Ask anyone who's ever travelled, and you're likely to hear a story about bad accommodations. Maybe the room is tiny, maybe it has a crummy view, maybe it's infested with bedbugs.

But the advent of AirBnB - a site that allows users to rent out rooms in their homes to travellers - has created opportunities for holidays to go horribly awry in a variety of new and unexpected ways.

Case in point: the story of Dieter Winkler. As The Gold Coast Bulletin reports, Winkler, his partner Jacquie Young and five children rented a house in Burleigh Heads, Queensland, Australia, for 11 nights. The homeowner advised them that one room was off-limits due to an "electrical issue."

So imagine their surprise when police raided the house less than 24 hours into their stay. Turns out the locked room was actually a hydroponic grow-op complete with eight cannabis plants. Police then questioned the family - who by now were probably wishing they had stayed in a motel - for five hours.

While their vacation was ruined, Airbnb refunded the family (and then some), and prospective AirBnB-ers now know to watch out for the telltale signs of a marijuana grow-op while they holiday.