Homeaway scam

So this traveler booked first, despite many warning signs, and THEN investigated...

That doesn't seem very smart at all. It is very easy on Homeaway to send a message to the owner. If you do not receive an answer promptly, you shouldn't book. Simple as that.

Honestly, some people lack common sense and then blame their foolishness on others.

This is the third post related to the article. Past thread. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/vacation-property-renters-beware-a-recent-post-over-fodors-site

Even if this is the third post related to this Fodors link, it's the first one I've seen. Thanks for posting. it was an interesting read.

This is not what I'd call a 'Homeaway scam'. That's pretty inflammatory to Homeaway when it's really the supposed owner committing the scam.

And I agree with previous posters that if you don't do your own research and due diligence, then it's on you if things go sideways. I have rented places from VRBO and Homeaway and never book places that require payment up front. That's always risky, unless the location has sterling reviews.

This is not what I'd call a 'Homeaway scam'. That's pretty inflammatory to Homeaway when it's rally the supposed owner committing the scam.

It's a scam perpertrated through Homeaway, the title is irrelevant because when you read the first post it's quite evident that the scam is not being conducted by Homeaway. There's nothing inflammatory to Homeaway in the title because there is absolutely no context or anything to base an inflammatory conclusion on.

Personally I'm more concerned about the lack of effective response by Homeaway and their affiliates to this complaint and the many others that have been reported rather than any slight offence the management or anyone else may take at the title of my post but each to their own.

So this traveler booked first, despite many warning signs, and THEN investigated.

What warning signs? Have you read the post?

Just about everything about the property in "Mike's" first post feels like a red flag to me.

But, Homeaway allowed it to be listed on its website, and they should honor their guarantee.

Thanks for posting.

You have to be careful with the star ratings. I almost booked a 5-star apartment on VRBO, when my wife pointed out only the shaded stars counted, not the blank ones. It was actually a 2-star.

Just about everything about the property in "Mike's" first post feels like a red flag to me and leads me to believe that he could be a jackass.

I would suggest that he was perhaps naive in his approach but nothing in his post suggested that the offer looked too good to be true, he paid a lot of money for a luxurious villa, the charges commensurate with a villa of such proportions and luxury so on the face of it he had no reason to be suspicious. It's only on trying to establish the exact location and image of the pool that his suspicions became raised. I think calling him a jackass is a bit strong. Certainly when I've made booked through Homeaway I took everything at face value and made the assumption that a reputable company had sufficient checks in place to ensure that such fraudulent activity wouldn't be a risk.

Or am I intepreting your post incorrectly and you believe the claim to be a fase one?

Certainly when I've made booked through Homeaway I took everything at face value and made the assumption that a reputable company had sufficient checks in place to ensure that such fraudulent activity wouldn't be a risk.

I'm not trying to be insulting but in my opinion that, in itself, is a bit naive too. I would never book a place site unseen unless I had spoken to the owner and read a multitude of positive reviews, and I repeat what I said about shying away from those expecting payment up front, not that they are all fraudulent by any means, but it is a red flag for me. I would never take anything on a booking website at face value. Homeaway, and others like it, are listing/booking services and, while they do offer some guarantees (which, I agree they should abide by if all conditions are met), they do not check every property and do rely on the owners that are listing with them to be honest. Descriptions of properties are provided by the individual properties, not by Homeaway.

I think the other big lesson revealed in the story at that Fodor thread is that Homeaway is hosting multiple other bogus properties. One of the posters helping the Fodor OP has uncovered I think three other properties where photos of high end properties are cut from luxury rental websites and reposted as rentals available through Homeaway, complete with calendars of available dates and owner contact information.

Agreed with JC and Peter here. The other day I read through the whole thread on Fodors. The point was that, even after the rental scam was discovered and reported to HomeAway, HomeAway continued to list the property as available, not issue a refund, and (folly of all follies) ask for notification from the “owner” that a refund needed to be made, even though the renter was WELL within his legal no-penalty cancellation timeline. As mentioned, another bogus property was also discovered and reported to HomeAway - with no listing removed. Obviously scammers are out there looking for easy money. And yes, we all need to be careful. But blaming the renter for a lack of action on HomeAway’s part after a scam is discovered and reported seems a bit condescending.
Edit to add* Renter did not pay the scammer, as some have inferred - he paid HomeAway directly per protocol.

I would suggest that he was perhaps naive in his approach but nothing in his post suggested that the offer looked too good to be true, he paid a lot of money for a luxurious villa, the charges commensurate with a villa of such proportions and luxury so on the face of it he had no reason to be suspicious. It's only on trying to establish the exact location and image of the pool that his suspicions became raised. I think calling him a jackass is a bit strong. Certainly when I've made booked through Homeaway I took everything at face value and made the assumption that a reputable company had sufficient checks in place to ensure that such fraudulent activity wouldn't be a risk.
Or am I intepreting your post incorrectly and you believe the claim to be a fase one?

I deleted my jackass comment because I figured it would get me in trouble with the mods. But, experience has taught me not to take anything anywhere at face value. For someone with an underwriting background, the red flags that "Mike" chose to ignore are mind-boggling. Honestly, I don't think someone, to use your word, as naive as Mike should be trying to rent a villa from anyone.

But as I also said, Homeaway allowed that posting on its website, and they should stand by their guarantee.

Mike says he rented a villa in Barcelona from HomeAway last year and had a good experience and he uses AirBnB as well, so he does have experience doing this kind of thing. Following HomeAway’s response is certainly a cautionary tale about how they proceed when there is an issue. As well as the fact that during the course of this ordeal, another poster turned up two more properties with questionable origins listed on HomeAway.

The takeaway for me is not to trust HomeAway or VRBO (owned by Expedia?).

If Mike hadn’t figured out it was a scam before arriving to find no villa, he would have had to scramble to find a hotel.

I don’t trust HomeAway or VRBO already but this was further confirmation. The reason i don’t trust them is because I rented an apartment in Paris in 2017. I rented directly from the mgr who had his own website. Apt was disgusting, so we left immediately. I now see that apt and all the apts managed by the same mgr are now listed on VRBO (and likely on HomeAway but i haven’t checked).

Most apts are fine i’m sure, but it’s russian roulette imo after my experience. I’d only rent through AirBnB or a very reputable company like VacationInParis now.

Our latest experience with HorneAway (April 2019) -- rented a studio in Paris (Marais, great location, hope to return in December), beautiful updated centrally located studio in Bayeux, serene cottage at the west end of Loire valley, and a gorgeous apartment in Sarlat walking distance to the old town but peaceful enough to hear birdsong throughout the day. All were great!

Not saying that every HomeAway/ VRBO is as good -- but I would not rule out their rentals just because of this poster's bad experience.

Ultimately, it's all a good lesson in how best to go about insulating oneself from situations like this.

I'm sure we'd all, for instance, be wary of a random person coming up to us as we approached an airport's taxi line and said, "Hey! I'll take you where you wanna go, for less!". Why not also be wary when booking a villa or other vacation rental?

• Read reviews, or wait until a listing has some. Sure, that means you're missing out on being the first one to check out a newly listed property, but better safe than sorry.
• Take advantage of google image search. If you use the chrome browser, you can either drag an image in to the search bar or right-click to search for that image and see where else on the web it might have appeared. More often than not, scammers are just pulling images from other sites.
• Pay through the listing site, with a CC. While the OP on that other forum did so, and still went through a bit of a hassle, at least he had the option of going through that hassle to eventually get his money back. Anyone asking for a direct payment or off-site wire should be a big red flag.

I’m recalling my first holiday home rental, in Florida with VRBO. I mailed a personal check to England for the entire amount. Everything worked out fine (except for the burglary).

Yep, i’ve had 2 apt rentals that were great. But if you get a bad one, it can ruin your vacation.