In the video, now viewed over 800,000 times, TikToker @jennialli shares images that appear to be from the original Airbnb listing and then shows a series of clips from the actual rental. Worldwide, there are more than 2.9 million Airbnb hosts and an expected 14,000 new hosts added each month this year, according to Stratos.
“[W]atch us get catfished by our [Airbnb],” @jennialli, whose first name is Jen, wrote in text overlaid on footage of the group of women on a boat.
The clips that follow feature various things about the home that are broken, dirty, disheveled or just don’t seem to add up to the listing’s photos.
“[S]o do the bed bugs pay rent too???,” Jen captioned the video along with the hashtags #springbreak and #miami.
In a statement provided to Newsweek, Airbnb said they were made aware of the situation and have taken care of it.
“We were disappointed to learn about this experience, have refunded the guest in full and are taking appropriate action with the Host. With over one billion guest arrivals on Airbnb to date, isolated issues are incredibly rare and our Community Support team is on hand 24/7 to help,” the statement read.
Airbnb also said that the issue was not reported until the day of check out and the guests had already completed their stay.
The company says they ask guests who do encounter issues to contact the host and give them time to address the issue as well as reach out to Airbnb within 24 hours of noticing it.
According to the company’s “Guest Refund Policy,” if a guest checks into a rental that does not meet the company’s accuracy or quality standards, Airbnb will re-book the guest into a new place of equal or greater value—or offer a full refund.
In December, another woman took to TikTok to share her ‘catfish’ experience with Airbnb when she checked into a New York rental she thought would be complete with skyline views only to find out that it was inside of a restaurant, Newsweek reported.
In the video posted by Jen, she shows various discrepancies between the actual rental and the apparent images from the listing. One clip shows that two of the beds seem to be smaller than pictured in the photo. Another shows a bunk bed that seems to be unstable as one woman is seen grabbing onto the railing and shaking the bed back and forth. Another clip shows a sliding closet door that seems to be off its track.
Commenters had mixed feelings about what was depicted in the video.
“That’s not catfishing,” one commenter wrote. “[T]hat’s just straight up false advertising.”
One commenter seemed to recognize the rental, claiming to have stayed there as well.
“OMG WE STAYED HERE AND IT WAS SO DIRTYYY! Airbnb wouldn’t refund us,” the commenter wrote.
Another commenter warned: “If it looks like a stock photo from the internet BEWARE.”
Some commenters, though, did not dispute that the photos were of the same rental, just that some things had changed since they were taken.
“It deff looked like that in the beginning you can tell it’s the same apartment but only used as heck hahah,” one commenter wrote.
“Looks more like a before/after they started letting kids stay their[sic] and party,” wrote another.
One person said at first they thought the TikToker was “overreacting” but then “it got worse.. much worse.”
Newsweek contacted Jen for comment but she did not respond in time for publication.