The online world is full of enticing, glamorous holiday escapes which are promoted to appear as though you will be staying in a premium luxury for a portion of the price of a 5-star hotel.
Nevertheless, vacationers beware – The online world is full of scams and bogus websites just anticipating in taking your hard-earned money.
The UK’s national fraud and cybercrime reportage centre ‘Action Fraud’ indicated that the number of vacationers losing money to reservation scams for villas on rent have increased by 20% from the previous year with nearly 6000 registered cases of fraud.
This is unfortunate news for traveler impressed by the multitude of online offers. Though, there are ways to protect your money while still investing in a quality, luxury villa rentals with all the benefits.
You have to ensure that you are dealing only with a trustworthy company. There are many small operators without any track records providing options of villas for rent but we would recommend you dealing with one of the prominent companies like ‘Villas On Rent’ for instance. Talking directly with the manager on live chat or calling on the phone number displayed on the website is also a great reality check.
Here are top 5 tips to avoid being throbbed by a vacation scam:
1. Use Credible Websites
By making use of credible websites showcasing fine options of villas with private pools, you can safeguard your vacation plans and the travel funds from deceptive frauds.
2. Look For Their Social Media Pages
Look for websites that also have their social media presence such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn so that you can engage in real-time conversations about your personalized requirements. A live chat option often indicates a business is more established and has well-informed managers able to give response to your relevant questions. (A scam agent will perhaps not know imperative details about the rental villas with pools, services provided and the location info you would anticipate from an experienced villa rentals agent).
3. Do Your Research
If you have explored online and become confused with the numerous different selections available, the finest way is to check if they are legitimate by reading their online customer recommendations, reviews and comments on Facebook feeds.
4. The Classic Scams
Be on the hunt for not-so-genuine villas for rent emails where the so-called “vendors” ask that you reserve with them personally providing big discounts with options like “last minute cancellations” or “your booking fits seamlessly into another booking”
Scammers habitually list links to real villas on listing websites operated by genuine property owners. Unknown to the villa owners, these sophisticated scammers are masked as the owners, signing their promotional offers with the owner’s name while using free email accounts enumerated with @gmail.com, @yahoo.com, @outlook.com, and so on, with genuine looking keywords like “vacation” or “reservations” in the address.
If you are booking through a website, be cautious of fraudsters who have hacked into genuine websites to generate false ads. Con agents and hackers time and again make low-resolution websites with blurred images or make minor changes to URLs such as altering a credible website address to .org instead of .com or .com.au
5. Word Of Mouth
Reviews and testimonials are an amazing way to estimate whether or not you should make use of a villa booking website’s services. While some reviews can be faked by competitors, it’s usually quite evident which ones are bogus. Luckily, there are ample of sincere testimonials providing valuable info about the website you are considering for booking your next holiday. Make use of your intuition, if something feels wrong it every so often is! It might be good to call directly and excavate a little deeper particularly before you transfer any money.
Avoid wasting time, money and any sort of disappointment for yourself or family and friends by selecting a well-established, reputable villa rental company.