I don't know the answer to this question because I am an owner & don't get involved with the HA/VRBO guarantee. However, I have had past experiences with them on other issues & found that they are pretty shady to deal with. They are only after $ & don't really care about concerns of renters nor owners. You didn't mention why the owner cancelled, but I always recommend that renters buy travel insurance from a reputable travel insurance company NOT from HA/VRBO. Too bad so many people use them that they can dictate terms to owners & renters. We are pretty much at their mercy which they have little of. My suggestion is that future rentals go through Trip Advisor, i. E. Flip Key or Vacation HOME Rentals (NOT Vacation Rentals which is a HA/VRBO company).

Any reservation through VRBO you are screwed. I love Patty M. Response yea try and get ahold of anyone at either of those companies. HAHAHA this place is such a rip off. That guy got your money to rent to others at twice the price and wont honor that either

VRBO is the same as HA. Same company.

I have used VRBO many times and never had an issue. I only used home away once and I was cheated out of money so I am not one to recommend this company but I guess unless it's a hotel you take your chances

There are numerous entities who manage vacation rentals. HA is only the middleman with the perfect business model - plausible denial and no responsibility or liability. They are owner bias, given your distance to travel go in another direction, use another company and research them, also if owners identified research them before you spend your money. Happy Travels. Good Luck

I would never use them again. One bad experience is all I need. I do not recommend them.

HA will take your money and will bear no reponsibility of the trustworthiness of the owners or whether the rental property is indeed available. When I rented through HA, the property was not available and they took my money anyway. Further, they didn't take any responsibility for their inaccurate posting. Deal with the owners directly via email and by way of phone. Ask for pictures, search for reviews from multiple sources and keep all communication. HA is the middleman and you will be better off going directly to the source. Don't use or trust HA.

I will never use them again. Air bnb all the way. If I go to an Airbnb property i haven't paid yet. With HA I had to pay in full before I got to the rental. So if you have a bad rental or whatever, you will not get your money back. I purchased the Carefree rental guarantee and thought it was insurance but it is meaningless. At least Airbnb has the places vetted and inspected before they can list.

I have never had any problem with any place that I have rented from HomeAway- but don't believe the reviews (HomeAway seems to 'tidy them up' by leaving out any negative comments made by the renter).
Talk as much as possible with the owner of the place even if it just by email

All I can say as a homeowner is that all my guests that came via Homeaway were treated properly, in line with the offer that was made, timely and fairly. On that score I never had a problem. As far as other homeowners go its not possible for me to judge their reputation. I do not think that Homeaway ever checked my own trustworthiness either. My own biggest complaint about Homeaway is that they restrict ALL communications to mail via their webpage menu. They HATE normal email. That is not uncommon but the twist here is that Homeaway does often does not answer to the mail via their webpage either. I complained via their facebook page. They asked me to make an overseas call to their US office. They would not go into print. I said "no" and continue to say "no".

HA are terrible and totally unhelpful. Be warned! Best to speak to owner of the property directly and look for reviews. We got so ripped off by a HA property owner in Spain and the management did NOTHING to help us get our money back. Really really useless.

Just know that HA.com is NOT on your side and will do NOTHING to help if it goes south. Do as much research on the "owner" as you can and I would suggest that payment should only be made with in a form that can be disputed if neccessary... no checks or cash.

Look up on the web everything you can about the homeowner of the property & read the reviews. If the property has a lot of good reviews & also recently written then it is more likely to be OK.

Book with someone else and double check everything read all the e-mails and call the owner directly to make sure it is booked because homeaway will take your money then say they can't do anything for you. So stay away form Home Away

Homeaway has nothing to do with the rentals it advertises. It simply takes money from the vacation rental owners and markets them and takes credit cards through their site and charges the rental owners for that as well. If you are worried about where or who you are booking from, you need to contact the owner and speak with them or email them.

I had a very poor experience and it was never resolved. I would definitely use a credit card and not check or money order.