HomeAway UKReviews 62

As property advertisers with HomeAway.co.uk for 11 years, we are appalled at the way they have treated us over the return of a guest's deposit.
We have 'automatic refund' of guest deposits set up on our account - unless we ask HA not to process the refund, it will be sent automatically. Last year we were contacted by HA, asking us to refund a guest ourselves directly, as the guest had changed bank accounts, and the HA automatic system would not be able to process to a closed bank account. We did so and thought no more about it.
But, HA then automatically processed the refund anyway. The £300 refund was never received by the guest, is lost in the banking system, and HA say we must now repay them £300, as we 'activated' the automatic refund.
We did not activate a refund, we have in place, as I said, the HA automatic refund facility, and as HA had contacted us precisely because they could not use this system to issue this refund, we naturally assumed that they wouldn't. If we had been required to deactivate the automatic refund, the person dealing with this issue should have informed us.
Since then, we have had weeks of unpleasant and aggressive demands for us to repay HA the £300 that they are unable to find in the banking system, after they made the automated refund to a closed bank account. This has left us feeling very stressed and helpless. The financial ombudsman is unable to help as the company is not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK.
HA reasons that as we did not deactivate the automatic refund, having agreed to their request to help them by refunding the guest directly, we are liable for the 'lost' £300.
After months of silence, we subsequently accepted an online booking, and yesterday HA emailed us to say that unless we pay the £300, they will take it from this booking.
We want prospective clients who may be considering advertising with Home Away.co.uk to hear about our experience. After 11 years as loyal customers, we had expected that the company would value our custom, see sense, and stop pestering us for a payment that we do not owe. Sadly this has not been the case, so we will not be renewing our subscription, a financial loss to HA of much more than £300, and strongly advise anyone looking for a company to advertise with, to look elsewhere.

After booking a Cyprus Villa through HomeAway and getting all the details confirmed and travelled the Cyprus for our first ever family holiday. For some reason the owner of the property through his own mismanagement had double booked the accommodation and was only informed a day we were due at the Villa. The funds are payable to HomeAway and when you have checked in released to the property owner. The problem with the refunds id that they take 5-7 days according to HomeAway and in the meantime were had no place to stay during the peak summer Holidays. The staff at HomeAway spoke very poor english and one of them had the courage to ask me if I had problem with him, to which I explained my frustrations were with HomeAway as I didn't even know him. The customer care were all but unhelpful they promised to call me back time after time never did. After continuously going back and forwards I ask to speak to their manager and I was informed that the customer care weren't allowed to call managers forward when customers requested. All in all left stranded whilst waiting for my funds to clear and no accommodation for the family for 8 nights and for our very first ever holiday. Be warned please stay away unless you want to end up stranded!

Being on the website for over 8 years but since they have changed the way they run the website, and the horrendous fee they charge my guest for booking Iv had to drop my fees and my bookings have fallen by half... I am having the same problem that others are voicing on all this.It is now just not viable to use them and when this season is over will be seeking a new website to advertise, such a shame when they had such a great product... now all gone.

Having been with Home away and its predecessor for nearly 10 years we had been unhappy at the changes made ( without consultation) to booking, pricing etc and had just sort of lumped it.
The straw that nearly broke the Camels back was last year when they announced the fees to be charged to customers.
Also last year when we should have been getting bookings for 2017 it seemed to be more and more difficult to find our property which is in the Northern Scottish Highlands and as a result we have only had 5 weeks booked this year!

The Northern Scottish Highlands now seem to have disappeared and we are lumped in with 100s of other properties. I queried this, as originally all the Counties in the Northern Scottish Highlands would come up as a sub menu and then, in another sub menu, villages and towns would appear.
You would think this was pretty logical but not according to Home Away, as we have now been mixed in with 100s of other properties, some of which are from other letting agencies?.

I have contacted Home Away so many times to get this and so many other queries (like looking for a 1 bedroomed cottage) resolved I have just about given up.

I had a final attempt today and await the usual Bull--it answer.

My next communication will be with the Scottish Parliament in both the Tourism and Business departments to bring this company to their attention, as I feel something needs to be done.
I will not be renewing my rip off fee this year and to be honest I would rather let my property sit empty than give these "Vultures" any more money.

I think as mentioned in earlier posts there is a time for a small personal based web site to provide details of property available, just like it was when the site had its beginnings.

Yours Truly
A.M.

I've been with Homeaway and previously holiday rentals for 10 years.
Last year when they changed their charging policy has been awful for me.
I refused online booking, because I was unhappy with the extra charges that my guests will be charged. The only option is to lower my prices, which have already been the same for 4 years, which I am not prepared to do.
So I refuse the online booking, and then found that I couldn't even update my calendar on the dashboard because it had an alert to remind me to take out the online booking.
I was warned that I may not get the same amount of enquiries. Well, it the end of June and I still have the whole of August available in 4 gites!
Before when I updated my calendar I went to the top of the listing, now when I update my calendar I go to the top of the listings which have not enabled online booking, so I'm quite often 2 pages down.
So, now I'm looking at empty gites in the summer for the first time in 10 years, because I am not a greedy owner and refuse to pass on extra charges to my guests.
I will definitely be looking at a different website for next year.

I have listed my vacation rentals for years on Homeaway, but they have totally changed since they were bought by Expedia. In addition to charging me for my listing, they started also charging guests to book through them. When I offered guests alternative booking options, they cancelled all of my listings without notice and left me without any way to communicate with guests. Unbelievably bad customer service as well. When I called to find out why my listing was cancelled, the rep told me to "read my emails", when I asked what could be done about this they said I could "send an email" but he advised they have no obligation to respond. When I asked about a refund for the $2000+ paid to list my properties, they said I wouldn't be getting one. When I asked who I could escalate the matter to - they gave me the EMAIL address for their legal department, but advised they would only respond if I hired an attorney.

My advice to guests looking to use their sites: Homeaway, VRBO among others is to find an alternative. Their rental guarantee is meaningless as is their trip/travel insurance. I have dealt with many guests who have been cheated on both fronts. The rental guarantee is simply a ploy so they can collect their "Service Fee".

If you book with this company you will pay charges due to them dealing in the euro. They can then cancel at any time and you will get charges on the refund (when you eventually get it!).
I booked and paid for a holiday, paid fees to book it and then the owner cancelled it. I got a refund after several emails but got charged to receive the refund too.
Homeaway said that they refunded me the full amount but after booking a holiday with them I am out of pocket. This may be due to bank charges but it is a risk that everyone makes when booking with this company.
I'm horrified that it can be the case where you are risking losing hundreds of pounds just by booking with this company!
Do not use them, you have no control of an owner cancelling your holiday and so you are gambling your money and it is a big risk!
Disgusted that this could happen!

I thought I had booked a holiday cottage through company and was looking forward to a well earned break. After not receiving a confirmation e-mail I tried on several occasions to phone them only to be non hold for 20 minutes plus and still no one taking my call. Finally spoke with someone only to be told I needed to speak with property manager, which I did and it turned out to be another holiday company who didn't have details of booking. Phoned HomeAway yet again and when someone finally answered they said it didn't look like booking had gone through but could not answer if a payment had been taken from my credit card and suggested I contact my credit card company. I did this and they confirmed they have taken some, luckily not full amount, but dispute resolution department of credit card now trying to get back from them. Absolutely horrendous and stressful experience to say the least. Do not use, steer well clear is my advice!

Booked a rental through Homeaway which I then had to cancel. Despite their blurb about peace of mind and secure payments etc. I had a massive problem when I had to cancel the booking.
Yes, it does state that they are only agents, but the owner told me they wouldn't refund the deposit I paid through them until after the date the rental was booked for (in this case July 2017 - over a year away!). I had to refer the matter to my credit card company to retrieve the not inconsiderable amount of £1200.
Homeaway had the cheek to email the following:
Thank you for allowing our HomeAway.co.uk Customer Support team to assist you.
Wouldn't touch them with a barge pole!

How dare they, was so happy with homeaway, before exGreedia got involved.
This is a cyber website, it is bits on a server, it costs nothing once it is up and running, if they charged £3 a listing they would still make money

I was HAPPY to pay £300 plus a listing, but THIS NEW HOLIDAY MAKERS THEFT SERVCE CHARGE 6-8% for nothing,

HOW DARE VBRO
HOW DARE HOMEAWAY
HOW DARE HOLIDAY-RENTALS UK

Milk more money from our clients, smart clients will go else where to book, WTF

OUTRAGEOUS CORPORATE ARROGANCE AT ITS WORSE

PROPERTY REF - *******, SORRENTO MARINE THEMED APARTMENT
My husband is disabled (mobility difficulties). When we were looking to book this accommodation we chose it because it stated on the advert that it was wheelchair accessible and it was located at the beginning of a slope street, on checking the LOCATION satellite view map that was attached to the advert, the symbol A was showing as Via Fuorimura, which is one of the roads just off the main square Piazza Tasso. On email correspondence on 12/7/15 this road was mentioned again, but the full address wasnt given. The day before we flew to Naples I sent a further email again asking for the full address, it was at the point that the we were told it was VIA ATIGLIANA, Sorrento. We arrived in Sorrento on 31/7/15 and spent our first night at Hotel Del Corso, we picked this due to its central location and easy accessibility for my husband (flat). The children and I decided to take a walk and find the apartment for the following day. We walked along Via Fuorimura until it came to an end then had to ask in a shop. Via Atigliana, carries on from here and it is a steep winding road which is fractionally wide enough for two cars to pass, there was no footpath. The apartment is situated within a residential block and is in a poor state of disrepair, with rendering having fallen off in a large number of places. The view from the balcony is onto what appears to be abandoned wasteland. There are no photos on the property advert showing the outside of this building or views from the balcony and the distance to the centre is inaccurate. The location satellite map that is on the advert is also clearly misleading as it highlights an area on Via Fuorimura when in fact it should have the marker on Via Atigliana, which is significantly further away. If the owner had have been honest from the outset we would never have booked this apartment, we stayed there for one night and had to pay for alternative accommodation at Hotel del Corso for the remainder of our holiday. The only way my husband could get to and from the apartment to the centre was to use the local taxis, at a cost of 20 euros each time.

Saturday night I received a text saying a James Havering wanted to check availability on
My apartment for rent for 2 adults.
No dates were given.
A dubious looking UK telephone number was given... repeating the country code and using
3 double digits in the number. This proved false
No e mail was given as has been the case on a previous enquiry from the German site that is linked to this one by common ownership
I tried to respond by the customize reply drop-down box option but received an error message. Subsequent interrogation of this enquiry yielded the same results for the confirm
Availablility and reject availability options.
The message from the specimen enquiring was "Hope your(sic.) declaring this to the tax office".
The following night I then received the same message with the additional sentence of
"Your details will be passed for scrutiny"
All 4 enquiries came through in the late evening. You can draw your own conclusions.
Does any verification of enquiries and their source take place before transmission to property owners/managers with this site?

BE WARNED...

I reserved a flat in London through Owners Direct, HomeAway. U. K. Property E8437. The property manager was very accommodating when we made the reservation. Unfortunately, we were forced to cancel for reasons beyond our control. Our cancellation was outside the 60 day cancellation period. Full refund applied. The property manager said she would refund the deposit to our bank account. We have been waiting over 2 months for the refund. The property manager has never given me a bank transaction number. Thus, she hasn't sent the refund. I am now pleading to Citibank to help us as our deposit was made by our credit card.

I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone. It's been a 60+ day nightmare. Remember Homeaway.com UK Property E8437.

This farmhouse was truly a wonderful find. We spent a week here in April exploring the region and had no difficulty driving down in our hire car from La Rochelle. We loved the layout and character of this villa. It is clean, spacious and comfortable and really felt like a home away from home. Our kids were particularly delighted with the games room which was a godsend when it rained! The heated swimming pool and private garden made the entire stay so relaxing. We will definitely return. The Stafford Family.

I booked a property on ownersdirect last summer (2013), and the listing turned out to be fake. I paid a deposit of 1000 Euro ot a person that was not the owner of the property. After checking With customer service how i could Ensure that this person was the owner of the property in Spain, they just told me that they had no reason to beleive otherwise and that they did check every property that where listed. Also they told me about their Basic Garantee Program that that turned out to be Worth nothing, as they have just ignored my claim. THIS IS A WARNING TO ANYONE THAT ARE THINKING ABOUT RENTING A HOLIDAY HOME FROM OWNERS DIRECT. STAY AWAY!