Airbnb

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, he's got a number of Airbnbs and stuff.

And why do people own rental properties-

[laughs]

... because, quote-unquote, "It's coming out that she d-," quote-unquote, "did not know most of the people at her wedding." And it's like, yeah, babe, we know you didn't know most of the people at your wedding.

[laughs] I'm sorry, I'm still laughing at, like, Taylor treating her house like an Airbnb where there's, like, a [laughs] like a, like a laminated sheet of paper on the refrigerator that's like, "Please strip the bed after you leave.

Put all the dishes in the dishwasher."

Honestly, honestly.

She wanted to arrange a collaborative shoot that weekend so we could introduce each other to new audiences.

She had already reserved an Airbnb in the suburbs specifically for producing the content.

The message came from an account displaying the blue verification check mark.

The profile appeared completely authentic.

All Valentina's recent posts were there, and when I checked her story, she had even announced that she would be collaborating with several Chicago creators that week.

Every detail made the offer look legitimate and professional.

The Airbnb was approximately forty minutes outside Chicago in an affluent suburb I had never heard of.

It was the kind of neighborhood where every home occupied at least an acre of land, and the closest house could barely be seen through the surrounding trees.

Me too.

I remember exactly where I was in our last chat because I was in a tiny Airbnb, um, and I was trying to set, do this setup, and it was like MacGyvering everything and, and I, we got it to work.

Totally.

Well, I was in my basement by the cat litter.

We weren't allowed to be inside our house.

So we were staying at this, like, random Airbnb down the street-

[laughs]

...

I mean, appropriate 'cause we were in a VRBO, so we didn't wanna ...

Or Airbnb.

We didn't wanna like, you know, glitter to like last forever, so.

Yeah.

Hell yeah

... "Beavers of Longfellow Creek" Facebook page caught the attention of Airbnb, for which she now conducts beaver tours-

Beavers

... as part of the vacation rental company's [laughs] experiential arm.

story

Airbnb.

It had a pool table.

I think nobody wanted to go out to the backyard because there was snow on the ground.

Yeah

... of services that now then, too, that homeowner, oftentimes an affluent homeowner, has rental properties, family vacation homes that they want to Airbnb, but they also want it to be ready for them when they do family vacations.

And so they have all this whole suite of services where this gal is building a company where she-

Yep