(NEXSTAR) – Talk about a convenient location to nearby restaurants and bars!
A young woman visiting New York City recently discovered that her hotel room — which she booked through Airbnb — literally shared a window with a Japanese restaurant, allowing her to sneak a peek at the patrons as they were chowing down.
The woman, who identified herself as Desiree Baker, first shared the odd experience on TikTok earlier this week, remarking on discrepancy between the actual room and the online listing, which allegedly indicated a bedroom overlooking the city.
“I roll up the shades — there’s no buildings,” she explains to her TikTok followers. “We’re in a restaurant. Let me show you.”
As seen in the clip, Baker lifts the shade and nervously peeks at a couple enjoying their dinner on the opposite side of the glass. The diners, however, are unable to see Baker because of a reflective coating on the other side, she later discovers.
“I would have screamed the first time opening the blinds,” one viewer wrote in response to the video.
“ARE YOU KIDDING ME[?]” another commenter asked.
“Omg I’d be LIVID!!!!” added another user.
Baker also demonstrated in subsequent clip that she was able to open the window into the restaurant, and later used this ability when returning a couple of cocktail glasses she had brought back to her room.
“HOW IS THIS LEGAL,” she captioned one video, which has since been viewed over 9 million times on TikTok. “You literally can not make this up.”
Following her stay, Baker identified both the hotel and restaurant on TikTok. As Eater NYC noted, the restaurant appears to have been built on an outdoor patio with a retractable roof, indicating that the window of Baker’s room may have once overlooked an outdoor area.
Baker, meanwhile, has claimed she was contacted by Airbnb after they saw her viral video on TikTok. She said they offered her a credit toward a future stay, which she was “fine with.”
A representative for Airbnb told Nexstar that they were working to “support the guest,” and that the hotel’s operator — Cassa Studios — was under investigation by the company.
In a statement shared with Nexstar, the hotel operator further claimed that guests in “terrace-facing rooms” are notified in advance.
“As is the case in much of the City, we have to deal with the constraints of a building with an unusual floor plan,” reads a statement from Cassa Studios hotel manager Yulia Letenko. “Only six out of our 86 rooms are terrace-facing, and our policy is to place guests in those rooms only when no others are available, or upon request. These rooms are offered at a discounted price, guests are notified in advance about the restaurant, and we allow guests who do stay in those rooms to move as soon as another room becomes available. Many of the guests who stay in our terrace-facing rooms appreciate having a discounted option available near popular tourist destinations.”
