These Vrbo guests were snookered by a vacation rental bait and switch scheme in London, London vacation rental scam

Booked a $12,000 luxury Vrbo vacation rental – ended up in a flophouse. Help!

Michelle Couch-Friedman

Michelle Couch-Friedman

Consumer reporter and ombudsman columnist

Joanne May and her extended family got a terrible surprise when they arrived in London. The luxurious eight-bedroom, six-bathroom Vrbo vacation rental May reserved for the group of 15 was suddenly unavailable.  The rental host assured the family not to worry; he’d already moved them to a similar Vrbo nearby. Not only that, he claimed the new apartment was actually a complementary upgrade… it definitely wasn’t.

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