Hotel hell: Guests trash Coast resort, owners pick up bill

A RESORT owner is urging other accommodation providers to "trust their gut" when allowing guests to stay after a horror incident left him with almost $1500 in property damage.

Steve Smith runs Noosa River Retreat Holiday Apartments in Noosaville and said he should have listened to his instinct instead of letting a pair of young men stay in late September.

"I had that gut feeling, they wanted the room for party central," Mr Smith said.

After multiple run-ins with the men warning them to keep the noise down and behave, at check out time Mr Smith was greeted by an empty unit full of smashed bottles, a broken lamp, chips out of walls, missing decor and a filthy barbecue.

"There was broken glass, vomit. We spent six hours cleaning this unit," he said.

"We had a back-to-back booking (at 2pm) for the room, we could not fulfil the booking. The owner lost four or five days of letting."

Mr Smith said he feels responsible for what happened as it was up to his discretion to let them in.

"(I feel) guilty as all get out," Mr Smith said.

"My gut said 'don't do this', (but) I signed them in, I handed over the key."

Mr Smith and his wife Sandy had to pay the damage bill out of their own money, while they wait for the unit owner to be charged the costs at the end of the month.

The unit owner does not have landlord insurance.

Mr Smith said he tried charging what he thought was a credit card that was handed over by one of the men at check-in for bond, but found it was a debit card and had insufficient funds.

Mr Smith said he has received nothing more than an email of apology from one of the men since.

"Their attitude just stinks," Mr Smith said.

"I sent out an email to almost all the hotels around Noosa after this happened, and two other managers recognised the names of the blokes.

"They party hard, trash it and then leave."

Mr Smith contacted police after the incident but was told it was difficult to discern wilful damage from accidental damage.