Rather than spending a holiday in a crowded hostel or a generic resort, some travellers prefer to find a more unique style of accommodation on Airbnb. The platform boasts a range of choices from remote treehouses to a giant hotdog.
However quirky doesn’t always equal liveable, as British traveller Zoe Reeve recently found.
The 26-year-old flew to New York to experience the Labor Day Carnival parade, having made a last-minute booking at Brooklyn Airbnb rental.
Though she knew the accommodation would be small, she was shocked by what she found. Lucky for us, she documented the questionable £30-a-night lodgings on Twitter.
Look at my Airbnb room in Brooklyn looooool pic.twitter.com/LqzP1NKxrq
— Zoe (@_zoe93) August 29, 2019
The video has since attracted more than 15,000 retweets, with many users drawing parallels with a certain wizarding legend’s humble beginnings.
‘Harry Potter’s joint under the stairs was bigger than this,’ wrote one user.
Despite the obvious drawbacks of the space, Zoe isn’t complaining. She admits that due to booking late, she knew she’d compromise on the quality of whatever accommodation was still available.
‘I find it so funny how so many people are angry on my behalf about the room/cupboard. It’s genuinely fine for me minus the dirty sheets and lack of plug socket (and they could have cleaned it a bit better),’ she tweeted.
In her series of tweets, she included a genius germ-avoiding travel tip: always travel with a sleeping bag liner.
Also the sheets and pillow aren’t clean but thankfully I brought a sleeping bag liner with me (I always travel with it) so will just use that instead pic.twitter.com/JVCx9xvrkK
— Zoe (@_zoe93) August 29, 2019
‘Staying in the cheapest Airbnbs is always interesting but this one was definitely the smallest space I’ve ever slept in. I’m definitely never going to forget it!’ Zoe told Metro.co.uk.
The solo traveller has since spoken to the owner, who said he normally did the cleaning himself, but was away this time. The person he’d asked to do the cleaning simply hadn’t. He refunded the cleaning fee and apologised.
The original listing, titled ‘Economy Brooklyn Space for your NYC Adventure!‘, surprisingly has an average review score of 4.5 out of 5 – and it is clear about the size of the room.
The listing says: ‘The space is ideal for backpackers and other budget travelers who are comfortable sleeping on a self-inflating camping pad with another camping pad underneath. I most certainly would NOT recommend the space for anyone over 6’1 or who otherwise is not comfortable sleeping in small spaces for individual persons.’
Previous guests have described the place as a ‘good small place to crash’, ‘small, but clean and safe!’, and even the ‘best place in Brooklyn’. Some were blunter in their approach: ‘It’s exactly as described.’
Since posting the video, an Instagram friend of Zoe’s offered her a place to crash. She swiftly traded the camping mat for a couch, making for a true New York happy ending.
We contacted the host for comment and will update the article accordingly.
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