HomeAway Questions & Answers

Avoid them at all cost! They're criminals!

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).

I wrote one of the negative reviews, specifically about their travel insurance, aka Carefree Rental Guarantee. If the place has a ton of reviews that look genuine, you are going to be OK: essentially you are benefiting from the feedback of other customers. If the place doesn't have a ton of genuine-looking reviews, do not under any circumstance think that you could reduce your risks by using their insurance. It will only protect you from extreme situations, i. E. if the building doesn't exist.

Homeaway won't protect you. They are just an ad site to enable renters and owners to rent prooerty. I have a rental and my local manager takes care of everthing when I am not at the property. If you have any doubts I would not rent because with these rental sites you have no recourse. Carol

I think insurance is important for holidays anyway, but the best insurance as far as holiday renting is concerned, is not the agency, who is only an intermediary putting the owner and the renter in contact, ( which is just what an expensive Private agency which puts the rental prices rocketing high so they can get commission does NOT want!) The fact that VRBO or Holiday Rentals or Airbnb puts renter and owner in contact with each other, is the safest and best second insurance. You have to communicate, send emails, phone, check up on accommodation and just like before taking a plane, you have to call the owner as the date gets closer to make yourself as renter and also the owner, feel secure about your arrival and to check up and see if everything is OK. If you use the Holiday rental sites for what they are offering, which is the chance to communicate and 'bond' with the owner before your arrival, you will get maximum security and protection, way above the Private agencies who do not want you to contact the owners and who claim they protect you, when you are the owner and claim they protect you, when you are the renter, when in fact, the only ones they protect, all the way to the bank, is themselves for 20% or more commission and no help when there is a problem as they leave owner and renter to sort it out between them just as the sites, which charge no commission do. Contact between owner and renter, especially as the summer draws near is the best insurance as sites cannot be held responsible for the bad behaviour of renters or of owners. They can just give you the maximum security of allowing you to ask the questions you need to know. Remember that the Private agencies, care so little about the owners that some of the British ones which are the most lax on the continent, do not even ask for ID, let alone care about who the renter is, where they come from or what the owner has done or not done to their home! They just want their commission. It is up to us to ask the right questions and ensure for ourselves that we have the right people and the right place with no surprises. Good luck to us all!

Yes you can but I would indicate the dates you stayed. We don't want to be as dishonest as the facilities were reporting.

Sorry I don't know. I do not allow them to book my place out, I accept the enquiries & guests use our booking forms & terms & conditions, that way there is no confusion. However much they press us to change to them taking the booking & collecting the money, I will refuse to go along the route. I think this is better for customer.

I ended up finding the local tourism website and using their listings instead. This proved to be much less of a hassle, they have better cancellation policies, and you don't pay up front so scams are not an issue.

I cannot answer your question. I make custom quotes because I only rent by the week not the night. Call Home Away and I assume they will be able to answer your question.

Depends who created the listing? Was it you, then you set up an account with email and password, if it was set up by a property manager, then you need to speak to them about it, as they have one sign on for all their properties and may not want you to have access to all the listings