a href="/myfiles/Images/2015/02/25/sr01_big.jpg" title="A photo of the oven in the cabin. In his rebuttal comments after our negative review, John described this oven as "clean." " A photo of the oven in the cabin. In his rebuttal comments after our negative review, John described this oven as "clean."
Molouk Y. Ba-Isa Saudi Gazette
It's been about a decade since my family began spending our vacations lodged at rented homes and apartments instead of at hotels. In all those years we never had a bad experience. But then in January 2015, we found ourselves in a dirty cabin in a packed recreation area during the New Year's holiday. What happened to us shows how the online vacation rental industry is changing and the need for vacation renters to be even more vigilant. We had rented a cabin at Big Bear Lake in California. It was owned by John and was number 605780 on the Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO) website. The cabin didn't have many reviews but the few reviews available were all good. We communicated with John by email and he seemed friendly and responsive. These factors boded well for a good vacation rental. We paid the rental fees for two nights as well as the cleaning fee and security deposit and thought we would have the perfect start for our vacation. We were wrong. Arriving at the cabin after a very long flight and four hour drive, we were shocked to find that we had rented a rundown, dirty place to stay. Rips in the cabin's furniture's upholstery were taped together or just left unrepaired. The kitchen appliances and utensils were encrusted with dirt and food residues. Dead bugs were on the kitchen windowsill and the kitchen floor was sticky. After a walk through the cabin we decided to leave rather than deal with the unpleasant accommodation, but there was nowhere nearby to stay. It being the New Year holiday, the entire area was booked. We contacted the property owner immediately and he did respond, but he was in denial over the filthiness of his property and simply encouraged us to go enjoy the outdoors rather than staying indoors in the cabin. The next morning we got up very early, added a day to the booking at our next destination and left. The one night in that dirty cabin cost us $310 in lodging fees, plus $26.83 in tax. There was also a cleaning fee of $60 and a $100 security deposit. The remaining days of our vacation passed happily and we did stay at another home, #589734, rented through vrbo.com in Sherman Oaks, California, which was a wonderful experience. Now it might be thought that vrbo.com, the site through which we rented that Big Bear Lake cabin, would be interested in compelling the owner of the property to either cleanup the property or take down his listing. That wasn't the case. Although we complained to VRBO and included photos of the property's deficiencies, they did nothing. We did post a negative review about the property, but we were not allowed to post photos with the review or even links to photos of the unsightly, dirty mess we encountered. While the unflattering review appeared under the property listing, John, the property owner simply wrote under our review that everything was clean, there were no problems at the cabin and that our review was dishonest. Such a situation is becoming a trend and some property sites are now even prohibiting negative reviews. Staging vacation properties to make them look better or taking photos from above to give the appearance of larger space is also common. The latter was done with the Big Bear Lake cabin. However some renters have begun fighting back. Negative reviews of properties are appearing on sites other than where the original rental took place. That means it's important to search the Web before renting the property. If the rental is for a long period or a substantial amount of money is being paid, insurance on the rental or even the use of a local real estate agent to screen the property are good options. Another renter beware situation is the proliferation of high security deposits and hefty cleaning fees. Some properties tack on the same cleaning fee whether the property was rented for two nights or two months. Security or damage deposits can also be $500 or more. Consider if the vacation rental will still be a good value if that deposit is not refunded. Last but not least, consider the quality of the reviews. When there are just a few reviews of a property, generic positive reviews coupled with a detailed negative review should be a reason to consider other options or to investigate further before making a payment.
