- TikToker Nick Doty showed the San Diego house he and his friends were staying in for a wedding.
- It left a lot to be desired with strange bedrooms, a broken toilet, and other weird features.
A TikToker showed his followers the Airbnb he and some friends booked for a wedding, describing it as "the most pathetic excuse for a house that I've ever stayed in, in my life."
Nick Doty responded to a comment about expensive rent with a 6-minute video presenting the San Diego property, which the owner had divided into two dwellings.
Insider found the rental listing on Airbnb and on Zillow where it is currently up for sale for $4,900,000. On Airbnb, it has a 4.78 average rating out of 5, across 129 reviews.
The reviews are generally positive, though many mention the host's long list of "rules."
Its host — identified only by a first name, Scott — disputed much of Doty's account, saying his video was misleading.
Doty said the rental cost his group $1,250 per night, and did not actually have the five bedrooms claimed on the listing. The ad doesn't show any photos of bedrooms.
Doty said the first supposed bedroom, for example, was in the garage.
"I'm not kidding, this is a bedroom," he said, opening a door next to where the car was parked. "It smells like gasoline. There's no air vent."
The garage-bedroom also had no window and no electrical outlets. It did have a lamp in the corner, with no obvious way to power it.
Doty then asked all his friends in the group what their "favorite" quirks of the Airbnb were.
@nldoty Replying to @laminatedbears #landlord #landlordspecial #airbnb #airbnbfinds #airbnbexperience #airbnbhost #landlords #landlordsfromhell #fyp #fypage
♬ original sound - nldoty
One of Doty's friends, Jameson, said his favorite part of the house was the "reclining toilets." He led Doty to a bathroom where the toilet was not attached to the wall.
His friend Amelia said her favorite part was the "air conditioning." Doty said some houses in San Diego didn't come with that feature, but this one did, for a fee of $25 per day per room. To ensure guests stuck to this rule, the controller for the unit was in a lock box, only to be unlocked if they Venmoed the host the money.
(The Airbnb listing says that air conditioning is available for an extra fee, but didn't say how much.)
Another guest, Carly, pointed out "removable shower handles" in the house's bathrooms, which came off when twisted.
Doty's wife Megan showed off "all the sleeping options" in the property, which included a bed in the basement and other rooms with multiple beds inside.
In the basement bathroom, there were no vents and no air conditioning, but there was an air dehumidifier, which he said didn't work. Doty said the shower was covered in mold.
The tap also wiggled when Doty touched it, and the toilet was not firmly attached to the floor.
The shower took 12 and a half minutes to get hot, Doty said. "I timed it — that's how bad it is."
Amelia also pointed to a sign that said "unused food can be left behind." She then opened a cupboard to show a solitary graham cracker on one of the otherwise-bare shelves.
Some more strange features of the house included a shopping cart in the garage, an oven they said took hours to heat up, and lighting fixtures held up by screws sticking out of the walls.
The spice rack in the kitchen did not open all the way, and there was a door that could not be opened that seemed to lead to a room under the stairs.
Doty's friend Clay noted sarcastically how "child safe" the property was. He walked around the stairwell, showing there a large gap in the bannister, leading to a sheer drop.
"All this could be yours for $5 million and a lifetime supply of anti-depressants," Doty joked.
Doty ended the video with showing how "clean" the floors were, by presenting his blackened feet, which looked like they were caked in dirt. Other Airbnb reviews also mentioned the floors.
Doty posted a second video a few days later, showing several other peculiarities, including broken furniture, no remote for the television, and mold in the washers in the garage.
Insider reached out to Doty for further comment.
@nldoty Replying to @P #landlord #landlordspecial #airbnb #airbnbfinds #airbnbexperience #airbnbhost #landlords #landlordsfromhell #fyp #fypage #foryou
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An Airbnb spokesperson told Insider the company was investigating the property in light of the video, though they said Doty had not contacted them directly about the stay.
The spokesperson noted that hosts who misrepresent their property can have their listing removed, or be suspended totally from Airbnb, and that Airbnb provides cover for listings which aren't as advertized.
Insider reached out to the host of the property, named Scott, who disputed much of the video. He denied there was mold in the showers, but said the grout may have been "a little dirty" and that a cleaning crew had "fixed this now."
He also said there was "no garage bedroom," just a "spare bed." He also denied the stairwell was unsafe, claiming the group climbed over a rail to access it.
Scott said he did not see any broken furniture, and would replace any he found. He said the oven "works great," but that the group had it on the "wrong setting." He also denied the shower took ages to heat up, and said there were the "proper" amount of electrical outlets "they just needed to look a little more."
Scott conceded that there was a missing bolt on the toilet. He said he did not know about the shower handle, and said both issues were "fixed now."
"Much of the video was fabricated to look bad," he said. "I would not recommend other host to accept any reservations request from this renter."
In a second message he added that the floors were "very clean."
"Tile is black slate," he said. "Black slate will always turn feet black no matter how clean the floor is."
Doty's video amassed over 600,000 views, and attracted comments from people saying they too have been burned by Airbnb properties.
Some urged to group to on local officials to investigate, because they could not believe the property was up to standards.
Scott gave a license number on the rental listing, suggesting it had been approved by San Diego officials.
Many also praised the group for having a sense of humor about the situation.
"The house is a horror," one person wrote. "But you and your friends seem like the best people, the way you're all laughing at the madness."
"That playpen and shopping cart are technically two extra bedrooms," joked another. "So I don't know why y'all are complaining."