According to PopulStay, fake online reviews are a bane of the digital era, and home-sharing platforms are not exceptions

Airbnb guests, as well as users of other home-sharing platforms, often note that many of the places they visited have not quite lived up to the reviews they read before. Although home rental services are using screening algorithms and review teams, occasional troubles are still common. You can find them in local news every now and then!

In fact, there are some hosts, which manipulate the natural course of things by openly asking their guests to write a good review. Well, it does not necessarily mean that the “product” itself is not great. Some of them are doing it to encourage their guests to leave a positive message to future guests.

However, recently, more and more people are doing fake reviews when they start their business. Hosts are trying to cheat their way to the top of Airbnb or other similar platforms. They use fake reviews to speed their way towards the “superhost” status. Meanwhile, honest hosts, who aren’t cheating the Airbnb review system, lag behind.

Fake reviews are becoming a burning issue as some people try to gain trust without any basis for that, not speaking about people with bad intentions.

Is it Easy to Write a Fake Review

A fake review does not take much time. One can create another profile and use another credit card to make a fake reservation. Friends and family can leave fake reviews, too. Using the “special offer“ option will help them to book the accommodation at an extremely low price. Nice review is ready!

If a platform allows to be misused, it will definitely be misused

Basically, anybody with friends or family can set up a few good reviews to get started. It does not cost much. If one booking is $10, then 10 reviews could be $20 or so.

Commercial hosts can indeed book fake customers for a very cheap rate and call it the cost of business. Unfortunately, they will get a profound market advantage on the honest users.

How to Save Yourself

For potential renters, there appears to be only one solution: observe each listing minutely. There are several tips to help you spot fraudulent reviews, according to The facts about fake reviews — Which?: