① The Culture Sharing Accommodation
Airbnb is an online platform that offers a service of lending part of your residence to others. In other words, ordinary people become hosts and rent out empty rooms in their homes or apartments.
If you want to list your property on Airbnb, you only need to go through a simple 10-step process. Not only is the registration process easy, but the number of travelers looking for Airbnb is gradually increasing, and currently, being an Airbnb host is emerging as a new side job and real estate investment.
In addition to hosts providing accommodation, Airbnb offers travelers a differentiated experience. This is because the accommodation price is relatively affordable, and travelers can share culture with the host and experience the local life.
In the case of South Korea, not only in Seoul, Gangwon Province, Jeju Island, and Busan, where there are many tourists but also in quiet cities, many people want to stay for various reasons.
Many travelers prefer places other than motels or inns, where cooking and washing machines are available, so various concept accommodations have emerged.
In 2022, the ‘Hanok’ category was newly added to the Airbnb platform. This is an upgrade to make it easier for people worldwide to find Hanok accommodations through Airbnb.
However, as the number of travelers looking for accommodation through Airbnb increases worldwide, the number of scams using Airbnb is also rapidly growing.
② New Airbnb Scam Methods
Scams on Airbnb have occurred several times in the past. Recently, a ridiculous new scam method has become a hot topic.
The new scam method is ‘registering someone else’s house on Airbnb without the real homeowner knowing and pretending to be the fake owner.’ There have been cases in Korea where people have been victimized by this scam method.
The scene of this incident is a guesthouse located in front of a famous beach in Ulsan. This place mainly receives guests through word of mouth without online advertising.
The guesthouse owner had been aware of the sudden increase in reservations and the increase in guests with pets since the end of last year. But recently, he found out about a ridiculous fact.
When he asked one guest how they found out about the guesthouse, they said, “I saw it on Airbnb.”
That’s when he found out someone had registered his guesthouse on Airbnb without his knowledge.
When he checked Airbnb, the interior photos of the guesthouse were uploaded. Not only that, but the usage fee, which is less than 300,000 won (approximately $250), was being traded for up to 490,000 won (approximately $410).
It turned out that the person pretending to be the fake owner was a guest who often reserved the guesthouse via text. This guest received reservations at a fee twice as expensive as the actual guesthouse usage fee, earning a profit from the difference.
When the guesthouse owner confronted the guest who was pretending to be the fake owner, the guest suddenly claimed to be a guesthouse broker and evaded the issue, saying that this happened because communication was not going well.
When he inquired about this to Airbnb, it turned out that Airbnb does not have a homeowner verification process, so they also could not confirm whether the host who registered the house was the actual homeowner.
Even if it’s not their own house, anyone with someone else’s house photos can scam. Airbnb, which received reports of damage due to this new scam method, stated, “We are keeping an eye on this case and will make sure there is no consumer damage.”
③ Beware of Other Scams
In addition to the new scam, there are several ways to scam using Airbnb. Especially if you are a travel novice, it is important to carefully check when making an Airbnb reservation, as you are likely to be fooled.
Hosts on Airbnb often retouch photos of their properties for promotion. Some synthesize ocean photos in the window to create an ocean view, and some take photos with a wide-angle lens to make the property look bigger.
Some hosts even upload fake photos taken from the internet. There have been ridiculous incidents where they booked a relatively cheap and clean accommodation compared to other accommodations, only to find out it was a container.
If the accommodation is too good for the price, you should first check whether the photo is fake. If you put the photo of the accommodation in Google Image Search, you can find out whether the accommodation photo is stolen.
Even if you have gone through photo verification and decided on an accommodation you like, you should not carelessly make a reservation. Airbnb processes payment as soon as you make a reservation, and if you cancel the reservation, you may be charged for cancellation fees and cleaning fees.
In the case of hosts who try to scam through Airbnb, they set it up in advance so that they can receive about 30~50% of the total payment amount, excluding the cancellation fee and other reasons, when the reservation is canceled.
Such hosts leave a message to the guests who carelessly made a reservation, saying, ‘You cannot use it on that date.’ They either tell you to cancel the reservation immediately or suggest a different date or period.
The absurd offer that cannot be accepted ultimately induces the reservation’s cancellation this time; panicked guests try to cancel the reservation immediately.
Follow the host’s instructions and cancel the reservation. You will receive a refund excluding about 30~50% of the total payment amount, which is an absurd cancellation fee set by them.
It would be best to exchange messages with the host before making a reservation to avoid such scams.
Before sending a message to the host, you can check the host’s response rate and response time by looking at the accommodation information. At this time, you should be careful with hosts with low response rates or long response times.
Even when you send a message to the host, you can check the speed of the response and the manners of the host. After exchanging messages with the host, if you can proceed with the reservation, you judge that it is trustworthy; if there is no reply or the reply is not sincere, it is better to look for other accommodations.
By. Seo Sung Min
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