to do: Find your nearest office through the BPKN directory. Bring the written demand, the payment proof, the dated photographs and the message history. Almost nobody gets this far, which is why almost nobody gets paid.
4
YLKI, Indonesian Consumers Foundation
A consumer organisation with reach. Companies that ignore individuals tend not to ignore YLKI.
Many people who have rented through Travelio say yes. Judge the record: 41 dated complaints from 2019 to 2026, Trustpilot 2.0 out of 5 with 81% at one star, deposits held past Travelio’s own deadlines, and charges raised after check-out for damage tenants deny. One tenant paid Rp6,100,000 and got Rp2,740,000 back with no breakdown. Another was docked Rp400,000 for a key they had returned and photographed. A third handed a staff member their phone to show the booking email and watched him open the review tab and leave five stars. Travelio manages around 15,000 units. This is not one bad landlord. The same deposit complaints have kept coming for 7 years.
How long should Travelio take to return my deposit?
Travelio's stated policy is that daily-booking deposits are returned to the original payment account within 7 days of check-out. Monthly and annual tenants are commonly told a maximum of 14 working days after deduction of electricity and water charges. In 2021 the company publicly claimed 91% of daily deposits were returned the day after check-out and 80% of monthly deposits within 14 days. Published complaints describe waits substantially longer than this, including one tenant still waiting after 18 working days.
Travelio is deducting money from my deposit for damage I did not cause. What can I do?
Ask, in writing, for an itemised breakdown of every deduction plus dated before-and-after photographs for each claimed item. Normal wear is not chargeable. Under Indonesia's Consumer Protection Law (UU No. 8/1999) you are owed accurate information and compensation where a service falls short of what was agreed. If the itemisation never arrives, escalate to BPKN and the LAPOR! portal. Keep every message: the written trail is what makes the complaint enforceable.
Travelio says it is 'waiting for billing confirmation' from the building. Is that a legitimate reason to delay?
Building managements typically issue utility statements on a fixed monthly date, which is why complainants have challenged this explanation as open-ended. It is reasonable to ask for the specific date the statement is expected, the name of the building contact, and a committed payment date once received. An explanation that never resolves into a date is the pattern tenants have documented repeatedly since 2021.
Can Travelio refuse my refund because my bank account name differs from my booking name?
Tenants have reported refunds blocked on exactly this basis. The reasonable objection is that the same check was not applied when payment was taken, and that the condition was not disclosed at booking. Ask for the clause in the terms you agreed to that imposes it. If it is not there, say so in writing and escalate.
Who do I complain to about Travelio in Indonesia?
In escalating order: Travelio's own support in writing (build the paper trail); BPKN, the National Consumer Protection Agency; the government's LAPOR! complaint portal at lapor.go.id; and BPSK, the local consumer dispute settlement body, which can hear the case without a lawyer. YLKI, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation, adds public pressure alongside these. For sums that justify it, a civil claim remains available. Publishing your own dated account is also lawful, as long as you keep it factual.
Is it safe to post a negative review about Travelio in Indonesia?
Post what you can evidence, and frame it as your own experience. Indonesia's Electronic Information and Transactions Law (UU ITE) has been used against consumers who posted complaints, so accuracy is your protection. Stick to dated facts, amounts and documents you hold, avoid stating opinion as established fact, and keep the original evidence. A precise account is both safer and more persuasive than an angry one.
