Posted on 03/11/2024 9:07:26 AM PDT by ChicagoConservative27
It was a nightmare-bnb experience.
A UK family had to cancel their dream Spanish vacation just hours before departure after losing more than $5,000 in an elaborate Airbnb “clone” scam.
“I felt devastated for my children and my husband,” Emma Last, 48, told PA Real Life of the holiday hornswoggling. “One [of her children] didn’t speak for a day.”
The Lancashire resident had planned an eight-night trip to Majorca — one of Spain’s idyllic Balearic Islands — in August 2023 with her husband Zak, 51, Last’s parents and their three children: Scarlette and Henri, both 17, and Xander, 14.
The family had reportedly traveled there last year and enjoyed the trip so much that Last had been “saving up” all year so they could embark on yet another Mediterranean getaway.
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
I got nailed by one in CA.
Airbnb reimbursed me and closed the offending account.
I have rented twice. The first time was after my daughter stayed at a casita down the road from where our son lived, when she went to visit his family. It was a one minute walk to their house. She had a good experience so we booked there. It was wonderful.
The only other time was for her wedding, and the owner of the venue had a small house that they just started to offer to the families of the newlyweds. That, too, was an amazingly wonderful experience.
Stories like this make me keep my guard up, though.
Neither have I and I wonder if it is more prone to these type of scams than traditional hotels?
We have rented condos in Florida before but we went directly with a long-established brick and mortar real estate office which handled local rentals as well and listings for sale.
I feel for the family who sound devastated.
I only use Waterbnb.
The key is to make sure they have good reviews.
“The key is to make sure they have good reviews.”
And not leave the site for that 10% discount.
Good reviews by established users who have rented from different owners on multiple occasions.
“Family loses more than $5K”
Nope. Their CC company reimbursed them for the rental.
I have used a few. A very nice flat in London, a large apartment in Paris, a couple of condos in Hawaii. A back house / guest house in central California. They all worked out well. In each case I had good communication with the owner/manager. They were all clean and some had cleaning service during the stay. The one in Hawaii got me suspicious because they asked me to send a check to cover the hotel tax. It wasn’t for a huge amount, but it was odd that Airbnb couldn’t handle this. Or maybe I got scammed for a small amount. 🤪
Another good indication is a bad review thrown in there.
Lol.
“If they ask you to go off the site and into WhatsApp, don’t do it, if they ask you to pay on a different site, don’t do it,” .........................
A recent news item today about Airbnd is that there are notifying Airbnb hosts that security cameras inside the host residence will not be allowed.
On the one hand you can understand Airbnb guests not wanting to be spied upon, but on the other hand you can understand Airbnb hosts wanting to be sure they can identity when and by whom any damage to their property make happen.
I can imagine a startup compeititor to Airbnb arising from this change in Airbnb policy as well as some Airbnb hosts simply dropping out of the Airbnb service.
It might be doing more harm than good and could be stamped out if regulated and taxed like hotels but what Freeper is going to argue for more taxes and regulations?
There was a competitor called FireBnB, but all it’s customers got burned.
only buy tickets from reputable sales sites- friend of one of a niece of ours got scammed buying a ‘ticket’,
woman from Japan coming here to bible college lost $500- she called the airlines to confirm her ‘ticket’ info, and was told that they had no info on that ticket- she called the company back up that sold her the supposed ticket and was told that it is a ‘standby ticket’ or something like that which meant IF someone cancelled, she could get aboard the plane in their place-
Not sure what happened- haven’t spoke with her yet as they are on vacation spring break- waiting to hear if she got it resolved or not- -
“The key is to make sure they have good reviews.”
Airbnb deletes the really bad reviews and only cares about maximizing commission. Particularly for hosts in countries where they know bringing lawsuits is very difficult.
It happened to me when I realized the building we stayed in was condemned and had hazardous materials. I even sent proof from the local newspaper stating the building was not safe to inhabit and Airbnb deleted my review. They refused to even refund a cent until I found the newspaper.
I didn’t get all my money back and the host continues to deny all and rents to this day...
I am sure there are cameras at a lot of the airbnbs.
https://www.pedestrian.tv/entertainment/hidden-camera-airbnb-tiktok/
> “One [of her children] didn’t speak for a day.”
For lots of kids that would be counted as a plus.
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