Police join group to tackle holiday rental fraud
A group has been set up to develop an industry standard to reduce the risk of fraud in the holiday home rental sector.
The group consists of the travel industry’s fraud watchdog Prevention of Fraud in Travel (PROFiT), the City of London Police and a number of the UK’s holiday home rental companies.
The companies involved include Direct Holiday Villas, Holiday Lettings, Holiday Home Rentals, Home Away Holiday-Rentals, Owners Direct, Perfect Getaways, Spain Holidays, Villa Plus, Villarenters.com, and Viva Stay.
The group will focus on fraud prevention work, fraud intelligence, enforcement work, and education.
Barry Gooch, chairman of PROFiT, said: “Working in conjunction with partners within the industry our aim is to dispel the myths surrounding this sector and instill confidence in how it operates.
“There is a lot of very good work being carried out across the industry, but it is not widely known about.”
“The vast majority of consumers enjoy a safe and happy holiday home rental at competitive prices from the industry the pity is that a few get caught out. We are now working with the reputable companies from this sector to minimise the problems for the future.”
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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