Vrbo Reviews

We booked a reservation and decided to cancel within a day. Their customer service said that this property came from another site, which I don't understand since it was on the VRBO site and there was no reference to any other site. I read the cancellation policy carefully and it did not say that the property was being booked from a different platform and that I would need owner approval for a cancellation I had every right to make according to VRBO. The cancellation policy gave us months to cancel with a 100% refund. That's what the cancellation policy said and that's what should have happened.

I cancelled a trip to be made in June 2022 on Feb 18, 2022. I should have received a refund, at the most, within 5 days. It has been 2 weeks and no refund. VRBO does not do anything but make inquiries. They believe the renter, not the traveller and they expect the traveller to handle the problem. I've had to contact the property owner several times and now he's unresponsive. I have reported this to my credit card company, which assures me I will not have to pay this charge. I have had to spend way too much time on this. Be aware, you're on your own with VRBO. Only using AirBNB from now on.

We arrived in Maui at 11 pm excited for our stay in a VRBO condo. I had received an email entitled "Keys for your stay" and assumed we were good to go with the information for entry to the property. Through either the owner's or VRBO's error, there was no document attached. We messaged the owner for an hour to no avail before reaching out to VRBO support. After being placed on hold several times and having our call dropped, we were sent an email telling us to book another property on Expedia or VRBO. By this time it was after midnight and there were no properties available.

VRBO (part of Expedia) is by far the worst holiday agent I've ever seen. They compensate nothing after a last minute annulation by the house owner. And thereafter their customer contact center hang up the phone consistently when the question gets difficult. My advice never ever book your accommodation at VRBO or Expedia. Thieves may not the right word, but unreliable surely is.

VRBO is not paying out. They owe me over $10k. They keep saying that I haven't filed a W9 tax form but I have done it twice now. I have called them multiple times and I even cancelled my future bookings. This app is the worst when using a management company. The listing has to be under one account, just save yourself the headache and use Airbnb.

Do NOT every use VRBO! If you get sick (covid) they still charge you. Their cancellation policy is the worst. They have poor customer service and do not follow up on emails or voice mails in a timely manner.

Booked twice using VRBO and the experience was bad both times! I would give ZERO stars if I could! VRBO does not have any set guidelines for the property owners. The owners can operate however they want. Once our booking was cancelled by the owner last minute saying they cannot accommodate for the weekend and gave us a partial refund even though it was cancelled on their end. Spoke to the VRBO customer service and was told they will contact the owner for a full refund. Nothing happened for days, until we followed up again and again!! In fact, we should have been compensated for the last minute cancellation as we could not find any other cottage for that weekend. Other time we were charged $500 for a broken bed "8 days after" we left the cottage. Clearly, the bed was broken by either the owner him/herself or any other guest. Got absolutely zero help from VRBO! In short, booking for any property on this website is only a hassle and horrible experience.

The house was flooded with sewer and did not get any help or refund from VRBO or VACASA. This companies are a scam. They have no personal service whatsoever. Did not even provided us with any type of refund.

This review is for the Summit County Mountain Retreats 'Chateaux DuMont' property at 1203 West Keystone Road in Keystone, CO (80435). This property was reserved on Vrbo for one night in Feb., 2022. If I could leave a 0-star review I would -- continue reading to see why. I stayed at one of the Chateaux DuMont condos as part of a group of 6. We booked for just one night as part of our group getaway to the mountains, and booked this unit specifically for the indoor hot tub. These condos are pretty pricey, so without the hot tub, we would definitely have opted for somewhere more affordable. When we arrived the afternoon of our check-in, we walked in and immediately saw the unit's hot tub in bad condition. The hot tub was gutted open on two sides (insulation dangling out) and clearly inoperable. We had been in contact with the property manager all day to coordinate early check-in, so we immediately called to ask about the hot tub.

On hold for 3 and a half hours AND told can't offer a refund on the fact that their website being screwed up was not my problem. There was no way for the property owner to contact us back and give entry info.

Since being acquired by Expedia service is non-existent for property owners. Hours on hold for customer support, non-functioning site, errors resulting in no ability to confirm booking requests yet resulting in inferior rating by VRBO for lead response times. Ridiculous hold times - who has 2 hours to wait for a rep to respond w/out authority to address any issues?

I booked a vacation property on a property for the Christmas week in Costa Rica. Two days before our check in, the owner cancelled my booking on basis that the property was damaged from previous renters. Actually, he reposted the property on VRBO for a higher price. VRBO did nothing about this. Despite their "booking guarantee" which is suppose to apply if the cancellation occurs 30 days from start day (they would assist in finding an alternative location). They did offered us some alternative in a complete different area (400 Miles away). We had to find ourselves an ok alternative, VRBO promised us that they will fully refund us for it but they gave us only $128 on the $1711 that we spent. Avoid VRBO. They should apply their guarantee as listed.

Be aware. I planned a trip and bought the travel insurance offered. I was not able to go on the trip and cancelled immediately. The travel insurance company makes it so restrictive that getting a refund is very constrictive. Other companies, Expedia, etc. have great refund policies. Do not book with Vrbo.

We rented a condo in Hawaii and paid in full on our credit card. The host mysteriously stopped all communication 1 hour before check in. We were never sent check in info and could not access the property. VRBO had a 40 min hold time. They informed us it was up to the host to issue a refund regardless of the circumstances and the only thing they could do was send an email. This is a total scam!

I have been a premier host with VRBO since 2007. I never thought I would say that their service has become so poor that I would remove my listings to Airbnb! They make no attempt to help solve their mistakes, lie to get you off the phone and then do not fix their site errors, or refuse to help and place you on hold for ridiculous amounts of time, never coming back. If you ask to have a supervisor call, they flat out tell you that you probably will not receive a call from anyone! Do not use this rental site!

I cannot emphasize this enough. Their customer service is absolutely terrible and do less than the bare minimum to help you with issues that arrive with your host. I booked a one week trip to Tampa Florida for a festival and some other events and the place that I was staying at had roaches, terrible to not wi-fi and while my girlfriend was showers sewage started coming up out of the drain and then the toilet.

I booked a place in Puerto Vallarta on January 1, 2022 for a group of 12 to celebrate a 55th birthday. Tonight, February 13, 2022, they canceled without explanation. I called and was put on hold, then hung up on.

I can't even express how horrible our vacation was because of our host and VRBO didn't care. We rented a 9 bed/9 bath house for our family to vacation in the Dominican Republic and we did not get what was listed. There were only 7 beds and 6 baths which we could have made work but there were no beds in 2 of the rooms. She stayed in a hidden room in the back of the house and would not leave the property. There was no hot water in the house and the AC worked in only 3 rooms. She recorded us without our knowledge and would discuss our private conversations with us the next morning. (We were confused at first wondering how she knew what we talked about. At first we brushed it off as if we were reading into it.)

We booked a ski holiday solely due to the 100% money back guarantee if cancelled before a certain date (we cancelled a few days before). They are refusing to refund us. Will need to go to Small claims court.

I will never ever use this agency again. Worst agency to work with. Their employees do not know their policies. They misrepresent facts however it fits their situation. Zero professionalism and communication.

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!

I have used Vrbo for many vacations before and they've lost all credibility with this past experience. If there’s an option for 0 stars, I would give it. I really prefer to give -1 star. This never happened with my AirBNB experience. I booked a suite at the Wyndham via Vrbo for a ladies' trip to Austin. Unfortunately, the entire state of Texas declared an “emergency” and shut down nearly all cities due to an unforeseen ice storm that started Wednesday night, 2/2/22.

Rental was paid in full for Bahamas. The government suddenly changed Covid testing requirements from 48 hr to 72 hr test before visa application. We were in the 72 hr window and could not comply, we were not issued visas, and were locked out of the country. VRBO said tough **. You lose your vacation rental, and there is no refund. Not even partial. So, through no fault of our own, the vacation was terminated, and VRBO kept ALL our money. Do not even remotely consider renting from this toxic organization!!!

I booked vacation property on January 30, 2022 through VRBO in Miramar Beach Florida for March 1, 2022. Seven days later, the owner cancelled my booking (advised intends to refund) on basis that property was undergoing renovations. Yet, he simply reposted the property on VRBO for a higher price. VRBO will do nothing about this, such as delisting this property owner. Furthermore, despite their "booking guarantee" which is suppose to apply if the cancellation occurs 30 days from start day (they would assist in finding an alternative location), VRBO customer service rep indicated that because I was getting a refund, they would do nothing for me. Avoid VRBO at all costs. Shame on Expedia.

We have booked through VRBO twice and neither was a good experience, but the recent one at an apartment in Paris was the worst!! The apartment was barely adequate with a television that didn't work and in an extremely noisy neighborhood, but I would not have bothered to complain about that. But two weeks after we were there, I got a message on Vrbo from the host that she had charged me 200 Euros for damaging some blinds in the apartment. It was a totally bogus claim, and I should have gotten my credit card company involved, but I assumed that I would get help from Vrbo.

I have used VRBO many times and been happy. Now I rented a cabin for the weekend through them and have always assumed renting through them is safe. I was informed by the property owner the day we were supposed to show up that the electric was out at the house and we would not be able to go. We were bummed but never expected that we would not only miss our vacation but be out the money even though it was not our fault we couldn't go. Vrbo told us they suggest the owner refunds the money but they don't mediate the situation. I never thought this would be a problem and hope no one else get caught in this situation assuming booking with vrbo is safe.

VRBO is the worst company/customer service I have ever interacted with. VRBO has zero sense of responsibility or accountability for its properties, so if someone places a misleading or fraudulent property listing, VRBO leaves you in the dark trying to get your money back from the person who scammed you. They were hard to get a hold of, evasive, poor communicators, and when you finally pin them down on it, worthless as a company and lacking in any kind of integrity. Whenever I give recommendations on a vacation or vacation stay, I always make sure to say "Make sure not to use VRBO", because using them for anything can only be described as one thing, a mistake.

BUYER BEWARE. I have used VRBO for years. I actually use to recommend them to friends and family. Always had a good experience until recently as owners (and their accomplices at VRBO) take advantage of unsuspecting customers. They are greedy and taking advantage of the pandemic for profit. I booked a year in advance only to have my booking cancelled 40 days out from the booking dates. This of course is just outside the Book with Confidence Guarantee which apparently is only 30 days. How am I supposed to know that this can happen???? Where is the warning? What ever happened to offer and acceptance. Simply contract law. I am travelling with 2 other families and the prices have increased for the same accommodation 400%. Of course VRBO's fees go up too because they are % based.

Contracted for a home that then became unavailable the day of arrival. Was given a home last minute that was filthy and had human feces in the toilet. Stayed in the house all of 20 minutes contacted property owner that the property was unacceptable and filthy I asked for refund. Owner called me liar. Refused to refund money. Lodged a complaint with VRBO who told me that they contacted the owner who refused to refund money. I will never use them again.

We had a bad experience when staying at a VRBO property. When I left a review it violated content guidelines and I tried to resubmit but was unable to. I was misled by VRBO's customer service team and told I would get a fresh link to resubmit my review and was then called and told I was not going to be able to leave any review at all. Crooked VRBO is biased towards negative reviews. This would make their bookings of that property go down so they throw up roadblocks so my true experience cannot be shared with others. SO WRONG! I even reached out to the CEO's office and Annie reached back out to me based on that and delivered the bad news that I was misled by VRBO's customer service team and they will be coached on that. I'm totally censored now and it's just not right.

After making a booking on VRBO with what turned out to be a scam and reporting this to them along with the police and banks VRBO have shown no interest and have not even taken any action on the listing. Their customer service have ignored the issue, hung up on online chat when it is mentioned and lied about contacting me in response to a review on a different site. Caveat emptor on this site, people. The listing is still open to book and the fraudulent "owner" is still a VRBO member, presumably VRBO also make no checks on actual ownership of properties posted to their website, shocking lack of due diligence.

All of the reservation dates and details were provided correctly to VRBO, and the reservation was "accepted", and the payment of $1400 made. The money was taken, but the Host immediately sent a message that the accommodation was not available for those dates, and they would not, and could not, honour the reservation.

BEWARE…Casago Snowshoe is NOT assisting customers when travel plans are negatively impacted by COVID. We booked a 3BR condo through VBRO (and Casago) for a ski weekend at Snowshoe. Shortly before our arrival, it became apparent that the latest COVID variant was highly prevalent in the Snowshoe area and a serious health risk to those at the ski resort. We were concerned and called the local Casago office to understand our options. The person answering the phone told us the office was in chaos due to the number of renters calling with COVID related concerns.

Less than a week before our family trip to Mexico, my original reservation was cancelled due to flooding in the apartment. I tried not to panic and booked a new place. There were no reviews, which would usually be a deal breaker, but there few options so I took the risk. I booked, was charged, received the Vrbo confirmation and expected to hear from the host soon. Two days before we left we still had no contact. I called the host's number in Mexico, needed to have a Spanish speaking family member listen to the message to find the voice mailbox was full. I contacted customer service the day of our departure and was told I needed to arrive at the property, see there was no one there to meet us and then call customer service. I said it will be late and dark when we arrive there due to our flight, but that was disregarded.

VRBO bad customer service and fraudulent fees to both host & guest. VRBO CUSTOMER SERVICE IS VERY WEAK, WITH reps that peak up the phone. They do not give their names...from 10 calls you, 9 customer service have heavy accents and not understanding English at all, from 1-3 who understands, most of them do not know the solutions or answer to the question. They refuse to ask for a supervisor to call you. They refuse transferring to a supervisor.... They tell you, "Hang up and call back again!!!!"

A property owner cancelled my reservation because we needed more time to pay as someone in the party was in the icu on a ventilator with expectations to recover but the group was going to cover their portion we just needed a bit more time. The reservation would have been paid in full within 30 days of arrival. We were over 60 days from the trip. All correspondence between owner and myself was on the VRBO platform. I asked owner to please refund the deposit and she could keep any vrbo fees, she declined. I then reported her to customer service where they have a guarantee of all reservations and those reservations are eligible for a full refund if the owner cancels and there is no natural disaster or house destruction by traveler.

Generali Global Assistance & Insurance Services sold "Travel Cancellation" insurance on the VRBO rental accommodations web platform. I purchased the insurance to cover a rental property stay for a group of youth baseball players attending the Cooperstown (Baseball Hall of Fame) tournament in New York. The reservation and insurance purchase was made in December 2019. The trip was to take place on August 7, 2020 to August 14, 2020. Later, as a result of Covid19 the state of New York imposed restrictions that resulted in the cancellation of the event including travel restrictions to New York state.

Events that occurred: 1) Landlord complained about our utility / hydro usage & we were g gone for 2 weeks of 8 week stay. 2) Cleaners never showed for the cleaning I was REQUIRED to schedule. 3) I was NEVER able to reach the hostess with questions, EVER! The rental office was not able to reach her either. Unacceptable. 4) The furniture broke only to find out via the repairman that it was held together with white duct tape. 5) The dishwasher is destroyed. 6) I could not find the remote for the TV. Turns out it was folded up in the sofa couch. Concerned that the bed had not been cleaned at all.

I made a booking with this company for a 2 week stay in Mexico. 2 days prior to my trip the host canceled. I figured I "Booked with confidence" so it would be fine. Spent the next 3 hours on hold with customer service. They told me the guarantee did not apply. Apparently there is fine print that is not listed online. So I booked and they did nothing except find me places to stay that were double and triple the price I had previously. They are not based in the USA and do not have to worry about holding up the claims that are made. Please remember that you are not "Booking with confidence."

I reserved three separate vacation rentals on a recent trip to Mexico and each owner emailed later to say their unit was not available. They questioned how I was able to book as each unit had been reserved months earlier. VRBO is a useless platform with inaccurate availability. After such a disappointing experience I am now receiving emails from VRBO to submit reviews for units I did not stay in. While I am new to both platforms, Airbnb was far more accurate and reliable.

Worst Company ever. I booked a vacation home through this and Owner denied the availability later. There was glitch in their system. Owner refunded his part but VRBO never refunded my money. They still owe me 300$. After several calls to their customer service, they didn't do anything and making excuses. I am not sure who to contact for my money. This is what they are sending me every time.

I made a request for a property and VRBO charged my card with their fees at once. The property cancelled my request the next day (although I had send them my card details to charge the amount of the booking), but VRBO denied to refund the fees. After checking again, the villa does not exists anymore at VRBO, and although I contact with them, they do nothing but giving me the owner's details to contact. An owner that does NOT exists!!! Why they charged me "service fees" if they provide NO service? I made the reservation request (NOT booking, REQUEST) through them and they were responsible to validate the property's existence and to contact the host. NOT me! If it was like that, I culd book through the villas' website which would be cheaper. Be aware. VRBO is not trustworthy!!!!

I cancelled a booking due to COVID and was entitled to a 50% refund. While I did receive a refund on the rent, they refuse to refund me on the lodging taxes that I paid. I've talked to multiple reps and have been lied to multiple times. They are refusing to refund me the lodging taxes that I am owed. This company is awful.

We booked a week's vacation thru Vrbo in the Savannah historical district. The loft was very nice at first glance. By nightfall, however, there was a severe roach infestation. We stayed up all night killing bugs and got no sleep...bugs coming from under the kitchen cabinets, crawling across bedroom floor, as well as crawling up the walls into the loft area. We never even turned down the beds. We contacted the owner at 1:15am and informed him of the bugs, he stated that bugs are all a part of "life in Savannah". We told him we would not be staying at his loft and would be leaving in the morning, as we were in a strange city did not want to be looking for a room in the middle of the night.

This Vrbo's stated policy: "Your refund is issued based on the property's cancellation policy. If you cancel your reservation and are within the window to receive a 100% refund, the service fee will be refunded to you automatically when the cancellation is confirmed. Refunds take up to 5 days to appear in your account." As I discovered, this is only true of the property manager is "integrated" (i.e., is on their software platform). I discovered this when I tried to rent a property, only to discover after giving them all my info, that it wasn't actually available (owner must have listed it improperly).

I am a homeowner who had a guest from 12/25-1/1/2022. VRBO received full payment on 10/2/21 and I have called twice to find out why payment has not been received. I am now sitting on hold for the 3rd time (they answer after 15 minute wait period then hang up). One of the agents I spoke with said he would expedite the case as it should have been paid but there was a hold on payment & he found no reason. Meanwhile I await over $3000 that is due me. I had a great tenant, have reviewed them and cannot believe this company can hold my money and I have now spent over an hour trying to get assistance for money I am due…. I will be pulling my account as soon as I am paid.

We rented a condo in Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii and had an unpleasant dispute with the owner of the condo. Firstly, the toilet seat was broken when we arrived and the owner admitted the previous renter had complained but he did not fix until a few days before we checked out. We left the place clean but were charged an extra $200 for carpet cleaning on top of the $150 cleaning fee. The owner claims that we scratched the bathtub and charged us another $200 for repairs. We did not damage the tub but VRBO would not even ask the owner for proof of the cost of repairs or proof that the damage wasn't already there. VRBO took over a month to contact the owner and reach conclusion which was that the owner was in his right to keep the damage deposit. In other words, the owner could charge whatever he wanted without having to prove that it was legitimate. Would not use VRBO ever again!

If you've already been wronged by Vrbo/Expedia and want to skip my story and just want to send in an email and complain to Expedia's Executive Leadership Team, scroll to the bottom for names and email address. Property Owner and Vrbo Stole My $728.75! I booked a property (Villa Del Mar) on Vrbo, the owner cancelled the invite on me (and contained a 48 hr cancellation policy with 100% refund for the client), and then Victor (the owner) told me they were in error and sent me a link to re-book the "same property again" later that day... except that the second property had a different name (Belmont Estates), different pictures, different pricing, different VRBO/Airbnb map locations AND WHAT HE DIDN'T MENTION, A DIFFERENT CANCELLATION POLICY.

In March 2020, our flight was cancelled due to Covid-19. Owner refused refund and was rude. She even said it was safe to travel at that time. Called VRBO and was on hold 45 min and then another 30 min. They said it was up to owners who wouldn’t even refund 50% at that point. Stay away from VRBO. Their "guarantee" is worthless! I chose VRBO because they advertised a guarantee but that was a huge disappointment. I paid $2928 for a service that was not delivered. I will never use them again!

I stayed in Washington, DC at an apartment which looked decent on the advertisement. It didn't have a lot of reviews, which in hindsight should have been a red flag. My friend and I got to the apartment late at night, where our host did not adhere to COVID protocols, and stayed in the apartment to tell us unimportant information for an hour. Once he left, we looked through the apartment, and found that it was in the middle of a renovation, and completely different than the advertised photos. The ceiling was unfinished in four places, the furniture was different than what appeared in the advertisement, and the toilet didn't function properly.

I had to cancel a reservation because the information on the site was wrong, it said the distance to the place was less than a mile, false information. I tried to contact more than one agent, no help from them, I tried to contact the host, no luck. I think if the site has misleading information, we should be able to get a refund no matter what their policy is. I'll put more reviews to let people know about what VRBO and Expedia are doing.

I found a property on VRBO. The property was far from me, but the price was low that tempted me to make the reservation. Just after that, a new payment was requested by the owner. (That means he increased the price) It was half an hour after reservation and in the period of 50% cancellation fee. So, I thought the price was no longer that good and since I wasn't so interested in the rental I preferred to not continue. But, strangely when I contacted call support they told me you have to pay a 50% cancellation fee! (after 1 hour of discussion!)

Had to cancel trip due to omicron virus. Service fee will not be refunded. 600.00 charged and received absolutely nothing for fee. Disgusting experience. Will never book a rental with this outfit again but does not surprise me.

I found a cabin for a friends getaway on VRBO. I booked it and received updates frequently from VRBO! We are almost to the property when I talked to VRBO because I didn’t have an entry code! This property was supposed to be off the site because it was sold! We were stranded on the side of the road with nowhere to go! 2 car loads, 5 people, 1 dog and groceries for 4 days! We wound up staying in a hotel that we found but VRBO paid for and going home the next day! VRBO wanted me to find the substitution to the hotel! We spoke to them 11 times in 16 hours. They wanted to resolve things through email! Our vacation was ruined!!

In November, I used VRBO site to make a reservation for one person for 3 consecutive nights at a small hotel. The Vrbo app kept telling me that my request did not go through and to reenter my information. I did so repeatedly, but still got the same alert to reenter. Finally I gave up. The next day, there were 5 charges for a 3 day stay on my Visa Card for a total of 1770 dollars to VRBO. No kidding.

Had to cancel a Miami, Fl stay because of a cruise having been cancelled. The owners of the property were prompt with a refund; however, VRBO charge $601 and then gave credit only to post the charge again. When I questioned the action through the property owners, the explanation was that VRBO accounting would take care of the inappropriate charge. When enough time passed without a refund, I filed a dispute of the charge with the credit card company. That stopped the payment. Then I was asked by the property owners to withdraw the dispute and the refund would be forth coming. Silly me; I agreed. Long story short, VRBO still has my $601. I’ll continue to try and get my money but will not be so quick to be cooperative in the future. If I had allowed the dispute of the charge go as intended, I would have my money.

See my complaint and the answer below. HOSTS ARE ALLOWED TO LIE!!! I am deeply disturbed. My wife booked a place Property #390110 Reservation ID ** Eunice ** Months in advance. BEFORE PAYING SHE ASKED if her deposit could be refunded as policy said it could not. My wife was told straight up- YES, she could get a refund. As we had more people decide to join us, we needed a larger place, so canceled a few days later. This was six months advance notice. She was first told she would get a refund as promised, Refund details Payment refund: $1,437.11, then no-she would not. She spoke to your reps, then yes a refund would be issued, but then no. Finally, again yes, but just recently NO-relying on the policy.

If you are a homeowner stay away from this company. 30 days passed and I still didn't get paid for my rental. Called customer service and no help at all. Just told me my payment was delayed but no explanation why. No supervisor on duty. Pretty much no help. I'm glad I canceled my account. I called the guests that by the way left me a very nice review and they told me VRBO collected the payment from them back in August. I will have to file a claim with BBB to get my money.

I have spent more than $1,000 on a vacation rental and it is horrible. It is probably my last visit to my son’s home because my husband and I are becoming frail. There was no information in this house about anything. No information about connecting to the internet or information on how the Home operates. The house is nicely furnished but the home itself is like a giant echo chamber. They have a large flat screen tv which we can’t watch because it doesn’t have a sound bar and the echoing makes it impossible to hear the dialog, The man came today to supposedly fix it but nothing has changed.

They took my money, and offered no service. I went on a trip to Thailand, and every property was a failure. They never once sent me access information. I could not use any of my properties, at all. They basically stole money from me, and refuse to refund it. This is completely criminal activity. I had to book new hotels, in every instance. They never contacted the owners, or if they did, the owners did not reply to me. I had no phone number access. This was a terrible, horrible, experience. Thieves!!!!

As I live in Phoenix, Arizona and my pregnant daughter (due January 3, 2022) and her family live in Milwaukee, WI, I reserved the unit in question on October 30, 2021 (for 31 days from December 15, 2021 to January 15, 2022) and on that day was charged $268 and then on November 1, I was charged the rest of the price…2796.53. Nowhere in the tiny amount of information I got was there ANYTHING about having to also set up parking, or that there was no free parking included. I got a notice that the day before my arrival I would get the information I needed regarding check-in: i.e. address and how to access lock box. The day before checking in, I got a text at 5:01 p.m. saying the unit was cleaned and ready for my stay. At noon the day of check-in, I got a text that had a link with check-in instructions for check-in any time after 3:00 p.m.

I am not happy will this company. It has been many months and no response from them on my vacation in Sandestin beach Florida. My room was flooded with water and I tried to resolve the situation and have not heard back from anyone.

Wow. I learned a hard lesson with this one. VRBO does not verify the properties listed on their site are legitimate. Rented a property and tried to get a hold the property owner several times to no avail. VRBO said not to worry and that the owner would contact me 5 days prior to check-in to give me the check-in information and other details.

VRBO posted photos of another staged unit, and or photos of the unit with previous owners and furnishing. This condo was so gross, 2nd hand cheap furniture, weird framed photos of Barbie and Ken Dolls on the beach in every room. A filthy, stained area rug in front of an equally dingy sofa. Outlets without plates covering the sockets, noisy old appliances. Someone placed a smaller lumpy mattress on an oversized bedframe, making it a hazard to get in and out of. There's a plastic plant plate glued to the bedroom ceiling to catch rain.

VRBO had allowed a host to verbally and financially abuse me. A host charged me over 600$ in damages we proved we did not do. I went to customer service explained my side of the story, to only find out 2 weeks later by a automated email explaining that VRBO will no refund me for being wrongly charged by the host. I called customer service at vrbo to have an explanation to why I still had to pay for damages I did not do. Every time I called, an employee would hang up after opening my file because they did not have an explanation for me. Very terrible experience. I would not recommend VRBO for your next rental experience. They do not care about their customers. Simply awful.

The VRBO business model should be investigated by the government and consumers should think very hard about ever using this service. They have listings on their website but they have disclaim any responsibility for accuracy or availability. Not do they have any minimum standards for hosts’ behavior towards customers. The other reviews posted here delineate the results of their business standards.

Phone line totally unreachable. Can't get hold of any customer services. The Website keeps resetting my settings, so it keeps turning on my instant bookings. BE CAREFUL!! And check your settings regularly!

I booked a vacation rental for November 19th and received no check in information from the owner on check-in. VRBO couldn't reach the owner and was told my payment would be refunded, after a lengthy review VRBO received messages from the owner stating I cancelled; these messages were completely fraudulent. VRBO DID NOTHING but tell me to contact the owner for my money back, this owner never replied once to me other than doctor a fake conversation. VRBO to this day is still advertising this property and has since posted a review from another consumer that dealt with the exact same situation. THIS COMPANY IS CONTINUING TO MAKE A PROFIT with facts that the homeowner isn't providing check-in information. DO NOT USE VRBO.

Booked a condo through VRBO. $99 fee; wasn’t expecting that. Next thing I know, am being contacted by Holiday Real Estate of Ocean City, MD. They posted the ad through VRBO. Charged me $303.59 for initial payment. Agreement said refund if cancellation by 7/2022. Had to cancel; done 12/6/21. I now have a 15% fee and administrative fees to pay in the amount of $201.61; I will only get $101.98 out of my $303.59. So I am losing 2/3 or 66.4% of my downpayment. Breakdown: 15% is 45.54. Admin fees: 156.07.

I took my family On a vacation for Thanksgiving in Miami FL. Rented a home from VRBO for 4 days. When I arrived the code to get into the home didn't work. My family stood outside for an 1 hr. After complaining to VRBO I was hung up on numerous times. No hot water or TVs.

When you decide to rent a property on VRBO they ask for a "deposit" to hold the reservation. They do not tell you that you have to pay VRBO a fee for using their site of 10% of what you are paying for the rental. This DECEPTION. Most people would not use this site if they knew this. They do NOT disclose this information upfront.

VRBO and VRBO's customer service is the worse service I have ever dealt with. VRBO did not show the full details to the customer (we have a business on the first floor. We put it in great detail on the owners site). The customer never received that information. I called to get the customer reimbursed and they insisted that it was my fault. I spoke with 3 different people and none of them would help. All they needed to do was give the clients $100 credit and the clients would be fine. But they could care less about their customer. I will be deleting my account and sticking with Air BNB.

VRBO.com canceled our reservation twice, two different properties a day before. After the reservation our credit cards were canceled due to fraud. We believe the reservation took our information to later shop with our credit card information.

Horrible and Depressing experience with VRBO..We booked a property - reservation **. I got the confirmation as well, but after a while they asked me to modify the reservation to dates they suggested, but when I disagreed as it was a confirmed reservation, they cancelled it even though I did not authorize it.

My VRBO was canceled at the same time I was supposed to check in because the people before me were diagnosed with Covid. VRBO said they would give my family a hotel to stay in for the night. When we had a chance to check the hotel, it did not compare to our VRBO booking. It was very sketchy and we did not feel comfortable staying there. Alex the manager just kept saying he was sorry but did nothing. I was in the call for an hour and 45 minutes. It was a complete nightmare.

VRBO is refusing to issue a full refund for the rental of a derelict property in which we were not able to spend one night there because of the health hazards. Significant blood stains as well as human and dog hair were present on the linens and mattresses. The owner, Ty **, said that the dog hair was from our dog but our dog is a Maltipoo and does not shed. The photos shown in the VRBO website are a misleading representation of the property. Although VRBO is the listing agent, the company accepted our money and should refund the +200$ due to the misrepresentation of the property that they represented. VRBO is attempting to charge cleaning and service fees when the property was nowhere cleanout presentable upon our arrival. We overlooked many shortcomings of the property but the bloods stained cut or holiday short. The photos were bogus for the same linens shown when the property was first listed (CERCA 2014) are still there in 2021.

Absolutely horrible customer service. They had a listing up from scam owners and kept telling us they’d contact them to contact us. Tell us the owner will call in the morning after contacting customer service 4 times prior, never called, customer service then tells us, "Call when you are out front." Do so, 6th call, they tell us they will call the manager AGAIN! Meanwhile the window of the actual building says it’s owned by a completely different person, and has been FOR A YEAR. VRBO only employees non English speaking CS reps so we continue telling the same story over and over again as we get transferred from one inept CS rep to the next. STAY AWAY from this horrid company. We and the people we are with will never ever use VRBO again. Use Airbnb or an actual hotel because VRBO is horrendous and provide awful support/care for their customers.

NEVER rent from anyone on Vrbo who has a no refund policy. You can agree to charges, but then they can add charges after you have received a confirmation on the initial agreement. If you refuse to pay subsequent funds, they can legally keep the entire rental cost should you refuse to pay extra or chose to cancel. This is extortion and a complete scam. What was meant to be a quick and fun getaway to view a prospective college for my child, ended up being a cost of $776.30, being billed an extra $180 in fees which I refused to pay, then was made to believe I could cancel the reservation for a refund. Once I cancelled, the property owner said she would refund my money only if someone else rented the place for the weekend.

I made a reservation to stay a month in Toronto. Six weeks later, the host canceled, stating that the dates were not available. Then, he relisted the same home for a higher amount. VRBO protected the host and would not allow me to leave a negative review because they only allow reviews to be left after staying at a place. My emails to VRBO have been ignored. I'll never book with them again because I don't want to risk the host canceling on me.

We booked a cottage through VRBO. When we arrived at cottage in DEXTER NY, it was definitely NOT what we expected. Front door was not easily opened.. Ceiling falling down. Spider webs everywhere. Hole in bedroom wall by bed. Bathhouse was atrocious! It smelled like the sewer had backed up. I couldn't stay at a place like that. Supposed to be private beach, but doesn't mention the beach is across the street. Cottage is literally nothing but a glorified shed. Host said he'd refund our money. After waiting 2 weeks, he still did not. I contacted him again and he said he was "considering it". I contacted VRBO and they were even less helpful. They said it is up to the host. Knowing the situation why would you want to be associated with such a host/property? Very disappointed. I WILL NOT BE BOOKING THROUGH VRBO AGAIN.

VRBO does not have a scammer filter, so as a host I have gotten a dozen scam requests ( they say will pay me directly from their corporate office by check) to the only real guest who actually registered with the VRBO website. VRBO allows anyone, with no registration to get through and harass the hosts. It is a lot of work to set up the site and answer requests. I have taken my site down. I use Airbnb now and my own website exclusively. It's not worth the hassle. They need to get their customer service together for their host vendors.

Rented a Disneyland condo through VRBO with a company called Funtierland. Our initial payment was taken. Then Funtierland sent a “Guest Registration” where we were asked to agree to allow Funtierland to shift our reservation dates one or two days to help them create a three day gap they could book to comply with an Anaheim ordinance. Alternately, we would be able to pay an undisclosed “gap fee” to keep our reservation where it is. Or, if we couldn’t agree, they could cancel. And this might happen at any time. We obviously could not agree, with plane and park reservations having already been made and paid for.

I do NOT recommend this company. One of their property owners ghosted me during the pandemic and kept my $ for a property I paid to rent. VRBO claims they couldn't force them to refund or communicate with me and continues to list their property. When I tried to leave a negative review for the property we rented, I was told I couldn't because I hadn't stayed in the rental. Unfortunate for VRBO because we travel a lot but will never use them again.

VRBO, home of fraudsters. If you are thinking of hosting or being a guest through this platform, please spend the next 5 minutes reading about my experience. Earlier this month I had the worst booking experience in my entire life with a platform I have been part of and I helped grow during the last 3 years. I and my partner found a cosy place in Romania to spend a long weekend in October. Unfortunately, due to the covid situation, it was not possible and, unlucky for me, the time to cancel the reservation and get a full refund had passed by literally 24 hours.

Our first time booking a vacation online. We chose VRBO. We selected a small cottage property and saw it had zero bookings and was wide open so we booked a 2 week stay with just 6 days' notice and we paid over $2K in full. However, one of us became very sick with Covid. We reached out to the host & VRBO that, due to this illness, aka extenuating circumstances, we were forced to cancel our trip. The host refused to cancel our trip dates and unblock them so that another traveler could book those dates. The host refused communication with us or any attempt to refund the "refundable fees" such as cleaning fees, etc.

I booked a stay for labor day weekend in Chicago. The host cancelled on us last minute. VRBO did very little to assist in finding another comparable stay. They pushed properties that were double the price and did not offer any financial assistance. I called their customer support, sent emails, sent messages on Twitter. After multiples of these communications, they finally said that I qualified for their financial assistance reimbursement. I booked a trip that the price difference would be covered. I am now 2 months after the trip trying to get my reimbursement from VRBO and it has proven to be extremely difficult and they're not helpful. I will never be using VRBO again. I have put probably 40+ hours into communication with them, and I am not sure I am going to receive the reimbursement.

My VRBO host did not respond. VRBO customer service promised me a hotel and a different VRBO but never got back to me. They left me stranded in the middle of DC with a pregnant wife and a dead phone while paying over $600 for a hotel on a teacher's budget. I spent over 90 minutes on the phone with them, but never got my hotel. Terrible experience.

I rented a Vrbo in Woodfin Asheville. My son visited the site and said not a good area for me to stay in. I cancelled a month in advance and they kept half of my money. The last trip to Asheville different Vrbo. Weird host lived downstairs, no lock between his house and rental no tv. Well stocked kitchen, smelly couch. Reviews on vrbo are no accurate. Will not use vrbo in future

I made a reservation that was cancelled by the host 5 mins later. Apparently, there was a glitch in the VRBO system and my credit card was charged with the full amount of the reservation. There was no way for me to cancel the reservation anymore and I called VRBO twice. The first time, I was told my case will be referred to another department.

Owners canceled our reservation. They sold the property with no warning. You must book early for Christmas. Two months before our vacation, we have nowhere to go because there's nothing left in our price range and area. I got a refund, but a lot of good that does me now. I can't book another. This is the second time a property I rented has been sold and my vacation canceled. Luckily, the first time, the new owners honored my rental agreement. No luck this time. VRBO needs to make owners honor their contracts with renters. We need guarantees.

Rubbish.Rubbish, Rubbish, Rubbish. They only want money. They do not have any customer service. Time and time again they have failed. Disgraceful. DO NOT ADVERTISE WITH THIS SITE AND DO NOT BOOK EITHER...

I've stayed at Vrbo places before. As long as you are lucky and have no issues you are fine. Otherwise, you are on your own. They actually told us this. We spent almost $5,000 on a beach unit in NJ with my 80 yo mom to attend my nephew's wedding. The post for the unit was misguiding. It is a house. The upstairs is beautiful and the basement should be gutted. Unfortunately, the reviews are for both and are together. It is clear the upstairs unit is rented to friends and family who write great reviews. It does not appear that you can rent that unit through vrbo. The basement unit is what is actually rented out. It was scary to stay there especially during covid. The place had not been cleaned for months. Recycling from previous renter was still in the trash and juel containers, etc. Were under the beds. Sticky stuff on table cloths, bathroom, etc.

In Aug 2021, my friends and I booked a trip to Austin Tx for a birthday and to also attend A Circuit of the Americas event the weekend of October 22nd, 2021. We bought tickets for the event as well as airfare after we secured our housing On Aug 16, 2021 through VRBO. Around Sept 10th, the property owner contacted us and canceled our reservation after the full amount was already paid for the property; They said that the rental had been booked since May 2021 from another site. We called customer service immediately and although they refunded our money- we were left without housing for the event. Everything was booked, way too expensive and/or didn't fit our group size or needs. I contacted Better Business Bureau and the only thing Vrbo had to say was that it was on the property owner and not them.

In early July, I reserved a condo for a trip in October. That reservation was confirmed and full payment was received. Less than 2 weeks before my departure, I received an email message from the owner/host, Sandra **, telling me that the condo was no longer available. Of course, we have family and friends who have already reserved units in that same condo. When I called VRBO to complain, they were very sympathetic and quick to offer help. A short time later, they sent out a very confusing and poorly written message telling me what I had to do. Their help was having me start over, finding another condo, making a second payment, and then sending in paperwork and proof. While this was no fault of my own, I bear the extra burden of finding something. I'm still waiting for a second reply from them. I say shame on the owner and shame on VRBO.

Have been a VRBO client as a vacation property owner for 20 years. Had a guest stay this year who had paid for his August 30 stay in full in mid June. VRBO had full payment on the 15th of June. Due to CoVid the guest thought they may have to change their dates. They booked more dates in 2022 and cancelled their 2021 booking. For some reason, without my being aware, they automatically applied the guest's funds to the next year. The guest ended up staying this year and cancelled next year's stay.

I booked a rental in Marblehead, MA on July 4. That evening of July 4th the owner cancelled my reservation and then raised the nightly price of the rental. I rebooked and received my reservation. A week before my reservation I received a message from the property owner telling me that there was glitch in VRBO's system and they undercharged me and that if I do not pay the remaining balance by the end of that night they would cancel my reservation. I replied that vrbo should be the ones to pay for the remaining balance.

We rented (and paid) for a 2 bedroom apartment in Marina Del Rey, CA. 24 hours prior to check in, the management called and cancelled on us because supposedly the property had a problem and they could not fix it in time, they just basically said they could not accommodate us and would give us a refund. But this was only 24 hours before, so I was horrified, I called VRBO immediately and let them know what had happened. I was on the phone for a few hours that evening, they were supposed to contact us with options but hours went by and nothing. Needless to say, the stress level was going up, a bad night, waking up a few times to see if someone had contacted me via email.

I booked a house two months ago through VRBO to bring my son to a Green Bay game. Less than a week before game I still had not heard from owner and got nervous. They told me don't worry. Day before same thing. Day of still nothing and instead of canceling reservation and booking me somewhere else they said I had to wait till 4 o'clock local time to consider doing anything. Here I am flying half way across country with no place to stay on the phone with these morons for an hour between layover. Just as I am getting on plane they book me for Friday night only and I am staying through Monday which Saturday and Sunday night are ridiculous to book Packer weekend.

Do yourself a favor! Do not even consider Vrbo, my son and I went over the weekend to Cabo and we made the reservation almost a month ahead. When we arrived, there was no reservation. When I had a confirmation on a email and proof of payment, we were in a place we don’t know and no hotel or a place to stay, we spend 3 hours on the phone with almost no phone reception. Customer service did nothing for me. In fact, they thought I was lying. They did nothing to help me, so sad. The host almost got away with my money. I had to fight with my credit card company for my money back.

We had prepaid reservations for a vacation rental at South Lake Tahoe. The Calder fire made staying at the rental an impossibility. We were worried about conditions in the area so called on three separate occasions to check the status of our reservations. We were assured that conditions were still safe, but more important, a FULL refund would be given if the fire made our vacation hazardous. We received a refund of $872.25 from a total payment of over $1400, proving that neither fire, smoke, closed roads, and life-threatening conditions will keep VRBO from taking your unearned money.

We had a problem with our reservation and VRBO did not help us at all, just take your money and if you have a problem they do not help you, they always told us that we had to contact the owner of the property and I would tell them but if we made the reservation with you not with the owner of the property but they did not mind helping us.

Vacationers beware! Many VRBO owners place very strict cancellation dates on their rentals. The closer you book to their "high-demand" dates and cancel, the less refund that you will receive. Recently, I booked a VRBO in Ocean Beach, San Diego with C.S, but misunderstood his refund policy, Even though I booked and cancelled his home within 20 minutes Mr. CS refused to refund my full amount. I am on the hook for over 500.00 for a rental that I didn't even get to use. Moreover, VRBO will not help in situations like this.

My family and I booked reservations through VRBO to stay at this property called the pool house in Boulevard Heights, Hollywood, Florida, the hostname is Limo. I had spoken with the host prior to my booking to verify if it would be ok to check-in at midnight without any charge. The host stated that it was ok however the night we got in I sent the message just to confirm everything was ok. I then get a message stating that I had to pay $499. As I was going back and forth they decided to take $100 off the $499 which I had no choice or we would have not had a place to stay.

Customer support is literally useless. They list unsafe properties and do not help you when you’re scrambling to find alternate accommodations. Our property was burglarized by people that knew the door code as there was no break and entering signs. The host has been practically unresponsive and VRBO told us they weren’t responsible. Conveniently the host removed the property and all their information. We had to spend hundreds of dollars on alternate accommodations to feel safe again. VRBO refuses to help us with this cost as when I called them at 3 am scrambling to find my things, they didn’t answer the phone. So that was my fault of course. This platform allows for scams to run rampant and they take zero responsibility for it. A sad excuse for a company that claims to enable “Book with Confidence”. Save your money - wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

Owners may want to be aware that when we tried to book a reservation online we received an error message that additional insurance was required, even though we had selected and agreed to pay for said additional insurance, and ultimately were unable to book a reservation. We also got a notice from our credit card of pending charges for the reservations (we attempted to book twice in case it was user error). Contacted VRBO, and all they told us was that we should contact our bank to cancel the charges because after their review they did not find any pending reservation. They never gave us an option to actually book the reservation. Too bad, because we really wanted to stay at the place, now we are looking someplace else. Too much of a hassle to book via VRBO.

Vick ** and VRBO are unethical. I booked a NON-SMOKING unit for the month of August (https://www.vrbo.com/1766011?adultsCount=2&childrenCount=2&noDates=true&unitId=2327518) and when we showed up it was SMOKE-FILLED. There was smoke streaks on the ceilings from recirculating through the vents, smoke-stained smoke-detectors, and even a condo board member who wrote a note on our behalf acknowledging the stench. We left immediately. Contacted Vick ** the owner to get some assistance and he was unhelpful, said he was in Chicago so he couldn't take care of anything. We needed to get our kids settled so we checked into a hotel to figure out what to do next.

Do yourself a big favor and stay away from these on-line crooks. Be aware that just by clicking on to reserve a property, you are out $267.00. No refunds. In calling customer service, you are connected to someone who could care less. They won't allow you to speak to a supervisor either. In addition to VRBO's outrageous fee, you are stuck for a full 5% total of the booking to the property. In my case over $400. If Covid closes the property down--Tough luck for you. This company should be investigated by the Feds as a predatory venture. THEY ARE CROOKS.

I was coming to New Orleans for a meeting with clients on some potential work and the work would require me to have a furnished apartment as I would be there for one to two years. VRBO failed to honor the agreement in providing we with the rental I thought I was going to be staying. I was hoping to get an idea of the types and conditions of the properties. I contacted VRBO "Customer Service", let's say they ain't got one. They were rude, basically telling me there was nothing they could do. I asked for a supervisor, and was told they couldn't transfer me, they were too busy to take my call!

VRBO is by far the worst rental website for customers. They don’t have the renter's back and when the property has issues, they take the owner's back. In our case, the property didn’t have hot water. We rented it for 1.5 month in Playa Del Carmen. We complained for 10 days. The property management company who posted the ad, sent 4 technicians to fix the boiler and it wasn’t fixed. After all the trouble we went through, we called VRBO to ask for cancellation and refund. The customer service told us that hot water was not listed as part of the amenities!! Where in the world hot water is an add on amenity????

The property booked at 147 Wildwood unit 417, Pagosa Springs, Colorado was not ready for the rental market.

The fact that the most common rating for VRBO is just 1 star really does speak volumes. I wish I had seen reviews like this prior to ever working with them. While I'm sure there are times when business is smooth and problem-free, the issue is that when there are problems, they have no idea what they're doing. One of the problems is that it seems that the company is run outside of the US and because of this, they aren't quite up to the same standards as a normal professional American company, and because of this, they don't seem to uphold the same values and business ethics that we in the US come to expect from a professional business/company.

We enjoyed a wonderful stay in May cottage, Duns, to celebrate a family wedding. However we were charged an excessive cleaning fee for not stripping the beds and using the grill and oven. I have since challenged the fee with the owner as I would have anticipated routine cleaning between rents to cover these elements but have not had any response. It’s a real shame as the cottage was lovely and I am left feeling very disappointed that the fee was excessive with no explanation of how it can be justified. Be aware that the Terms allow £100 to be taken from your credit card without discussion.

Had a nice stay on a property rented through VRBO - issue didn't happen until I checked out and requested a receipt of payment. Both the company and homeowner refused to provide receipt of payment. VRBO became very upset and RUDE during telephone call citing it is not the company's job to provide receipts! What kind of company refuses to provide receipts!? Never again...

Always get travel insurance... VRBO will not protect you against VRBO renters. I think VRBO should intervene when needed to protect consumers from renters on THEIR app. I rented a cottage in Florida (link at bottom) for September 12-19, 2021. We added VRBO travel insurance since we were traveling during Hurricane season, not for COVID purposes. COVID hit our house early September so we had to cancel as our symptoms and/or our quarantine wouldn't end before our trip.

As a property owner, I hope that you will not choose VRBO to list your home. I have been so unhappy with my experiences, and mainly because the company does not value its customers, the home owners who bring them so much business. As a homeowner, I have had to call VRBO customer service for many different issues, as you can imagine.

We booked a reservation at this property in Charleston (https://www.vrbo.com/1596285) for four days, with a deposit for a large group. Two months after we booked it they canceled our reservation and told us they were transitioning to weekly minimum’s. Who does that? This VRBO site doesn’t allow you to leave a review if you haven’t stayed there. It gives owners complete exoneration to cancel reservations - complete **.

Just a fair warning to anyone who is thinking about renting a property with AirBNB / VRBO / HomeAway / Short Term Rental Discussion. Don't. They are scammers and the reviews online show that for sure. I rented a 2 br 2 ba place in August and when I showed up for said rental it was only one room available shared with other tenants and a large dog and then said room was not even prepared for guests-no sheets, pillows, blankets, curtains or towels. So I cancelled my reservation based on this as I got there. I got acknowledgment from the owner via text and on the vrbo inbox that the place wasn't ready and he apologized but that's it. No refund approved because I cancelled after the 7 days prior to arrival. I have been back and forth with vrbo for a month to settle this and all they can say is "sorry nothing we can do". Don't use them if you can at all avoid them

Absolutely useless. Booked a lovely looking cottage in Wales, however when we arrived, we realised the place was very different from the photos used to advertise it. I put this to the host, who promptly told us to ** OFF! I submitted all photographic evidence via email to VRBO, I rang them 4 times, but they have not even acknowledged my email. They WILL NOT help you, VRBO stands for: vacation rental by owner. VRBO basically allow you to post whatever you like on your advert and they will put it on their site for a fee. End of. As a traveler, you have to sort out everything on your own, even if you've been scammed, VRBO WON'T HELP YOU. AVOID BOOKING THROUGH THEM OR, BOOK AT YOUR OWN RISK...

I booked a reservation through VRBO in April 2021, for a stay at Champions Gate in November. In August, the property owners notified me that they were cancelling the reservation and refunding my money. The property was immediately relisted on VRBO at a significantly higher rate, and I had to search for a new rental with less than 3 months to go. Can’t believe they are allowed to do that.

This is a summary review of our experience. We requested to directly engage the owner of the property so that we could constructively and respectfully discuss our concerns and experience. The owner never responded. The primary health and safety issues include:

VRBO - PROPERTY OWNER FRAUDULENTLY REPRESENTED PROPERTY - VRBO DID NOTHING (DO NOT RENT Property # 1025785 - Martha's Vineyard/Chappaquiddick Island): VRBO will not help you in a dispute with owner. Our property owner advertised a 6 bedroom, fully air conditioned property - when we arrived an entire floor did not have AC; including 2 bedrooms - it was +85 degrees with a 95 degree heat index. Other than the 2 non-functional rooms - we had a list of 14 items that were broken or bedding which had blood stains, broken doors, non-functional egress windows in a bedroom (fire hazard), nonfunctional external door locks, broken refrigerator..etc.

I used Vrbo to rent a property for my family and kids in Bermuda for 2 weeks at $350+/night. Upon arrival, I noticed several dead roaches/palmetto bugs in the unit and cleaned them up. Later that evening, I noticed a live roach/palmetto bug in the bathroom that quickly scurried behind the mirror when I went to squish it. After 2 days at our rental, we continued to see live roaches/palmetto bugs throughout the condo - in living, eating, sleeping and bathroom areas.

We had our host cancel on us for no reason 2 days before our vacation. Their re-booking team, they were super helpful at the beginning but when you've submitted all your paperwork to receive a refund they went radio silent. I've called multiple times, no real answers given to when we should receive our refund. I've requested a supervisor to call me back and I've still not heard anything back. Absolutely disappointing and want others to know to not have to deal with what we've had to deal with the last month.... Awful!!!

VRBO is a company that allows the owners to cancel your reservation a day before checking in, Plus the customer service is awful, it will take days before you to get a refund and days before they help you find another place to stay,

Stay away from using VRBO. Use a site that does not allow owner to rent directly to you. VRBO does not assist you if you use them to rent then have problems or if the property is not as listed. Being that you have to pay before you can even rent, the owners can false advertise then refuse to refund you anything. I rented a house in SC using VRBO. The property was completely false advertised and we had numerous problems while there. The owner refused to assist and then after I posted a negative review, VRBO removed it and said the owner accused me of lying. So the owner can continue ripping people off and vrbo will do nothing to assist and then will remove your negative review if you post. The owners know this, so they just keep doing the same thing to renter after renter. Use another trusted site to rent. Vrbo is the worst site I have ever used to book a vacation on. Never again!!!!

We have been owners of a high-end lake home vacation rental. We paid for the VRBO service and have achieved "Premium" status. None of that makes a difference. We can only speak with first-line customer service who can only do limited things. For any help with technical or more complex issues, they must create a case and the owner needs to wait to be communicated with via email. They will not call you, no member of management will reach out, they will not apologize for taking an inordinate amount of time to fix issues nor will they apologize if the error was theirs.

My reservation was cancelled as the date approached because they got an offer for a longer reservation. VRBO told me this was allowed within their policy. Be warned - your trip can be cancelled up until you check in if the owner has a better offer come along. And VRBO doesn't care - the rep literally told me this was allowed and there is nothing that can be done.

We booked a cabin in Tahoe last year through VRBO. The company that managed the property, Turnkey, cancelled our reservation. Turnkey and VRBO refused to refund our money even though they cancelled the reservation. These two companies are criminal!!!

My wife sent me a property to book in Costa Rica. For three nights the property is $965 for a 3/2 condo. Not bad. However, there are $480 in host fees, service fee, and taxes. Pass. The website with the listing info has a number that is unallocated. Their website has a customer service number that is 24/7. Call the number and you get a message that their office is closed. That is not 24/7. I think I'll use a hotel, thank you.

We reserved a property in Lake Tahoe. The air quality is unsafe, and evacuations are possible because the fire is less than 20 miles away. When we asked VRBO to help with our refund, they told us that all they were was a place to advertise their properties. So since something out of our control happens, we are out $3,000., and no one is responsible. Don’t use this site!

Please understand that my concerns have nothing to do with properties but rather corporate policies. Rather than paying "insurance" my wife and I paid a damage deposit of $3,500 four months ago for a unit we used in early August. The homeowner reviewed us, as renters, giving us a score of 5 of 5 on every issue and told us one day after we left that they released the damage deposit 11 days ago. My contract with the owner said they had 7 days to refund.

I rented a apt with VRBO in Norfolk, Virginia. Paid in advance $825. I showed up and Place was filthy and uninhabitable. I called VRBO and they asked me to send them photos and videos which I did. They told me to cancel through the app and Owner would be in contact with me. Two days later they told me it wasn’t their problem and that only owner could refund. This was a lie. Owner would not return calls or emails. I lost $825.00.

Is not as it appears on website. Dirty, old and rundown. Gated parking lot....flooded. No one was contacted regarding the situation. ****Unit 105. Dirty, musty..which they tried to hide with a strong air freshener. old worn linens, coffee maker leaked. Reached out to owners..a joke! Do not stay - awful experience!

I would love to be writing a positive review about this property, because the pictures looked gorgeous. Instead I am writing a negative review based on the conduct of the hosts. 30 days prior to our arrival the host cancels our booking and just sends a refund notice with a generic message that canceling because a family member is immuno-compromised and scared of Covid. The last time I checked this was a rental for an entire home and the family would not be there at the house. The hosts did not offer a lump sum for incidentals or inconvenience, or anything of the sort. However, if we would have been the ones to cancel 30 days prior we would have had to pay them 1/2 the price of the full stay (over $2,000) for their inconvenience, but because they (the hosts) cancel they do not believe they owe us anything.

Rented a house in Catalonia. Canceled by owner (at his will), partially refunded. Does not take care of total refund and the same house is again for rental on website. Worst renting experience ever. Support are nice, say I'm right, but they keep the money anyway!

I am an Expedia Gold Member and always try to book with Expedia. I booked a room in Tbilisi, GE through the Expedia app for 4 nights only to find out it was a VRBO listing after reserving & paying. I was sent a VRBO link and it said access instructions would be provided closer to time. I booked the room 1 week prior to my stay. When I arrived at check in time, I had no access instructions. I tried to message the property owner 3x and was unsuccessful. I called the property owner and was told I shouldn’t have been able to book the room and it was unavailable. I called VRBO customer support and talked to them for 1 hour before they booked me in a hotel room for one night. I asked to be booked for 4 nights since that was the length of my stay and they told me no. I had the choice of booking my own hotel for the following 3 night and being reimbursed later or they could find me another VRBO property tomorrow.

Although we love Sandbridge Island and the location of the house we stayed in (Spinnaker), we were extremely disappointed in the house itself and in Vrbo and Beach Pro Realty. After 15 years of renting homes at both Standbridge and OBX, I was not ready for the home that was rented to us through Vrbo and Beach Pro Realty, This home was $14,000 for the week, so upon arrival we expected it to be very nice. Unfortunately we were mistaken. We had to have 5 different contractor interruptions to our vacation to fix immediate issues such as a soaking wet carpet in one of the master bedrooms, which required the lifting of the carpet, cutting out the pad, then an industrial fan blowing for 3 days and then the replacement of the pad.

Vrbo is a money maker and, while it is nice to get an idea of what is available or book last minute as the only option, do not count on them for assistance with the condo you rent. The owner is refusing to contact us regarding the air conditioning going out during our stay and having to stay up until 4am (while cooling out littles off) for the repairman. The owner will not respond to us regarding this incident. The condo was in disarray, dirty, and unsafe. None of which is able to be addressed through Vrbo, who we booked through. Their job is to provide you info on what's available, book it and take an almost $200 cut to do so. Nothing beyond that. Big Fish Rentals are available through Vrbo and concerningly not in order.

Booked a stay via Vrbo. Huge mistake. Host never even responded to us so we had no idea how to get into the apartment, and had to book another place on AirBNB in the end. Never got a refund, and good luck getting any customer support from Vrbo. Save yourself the time, energy and money and just Airbnb (which does offer support).

We rented a beautiful waterfront home in Exuma for 7 days and 4 of our family members ended up not be able to go due to Covid. The owner refunded us $980 on July 29th through VRBO and after 5 calls to them we still have not had the $$ refunded to our AMEX. Every online person, most in overseas countries all stated the same, that they would place a case number and take the problem 1 step up as a priority. VRBO is extremely quick in taking your money when you pay, it actually takes seconds but they definitely play with their credit/refund to you. BE CAREFUL ...I will start using Expedia from now on as they are more efficient and caring about their customers needs. I guess becoming a monster in their industry has made VRBO selfish and a bully.

I had some guests that stayed recently and brought extra people along that I caught and asked for payment for. Same guests had one of their party urinate in my backyard. It's on my backyard camera and my neighbor complained. Then the guest checked out and housekeeping came to clean the house. My guest bathroom toilet seat was broken beyond repair, housekeeper said somebody would have had to have stood on it or jumped on it to cause that kind of damage. So I exercise the option to deduct part of the damage deposit from the guest.

I booked a cottage for a long weekend through VRBO and the booking was accepted by the property owner. Two days later the property owner cancelled the booking without any explanation. There was nothing else similar available through VRBO. Luckily we found another rental through a different site. The owner should not have been able to do that without a good reason.

We own three beautiful old but renovated farmhouses in the Loire Valley in France with 5 acres of exotic landscaped gardens and very large pool area with heated pool plus second pool, we allowed VRBO to book them for us this year and they promised to pay us on client arrival, their clients have paid them, arrived, had a great holiday, left and gave us 5 star reviews, but VRBO have not paid us a single cent for the 2021 season, phoned customer service about 30 times, put through to agents all over the world, very polite but useless, can do nothing, emails sent, emails received " looking into the problem" registered letter sent to head office returned, "unknown", now we have had to refuse all their booking requests for the rest of the year, after 30 very successful years VRBO have ruined us.

I had a reservation with Wyndham Inn in Newport, RI. I had the reservation for over a year. I was contacted by the property manager on July 12, 2021 saying they were cancelling my reservation, because they made an error on their part. There's festival weekend in town during the time of my reservation so I had to book a different property and paid three times higher price. While they did refund my money, they left me having to last minute find a hotel room and paid such a high price. We had a contract for a room in good faith and I believe they should pay the difference to me. They admit it was their error. According to hotel laws it is their obligation to find me and pay for alternate accommodations. However, VRBO did nothing to help me with my reservation and I still have not received the refund from VRBO. Stay away from this business. I would give them zero stars if I could.

My family and I reserved this home for a family reunion in South Lake Tahoe, CA. for August 12 through the 17 in March 2021. We made the final payment for the booking in June 2021. Unfortunately, for all concerned, California fires on at least two side of S. Lake Tahoe, created unsafe air quality conditions according to airnow.gov and CNN. Today, August 11th, the entire area is shrouded in thick smoke according to CNN. I emailed Maureen ** (the homeowner) on August 6th to explain the situation and then again in response to her email on August 7th. Below are her email responses to me.

We rented a condo in South Padre Island (Saida 1 room 205) from a VRBO "premier host" back in March and when we arrived the condo was a filthy mess. I swept the whole floor that was full of sand and dog hair. We then discovered a horrible smell that came from the living room area rug that smelled like wet dog and full of sand underneath. We rolled the rug up and put it in the utility closet. The curtains had stuff all over them and we found tissue in one of the pillowcases. The beds did not have fitted sheets so they kept moving and then we were laying on just the mattress pad that was nasty.

We had 3 very good VRBO rentals over the last year but the last one was a dump. The address is 96 Black Rock Knolls Dr. Highlands, NC 28712. Property # 1089244. We opened the door and was smacked in the face with the overbearing smell of mold/mustyness. The whole cabin stunk. They had a dehumidifier but they needed 10 more to do any good. They had 2 window AC units but who wants to hear them and the dehumidifier run all the time. We go to the mountains to open the windows and enjoy the fresh air not smell dankness and hear equipment run.

Vacation Home - Cavendish VT, property # 323696. Home is in a good location, close to amenities. It has charm, however, it is not well looked after which is a shame. The owner is responsive to text messages and calls. He is aware of the issues we experienced through text and photos and apologized for the problems. The fact that he is in NJ and is trying to coordinate cleaners and maintenance from a distance adds to the difficulties. The house has not had a decent thorough cleaning in some time. Upon arrival, we found the refrigerator had grime and blood stains on shelves, we needed to clean the fridge and freezer prior to using. The bathrooms had hair and soap scum in bath and showers. Muddy footprints in one shower area. One bath could not be used due to a faulty stopper, another bath had no plug. Bathmats were unclean, evident by dirt, hair, and perished backing underneath them. We needed to clean the bathrooms.

I accidentally booked the wrong dates. Within minutes of the error, the property owner said no problem. VRBO refused to refund me the full amount. It’s almost a month now and 3 long and frustrating calls later, they continue with these circular and impossible excuses, making me and the property owner jump through hoops that lead nowhere. Whatever happened to just treating people right? I will never do business with VRBO again.

I tried to book a house for a vacation, I contacted the host. She said the house wasn’t rentable and she did let him know the VRBO about it. I try to again book 2nd house. When I talk to the host, she mentioned the house was sold three years ago yet still in VRBO website. They took my money twice and then when I requested a refund they play you and send you from my department to department to not give your money back. They are the worst company I ever dealt with. Please book through some other website or book a hotel instead.