Închirieri vile: înșelătorii și avertismente

The French Riviera is full of both good people and scammers, but the concentration of the latter is especially high when dealing real estate and luxury villa rentals. Renting a villa in the South of France can be a delightful experience, but like in many popular tourist destinations, it comes with the risk of encountering scams and dishonest tactics.

Cel mai important sfat al nostru: vizitați întotdeauna vila în persoană înainte de a o rezerva pentru a evita situațiile de momeală și comutare.

Iată ce trebuie să știți dacă vă gândiți să închiriați o vilă pe Riviera Franceză:

Rezervare prin intermediul unei agenții

Booking through a large well-known agency may pare safe, but it’s only as safe as you are savvy. There are many ways that these agencies can –and frequently do– scam people, in both big and little ways. Knowing their tricks can help you avoid them, but be prepared to put in some work before renting anything.

In fact, the CEO of Carlton Group emailed us trying to get us to remove their name from this guide, and in his email he said “Your journalism may have been appropriate, if unfortunate, in its negative slight against Rental Agents in general, but naming our company…” admitting that what we warn about below is true.

Bait & Switch

Știți deja că toate agențiile încearcă să facă înregistrările lor să arate cât mai atrăgătoare posibil. Dar ceea ce nu poți ști până nu ajungi, este cât de mult au modificat fotografiile, ce au nu a făcut-o show you in the pictures and video, and what problems the villa has that they’re not telling you.

We audited luxury rental listings from the big agencies (in the price range of €20,000 to €50,000 per week) and found that they routinely advertised villas as “luxury rentals” even when they were in very, very bad condition, or not luxury at all.

We found that most of the villas were in very bad state of disrepair, with major water damage and mold issues, many maintenance issues, and things like massive overhanging power lines and overlooking neighbors that had been edited out of photos.

We even visited one “luxury villa rental” where –to our surprise– a new house was being built right next to it and there was one shared private road. It took the construction vehicles, that were blocking the entrance, 25 minutes to move, despite them knowing we had a previously scheduled viewing, with us and two agents waiting. When we finally got to the house we noticed that, unlike what the agent had just told us, the construction noise was foarte loud, and the ‘sea view’ photograph had clearly been taken with a telephoto lens, zooming in on the tiny far-away slice of sea view — and cropping out all the ugly rooftops in the view. Beyond that, the two bathrooms that weren’t in the photos were in a very bad state.

Singura modalitate de a ști cu adevărat ce vei primi este să faci vizitați vila în avans, inainte de îl rezervați.

Contracte de închiriere

The big agencies’ rental contracts typically have many loopholes that would allow them to kick you out at any time. Don’t assume they won’t do this.

We hear stories of big agencies evicting people at the beginning of their stay, and keeping the entire rent and deposit for a seemingly inconsequential infractions, like having a visitor, or leaving towels outside (yes, these clauses are in contracts from big agencies like Carlton, etc.) Many agencies also include clauses that let them evict you and keep the money if a ‘neighbor’ complains of noise.

Agents also often agree to terms verbally, then leave them out of the contract so they don't have to adhere to them. Or they tell you verbally that they never enforce those clauses, but then refuse to remove them (…because they intent to enforce them).

Usually, the agencies keep the villa listed online even once it’s been booked. If there’s someone else who is willing to book for the same time-frame, and they have a legal (unethical, yes, but legal) way to get you out, keep the money, and get paid twice for the same weeks, then they really have no legal reason not to. Agencies are more concerned with making maximum profit than potential bad online reviews. After all, it’s easy to have bad reviews removed, most people don’t leave or check reviews, and there’s no way to review individual villas.

Volumul este scăzut și prețul este foarte negociabil

After Covid, when Americans were able to travel to Europe again, there was a boom in travel and bookings. Even then, the most that luxury villa rentals were booked was around 40% to 70% for the very best villas. From 2023 to 2025, villa rentals were only been booked up less than 20% of the time.

Before Covid, the typical discount you could negotiate on a luxury villa rental was about 30% to 40%. However, we had been hearing that in 2024, people were getting massive discounts on luxury villa rentals of around 50% to 75% off of the asking prices. We did some negotiating ourselves and found this to be true. We expect this to continue throughout 2025, especially with what’s been happening geopolitically.

Cum să te protejezi

Dacă vă gândiți să închiriați o vilă de lux pe Riviera Franceză printr-o agenție, există câteva lucruri pe care le puteți face pentru a reduce riscul de a fi înșelat:

• Do your research on the property before you book. Ask for a video tour and information about the villa, including its exact address and amenities. Read reviews from other guests and check the villa’s address on Google Earth to make sure it actually exists.
• Nu plătiți niciodată pentru o vilă integral în avans. Agențiile de închiriere de renume vor solicita doar un depozit și ar trebui să puteți plăti soldul după ce ajungeți la vilă și o inspectați.
• Make sure the contract contains a clause that gives you a full refund (within a specified time-frame, with penalties for not refunding you on time) if you arrive and the property doesn’t meet your expectations, or has damage, privacy issues, bedbugs, or nearby construction.
• Read the rental contract very carefully before you sign it. Make sure you thoroughly understand toate the terms and conditions, and that the contract includes all of the details you agreed upon with the rental agency or individual. Do not trust what is only said verbally.
• Nu semnați un contract care are lacune care ar putea permite agenției de închiriere sau proprietarului să vă dea afară. Dacă agenția nu va elimina aceste clauze, veți ști că este pentru că intenționează să le folosească.

Sfatul nostru sincer? Nu rezervați prin agenții sau direct cu proprietarii, unde nu aveți cum să obțineți o rambursare dacă există probleme. Rezervați doar prin site-uri web precum AirBnb și VRBO, de unde puteți obține o rambursare dacă listarea este o înșelătorie, nu arată ca fotografiile sau alte forme de bait-and-switch.

Platforme de rezervare online

Site-uri precum AirBnb și VRBO au și ele problemele lor (deși mai puțin decât cu agențiile mari), dar sunt cea mai sigură opțiune, deoarece poți să te plângi platformei dacă există o problemă. Principala problemă a rezervării pe aceste site-uri este că proprietarii mint uneori despre „daune” și vă păstrează depozitul de daune.

Nu rezervați o vilă pe care ați găsit-o pe un site clasificat precum LeBonCoin (versiunea Franței a Craigslist). Escrocii folosesc frecvent aceste platforme pentru a crea listări false pentru vile de lux. Aceste înregistrări pot avea fotografii și descrieri care par convingătoare, dar pot fi pentru proprietăți care nu există de fapt sau sunt copiate dintr-o înregistrare legitimă.

Iată câteva dintre problemele comune și escrocherii de care trebuie să fii conștient:

1. Listări false: Scammers may create fake listings to attract attention and money before individuals realize the place doesn’t exist. Once a deposit is paid, the ‘owner’ becomes unreachable.
2. Denaturare: The property doesn’t match the description in the advertisement, or has major problems with it.
3. Rezervare dublă: Este posibil ca proprietatea să fie deja închiriată și nu ați putut găsi acces la sosire.
4. Deturnarea e-mailurilor: The email address of the owner or agency might be hijacked or spoofed, and you could end up interacting with a criminal instead of the actual owner. An owner or agency avoiding in-person meetings could be a red flag as they might have something to hide.

Fiind vigilent și luând măsuri de precauție, puteți minimiza semnificativ riscurile asociate cu închirierea de vile de lux în sudul Franței.

NB: Crima

Rental villas are the prime target of the crime rings and criminal gangs that operate along the French Riviera. They often don’t have bars on the windows and they know that tourists are not as cautious as locals. There’s a major problem with these criminals breaking in, often using sedative gas, and stealing valuables like your watch and wedding rings right off your hand. Learn more about that here.

Given all the risks associated with villa rentals on the French Riviera, we recommend that you book a hotel instead (here’s our guide to help you avoid disappointment when booking a hotel). But if you’ve got your heart set on a villa, make sure to follow these tips to protect yourself from scams and enjoy a luxurious vacation on the French Riviera.