@Sarah977
This brings to mind another observation I've seen often here. I mentioned how people read the stories, then conclude and claim that some obscure local holiday rental outfit is somehow less problematic.
Like you, we're in a popular tourist destination, and have a lot of these little one man "property management" outfits that rent apartments and villas. And they're often the very source of these problems, despite those who claim it's just how Airbnb is.
It seems illogical that a seasoned host would ignore the obvious advantages of listing on a major platform, in favour of "Eddie's villas". Simply because Eddie would neither have the market reach to effectively market your listing, and/or would simply place your listing on all the major platforms and tack on a commission (which is precisely what many do). The major platforms are already expensive to list with, and it's pretty easy to create a listing and manage it, so there's really no need to have Eddie in the middle. In fact, it would be downright irresponsible. So, if it the villa is only listed on Eddie's, that's your first red flag.
But Eddie will always manage to get a few to sign up exclusively. Particularly naive newbies that are friends of friends. Or owners that don't want to be involved, just want somebody to handle it and collect the money (there's a lot of those here - people who live elsewhere, own a house or apartment, want the money, but don't want to be bothered). In that case, the accommodation is less likely to have any special touches, and since Eddie is only collecting a few percent, he has little motivation to dress it up more than the minimum. Basic accommodation. 4 knives and forks, 4 plates, 4 cups & 4 glasses. A basic wipe is considered "cleaning". Just iron the pillow cases, nobody will notice. And cheap - which attracts customers. And that gets Eddie his 3%. Job done. Next guest, please...
All of this is presuming that Eddie is actually legitimate. He might start out that way, but things change, maybe he runs into trouble with guests, gets delisted from the majors... and there may be a point where he's forced to do something he never intended, such as keep the money from a cancellation or security deposit. He doesn't have the float to cover it. And to make it worse, the major platforms don't pay Eddie until the guest arrives, and Eddie can't really get the money illegitimately that way. So Eddie starts collecting the money himself. And that's when it all really goes pear shaped.
So, the morale of this one is that for whatever problems Airbnb or VRBO or anyone else has, it's generally still safer than booking on Eddie's. And the same listing is likely to be on Airbnb anyway. If not, its probably a red flag worth heeding.
