VRBOReviews 1,999

I rented a home through VRBO in NYC in early December for 8 people. The home was fine. Upon making the reservation, I was asked for the rental fee along with a refundable $1000 damage deposit. The deposit would be refunded ~14 days after checkout as long as the owner agreed that no damage was incurred. About 4 weeks after we checked out, I called the owner to see if the refund was on it's way. He told me that there were no issues and he believed he released VRBO to process the deposit. I called VRBO/Homeaway and, by the way, getting through to VRBO is almost impossible. I spoke with 13 different people over the course of 4 days. They kept telling me it's an issue with the owner. I called the owner back several times who assured me the problem is not at his end but with VRBO. This ping pong match is still going on and I don't have my $1000. VRBO has written me an email (instead of a requested call from a live person) which basically says I'm on my own. They told me they are not responsible for the damage deposit and to check the fine print on their website.
I have rented from VRBO several times over the years and have never had an issue until now. I called one of the property managers I had rented from before and was told that VRBO was acquired by Expedia a while back and since then, the company has had a multitude of issues with property owners and renters alike. I will never rent from VRBO again. They are just walking away from my problem. Their concept of customer service is very different than mine. They get their money and they are done with you.
Anyone who reads this, please take note that your security deposit may be something you'll never see again.
If indeed, this is a bigger issue with the Expedia people and their management approach being implemented at VRBO, than shame on you too. I won't be doing anything on your website either.
Good luck to any one who does business with these companies.

DO NOT RENT FROM SANDY VACATIONS! Hali'i Kai 10H in Waikoloa Hawaii!

Check these photos out
$5900 for 10 days in a total filthy dirty unit! No AC, 8 burnt out light bulbs, bugs, we have tons of bites! Dirty old sheets, pillows & bedding. Dirty pots & pans in the cupboard, mold in the dishwasher & shower heads... Garbage in the vase on the front porch... no handle on the microwave oven, missing screens, broken windows & blinds, broken fan...
It was horrible! The filthy kitchen mat was so old the backing had disintegrated and was like a pile of sand on the floor... hence the "joke cleaning company" never cleaned under it, or much else by the looks of the place. Per the cleaning co-We don't usually turn on all the lights when we clean, we don't check the dishes every time we clean... no wonder it's a dump! The maintenance man was " off the island " for the holiday I was told... by the condition of this place there is
"No"maintenance man!
The grand finale today was the power company shut the power off as we were leaving! Apparently the bill hadn't been paid since 9/30/16.

Sandy wanted her $5900
2 months prior to our arrival not sure where that money goes, because it sure as hell isn't used to keep this place up.

FYI
Her penthouse in The Fairway villas had similar issues in 2/2016.

I booked a property and paid the entire amount in full up front. (DO NOT DO THIS, YOU WILL REGRET IT!) The property owner never 'confirmed' the reservation yet VRBO took the entire amount (over $1100) out of my bank account and now I'm trying to get my money refunded. You will spend LOTS of time chasing YOUR money to get it back. If you can find the customer service number on their website *******291) you will speak to someone who thinks this is no big deal and will forward you on to their financial folks *******106). From there you will be given cancellation authorization codes and be told to call your bank only to find out the cancellation transaction has not processed from VRBO and you will need to wait another day to see if it processes over night. I will NEVER book a reservation again... this is ONE BIG HASSLE. I'll return to let you know exactly how many days my $1100+ is tied up in limbo.

Booked an apartment for 10 days for Dec 27-Jan 6 2017. In the beggining of Nov the owner took the deposit of $200US and then a few days later took the first payment $633US and then a final payment of $540US. We then received an email from vrbo around Dec 1 stating they suspended be account of the home owner we were renting, and to cease all communication with them. We explained that we had already payed the full fee. They were no assistance and told us that they would reach out to the owner to return the money. The home owner could not access there account to return the money. Here we are for two weeks dealing with Vrbo with no conclusion until visa gets involved and sends an ultimatum to vrbo. They then make action to return money and we get refunded out amount on Dec 14 minus $150US currency exchange fees, plus no where to live. I will never use vrbo agaim as they were no assistance and ended up costing us money and bo place to live. Vrbo is terrible!

Great if you don't have issues with the home owner. I paid over $1500 deposit for a 7 week stay and when I went to pay the remaining $1600 plus, I was told the payment would not go through due to a problem on the end of the homeowner! After multiple attempts to resolve this, and hours on the phone with VBRO, & calling the homeowner they tell me they will look into it. They made two attempts to email the homeowner and the homeowner says he contacts them and they say my credit card is declined. I called my bank and they said there is no way the credit card was declined. They tell me they will turn it over to their IT department and can't tell me when the problem will be resolved and if not resolved by tomorrow I am out over $1,580.00 and the homeowner has the right to keep the money and rent the space! I called the homeowner and he has not called me back. VBRO had no problem taking my extra $200 to be assured I would not be scammed and now they tell me that I can't get my $1580 deposit back unless the homeowner releases it? WHAT? DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH VBRO or HOME AWAY! I have used them MANY times and no problems. BUT when you do encounter a problems you get NO support! BEWARE!

I have been using VRBO and Vacation rentals for 10 years to advertise my vacation rental. I have NEVER had a bad review until last week. The reviewer was lying ( and I provided email proof to VRBO) but they will not remove the review. I provided the emails where the reviewer said she wanted more money off or she would give me a bad review. They don't care if the reviewer is lying. They said they can't help me at all. They were rude and could care less. About their customers. I will be looking for alternatives to VRBO, Vacation rentals.com and Home Away.

Travelmob, along with VRBO and many others like them fly under the flag of Homeaway, which has legal ties to Expedia, coerce together to provide differing policies which inhibit your ability for a refund should you find something not right with your booking leaving you no grounds for recourse.

After receiving a reply from a host on VRBO I was prompted to continue a booking through VRBO via Travelmob, which somehow is an affiliate of VRBO. The policies of VRBO differ to that of Travelmob with Travelmob having the worst of the two.

The fundamental differences of two policies meant the 'Book with confidence' policy of VRBO was meaningless.

Travelmob, having no moral compass, willingly aligns itself with companies whose policies are heavily advertised as being beneficial to the guest while their own are far from it. VRBO, also with no moral compass, palm you off to 'companies' like Travelmob during the booking process excluding themselves from legal responsibilities from those companies policies whom have no incentive or desire for you to make a booking in confidence.

The accuracy of the filtering process of all of the associated companies leaves much to be desired. An apartment I initially had an interest in came up after going through the filtering process. I'd requested a washer, dryer and a balcony. As it turns out, there was no dryer, only a shared washer on a balcony which was also shared by other tenants of the building. All this on the roof of an apartment listed as a penthouse.

Travelmob couldn't care less about these discrepancies and was only interested in lining their pockets with booking fees.

Id suggest steering well clear of any companies flying under the Homeaway flag including Expedia itself.

A list of the known companies related to Homeaway can be found at the bottom of their website page homeaway(dot)com.

There are also many hosts dissatisfied with their lack of a moral compass.

See also:
http://www.jasonmendelson.com/archives/2011/01/vrbos-questionable-review-policy-shame-on-vrbo.html

My husband and I recently traveled from Virginia to North Carolina for a weekend getaway in which we booked a rental property in Hot Springs, NC two months in advance. Initially when I booked the rental I noticed that the owner and family use the property as a "vacation" home during the summer months. I booked my getaway in November so I anticipated having a private romantic weekend with my husband however when we arrived at the property we noticed that the owner was not only living at the home but had rented the top floor of the house out to a mystery couple. The "innkeeper" not only deceptively forgot to mention that she never had any intentions of letting us know that we would not have access to the entire property but that we would be sharing the space but she also obnoxiously shuffled about on the top floor of the house all night and morning. I felt totally awkward about the situation so my husband and I ended up leaving early I would not recommend 179 Dear Leap in Riverdance to anyone looking for a private getaway

Had a vacation rental booked 10 months in advanced to travel with my family of 7 to New Orleans for Halloween. On the shuttle ride to the property I notice that I have an email stating that the reservation had been cancelled due to an electrical issue at the property. I contact VRBO to find out what are they going to do to help me? They told me that they have on a certain budget to work within and that they could my family up in a hotel for the night 30 miles away from where we were suppose to be and that I was on my own to try and find a place to stay for the duration of the trip. I was a stranded traveler with a party of 7 (my family) and this is their policy. BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE of using this company and please have a back-up plan for yourself if you decide to use them.