The owner of a holiday rental has spoken of his horror after a low-key “gender reveal” spiralled into a full-blown house party involving more than 200 drunken guests – forcing police to break it up. Matt Genesis, 33, said he was misled after agreeing to let his £635,000, 10-bed property to a group of eight who booked via Instagram, claiming they wanted to celebrate a baby announcement.
But what followed was more like the film Project X – with hundreds of revellers descending on the quiet village of Norden, Greater Manchester, causing mayhem and leaving behind thousands of pounds’ worth of damage. Matt said he first realised something was wrong on Wednesday, June 25, when neighbours began reporting loud noise and crowds. He tried to access the external security cameras at the £450-a-night rental – only to discover the Wi-Fi had been switched off and the system disabled.
When he arrived at 9.30pm, he was stunned to find minibuses ferrying groups of party-goers to the cul-de-sac, while others parked across neighbours’ driveways. Streets around the property were crammed with around 150 people and more arriving by the minute.
Riot police had to be called to disperse the crowd – with some guests having travelled from as far as London to attend.
Matt, director of Fairway Building & Remedial Contractors, which owns the home, said: “Whilst we were there, minibus after minibus was turning up – I’d say one every 15 minutes. A minibus full of six to eight people walking in.
“It was out of control. We called the police – obviously the neighbours had too. Even the guy who booked it said it was out of his control. He didn’t expect anywhere near that number, but it had clearly been passed around.”
He added: “It was calculated. They turned off the Wi-Fi as soon as they arrived, which disabled the cameras. It meant we couldn’t act until it was already too late. It was very much Project X.”
The owners were forced to cancel upcoming bookings and apologise in person to furious neighbours. They also lost out financially – racking up £2,000 in damage and cleaning costs.
The only money recovered was the £450 rental fee and a £250 damage deposit – far short of what was needed to fix broken furniture and deep-clean the house.
Three staff spent 12 hours clearing up the mess. The property had recently undergone a £200,000 renovation and includes a hot tub and pool tables.
Matt said: “It was so structured. When we started clearing people out, some of them were asking where to go next – like they had some kind of plan. Guests had travelled from all over the country. It felt like we were the bad guys, but we were the ones who took the hit financially.”
Locals said the party left the street shocked.
James Gartside, 80, and his wife Jane, 84, have lived next door for more than five decades. The house used to belong to an elderly couple before being sold and renovated.
Jane recalled: “One of the guests asked if they could park in our driveway. That’s when I had a feeling it was going to get out of hand.
“At around nine, one of the owners came over and explained what was going on. He said the police had been called and asked us to bear with them while they got everyone out.
“The police calmed things down. There wasn’t any fighting, but the whole night was out of control. We were invited to a meeting afterwards and the owners were very apologetic.”
Mike Law, who lives on the other side of the property, added: “There were definitely over 200 people there. It was a nuisance, but it didn’t feel dangerous. I even offered them our driveway to park on before things really kicked off.
“I think the owners have learned a hard lesson from it.”
Airbnb confirmed it had no record of the booking and said it had been made through a third party, outside the platform.
Greater Manchester Police was contacted for comment.
Project X is a 2012 teen movie inspired by a real event in the US, where a small house party went viral on social media and exploded into a destructive, out-of-control gathering.