VRBOReviews 2,001

I planned a trip using Vbro to rent a cottage for 3 days. When I arrived at the property, no one was there. The place was very rural and not in good repair but I was willing to stay until I went inside to find no sheets on the bed and nothing like the photos. I called Vbro and was put on hold. Since check in wasn't until 4pm and it was getting late and no phone call from host and no one around, I left and checked into a motel. I called Vbro again from the hotel and waited 45mins. On hold to explain what happened. Because I didn't take photos they refused to help me. They promised to get in touch with the host and found out that she had an issue with her dog (she doesn't live on the property) so therefore couldn't be there. She didn't bother to call my cell to let me know and to be honest, due to the area, I was scared. Vbro will not support you as a guest. They give you a run around and tell you to contact the host and wash their hands of it. I'm not the only one with this complaint. Please don't book thru Vbro!

We booked a trip to Maine on 7/4/2022 for 7/19 - 7/26. Reservation was immediately accepted with payment in full. Upon arrival, 7 hours of travel, the host told us he no longer books thru vrbo. We are out over $1300 & are now scrambling for a rental that will b over 1k over our budget. I have stage 4 terminal breast cancer & tomorrow is my birthday. Quite possibly my last. Thanks for absolutely ruining the only honeymoon we'll ever have.
DO NOT RENT THRU JOEL GOLD OR VRBO

I've been a Homeaway/VRBO user as a vacation home owner since 2007. Since Homeaway became VRBO, its customer service is almost impossible to reach. It can take literal hours (HOURS!) to get connected and all conversations are run through a digital translation service, which means much of the communication will be lost.

Once you do get connected, be prepared to be disappointed. I recently was trying to get help with a guest who wanted to extend her stay by an extra night. When I tried add the extra night to her reservation, there was no clear way to also charge her for that evening (it's not added on automatically).

Therefore, I needed to open up that night as well as the nightly minimum, so that she could book her extra evening herself.

When I opened up the night for her to accept, in just a few minutes, two parties tried to book before the existing guest could secure the additional night. I asked for help via customer service, was on hold for 2 hours, and was hung up on by the agent.

I ultimately had to decline these two people and was penalized by VRBO for declining.

I then spent another hour and a half with customer service trying to get the penalty removed but "they couldn't because of their rules."

I am shutting my account down. VRBO triple dips in fees, charging an annual fee for owners, and service charges to both owners and guests for each rental. The company does not support owners and you cannot get timely support. No thanks.

So, my trip I booked in April through Vrbo was canceled 4 days' before we were supposed to go. After numerous failed attempts to contact the host, the company evolve call's me saying they have to cancel my booking and my refund would be issued to me 3-5 business days. That $2200 was all we had to book our trip with, and we are leaving Friday. I am so angry and will never ever book through Vrbo again.

I made and paid in full for my reservation in April to rent the property for July 15th, (Property contact were Matteus Pecly) property ID *******. I drove 225 miles for my family reunion and 15 minutes before checking in the owner send me an email stating that my reservation is cancel, the host also send me an email stating it was cancel. 15 MINUTES BEFORE CHECK IN that was so terrible and disrespectful.
I had 3 small children with me and customer service with VRBO is terrible, I had to search around for somewhere nice to stay, it took me 6 hours to find somewhere. This owner need to be remove from Vrbo. Looking at the reviews it seems that this happen before and neither the owner or Vrbo make no attempt to compensate their customer for the inconvience. At 1:40am (am) Vrbo send me an email stating to rent an hotel for the night. I booked with Airbnb and they were more caring and professional.
2 1/2 hours to speak to someone at Vrbo with no success at all, the phone communication were lost and no one return my call.

I felt into a click bait with VRBO, and when I tried to report it, they dismissed it. When I tried to write a review on the host, they deleted it! VRBO wants the profit and wants guests to continue booking with them regardless of you and I's safety. Please steer clear from hosts like VRBO and Airbnb. There's a lot of scams out there and these websites aren't doing much to regulate that. When I addressed my concerns, they asked me to book elsewhere. What a joke.

We reserved a villa in St. John USVI for a week via VRBO. We arrived and it was infested with mosquitoes. We stayed the first night in a different resort we found (luckily with a family of 5). We contacted the reservation host the next morning and they had no plan or any details on correcting the issue so we luckily were able to continue our stay at the secondary resort. When we returned home and attempted to obtain the Reimbursement Request Form to submit a request for reimbursement, they would not provide it to us after numerous requests and sitting on hold for almost an hour. We are still trying to figure out a way to obtain the form and submit a reimbursement request through the Book with Confidence Guarantee. This is a total fraud. Buyer beware.

I had a reservation with vrbo in Montreal. The day before my trip, the owner contacted me to tell me one of the washrooms is out of order. It was too late to cancel as my vacation was booked and trip plans already made. I had to text, email and call the owner many times to get the check in code, he gave me the wrong code. After arrival at 10 at night, had to call him 15 times to get a hold of him to get the correct code. Once got into the house, it was infested with bugs. One wash room had human waste on toilet paper. I always used Airbnb, but unfortunately, I trusted Expedia name because they own vrbo. I will never use vrbo again.

We booked a house through Vrbo in March of this year to go to Orlando. We booked it for July for our family trip. While in Panama City on our way to Orlando we checked in on the house we were supposed to be arriving at. The owner informed us that he had sold the house and we can no longer stay at the Vrbo we booked with him. We asked why he had not canceled out trip and refunded us our money and he said he could not do that. He refused to refund our money so we reached out to Vrbo. It was the worst customer service I have ever received. They made us stay on the phone for 7 hours one day. They refused to help us find other lodging accommodations or refund us our money. We were 20 hours from home and we had nowhere to stay. We ended up having to rent another home (on AirBnB this time). I asked 30 times to talk to a manger and they refused every single time saying there was nothing a manager could do to help me and that I just need to wait for an email from them. Then they hung up on me! 11 Days after being robbed of our money and vacation on Vrbo, I received an email saying Vrbo would do nothing to help me get my money back. They state that they are just an advertising company and in no way protect you or your money. They suggested we fight the charge ourselves with our credit card company. I will NEVER use this sham company again!

In May 2022, I reserved and completely paid for a house in Houston for a group trip, which was supposed to be in June. Less than 24 hours before our check-in, the host canceled my reservation. That happened during my work hours, and I had to spend 2-3 hours talking to VRBO to reserve another place. They told me that I should select another property from a list that they provided me with and pay for it, and although they had a higher price than what I reserved, they would reimburse the rental cost difference between the original reservation and the new one.
I did so, and after our trip, I sent them all the required documents based on the instruction. Since June 13, I have never heard back from them and called them 6 or 7 times with no result! I had to spend 30-60 minutes waiting in line to be connected to an agent, and then EACH TIME just told me that my case was under review and in 2-3 days, VRBO would contact me, and they never did. I have talked with at least 6 agents, and none of them was helpful, and they just say that my case is under review by a higher department. When I ask them to connect me to that higher department, manager, or supervisor, they refuse to do that and say they cannot! When I asked them when I would be refunded, they replied they didn't have an answer for that. After all, if you want to be a VRBO customer, please be aware that there is NO CUSTOMER SERVICE, and calling their number is just wasting time.

We have traveled the world but luckily, we have never had such a horrible experience as this! We needed a property so my daughter could recover from surgery and was required to be close to Ottawa in case of complications. The host/management company charged us a higher rate than our VRBO conformation (I have the evidence) in addition charged us undisclosed fees. Both admitted there was an error but neither would fix the problem and blamed each other. The Host's management company Simply Comfort doesn't have an accurate description of the fees and process and communicate very poorly and was very rude when contacted.

Awful!
I booked a one night stay at the Carolinian Beach Resort through Vrbo. The total price for one was $728.81. The 2bd and 2bth was listed at $267.31 per night on Vrbo. Other expenses are
$200 cleaning fee
$100 service charge
$13.37 admin free
$11.00 Resort fee
$85.00 service fee
$52.13 taxes
The total came to $728.81 but Vrbo and Escape Property Management and Vacation Rentals took a total of $791.05.
That's $62.24 difference. They both are blaming each other for the hidden fees. Never using this company again!

Vrbo allowed an "owner" to list the property in which they did not even own. I booked this property end it turned out to be a complete scam. Vrbo she'll probably have a little bit stronger of a process when it comes to qualifying hosts/listing properties. They were also not willing to help me resolve this issue.

Firstly, VRBO accepted a listing from a host who illegally rented his place in an apartment complex that did not allow third party rentals. It was a chore getting my money back but the host finally refunded his entire portion. I am STILL arguing with VRBO about an additional $820 they owe me in commission and fees. RENTER BEWARE! USE ANOTHER PLATFORM!

Reservation ID HA-HPJTHQ

We rented a property only to learn upon arrival it was directly next to train tracks and trains ran all night. Which means we were awake all night. The owner never disclosed close proximity to train tracks. Vbro had no interest in our complaint for failure to disclose by owner.

I am so disappointed with them. I had reservations with them and they cancelled it without any reason a day before. I don't recommend anyone to book from this place. Now I have to find another place at the last minute. Never using it again!

This is a basically non existent company. The app doesn't actually have available what it claims. No way to place property complaint. No 24 hour service. On hold for over thirty minutes to hours. No live person to help you! Do not rent through here we need to make a change and a difference. And let these companies know it is not ok!

I have been a VRBO user for many years, but something is going on over which VRBO needs to get control or I an others will cease using the website. I booked several attempted reservations in Canada this year, all to be confirmed or waiting confirmations, only to have the owners write back saying the unit was committed to another renter using a different web platform. Then I went to book in February of 2023 three different condos in Nuevo Vallarta, same experience. One of the owners booked me on his own for 2 days out of the 4 I wanted to stay, and the website did not offer me a way to cancel as the owner booked it.

VRBO does not verify the properties been listed on their website and I ended up in a cottage which had nice pictures but was dirty and broken when I actually visited and VRBO did nothing to arrange a refund upon my cancellation.