NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. — Imagine this: You and your significant other plan a December trip to New York City three months in advance, just in time to take in all the city has to offer during Christmas time.
At the time of your planning, COVID-19 cases are on the decline and you're ready for a getaway. What greater place to visit during the holidays than New York City?
Even better, you've found a deal on a room and the listing describes it as having a city view. It even has pictures, adding to your excitement.
Sounds just about perfect, right? Well, for Desiree Baker of Boston, it was anything but.
Baker and her boyfriend booked their room on Airbnb in September. She says it was near Times Square, in walking distance to all they wanted to see. Their room was what you might expect from any standard hotel room: two beds, a TV — the essentials. After all, Baker says she really only needed a place to sleep and that they weren't going to be in the room that much. So, the essentials were all they were after. The view, though? That was going to be a big plus.
However, when she lifted the shades expecting to take in the sunshine and a New York City view, she instead was within arms-reach of a table inside of a restaurant. Had there been guests sitting down at the time, she would have been in the perfect position to jot down their order.
Baker shared her experience on TikTok and her videos have since garnered millions of views.
When Baker and her boyfriend first got to the room, she said it was late — around midnight. They went straight to bed, not noticing anything out of the norm... Yet.
"There were black-out shades there, so we woke up and it was just pitched-black," Baker described. "I was so excited to just roll up the shades and look at the view. So, there I am just rolling up the shades and I'm like, 'What is that?' And I look, and I'm like, 'We're in a restaurant! Like, that's tables!'"
Her first instinct was to immediately drop the shades back down. She had no clue what was visible from the other side of this window.
"So, I shut it because I'm like, 'Can they see us?' I didn't know what the situation was. So, I'm like, 'Can they see what we can see? Is this just like a plain window?'" She questioned.
"Confused" and "shocked" were words Baker used several times to describe what was going through her head.
"Ummm, I don't understand. We're fully in a restaurant right now," Baker remembered thinking.
She shows in her TikTok videos that the window, the only thing separating her room from this restaurant's dining room, even opened.
"I could open up the window and touch the table in the restaurant," she said, adding that it opened about a foot. She also explained there was a piece of duct tape on the window.
"I'm like, 'As if what? That's gonna stop what?'" she said of the duct tape.
Her confusion eventually turned into concern for her privacy and safety. She needed to go investigate for herself. So, she walked over to the restaurant to see what could be seen from the other side.
It was a two-way mirror.
"In one of the videos that I posted you can see my boyfriend is on the other side and I knocked on the window and you can see him opening it," she said, describing one of her now-viral TikToks. "And when you look at it from there, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I can see his outline. Like, I can see like — I can pick out what it is.' I'm like, 'That's the bed, there's the light."
In her most viral of videos — we're talking more than 9.4 million views — she lifts the shades again hours after making the discovery. This time, it was for TikTok. And, this time, there were guests at the table, seemingly oblivious of the fact they were being watched from what appeared to be just feet away.
To the two-way mirror's credit, Baker believes you have to really be looking to be able to see what she saw. She questioned what kind of restaurant guests would intently peer into a mirror, assuming to see something on the other side.
"So, I guess if you're eating at the restaurant you would — well, why would you ever expect that? You wouldn't know," Baker said.
She explained her concern grew beyond just herself to include restaurant guests as well.
"Like, it's clearly a privacy concern, like I said, on both ends. People eating at the restaurant, like, you can be watched and heard. We're literally right there," she said.
Disappointed in her lack of a city view, instead replaced with front-row seats to unsuspecting people's dinners, Baker decided to reach out to the host. But, that didn't get her far.
"I'm like, 'Hey, pictures are inaccurate. I'm in a restaurant,'" she messaged the host.
"I don't hear back and then I try to reach out again and again. And, she finally just responded with the most bizarre answer. Just being like, 'We see that you're having a good time. Happy we can host you.'"
Wondering if the point of her message got across, she felt at the time there wasn't much more she could do. It was going to be a short trip, most of it spent outside the room, so she decided her next course of action would just be to leave a review once the stay was over.
"I didn't really know — which sounds, I guess, naive — that I could get in touch with Airbnb itself," she admitted, adding that her unique situation didn't exactly fit the list of problems a drop-down menu in the app would have provided. "It's super hard to explain."
Airbnb did eventually reach out to Baker, though, after seeing her TikToks. She said they offered her two options, a credit for a future stay or a partial refund for this one.
She said she was happy with their offer, although questioned whether she would have gotten the same treatment without her viral TikTok videos.
But, Airbnb says they're "supporting" Baker.
Ben Breit, an Airbnb spokesperson, told 10 Tampa Bay that they were able to locate her reservation and issue her a credit. He also said they were investigating the hotel, Cassa Studios, which is where she said she stayed.
Breit explained that Airbnb has "various quality control measures" focused on homes, condos and other traditional Airbnb stays. But, he says a hotel is not a traditional Airbnb stay, so things work a little differently. He likened it to booking a hotel room on any number of travel sights — the photos shown online are not likely going to be your exact hotel room.
However, he says that when they sell you on a city view and you get a situation like this instead, "that's not OK."
If you ever find yourself in a similar situation, Breit recommends contacting Airbnb, but also the hotel directly to see if they can make accommodations to fix the issue.
As for where Baker says she stayed, Cassa Studios' website boasts an array of options for stays, including long and short-term options. It says the "interiors of rooms and suites at the Cassa Studios are designed to invoke the feel of an elegant Manhattan apartment, rather than a standard hotel room."
A description of the rooms and suites goes on to say, "Our large windows are perfect for letting in natural light while taking in views of the city."
Although Baker didn't quite get to see that natural light or the views of the city from her hotel room, she said she did get a $200 refund that she requested, a deal she thought was fair and a deal she said Airbnb called "more than fair."
She also said she's glad to have a platform like TikTok to educate consumers to be mindful of what they're booking, and to be a "little more skeptical," even when just out for dinner.
"You have to kind of know what's going on," she urged.
We've reached out to Cassa Studios for comment, but have not heard back at this time. If or when we do, this story will be updated.