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Old 04-12-2017, 05:44 AM
 
305 posts, read 329,668 times
Reputation: 341

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My cousin is booking for June to an island of Florida like Siesta Keys or Anna Maria. There are some very nice options going by the pics but if they only have a few reviews how can we know they are legit? For example:
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-re...70649vb#photos. They last pic with the twin beds I know were shown with other houses so....
Would you take the change? They want to but I am more cynical. Any experience with this? She is also trying airbnb.
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Old 04-12-2017, 05:52 AM
 
Location: Coastal Georgia
50,178 posts, read 63,636,357 times
Reputation: 92924
I would only deal with an established management company.
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Old 04-12-2017, 06:11 AM
 
305 posts, read 329,668 times
Reputation: 341
How do you know which ones are?
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Old 04-12-2017, 06:25 AM
 
305 posts, read 329,668 times
Reputation: 341
Would you trust a place that has like 20 positive reviews or can they all be written by the owner?
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Old 04-12-2017, 06:35 AM
 
758 posts, read 852,445 times
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We rented a house through VRBO for a family vacation which must have had the pictures taken a long time ago with a wide angle lens. There was a hole in the wall in the master bedroom, covered by the open door. A book was leveling the couch. The loft area, which was touted as a sleeping area was so much smaller than it appeared. The doors kept falling off the closet and he just sloughed it off. If you advertise sleeping for 10-12, then by golly, you should be able to feed in a sitting position, the same 10-12 people. Six chairs and a small table in the kitchen. We had to take it all on the deck and hunt up the chairs we brought.
The reviews were very positive and in retrospect, I think they were written by the "manager", which we find out later is the owner's son.
I agree with the other posters. Unless the place is managed by a professional management company with policies and procedures in place and you speak with them before you book...well, I would never do this again.
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Old 04-12-2017, 07:59 AM
 
305 posts, read 329,668 times
Reputation: 341
Thanks for the info. Do these seem legit?

https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-re...79545vb#photos
Has 4 reviews.
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p300326#photos
17 reviews
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Old 04-12-2017, 07:11 PM
 
Location: equator
11,035 posts, read 6,586,897 times
Reputation: 25523
I've used home-away and VRBO and had good and bad. Like the other poster said, it works better with a management co. The main "lies" are how many it sleeps. There was a complex of 420 sq. ft. units that claimed to "sleep 6"??? The other "lie" is the view. This same complex had differing views, only a few actually faced the ocean. The other unit owners walked over to those units and shot the "view" pictures. I was outraged at this.


I rented a place where everything was broken. Sagging bed, couch, all appliances broken. They said there was internet---not. Use the neighbor's, they said. Almost no signal. No laundry. They took the picture of the beach view FROM THE ROOF. There was no beach view. Individual owners. Did not want to give my deposit back. Horrible experience.


But with a management co. you can ask. I said "There's no clock. No radio. No beach chairs." The co. got all that for me.


It's a mixed bag and you are taking your chances.


OTOH, we rented our beach condo out and got a bad review because there was no cable TV. We stated that in our listing and the reason. No cable available there. Review sites are a mixed bad too.
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Old 04-12-2017, 09:27 PM
 
15,546 posts, read 11,968,959 times
Reputation: 32595
Quote:
Originally Posted by jojo775 View Post
https://www.homeaway.com/vacation-re...70649vb#photos. They last pic with the twin beds I know were shown with other houses so....
Would you take the change? They want to but I am more cynical. Any experience with this? She is also trying airbnb.
It does say it's a condo. If they own multiple units, that could be the reason why you are seeing the same pics in multiple listings.
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Old 04-13-2017, 07:07 AM
 
Location: Fort Payne Alabama
2,558 posts, read 2,883,476 times
Reputation: 5014
I'll disagree with the posts that say that you are better off using an established management company. The reason is very simple, people that turn their vacation rentals over to property management generally have very little pride in their rental. They tend to do just enough to get by. The PM is only interested in putting heads in beds because that's where their cash flow comes from.
If you do a VRBO search by review count, by far and above the ones listed the highest will be by individual owners. Normally the VR's with the highest reviews are owned by folks who only have one, possible two VR's. They put a lot of time and effort into making a guests stay as nice as possible in order to gain a repeat guest plus hope to gain another review.
It is very difficult to fake a review on Home Away/VRBO, not impossible but very hard. You have to be registered with HA/VRBO in order to make a review, your stay dates, email address, and name are all required.
On how to choose a property:
A, Know what is your requirements and exactly where you want to go.
B, Do your search and make a list of the possibles.
C, READ the entire listings!!!
D, Read all the reviews, be sure just to be safe, make sure they are recent and at least 10 to 15.
E, Contact the owners asking when the pictures were taken in the listing and any other facts that was not covered specifically in the listing.
F, DO NOT play, "Let's Make a Deal"! Do your research ahead of time to determine what the average rates are for what you are looking for. Be prepared to pay that.
G, The best bet is try to book direct with an owner if you can find them. Booking.com is the absolute worst place to look as they hit the owner with a huge booking fee. An owner has to be desperate to use them, see my notes about PM's above, those listing with Booking.com are worse. Flip Key look out for their 15-17% add on to the listed rates. Same with Airbnb, 10-15%. Again the best bet is to book direct with an individual owner. Once you have made a selection, Google either the title, address, or lead picture. You will find that same listing someplace else fee free.
H, Book early, the best options tend to fill up quickly.
Our experience is the folks that "Bottom Troll" for the cheapest price are those that come away unhappy and the 1st to complain. Most people only have one vacation a year, they need to make it count.
The above is our suggestions after owning and renting our vacation rental for 9 years now.
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Old 04-13-2017, 11:20 AM
 
11,171 posts, read 15,964,111 times
Reputation: 29879
Quote:
Originally Posted by jojo775 View Post
Can I get some advice of what is legit for beach house rentals?
What do you mean by "legit"?

HomeAway guarantees 100% of your security deposit if it's wrongfully withheld. They protect 100% of your payment against listing fraud, misrepresentation of the property, wrongful denial of entry, or if you find the property uninhabitable when you arrive. They even provide emergency rebooking assistance if the owner of the beach house cancels on you at the last minute.

So, what is it exactly that you are concerned about when you ask if something listed is legit?
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