Avoiding Fraud

How Fraud Usually Works

Frauds can be grouped into two basic categories: Non-existent vacation rentals steal money from travellers, or travellers use fake credit cards or checks to pay for their stays.

How can you, as a traveller, end up booking non-existent vacation rentals? Here is an example: Joe, a guy in Nigeria, buys a stolen credit card number on the black market. Joe goes to an online vacation rental directory and sets up a fake listing, paying the yearly subscription fee using the stolen credit card number. Joe tells travellers that his vacation rental is very inexpensive, but can only be booked by prepaying the full stay via money order. You, the traveller, book his vacation rental and send him a wire transfer or money order, as he requested. Weeks later, the vacation rental directory learns that the credit card transaction was disputed. Or, in an even worse scenario, it's entirely possible that you could travel to your destination, get in your rental car, and drive to the nice vacation rental you booked inexpensively, only to discover that the address doesn't exist. By the time you realize you've been defrauded, Joe has been living the good life for weeks and, because it would be prohibitively difficult to prosecute him (since he lives in another country), you have lost all of your money.

The second type of fraud, in which vacation rental lose money, is more straightforward: An international traveller arrives and pays with a credit card or check. Everything appears to be normal. Days or weeks later you get a note from the bank telling your that the credit card charges have been disputed because the credit card was stolen, or that the check bounced back. Once again, the money is lost, as it is very difficult to track a person in another country. Which is not to say that tracking fraud within the same country is a picnic, either.

How RealVacationRentals Addresses the Issue

We address it in several ways. Some of them we can make public, some of which must remain secret in order to retain their potency.

In order to protect the traveller, RealVacationRentals only works with vacation rentals that receive prepayments, when required, via credit card (or any other card that does not require a PIN number for online purchases) or PayPal. In this way, travellers will have the chance to dispute the transaction in the unlikely scenario that the vacation rental was not real. When this happens, RealVacationRentals will charge the host its commission at the same time that the prepayment is made. That way, RealVacationRentals increases the chances of finding out if the vacation rental is not legitimate before the check-in date. Of course, if the booking is cancelled, RealVacationRentals will automatically credit the commission back to the host.

In order to protect the vacation rentals, RealVacationRentals will allow them, at their discretion, to require the traveller to prepay the booking in its entirety via credit card or PayPal. Additionally, hosts will be able to review the profile of any traveller before accepting a booking from him or her. If they wish, they can accept bookings only from travellers with an existing and positive record in RealVacationRentals.

Your feedback is highly appreciated. If you can think of another way we can protect both travellers and vacation rentals, please let us know.