That same month, CNN reported that a British couple spent nearly $12,000 for a two-week vacation in Ibiza at an Airbnb that didn’t exist-someone had merely cobbled together images from a condo complex’s website and uploaded the listing to the site.įollowing these two events, Airbnb cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky unveiled a brand-new guest refund policy and the rollout of a new verification system for hosts and homes in November 2019.

After agreeing to the switch, she realized the new place was more of a “flophouse than someone’s home” and left to check into a hotel. Minutes before she was set to check into an apartment in Chicago, her host called and told her there were plumbing issues at the original listing but that he could move her into another property that he managed. In October 2019, Allie Conti, a former staff writer at Vice, detailed her experience on about how she stumbled into an Airbnb scam that left her able to recoup just $399 of the $1,221.20 she spent on a listing that she didn’t even end up seeing in person. One of the worst, though, is showing up to check into a vacation rental only to realize that it doesn’t actually exist, leaving you with no place to stay and potentially out hundreds-or even thousands-of dollars. There are innocuous ones like fake TripAdvisor reviews convincing you to eat at a subpar restaurant, and others are as nefarious as hacking into your frequent flier account and stealing your miles. Other times, you can fall victim to an elaborate scam. Sometimes weather or political unrest disrupts travel plans. But as frequent travelers know, that’s not always the reality. In an ideal world, going on vacation would be as seamless as scoring a cheap flight, arriving with no delays, and checking into a hotel or vacation rental with Instagram-worthy views and an unlumpy mattress.

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