Booking a hotel or especially an Airbnb is always a gamble because you don’t really know what state the place is in until you arrive and see it with your own eyes. The photos can be edited or taken a long time ago, or can simply be of a different place. Of course, there are reviews you can read, but ultimately you just have to trust that what you see is what you’re going to get.
Sadly, this was not the case for TikToker @phoenruber who thought that she would get an old but tidy room but entered a ‘hoarder’s house’ instead. The photos on the Airbnb website were drastically different from reality and what is the strangest part is that the reviews were really good and the owner had 5-star ratings.
More info: TikTok
This TikToker booked a room through Airbnb and when she arrived, it was nothing like in the pictures
Image credits: phoenruber
The TikToker whose username is Phoenicopterus Ruber posted a video that has been watched 248K times and received 34K likes. In the video, the girl shows her shocked face because until now, she had trusted Airbnb, but her recent stay turned everything upside down.
Phoenicopterus Ruber was supposed to stay at an old but cosy house for 10 weeks. She knew it wouldn’t be a luxury stay and she had stayed in old places before, so she wasn’t worried as the host had positive reviews.
Phoenicopterus Ruber showed some pictures from the listing and it was clear that the place wasn't luxurious; although old-looking, it was tidy
Image credits: phoenruber
Image credits: phoenruber
The TikToker puts some photos from the listing in the video to let the viewers know what she was expecting. You can see from the photos that the house looks a little bit old-fashioned, but at the same time, it seems tidy and cozy.
But then comes the reality check. Phoenicopterus Ruber gives us a glimpse of what is happening inside and the surroundings do resemble the photos, but the conditions are not livable.
Image credits: phoenruber
However, the reality was far from the photos and looked more like an episode from the TV show Hoarders
Image credits: phoenruber
As she is showing viewers around, the TikToker gives a little bit more information in the captions. Turns out, the AC and the shower are both broken. The owner didn't give her a key to the door and she has to call them to let her in, which, because she works night shifts, is really inconvenient.
The woman admits that when she saw the listing, she had a thought that the photos were sparse, but all the reviews were 5 stars, so it cleared up her doubts.
The strange thing is that the reviews were all 5 stars so even the fact that there weren't many photos in the listing didn't concern Ruber too much
Image credits: phoenruber
Image credits: phoenruber
Image credits: phoenruber
People loved their stay at the place where Ruber arrived and found the house in a total mess. Other people that saw those reviews are highly suspecting that they may be fake as the differences between expectations and reality are quite drastic and it's not that hard to fabricate them.
What is more, in another update video, the TikToker said that the hostess gave her creepy vibes and she didn't feel safe there. There were several update videos and it was a real rollercoaster for Ruber.
On top of the mess that was going on inside, the AC and the shower didn't work
Image credits: phoenruber
People in the comments were encouraging the girl to demand a refund and get out of there
Image credits: phoenruber
The sad part is that Phoenicopterus Ruber has social anxiety and she is a people pleaser, so she was planning on doing nothing and just getting through this. Plus, she didn't have the funds to stay where she wanted. But as the video got a lot of attention, people were saying that this was not acceptable and the girl should demand a refund.
Ruber contacted Airbnb, but they didn't respond immediately, so the TikToker decided to run away from the 'hoarder house' after being there for 11 nights.
Image credits: phoenruber
This took quite a while. The woman sent numerous messages and had several calls with Airbnb customer support. She told them repeatedly that she didn't feel safe at that place and that the hostess was promising to fix everything, but she didn't.
Unfortunately, Airbnb decided to charge Ruber for staying at that place and full price too
Image credits: phoenruber
Finally, Airbnb resolved her case, but it was what no one was expecting. Airbnb decided to charge the girl for the 11 nights that she stayed, but the catch here was that she got an enormous discount for choosing to stay there for 10 weeks initially and because she left after 11 days, she was charged normal rates. So at first, the price was $2,032.59 for 70 nights, but it changed drastically to $1,195.96 for 11 nights.
The whole point of staying at that Airbnb was to save some money and in the end, Ruber paid more than she was willing.
But later they came to their senses and honored the discount that Ruber was given initially, though the TikToker believes she shouldn't have been charged at all
Image credits: phoenruber
The latest update is that Airbnb changed their minds and decided to charge her for the 11 nights with the original discount, although she didn't stay the whole period. Other people and Ruber herself thought that it wasn't fair, but she thought that this was at least something.
The TikToker also felt very grateful for all the people that pushed her to stand up for herself and not suffer in a house with no AC, shower, and with stuff lying all over the place.
This is the video in which you can see the difference between photos in the listing and the reality
Do you think Phoenicopterus Ruber should have known better or do you think that she was just very unlucky? Share your thoughts and opinions about this situation in the comments!
People in the comments were horrified that such a thing happened and were sympathizing with the girl
