VRBO

I spent weeks picking the property for an 8 day trip to Vegas.
Received 3 email confirmations from VRBO. When we went to check in Grandview had NO record of our reservation. (vrbos process not Grandview) Many phone calls to owner, NO response NO answer. Called Vrbo was on hold for an hour. Pulled my Laptop out Got on Chat with agent while staying on hold. Chat hold was 20 Min. Agent on chat gave me Phone numbers to call to escalate the case. One number was Out of Service, the other put me back into the Que. 4 Hours later when all was said and done. VRBO Refunded my Inital Payment. VRBO said they would give me 3 days Refundable of $196 ea IF I booked a new room through Expedia. (SO another $600 out of pocket last minute) Have You ever Booked a Last minute Trip on the Strip? Then find Hotels the other 5 days of the trip. THIS IS NOT! The way Vacation should go, I spent alot of time PRE-Planning To be left standing on a Curb in 110 degree Vegas. $ wise Paid a Little more (if i get reimbursed) But the Frustration Of Having to deal with this was WRONG! HA-LLY2Z9

Terrible service!
I've been doing Airbnb for a little while now and I decided to give it a shot to the VRBO.
Today was the checkout of my very first guest.
Although they left the place semi-clean, they brought a dog without disclosing, and the dog peed on the bed and all over the floor of the master bedroom.
As I'm used to the quick and easy resolution process from Airbnb, I wasn't so worried about this one.
I could be more wrong!
Turns out they said I didn't set up the protect plan (I didn't even know I had to set it up). There were no alerts or reminders about setting this thing.
Because of that, they said I was not covered. And I would have to cover for the cost unless the guest agreed to pay.
The gues already lied about having the pet and is objecting to pay for anything.
The app on the phone does not give all options, like escalate or chat with customer service, so I had to call.
It was only a waste of my time.
They said that I have two options for protection.
1- would be insurance for $59, $79 to $99, which are not refundable to the guest. This makes my listing more expensive and less competitive. Also, if I have to file a claim, it would have to be done through a 3rd party company. For emergencies like I have today, would not be much of a help, and no guarantee of coverage.
2- I could set a deposit amount for any amount I wish. This deposit is refundable to the guest, but in case the damages are higher than the deposit, I would be on my own to cover the rest.
This deposit makes my listing to be even more expensive out the door and offers me less coverage.
On the call with customer service, I requested to talk to a supervisor. I was told that the supervisors don't answer calls, and it could only be scheduled for 24-72 hours.
The app itself is not user-friendly and the process is not clear on what we as hosts have to do to make sure we are covered.
Due to the horrible experience, I will pull my listing out of the platform.
I have already contacted other hosts to tell them about my experience, so they know about the lack of protection. They are also pulling from the platform.

Be careful when posting your property through these guys, you might more to lose than gain.

Recently, my husband and I stayed at a beautiful VRBO in Colares, just outside Sintra in Portugal. (#*******) Pedro and his wife Luisa were the ultimate hosts and property owners. Clearly they take great pride in their place and in providing a safe, clean, well appointed rental property to their guests. We were thrilled with our choice, and the photos of it on the internet do not do it justice. I was afraid that it would be too small, and that the shower would be inadequate. Was I wrong! The apartment was much larger than I had anticipated, and it was clean, nicely decorated, and the shower was fabulous! Great pressure and lots of hot water.
The apartment is on a kind of rural property, although it is in the village. Pedro operates a farm with many different birds and beautiful gardens. The area is quiet and quaint, and is only minutes away from a small village with a well stocked market and cafes. Sintra is 11 km away, and since we had a rental car it was very easy for us to get there. Sintra is magical, and is a must see if you are going to Portugal.
The pool was immaculate, and we had all the privacy we wanted when using it. Pedro keeps the grounds in immaculate condition, and his lovely young adult children were friendly and helpful to us as well.
The property is also only minutes away from several world class beaches. You will not be disappointed here. The views are fantastic, and there are several cafes and restaurants on the beaches as well as many recreational opportunities, such as parasailing and surfing.
We were delighted by our good fortune in finding this place, and highly recommend it to anyone wanting a place with privacy, cleanliness, and friendly and obliging hosts. We would definitely return there if we were going back to Portugal.

VRBO's new search functionality for travelers is a failure. Their original map-based searching was simple and effective. It worked like this for the USA - Pick a state from the US map, then pick a region from the state map, then you got a list of cities to explore. Travelers could return to that list of cities and explore all the hidden nooks and crannies out there. It worked for over six years for me.

VRBO's new search functionality has complicated searching, and the result is that rentals in small unknown towns are not being found. The new design paradigm is poorly thought-out and on top of this there are technical glitches that VRBO claims are "by design" and they say the traveler need to use better search terms. Their system cannot even handle "north Georgia mountains" and VRBO has verified this and claimed this is "by design".

Modern search functionality is expected to be forgiving. VRBO should be able to handle misspellings, abbreviations and even gibberish, and ALWAYS turn up results (instead of zero) and then prompt the searcher, guide them on their exploration for the perfect rental.

VRBO's failure comes from trying to imitate all the other travel booking sites, and that is a mistake. VRBO stands for Vacation Rental By Owner, and they had a unique place in the market for travelers that were also unique. Vacation travelers are often as not exploring. They may want a mountain cabin, but not know the name of all the small mountain towns where cabins are found. VRBO's paradigm should be as a concierge to exploration, not a Book It Now me-too rent-a-room site. True VRBO homeowners and guests who enjoy true VRBO homes - this is an entirely different mix than someone looking to book a motel/hotel room and that knows their destination.

I was booked to go on vacation in late March to Florida. With the national emergency due to the COVID19 virus, I had to cancel my reservations. The first week of my vacation was booked with AIRBNB and the second week booked through VRBO.
I must say that AIRBNB was excellent, they offered a full refund with no questions asked. My airline offered a full credit for future travel which I am OK with
When it comes to VRBO, they want nothng to do with it. They stuck to their cancellation policy. All they offerd is to keep my money $ 1,000 US. They obviously do not understand what a national emergency means. I had also asked for a full credit for a future stay later in the year when the pandemic is under control or over but this also was denied. I was offered a 15% discount for a future booking. This pandemic is out of everyone's control but somehow VRBO does not see it this way. They are only worried about their money. I would suggest that everyone stay away from VRBO as customer service, customer satisfaction and everyone's health is not a priority. I will say that I will never book with VRBO again. I will also warn everyone to be careful when booking with VRBO as thay stick to their cancellation policy no matter what

Rented a townhome in north Myrtle Beach for a special event. The listing stated it was a 3 bedroom townhome, and a shared pool. Because there was no other information in regards to the rental, I was a bit confused on what made the pool shared.
Upon arriving at the rental, a pulled up to find 7 cars, and a truck with a trailer hitch as well as a group of guys. I had to ask them to move a car since I had been renting and needed a spot as well as inform them that we had another car coming. I immediately contacted the host and told her. She said she'd text them and let them know they were only allowed 2 cars. I told her I was very unhappy that I wasn't informed that this was a 2 unit rental and a group of guys would be staying next door. She then told me that she'd be driving around to ensure there would be no "riff raff" and I'd have nothing to worry about. Told me I can call or text her no matter the time. Well the cars were never moved and the guys were loud in addition to there cars. Every time I contacted her, she contacted them and informed them which led to the ringing of my door and a confrontation outside
They told me she was telling them I was complaining, at one point one of them started to curse, this could've gone in the wrong direction
She, Amanda, never once came to address the situation.
I had also asked for a coffee pot which had been listed on the amenities. When I told her there wasn't one here she told me quite a few times she would bring one but never did
The lack of responsibility of her rentals was disturbing to me all the texting meant nothing if she didn't make an appearance to address and fix the issue
I would not recommend you renting. It's all about the money and not the experience for her rentals.
She should be ashamed
Pay the extra and stay at a hotel at least you know that they will take care of things

We booked an apartment via VRBO to escape the rain in Holland. All was confirmed and paid for. After a 10hr drive with our 2-year-old daughter, no one was there to pick us up or guide us to the apartment. After half an hour trying to find a phone number of VRBO, we decided to ring the doorbell of the rented apartment. The owner responded and told us he had cancelled the reservation. There we were, tired of the trip with no place to sleep with a 2-year-old completely exhausted and in need of a bed.

Luckily, we quickly found a hotel nearby, which was a miracle since the whole area seemed fully booked. There was one room left. An expensive one, but with an exhausted toddler, we didn't mind. She had to sleep.

After another hour of searching, I finally found a phone number to contact VRBO. I explained the situation to a support employee and she confirmed that all was paid but not cancelled and something went wrong. The protocol that VRBO uses in this situation is extremely unprofessional. Every self-respecting travel agent would be devastated and do everything to help out the client. VRBO simply told us to look for a new apartment and the extra expenses for the hotel would NOT be covered. It's unbelievable how this company is connected to HomeAway. It seems to be a moneymaking company with no need for the well-being of their clients. We had to wait 3 days to get a refund.

The hotel we were staying in helped us out by making some calls around to find another place to stay in the coming week. They were angels compared to the people in the VRBO company. They also reached out to the director of the local Tourist Office to make sure to keep an eye out on this VRBO company and bookings, because it legally could end up as a fraud.

2 weeks later, I sent a mail to VRBO to discuss all the extra time and money spent. I reminded them twice on the mail. They never replied. It's a fraudulent company. Don't use this company ever.

VRBO new feature BOOK IT NOW IS A DISASTER! There is absolutely no benefit to guest or owner to use this feature.
VRBO strong arms guests and owners to use the service.
Owners do not get the guest's booking money timely from VRBO. It is not released to the owner until after the guest checks in.
Guests are charged a large "fee" by VRBO to use Book it Now,
Owners are charged $700-$1500 annual fee owners to advertise on VRBO.
VRBO penalizes owners who refuse to use BooK It Now at the bottom of the list of available homes.
Recent scams of fraudulent phishing of owners VRBO inquiries which resulted in stolen guest funds where the guest was offered a "discount" by an unknown person (not the owner) appeared to be perpetrated by VRBO employees in an attempt to "sell" Book it Now. This problem occurred with many owner accounts, but the majority of those owners were ones that did not use "book it now". VRBO's only official comment was "your email password must have been hacked.
Owners and guests emails are "filtered" through VRBO
A word to guests: CALL THE OWNER Deal directly with the owner. Save yourself much grief.

I have booked with VRBO/home away more times than I can count. My family and friends use them as well. All experiences have been good ones. As a loyal customer, I expect loyalty in return if something were to go wrong. In September of 2019 I booked a property for November 19. It was a home in Las Vegas for a half marathon race and mini family vacation. As always, I paid up front in full. In October of 2019 I was notified by VRBO via email that there was "possibly an issue with my upcoming booking" and to contact the owner. I did as they said and was upset by the owners response. He stated that VRBO had taken everything from him, shut down all his properties and left him bankrupt. He then notified me that not only was my booking cancelled but he had no funds to refund me my money for a trip that was more than a month away. I wasn't too panicked at this time because I knew VRBO would take care of me with their "Book with confidence guarantee". After all, it's that what booking though a site like this is for? For security? Boy was I wrong. I first responded to VRBO's initial email in which prompted me to a 1-800 number. I called this number and was lead through the ringer. They could not help me at this time. The lady said the owner had received a "serious complaint" and as a result had to be shut down. That is all she could tell me. She said she would expedite my case and I would receive a call I about 24hrs. 24hrs later, no call but another email... stating that VRBO could not help me (with no explanation given) and that I needed to dispute the charge with my credit card company. I called VrBO 2 more times after this looking for answers... no one could give me any information other than "This is a unique situation" and I was finally told to stop contacting them. I am appalled to say the least. DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. Airbnb provides a much better service with a guarantee they actually stick with.

**Warning DO NOT BOOK WITH VRBO** I am writing this post to expose the pure SCAM that is VRBO during a nationwide pandemic (Coronavirus). My family and I booked a vacation rental in Siesta Key, Florida for our spring break vacation in April. We paid a large amount of money, being $3,500, as she has 5 children & we needed a large rental. The rental is also on the beach. The beaches have since been shut down as the state of Florida continues to be one of the epicenters for the Coronavirus outbreak. The owner is refusing to refund our money and IS NOT being accommodating to change our dates when VRBO "suggested" to give renters a year to change. We contacted VRBO who was NO HELP and stated it is between us and the owner! I am sure they are doing this to other poor families who paid good money to go on vacation, some of which may REALLY need it during this time of unemployment and uncertainty. This is such a scam during a nationwide epidemic when we cannot be going on vacation during this time particularly to a place (Florida) which is as I said is one of the a primary locations of the virus.

I will NEVER go through VRBO again unless my issue has FULLY been resolved. VRBO isn't screening their "HOSTS" at all to see if these HOSTS are in fact owners of their homes and NOT renters of an apartment complex! I should have known from the beginning when the so called HOST put the wrong address on her ad so that her apartment complex wouldn't find out that she was going AGAINST her lease and subletting her SUBSIDIZED unit out! I should have known when the HOST asked me NOT to speak with anyone around the complex and especially her neighbor. Finally, the home was GROSS when I checked in on a Tuesday and the so called "OWNER" said that the cleaning lady would come that Saturday but did she? NO! The owner texted me saying the cleaning lady canceled. Coincidence? NO! VRBO has put me in a VERY uncomfortable situation and I am fighting for a resolution. I feel trapped that I can't even talk to anyone, I feel gross because I can't even shower in the gross shower and I feel used! I have contacted VRBO but they keep saying that there is NO supervisor to speak with and that they will call me but NO ONE HAS CALLED ME. I have been hung up on twice! No one at VRBO is taking this seriously when in reality it is THEIR mistake for not screening these HOSTS! To top it all off, when I spoke to the property manager of this apartment community and she verified this was COMPLETELY against their rules, the property manager confirmed this said OWNER is on a LOW INCOME BASED PROGRAM and pays very little per month!