Was his vacation rental too good to be true?

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By Christopher Elliott

Frank Leibsly says his recent apartment rental in London was a disaster of Olympic proportions, and he has the pictures to prove it.

It may seem difficult to believe his story — which includes a supposedly upscale rental unit he claims was unfit for occupation, user-generated reviews that might have been bought, a potentially litigious property manager, and a vacation rental website that advertised the property. But Leibsly, who works for a defense contractor in Washington, documented his short stay with the meticulousness of a senior engineer, which is what he is.

Leibsly’s experience is more than a cautionary tale for anyone considering a vacation rental. It’s also a by-now-familiar warning to read the entire rental contract from start to finish. You never know what rights you could be signing away.

The disappointing reality in London

The chain of events began last year, when Leibsly decided to plan a trip to England with his wife to celebrate their 20th anniversary. “We wanted to rent a flat in London for three days,” he says. “So we researched and chose a very nice-looking apartment in Stratford, next to the Olympic park. The pictures of the apartment were beautiful: very modern, bright and pristine.”

Any doubts were quickly dismissed when he read the online reviews, which raved about the property and awarded it five stars, the highest possible rating. He agreed to pay 548 pounds, about $850, for three nights in the apartment.

But when he and his wife arrived in late May, they found the opposite of what they’d expected. The apartment was in a depressed, crime-ridden part of London, he says. And it was a mess (see photo of bathtub, above). “It was a far cry from what was represented in the flat description and pictures,” he added. After one night, they checked out and requested a full refund from Find a Flat. It was the company through which they’d rented the place.

The unexplained removal of a rental listing

Leibsly also sent a review to HomeAway.com, the Web site through which he’d found the apartment. He provided a detailed description of the apartment’s condition. He listed numerous complaints, such as worn furniture, linens that hadn’t been changed from the previous guest. Also, no toilet paper, mold in the bathtub, and a lack of air conditioning. He also sent me photos of the apartment that appear to back up some of his claims.

What happened next depends on who’s talking, and not everybody’s talking. This much is not in dispute: The apartment’s rental managers refused to refund Leibsly’s money.

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Shortly after HomeAway.com approved Leibsly’s review, the entire listing was removed, he says. I contacted HomeAway and asked why. Within less than a week, the listing, along with his review, reappeared. HomeAway won’t disclose why the listing returned to the site. It said that the one-star review Leibsly penned was in compliance with its standards.

“The traveler’s review was published in accordance with our standard content guidelines. It state that content may not be posted for the purpose of trying to force a particular response or action from another person in an unlawful, abusive or otherwise inappropriate manner,” Carl Shepherd stated. He is the chief strategy and development officer for HomeAway. “In this situation, the traveler stayed in the property — even if only for a night. Rightfully the traveler may post a review.”

Questions about online reviews

A representative of Find a Flat refused to comment. It cited the possibility that the company may take legal action against the Leibslys.

Why sue a guest? Because in the meantime, Leibsly had self-published a blog post in which he accused the company’s owners of “preying” on guests. Late last week, he deleted that post, and his review on HomeAway.com. But there’s another reason Find a Flat might take a customer to court: The rental contract Leibsly signed included a non-disparagement clause saying that he would not publish negative comments on a public Web site.

That’s not all. Leibsly took a picture of a notice, printed on Find a Flat letterhead, that was tacked to the side of the refrigerator in the London apartment. “Please remember our special rewards and incentives,” it said. “Earn 20 pounds cash back for writing a positive review of our flat on the website, 40 pounds for two reviews on two websites.”

Although Find a Flat wouldn’t answer my questions, it referred me to Chris Emmins, the co-founder of KwikChex.com, a U.K.-based site that publishes and promotes verified guest reviews. Emmins says that his company is investigating Leibsly’s claims and trying to mediate the dispute.

The integrity of home rental reviews

“At the heart of it is the online comments, including his blog,” he told me. “In the various and multiple postings made, he has complained about aspects such as no air conditioning and that the washer-dryer did not dry. Our initial investigations seem to imply that such facilities were not advertised, so this is obviously a concern at the outset.”

The investigation isn’t complete. Emmins is also trying to verify the identities of the five-star reviewers to determine whether they were paid for their positive reviews. He says that KwikChex.com disapproves of the practice of paying guests for ratings. Emmins showed me preliminary results of his inquest, which cast doubts on some aspects of Leibsly’s story and appear to validate others, but he would not allow me to include them in this article.

“Believe me,” he said. “We will not have our own integrity compromised.”

HomeAway takes a similar position on paid ratings, although it doesn’t formally ban them from its site. “We do not approve of owners offering compensation for reviews,” Shepherd said. “And we don’t have any evidence that this is happening frequently.”

User-generated ratings, he noted, “are supposed to be independent, and [Leibsly’s] seems to be strongly so.”

Red flags and lessons learned in an unregulated industry

In hindsight, a closer look at the rental listing throws up a couple of bright red flags. There were only a few reviews, and all except for Leibsly’s now-deleted rating rave about the flat. What’s more, 548 pounds for three nights in what Leibsly believed was a “luxury” apartment during high season in one of the world’s hottest destinations seems almost too good to be true.

A further flag: the rental contract, which required a prospective tenant either to wire money or use PayPal and which included a non-disparagement clause. (Here’s what you need to know before renting your next vacation rental.)

When I mentioned these warning signs to Leibsly, he acknowledged that he should have paid closer attention to the listing when he was selecting the apartment. But he says that the listing also misrepresented the property. (Related: How to handle a vacation rental disaster.)

More troubling is the fact that Leibsly’s experience lifts the veil on the lightly regulated, standards-free rental industry. It suggests that a property’s reputation may be bought and sold almost as frequently as it’s earned.

And that’s a problem for anyone considering a home rental for their next vacation.

Update (7/28): Emmins followed up with additional comments.

Find a Flat in London asserts accuracy of listing

The photos of the property on HomeAway are real and represent the apartment very accurately, as does the description provided.

The reviews are real – and we will be in a position to provide further verified reviews shortly.

As Mr. Leibsly would have found during his research, the location is part of the regenerated Olympics area and the effects in terms of new housing, retail, jobs, landscaping, leisure facilities and inward investment can be seen by simple use of Google Street View. Westminster has a higher crime rate and I believe that the crime rate of London overall is considerably lower than that of Washington D.C.?

Mr. Leibsly withdrew the comments he made on various online platforms.

We could find only one definite instance where there was genuine room for complaint – the mildew in the bathroom. Findaflatinlondon insist that had he contacted them immediately, this would have been immediately rectified – and he could have raised any other issues that he was unhappy with too.

He chose not to do so and instead left, citing a ‘family emergency’

If Mr. Leibsly wishes to pursue a claim, we would be pleased to assist the proper process to take place, so that the areas of dissatisfaction can be properly assessed and evidenced in accordance with UK consumer laws, which as I am sure you will know are very robust and do not tolerate forms of misrepresentation.

We can assist him in the process of filing a claim and in contacting the other proper authorities, such as the local Trading Standards officers and environmental health. This will obviously then be a fair and impartial process, will unequivocally rule on a point of law and decide if any breaches have actually taken place and decide on any form of compensation that might be due if a claim is proven.

It will also not incur the risks of either unfounded disparagement or defamation proceedings. We will also see to it that Mr. Leibsly does not incur any costs in filing his claim – and the process of reporting such matters properly for investigation is free.

I would be grateful if you would make it clear that these processes of establishing the truth of the matter and ensuring that all appropriate actions are taken have been offered and will be supported.

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Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter.

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