A group of three women vacationing in Nebraska were stunned to learn that one of the bedrooms in their Airbnb had a fake bed.
Erica M., one of the women on the trip, filmed a video of what looked like a bed and posted to her sister’s TikTok page.
‘It’s not what it seems,’ one of the women said before Erica ripped the blanket up, revealing not a mattress, but two folding tables.
The video, which has 8.7 million views after a single day, attracted thousands of interested commenters who, like the travelers, couldn’t believe the audacity of whoever was renting this home.
‘That money would have to be back in my account the second I unveiled that blanket,’ one of the top comments read.
The video, recorded by Erica M., shows that one of the bedrooms has a fake bed – two folding tables underneath a blanket
‘This is so illegal,’ another person wrote.
Another viewer was outraged that he’d have to add another step to his rental checklist, writing: ‘I always check for bed bugs but now I have to check for BEDS!!?!?’
Others joked that this Airbnb was BYOB – ‘bring your own bed.’
Astute commenters came to the conclusion that this house is likely being staged.
Normally, as one person pointed out, homes on the market are usually staged to make it look more appealing for potential buyers, but not for short term renters who will need real furniture during their stay.
‘I can understand for staging a house for sale but for an Airbnb???’ someone wrote.
DailyMail.com approached Airbnb for comment but didn’t receive an immediate response.
Erica recorded a follow up video explaining there were supposed to be four women on the trip to Nebraska, but one of her friends had to stay home to tend to their sick child.
Erica then gave a tour of the entire house and showed that there are indeed real beds with real mattresses
Erica, pictured, explained that there were only three people staying in the house, which meant everyone had a bed
So since there were only three people staying in the house, which she said had three actual beds upstairs, everyone was spared the indignity of being expected to sleep on folding tables.
And since the fake bed was downstairs, Erica said she and her friends didn’t stumble upon it until roughly 15 hours after they checked in.
Erica then gave a tour of the entire house and showed that there are indeed real beds with real mattresses.
After venturing into the upstairs bathroom, she went down to the lower level where she revealed other strange things about the rental.
She showed off the main basement room, which was remarkably empty except for two cameras on tripods and a old-fashioned popcorn machine.
‘One fun thing is that this is a movie room with not a single TV in sight,’ Erica said.
Internet sleuths took their home staging theories in a whole new direction once they saw the creepy room with an unknown purpose.
‘Yeah that’s a movie room, but not where you watch a movie but make one,’ one person wrote.
‘What if that is a spicy house to make movies in it. And not an actual airbnb. And the downstairs is all props,’ another person theorized.
A third was concerned about cleanliness and seemed to advocate the use of black lights: ‘That place was definitely set up for a certain reason.. I’d turn off all the lights and use one of those special flash lights.’
Erica’s sister, Kristen Downard, who wasn’t on the trip but posted the videos, wrote in a comment that her sister wouldn’t be complaining about the house.
That’s despite the numerous strange things they found, including a tiny sink and a gaping hole in the laundry room that appeared to lead into the crawl space.
Even though the group didn’t lodge a formal complaint, Downard told DailyMail.com that Airbnb reached out to them after the two videos went viral on TikTok.
She said the company gave them a full refund, though Airbnb didn’t confirm this in time for publication.
