VRBOReviews 1,999

Very upsetting to us as we own our cabin and rent it in Northern Michigan. We signed up for VRBO to be able to advertise and get bookings for our cabin. This "Travelers Fee" that has been added in February 2016 is outrageous! Our guests will not pay a dime of this! I just sent our an email to all of our already booked guests for summer 2016 to let them know what has happened and to tell them to not pay this fee to VRBO! It does nothing for them, and we don't receive any additional benefits from this charge! This as a vacation home owner has put us into a very stressful spot! We will be looking for another website for our rental and will never use vrbo again! I would be in favor of a class action suite on this! We as home owners should not have to now back track and explain to our guests!

We need a federal investigation.
This used to be a good service at a fair price.
Then the rental agency businesses consolidated and theres no competition. The new owners realize they have a captive audience, so they can increase revenues by 700% by creating a fictious need for a 6 to 9%"service fee" on top of the annual subscription fee of $495. Bull$#*!.

This is just another example of corporate greed.

We need competition. We need a class action lawsuit.

By now we have all caught onto HomeAway/VRBO/Expedia's schemes. This has been in the works for years as any of us know who have been forced to do things with the sites due to "customers wanting it". It never mattered what "us" as homeowners wanted. I was even told once that as a homeowner I was not a customer (shocking), but now I get it. We have choices and I have spent time looking at them. I have 5 rentals with HomeAway/VRBO for now. I have put one rental on Trip/Advisor...$400 for the year and they don't charge you extra for their other sites. They don't charge the customers any fees when you have an annual subscription and you bill your customers directly (site has good functionality). I am testing another property on AirBNB (site not as good, but workable)where I have chosen no annual fee and they charge me 3% fee on booked reservations and they also charge the renter. In the end we have all been disrespected by HomeAway/VRBO and even if changing I lose some functionality and may even end up having the new companies charge the fee to my customers... I feel good knowing I have enough self respect to leave a company that clearly does not value us as home owners. The fact that they don't communicate to us until a month after they put the fee in place and still make the fee look confusing proves that out. Another item they forget to mention in the communication yesterday is that only about 55% of the properties on HomeAway/VRBO are having the fees charged to customers. The other 45% have not signed up for online booking/online payments, thus no customer fees are being charged. Remove the online booking/online payment function (if you can) while you decide what is best for you.

As an owner of a condo listed on VRBO, I was very happy with their service until Expedia bought them and focused on sucking profit from both owners and renters alike. Last year I had a 90% rental rate. Since Expedia took over, I have only gotten one referral. Now they are charging a booking fee to guests above the owners rental rate. They are forcing owners to upgrade, or you get virtually no referrals. Try another site like vacationhomerentals.com or other sites which don't charge a fee for booking your vacation.

I just filed a complaint with consumers affairs about vrbo.com charging guests unethical fees of up to 10% of the rental fee.
This new fee was not part of the contract that I agreed to in November of 2015 when I renewed for the 3rd year. This poor business decision has already cost me 4 bookings. I encourage everyone listed on vrbo.com to file a complaint with consumers affairs, and take their credit card information off of vrbo.com account page so no auto renewals.

As a property owner, I subscribed to VRBO's service on an annual basis after determining what rates I need to charge to be competitive with other vacation rental owners, B&Bs, and motels in the area. During my subscription period, VRBO unilaterally and without notice started charging a service fee that no longer makes the property owner competitive without reducing our rates. This is an unfair trade practice that is damaging their subscribers. At the very least, they should advise owners well in advance of their annual renewal and give us the opportunity to shop around for a better service. I urge owners to deactivate their automatic renewal and immediately delete payment options. If VRBO treats their loyal property owners this unfairly after years of subscribing, how would they treat an occasional or one-time guest?

I have been with vrbo since it started, way back at the lake in virginia. So over 20 years. They sold and it was fine, now they started fees for everyone out the bucket here. They charge owners over 1200 a year - plus pay for your featured listing - at 199 a month, then they have charged us approximatly 10% credit card fee ( you know they are only being charged about 1%) and a fee of 25 each month- not sure what that one is yet.
Then they charge the poor consumer - over 10% to book with them - crazy
So we are reporting to the attorney general in our state- we suggest consumers and owners everywhere do this- they have to disclose fees- to the consumer and us- since we are the consumer of vrbo on the back end- they have not each month- our bills just say suddenly this and that...
We may want to move this up federally for overcharging for credit card fees.
This has to end fast- let their big fees go to their attorneys- who will be kept very busy suddenly... It is illegal in our state. - might be in yours also- but does not hurt to open an investigation- especially if tons of people turn them in the same month.
Consumers who paid the fee can complain to their state as well.
In the meantime- consumers should call the owner- not the 888 number on vrbo- that is them and they know nothing about our homes... if you book straight with the owner - you may be able to not pay that fee- alot of us owners are mad they are charging you.

I have been using homeaway/vrbo for about 7 years. Not for much longer. A good friend of mine who manages over 20 properties and about to take on another large complex is going to bail as well. Vrbo has way overstepped its bounds in taking my property advertisement from me. There are a so many unethical issues I dont have time to detail, negative bug placed over my ad, removing my ad from search list be of alleged out of dare calendar, blocking easy access to MY CLIENTS email addresses. Vrbo is acting lime these properties are theirs. Advise finding another ad web site. They are trying to for e owners to "book it now" so they can collect a hidden booking fee.

I own a vacation rental which rent through HomeAway/VRBO, for which I pay an annual fee. I am also charged a fee when guests pay through their system. They are now arbitrarily charging vacation renters an extra "fee" of 4% - 10% for the privilege of booking through their site. My inquiries and bookings have dropped off dramatically. I had a guest call to cancel, demanding a refund when he noticed the new fee. (I allowed him to pay though a secondary source for which this fee was not charged and he kept his vacation dates.)

Owners are not able to e-mail HQ/VRBO to complain; option has been removed. When we try and call in, we are put on hold for great lengths of time. Ultimately, we are responded to by a very indifferent individual on the other end of the line who could care less about taking our complaint or noting our concern. This is nothing but GREED! There is a right way to do business and a wrong way to do business. This is clearly the wrong way. I wish there was something that could be legally done!