A TikToker’s negative birthday experience with an Airbnb listing has drawn over 1 million views on the platform, where it is resonating with viewers who’ve similarly had unsatisfactory bookings.
When user Mecca (@brokeassfemale) booked an Airbnb for her birthday, she had no idea what she was in for.
She says she and four friends made a trip to New Orleans in 2022 and booked an “eight-person celebrity house” through Airbnb. From photos of the listing, she and her friends believed the house they were staying in would have additional amenities like a pool.
When she paid her deposit, the TikToker says she had difficulty getting ahold of the host and only received a response when she contacted Airbnb customer service. After she let the host know she would have one additional guest for her stay, they told her the rate would increase by $350, as he charged per guest. However, when she later had the headcount for her trip drop to five guests, the host did not bring the price down.
@brokeassfemale I delrted that app after the first booking 😩 #fyp ♬ original sound – brokeassfemale
“Once we got to the house, everything went downhill from there,” she recalls. “The address they put on the booking is not the actual address of the residence. So we took a cab there, five people with two luggage a piece, and they made us walk two blocks to the entrance with our stuff. Then we get inside and the property looks nothing like the pictures. I mean those pictures had to be from 10 years ago.”
When her party arrived, Mecca says they learned the pool and hot tub were shared between four other houses, something that was not noted in the listing. When she wanted to speak to the host about this and other issues encountered on the property, she claims he refused to do so, despite already being there in person. When she was speaking to the property’s concierge about it, they told her the property owner does this frequently, knowing that their deposit is not refundable and that it is difficult to rebook.
In the clip, the TikToker also noted that she paid a $1,000 deposit.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Mecca via Instagram direct message, as well as to Airbnb via email regarding the video.
Viewers shared that they had also booked stays using Airbnb that ended poorly, with some saying they opted to book a hotel instead once they arrived.
“Airbnb played me too,” one commenter wrote. “I got told it was a whole apartment and it was a basement and the host lived upstairs I’m like brah. Hotel it is.”
“Our host had a guy laying on the couch up stairs … the bathroom downstairs with us had a half bath .. scary and weird,” another user said.
“Did Airbnb one time for my trip to New York never again fasho didn’t look like the pictures lmfao,” a third viewer claimed.
Update 2:50pm CT February 28: In an email to the Daily Dot, an Airbnb representative shared the following:
“All Airbnb Guests are covered by AirCover and should reach out to our support team if their listing is not what they expect. As she noted in her follow-up videos, she was supported by our team, received a partial refund, and the Host updated their listing. The partial refund was because she ended up staying for the entirety of the reservation.”
