Too Much Risk for Guests

Hotels and other accommodation-based businesses have to meet strict health and safety standards, and inspections make sure violations are flagged. Those rules are there for a reason: they keep people safe.

Right now, neither the operators of short-term rental properties nor the platforms they use to manage bookings are accountable to the same regulations. Nobody is checking to make sure these operators have working fire alarms, check for bed bugs, or meet basic cleanliness and disease prevention standards. Hazards aren’t always obvious – just because a property looks clean and safe doesn’t mean it is.

The platforms that host short-term rental listings also take no direct responsibility for the accuracy of listings – there is no real guarantee that what you see on a listing is what you actually get. Guests have to trust that the owner of the property provides an honest representation of what they’re offering, and that hosts are who they say they are. There has been at least one string of incidents in BC where guests were invited to meet with the supposed owner of the property and pay a deposit on their stay, only for a scammer posing as the owner to take their money and run.

If we know enforceable standards, inspections and security measures are important for hotel guests’ safety, shouldn’t guests in short-term rentals get the same protection?

 

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