VRBO Paris Apartment #208577

Use caution. A great many online rentals are scams. I do not have any particular knowledge of this person. However, CraigsList is full of scams and some pop up on VRBO also. The scammer wants you to wire them a large amount of money, but when you get to Paris, no such apt. or address exists. Use your own judgment as to whether THIS one sounds legit. You have no guarentee at all that you'll have a place to stay when you get there. My personal judgment would tell me to look elsewhere, at a hotel or B&B with a verifiable address. Do you have the Rick Steves Paris travel guide? You shouldn't go to Paris without having read it. He gives a huge number of suggestions as to hotels and B&B's. I would without a doubt pick someplace out of the RS book rather than deal with a stranger!!

Thanks Rebecca...I agree with you and advised my daughter not to deal with this person because he was very vague and wanted her to deposit a money order into his account-Wow, he could be any one and not even have the apartment! Our problem is that we have pretty much exhausted all the R.S.
recommendations plus a few others trying to find what they need. I think they just waited too late to start the search and now it is very difficult, but we will keep trying and hopefully find something soon!Thanks again.

I looked at the listing and nothing about it made me suspicious. He gives you the apartment address so I would google it and his name and anything else you can find. If it's a scam it's likely to pop up. I rent several apartments/villas using vrbo and a few other sites every year and have not once had an issue. It doesn't mean it can't happen so it's always good to check it out. It's very common to have to wire money to an account. I do this with about a third of the places I rent. If you don't have a good feeling about it, then you can refine your search to places that take credit cards. that way you have peace of mind that if it's a scam, you are protected. To me, the apartment thing is so the way to go if you are in one place more than 2-3 nights and especially in Paris. I love market shopping for some of my dinners and lunches and my husband loves going out early in the morning and picking out breakfast at the local boulangerie.

Have you tried VacationInParis.com? It is a reliable agency that has apartments all over Paris with no weely minimum stay. They take credit cards and it is an American company so you pay in US dollars and avoid the foreign transaction fee on your credit card. We rented from them a few years ago and I continue to recommend then highly.

Appreciate your good advice Leslie and will pass it on to the daughter. Thanks a million!
Ivy

Good apartment reviews can be found here: http://www.slowtrav.com/france/vr/list.asp?r=Paris There are significant advantages to having an apartment, not the least of which is being able to cook some of your meals. Just procuring the ingredients for a meal can be quite enjoyable in Paris.

I have no knowledge of this particular apartment, but I have rented using vrbo multiple times. If there is something that makes you feel uneasy, then you should listen to your gut, but I think it's unfair to compare Craigs List to vrbo. I would never use Craigs List to rent.

Hello,
I have not had contact with the above person, but I have rented apartments twice in Paris using VRBO. The apartment I can personally recommend is #143492. The woman was nice to work with and everything was as expected and went as planned. I would stay here again. Her apartment is very near Luxemburg gardens. I have also rented in Bruges and Mexico with no problems through VRBO. Good luck to you.

Hey Ivy, I've rented an apt through Vacations in Paris for a week in July. Glad to hear from others that they are legit. They are HQ out of NJ and I have already paid in advance through Pay Pal.

Ivy, Have you tried www.tripadvisor.com? It has lots of listings for every city, plus reviews by people that have stayed at the hotel, B&B or apt. they're writing a review of. You could also enter the "VRBO Paris Apartment 208577" into the search and see if anyone has reviewed it. Or type "Emmanuel Cazals" into the trip advisor search. Also search his name on Google to see what comes up. No, in my previous comment, I am NOT equating VRBO with Craigs List!! I was simply making the point that WHATEVER site you are using, just be aware of the way some of the scams work. Do an article search here on the Rick Steves board to see past comments and warnings about these type of scams. I myself have used VRBO to rent inside the U.S., and never had a problem; then again, nothing sounded "fishy" when I contacted the person who posted the property, either.

I've just stayed in 2 VRBO apartments this week and last and both were clean, comfortable and honestly portrayed. One in Paris (Marais), the other in Amsterdam. I guess it's possible to get scammed, but I am satisfied with the service. The owners were very nice.

Ivy, It sounds as though many people on this site are urging you to go ahead with this particular VRBO, so I'd go ahead and take it, unless something sounds fishy to you. You are the one who must make the call on this. Have a good trip.

Just wondering what the outcome was? Did your daughter stay here?

Rented through VRBO for our apt I Paris last year, no problems everything was legit. See if you can find reviews on trip advisor for your specific apt.
Have a safe trip :):)

Why revive a 9 month old post?

Because it is an ongoing issue, this thread had some pertinent comments, and it would be nice to receive after comments. As the original poster hasn't responded, perhaps the "reviver" would have better luck with a private message.

Another site worth trying is www.airbnb.com. I saw a writeup about this site in the NY Times. It seems a little more informative than VRBO. Anybody have experience with this site? I am thinking of using it for a Paris trip this October.