Washington Post Vacation Rental Article and Reviews

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Following on from my recent post about Vacation Rental Scams, the Washington Post recently had an article about a Vacation Rental that was also "too good to be true". However, in this case, the main issue was that, according to the renter, the reviews of the rental property (posted on Homeaway) turned out to be far too favorable and hence misleading.

The apartment that Frank Leibsly rented in London turned out not to be the "five star" experience he expected. He posted a suitably negative "one star" review on Homeaway, which was as first removed and then re-instated.

Most owners worry about recieving a negative review and  this can, in fact, deter them from even asking for a review from their renters.

However, this article highlights another potentially disturbing issue with reviews: are they real or are they, in fact, posted by the vacation rental owners to create a misleadingly positive impression of the vacation rental property?

There is anecdotal evidence that the number of misleading reviews is increasing.

However, Research indicates that overall, posting reviews has a positive impact on attracting renters. Nevertheless, if there are more experiences such as this one, those impressions may change.