Get your customer testimonials verified

[paolo]

There are also at least two listing sites which guarantee the authenticity of a property, with no charge to the owner or potential guest.

Which are they?

[Mountain Goat]

Owners Direct, which we've just dropped, and HR / HomeAway.

OK, maybe they're the same outfit, but I still consider OD independent, probably incorrectly.

MG

[paolo]

They are in the Homeaway group and that guarantee covers Homeaway sites. It is quite generous, although it does nothing to deter scammers.

If I were a scammer, would I pay to list on the most expensive site when there are so many free ones? Actually I would, but real scammers probably wouldn't.

[Jimbo]

A while back, I bought an expensive year-old car in the UK. One of the reasons that I chose the dealer was their participation in a 114 point nationwide vetting scheme, which seemed to offer a promise that the car would be of good quality. On delivery, it soon became obvious that some of the 114 points hadn’t been checked and, if some weren’t, why should I believe that any had been? The manufacturer and the dealer pronounced themselves ‘astonished’ that this had happened – a one-off surely – and when I refused to consider another purchase from the same dealer three years down the line, they were equally ‘astonished’ that I would hold such a grudge.

It’s better to apply your own judgment and common sense to any purchase, rather than placing undue reliance on any vetting scheme that isn’t foolproof.

Jim

[Nightowl]

Homelidays has a good testimonial service. Renters have to register before they can book with you.

Once you receive a booking you can register the stay on the site. At the end of the stay, both you and the guest receive an email asking for feedback - there's a few tick boxes and then a comments area. Both guest and owner leave feedback. If the dates/names don't correspond you can't leave feedback.

It's vetted by Homelidays - they contacted me once when there was negative comments to ask for my response (the neg was still published but I got a right of reply).

I'm very happy with their system and I think it offers potential guests some reassurance.

having said that, last week I had a enquiry from a group who wanted reassurance. I pointed them to 30 or so positive feedbacks for each flat, gave them google streetview link so they could do a virtual 'walk past' and explained that money up front works both ways, a commitment from both parties. From me that I'd hold the dates and not offer them to anyone else and them, that they'd commit to the stay.

They still werent happy. No booking this time. Not sure what else I could have provided which would have reassured them. I think it was more about paying the balance up front than reassurance on that one...

[Mountain Goat]

They are in the Homeaway group and that guarantee covers Homeaway sites.

Or rather it covers properties which are listed on Homeaway sites.

So if potential punter finds you on luxurycoalhole.com and wants to book, but are suspicious, then point them to your ad on Homeaway, and register for their guarantee. Simples?

As a punter, looking at the smallprint of the guarantee, I would probably realise that realistically no-one had made a successful claim - it's pretty watertight in Homeaway's favour.

As a scammer, I wouldn't get far with registration - they take a lot of info from you, and the credit card screen would be a deterrent. On the free sites they've realised they won't get enquiries, let alone bookings.

I still think there's a lot of scope to run a training day for scammers at the Lagos Hilton - 500 quid cash, no questions asked - and get 'em up to scratch.

Lesson 1
Bishops and Blessings and forms of address.

Lesson 2
Try and ask owner about high chairs, local nappy regulations before broaching the financial side.

Lesson 3
Hiding your IP address

Lesson 4
Forget Western Union

etc.

MG

[paolo]

It’s better to apply your own judgment and common sense to any purchase, rather than placing undue reliance on any vetting scheme that isn’t foolproof.

I think a vetting scheme that isn't foolproof is worse than no vetting scheme at all, because it offers undue reassurance.

With Homelidays there is nothing to stop advertisers from supplying their own testimonials, they just need more than one email address. Although personally I would put my trust in a place with 30 testimonials because it is very hard to write in many different styles. Our scammer friends have trouble enough writing in English at the moment.

[paolo]

Lesson 5
Avoiding use of 'I will like to...'

[dmjarvis]

Authenticating the Badge:
And with regard to another point raised above - the authenticity of the 'badge' - could a solution be to issue a unique user/member number to the proprty owner that they can display on their page alongside the badge. Skeptical enquirers could then check the badge membership number against a corresponding page on your site with a list of all authenticated owners/properties/locations. This could add an extra dimension of authenticity to the process and could help prevent fraudulent use of the badge. Just an idea.

This point occured to me yesterday too as I read an earlier comment. At the moment when the testimonial widget is displayed on a website there is a short message at the foot of the widget explaining what vouchforthis is and giving a link to the vouchforthis website. I think the link needs to point to the members detail page on the site instead. This will at least prove that they are using vouchforthis. What it won't do, though, and I think this is part of Paolos point, is stop rogue website owners from just displaying lookalike "vouched-for" icons next to their testimonials to give the impression that they are more valuable than they really are. This is an issue that brands face every day, with lots of fake product being listed as genuine.

I'm really pleased with this thread. Although the conversation has raised a few concerns it has also forced me to look at the issue from different angles - that's what a discussion forum is for. This will improve the product, but I guess that there will always be three camps - those that don't like the idea of testimonials, those that want to continue placing them as they are at the moment, and those that would like to place a "little" more authority on the testimonials they display.

[Nightowl]

With Homelidays there is nothing to stop advertisers from supplying their own testimonials, they just need more than one email address. Although personally I would put my trust in a place with 30 testimonials because it is very hard to write in many different styles. Our scammer friends have trouble enough writing in English at the moment.

It's not as easy as that - the whole thing has to have gone through the process of a request coming in from a potential renter who is registered, the dates being agreed and actually booked out on your calendar. You have a drop down box for the progress of every enquiry and in order for there to be a testimonial requested,you have to have agreed a booking and received a downpayment , put the dates on your calendar and then registered that booking. So the dates have to be actually blocked out on your calendar and are therefore not searchable once allocated. Guest and owner can only write the testimonial after the holiday dates are over.

No one would be mad enough to block out multiple dates on their calendar just for the purpose of writing their own fake testimonials.

And as an owner, i know that only about 50% of guests actually do write a testimonial once they have stayed - Homelidays does automate it so that guest and owner are prompted to write their testimonials but not everyone does it.

I've had trouble writing and receiving testimonials for dates that I have registered and then the guests have changed it by a couple of dates' you get a message saying ' invalid dates' or somesuch. I really don't think Homelidays ones can be easily faked, certainly not multiple ones.

theirs is as watertight as I imagine it could be.

[Mountain Goat]

Just to flog this one to death, I was interested by the VRBO scheme, which, for a charge to the punter, covers loss of your holiday from bankruptcy of owner, double-booking (!) by owner, the owner withholding your security deposit (there's a minefield) or mispresentation of the property. Another reassuring badge - what is this thing with badges? Sherrif-style?

It appears to cost around $60 to cover $3,000, and applies to the American sites in the HomeAway stable.

The UK site's free guarantee has disappeared as of an hour ago unless I'm hallucinating.

OK, I'm confused.

MG

[Nightowl]

wouldn't holiday insurance cover most of that anyway?

[paolo]

This point occured to me yesterday too as I read an earlier comment. At the moment when the testimonial widget is displayed on a website there is a short message at the foot of the widget explaining what vouchforthis is and giving a link to the vouchforthis website. I think the link needs to point to the members detail page on the site instead.

But all a member has to do to become a member is pay the £9.99 fee, there isn't any process to verify them as a rental's owner is there?

[paolo]

The UK site's free guarantee has disappeared as of an hour ago unless I'm hallucinating.

I found two different offers, but by Googling rather than on h-r or homeaway. One was the £3000 one, another was £800. I don't know which one is up-to-date because I couldn't find anything on the guarantee by looking around h-r itself.

The one guarantee I can see is the one you mention on homeaway.com, where the renter is invited to pay essentially a premium to insure against a property not exisiting, and other problems.

[paolo]

It's not as easy as that....

That does seem like an implausible palaver for a scammer to take on, unless he faked a few bookings in the winter, prior to a summer spectacular.