VRBOReviews 1,999

Rented a property in Bradenton, FL for Aug 26-Aug 31. Bought the
Recommended trip interruption insurance from their check-out page. Worst
Case of red tide in 20 years forced cancellation due to health issues.
FL Dept. of Health warned anyone with respiratory issues to avoid red
Tide inflicted areas. I cancelled the trip thinking certainly I would
Receive a refund under these circumstances. Think again. Owner Maggie
Only cares about money, and the recommended insurance from VRBO denied
My claim and was basically a scam. Read the reviews for CSA Travel
Insurance. Of course, VRBO takes no responsibility for this insurance,
Even though they recommend you buy it in case something happens that you
Have to cancel. VRBO/Home Away and CSA Travel Insurance are a total
Rip-off. Stay very far away.

This house was conveniently located right on the water. It's also a beautiful cabin home, but as soon as you go inside, the place smelled like cat urine and sewer. Sewer smells were coming from up of the ground by the right side of the house. We opened up all the windows and the smell still lingered on. My friend had gotten an allergic reaction and had to go to her Doctor for meds. She was itchy, swollen, and miserable the whole time. The owner wanted to charge $350 for cleaning services but basically didn't want to clean anything. She said we trashed her kitchen. She obviously doesn't know the meaning of "trashed". If I would've known she would charge $650 for a dirty stove and clean dishes in the washer. I would have let her see what trashing a place really looks like. Yes we left the stove dirty, but we washed all the dishes and left them in the dishwasher to dry. My daughter had an accident on her pull out in which I took out the sheets and put them in the laundry room. Then she also kept my 300 deposit for the kitchen. This lady is a joke. Why charge a cleaning fee when they expect their guests to clean everything and leave the house in the condition it was found?! $650 to clean a stove, pick up one beer bottle found in mulch, wash sheet. Overall, don't waste your time and money here. I can see how she can afford her $800,000 home, by ripping people off of their $350-650 cleaning fee policy. This is a picture of cleaned dishes and a dirty stove. Looks like it was so awful to clean a darn stove. People don't bother with this property and the owner/manager!

VRBO used to be a great resource to find a vacation rental. Now it is completely worthless! You can't actually communicate with owners, you wind up dealing with "property managers" from Red Awning and other weird entities that don't answer your questions but send you canned responses. Seems like a bunch on "money mongers" have gained control and what used to be a real great service is now nothing but a legal scam. Goodbye VRBO!

Since this company became part of the Expedia Partners, their accounting and customer service has gone down hill. We've used them as our channel manager and middleman between our lodging facilities and the Expedia family booking sites for over 15 years. The last year we've had late payments, missed payments, rude customer service reps, failed reservations, double bookings, and limited availability. We also use their proprietary PMS (Rezovations) which they control, so if there are last minute cancellations outside of their 9-5 workday, the room doesn't show available for a new reservation impacting our revenue. Sad.

VRBO is awful. They protect bad property owners by not allowing negative reviews. Property owners can remove or not allow negative reviews to be posted. VRBO does not want negative reviews to be posted either. My trip to hawaii was cancelled due to Hurricane Lane. The property owner told me that the storm wouldn't be that bad and that I should stay at her property anyways. She refused to refund my stay and lied to me about her experience. She said she doesn't know how VRBO deals with cancellations and she doesn't know how to cancel a reservation. She wanted me to cancel because if owners cancel too many times that can have a negative impact on their standing with VRBO. Although I'm hesitant to believe that is actually true due to VRBO's business model which lacks customer service or a long term view of providing a good business for customers. Additionally, if a traveler cancels, the traveler does not have the option to leave a review. So the property owner was trying to make sure I could not leave a review for her even though she was unprofessional and rude. She took my money when the state was under a state of emergency and I couldn't travel there! She also describes the property as new but it has been available for 2 years or more. She tries to make it appear that the property is still new because she does not have very many reviews posted. She only allows the reviews that are 4.5 or higher to be posted, she does not allow negative reviews. Do not book a stay with property owner Luciana Bishay at 58-144 Wehiwa Place, Haleiwa, HI *******.

These people have literally stolen $300 from us. We rented a condo through their service, paid in full. We went on our vacation, returned home... and waited for our deposit to be returned. The owner returned our deposit expeditiously to a credit card on file with HOMEAWAY/VRBO that was no longer valid. It happens. So, we called Homeaway and were simply told it would be returned when they received the rejected payment back from the bank.
So, we waited... and waited...
We called our bank - the issuer of the cancelled card - and were told by them our $300 deposit was RETURNED to HOMEAWAY/VRBO's payment processing company. So, we call "India" again. Of course, they have no record of our calls and no clue where our money has gone. I have a letter from the condo owner stating the deposit was debited from her HOMEAWAY/VRBO account. I have a letter verifying CHASE bank rejected the payment (because the credit card was no longer active) over a month ago, and SENT IT BACK to HOMEAWAY/VRBO. I have spoken to about 10 different foreign reps who have done nothing but pass the buck, give me erroneous info. And waste my time! The bottom line is this: You have $300 of my money. YOUR payment processing department lost our refund! THEY have my cash... and since it is impossible to speak with anyone at your company that has a clue, I will be leaving this review everywhere online, contacting the BBB and filing a complaint in small claims court. Your reps refuse to connect me with someone who can 1) speak English and 2) help me instead of passing the buck! These companies sure as hell take it quick enough... but when they are in the wrong, they drag their heels and could care less about making it right for their customers! I have used this service for years - never again! I suppose this is an example of how "great" we are making America... for industry... but to hell with the customer. There is no oversight so they can literally steal from people and the consumer is left with no other recourse but to waste more time and money dragging them into small claims court! Thanks for nothing

I called company to fix their mistake! They refunded my deposit to the wrong card and I needed it to be fixed. I sent a message to the owners of the cabin and VRBO beforehand to ensure they knew which one to refund. They told me the only way to get my deposit was to ask the other family staying with us to refund me! So I should jump through hoops to get their mess up fixed?!? Payments can always be reversed but nope VRBO refuses and now I paid 150 more than I should have! Never again VRBO - there are tons of vacation rental companies I can use.

Read Review with Pictures below...

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/homeaway.com#1345

https://www.vrbo.com/*******

BE AWARE!
I booked a 1 bedroom condo with a king size bed, 1 sleeper sofa, futon, and cot. I thought that I won the lotto, because the condo was so much cheaper than booking through resort! Cost of the condo $250 per night, compared to Smugglers Notch Resort at $450 per night. Now I know why the condo was so cheap.

The condo was disgustingly dirty. I do not say that lightly. The place definitely has not been cleaned in years. I booked through VRBO, Property ID#*******.

I contacted VRBO and they did nothing. I tried to warn others and VRBO did not post my review. All reviews on VRBO website are fake.

Paid 1610. 00 for condo dirtier than cheap roach motel.

Had the worst experience. Booked a villa for 1 week whilst on holiday a month in advance.
Was told we were getting a 5 bedroom mansion. It was all booked online. We rang VRBO and was informed it was the whole mansion to rent. All payment had been made before arrival.
Once we arrived to the mansion on the day of check in, there was a couple already staying there. We were told we would only have a guest room and the couple and their child will be living in the same mansion. We left the mansion on the same day as we were not interested in sharing the accommodation.
The total amount paid was around $1900. We only got a refund of $150 which paid for a damage deposit.
We rang VRBO and they were not able to help. When we checked the mansion advertisement again on VRBO website, all information had been changed! It was a scam! Very disappointing! Lost around $1750 and then on top of that had to fork out more money for a hotel to stay in for that week!
No help from VRBO! Will not recommend!

This review is for Home Away. We booked a property through them called The Home Place. This place was filthy and disgusting. My husband and I were so disgusted, we left at 6am. Now for the good part ~ Home Away has not posted my review warning people about the property. There are 2 reviews both 5 stars and clearly fake.
I loved VRBO and HomeAway, however this experience gives me pause... because Home Away has done nothing to help and won't even post my review.

If anyone knows more websites that I can post warnings on p! Ease let me know. *******@gmail.com

I would like to offer feedback on our experience with HomeAway and why we feel we cannot trust it and will not book through it again or recommend it to other travelers.
Other travel sites allow an easy and honest means for reviewing a stay. HomeAway does not. It is not an easy process to find out how to review a property and if the owner is responsible for and does not supply the review link, it is impossible. This was our experience. No review link was supplied in our correspondence. The property was not as advertised. It is in need of cleaning and maintenance that could not have been rectified during our stay given the low standards, and we would have liked to have given our honest comments regarding this property to alert other travelers. Even if post communication with the owners could have resulted in compensation, it wouldn't have improved our stay. The standards and cleanliness of this property are clearly very low (I have photos) and travelers should be alerted.
Our impression of HomeAway is that it seriously lacks attention to the protection and comfort of travelers.
HomeAway Response:
We appreciate you taking the time and effort to let us know about this situation.

We sincerely appreciate you taking the time to share your experience and ideas with us. Many of the improvements to our products, policies, and processes are made in response to customer suggestions such as yours.

On the other hand, the review link is sent to the email address of the person who booked the property. As such, kindly advised to have the review sent. Also, a complaint can also be filed about this case, it will also be best if the person who booked the property can reach out to us or the owner regarding the complaint so the incident will be referenced to the correct reservation and property owners.

My friends and I booked at 5 bedroom house with VRBO in December, 2017 for a wedding in August, 2018. Everything was paid in full and confirmed. 48 hours before we were due to arrive, VRBO contact us to let us know that there was a glitch in their system and the people currently renting the property had extended their stay so the house was no longer available. The offered us a 4 bedroom house from Saturday - Tuesday instead and not comping anything. We all arrive Friday morning for the wedding and now have nowhere to stay. All of the hotels are now exorbitantly expensive. I would stay away from VRBO at all costs - they do not honor reservations book 7 months in advance.

Upon booking Faxos retreat in Gulf Shore, Alabama, through VRBO and Harris Properties, I specifically asked if the property was clean and bug free, as a previous review caused concern. I was assured everything had been taken care of and it was clean and bug free. Upon arrival we found roaches running across the floor and I took pictures of heavy dust and dirt throughout the house. Window sills and glass sliding doors had dead bugs, dirt and what looked like mold on them. I complained to Harris Properties managment, but did not feel comfortable they were going to fix things, so we chose to leave. Brian Harris, of Harris Properties later toured the property and declared it clean and in good condition. Not many people would consider an air conditioning vent with about 1/4 inch of dirt and dust on it clean. The ceiling fans had similar dust on them and was also found under end tables and other furniture. The outside was overgrown with weeds and trash from previous renters. Brian would not refund our more than $6,000 dollars, but said he would return little more than $300. I would never visit Gulf Shore again and will never us VRBO, as they cannot be trusted to provide accurate information on their listed properties.

I rented a beach house through VRBO. When I arrived a note on the door said house unavailable due to natural gas leak! An alternate is available. A phone number was given. Called 8 times -- no answer. Called VRBO. Transferred and put on hold for 1/2 hour so called back later. Put on hold indefinitely. Got very upset. Spent the night in a motel. Tried calling next day but put on hold again. Gave up. Don't expect any help if you have a problem with your rental. A classical bait and switch.

Reserved beachfront condo for 9 days 8 nights using the calendar function. Total cost looked right compared to nightly rate so I put in my credit card info and booked our trip. On the way to the beach I checked VRBO for details only to discover we need to be out Friday am. Two days and two nights short and everything at the beach is booked. Even worse when we calculated price we discovered we are paying 1.5X advertised rate. Careful using this site. This will be our last time using VRBO.