Spotahome

My Spotahome experience starts smoothly, two months before a work trip. After supposedly everything is checked and approved, payments made and booking agreed, the Landlord (supposedly approved by Spotahome) ghosts me. After several attempts, he reaches back saying that he is a bit unsure about how the service works through Spotahome - that this was his first time doing it (note: the listing shows he had rented it out 6 times before. This was a lie). After that, and one day before my departure, he cancels. Leaving me basically homeless in one of the hardest cities to find housing.
Spotahome response (despite all the "warranties" in their website) was to send me a listing of housing options (that I had find myself before) that are both more expensive and worst located than the one I've booked.
After this, and having to find housing by my own while staying in a cheap hostel that I had to pay myself (despite the fact that they are supposed to cover it by their own "Warranty"), they took forever and to refund where I had to cover the costs of refund and banking fees. It took sending them an email EVERY DAY for them to do it though, because they just kept "making an error in the process". Every time I contacted them, they would take several days to respond. Them keeping my money made difficult to pay for the alternative options I had found.
Not only this wouldn't have happened with a proper check of the landlord and the property; but the fact that the listing lied about the landlord's experience is just outrageous.

Alert to all spotahome users. I booked a room on August 29,2024 for 550 euros and they took 309 euros as service fees. But the landlord delayed the check in I couldn't check in on September 1st. So I had to find another flat in emergency I booked another apartment with another reputable site the same day and checked in. So as I did not check in I deserve at least the refund of the 550 euros representing the first month payment rent paid in advance. Spotahome the scammers refuse to refund the monthly rent and the service fees. First there is no service granted because I didn't check in. Second I never signed the contract with the landlord as he postponed the check in so there is no engagement I even have never ever put my feet my feet in the room. Bit despite these scammers refused to refund and decided to keep the money. I contacted them and their customer support named Daniela said we keep both 550 and 309 euros I lose all with no service granted no room rented. Be away from the scammers and please pass the message to help others protect themselves against these money vampires, stealers, frauders, layers. Join the reddit r/scamcompaniesreports to view scam companies like spotahome and share to protect others.

Not only they deceive people,but also do not get back the deposit. I've paid for the whole month and lived there less than month, the landlord decided to keep deposit for the period in which I didn't live. The landlord doesn't answer the calls and emails, and lied the agency that I lived the second part of the month. Even though he knew in advance about my staying and that I have to check out much earlier then I was supposed to.
And spotahome agency also knew that I checked in later because of them(they knew my day of arrival and nobody answer for my call) and checked out earlier.

After booking a cohab space with them in Brussels, and then realising that there were 40% extra charges on top of the list price, and exclsuions that one can asusme are normal for cohab space (like a TV), I asked (less than 24 hours later) for a refund and to cancel the booking. They refused, saying the cancellation is less than 30 days before taking up the room (since I booked 14 days before the date, it is physically impossoble for me to cancel in more than 30 days notice). They refused to refund my substantial deposit. And I have had to take it to the Belgian consumer protection agency. They show no interest in any need for an aimcable or fair resolution. Greedy, unfair, and ruthless company.

I feel like I got scammed. I booked a listing and trusted the pricing overview and payment summary. The spotahome fee is barely visible as well and not shown clearly. It is also quite expensive, at about 30% of the rent price. Then all of a sudden I have to pay an additional 480€ because it was listed at the near bottom of the page in grey characters under landlord policies. The fee was nowhere else but to be seen there. I know I should have looked more carefully but honestly it was all quite misleading and intransparent for me.

This is the worst housing agency. They lure you into contracts with lies and take no responsibility when you complain. Expensive agency fees are of no help. Their only goal is to scam and take money from international students. There are many better options like Uniplaces (although their agency fees are high too), HousingAnywhere, Aluna.it, so never use this agency. Many others have suffered like me, and they haven't even received replies to their emails. I'm stuck in the worst house for the worst six months. I'll say it again, this place is the worst, so look elsewhere.

Me cancelaron la reserva 5 días antes de mi viaje y las opciones que me ofrecian eran unos 500 euros mas caros al mes y ellos no se hacían cargo de la diferencia cuando ellos me han cancelado mi reserva original

I signed up just for a quick look at rentals in Barcelona. And now, 1 month later I am unable to stop their unbelievable amount of emails despite writing to them twice!

DO NOT EVER USE SPOTAHOME.

I'm a student and I was looking for a place to stay for Study Abroad in England. And I made the stupidest mistake of my life booking through Spotahome. I will genuinely regret it for the rest of my life.

Spotahome markets itself as an easy way to get in touch with local landlords across the world with a responsible middleman to make the process smooth. That could not be further from the truth. First red flag is they have no phone number, email, or address to contact. You can only submit issues through a form and cannot directly get in touch with them until they decide to respond to you, no matter how urgent the issue.

I don't even know where to begin with how unprofessional and dishonest this company is. First of all, they are incredibly shady with payments before you even get in touch with a landlord. If you apply for a house just to see more info about it and the landlord accepts, you are automatically charged. No time to look over details, no time to think about it, and no refund possible. But fine, I found a place through them. The first issue I ran into was they tried to charge me first month's rent twice. The landlord demanded I send it to him, but Spotahome was also charging me the same amount upon move-in. It took weeks for them to tell the landlord not to charge me because they get all rental payments (which is weird considering he supposedly has listed on their website for years and has multiple positive reviews (which you can't actually read or verify)). Then, when the landlord starting making up lies and trying to charge me for problems that already existed at his property, Spotahome said too bad, we aren't responsible for the landlord's behavior. Which is absolutely insane considering they list his properties on their website and make money off of him, but if he does anything unprofessional or illegal, they're not responsible. Fine. Then, someone broke into the flat where I was living and I wanted to move out early. But, due to Spotahome's policy, I would've had to pay an additional 30 days of rent so I had to stay there. At the end of the day, I was looking at all of the rental payments they had taken from my account and realized they had overcharged me almost $2000 in rent. I had to point that out to them, and I am still currently fighting to get my money back. I have spent hours and hours trying to resolve this and they simply do not care. They will rob you blind. Look literally anywhere else for a place to stay.

From the state of the appartement? Dirty as hell, no bed, had to sleep on the coach for 4 month!(totally different than in reality). The landlord? Lier, thief, dishonest, sexiste, but with a big smile to steal your deposit after you leave. Check in? NO and arrival 3 days late. Check out? No and 3 days earlier! Spotahome? 10 Replies saying it's normal and 0 help for NOTHING. The ref on the appartement; 463W53-NZ

We rented an apartment in Madrid for out daughter's semester abroad thru Spotahome. They "verified" the property (stating that they guarantee all of the amenities are present), and in fact it was a lie. The place is terrible - really expensive, landlord is incredibly difficult, and the amenities listed as verified on Spotahome are not there. I have reached out to them thru their portal (which is the only way to get in touch) and have had no reply - they state on their site that "You will have a contact person who will handle your case from start to finish" - THIS IS A LIE. Don't use the service, it is a scam.

I had a very bad experience with them. Be very mindful about purchasing and apartment or room or bed. The slightest human error that you make and they'll take advantage of that. Landlord said it was a room, and it ended up being 700 euros for a bed. They didn't put that on the title, and it wasn't until later that it was a bed and sharing room with a stranger. Spotahome never offered help. And I left a review in trustpilot and guess what? Spotahome took it down because "it wasn't a genuine experience". My bank didn't want to help. And PayPal said the seller had the right to take the money.

BEWARE
You are about to enter an eternal black hole of spam. There is no way out. No magical button to make it stop (they do not work). Horrendous customer service.
Enter at your own risk, you have been warned.

I would not recommend this site at all. I booked a room by accident (i thought it would Show me payment Information, but instead it confirmed and completed the booking. I cancelled 2 Minutes after I realized my error, but they already charged my credit card 900€ for rent and service. I cancelled, but only got 300€ back because of „service fees". The customer service doesn't give a $#*! about the people and is really greedy, I lost 600€ because of 2 minutes reservation. Don't use this site! Absolutely horrible people ripping off students and young people. I wonder how they sleep at night, rotten hearts.

I reserved a place through Spotahome, but shortly after, I found another offer on a different website that was much closer to where I intended to stay in Porto. Attempting to cancel my booking with Spotahome within 24 hours, I discovered that it was one day short of their 60-day cancellation policy. Despite my efforts, they declined to refund my deposit in full, resulting in a loss of $723 USD. Be cautious when booking with Spotahome, and ENSURE you're absolutely certain of your booking details beforehand or you will lose A LOT of money when you cancel, my bank could not even get me a refund.

I stayed in their apartment and it was left it a good condition. However, now they sent me an email claiming that something was damaged or even stolen, which is totally untrue. For example, the host said we stole a microwave (literally what the hell, why on Earth would we need it if we didn't even use it). I have no clue how they came up with such nonsense and now they refuse to give me the deposit back. Stay away from this scam! This fraud must be punished

I booked and apartment via Spotahome and after having paid, I found out that:
1) Landlord demanded 250 euros extra deposit,
2) Adress cannot be registered even though the listing said "possibility of domiciliation: yes",
3) Landlord requested a registration fee,

Landlord's rental contract included unfriendly clauses such as
1) Tenant is responsible for repairing windows whatever broke them
2) Tenant is responsible for any damages due to a theft or an attempt of theft
3) Tenant is responsible for vandalism by a third party
4) Tenant can be evicted in one week
5) Tenant will pay a six-month penalty for cancelling the contract (a fixed term contract for the duration of three months)
6) No compensation even if the apartment is under repair work for the whole duration of the lease
7) Landlord has the right to evict any visitors – so your mom cannot visit you.

In short, the contract was unacceptable.

Landlord was unwilling to make any changes to his policies. None of the policies were listed on Spotahome.com. Spotahome was unable to solve the issue. They were also unwilling to refund anything.

So in the end, I did not get an apartment and lost 2202 euros.

I am not saying Spotahome planned for this, but their business model (lack of transparency on landlord policies combined with strict cancellation rules) allows situations like this to occur.

They claim to be "honest renting experience" and to have gathered "all the information one needs to make a final decision". These are simply false statements.

I was totally scammed by this company.

When you initiate a booking request to an apartment on their website they ask you to provide your Credit Card full information for verification promising that nothing would be deducted till the owner receive your ID, salary slips and many other documents that they have stated on their site.

Till you provide this documentation the Tenant and owner has the full right to withdraw from this agreement for whatever reason they have (e.g finding a better apartment).

In my case, once I provided my Credit Card information they immediately charged me with the full amount without getting any documentation from my side depriving me from my right to cancel during this period of providing my documentation.

I have contacted them making it clear that they are going against their own policy but they refused to give me a full refund.

Clear scamming, fraud and unprofessional acts.

Really rude and felt gaslighted when I approached them with problems I was having with my landlord. They take 3 business days to reply to complaints - that's their way to shake off the blame and hope you run out of energy. Each response is vague, unhelpful, and written to kick the can down the roead.

Avoid absolutely Spotahome
It is Spotahome, not you, who confirm your reservation request. Spotahome charges your credit card immediately for each request.
Spotahome charged me for two rentals in the same city for the same period when I had only wanted to know if one of the apartments was available. When I asked for a refund for the rental I would not be using, they refused and told me that it was their usual policy, most likely to increase their profit. I strongly advise against dealing with Spotahome to avoid getting ripped off.

The website booking process is unclear - I accidentally made a booking when I thought I was just going to the next step. I immediately notified Spotahome. It was on a Sunday so I could not reach anyone on the phone. I got an initial stock response saying that under the cancellation policy I could not get a refund. I emailed them on Monday with full details of how the error happened, including the fact that the booking was partially in the past. After some consideration of the circumstances they agreed to a full refund. So full marks for service - 4 stars because their website dialogue could do with some improvement and a cooling off period with free cancellation - even for 3 or 4 hours - to make the booking process less stressful.

This company is total scam. Please don't waste your money for this website and just remember that they will take so much money and don't give you back. Their cancellation service is awful and total Fraud. Even landlords don't pay your deposit back at the end of contract. Be careful

Spotahome is an amazing place to look for flats! The staff is just beyond helpful and I am thankful to the team for helping me find an amazing place to live in!
Great team, Great work!