Not going home for the vacations?
One travel pro has revealed their suggestions and tricks for spotting red flags on rental listings.
“I’ve stayed in gorgeous farmhouse lofts, high-rise city apartments, and desert hideaways — but I’ve also booked just a few duds along the way in which,” full-time traveler Tammy Barr, who has lodged in over 40 different rental units across 16 countries, wrote for Business Insider.
When deciding whether to book a rental listing found online, Barr firsts analyzes the photos.
Simply because they could be “high-quality,” she warned, doesn’t necessarily mean the unit is healthier.
“Great staging doesn’t all the time equal a snug stay,” she noted, adding that an experienced photographer could make spaces seem greater than they are surely.
“When listing photos, I analyze whether the furniture looks comically elongated, like a mirrored image from a funhouse mirror,” she continued. “It may very well be an indication the photo was taken with a wide-angle lens that’s making the space look greater.”
She also uses rental rankings as a method to determine which accommodations are decidedly a no-go.
“In my experience, staying somewhere with lower than four-and-a-half stars will be dangerous — especially if I’m booking a month-long stay,” she said, noting that continuous rankings lower than five stars could spell trouble.
“Reviews can even yield other red flags,” she explained. “I find crowdsourced feedback sheds light on vital items like cleanliness, rental location, and outdoors noise.”
Booking a spot with no reviews or rankings is a big risk, too, and Barr recommends bookmarking those listings and returning to them at a later date to see if anyone stayed and left a review. But, if you happen to’re hell-bent on booking a rental with zero reviews, the least you’ll be able to do is take a look at the host and see in the event that they produce other properties with positive reviews.
If reviews are greater than two years old, that would even be a red flag, warning jet-setters of the “horror stories” she’s heard of travelers booking rentals that had “been vacant and neglected for months.”
“If a nice-looking rental only has old reviews I’ll sometimes just put it aside and check on it until someone writes a couple of newer stay,” advised Barr, who also utilizes amenities filters to search out preferred listings.
She all the time checks to make certain the new tub — if there may be one listed — hasn’t caused issues for other guests, or looks at reviews to see if anyone complained about Wi-Fi functionality. In her initial message to hosts, she’ll often mention the amenities she’s looking forward to using, so the host is aware she intends to make use of them.
Last but not least: the largest warning sign of all.
“There is no such thing as a greater red flag than when a bunch berates a previous guest for leaving feedback,” Barr stated.
“How an owner responds to reviews is one of the vital items I search for. In the event that they disrespect or talk right down to guests I’m staying clear of their property.”
Not going home for the vacations?
One travel pro has revealed their suggestions and tricks for spotting red flags on rental listings.
“I’ve stayed in gorgeous farmhouse lofts, high-rise city apartments, and desert hideaways — but I’ve also booked just a few duds along the way in which,” full-time traveler Tammy Barr, who has lodged in over 40 different rental units across 16 countries, wrote for Business Insider.
When deciding whether to book a rental listing found online, Barr firsts analyzes the photos.
Simply because they could be “high-quality,” she warned, doesn’t necessarily mean the unit is healthier.
“Great staging doesn’t all the time equal a snug stay,” she noted, adding that an experienced photographer could make spaces seem greater than they are surely.
“When listing photos, I analyze whether the furniture looks comically elongated, like a mirrored image from a funhouse mirror,” she continued. “It may very well be an indication the photo was taken with a wide-angle lens that’s making the space look greater.”
She also uses rental rankings as a method to determine which accommodations are decidedly a no-go.
“In my experience, staying somewhere with lower than four-and-a-half stars will be dangerous — especially if I’m booking a month-long stay,” she said, noting that continuous rankings lower than five stars could spell trouble.
“Reviews can even yield other red flags,” she explained. “I find crowdsourced feedback sheds light on vital items like cleanliness, rental location, and outdoors noise.”
Booking a spot with no reviews or rankings is a big risk, too, and Barr recommends bookmarking those listings and returning to them at a later date to see if anyone stayed and left a review. But, if you happen to’re hell-bent on booking a rental with zero reviews, the least you’ll be able to do is take a look at the host and see in the event that they produce other properties with positive reviews.
If reviews are greater than two years old, that would even be a red flag, warning jet-setters of the “horror stories” she’s heard of travelers booking rentals that had “been vacant and neglected for months.”
“If a nice-looking rental only has old reviews I’ll sometimes just put it aside and check on it until someone writes a couple of newer stay,” advised Barr, who also utilizes amenities filters to search out preferred listings.
She all the time checks to make certain the new tub — if there may be one listed — hasn’t caused issues for other guests, or looks at reviews to see if anyone complained about Wi-Fi functionality. In her initial message to hosts, she’ll often mention the amenities she’s looking forward to using, so the host is aware she intends to make use of them.
Last but not least: the largest warning sign of all.
“There is no such thing as a greater red flag than when a bunch berates a previous guest for leaving feedback,” Barr stated.
“How an owner responds to reviews is one of the vital items I search for. In the event that they disrespect or talk right down to guests I’m staying clear of their property.”
