HomeAwayReviews 1,751

HomeAway, owned by Expedia, is exploiting both homeowners and vacationers by using its market dominance to force costly and unwelcome business practices on both parties. We are homeowners providing vacations at two private properties in Europe and, since HomeAway was bought by Expedia, our vacationers have suffered badly from maladministration by HomeAway, in particular having extra wrong amounts deducted from their bank accounts and at the wrong times, contrary to the agreements into which they entered. It takes HomeAway 7 days to rectify mistakes some of which amount to more than 4500 dollars! This is seriously embarrassing for us as we aim for all our guests to have a great vacation and personally greet them and do everything we can to help them with any personal problems that arise - for example finding a lost wedding ring and returning it to guests from Canada. We have been told by 'customer services' that occasionally Home Away has to re-set its website, resulting in our specified settings being 'lost' and it is our responsibility to keep checking that everything is correct! We also look forward to the day when a decent competitor sets up. In the meantime make sure you never use Expedia for airline or hotel bookings.

I booked a property through this company on August 30,2017 for travel in March and April 2018. I needed a ground floor unit, that was affordable during prime time in Florida so I booked early. The owner confirmed that the dates I requested were available. He sent me a confirmation and accepted my deposit of $1207. 00. In January, I contacted the owner via e-mail to ask a question about the unit. I was then informed that the unit I had booked was no longer available on those dates. The owner cancelled my reservation and I am awaiting a refund. He would not agree to speak with me by phone.

I called HomeAway to advise them of this cancellation and solicit their assistance in this matter. The only thing they would do is to put a mark against his property. There is no way for me to write a review on this property/owner as I did not actually get to stay there. Therefore, I cannot warn other travelers about my experience. The Property owner's name is Gabriel and his HomeAway property number is *******. Travelers beware before booking with this property owner.

I expected that by booking through HomeAway and paying a booking fee, I was getting a level of security that a cancellation like this wouldn't happen. Not only DID it happen but HomeAway refused to help me out in any way. BEYOND DISAPPOINTED AND VERY FRUSTRATED.

Property id #******* We stayed at Cannelle Canard's beautiful villa recently to celebrate our friend Lynsey's 40th birthday. The villa is set in it's own grounds above the town of Deshaies (home of the British TV series 'Death in Paradise' It is quiet and secluded with spectacular views over the bay. It's spacious rooms and expansive outside area facilitate a more than relaxed holiday. The little town (10 minutes walk away) has numerous restaurants and bars some of which offer delicious food"

I BOOKED A HOUSE FOR MY FAMILY CHRISTMAS/NEW YEARS VACATION AND I GOT JUST SO DISAPPOINTED. WE BOOKED THE HOUSE ONE MONTH BEFORE OF THE VACATION DATE WHICH WAS DEC, 26 AND 3 DAYS BEFORE THE COMPANY SENT ME AN EMAIL AT NIGHT SAYING THAT MY RESERVATION WAS CANCELLED. WE WERE COMING FROM ANOTHER STATE, WE WERE 10 PEOPLE AND THE TICKETS WAS ALREADY BOUGHT. THEY GAVE ME NO REASON ON THE EMAIL AND JUST SAID THAT I WOULD RECEIVE THE REFUND FOR THE WHOLE AMOUNT IN 3 BUSINESS DAYS. BECAUSE OF THAT I HAD TO RENT ANOTHER LOCATION (OF LAST MINUTE) PAYING ALMOST ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS MORE FOR A HOUSE A LOT OF INFERIOR.
I DO NOT RECOMMEND THE SERVICE AT ALL. THEY HAVE NO COMMITMENT TO THEIR CLIENTS.

Homeaway and VRBO are putting homeoners lives in serious danger by not doing their due diligence to vet the travelor adequately. There are too many chargebacks from criminals entering the homes fraudulently and sleeping under our roofs.
You are allowing criminals to enter our homes without any safety checks. At the very least you should varify payment credentials to know that the payee is who the say they are. Your site is insecure with a halfbraked processing company called Yapstone. They allow any transaction to occur and turn around and charge the host fees for their own blunder in processing. Totally unacceptable, and really really dangerous for the lives of the host's

We just left a terrible property and both Homeaway and the property overran are refusing to let us leave a review. The property had code/security violations and the owner misrepresented twice the size of the beds (said they were queens when they were singles). 122 elgin way, bushkill falls in saw creek estates, pa. Property really worn down, had outlets missing electrical cover plates, large holes in wall where rodents could come in, was dark, dirty and the bed covers were so worn, stained, frayed and seemingly dirty that we didn't use them for fear of health concerns.

We had a horrendous experience. When we reached the property, we found it to be very different from the listing that we paid for. When we complained, the HOST Mr Owen turned up with a goon. The goon claimed to be the owner of the property and Mr Owen his employee.

Thereafter the Goon behaved in an extreme intimidating manner.

He said (1) Yes it is a different property.

(2) The Original Property that was booked was a mistake by Owen. (3) This was an alternative property. (4) We must walk away immediately. (5) If we stayed there he would call Police and complain of TRESPASS against us to the Police. Or we accept the apartment offered.

The apartment offered was grossly uncomfortable. Much smaller than what we had booked. It had 1.5 i. E. One and Half Bathroom instead of Two Bathrooms. The Bathroom doors were non functional. The latches were broken. The Bedrooms were very small. The Living room was very small. The balcony was extremely small.

This apartment was extremely uncomfortable.

We were left in a lurch. To leave the apartment and scout city for an alternate accommodation was not an easy option. The money already paid also became insecure. We were four persons. I was traveling with my wife and two daughters and lot of luggage.

To hunt around for a new accommodation at this stage was a difficult option.

Once an accommodation provider accepts money, he is under contract to make the SAID PROPERTY available for the said period. Such Criminal Like behavior spoiled my holiday.

The property owner was a nightmare. A category five hurricane was heading to Florida, but he wouldnt respond to messages through Homeaway. I tried to call, and the call went straight to voicemail which was full. When I finally did reach him, he tried to rip us off by claiming that October was PEAK SEASON and would need $74 more a night to transfer our rental week. Hilarious. He even had the nerve to say that his housekeepers reported that someone had obviously stayed at the condo during our week. I had to dispute the charges with my credit card to get my money back. He caused me a lot of aggravation. Homeaway wouldnt even post my review since it wasnt flattering. Save yourself the hassle and stay away from this company.

Allows fake accounts on rental site and then makes the customer suffer the financial burden, up to an including holding money for so long that vacations had to be cancelled. After 4 weeks, I am still waiting for over $1,900.00 refund.

I am really disappointed with this company. My husband and I booked a 2 night stay in Niagara Falls NY Buffalo back on June 22,2017 for a date of service Dec 9th-11th 2017. The owner cancelled our reservation Dec 5th and kept sending me texts that he would refund us although on home aways website, it showed he initiated the refund when in fact he never did and we had proof of his text messages giving us excuses of why he hadnt refunded us our $398 yet. Home Away refused to help us in any way and I spent countless hours on the phone with them. Each time I called, they told me to take it up with the owner. People are frauding on sites like Home Away so I advise to book hotels or condos through more reputable sites. Crazy too that they have a lengthy process to file a complaint against the owner which can take days and in the meantime this guy is probably frauding so many others. Its awful and unjust.

We were looking to rent a chalet in Crans Montana, Switzerland and decided to use HomeAway: long story short, we will never again use them. We found a property available on our dates and then contacted the owner only to be told by the owner have two days of radio silence that is property was actually not available on those dates. Ok I guess that happens but yet frustrating. We found another property available on our dates, contacted the owner and reached an agreement/transferred the money&deposit by the end of September. On December 16th - less than 60 days before the start of the rental - the owner contacted us to say they had sold the property and that they could not honor the rental - of course be had bought flight tickets (family of 5), ski lessons and rented a car. I expressed my frustration at their decision to notify us so late - when clearly they had been thinking about selling this property for a while - only to be told by the owner that this was not a done deal yet by then they had cancelled our reservation, returned our money but their property to this day is still listed and available on the dates we were looking at/at booked it. Clearly the owner either did not sell but used that as an excuse to cancel our rental. While I notified HomeAway the owner told us they had sold hence should not list the property they still have it on their website and I asked to post a review on the owner but have not be able to do so to date. Needless to say hotel or Chalet availability is now zero for the February holidays or prices are crazy so we have been truly scammed.

Do NOT book with HomeAway or VRBO! If you are a renter, you have no rights on the site and you cannot trust their reviews. An owner can cancel at any time, including right before the holidays, and they face no consequences. They claim that they will set you up with rebooking, but that's not really true. Their rebooking process involves a department you can never call. You basically leave your information and are told, "they will call you back in several days." I was told this with less than a week before check in during the busy holiday season in South Florida. If you miss their call, you cannot call them back. You have to just pray they call you back again. They will offer you a few properties around the same price you were promised, but nothing much more.

In other words, if you buy airline tickets or just really want to take your vacation, you cannot trust HomeAway or VRBO. Don't book through them.

I have spent more than 100 hours between my credit card company and HomeAway for an issue with a reservation (October 2017, Boston, MA).

To summarize:
- Booked a 3 night reservation
- Owner changed reservation to 2 nights, a day before I was to fly to Boston. This prompted me to find emergency lodging
- Neither Owner nor HomeAway refunded my 3rd night
HomeAway could not even find documentation of the reservation change, and their response to my concern was "to take it up with the owner"
- Any other company (e.g. Airbnb) would have immediately dealt with and refunded the money, and PENALIZED the host.
- I am still working on getting a refund. Online customer service provided very fragmented information, and a DEAD link for filing a claim.
- Neither owner nor HomeAway is willing to take responsibility for their mistake

I have been trying for three weeks to resolve an issue with my second payment on a rental property. It keeps coming up with the amount of my first payment. I have spent too much time on the phone, emailed customer service, and am currently on the phone with them again. So while I am on hold, I am writing this review. The renter is nice and she emails me right back, but this is in Home Away's court and it is a mess. I will tell the owner that I will not rent through them again!