Airbnb guest claims his friend was hospitalized because of mold in beach house

A man went viral on TikTok, after claiming that his friend was hospitalized because of mold growing in his Airbnb beach house.

In a two-minute clip with 356,000 views, TikToker Seth Godwin claimed he and his friends were exposed to mold, landing one of them in a hospital to seek treatment.

The content creator said that when he and his friends arrived to stay at the Airbnb beach house, they experienced some sore throats and foggy heads after the first day.

When an upstairs water heater broke on the same day, Seth said a repairman called by the property owners discovered that the heater had been leaking for at least three months. They also found that mold had grown “everywhere” around the area.

Airbnb guest’s friend hospitalized because of mold

“One of my content creator friends who stayed in the room closest to the mold ended up in hospital due to mold exposure,” he claimed in the video. “I immediately contacted Airbnb support who asked for all kinds of documentation, which I provided, and that they’d contact me within an hour.”

“I had to call them every day to get any update. When I asked them why I hadn’t been contacted within an hour like they told me they’d do, every single time I called them, they said, ‘sorry, we’re dealing with a lot of complaints right now.'”

The TikToker also claimed that the company’s customer service department was unable to do anything for him and closed the case, as he had already checked out of the Airbnb.

Fortunately, after he took all of the same information to his credit card company, Seth said they issued him a full refund as they reportedly found that Airbnb was in violation of its own policies. He also added that he called his bank and was told that if he’d used a debit card in the situation, he would have no protections.

In the comments, many TikTok users expressed a preference for credit cards over debit cards when it comes to purchase protection.

“Yep, this is why I use a credit card for essentially everything,” one user wrote. “Never book or really use your debit card at all. Zero fraud protection too,” another added.

“Do people seriously not know debit cards aren’t protected like a credit card?” a third said. “Only use debit at ATM for cash and CC for everything else.”