- While scams on vacation rental platforms are rare, they can spike during busy travel periods.
- Vacation rental platforms ask users to only book and pay through their verified websites and apps.
- Guests should read the comment section, and take photos of the space once they arrive.
Alaska resident Madi Huffmann thought she had found the perfect Airbnb stay for her winter-break London vacation in 2019.
“It looked super great on the page,” said the 20-year-old, who was traveling with a friend at the time. “It was in a good location (and) had really cute bedrooms.”
But a couple of days before she was set to check in, she said her host told her the rental was undergoing maintenance, and the two would be transferred to another building across the street.
Turns out, their new Airbnb was much different from what they had originally signed up for.
Not only was it in a completely different neighborhood, but Huffmann described the rental as dirty, with dead rats in the building’s staircase and a thermostat stuck on the highest setting.
“It was so sketchy,” she said. “It was in an area where we weren’t entirely comfortable being outside after dark. … It was just disappointing.”
While scams on vacation rental platforms are rare, they can spike during busy travel periods like the Fourth of July weekend, according to Tarik Dogru, an assistant professor of hospitality management at Florida State University.
“(There are) hosts that … want to take advantage…
