A woman checks into her Florida Airbnb thinking she and her travel companion will be alone. When she arrives, the situation is more complicated than she initially expected.
TikTok user Val (@itsvaleriexx) and a friend traveled to Tampa last week to see the band My Chemical Romance live in concert.
She reveals what happened when they arrived at their Airbnb, which they thought would be a private accommodation, in a video posted last week.
“Tell me why there’s like random cars parked in front,” Val says as she approaches the front door. “Who is in here? We just got the keys. We’re about to walk in. Hopefully, there’s no one in there.”
The suspicious cars in the front yard would’ve been enough of a red flag. But then Val’s first attempt to unlock the front door doesn’t work. “I think we’re in the shed out the back, because we tried the front door and the keys didn’t open it,” she says. She goes to the back patio gate and tries the key. It works.
In the caption, Val writes, “The caveat is the Airbnb listing said we’d have the whole place to ourselves, so that’s why we were so confused.”
Florida Airbnb: ‘Are You Guys Locked In the Shed?’
In the comments, viewers expressed alarm at the abrupt end of the video and concern for the safety of Val and her friend.
“Girl, are you guys locked in the shed? Can you update us, please? This is concerning,” wrote one person.
“We had people living in the garage when we stayed near Tampa,” wrote a second user. “It was sketchy.”
“The instructions should have said if it was a separate building behind a house—let alone a locked door. That’s scary,” said a third person.
However, several people familiar with the culture in Tampa said this isn’t necessarily a red flag. “That’s totally normal for Tampa,” wrote one person. “They rent their yards for tailgating if they’re close to the stadium.”
Later in the day, Val updated viewers on her situation in a follow-up video. “In the end, it was fine,” Val wrote in the caption. “The Airbnb listing was a bit misleading, saying entire place to yourself when really it was just a room. So the cars parked out front, I assume, are all the people who actually live there. And they were using the closet to divide this room from the rest of the house.”
The ‘Entire Place’ Option on Airbnb
According to Airbnb, the entire place option is “usually” a bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, and a separate dedicated entrance. As was pointed out in the comments, Val’s accommodation could be seen to fulfill all those requirements.
However, Airbnb’s website does say that hosts should tell guests in advance whether the space is owner-occupied or not. The listing seems more akin to the “private room” option, which generally includes shared common areas. This is important to note, because the rules for owner access to the property are different for entire home and shared stays.
In entire home stays, hosts can’t access the property or private spaces without permission. In shared spaces, owners can access shared spaces but not bedrooms or bathrooms.
All Hip Hop contacted Val via TikTok comment and direct message for comment. We also contacted Airbnb via email for comment.
@itsvaleriexx The cavet is the Airbnb listing said we’d have the whole place to ourselves so that’s why we were so confused! #tampa #airbnb #travel #mcr ♬ original sound – Val ✈️🗺️