At onelocation we try and check ALL the properties and owners on the site but as well as us checking here’s a few precautions you can take to make sure the 3 bed holiday villa in Camps Bay or the Cape Town guesthouse actually exists. Believe it or not there are some dodgy people out there who post adverts on sites and then take the holidaymakers deposit and run, never to be seen or heard from again.

Make sure you don’t fall into this trap by following a few simple rules.

1. Speak to the owner directly
   Give the owner a call. Ask them questions about their holiday accommodation and the local area, you’ll get a pretty good idea if they are genuine or not by the answers they give.
2. Research the accommodation and ask for references
   Do a google search and ask the owner for references and more details on the property and it’s location. Not all the properties have personal websites but you’ll nearly always find something on the web about the holiday accommodation that’s advertised.
3. Does it have an official tourism grading
   In South Africa we have the Tourism grading council of South Africa who independently visit holiday rental accommodation and grade it according to certain criteria. We then display the grading (the little SA stars) on each listing. You can then check the authenticity of this grading (and the holiday rental) by visiting www.tourismgrading.co.za where they have a directory of all the listed properties.
4. Ask for a booking contract
   All owners should have a booking contract containing all the terms and conditions of booking as well as payment and cancellation terms. If they haven’t got one then ask them to contact us at onelocation.com and we’ll help provide them with one.
5. Pay using a secure payment option
   Don’t pay in cash or through any untracable method. Either use a cheque, bank transfer (EFT if you’re in SA) or a secure online payment system such as PayPal. Be sure that you pay the advertiser or agent and not a third party.
6. Tell us if you are unsure
   In most cases we’ll suspend the advert pending an internal investigation as to it’s credibility. We take fraud very seriously and will take measures to ensure the safety and security of the holidaymakers and owners on our site.

These are just a few things you can do to make sure that you are enquiring about a genuine holiday rental in Cape Town and the Western Cape. So far we haven’t had a single problem with bogus owners and we continually run our own checks to make sure that the holiday rental you are looking at is as stunning as you think it is.