A tourist who thought she had booked a room with stunning beach views got an unpleasant surprise when she arrived at her accommodation.
At first glance, influencer Sonja Dennig, 28, thought the room in Westerland on the German North Sea island of Sylt would be perfect for her weekend getaway.
But when he looked closer, he realized that the stunning view was just a large poster of the sea hanging above the basement bedroom window.
Video footage shows Sonja walking towards what looks like a picture-perfect coastline, complete with sand dunes and basking in the warm sunshine.
But when the camera pans up, it shows a gloomy-looking metal grate and an industrial light that’s there to simulate sunlight.
The view from the bedroom window of the accommodation in Westerland appeared to be an idyllic beach scene.
The influencer thought the room in Westerland, on the German island of Sylt in the North Sea, would be perfect for her weekend getaway.
Sonja Dennig, 28, said they had booked the room believing it had a great view.
The fashion influencer, who was on holiday with her partner and dog, said: “They screwed us up a lot.”
The popular content creator goes by the name Sonny Loops and has over 924,000 followers on Instagram and another 479,000 on TikTok.
She told her followers: “We thought, ‘Wow, what a wonderful view we have,’ but look, it’s just a photo. We’re in the basement.”
Sonja, trying to look on the bright side of things, joked: “You’re in bed, it’s midnight, but you think it’s the evening or morning sun. It’s pretty amazing.”
The photos on her page show how she and her partner were able to enjoy the beautiful coastline of Sylt, which doesn’t look much different from the one in the poster, when they left their room.
The video quickly racked up more than 3.6 million views on TikTok, sparking an avalanche of reactions from social media users.
Some were impressed by the hack, with one TikTok user saying: “The most amazing thing is that the image looks totally real.”
Another user commented: “Well, let them be creative.”
Meanwhile, others challenged the influencer, with one saying that “it should be stated somewhere in the description that it’s in the basement.”
As the camera pans up, it shows a gloomy looking metal grate and an industrial light that is there to simulate sunlight.
Sonja and her partner had to leave their room to enjoy the coast of the island of Sylt.
The incident mirrors a similar case in Italy, when Argentine influencer Clarisa Murgia had paid more for the room because of the spectacular coastal views in the advert as part of an unforgettable holiday across Europe.
She filmed the video showing the moment she discovered she had paid a fortune for a hotel room with a stunning sea view and realised she had been scammed with a giant billboard.
While filming the scene, Clarissa showed how from one angle the sign looked exactly like the real thing.
But when you turn to the side, the footage shows that there’s just a huge image on the other side of a seedy alley.
In a separate but similar incident, influencer Clarisa Murgia’s balcony appeared to offer deceptively stunning sea views.
Upon closer inspection, the “view” from the balcony was coming from a giant sign hanging on the side of a building across from the tourist’s hotel room.
She shared a video of the misleading image on TikTok on May 18 in a clip titled ‘Expectation vs Reality.’
In the caption she wrote: “Someone rented a B&B with a sea view. I feel ripped off guys. No one has ever ripped me off like this before lol.”
The video quickly racked up more than 2.5 million views, with viewers expressing disbelief at the audacity of the scam.