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Image via Tero Vesalainen / Shutterstock.com
A pair of YouTubers from the UK have managed to turn a dollhouse into a successful listing on Airbnb.
Josh Pieters and Archie Manners decided to create an advertisement on Airbnb with pictures of a miniature home. The aim was to test how carefully Airbnb checks its listings, trusted by many customers globally.
The duo demonstrated how they were able to use their photography skills to capture images that made a dollhouse look like a luxurious 18th-century townhouse.
In a video that has racked up over 300,000 views, Pieters explained they wanted to know if Airbnb really verified properties before making them available to users. “Back when we were allowed into other people’s houses, me and Archie visited a house within a house with each room smaller than an iPad screen,” he said.
The camera then panned to the dollhouse, which was a creation of interior designer Emma Waddell. The YouTubers documented the impressive interior of the doll’s house, including real lights and paintings.
In the listing they created, Pieters and Manners even included a bank card in the bathroom and a full-sized water bottle, and ensured their reflections were captured in the mirror to show the scale of the property.
Pieters even used a photo of his mother as his profile picture to give the illusion of the dollhouse being a luxurious property with a grand host. He then listed the address using his real location in Clapham, and made the room available to book for £87 (US$120.92) per night.
“Despite all their checks, Airbnb approved our listing,” Pieters said.
Impressed viewers asked the duo to film a follow-up video showing how Airbnb responded to the prank, which racked up £3,000 (US$4,169) in bookings before the duo returned the money.
“In just a few days, Airbnb had taken thousands of pounds from members of the public for a completely fake listing,” Pieters said. “Naturally we’ve given them their money back. But just to prove how vulnerable is to scammers, we went ahead with one of our bookings.”
[via New York Post, cover image via Tero Vesalainen / Shutterstock.com]
