A relaxing holiday swim turned into a moment of shock for two Australian friends in Bali when, in a TikTok video, they discovered the “private villa” they booked wasn’t quite as private as they thought.

Karina Horton, 24, and her friend Bella, 19, were looking forward to unwinding in Canggu, Bali, after a long journey from Australia. Believing they had secured a private space via a holiday booking website, their first plan was to combat the humidity with a dip in their villa’s pool. Horton spoke to Newsweek about the moment they realized they weren’t alone.

At 6:00 a.m., another guest at the villa stumbled upon them while swimming. The TikTok comments were replete with speculation that the friends may have even been skinny dipping—though Horton declined to confirm this.

The surprised reaction, captured on TikTok, has gone viral with 5 million views, prompting others to share similar travel booking mishaps.

“Nowhere did [the website] state it was in a shared villa with other people in the rooms,” Horton said. “When we arrived from a long flight, we said it will be the first thing we do [to] go for a swim…because it’s so humid.”

The video shows the friends enjoying the pool area, seemingly alone. But their blissful moment is interrupted when a door opens and a young man emerges from one of the adjacent rooms. The women’s faces show instant surprise, then laughter, as the reality of their situation dawns on them.

“In the video, you can see when we realized it isn’t private when a young male came out of a room to say hi,” Horton said. The unexpected guest’s reaction was nice, if slightly sleepy. “He was pleased to see us, however, said we did wake him up.”

Despite the initial shock and awkwardness of realizing they were sharing their holiday space, the friends found humor in the situation.

“It was a very funny story,” Horton said. “It made us laugh like nothing else, because of my friend’s laugh and reaction shown in the video…[it] had me in stitches.”

‘No Heads Up’

The clip resonated with many travelers who’ve experienced similar booking blunders. One commenter shared their own startling experience with shared accommodation.

“Booked a shared flat in London without realizing,” they wrote. “Was asleep in bed around midnight when a couple walked into the flat and I screamed!”

“This literally happened to me,” another person wrote. “I was told that it is shared, but that no one booked the other side. I checked in and there she was. No heads up or nothing.”

The comments also touched upon the nuances of villa rentals. One user pointed out a common distinction, suggesting, “Pretty sure your villa was not shared. But you had a shared pool. Big difference.”

While a “private villa” typically implies a standalone property with private use of all facilities, some properties operate more like small complexes. These might feature private rooms that share common areas like gardens, lounges, or swimming pools.

For Horton and Bella, what could have been an awkward holiday hiccup turned into a memorable and hilarious story—and a viral TikTok moment, reminding other travelers to read the fine print very carefully.