After dealing with the Jorge Gomez mess some more I really wish I would of bought some travel insurance as then maybe just maybe we would of gotten our $200 deposit back since he seems to refuse to give it back to us.  The funny thing is he now says that paypal paid everyone back… well what about us who didn’t pay via paypal, but with a check?   I assume he will say he paid us back right away, which would  be funny since he had called me in July of last year and at that point he still didn’t have $200 to pay me back.  So next time you decide to rent from an “owner” do your research.  First off, make sure they own the house.  You can do that by going to the counties website and looking up their property taxes or assessments.  If the name matches then at least you are dealing with the owner.  (I wish we would of done that with Jorge)  Then also get references and also the name and number of their management & cleaning company.  They would also be some great references to talk to.   If you rent a condo, you could also contact the condo themselves to verify that yes, they are the owners and rent their places out and you can see if anyone has had any trouble with them.  Had we of done that before we mailed our check to Jorge, we wouldn’t of been in the place we are right now.  But most important is to call around and get travel insurance quotes and go with who you feel most comfortable with.   They not only could help you out with this, but also say you got sick right before you left and couldn’t go.  They would help you with that as well.    Have you bought & used travel insurance?  If so, how did it work for you?