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Smc H.

Contributor Level

Total Points
188

2 Reviews by Smc

  • HomeAway

11/20/15

I have rented on Homeaway as a tenant and have been VERY happy with the rental experience. Now I have just started listing a furnished apartment on Homeaway and have only just taken a booking from my first tenant. I hope I can still keep my rating 5 stars down the road both as tenant and landlord. I will certainly update my review if that changes because transparency is very important with the boom of this new temporary/furnished rental trend. Be warned, scammers will infiltrate!
I am considering as a landlord using my own rental application to learn more about the tenant when I use Homeaway -- and I definitely do use a lease. I also am going to learn more about the landlords moving forward when I rent as a tenant -- ask lots of questions. I will look up on the local tax rolls to be sure that this person truly owns the property. With the new Airbnb trend I will need to be sure it is not an illegal sublease (which is becoming very commonplace). So even though -- so far -- I have had great experiences with Homeaway, I can see there is need moving forward to be a lot more cautious. The key is to do your own research, get your own verification from the other person -- get last names, ask for their website, ask if they have a Facebook and linkedin, ask for a driver's license picture (for goodness sake bouncers at a bar ask for that, certainly you don't need to be shy about that). And I mean both tenants and landlords should do this! Don't be shy! I don't want some bad actors to ruin my experience in renting vacation/temporary homes -- this is a much needed service for me that I enjoy and appreciate. Just be smart!

  • Airbnb

11/13/15

Awful. You can't speak to a real person at Airbnb. They don't know how to run a company. They don't even know the definition of an "owner". Be careful landlords -- your goofy tenants are putting you at risk -- make your lease air-tight, and pay attention. Be careful "guests" if you are renting from a tenant and not a an actual property owner, you are renting from someone who has no insurance, no legal ability to rent to you. This business model is a mess. I have been on both sides of the transactions as both owner and a guest (legally known as landlord and tenant) using all of these: Airbnb, Homeaway and Craiglist -- my experiences with the other parties and the spaces have all been good (but I also am a mature experienced person who knows how to know what is actually legit), however Airbnb is without a doubt so super weird -- this company has little to no customer communication and they pretty much disappear if an issue needs resolution -- super slow to respond and not helpful in the end. And there are no leases or contracts (Homeaway encourages actual rental agreements, and so will most real owners -- even for short term). The kindergarteners at Airbnb got lucky with a good idea (there are some good elements to the concept -- I won't get into outlining them here), but they haven't a clue how to run a business at all. There is a lot of liability involved in the rental business, so be careful everyone. Expedia needs to buy Airbnb and clean up the mess. When your are established an publicly traded, you can't get away with just setting up a ridiculous illegal cult that exploits other people's private property and call it a business. Airbnb is temporarily getting away with it, but that is only because urban bureaucracies have unwieldy regulations that confuse the very people who are supposed to enforce them.

Smc Has Earned 8 Votes

Smc H.'s review of Airbnb earned 5 Very Helpful votes

Smc H.'s review of HomeAway earned 3 Very Helpful votes

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