YouTubers troll Airbnb by listing dollhouse and making thousands in bookings

UK YouTubers have trolled Airbnb by listing a dollhouse on the website.

Archie Manners and Josh Pieters photographed the interior of a 1700s dollhouse, successfully uploaded it to the site and claimed it was a townhouse. In doing so, they made more than £3,000 worth of reservations, they said.

Speaking in the video, Pieters said they wanted to see how robust Airbnb’s scam checking processes were. He said: “You can rent almost any kind of accommodation on Airbnb, nut just how carefully do Airbnb check their listings?”

Pieters and Manners are known for their carefully planned pranks. Last year, they tricked Love Island stars Tommy Fury and Molly Mae by ‘interviewing’ them with audio clips of James Corden’s voice. They also presented Katie Hopkins with a fake award, and sold microwave meals on Deliveroo.

And in this latest prank – to see if Airbnb would notice that the house was not real – the pair planted items showing that the house was not to scale, including a bank card in the bathroom and a water bottle in the hallway, and deliberately showed their faces in the reflection of a mirror.

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They ‘charged’ guests £87 a night to book the property, and claimed it was a townhouse in Clapham, South London. They said they received thousands of pounds’ worth of bookings in days, which they cancelled and refunded to guests.

To test the system further though, Pieters and Manners allowed two men to confirm a booking, and gave him them their real address. When they arrived, Pieters told them: “The Airbnb you booked, is not actually a real Airbnb.”

They then refunded them the money and booked them a 5 star hotel instead in central London and, luckily for them, the men seemed unphased by the skullduggery.

Reacting to the video on Twitter, fans found it hilarious. One said:

And another was interested in the dollhouse for its original purpose:

Ending the video, Pieters said: “Maybe it’s worth checking before booking something online, after all it’s the little things that matter.”

Maybe he’s got a point.

Indy100 has contacted Airbnb for comment.