NYC Vacation Rentals Question

by Steff, (UK)


NYC Vacation Rentals – Stay Smart

I have booked an apartment for April 2010. Now I read that there are many scams and I wondered if you knew of the company I have booked with? Its Stay Smart which is owned by:

City Lights Real Estate Brokerage LLC
353 east 58th St, Suite 2
Tel 800-757-9968

https://www.staysmartnyc.com/

Many thanks.


Comments for NYC Vacation Rentals Question

Apr 01, 2010

NYC Vacation Rentals – Stay Smart
by: peter

Dear User,

My name is Peter and I am a Senior Property Manager at StaySmartNYC (City Lights Real Estate Brokerage LLC). Please take note that we are a legitimate business. All of the properties that we manage are all privately owned and we have exclusive rights in renting out these apartments as vacation rentals.

Please also note that during our booking process, we never ask for moneygram or western union as payment to reserve our apartments. That should be a huge signal that whoever is running the business is a scam. We only accept credit card payments. This is to ensure that both sides (the buyer and the seller) will be protected.

How we are protected:

– If a customer is using a fraudulent credit card or a stolen credit card, the payment transaction will not go through, therefore, no funds are taken out of the account.

How you are protected:

– Every credit card company/bank has means to dispute any charges if deemed a fraud or a scam.

This is a major reason why we accept credit card payments. We also accept bank wires, in which we would have to inform the guest of our bank account. With wire transfer or credit card payments, there will always be a paper trail; not like sending a money order where you just send it to an address and you get no confirmation whatsoever.

As for us being a legitimate business, we are a licensed brokerage and we register our apartments with the New York City Department of Finance as Bed and Breakfast units (although we do not serve breakfast).

We also have a phone number in which you can contact us directly. You will talk to an associate or a representative and within New York. We are a New York based company and all of our apartments are located in the Manhattan area.


Aug 02, 2010

Update to Vacation Rentals in NYC by: NYC Insider Guide

Update to Vacation Rentals in NYC:
https://www.nycinsiderguide.com/nyc-vacation-rentals


Mar 20, 2011

Please do a follow-up comment!!
by: Anonymous

Please post your comments after you have been! Its important to follow up on questions like these with answers of your own. We visited an "apartment rental" back in 2009 and right down to the last minute we were freaking out it could possibly be a scam…not with City Lights I must add….but a private owner. We were thrilled to have a legit, fantastic person to accommodate us. The apartment was exactly as listed, location beyond perfect, safe and clean. We followed up on his posting with a raving review.

We too have a booking in May with SmartStay and will be watching closely for your review.

CHEERS!!

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