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    This Man Said He Was Shocked After Walking Into His Airbnb That Was Just A Bed In A Bathroom, And My Jaw Is On The Floor

    "I bet the cleaning fee is like $500."

    Alexa Lisitza
    by Alexa Lisitza

    BuzzFeed Staff

    According to data from All the Rooms, the amount of people booking short-term Airbnb rentals in major cities like Orlando, Phoenix, Austin, and Seattle has steadily fallen. And while this decline can be partially attributed to a rising cost of living in the US that makes vacationing difficult, former renters also point to disagreeable hosts, poor rental conditions, chores, and hidden fees as compounded reasoning to avoid booking with the company.

    Sopa Images / SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

    Well, several of those complaints merged into one when David Holtz, an assistant professor at UC Berkeley, shared a now-viral photo from his Airbnb accommodations during a two-night stay in London. "The whole space is essentially just a large-ish bathroom that the host put a bed into," David said.

    tfw you arrive at your @airbnb and realize that the whole space is essentially just a large-ish bathroom that the host put a bed into pic.twitter.com/ImlxVWtAXF

    — David Holtz (@daveholtz) July 10, 2023
    Twitter: @daveholtz

    And the room gets worse the more you look at it. There's a toilet right next to the head of the bed:

    @daveholtz / Via Twitter: @daveholtz

    A window that seemingly allows passersby to peek in on guests who are either peeing or sleeping:

    @daveholtz / Via Twitter: @daveholtz

    The room is covered in floor-to-ceiling tile, which has to be cold:

    @daveholtz / Via Twitter: @daveholtz

    And this barely-there shower has hardly enough space to soap up my left leg in, let alone a whole body:

    @daveholtz / Via Twitter: @daveholtz

    As David's post quickly drew millions of views, people questioned why he would book such a stay in the first place.

    My brother in Christ YOU booked the Airbnb https://t.co/b4TcrXoi64

    — Healthy chronicles Vol. 4 (@bighealthyfr) July 10, 2023
    @bighealthyfr / Via Twitter: @bighealthyfr

    To which David responded by suggesting the original listing was misleading, adding, "It did not have reviews at the time I booked. Has some now."

    Twitter: @daveholtz

    Specific listings aside, the image prompted most to question the popularity of vacation rentals offered by strangers over more professional accommodations. "What's [it] gonna take for people to finally ditch Airbnb?" one Twitter user asked. "I know I did 4 years ago. Best decision ever. Never a single bad experience staying at hotels."

    @nvictorme / Via Twitter: @nvictorme

    Others called Airbnb "nothing short of inconvenient and shocking," with one user sharing frustration over "paying more and having to do all the work myself."

    Twitter: @MarsAnsari / Via Twitter: @MarsAnsari

    Elsewhere in the comments, others poked fun at the company, with one user joking, "I bet the cleaning fee is like $500" for the bathroom/bedroom combo.

    AirBNB really is the worst. I bet the cleaning fee is like $500 https://t.co/YpVUJbwpbk

    — Mega Ran (@MegaRan) July 10, 2023
    @MegaRan / Via Twitter: @MegaRan

    BuzzFeed reached out to David, and though he had no further comments to share about his experience, he did suggest that enduring the situation was comparable to a stint on the show Survivor. "I hope that this small brush of fame finally catches the eye of Jeff Probst and/or the Survivor casting department," David told BuzzFeed.

    BuzzFeed also reached out to Airbnb and will update you if they respond.