HomeAwayReviews 1,751

As an advertiser, having used HomeAway one year, and Abritel, their French name, this year, they have been totally useless and produced just two lets in the two years, which barely met the cost of the subscription. All they do is send you weekly demands for MORE money for special deals. We were stupid enough to respond to one the first year but it produced absolutely no enquiries either though it cost us £50 extra. Holiday Lettings have always produced a regular stream of bookings for us so I will NEVER again use HomeAway or any of its subsidiaries. They have a promise of refunding your money if you receive less than half a dozen or so enquiries, but I notice in both years we had a whole load of 'spoof' enquiries from people wanting dates already booked and marked on their calendar (from our other letting agency), as well as two or three fraudulent enquiries from people wanting us to send them money. We reported these frauds but HomeAway didn't sound interested and just said there was nothing they could do to stop them, and yet we never get them from Holiday Lettings. Twice bitten, we will never waste our money again.

First I have to say ask for Samantha when you call because the world class treatment. Her ability to make you feel welcome is first class. My rental, I rented a beautiful room with an amazing ocean view and I have to say because the feeling when I saw the Sun rise was so breath taking. This was my 5th rental from Samantha and it's been nothing short of an amazing experience, ambiance was impeccable and Samantha and her staff was extremely attentive to my needs and responsive when you need room service. I will be back over and over and will only rent from Samantha. I also learned that she owns the beauty salon. This is where you will find her. I highly recommend you call the beauty salon and ask for.

Thought I had found an ideal place for holiday with extended family - Homeaway reference *******. It did not have any reviews but I was keen.

They also have another listed as ref ******* - almost the same (thought they might be next door) - this had several reviews. It was slightly cheaper.

Looked at the first location tonight and it had a new review - checked and it was exactly the same (word for word) as a review for the second place from 2013.

Also put off by the homes being advertised as belonging to Mr McGrath (first one) or Sir McGrath (second one). When I made an enquiry about the first I received a reply from Planet Costa Dorada. They did not answer the query - just stipulated that bookings had to be to and from a Saturday,

Had shortlisted other properties on Homeaway but this has put me off them all!

Homeaway do not seem to have any resource to answer any concerns - Please sort this out!

I confirm what I read on this site. HomeAway doesn't accept negative comment.
We rent an apartment in NY Astoria (Ultra Modern Apartment).
This apartment was for 2 people and not for 4 people.
The second bed was a totally uncomfortable inflatable bed.
The floor creaked, there were no curtains on the windows, we could hear all the noises from upstairs and Home Away refuses to publish this comment... even if certain points were positive.
Be very careful when your read comment on Home Away.

We had a horrible experience with HomeAway. They also don't accept negative reviews of the properties. I stayed in the Salzburg castle with my sisters at the end of June. The owner Christine very rudely told us we could not stay there as she double booked it, even though I confirmed with her an hour before. There were also 84 steps after reaching the top of the funicular which was not mentioned in the property description. And ALSO, the owner Christine has a room in the apartment and she comes and goes as she pleases.

Homeaway is awesome. You deal with the home owner and homeaway you just pay to put the vacation home on. The people are very helpful I never had to wait to talk to someone at homeaway plus you talk to a real person! So the negative rewiews would have to be lack of communication. With the people who are trying to rent. Ask questions most homes you pay the cleaning lady and you bring your own lines. I think it's stupid to bring your own linens but you do at some homes. So bottom line homeaway is awesome

VRBO and Homeaway are owned by the same company and share the same customer service telephone system. I am a homeowner with a rental property and it is from this perspective that I write this review.

First of all, if you need to contact customer service for anything, plan on a long, long wait on the telephone. It is like entering a black hole. You might need to call because your site needs renewal, or to problem solve their search engine (which does not use Key Words, despite its claim) or a variety of other unexpected reasons. When you do reach someone they are very nice and can be helpful, but should you need higher level support, you need to hope they call you back (usually they don't call back unless you send multiple e-mails, and even then it is questionable. If if they do, hope you are available, because the only way back to them is through the endless waiting on the phone line. They do not provide any direct way to reach the person who called you. They say, "feel free to call us back if your issue is not resolved. They really should be advertising that they guarantee a long wait for customer service no matter when you call, 24 hours per day.

I actually switched to VRBO from Homeaway due to their terrible customer service (for two weels before my listing was scheduled to expire I had sent e-mails asking for assistance (they promise 24 hour turnaround - HA!. It was not until after the listing expired that I received a call. Only after I switched to VRBO did I realize that they used the same support phone line.

The site that the owner needs to input information is confusing as well, It is very easy to think that you listed three bedrooms and two baths and later discover that it only recorded 2 bedrooms and two bath, making your listing unfindable by someone who is looking for a 3 bedroom rental

So seller beware if you plan to use VRBO or Homeaway.

The website claims that there are 'no hidden fees' but when I booked a flat in Paris the owner emailed me and informed me that there would be an additional 130 euros for linens and cleaning. At this new price I decided I would rather stay in a hotel so emailed the owner to cancel the reservation because there is no way to cancel on the website. I have had back and forth emails with the owner to get him to cancel the reservation and so far have had no luck. He took my deposit without informing me of any 'no cancellation' policy and is telling me he is going to take the entire amount off my credit card. I've had to dispute the charge with my credit card company so still waiting to see what happens with that.
In all, either stay away or be very methodical when booking. HomeAway takes all the control away from the traveler and puts it in the hands of the owner

Worst experience ever. Stay away and stay at a 5 star hotel. Terrible customer service and no responses except form responses. Owners are just as bad. They tell you one thing and do another. Place I rented was filthy and misrepresented online. One of the worst experiences of my life and on top of that - allergic reaction from intense fragrance. I did a dispute on my credit card with photos and in-depth documentation and then received "payment reversed" email from the site. I called credit card to confirm credit. Will keep watching to make sure. Stay away from this site.

Beware of the Carefree insurance offered on this site. It is a complete RIPOFF. After I was confirmed into a condo for a month this fall, I got a message from Home Away/VRBO saying they had cancelled all bookings by that lessor. When I asked how to get my insurance refund, this is what I got---

"Thank you for contacting the Trust and Security department of VRBO®, HomeAway®, and VacationRentals.

"In this situation the only advice that we can give when it comes to trying to recoup your funds that were lost are to either continue reaching out the owner and get it from him or if you are unable to do that then contact your credit card directly and dispute this specific transaction.
"In regards to the insurance that you purchased it would not come into play currently becuase this owner is under investigation with us and a decision has not been made on the property owner and the insurance only coveres a fraud that is declared by us.
"Also even if it did cover it, one of the steps in using it is to go back to your credit card company and have them try to get it back first because they have a lot more clout when it comes to their ability to get funds that were lost.
I hope this adds some clarity to this difficult situation."

So, the coverage provided by your credit card company is better than anything HomeAway/VRBO offers. And a fraud is only a fraud if HomeAway VRBO says it's a fraud. And they only pay off if they feel like it.

I will never trust these guys again.

My friends and I are currently being denied access into a home we rented for the weekend because according to the "seller" she never received the payment. I told her I can email a copy of the invoice my friend and I had, to prove the payment. We also told her we each had a pay pal receipt number. Pam Shier claimed she never received the email, which is hilarious considering there weren't any discrepancies when we were paying! She also didnt allow me to speak. She went off saying she doesn't have any emails from me and that I am trying to scam her. What? My friend and I contacted PayPal who filled a dispute against this fraudulent owner. The next day he received an email saying the owner is issuing a refund. I'm still waiting on my case

I have had a single bedroom listed on VRBO and HomeAway since May 2011. The sites have been a god send for us. We have been able to keep our home due to the revenue. Our guests have been delightful and many are now lifelong friends. I have used the basic plus featured property option and I have seen more and more rentals over time. I tried Craigs lists and got nothing but weirdos and scammers. I have had questions and sometimes the customer service number has been difficult to find but once I spoke to customer service they have always been helpful.

I was scammed and homewaway would not help at all. They said the owners email account that went from their site to them was hacked and so I was communicating with someone other than owner. Home away knew it was hacked and said they sent a mass email out which I never received. They said it wasn't their problem even though the contract I received had all there logos and was the same one they use would not help us get our money back. DONT USE HOMEAWAY!

I rented a vacation rental in Ogunquit, Maine. The landlords lied and intentionally mislead us. It began with them shutting the water off for the last three days of our 30-day lease. The landlords then lied to us about their extremely inefficient heating in their other rental, which we then moved into for three months during the winter. There is a long list of what they did to us and then did not return our deposit. I will never deal with homeway.com ever, again. Do not trust their bogus, embellished reviews.