“I Noticed a Weird Smell”: Woman Finds Stranger Under Hotel Bed, Demands R28.6k in Emotional Damages

• A woman, Natali Khomenko, who travelled alone to Japan, stated that she found a man hiding under her bed at the hotel she was staying at
• Natali shared a brief description of the unknown stranger and contacted the police to investigate the matter
• The terrifying situation had her demanding compensation from the hotel for emotional damages

A woman, Natali Khomenko, travelling solo to Japan, shared her terrifying experience of finding a man hiding under her hotel bed. After discovering the stranger, she contacted the police, demanded compensation, and shared the story on video.

Taking to her TikTok account, the solo traveller and content creator shared her story on 25 April, which was also posted on a subreddit on the social media platform Reddit on 25 July.

Natali stated that she stayed in a well-known chain of hotels in the Asian country called Apa Hotels near Ryogoku Towers.

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She told social media users in her TikTok video:

"The place looked legit with a keycard that allowed me access only to my floor and to my room."

At 7.30pm, after a day of sightseeing, Natali returned to her hotel room and lay on her bed, sharing:

"I noticed a weird smell. At first, I thought it was coming from my hair or the bed sheets, but then I realised it was coming from under the bed."

After leaning over the bed to check, she stated that she noticed a pair of eyes staring at her.

"I saw an Asian man under my bed. I started to scream and jumped to my feet. The man climbed out from under the bed and stared at me for three seconds. Those seconds felt like my life was over."

According to Natali, the man screamed in return and ran out of her room.

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Hotel employees called the police, who found a power bank and a USB cable under her bed. After the discovery, Natali moved to another hotel and demanded a refund. However, the original hotel, which claimed it didn't have cameras, offered her $178 (roughly R3 100) in coupons compared to the $600 (roughly R10 700) she initially paid for three nights.

"I called the hotel directly and demanded a full refund and a proper report. By the evening, they agreed to refund my original payment, but the police couldn't identify the intruder."

Natali also demanded compensation for emotional damage, asking for $1 600 (roughly R28 600). However, the hotel refused, as it wasn't in the policy to do so.

Natali concluded in her video that she wanted her story to reach everyone's ears so that Apa Hotels could take proper action and that travellers could be aware of the dangers that come with travelling.

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Watch Natali share her experience in the TikTok video below:

3 Other stories about solo travellers

• In another article, Briefly News reported on a South African woman who shared the foreign countries she felt were the safest. Local women loved the information the traveller provided.
• Media personality and businesswoman Rachel Kolisi shared how she was coping after her children's first solo trip to her ex, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi. The couple announced the end of their marriage in October 2024.
• A woman's epic R7 000 seven-day solo trip to Cape Town inspired people to embark on their own solo travels. Online users shared their questions for the woman's budget-friendly escape.

Source: Briefly News