Popular Vacation Rental Scams - Tips For How To Defend Against Rental Scams

Learn About Popular Vacation Rental Scams That Hurt The Travel Industry


			Many horrible scams plague the online vacation rental community. In order to defend ourselves, vacation rental owners, and vacation renters against them, we must provide you with a list of popular vacation rental scams or tactics used by these criminals. Basically, you must : Understand that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Do your homework and get all details of your rental agreement in writing. Research the person you are signing a rental agreement with to determine if they are a real person that can be easily reached at anytime to hold accountable. Never ever pay by cash or check. If you receive payment make sure it is validated before ever offering a refund. With that said, here are some popular vacation rental scams :

List of Popular Vacation Rental Scams

1 . Some vacation rental scammers will send you a certified check for more than the amount agreed upon. Once they are assured that you have cashed the check at you local bank, they will ask for a refund of the difference be sent to them immediately. What they are counting on is that you send the refund before the check clears. The check will bounce or your bank will determine that it is not a valid check. If you have sent them the money, you are out the entire amount of the original check cashed at the bank and the amount that you sent to them. This scam is prevelent with the sale of any item be it rental time or a timeshare property sale.

2 . You receive a telephone call announcing that you have won a vacation to some highly desirable location like Hawaii or the Bahamas. The only catch is that you need to pay some fees up front to claim your prize. Once you pay your fees, the travel agency disappears and you are left with a loss of money. One major lesson to learn from this is that if you win a prize, you should not have to pay any money to claim it.

3 . You could book a vacation online, but when you arrive all you find is a dirty, old shack that does not look like the perception given to you of the pictures online. Usually by now you have not decent place to stay and you are out of a deposit.

4 . Some vacation packages may suggest booking a vacation and paying extra for food in exchange for being provided a free plane ticket. The catch is that the cost of amentities and food are greatly inflated to more than pay for the plane ticket.

5 . Someone may present the idea to you of becoming a travel agent, since travel agents enjoy special discounts on travel accomodations. This person will charge you a small fee for becoming a travel agent, but after you are suckered in, you will find that the travel agent certicate provided by them is not accepted by the travel industry, so your money and time are waisted.

Webmaster Login

Travel Sites

Compare Vacation Rental Websites

Travel Links

PickMyVacationRental.com helps renters pick vacation rental properties that are rented directly from vacation home owners who submit free vacation rental listings with us. Vacation rental owners find a low-cost way to list vacation rental properties and trade vacation rental time with other vacation property owners. Everyone can learn about the events and activities available at a variety of unique vacation spots by visiting our informative travel planning guides provided for each vacation spot.

Use of this website constitutes acceptance of the PickMyVacationRental.com Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.