I’m a travel writer— these 5 tips will stop you from booking a bad Airbnb

Not going home for the holidays?

One travel pro has revealed their tips and tricks for spotting red flags on rental listings.

“I’ve stayed in gorgeous farmhouse lofts, high-rise city apartments, and desert hideaways — but I’ve also booked a few duds along the way,” full-time traveler Tammy Barr, who has lodged in over 40 different rental units across 16 countries, wrote for Business Insider.

When deciding whether to book a rental listing found online, Barr firsts analyzes the photos.

Just because they might be “high-quality,” she warned, doesn’t necessarily mean the unit is better.

“Great staging doesn’t always equal a comfortable stay,” she noted, adding that an experienced photographer can make spaces seem bigger than they really are.

“When looking at listing photos, I analyze whether the furniture looks comically elongated, like a reflection from a funhouse mirror,” she continued. “It could be a sign the photo was taken with a wide-angle lens that’s making the space look bigger.”

She also uses rental ratings as a way to determine which accommodations are decidedly a no-go.

“In my experience, staying somewhere with less than four-and-a-half stars can be risky — especially if I’m booking a month-long stay,” she said, noting that continuous ratings less than five stars could spell trouble.

“Reviews can also yield other red flags,” she explained. “I find crowdsourced feedback sheds light on important items like cleanliness, rental location, and outside noise.”

Booking a place with no reviews or ratings is a huge risk, too, and Barr recommends bookmarking those listings and returning to them at a later date to see if anyone stayed and left a review. But, if you’re hell-bent on booking a rental with zero reviews, the least you can do is look at the host and see if they have other properties with positive reviews.

If reviews are more than two years old, that could also be a red flag, warning jet-setters of the “horror stories” she’s heard of travelers booking rentals that had “been vacant and uncared for for months.”

“If a nice-looking rental only has old reviews I’ll sometimes just save it and check on it until someone writes about a more recent stay,” advised Barr, who also utilizes amenities filters to find preferred listings.

She always checks to make sure the hot tub — if there is one listed — hasn’t caused issues for other guests, or looks at reviews to see if anyone complained about Wi-Fi functionality. In her initial message to hosts, she’ll often mention the amenities she’s looking forward to using, so the host is aware she intends to use them.

Last but not least: the biggest warning sign of all.

“There is no greater red flag than when a host berates a previous guest for leaving feedback,” Barr stated.

“How an owner responds to reviews is one of the most important items I look for. If they disrespect or talk down to guests I’m staying clear of their property.”