No Idea About This One

[kevsboredagain]

Sounds genuine but I suspect they have mailed this to maybe dozens of properties. They now want you to sell it to them.

I tend to give such people short replies using a template and leave it up to them to show further interest.

Do you not have a standard reply you can translate into Spanish?

[Casscat]

A lovely member of LMH has helped me out with a reply in Spanish Let's see if there is any follow on. I still have no idea which site they found my place on but I have asked they to respond via an enquiry on that site for a firm quote in euros.

[Ele]

Hi Casscat

Mmmm….I have received the exact same enquiry, but the name of the 'guest' is different (see copy below). It came in at 15.40….did yours?? I hadn't answered yet as just back from my Mum's birthday celebration ……but also when I saw it I was a bit bothered by it so was about to start googling and researching the 'guest' a bit first. So glad you've posted this thank you!

Hola
Mi nombre es MatXXXX AlXX,, vengo de España con mi familia y 2 amigos cercanos y estoy buscando a reservar una villa para 4 adultos y 2 niños de 12 años y 16 años preferentemente me gustaría una semana (tal vez dos) en el medio o al final de septiembre, pero estamos abiertos a otras fechas también.
Estamos en una gran prisa para encontrar el mejor lugar para nuestras vacaciones y estoy seguro de que son los que nos darán la mejor opción. El precio no es un problema para nosotros, siempre y cuando la calidad de su propiedad es el esperado.
Si tiene algo disponible, por favor póngase en contacto conmigo lo antes posible.

Like yours, this also came to our direct email address (this has never happened unless as a referral, in which case the 'guest' would mention the referral) and in 10 years of renting it's probably only the 2nd Spanish enquiry we've had, and being such short notice their flexibility on dates and being open to one week or two is a bit odd. Was it a hotmail email address??

Not sure what to do now - but given my 'guest' has a different name to yours I'm deducting it is a scam…unless these 2 names are the 2 sets of friends both using the same email enquiry….so hard to know sometimes, we've been caught out before by a sophisticated scam so tend now to be overly suspicious.We're on spain-holiday.com too but our email address doesn't show on there, so no idea where they got it from.

Did you get a reply yet?

[Casscat]

Thanks for the heads up Ele - definite scam then. I have replied but will now expect either no response or some sort of into into overpayment or whatever. I now feel able to publish the full details:

florencia.chavez72@outlook.com

Received at 15.35. Wish I knew where from so I could report them. So you advertise on either Spain-Holiday or Rentalia?

[Ele]

Yes or perhaps a 'does this link show the location on google maps' type…

We're on Spain-Holiday.com but no email address is displayed. Rentalia didn't work for us so we let that expire February.
Scratching my head to work out where our direct email address is available online, and for now can only think of our G+ page.

I'm so intrigued I'm going to craft a 'phishing' response back to the 'guest' and see what happens.

[kevsboredagain]

in 10 years of renting it's probably only the 2nd Spanish enquiry we've had,

Strange. I get lots and most come through Spain-Holiday. Nearly all use Hotmail and so many are just plain lazy and want you to tell them why they should book. My Spanish enquiries are the biggest pain to deal with but I do land about 1 Spanish booking each season.

I have one now asking for my phone number (which is clearly in my email signature) and account details for paying (which is clearly in the link I sent them and I know they clicked on)

Not had a Spanish scam yet but I'm sure the time will come.

[Marks]

My Spanish enquiries are the biggest pain to deal with....

Every one I have had this year have wanted to over occupy and/or bring a very well behaved, calm, friendly and no trouble at all small dog

[Casscat]

I've not had a Spanish enquiry at all until now so trust my luck that the first should be pure processed pink tinned meat!

Interesting what you say about email addresses not being displayed on Spain-Holiday Ele. I had thought they were. Now I am as perplexed as you about how they got hold of mine as it is not my usual email addy but one that I have linked to a couple of listing sites.

[Dotty]

They could have got your email anytime you replied to what you thought was a genuine enquiry through any of the listing sites. I have no doubt that scammers harvest email addys from such replies to reuse without the bother of going through a listing site again and they probably sell on the lists too.

[kevsboredagain]

They could have got your email anytime you replied to what you thought was a genuine enquiry through any of the listing sites. I have no doubt that scammers harvest email addys from such replies to reuse without the bother of going through a listing site again and they probably sell on the lists too.

Unlikely. What would be the point of saving email addresses of people who figured out it was a scam?

I answer almost all suspect enquiries to find out for sure whether it's a scam. I've been doing this for 2 properties for 7 years but receive very, very few scam emails.

[kevsboredagain]

My Spanish enquiries are the biggest pain to deal with....

Every one I have had this year have wanted to over occupy and/or bring a very well behaved, calm, friendly and no trouble at all small dog

Sounds typical for a Spanish enquiry. Ironically i've just landed my second Spanish booking this year from what started as a rather suspect enquiry.

[Marks]

Spot on Kev. I do wonder if large, boisterous, badly behaved dogs ever get a holiday

[Ele]

I get lots and most come through Spain-Holiday. Nearly all use Hotmail and so many are just plain lazy and want you to tell them why they should book. My Spanish enquiries are the biggest pain to deal with but I do land about 1 Spanish booking each season.

Interesting to know you get so many Spanish enquiries and through Spain-Holiday, most of ours from that site are Scandinavian…..funny how we're all so different. Sounds like we're lucky to escape the challenges of the Spanish guests from what you say anyway!

Still no reply back from the Spanish 'enquiry' of yesterday….

[Casscat]

Still no reply back from the Spanish 'enquiry' of yesterday….

Ditto.

I haven't had much luck with Spain-Holiday as yet - one booking from Danish holidaymakers - but when I listed my summer was already pretty much full. The Danes are coming end of October/early November which is wonderful! I was hoping that Spain-Holiday might bring some out of season bookings and touch wood this will work out in the longer term

[joddle]

Hmm - many Spanish enquiries to end up all work and no booking - seems to be quite common - but is that so different from anyone else? - yesterday I received a late booking enquiry from a Spanish family (no small dog this time!) wanting next week which is on offer. As it is only for 5 nights I sent reply with a good discount really just to fill the space - they wanted an urgent reply which they got with in an hour of their enquiry being received - but no answer from them - no acknowledgement - nothing - typical!!! Having said that I have had quite a few good Spanish bookings, one of which is a repeat guest who comes every year!