VRBOReviews 1,999

I agree 100 % with the previous property owner. I WILL NO be renewing my VRBO property # *******. At Emerald Isle NC. The new money hungry management policy at VRBO/ HOME AWAY is not thinking about the owners of a property or the people that book thru them. This was not the case just a year or so ago. If you are looking for a rental in the future I suggest you contact a company in the area you want to stay and make your reservation so there is no hidden fees. Posted June 4,2017

I am a property owner who has use me VRBO since 2014. The site was nice and provided visibility to many potential renters. However, since then, VRBO is now forcing mandatory online booking fees for all renters and charging the renter ridiculous fees to do so. This is in addition to the the credit card fees. It also gives the renter the illusion these fees are posed by the owner-- absolutely not so! Very bad management decisions which will be the ruination of VRBO. As a property owner, I WILL NOT be renewing my site and renter with VRBO. Future renters should seek other sites to book their rentals.

Horrible experience. We spent hours online researching options for rental for 8 people to stay 2 nights in small college town for son's graduation. Found a condo on VRBO. Nightly rental rate advertised $160/night for 2 nights plus cleaning fees etc. When entered cr card info etc. hit send -only to immediately get email saying we reserved it min. 3 nights - and would be@ $500/ night vs, advertised $160. Our cr. Card was immediately charged $500 deposit. I called VRBO - only to be told we would have to contact the prop. Owner for that. Horrible experience and Zero customer service. DONT USE THEM! They use deceit.

VRBO is nothing but a prostitution scam for vacation rentals. They show you one thing at a price point and deliver an ugly disease ridden POS for you to sleep in/with. They will send you emails with misleading information and when they have your CC they start charging and never look back. You won't get a place to vacation but you always get a bill. They have people who can't answer your questions and then when you have had enough of their nonsense and smoke and mirror show they steal your money. Stay away from these thiefs they are only in business because they have dopey property owners that keep them in business. Stop the madness and put these people out of business!

I am outraged over learning that VRBO is charging me as the Owner of a Colorado vacation rental a 3% fee for my guests to pay for their visits by credit card. I spoke to a VRBO Customer Rep and was told that VRBOs demand for guests to pay by credit card was the companys policy. Keep in mind that regrettably VRBO has been bought out by one of the big-three major credit reporting agencies, Experian, based in Texas. I objected strongly to this arbitrary and totally undisclosed policy but then had to explain to the customer rep the definition of the word arbitrary. I would just as soon trust my guests to reserve, book and pay for their stays by cash, check, or Pay Pal either upon arrival or prior to arrival. It is apparent that VRBO has become so greedy and megalomaniacal they are electing to do business like a two-headed, fire breathing hermaphrodite dragon! SHAME ON VRBO. I will be using Air BnB from now on, unless Air BnB also degenerates into a similar reptile predator.

I have read a number of negative reviews about HomeAway and VRBO's process of on-line bookings, powered through Yapstone. I have to say these reviews and warnings are all RIGHT ON. Like others I read, I have been a VRBO owner for a number of years with no problems. The on-line bookings hinder any control we the owners have in the process - plus the payment process means everyone's hands are in everyone else's pockets. And when I recently received a chargeback (debit) on a VRBO stay it was incumbent on ME to prove otherwise. This is my last year with VRBO!

Vrbo is "vacation rentals by owners"But majority and arguably most are by real esate agents, many of whom deceptivley dont write or acknowledge that they are not owners, even though there is a box about "owner information" and a separatation for owners and managers. These scums wont negotiate good rates with renters and always quote a high price. Since they are not owners, they dont have anything to lose if the property remains unrented sometimes for extended periods causing loss to owners and sticking it to renters. The real esate agents are actually hurting free market from functioning and setting the prices.

After listing my property (and paying several hundred dollars a year) with VRBO, they are now requiring all owners to accept online booking via credit cards. So they can keep 3% of my rental revenue, and hit up the visitor with another 6%-10% on top of that. I have never accepted credit cards, do not WANT to accept credit cards, do not NEED to accept credit cards. VRBO used to be a great site to list your vacation home. No more. I am praying that another company steps into this void.

VRBO has changed the algorithm for getting lookers to the owners rental page. They call this process "best match". Clicks on my property have gone from THOUSANDS at this time last year, to 85 for the same period this year. When asked about this, the less than helpful representative at VRBO told me that my listing was one the best she had seen, and perhaps if I changed some of the pictures on my site, visits would improve. First; I have already recently updated the photos on my site. Second; pictures only matter if the guest CLICK ON MY PAGE, which is not happening.
If you search the area in which I list our property on VRBO, what you'll find is that dozens of listing in every condo building are actually from the large rental agencies in the area, not an actual owner. VRBO has lost interest in the OWNER and has seen fit only chase after maximizing their revenue. Their purchase by Expedia has resulted in the addition of fees to the guests, more demands on the owners, and as near as I can tell, more latitude for the large companies with no benefit to the little guy who got them where they are today. Too bad.

The tenant found us via VRBO, made a reservation, and cancelled it through VRBO. As result, we couldn't rent out our rental apartment and lost money. Additionally, we have done everything on our behalf according what we have been told by VRBO representative.

We were told by VRBO that this cancellation will not cost us anything (except lost rental money!), then they charged us $25 from our bank account. My husband noticed it while he was checking the bank statement. We immediately requested to be refunded $25 by email and by calling VRBO numerous times! Unfortunately, we either have come across a rude operator or received emails ignoring our requests and told our bank not to pay.

We have even tried to close our account but we have been told that it could be closed only by VRBO.
We still don't know and nobody's been able to tell us, why we have been charged $25 for their customer cancelling a reservation with us!

Lastly, the company even not letting us refund $200.00 to a previous customer's security deposit and not able to cancel the future reservations.

We are listing our property also with Airbnb and didn't have any problems; seems like they are working more professional.

Since Expedia purchased VRBO, the website has declined astronomically. It was bad, but now, it's terrible. I'm supposed to be positioned among 20 other townhomes in my 2 building complex. VRBO constantly moves me from that listing area, where I'm supposed to be located, and moves me miles from where I'm supposed to be located. This has cost me thousands of dollars in bookings. Last year, I failed to rent multiple weeks and discovered that I had been removed from my listing position. Of course, VRBO told me it wasnt their fault. It's Google's fault - so they tell me.
They cancelled all of the people I had booked on my calendar. Suddenly, I was being contacted by potential renters, who told me that a particular week was available. Of course, those weeks were already booked, and of course, VRBO swore it wasn't their fault.
Their analytics are faulty. I'm fully booked 42 weeks of the year, but according to their analytics, I'm not getting any bookings. They give top billing to my neighbors, who don't have 24 pictures, don't have many reviews, and don't offer online booking. VRBO doesn't have an explanation for that problem.
Their customer service people have limited information and cant answer questions about analytics. Neither can their supervisors, who always say that the computer isnt available.
Im moving on to what I hope will be a better experience.