You can’t trust everything you see on the internet.
This mantra applies to almost everything. From videos to social media images, they never tell the whole story.
And it seems the same can be said for Airbnbs too.
In the clip, Desiree shows footage of what she thought her Airbnb in New York would look like.
Clean, spacious, and with plenty of natural light from the windows, it looks like the perfect getaway space.
“I’m in New York right now in my Airbnb,” she tells her followers. ‘These are the photos from online. Two beds, nice view and good location. Here’s a better close-up of the window and the view we thought we’d get.
However, when Désirée pushed back the curtain, the supposed sight was nowhere to be found.
“I pull the blinds aside and there are no buildings,” she exclaims. ‘We are in a restaurant.’
Desiree then shows viewers the Airbnb bedroom and pulls the shadow where a full view of a restaurant can be seen.
Two guests sit down immediately in front of the window, savoring their meal, unaware that Desiree is watching them.
She captioned the video: ‘How is this legal? You literally can’t make this up. I can open the window and touch their table.
In a follow-up video, she explains that the window is a one-way mirror, which means diners can’t see through the room.
She also tells viewers that she reached out to the host in hopes of receiving a refund.
In the post, she wrote: ‘We checked in and the photos of the room we booked are completely inaccurate.
“There is a restaurant outside our window, not a view outside.”
After a wait, the host finally responded, but the message was confusing.
“We were actually going to cancel your reservation because we had room issues, but we managed to accommodate you,” the host replied.
“I think everything went well during your stay and I’m delighted to know that we were able to welcome you at this time of year.”
Although she did not receive compensation from the host, Airbnb contacted Desiree after seeing the first viral TikTok.
Airbnb said they were shocked and “this is not the experience we want our guests to have”.
The company then offered a coupon for a future stay, which Désirée accepted.
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