HomeAwayReviews 1,751

The booking process was easy and went without a hitch. However, when it came to refunding my security deposit, it took 5 weeks and innumerable emails back and forth between me, Homeaway and the "owner/manager". The onsite manager was present when we left and there were no problems. I don't know if it was Homeaway's fault but they seemed ineffectual in resolving it. Their responses consisted of "we have contacted the owner and told him to refund the money". The owner insisted that he had approved the refund. Is there a systemic problem with Homeaway's process? If they hold all security deposits for over 5 weeks, that's a nice little interest earner for them!

I have rented on Homeaway as a tenant and have been VERY happy with the rental experience. Now I have just started listing a furnished apartment on Homeaway and have only just taken a booking from my first tenant. I hope I can still keep my rating 5 stars down the road both as tenant and landlord. I will certainly update my review if that changes because transparency is very important with the boom of this new temporary/furnished rental trend. Be warned, scammers will infiltrate!
I am considering as a landlord using my own rental application to learn more about the tenant when I use Homeaway -- and I definitely do use a lease. I also am going to learn more about the landlords moving forward when I rent as a tenant -- ask lots of questions. I will look up on the local tax rolls to be sure that this person truly owns the property. With the new Airbnb trend I will need to be sure it is not an illegal sublease (which is becoming very commonplace). So even though -- so far -- I have had great experiences with Homeaway, I can see there is need moving forward to be a lot more cautious. The key is to do your own research, get your own verification from the other person -- get last names, ask for their website, ask if they have a Facebook and linkedin, ask for a driver's license picture (for goodness sake bouncers at a bar ask for that, certainly you don't need to be shy about that). And I mean both tenants and landlords should do this! Don't be shy! I don't want some bad actors to ruin my experience in renting vacation/temporary homes -- this is a much needed service for me that I enjoy and appreciate. Just be smart!

I booked a reservation based on their cancellation policy but when attempting to cancel because of a change of plans the cancellation policy was not honored and a refund not issued. Homeaway did nothing despite their 100% refund policy but refer me to the owner.

VBRO/Home Away does not take a position nor do they assist in any way SHOULD any portion or element of your trip go wrong. They will allow your to file a complaints and send it to the owner but will not allow you to see the owners response. Clearly tainted and biased with no ethical rules for anyone to follow. Seems like the perfect business plan, making money, without the risk, taking a non-position makes them essentially a middle man, where eventually someone will get a raw deal, while they disclaim or disavow. You would be better off doing enough research to find your own situation, you use them, they will be of no assistance, they are nice, but it is easy to be nice when you have no vested interest in the outcome, no dog in the game. There complaint procedures lean toward the owner granting them complete autonomy in the resolution. Complete waste of time and money to use them as a third party source for vacation rentals. Never again!

The following was advertised on Homeaway site by the property owner

"Oceanfront--Beach Locker-- $Nov 7 & on only $395/week$!-$$ Dec only $675/month"

The failed to meet their advertised rate, and then when insisting on the price wrote back the property was rented to a "Return" customer.

Failed to respond timely, the phone number has voice mail that is always fully, and the insisted you pay by personal, Check and not paypal as indicated on the advertised page (claiming in email that reasons being the charges are to much), or could be that Papal safeguards against bad faith acts as this. Seem peculiar you cannot pay through Homeaway. Then surprisingly the reviews of past customers have, (as she explains) mistakenly been taken down by Homeaway. Beware of this private owner at " Ocean Creek" Myrtle Beach on the site

I am in a staged house in fl, it's set up to sell not rent. It has no sheets on 2 of the beds, the master bed has sheets that do not fit and feel and smell dirty and the mattress is Grosse
The air didn't work when we arrived so had to stay in hotel 1st night, Internet wouldn't work with my wireless laptop, I had to call the owners internet company to try and fix, I ened up going to Walmart to buy a Ethernet line to hard wire it so I could get some of my work done, the owner sent out the internet people and he said the owner paid for the cheapest service offered and it didn't include wireless internet.
Then I saw cockroach s in the living room and had to sweep one outside. Than there were huge ants in the bathroom when I got up in the middle of the night. The house feels dirty...
Also someone came in the house while we were gone because there was a vacuum in the pantry, now was gone. I am out of here, I don't feel safe and it feel really dirty... I tried to find a number to reach homeway. No luck I should have looked up the reviews first
The old saying is true if it sounds to good to be true, it is... trying to get back my 1400. 00
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY

Update from this slim ball owner. I received an email from the insurance company that I booked my deposit through on this property, stating that the owner tried to file a claim against me for $4800. 00 for a new air condition unit. What a joke! We only stayed there 1 night and the air was already broke, um that's why we couldn't stay there the first night and went to a hotel. I told the insurance company to deny the claim, I sent them all the emails and texts and yes they denied the claim.
The owner of this property is a millionaire, I wonder if this is how he got there. What a lowlife scumbag.
AS OF 1/26/16 This scumbag is still trying to fight my chargeback but I will win... I have God on my side...

I have had a very bad experience with HomeAway, and a rental property that I booked through them.

This is the property (in East Harlem, NYC)

www.homeaway.com/vacation-rental/p*******vb

Upon my arrival, the landlored demanded cash payment, and charged me an added fee (not previously discussed) for using my credit card. She also has not yet returned my security deposit, and has not responded to my inquiries about when she plans to return my deposit.

When I inquired through HomeAway, they were of absolutely no help. Through my interactions with HomeAway, I discovered that:

- HomeAway does not vet the properties listed on their website. It is completely possible to arrive to a place that is double-booked, non-existent, or wholly different than the one in the pictures.

- HomeAway will not get involved in disputes between you and the owner

- HomeAway will not provide you with any information on the owner, even after you've made a payment. In all likelihood, they do not keep any information on the property owner.

- HomeAway only publishes the positive reviews for properties. All the negative reviews are censored and never appear online.

Horrible experience with one of the listings and no real support for customers or protection. You are better off just renting through Craigslist. FYI, NEVER rent from Castle-like & central from Antigua, Guatemala or any listings by Phillipa Myers because she's a horrible person with no scruples. House was as listed, but there were workers coming in and out of it all day using power tools and they even installed an iron railing while we were there! There was not a moment of peace! And to finish our horrible stay, she "kept" the deposit saying we had used too much electricity during our stay despite the fact that her workers were the ones using the electricity all day long! When I told her I would submit a report to consumer protection in Guatemala, she laughed. HomeAway just said they "we're sorry".

I've rented through VRBO and Homeaway for at least a decade. However, my last two rentals were really disappointing as far as the condition of the property. So, I got a carefree rental guarantee policy for my August 2015 beach vacation. Upon arrival the maintenance of the property, along with other issues, was so bad I had to leave. So, imagine my surprise when I found out what I purchased wasn't anything like trip protection insurance. It is not even insurance. I wanted to speak to someone at Trust and Security about the refusal of my claim and found out they don't have a phone number and all contact is only through email. How convenient for them to be able to fob off claims, huh? When I complained that I had never encountered an insurance company where I couldn't speak to a claims adjuster, VRBO told me it isn't insurance. I don't know what it is but it is very misleading and certainly not any sort of carefree guarantee.
UPDATE ON Tamara Miller, Ocean Park, Washington, VRBO *******.
Despite purchasing the carefree rental guarantee and using my Capital One card, I am out three thousand dollars. Rental guarantee is useless and Capital One did not have my back, even though we were excellent customers of a decade. Now I will only use Airbnb, as one doesn't pay until one gets to the property. No more prepaying for a poor rental. And Capital One is dead to me. I'm going with Citicard double cash back and United Explorer for my credit purchases.

I am sending this email in confirmation of our discussion on the phone this evening indicating the owner of the home has yet to report any damages to the vacation rental. Per our conversation this evening, you have stated you have been in contact with Chickersky regarding my dispute with the issues I had with the rental not being up to par for a vacation home, however he did not report any damages by our rental party to HomeAway. I have reported multiple times, in addition to the issues I've had with the rental, the owner has not returned my security deposit. This was a special family gathering for my mother's 60th birthday and was tarnished by the inconveniences we had with the home and HomeAway. After the disappointment with the rental, I have returned home and discovered my security deposit, paid to HomeAway, is not being returned and HomeAway will do nothing to amend this problem. I feel the homeowner is retaliating against my dispute and review by holding my deposit. In addition, I wrote a fair review on the home on October 5th which has not been published. During our phone calls, I requested written updates for my files which you refused to provide me. You have left me with outlets to reconcile this matter, therefore I will dispute this with my credit card company in order to get my security deposit back.

Homeaway WORKS, if you know how to take your own precautions. ASK FOR MORE PHOTOS. BUILD UP AN OWNER-RENTER RELATIONSHIP and use YOUR JUDGMENT. ALWAYS phone the owner using the phone number provided on the ad and speak several times to the owners about the property and amenities and confirm the dates. Call for instructions on how to get to the property etc. You will easily be able to check and especially if you ask for a few more photos of the property, than provided on the site. Agencies may visit the property to take photos, but they do not control the properties, so do not expect an agency to be able to guarantee everything is perfect. You have to ask owner to take photos himself of an area not shown on the ad, for instance. Be SMART! The correct owner with standards will be happy to communicate additional important information as the owner too, needs to be feeling 'safe' about the renter. WORK TOGETHER on the choice of suitability.
The REAL crooks are the rash of British agencies which charge 20% -40% commission on the rental and put the price up without offering anything more than you would get from Homeaway as they have most of the time not seen the property themselves EVER and do not care about the damages to the properties or the problems of the owners. If they have a problem they just remove the property from their listings. The worst agencies are the ones pretending to be 'exclusive' which are based in a Tax Haven! They really are not to be trusted!
We have rented with Homeaway since 2008 and they provide the best selection of properties in the world for the least cost to owner and renter. The agencies charge both 4 times more and do not protect either the owner or the renter when there is a problem. They just call themselves 'exclusive', charge and drop the property if there is a problem caused by the renter! THAT is far more dishonest.
It is always better to rent DIRECTLY from the OWNER and it is essential to contact them before you book. Owner and renter must talk directly to each other and this is what Homeaway is for and why we definitely prefer them to the pompous agencies we have used to rent our property.

Never again!
We came on September 27,2015 to our apartment. When I opened the door, I was in shock! Two bedroom apartment for 4 adults: no windows, bad smell from bathroom,
No door in "master bedroom", in toilet no locker and the water flashing very bad. The back yard dirty with a lot of cats. This is not the apartment, it is a corridor between two walls with the door in and out.
We did not stay and went to the hotel. I called to the owner and ask him for reimbursement money. He told me, that its impossible, because the apartment meet all requirement. This is a shame! Larissa, USA.