VRBO

As I stated in my first review I purchased my condo in March. Since March 22,2017 I have been on the telephone with customer service or tech support (no support) over 100 times. I booked a rental through VBRO before they started hiding information, I accepted and so did the guest. VBRO charged the guest not once but twice their fee. Then they turned around and canceled the reservation. I call supposely the HEAD TECH man, he guaranteed me he could fix it - 2 hours later it was canceled again. I booked all of the year out until the first 3 weeks in Dec. Less than 10 came through VBRO, most of them were word of mouth, friends, family, and people seeing the pictures and description on Facebook.
I have a wonderful couple from Indiana - Jan through March. I meet them in the elevator at the complex, they saw the unit and immediately rented it.
VBRO was supposed to be an advertising site, that sent the inquiries to the owners or property managers. Homeaway, Expedia and some others have take over VBRO - now they want automatic online booking, and payments through a site of theirs. They are hiding emails and telephone numbers of both guest and owners. I only rent to someone that I am able to talk to in person or on the phone.
DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY ON VBRO
Deborah

I usually don't badmouth a company, but I feel I must in this case. I booked a condo in Montreal on February 6,2019 for our trip to the Jazz Festival and received my confirmation. Then, on June 4th, I received an email from the owner of the property stating that he was sorry, but they had overbooked and it wasn't available. He did say he had another unit available that we could have if we changed our dates by one day. Even though it was going to mess us up a little, we told him okay and he told me to go ahead and book it. I explained to him that VRBO showed it was already booked, but the owner said it was open and he would take care of it. On June 18th, 2 1/2 weeks before our trip, he emailed me that Home Away had made a mistake, and the place wasn't available anymore. I called VRBO for a refund, but was told that I had to go through the owner to get my money back, no help from them. I finally got my money back (less $11.00 due to the exchange rate!) and booked a great place (though not in the downtown area) through Air B&B. But, when I wanted to place a review on VRBO warning travelers about booking with that owner, I was told by VRBO that I couldn't. You can only write a review if you stay in the place. There is no way to let people know to beware. I spent 45 minutes today on the phone with VRBO trying to work with their "customer service" people on a few issues I had regarding the owner and my refund, and believe me, they really don't care! This is the second time I've had a problem with VRBO and there will not be a 3rd time. From now on, I'm an Air B&B customer.

My family has booked a vacation in Penticton, British Columbia with Dionne De Jagger. The cancellation policy is such that you have to cancel 2 weeks prior to scheduled date. We have even bought insurance in case we needed to cancel. Unfortunately, due to the forest fires in the region - the air was deemed the highest level of warning for unhealthy (at 10) and was unsafe to be outside, especially for my little one. In addition, due to increased number of cases of COVID-19, government officials were recommending for tourists to stay away from the region in case there are evacuations. I tried to inquire about the situation with the owner, who did not respond. Only once it was a week prior to departure and haven't heard back I initiated the cancellation that she answered. VRBO and the owner agreed to refund 75% of the cost to be fair (only 50% was refunded). I was also going to check with the insurance which denied my claim. I must have followed up 7 to 8 times with VRBO and tried to contact the owner for the remainder of the refund. I have not been able to use their services due to forest fires, unhealthy air conditions and increasing COVID cases in the region and yet have lost 50% of the total cost. I am sympathetic to people who live in the region having had to go through this but it wasn't safe health wise in addition to not being appropriate to take up room if people needed to be evacuated from the region. All the promises from VRBO representatives were not followed up on. When I finally got a hold of manager he was not interested and told me to follow up with owner who has been ignoring me.
It was such a poor experience and left very little faith in their process or holding owners accountable. We will NEVER use VRBO in the future.

I do not know where to begin. I used VRBO 2 times for an apartment in Manhattan, no problem. Then my cousin used VRBO, very strange. All seemed fine until she got to the apartment, the owner was there waiting for his cash only transaction. He let her and her sister in the apartment, gave them the key, grabbed his suitcase out of the bedroom and said see you in four days. It was his home.
I used VRBO again this past August. We rented an apartment in Queens for the US Open. Scanned through the listings 6 month prior to event, found a great place, read the reviews and sent in a deposit. The owner wanted 2 deposits, then final payment. No problem 100% guarentee refund if cancelled in 30 days.
Sent deposit and then 3 months later sent another deposit. Then tried to contact the owner for apartment key and directions, no answer, phone voicemail full, emails bouncing back. Looked on VRBO's website, apartment no longer listed. Contacted VRBO and they told me the listing had been deleted by the owner and basically it was not their problem. They are only an advertising company, even though VRBO has a fraud and security department, which by the way do NOTHING! If I had taken out insurance when booking I should contact the insurance company otherwise I needed to contact my credit card company to recop my losses. So now I am out $700, which by the way was deposit from 5 us and still needed a place to stay. Thank goodness for CITIbank! It took 2 months to get my money back and still needed to find a place for us for the week, but CITIbank worked with me and were great! I do not know what I would have done if I would have used paypal like that moron wanted me to! I will never use VRBO again!

Villa Victoria (3rd floor, 2-level, 5 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms) Barcelona

If only the Villa Victoria apartment could raise the ceilings as it raised the spirits, it would have been the ideal place for our group. The space overall is chic, bright, tech-friendly, and well-located. The AC and washing machines work. (Go easy on fuse-blowing appliances.) There is one fine downstairs bedroom: quiet, queen sized bed, private, closets, small balcony. My husband and I got it, being hosts and taller people. The headaches, literally, were borne by family members. If your party is young, short, not romantically involved, barely snores, or has rubber heads, stop reading this and book it.

Otherwise, consider the following. (1) The ceiling height is a challenge. The lovely looking upstairs bedrooms come with door heights that are TOO low. Wall features protrude. Our 3 couples are all 40-something, average adult height below 5'10", so the screams and curses from on high took some getting used to for those of us on Floor 1. Beyond headache-inducing; we counted at least 2 mild concussions.

(2) The other four rooms aren't great for couples. At least the 2 upstairs rooms have queen sized beds, though the sliding room dividers allow no more privacy or intimacy than an Ikea show room. The minimal 4th and 5th bedrooms each have 2 single beds, air well window, no closet. One was downstairs, so no head-bonking. The other one is accessible via a little spiral crows nest staircase.

For a good-natured, well-fed group, this is tolerable for 4 nights, though other accommodations may provide better value for the money. Most likely, short-term head-banging does not cause brain damage. But we recommend a steady stream of friendly reminders ("DUCK, goddammit!") to aid the bag-toting, rushing-around, wine-drinking, half-asleep bathroom user. On the Rambla and in cathedrals, very nearby, bruises forgotten, the sky is the limit.

I am a rental house owner.
HomeAway deactivated our listings last Friday afternoon without any warning. In an e-mail after the fact, HomeAway stated that our listing "contains messaging directing travelers to pay offline to avoid our online secure booking checkout system in violation of our content guidelines." That statement was incorrect on two facts: we only advised travelers that there were options available; and once I was able to find a working link to their "content guidelines" I found no such restriction. (I did print out the guidelines in case they try to alter them later.) Nevertheless we deleted the wording immediately and asked for our listing to be reactiavted. However, their "special team" that handles such cases conveniently does not work on weekends, so our listhings have been missing all weekend and as of now (Wednesday late afternoon) only one has been re-activated. Every time we call they inform us that they can't estimate when our case will be reviewed. It is extremely frustrating.

We have been among their top 5% earners for 9 years now and introduced many guests to their site, this is how we are rewarded? We have demanded a refund of our subscription for the time lost, but that is probably a hopeless cause. I have also suggested that they make their services optional, like HA's trip insurance used to be. I let them know that we've had several guests state that although they have been using VRBO for years (one since the 90s), they will be looking elsewhere in the future; there is a deep-seated animosity to the Ticketmaster business model. If travelers truly value their services, they will opt-in. But again, this seems a lost cause.

We feel that HomeAway/Expedia doesn't care about owners any more because basically they feel they don't need to. It is time for us to find other websites with some owner focus. We are joining HomeEscape dot com which is a new site operated by some HomeAway refugees. It is free but not well known, so we plan to let as many people as we can know about it. Please spread the word and let us know if you know any other options.

First of all, they are the only rental agencies that allows hosts to have a "no refund policy under any circumstances". Unlike AirBnB and Sublet.com they do NOT prominently display cancellation policy so this is usually a surprise. Even if you book 6 months in advance and cancel the next day you're out of luck.

Furthermore, if you bought insurance from them it would not have covered your flight being cancelled due to COVID-19. Because it's a "health crisis". How that is a qualifier is anyone's guess but considering that one normally gets insurance to protect yourself from problems that are out of your control this is the height of sleazery. Worse, their blog post implies insurance will cover cancellations due to the crisis but the insurance details explicitly says they do not.
I have had problems with them before imposing very unusual rules about bookings but this is definitely the worst. They are nothing short of taking Adavantage if this crises for their profit by simply being deceitful. I would never rent from them under any circumstances and I would encourage letting friends and family about their predatory practices.
My family rented a house 90 days in advance for a reunion, well before the virus hit and still were 50 days out, and since airlines were saying flights would be cancelled we wanted to cancel in before we missed out chance only to find that they are using this crisis as a way to profit. IMHO this is worse than people hoarding Purell because they are not charging people who buy marked up products of their free will, they are ripping off people who rented in good faith only to be taken advantage of.

Within hours of checking into the 3 bedroom oceanfront home in Anna Maria Island, FL, the entire second floor (primary bedroom primary bath, family room, Florida room, and eat-in area) was full of hundreds of swarming termites. We called the host to get help but were not able to reach someone until the following morning. VRBO took our call and made some notes but suggested we wait to talk to the host in the morning. We spent most of the day going back and forth with the host to see what our options were. 1.) stay in the unit and after we checked out they would give us some credit but wouldn't say how much until we were gone. 2.) move to a 1 bedroom in another city 3.) move to another house in the same location but 4 blocks away from the ocean. 4.) leave and get a partial credit. None of them met our needs or expectations. We ended up canceling our stay and going home. Some of the money we had paid was credited back leaving us with a $600 bill for one bug-infested stay (less than 24 hours).

The house was very dirty and looked like the floors had not been cleaned with sand and black dirt everywhere. The AC on the first flood did not work very well. The beds were too hard and uncomfortable.

We tried to work with AMI Locals and VRBO. VRBO refused to credit us for any of their charges and AMI locals only a partial. When talking with the VRBO agent, I requested to speak with a manager. He put me on hold and came back to say the manager agreed with what he told me and would not speak to me. Why is VRBO not ensuring these locations are as described nor aiding resolve matters when they arise?

Overall this was a very poor experience and do not feel this matter was resolved to the level of our satisfaction. We will never use VRBO again nor the host.

I hope others don't have to experience what we did at this location or with VRBO and their lack of service.

It took me a few days to find a decent condo in a small North Carolina mountain town for me and two dogs to stay while our home is undergoing a renovation. I was all set, paid deposits, including a huge one for the renovation, and started to make other plans. It came to a halt when I received a cancellation notice. VRBO sent out a general message saying the place was unsafe and warned people not to deal with the owner directly. It was just plain weird. It took multiple phone calls and emails, and I got nowhere with the supposed VRBO security person who would tell me nothing. As a former reporter and one who has visited the town where I am staying for the last 15 years, I checked and confirmed that nothing was dangerous in the small town. Furthermore, all I could find was a conviction from 20 years ago for the owner, who long ago paid his debt. It is history.

But the bigger question is how much does this operation vet the properties shown online? When I searched, I found shacks and dumps where I would not stay. How does anyone know who owns these places? Does anyone from VRBO actually inspect the properties? You are better off renting from a reputable company.

When I complained, all I got was a notice telling me I would be removed from the website and be forgotten or some kind of crazy verbiage. It was offensive and insulting. It made me feel like VRBO was judging me as an unfit renter. But then again, I wouldn't want to rent from here. You might end up staying at a criminal enterprise. You might be raped if someone there has a key. I don't think this operation is up to the standards of even an average hotel, and this assessment comes from someone who wrote about travel and hotels for a number of national publications.

I don't know about you, but I want reliability once I book. I did receive a total refund. Then, I called the place that had the condo and rebooked directly, saving myself $250, most of which were the extra fees and commission that VRBO demands. It seems to care about the money, and, even though most of these platforms, say they can't be sued or responsible, VRBO obviously thinks it would be liable if something happened.

Let the buyer beware.

VACATION RENTAL #
*******ha

I was booked for 4 nights 2/5/16-2/9/16. I paid in full 10/10/15. On 1/16/16 i received an email from Ryan saying the city no longer allows less then 7 night rentals and he offered me a far inferior place across the inter coastal. I stated we booked 4 months in advance to secure a place across from beach and downtown so we could walk to everything. He offered 200.00 in cab fare for a 3000 vacation rental we made 4 months in advance. Again we booked and paid in full 4 months in advance so we could secure the location we have been staying at for 15 years. He said fine ill refund your money. I luckily found one rental left in the area and booked. As far as payment i then went back to Ryan to ask if he could just write a check for the new property manager, or do instant paypal as i did when i paid with my 3087. 00 he was holding for 4 months. His answer was i will send instant paypal on THE 24TH! The other property understandably 2 weeks before rental wanted to be paid in full to secure. Now i have to pay another 3000. 00 out of pocket to secure. Ryan said he could not refund any sooner, ill have it on the 24th.
For 15 years we have done this trip and never once had anything close to this happen. It was a nightmare reading that email saying we do not have a place to stay...
If there is any doubt to this entire situation, i have the entire email chain from day 1 inquiring about the townhome, to the numerous daily emails "shall we book" to the end and not once, even after i said so, did the word SORRY come out of his mouth, nor did i get a call apologizing...
On top of it i was refunded 3000. 00 when i paid 3087. 00. I understand its a paypal fee of the 87.00 but in this situation? Seriously.
NIGHTMARE-+-

VRBO REFUSES TO PUBLISH THE NEGATIVE REVIEW!

My two brothers and I rented a house to get together for my Dads 94th birthday in Los Angeles, California. We had paid, confirmation number in hand, and the property manager calls up 3 days before and says he has a problem, would you be interested in another house? I replied with a nice, detailed email describing why another house does not interest us. On Tuesday, May 23rd, the PM emailed us saying he still is working on the problem, we do not know what the problem is. Our first day to arrive was May 26th. On May 25th, still no word, so we call him. Turns out the renters had asked for a extension, hence his request for us to move to another house, and now the renters refuse to leave the premises. We now have NO PLACE to go. One brother came from Switzerland, the other from San Francisco for this event. After screaming at the PM, we got another house, but it was a dump compared to what we had rented and paid for. He then got us another house in a different location not very convenient to our needs. VRBO was 100% ABSENT during all of our discussions. We filed a case number, but they did absolutely ZERO to help us, except to record our conversations. I tried to get a transcript of one particular recording, but they will not release anything. Our vacation was nothing more than a stress filled 3 days of trying to find a place to enjoy ourselves, a complete and total disaster. We have refused payment to the PM, due to his 3 days of incomplete answers, confusion, stalling for time, changing his stories and reasons. If you have read this, you are now warned, good luck. Us? We will never use them again and we will tell as many people we can about our experience.

Hi,

I recently had placed 2 of my properties on the site. They have to accept your application to give you payments, shortly after they accepted! I thought I was all set. The company holds your funds for 30 days which is INSANE but ok, I thought after 30 days they will release it. My pay out was suppose to happen on the 29th of October, RENT IS DUE THE FIRST. I didn't receive an e-mail ALL day. I called to later find out I had to submit my ID to show that this was also my mailing address and it was really my property. Fine. Okay. At least I will be paid out now! Next thing you know I now need to submit a leasing agreement. Sent that. NOW, they are telling me I need a notarized letter saying it's okay to sublet the property and if I can't provide it they will hold my funds and not release them to me. I had ONE GUEST IN MY HOUSE FOR TWO WEEKS! They paid a total of 5,000 dollars and I am only getting 3,700 of this due to THEIR service fee's when they have NO service. VRBO deals with a payment company called "Yapstone". There is no number to directly deal with the underwriting team besides email which they take forever to respond too! I now have no money for rent because even after 30 days they are holding my funds and giving me BS excuses to why it can't be released! This is a HUGE scam and they will come up with anything in the book to keep large amounts of money. IF YOU ARE RUNNING A BUSINESS AND DOING RENTAL PROPERITIES DO NOT USE THIS SITE. Under ANY circumstance. Airbnb is the best, 2 days after my guests check in I get my pay out. DO NOT USE VRBO IT IS WORTHLESS