HomeAwayReviews 1,751

First and foremost, 4 bedrooms 2 with queen size, 2 with 3/4 beds (3/4 beds are 48" wide x 75" long). The pull out downstairs is a twin size from a love seat. I would say this home would sleep 7 at most, no way can it sleep 10.
The upstairs bathroom is very outdated and has rust on the shower head, I would not use it

Under couch cushions there was food crumbs and dirt. Surface looked ok, but it was not really clean at all.

Broken chair in the sun room with fire place, and love seat in the sun room was just tossed on fancy wooden blocks the couch fell off of one block and BOOM! Sideways couch that we had to pick up and reset on the fancy looking wood blocks.
Two different wooden chairs fell apart during the stay.

The fire pit is a large truck rim tossed in the middle of the tiny beach front. And I think the bugs enjoyed the water more then the guests.

Carpet up stairs is probably from the 1950's, ( I remember the same old carpeting getting ripped out of my grandparents old home about 30 years ago).

I spent 2 nights sleeping on the floor and I think a bug bit me on the butt.
The place has had some upgrades, downstairs kitchen and downstairs bathroom, but the rest of it is tolerable at best.

Booker Beware!

I 100% agree with all the homeowners complaining about Expedia/HomeawY charging OUR guests a service fee and pricing is out of the market. It's ridiculous! What's even more ridiculous, is never once over the past three years have any of the dramatic changes they've made been communicated directly to the homeowners. Only because I've done investigating to find out why I have half the number of page views and inquiries did I find out about the hidden service fee being passed on to my guests.AND it's not communicated as a website fee, it looks like a fee I am charging. It's killing my business. I started with VRBO since the beginning ten years ago and now I'm so frustrated with everything I just want to find an alternative. Forcing us to take credit cards, penalizing us by placing us low in search results, not allowing certain reviews on technicalities, it's all stacking up against the owner. You don't help me at all Homeaway. It's all about you and no one is protecting me. Do not advertise with the Homeaway family they don't care about you they only care about your money.

The changes and new service fees at homeaway have caused my inquires to drop to zero. For the past 10 years we booked 90-100% during peak summer June/July/Aug. We will be lucky to hit 60% this summer. Have you ever called HomeAway and not got at recording that says "due to hi call volumes..." HomeAway promised better customer service AND more rentals with the new service fees charged to travelers. Those promises have not been delivered. They spend too much time and energy rationalizing their new fees, zero time delivering the promised benifits. No way to get satisfaction or talk to anyone. I hate HomeAway, VRBO and VacationRentals.com there has got to be a better service for homeowners than these jokers.

An update: After posting this review I was sent a phone number to speak with a customer service rep without the 15 minute hold time ( I resent having to show my tail to get the service that we should be automatically afforded). We entered into a circular argument with the rep stating how rentals were up system wide with better matching of travelers to owners vs. the my reality of fewer inquiries and zero bookings. Basically they blamed the owner for the problem... I should adjust my rates (down) as they may be too high (we have not changed them in 2 years) AND I need to buy a silver or gold upgrade for $500 to boost my rankings. So basically, it is not their new fees and algorithms, it is my pricing and unwillingness to spend more money with them to get better results. Blame the customer. If there is anything illegal about what they are doing, I would be happy to sign on to a class action.

End of summer update: Where historically, most of my inquires from travelers were straight up rentals at the price quoted, now most of my inquires begin with... "how much will you take for it" or "Ill give you X price". Everything is a negotiation. I attribute this to HomeAways partnership with Expedia. HomeAway advertised better, targeted inquires in return for their "service fee". While we are getting inquires, the quality of the inquires is crap. The conversion rate from inquires to rentals is abysmal. Everyone expects a discount.

Last month a friend and I stayed at an apartment recommended by your company at 22 Rue Duvivier in Paris near Rue Cler.
When my friend made the booking at no stage was she informed that the a/ment was on the 4th floor with NO lift and a small spiral staircase.
As I am 67 years of age and my friend is 74 this was a major problem!
The apartment itself was acceptable but the oven didn't work and there was no microwave, so if you wished to stay in and heat something for dinner that was out of the question.
On a rating system I would score it 8 out 10.
Now we come to the actual building where the apartment was situated, it was a disgrace and should NEVER be placed for tourist's to stay in.
At the front door there is a security code to gain you entry, that would be okay if there was a light at the street, so you could see what code you were entering.
Luckily my friend had brought her small hand torch, so you enter the hallway complete darkness(NO lights what so ever) you get to the next security door which does have the digits lit up.
Then we had to walk up 4 flights of a spiral staircase with our only light a small hand torch and after we reach our door we needed the torch to see where the door key would fit!
If it was so serious it would have been laughable and your company recommends tourists to stay at this address, I suggest you think about that situation very quickly!
To make the situation worse we had to pay for all this trauma, I know it spoilt my stay in Paris and I will NOT be recommending your company or this address to anyone I know that is travelling to Paris!
Thanking You
Jenny Maroney

This is my second time booking with them. The first time around everything went smoothly thankfully. However, the second time, I needed to cancel my reservations which I did with enough advanced notice to qualify for a full refund. The property owner refused to refund the full amount despite it being stipulated that they must do so on their own rental agreement. I contacted HomeAway several times to help me mediate the situation, and their response was that it was not their responsibility to solve this type of issues and that I needed to contact the owner directly. I did, in fact, contact the property owner and their solution was to hang up the phone on me at least 3 times and to promise to call back; which by the way never happened. I contacted HomeAway yet again to explain the owner's inappropriate behavior and, once again, they said it was not their issue to deal with. Agreements exist for a reason and professional and ethical business should be forced to observe them even if they ultimately must provide refunds from their own gains. Let's stop businesses that do no abide by these rules from succeeding in our country. DON'T BOOK WITH HOMEAWAY!

Homeaway, a very profitable company, just started a campaign to harass home owners to increase rental costs by 9% in a bid to increase their income 500%, and since they have no real expense, their profitability an even greater percent. They will charge fees to renters who will not be able to pay more for their vacation so the owners will have to take less. It will cost owners like me around $1500 more per year. They are enforcing the change by disrupting my current communication with renters who try to contact me. Apparently they have been telling renters to pay them the advertised rent before they pass along the renters name to me. They don't even know if the place is available or not. Damage, which happens from time to time, will be impossible to collect from Homeaway because you will be dealing with an insurance company. No one makes a claim for $100-150 because it will never be paid. I will have no idea who is renting my house anymore. If my house is rented I take it off the market but then when someone backs out I am sure Homeaway will give them their money back because they see owners like a hotel. Backing out represents 100% vacancy rate to a home owner. You cannot complain because they have no customer service. It is time for a new start-up to enter the market.

Potential renter here... HomeAway and/or the owners intentionally not updating the calendar. Potential renters believe they are renting an available property when, in reality, the property is unavailable. HomeAway gains the advantage of knowing exactly what you want, what you can afford and has you as a captive audience for 24 hours after you make a reservation... It is deceptive and invasive. I do not appreciate giving out my contact and credit card information for no reason. If the proper is not available, just tell me and I will move on to something else. Having to wait 24 hours (which turned into 48 hours on one occasion) merely puts me in a more urgent situation to find an acceptable property. Also, some random now apparently has my credit card info, all contact info and the knowledge that there is at least $3K (amount of rental and deposit) available credit... Not happy. Here is a rendition of what happened:...
I tried to rent several properties on the HomeAway website. I made three attempts total before giving up. Each time the property's calendar showed the property as available. I inputted all my contact and credit card information and received a message stating the property's owner would contact me within 24 hours. When the properly owner contacted me (sometimes more than 2 hrs later), I was told the dates were not available after all. The property owner then tried to offer me other dates. I don' know who is at fault here, but it is unacceptable. Company should not ask for credit card info unless the property is actually available.

Everyone reading this knows about the service fee that's now being imposed I guess that ranges from anywhere from 6 to 10 percent of their quote. I suggest to all owners of all properties when posting an inquiry copy and paste written text below. Let everyone know they're being charged a service fee and let them know there are other options. We need to start putting pressure on these big companies so they get real. If we all stick together we can make change happen.

The property you are interested is available or not available whatever the case maybe. Then post this.

The service fee is what this greedy homeaway vrbo Expedia started charging You and I to use this website which used to be free for guest. I'm paying way more too! In return they give you a phony booking guarantee. Then they charge me your credit card fee. They increased their bottom line 1000% overnight.

Hopefully people will start shopping on the free sites soon and maybe they will rethink their business decision. I'm informing all my guest and inquiries so everyone knows they are being preyed upon. Most people don't notice and when they do notice they think that I charge this fee. Which again I do not.
Joe

Hi Guys
I didnt know until today that Homeaway.com is NOT a trusted site, they will not back you if any problem occurs, and they will let you on top of the water and will not care for you,
I was have a major issue with my vacation rental house, and the owner refuse to refund any money, and after 4 weeks and sending proofs Homeaway said sorry we cant help you, call the owner to curt.
Would you buy from Amazon.com if you know that your purchase is not guaranteed if you are not satisfied? Same here, shame on you homeaway for not protecting their customers.

We booked a cabin for the weekend on VRBO.com. After payment accepted, received confirmation from cabin resort. In the confirmation it notified us they were having construction on their property all weekend. On the VRBO website, the only contact number is for their parent company HomeAway. I called and was assured the payment was pending, would cancel out, and we could cancel without any repercussions. I also called the resort to notify them we would not be staying. They said there would be no charge.
We then booked a second cabin for our weekend. We were charged for the cabin, insurance, and a 25 dollar booking fee.
After our weekend trip, we checked our credit card. The charge for the first cabin had gone through and was not refunded. I called Home Away again. They assured me the charge was pending, and would come off. I told them the charge had gone through. They referred me to the cabin resort, saying they had already sent payment to the cabin resort and could not refund my money.
I called a total of 6 times, every time they would tell me they couldn't find my reservation, then they found it, but now they can't see the credit card charge, and finally refer to the resort.
I spoke with the resort. They said they never received payment and had not received any emails or phone calls from HomeAway (as reported by HomeAway).
After I looked at my credit card statement again, I noticed the charge wasn't from VRBO or HomeAway. The charge was made by VacayStay Connections. I called the corporate office of VacayStay and finally spoke with someone that could easily see my reservation. They are refunding our money, but charge a $25 dollar fee for refunding. This process took 2 weeks of phone calls and hassle. Will never use HomeStay or any of its companies again. Hoping we get our refund this time.

Founders Carl Shepherd and Brian Sharples of Austin must be unnerved with what has happened to their dream. Small business owners should ask them - can they do anything to help homeowners who signed on with these two and took a chance? I have used HA for over six years and praised the company's practices and business model. One of my listings expired on April Fool's Day, (but I was no longer a fool. I ended it.) And when my only other listing ends, I will cancel it as well. I have a small business and have been devastated. I may have to sell my duplex cottage and lose my income. I will join into the Class Action Lawsuit being filed in CA and TX and urge others to check into it as well. There are sites under "Complaints against Homeaway" on-line which show owners' anger and disappointment over contract violations, poor service, and inept customer relations - something that never happened before. Very sad indeed.

I've now added a PS to this post -- Is there another company out there who is attempting to fill the void left by VRBO? It'll be a great business for someone smart and savvy and NOT GREEDY like Expedia. Also, which company are you using for credit card payment services if you go off H/A? If I understand it correctly, Yapstone, out of northern CA, is currently the holding company for vacation rental payments, the gateway credit card company HA/VRBO uses for credit card payments. They are a separate entity from VRBO.
And which sites are you using for advertising if you have left or plan to leave HA? I'm researching like crazy and will share what I find. You show me yours and I'll show you mine!
How about some of you owners provide us all with "... a little help from our friends?" (RIngo Starr ;)

Just spent a week in Tuscany on a HomeAway vacation. It was PERFECT, as were our previous vacations booked on this site. After reading all these negative Nancy reviews I had to put in my two cents worth here.
Simply put, this is all on you renters. You have the INTERNET. Awesome tool this thing. Use it and do your research. When you find a listing that interests you, for cripes sake read ALL the reviews. Judiciously. Bad reviews? Don't book. No reviews? Don't book! Does everyone rave about the landlord being helpful and available? Good sign. All five stars? Good sign. I've had nothing but wonderful experiences with HomeAway, but, like AirBnB, it isn't idiot proof, and of course nothing is perfect. Use your head and it can open the doors to some amazing adventures. I LOVED my experience, and my host. He already had 34 all five star reviews. I just gave him one more!

WARNING! If you do not update your calendar monthly, they HIDE" your listing from potential renters. I paid $100 extra for a "special offer" to my renters for 5 weeks, but because I didn't also update my calendar, half of what I paid is wasted because no renters can find my "HIDDEN" listing! I asked for cancel of special offer & refund of the remaining 2.5 weeks it's to run, and was told no they don't refund.

So I updated my calendar tonight and now my listing shows up... as a SPECIAL OFFER at the bottom of all other listings. I try to take good care of my customers and expect them to do the same, but apparently they are after every almighty dollar they can scam out of travelers and homeowners.

I will look for another site to use for my listing. It's already on TRIPADVISOR and AirBNB, so just need to find a good replacement for VRBO / Homeaway!

We rented through HomeAway in Europe from a UK owner. We paid the rental and the 200BP security deposit. Now we can't get the deposit back. The homeowner says that HomeAway has the money. HomeAway US says HomeAway UK has the money, but no refund has been authorized. The home owner says she authorized repayment. Bottom line, someone was paid, but no one has my money for a refund.

And forget calling Customer Service; seldom have I talked with a group that cared little and were willing to do less, like send an email to the owner or the UK division. Based on accents, I would guess the call center is in India, but 3 calls there made clear that it wasn't their problem, it was MY PROBLEM, so they wouldn't be doing anything.

I have recently returned from a 3-month trip using HomeAway rentals exclusively. I travel several months out of every year. I will no longer use HomeAway, VRBO, or even Expedia, their corporate owner, of whom I also used to be a regular customer. That 200BP "theft" will cost them a lot more on my lost business alone.

Hasta luego, HomeAway, soon to be Home Alone, as I will certainly tell everyone I know not to use or trust them.

Someone has to pay the $3.9 billion Expedia purchase of VRBO/Homeaway and apparently it's the customer with the 4 to 9 percent "service fee" BS. Expedia's CEO says his survey of 2100 people supports online bookings, but did he ask them if they would pay 9 percent to do it in addition to the credit card fee. The people we talk to about it are mad as h--- about it and want to be able to talk to someone about their booking and call some one if things change. The property owners want to know who is coming and how many. People book 2 guests and show up with 10. People book small pets and show up with two Great Danes and a Pit-bull. Wake-up Expedia! This will only drive people to your competitor.

I have used Homeaway/VRBO many times without any problems. I really appreciated the service they offer. So back in November 2015, I booked a 4-bedroom home in downtown Rapid City for the end of July 2016. In plenty of time to get the house I wanted in the neighborhood I wanted. The owner of the house recently contacted me, 5 months later to tell me that she could no longer rent the house to me because an elderly person with Alzheimer's already lived there!?! What the heck? Unfortunately, the only other 4-bedroom house that I liked was already rented for my dates. So I ended up booking a 3-bedroom 15 miles West of downtown Rapid City through Flipkey whom I shall be using from now on. And it took a while for Homeaway to get back to me regarding my complaint, probably because they have so many others... I'll probably never use them again.