In the last several years, vacation rentals and homestays became the most popular option for vacation accommodation.
There’s hardly anyone who hasn’t heard of Airbnb nowadays and both youngsters and many older people use mobile applications and online platforms for booking a temporary home for their holiday.
However, there is also a group of people who would prefer to stick to the oldie but goldie travel agents when booking a trip or a weekend getaway.
For these, vacation rentals might seem like suspicious fields for exploration.
After all, providing credit card information to computer systems and staying in the homes of strangers doesn’t sound like the safest option at first glance.
Therefore, we decided to make short research about the safety of vacation rentals and present some of our important findings.
Guest Safety
When it comes to Airbnb, there are over one hundred and fifty million users and more than sixty thousand hosts from all over the world.
In recent years, there has been an increase in the arrival of guests which the company found hard to manage as it works mainly remotely, however, still successfully.
According to one of Airbnb’s reports, around five percent of the eighty million stays in one year were reported as “below standard” although the percentage goes even lower.
These figures still speak in millions and this may seem concerning but, nevertheless, only a few of these reported cases were categorized as unsafe or dangerous.
Circa twenty percent of four million cases were related to unexpected canceling and around ten percent to low hygiene.
All in all, only a quarter of that low percentage reported were risky situations or deceptive schemes.
So, the risky, unsafe data decreases as the results are being disintegrated.
The deceptive schemes are almost always sorted out by the support of Airbnb or through the customer security support provided by the banks or the credit card providers.
Most of the sites have a system that doesn’t reveal the card information for the hosts, supported by creditable, secure payment software.
However, guests must be cautious and avoid paying in cash to the hosts.
When it comes to “unsafety”, there are a lot of possible issues that may emerge, although a very low number of these can be threatening.
These issues may involve hidden cameras, often found as cases in the media as well as broken appliances etc.
Host Safety
One rule to remember is that the best vacation rentals put safety first- for them and for their guests too.
One of the reasons for this is to protect themselves from possible thefts or damages caused by guests.
The communal approach of the sites is one of the ways to provide safety.
How does this go?
Users are required to confirm their identity, upload photos, and leave reviews in order to provide information about who they are to hosts.
Hosts can refuse to host guests if they see negative reviews at the profile of another host.
Also, there are legal procedures at the hosts’ disposal that can help them regarding safety.
Airbnb offers an insurance policy through their “Host protection program” which covers up to 1 million dollars to hosts in case of injuries and damages.
Bad Reviews
As you have probably noticed, vacation rentals are mainly safe.
Of course, things might go the wrong way but this is usually another way to describe inconvenient situations.
Here are several examples of “unsafe” vacation rentals based on true stories found online”
-A renter encountered a plumber in scuba gear in their rental after reporting bad plumbing.
-A couple rented the “entire place” but the host was still present in the accommodation, showing them erotic photographs on the walls, informing them that she will stay in the room next to them, “ready to hang out”.
-A couple encountered a nudist gang of friends and their host on what they have expected to be their romantic boat getaway for two.
-A family rented a home that was so full of insects inside that they had to spend their night sleeping outside.
So What About the Safety?
The unpleasant aforementioned events are not common.
Airbnb hosts around 2 million people around the world every day, excluding other vacation rentals.
However, unexpected and inconvenient situations might arise as anywhere.
Most of the people, however, have never experienced any horror when it comes to homestays and there is no strong evidence that proves them more unsafe than hotels.
We should keep in mind that the industry of vacation rentals weighs billions due to excellent management and positive user experiences.
Therefore, guests should trust vacation rental companies who keep on investing in their safety in order to secure and improve their business, above all, and to maintain a good publicity that will make them expand and grow.
In my opinion, while there may be some risks associated with vacation rentals, the majority of experiences are positive and the industry continues to prioritize safety and positive user experiences.