Google Vacation Rentals & Fraudulent Charges

Hi All, I have had all of my listings on Google Vacation Rentals for many months, but only recently got 2 bookings through that platform for the same listing.

For whatever reason, both bookings have been flagged by Stripe as being fraudulent credit card transactions. I have never had this happen before with any other platform, and I'm wondering if it has something to do with GVR, or if anyone else has experienced this before. We do have signed renter's agreements as proof of the booking being legitimate, so hopefully the fraud disputes are unsuccessful and we're able to keep the booking value.

Thanks in advance for your help with this!

Hey Jordan,

Google Vacation Rentals is not necessarily the issue. Your listing does market your direct book website to a broad audience. That's good and bad. Bad because scammers look for properties to vacation where they can check in at the last minute, using stolen credit cards. By the time the credit card is reported stolen and a chargeback is filed, they have enjoyed your place and are long gone.

 While nothing is foolproof, there are some steps you can consider:

• Don't allow same day bookings
• Perform more stricter screenings for close in bookings. For example, speak with them by phone; have them submit a selfie of them holding their driver's license
• Scrutinize the driver's license to ensure it's real
• Require vehicle registration

You can utilize one of our vendors that will perform in depth checks - Safely and Truvi are two that are integrated with OwnerRez:

https://www.ownerrez.com/support/articles/integrations-overview#insurance

Also speak with your current merchant processor to see what checks they have on their side to help combat fraudulent charges. Some of them do have processes in place.

I'm sorry you're going through this, and I hope others will chime in with their experiences and suggestions.