Comments on: Holiday Rental Scam Shocks Letting Industry

By: Phil

Phil — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:18:36 +0000

Hi Liz,

Sorry to hear of your situation.

I assume you have exhausted all attempts to contact the property owner?
Have the rental site confirmed it’s a scam?

Unfortunately the only protection is by following the steps I outlined – including paying by credit card. But this is of little avail after the scam unfortunately.

It appears that Homeaway have replaced their holiday rental guarantee with an optional travel insurance policy costing 7% of the trip value.

Phil

By: Liz

Liz — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 19:08:13 +0000

I wish I’d found your blog sooner. We’ve just been scammed by someone using Holiday Rentals to advertise. It’s about time these websites were made to be accountable for who they let advertise on there sites. Surely there has to be some protection for the consumer. As for Holiday Rentals offering free holiday rental guarantee I can only find insurance costing 7% of trip cost

By: Holiday rental scams: how to check if an apartment or villa is bogus | Schofields Blog

Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:01:50 +0000

[...] rental scams: checking for bogus holiday letsRecap of holiday home news: 7 July 2009Holiday Rental Scam Shocks Letting IndustryRecap of holiday home news : 22 June 2009MPs’ Second Home Insurance Claim [...]

By: Phil

Phil — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:30:33 +0000

Thanks for pointing this out. This could be an issue as the peak booking season for summer holidays is usually January, some 5-6 months before holidays are taken. If a fraud was identified a few weeks before the holiday, several months after booking and paying, then there could be a problem reclaiming payments sent.

By: Rob

Rob — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 19:15:04 +0000

Great post.
I looked into the protection offered by paypal but it seems like if you don’t make a claim before 45 days then it won’t be valid.