How to Book a Vacation Rental Safely and Avoid Scams

How vacation rental scams work

Most rental scams take one of three forms, and each one ends with your money going somewhere you can't get it back.

The FTC's consumer alert on vacation rentals describes them plainly. Some scammers "start with real rental listings": they copy the photos and description of a real home, put their own contact details on it and post it somewhere else, often a classifieds site or a social media group. Others "hijack the email accounts of property owners on reputable vacation rental websites", so the messages look like they come from a real host. And some "make up listings for places that aren't really for rent or don't exist."

The bait is usually the same. The FTC says scammers "often ask for lower than average rent or promise great amenities," and then push you to decide quickly before you have time to check.

Large group homes are a natural target. A house that sleeps 14 for a holiday week is rare, the total is big, and the person booking is often collecting money from several families and feeling pressure to lock something in. That is exactly the moment a scammer counts on.

The red flags to watch for

Most scams show at least one of these signs before you pay, so check every listing against the list.

Pay in a way you can dispute

The payment method decides whether you can get your money back, so choose it before you choose anything else.

Use a credit card. The FTC's guide to disputing charges explains that the federal dispute process covers credit cards and other revolving credit, and includes charges for things that weren't delivered as agreed. It also says federal law "limits your responsibility for unauthorized charges to $50." For a billing error, your letter needs to reach the card issuer "within 60 days after the first bill with the error was sent to you," and the issuer must resolve the dispute within 90 days of getting your complaint.

Pay through the platform or a secure checkout. If you found the home on a booking platform, pay on that platform. Airbnb's help article on paying outside its site says that "if you choose to pay for your booking outside of Airbnb, you will lose the AirCover protection," and that if you pay by wire or bank transfer "it may be a fraudulent reservation." It asks guests to report a host who asks them to pay or talk off the platform before booking.

Never wire money or use gift or prepaid cards. The FTC's advice is direct: "Don't wire money or pay with a prepaid or gift card for a vacation rental." Once a scammer has that money, it can be very hard to get back.

Debit cards and peer-to-peer payment apps sit in between. They are not covered by the same credit card dispute rules, and money sent to a stranger on a payment app can be hard to recover, so use a credit card for the deposit and the balance.

Check that the host and the home are real

A few minutes of checking before you pay rules out most fake listings.

1. Search the photos. Run the main photos through a reverse image search. If the same pictures show up on another listing in a different city or under a different name, walk away.
2. Confirm the home exists. The FTC suggests checking that the property's address exists before you pay. Look it up on a map and street view and see that the house matches the photos. Many hosts share the exact address only after booking for privacy, so if it isn't on the listing, ask for the street name and compare the neighborhood.
3. Find the host yourself. If the host has a website, find it through a search, not through a link in a message. Check that the name, phone number and email on the site match the ones writing to you, and call that number.
4. Read the reviews with care. Look for reviews spread over months, with details about the home that match the photos. A listing with no reviews isn't always fake, but it needs more checking.
5. Check the platform account. On a platform, look at how long the host has been listing, whether they have other homes and whether the messages come through the platform's own inbox.
6. For a resort or condo rental, call the front desk. The FTC suggests calling the front desk to confirm the location of the property and the details of the contract.

Get everything in writing before you pay

A written agreement and an itemized total protect you from the honest mistakes as well as the scams.

The FTC's advice is to "get a copy of the contract before you send any deposit money." For a group home, the agreement should cover:

Save the agreement, the listing page and every message as screenshots or PDFs. If something goes wrong, the dispute is much easier with a record of what was promised. For what to ask a host about beds, bathrooms and parking, see how to choose a vacation rental for a large group.

Booking direct or through a platform

Both can be safe; what matters is a secure card payment, a written agreement and a host you can check.

Platforms add their own guest protections and a support team, but those protections usually apply only when you book and pay on the platform. Read the platform's own policy pages for your booking, and compare the large-home options in our guide to Airbnb vs. Vrbo for large homes.

Booking direct with a host's own website often costs less because there is no platform service fee, and many hosts offer their own guest promises. The safe version of direct booking has a real website you found yourself, a secure card checkout, a written agreement and published policies. The unsafe version is a stranger who found you through a platform message or a social media post and asks for a bank transfer.

At JekkyStay, stays booked on jekkystay.com come with two written promises. Our Check-in Promise: "If your group can't get into the home at check-in and we can't get you in within one hour of your call, we refund your first night." And our Stay Promise: "If the home isn't as described, or something important stops working, such as the air conditioning or heat, hot water, Wi-Fi or the pool, tell us. If we can't fix it within 24 hours, we refund the nights affected or move your group to a similar home." Both promises apply to stays booked directly on jekkystay.com. Our cancellation policy and FAQ are on the site, so you can read them before you book.

What to do if you think you've been scammed

Act the same day, because the faster you report a payment, the better the chance of stopping it.

1. Call the company you paid. The FTC says to contact the company you used to send money and tell them it was a fraudulent transaction. For a credit card, call the issuer, then follow up in writing to the billing inquiries address within the 60-day window.
2. Report it to the site where you found the ad. Platforms and classifieds sites can take the listing down and warn other guests.
3. Report it to the FTC. The FTC asks people to report rental scams at ftc.gov/complaint, "whether you lost money or not."
4. Keep the evidence. Save the listing, the messages, the payment receipt and any phone numbers or emails the scammer used.
5. Tell your group. If others sent money to the same person, each payer should call their own bank or card issuer.

If the scam left you without a place to stay, rebook through a source you can check, pay by credit card and get the agreement before you pay. Our guide to the group trip planning timeline shows how far ahead to book large homes so you aren't shopping in a rush.

A quick safety checklist

Run through this list before you send money for any rental.

The bottom line

A safe booking comes down to three things: a payment you can dispute, a written agreement before you pay and a host and home you've checked yourself. Use a credit card, never wire money or send gift cards, and walk away from pressure and prices that look too good. When you're ready to book a large home for your group, browse our homes for groups or see our page for family reunions.