Realestasia Blog http://blog.realestasia.com Views and thoughts on holiday property in Asia Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:28:07 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 Holiday Rentals and preventing fraud http://blog.realestasia.com/51-holiday-rentals-and-preventing-fraud/ http://blog.realestasia.com/51-holiday-rentals-and-preventing-fraud/#comments Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:27:09 +0000 Mike http://blog.realestasia.com/?p=51 While creating Realestasia I’ve been thinking about the risk of fraud and dishonesty that could face our clients and users. I am bringing up this issue because in reality it casts a negative view over our core business and I think it is better to get it out in the open to try to minimise the risks. I have seen a lot of websites advertising holiday rentals and few address this concern other than with a disclaimer stating they take no responsibility for inaccurate listings.

I’ve identified the following general risks:

  1. Fraudulent Individual posing as Owner – The person listing the property does not own the property and/or does not represent the owner. The property may or may not exist, however you won’t be dealing with the person responsible for it. This person could be half way across the world, looking to scam people into paying them deposits or other money under false pretenses.
  2. Property does not exist The property does not exist. This means the listing is fake and photos, descriptions, owner details are also fake. Clearly, the individual listing the property would fall into the first category, however, in this case the property also does not exist.
  3. Fradulent clients These are users of the site that make false enquiries or bookings with the intent to gain either money or some advantage or otherwise cause problems for owners that have listed their property.
  4. Inaccurate Property details The property exists, the owner is real and legitimate, however, the photos, location and/or description given in the listing do not accurately represent the property. The legal term sometimes used is “Significantly not as described” which means you paid for something, but were given something different, and not what you paid for.

I would categorise the above into two broad types of risk — numbers 1, 2 and 3 are outright fraud and involve illegal and dishonest acts intended to cheat. I believe these are serious and the Realestasia website (including the registration, enquiry and messaging systems) will be designed to detect and record these activities. Additional checks will be done to verify the identity of owners and the details of properties. Over time we will build blacklists of email addresses, IP addresses and suspicious activities to help prevent this kind of behaviour.

The second type of risk is slightly harder to quantify and is more subjective – number 4 above. A listing might embellish a detail and you discover it only upon arrival and you believe it to be significant enough to affect your enjoyment. This can be solved in two ways – the first is by making information and details of the listing clear and unambiguous i.e. specific size, rooms, beds, location, included amenities to prevent misunderstandings and feedback so that these problems can be reported to us and the owner so that changes can be made.

Minimising these fraud risks is a no-brainer for us – it makes the site better for owners and users, and encourages more quality visitors which in turn will drive quality listings. I’ve only touched on the risks here but will be designing the site and the backend systems with them in mind. Let me know in the comments if I’ve missed anything important.

]]> http://blog.realestasia.com/51-holiday-rentals-and-preventing-fraud/feed/ 0 The death of the package tour http://blog.realestasia.com/34-the-death-of-the-package-tour/ http://blog.realestasia.com/34-the-death-of-the-package-tour/#comments Mon, 11 May 2009 13:53:10 +0000 Mike http://blog.realestasia.com/?p=34 I have been on my share of package tours around Asia in the past decade. The first I can remember was on Dragonair to Beijing for 5 days/4 nights. Now, clearly the airline must have been Dragonair but I cannot remember the name, location or even details of the hotel that was bundled into the package. I also received a lovely red and grey carry-on bag emblazoned with the Dragonair logo that was blessed with the power to make me feel like a complete and utter tourist.

I am happy to report that things have improved since that trip and now I find myself getting online and tracking down flights on one website and accommodation on another. I can find tours and things to do and build an itinerary myself with some flights from here, three nights in this place, then a few more in another place. After planning my trip using this method for a trip to Lijiang, China I now find the offerings from flight+hotel packages to be lacking.

If you are willing to do a bit of the work yourself and hunt around online for flights and accommodation, you can score some cracking deals. It is not only booking flights and accommodation that’s easier but the destination websites and online travel guides give that Lonely Planet or LUXE guidebook a run for its money.

Below I have compiled a short list of some good websites to use.

Flights and budget airlines

Hotels & Accommodation

Destination Guides & information

Did I miss anything? Please leave a comment letting me know of any additions and I’ll update the list.

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In one sentence, what is the site all about?

Realestasia helps you find holiday or vacation rentals in Asia so you can design the holiday you want.

Throughout Asia, in cities like Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bangkok, Taipei or Hanoi you have great short-term accommodation available that provides more comfort than a hotel without the accompanying price tag.  If you want to get out and actually experience new countries and cities you need to be somewhere comfortable and reasonably priced — this is where Realestasia can help.

Take a week away with six of your best friends in Koh Samui and make it just that little bit more special. Why not rent a fully furnished villa just off the beach with your own pool and BBQ and really chill out.

Take your kids and parents on holiday and make sure everyone’s happy with a pool for the kids and a nice terrace for the adults to unwind and indulge in a drop of vino.

Realestasia will show you great accommodation options in new places around Asia. We have owners and property managers with luxury villas in Thailand, cosmopolitan city pads in Hong Kong, classic old flats in Shanghai or an artist’s retreat in bustling Hanoi, whatever you are looking for you can find it on Realestasia.

I will be updating this blog as we go and giving you a bit of an inside look at how things are going. Hope you enjoy it!

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