Vrbo Reviews

Booked through VRBO who turned it over without our knowing to another booking company. That company in turn relied on yet another booking company. We arrived and the apartment had been overbooked and we were left standing on a dock with 6 people, 8 pieces of luggage and nowhere to go for our 3 day stay. We were able to get our deposit back from the owner, but not our VRBO fee nor the extra expense we had finding accommodations at the last minute. VRBO kept passing the buck, apologizing and telling us to contact this person and that person.

Vrbo fees are getting ridiculous - to the point that we are unlikely to use their services any longer. We booked a ski condo and their outrageous service fee along with taxes and the owner fees added over 20% or $2000+ to the advertised rate.

This homeshare company is a total scam. They take the money from the guest and sit on it for weeks/ months before disbursing to the host. They do nothing to earn their commission or processing fee. I was told that I had to be the one to contact the guest to pay the 2nd payment due me as the host. Why? I don't have their credit card payment information. It goes in their bank not mine. But that's what they said and I was flabbergasted. This, after the guest had checked out of the home 10 days prior to me calling asking where my earnings were, and I was told I had to chase down the money!

I reserved a vacation rental more than 60 days in advance for my family and I to have Thanksgiving together in Las Vegas. A week before out travel the "owner" apparently cancelled our reservation without any explanation (not that an explanation would have helped). I paid for the rental will in advance, still waiting for the refund, but more importantly my options for finding lodging is now questionable and/or certainly without the same options I had 60 days ago. If I were to have cancelled I'm certain I would have been charged a fee, yet no consequence to the other side or even an obligation to assist with finding alternative lodging. DONT TRUST THEM!

We have used VRBO in the past and had several excellent experiences with them. Until now. We had a home owner cancel our stay just 2 days before our vacation. It took hours on the phone, along with numerous texts and emails before we were able to receive a complete refund about a cancellation that was no fault of our own. Our vacation was completely ruined and the company was essentially like, "Sorry. We can't do anything for you. But would you like to pay for another property from us?" Never again after such poor quality service.

The owner cancelled my reservation due to damage to the property but didn't refund money. VRBO will not refund my money and continues to push me off. They have said at this point they wont refund me for at least 4-6 weeks. I will now miss my nephew's Bar Mitzvah because I can't rebook any accommodations until I have my money back from the first booking. I will never use this company ever again.

We rented a big home off of VRBO in Milwaukee WI for my fiance's 30th Birthday. We were planning to have friends and family all come into town to celebrate. Unfortunately, none of that was able to happen. My father had gotten sick (incredibly aggressive cancer) so we had to cancel. He was in and out of the hospital the weeks leading up to the event. We wanted to reschedule at some point but they would not allow that as an option. He was in the ICU and then released into hospice care. 3 weeks later he passed away.

I joined VRBO as a beach homeowner looking to rent my house over ten years ago. My listing number, which was assigned to you in numerical order of when you joined, is 47,***, which is a relatively low number. VRBO then cost me $156.00 per year, and I was able to work directly with renters, and they had all of my contact information and could contact me directly as well. I don't know how many time VRBO has been bought and sold since then, when it was just a simple mom-and-pop website started by a couple (in Texas, I think).

We were looking for a very nice house in Maui where we wanted to celebrate a milestone. We picked one on VRBO available for our dates. We entered our credit car info and got an error message saying "sorry your dates are no longer available". It was not possible to change our dates so we tried to find another house. The process was this time successful and the place was confirmed. The down payment was immediately debited from our credit card. But at our greatest surprise the following day, we received the booking conformation of the first house as well as the debit of the another down payment. Since 5 days we are trying to resolve this double booking problem with the resolution team of VRBO. They only deny any wrong doings on their behalf and are unable to resolve our problem. We are very disappointed by VRBO. We don't recommend to use VRBO.

I will NEVER book through VRBO/Homeaway again. We were booking a home for a very busy weekend in NOLA. We entered our credit card info on our first choice property and got an error message saying “sorry, your dates are no longer available.” We quickly found another property for those dates and repeated the process - same error message followed by “try these alternative properties.” In a desperate attempt to get a place rented we attempted this one more time. FINALLY we got a place confirmed.

I made a reservation for New Zealand through VRBO. After about 30 days VRBO cancelled the reservation apparently due to sickness of the owner. 3 weeks later I am still waiting for a full refund. Hours spent on the phone and lots of promised but I'm still NZ$300 short. I received zero help from VRBO in rebooking accommodation and so far I have spent over 3 hours on the phone, mostly on hold. In addition everyone, except VRBO it seems, understands that changing money to and from foreign currency costs money, in this case I will be about Cnd$300 out of pocket. If I had cancelled I would have been upset at being treated so shabbily but it was them that cancelled so I am furious. I suggest anyone take a real hard look at VRBO before entrusting them with a whole bunch of your money, if things go wrong their "Book with Confidence" slogan is just that, a slogan.

These people have no earthly idea of what they are doing. They confirmed my reservation via email. I then learned that in fact the reservation was not confirmed and it needed to be confirmed with the listing agent. They charged a service fee of $190 without a confirmed reservation, and were unable to provide a receipt for the charges. They suggested I review my credit statement for verification. Awful, incompetent group!!!

Was quoted a price of $139 per night as the advertised price but billed approx $280 per night and then saw a disclaimer that they would not refund my payment which was made only an hour earlier. These people seemed to be ripping people off in my opinion.

I have had 2 experiences with the Bait & Switch by Property owners on VRBO's site and the company will not hold the owners accountable for unprofessional marketing. In both cases, I entered my search criteria (# people, dates) and the same properties keep showing up. When I inquired to reserve, one property owner responds that it doesn't actually sleep as many as the page shows. The other property owner shows a quote, so I went through the whole process of reserving and entering my credit card, only to receive a "revised quote" from the property owner that was more than THREE TIMES the original quote. In both cases, VRBO customer service says they "are not supposed to do that" but offer no recourse except to send the owner a message. Why not kick them off the system? I will not be searching with VRBO ever again. Waste of time and an unprofessional experience.

We tried to rent an apartment in Asheville. We saw one and paid monthly rent upfront for November thinking platform is safe. Owner didn't care to call us at all till we call him the day we need to arrive. He answered the phone and told us that the property is rented till March!!!, but it looked available online?! Now he has my money and Vrbo can DO NOTHING other than "telling" the property manager to pay money back. Wrong wrong wrong. Don't use vrbo, stick to Airbnb.

I tried to book a property through VRBO. I got an error message. When I tried again the dates were crossed out. I moved on to a different property. The first property charged my credit card, and I never received a confirmation email. When I contacted vrbo customer service. I was asked for a picture of my cc statement. I emailed it, and I never heard back. I called again. They acknowledged they were having website issues on that day and "I would be made whole". I called a third time to check on the progress. After being passed around to 4 different customer service people. The last one was extremely rude. I was told they would only refund half the amount. I'm currently disputing the mistaken charge through my credit card company. If there is a technical problem with the website, customer service is rude and incompetent. I won't use vrbo again.

We booked a villa in Las Terrenas, DR for our honeymoon on Oct. 24 and the property manager now tells us our reservation was not booked. We called customer service and a woman told us she'd 'get back to us,' but hasn't. Our flights are already booked to the DR for Christmas day. We have no place to stay, and VRBO and the property owner have our money.. This is our first time booking with VRBO and we didn't realize they are owned by Expedia. On our last trip to the DR, our car rental reserved through Expedia was also overbooked so there was no car at the airport. We had to pay almost three times as much to another company on site. We filed a BBB complaint and found there were over 100 before us for a variety of reasons. Stay far far away.

I listed my house with VRBO in the past. After some bad experience with their guest I decided to do traditional lease on my property. After 1 year lease the tenants moved out. I had problem finding someone with a strong application. Because of my mortgage payment I decided to open my listing on Vrbo and Airbnb. The house got booked right away for four night on Vrbo. Guest successfully checked in to my house. 24 hours later I discover that I don’t have a payment from VRBO. I called customer service and they told me that I will receive the payment in one month. I was explaining them, that I had this listing with them before and of course I would never agreed to receive the payment 30 days later. I would prefer them not to stay there at all. Because I have to pay for the utilities and mortgage out of my pocket.

Used VRBO and Homeaway for years renting my Beach Home in Gulf Shores, they were great! However after Expedia bought the business, they now charge 4-9% to my customers, on top of all the other fees that have to be paid. Further, since I live in Texas and my Rental is in Alabama, I have a local management company, take care of my guests, collect the money and service the home for a fee. I just used VRBO to help book the home and send the info on the local management company to do the actual booking.

I contacted VRBO after a surprise $3000 fee upon upon check-in on a 6 day stay that totaled $1600 on the website. It turns out owner CAN do this as this was the response from VRBO: "There are some fees the property owner will not be able to charge at the time of booking and will need to be paid at a later date. The property will need to inform you before check-in of what those charges are. They can't ask for additional fees after check-in."

Don’t trust this company. I booked accommodation through them and the owner contacted me saying his villa wasn’t available and offered me a villa of a lot lower standard. He also said he wouldn’t refund me, I contacted company on their help number only to be told there was nothing they could do to cancel the booking and get me a refund, even with the accommodation not even being available and the proof I had. BEWARE!!!

My family and our extended families go on a trip to Pigeon Forge, TN every year using VRBO. In the past 7 years going, we have never had a bad experience until this year. We stayed at Property id: 1663499 LelahRae’s Getaway. Our complaints include, Expecting a working hot tub as advertised at time of booking...it wasnt! The description of The property by owner was not accurate. The cabin is literally back in a hole (not on 5 acres in between 2 mountains with a large yard), with a rundown barn/shed in the yard that looks like it is falling apart/condemned. Long driveway that is impossible to turn left into without backing up with a 3 point turn.

My first time using VRBO I selected a property and the dates of my trip and submitted by payment in full despite my reservations to do so. The two days later I received an email from the owner canceling my reservation because the dates are not available. VRBO should be able to block out dates that are not available and post information about rental requirements. For example if a property is only rented from Saturday to Saturday, an interested renter should not be able to select Friday to Friday. I will not use VRBO again.

For one, the “owner” refused to answer her phone and would ONLY talk via email. So we chose a different house on VRBO because the vibe from first woman left us leary. Well the next “owner” was just as shady and the address given was a COMPLETELY different house on Google Earth. Not only that, but several large homes (10-15 bedrooms) have the same exact pics but with different amounts per night. If you're looking for a vacation rental, I recommend NOT using VRBO because you’ll probably get a rundown home, or find NO home at all!! In my opinion, it’s a bunch of scammers who are running off with your money and providing nothing they promised! STAY AWAY!

Be aware! They show property available, you pay in full and then find out at a later date the property is not available! Thank God I contacted owner by email to let them know we're arriving late because of our flight. Owner sent an email telling me property is not available but would not respond to any phone calls! So why was the property they said available for that time in payment accepted?

We went on their website and picked out a villa; the "property manager" that picked up our email "David **" property owner "Jullian Design LTD" was a fraud!!! We got a contract. All looked ok; wired the deposit; never received a "welcome packet" and became suspicious; when we questioned David **; he said the villa was rented by the owner and he will return our deposit; we have been chasing him for 10 days and he keeps pushing us off.... FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD.... do not use this thief!!!

I signed up Oct 21 2019, I just sold my house. Moved to bnb in the area for 2 weeks while looking for a place, I have 2 kids that still go to school in the same area. The bnb I was in wasn’t available for longer so I found a property in VRBO that is comfortable enough and close to the school with enough rooms and parking. I submitted the request. Wrote the letter to the owner about us and that I needed for 11 days total cost 2,614.00$. They accepted. I was charged, money withdrawn and then right after the owner texted that oops the driveway was just fine and I won’t be able to park, so I asked will street parking be an issue, she was honest and said yes and we had 2 vehicles and possibly my older son vehicle, so looking for parking every time we come back wasn’t an option.

We had a wedding in Spring Lake and wanted a nice location to stay during the event. We rented the “great Gadsby” because of it being in Spring Lake and thinking it would be nice to stay along the lake close to the church. We thought it might suit our needs. The first bit of concern about the rental I received was when I asked for the address so I might drive by and look at the place, but the rental person wouldn’t give it to me. I ignored this and decided “how bad could it be?”. It’s advertised as a nice house on the lake after all.

Our rental was beautiful and we truly enjoyed our week in Georgia... that is, once we were able to get into the home. Our party of 6 adults and 4 young children were stranded in Georgia’s summer heat while we waited more than 5 hours for a homeowner overseas to respond to our messages. We needed a code to the lock box. No response. We tried to go through VRBO customer service, thinking they would have a way in... What a waste of time. The representatives were tired, rude, blatantly wrong and unwilling to actually listen. Did I check the website? Was my email correct? Of course they had no code.

We vacation in the outer banks every year and decided to try a VRBO this time. What a mistake!! The house had several annoying maintenance issues like the door knob falling off, broken bed frame, broken storm door and inoperable gas fireplace. The more concerning issue was the gas oven that would only function in broiler mode and occasionally shot surges of fire. This was not only a huge inconvenience but posed a safety issue as well.

We rented property ** for a girls week in La Cruz Mexico. I was a long standing fan of VRBO, but this property was a huge disappointment. No working AC, pool didn’t work. The property owner refused to work with us so we called VRBO and we were told it was between us and property owner. No help at all but we were also not allowed to post a bad review of the property to warn others not to rent. If VRBO doesn’t want to mediate for their clients, that is their call. But not allowing a bad review for a bad stay means I can’t trust their business to be fair.

Beware, this could happen the day before your trip and there's nothing you could do about it.

Updated on 10/19/2019: Listing Property # 1800259 is now live on VRBO. It is the SAME property that I inquired about (different listing # taken down form website). DO NOT inquire as this property, I'm told by VRBO too late, is in FRANCE, not Gatlinburg TN. Somebody has to stop this scammer.

I recently had a bad experience with a property manager and reached out to VRBO for support. They have been no help at all. The manager was able to make up false accusations with no evidence while I had pictures and facts to back my story. It has been 3 months of frustration and delays on VRBO's part. I will never rent from this company again. Basically, when you rent from their website, you are on your own if you have a problem. Their customer service is nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

This is massively misleading. Don't give a per night price and then inflate that cost. It's poor customer service.

VRBO recently moved to a new payment processing system. Basically, property owners now have to pay 3% each time a renter makes a payment IF we want to continue having our rental income deposited into our accounts 5-7 days thereafter. The alternative? Wait until after your renter checks in, and then receive your rental income 5-7 days after that. For many owners, including me, this has caused serious implications to our balance sheet and budget. For example, I have been waiting 2 weeks for $700 of MY rental income to show up in MY account - 2 weeks or more that VRBO is earning interest off of my money, instead of me.

When we bought our vacation house this summer, I thought listing on VRBO/Homeaway was the obvious way to get the renters we needed. I was warned by others to be careful and that my assumption was flawed. Several people I spoke with said they had left VRBO/Homeaway and switched to other sites due to various issues. I wondered why?

East Fork Cabins Greer AZ. VRBO O.K.. Neat, clean, orderly, well equipped. Great locale. Much to do. Comfortable stay. Friendly management lives on site in own cabin. Very satisfied with owner and VRBO. Reservation service was responsive. Owner was responsive and gave excellent advice and recommendations. Wonderful experience.

I lost 900 $ in this website. When I wanted to reserve a property, the website keep sending errors but it took 900 $ from my credit card. I received no email or confirmation. Now I have a problem with them sending that money back to my account!

In searching for a vacation rental thru VRBO I calculated the lodging tax on their properties in Portland Oregon to be about 25%. That seems to be way over the 11 1/2% Portland say on their site that they charge????

VRBO is a huge disappointment. I have a complaint and there is no one to talk to. When you contact them, a person in a foreign country answers the call. They are not allowed to tell you where they are located. You cannot talk to someone in the US. I paid $350/night for six nights for a home in Cashiers, NC. It boarded a hunting dog kennel. Dogs barked day and night. The dogs are not mentioned on any of the reviews. It took two days to find another rental (on my own). I asked for my money back. The owner said no. I could not talk to a manager at VRBO. I was very upset with what happened and my inability to discuss the problem with VRBO. Anyone who uses this company runs a big risk.

A large group of drinkers rented my property in June 2019. They wrecked my house with about $10,000.00 of damages. The renters are demanding their deposits back. I have asked for help since June. Home Away and VRBO DO NOT have anyone who can solve your problems! I have been waiting on a call back from them for 5 months. As the property owner who has been in business with VRBO for nearly 20 years, when you have your first problem, do not expect help. They will ask you to prove repeated what damages were made. I am in my 5th round with providing the same info again and again.

VRBO may be the worst company I have dealt with in all of my 66 years. Their customer service is rude and do not care about anything but your money. They obviously use agents located in China as determined by their accents and the hold music is Chinese music. If I was a property owner using them for management, I would definitely pull my property away from them. All they care about is getting their service fee, which is not cheap.

I no longer recommend VRBO. I've used this service multiple times in the past five years and each time the platform gets less predictable and reliable. Commonly available dates are inaccurate on their site. This had led to my family booking "available" properties only to receive a "property unavailable" emails later that day or the next. This has happened multiple times and always occurs after VRBO has already sent me full confirmation information and charged my credit card.

We've had a credit card dispute with Ms. Sara ** of Lancaster PA who cancelled our reservation but kept our money. VRBO has been no help at all in resolving this dispute. Customer service puts us on hold and leaves us there.

We spent nearly $2000 for a weekend rental and the house reeked of garbage that had been sitting in a garage for 10 days, the dishwasher was full of dirty dishes, the beds were unmade, the screens torn or absent, and the bathrooms were urine stained with hair in the tubs. The gas grill was broken that I was told we could use. We ate for 2 days and then bought charcoal for the other grill so we could celebrate a birthday for my husband who was turning 70. The kids had flown in from around the country to celebrate as well as my 2 year old granddaughter.

Owner accused me of damage to his property. Deposit was not returned. Owner was not required to provide me with evidence of damage. Owner never responded to my request for proof. I provided proof (text messages) from person who provided us with keys that we had not done any damage to VRBO. VRBO said “too bad” case closed. No return of deposit!

I used to use VRBO for every family vacation. Now though, the fees that they have tacked on is so out of control that the rental ends up being twice the amount. They state that it's for 24/7 customer service on your trip. WHAT? They can't help ** if you're in a rental. Why wouldn't you just contact the actual owner? This site's greed has lost them this customer and from the looks of it; many others. Avoid fees: USE THEIR PLATFORM TO LOCATE RENTALS AND DO A GOOGLE SEARCH FOR OTHER VACATION SITES THAT DON'T BEND YOU OVER.

Rented a 5 bedroom house near Disneyland. The host canceled 40 days in advance. No way to find another property like that in this little time. VRBO said they can't do anything. AIRBNB is the way to go.

As both a VRBO guest and Vrbo home owner, the number of 1-Star reviews totally shocked me, but I can understand the frustration of what people have summarized in their reviews: You make a reservation at a home with the expectation for a wonderful time only to find that the place is not as represented or is a dump or isn't available upon arrival at all. Then on top of this major disappointment, we have a hassle retrieving your deposit or even worse, your entire payment ... and Vrbo generally says that there isn't much of anything that it can do to help you resolve the mess because it's just the intermediary in matching up the home owner and the guest.

VRBO has made it a policy now to hold Owner's funds for at least 30 days AFTER a guest checks into your home. That is absurd. What gives them the right to hold your money when you pay an exorbitant amount of money to list and a portion of the rental cost to them for just having your listing on their site and taking your money? I am going to do my best to find another way to rent my Vacation Rental. VRBO is way too greedy and they do nothing to help travelers when there is a problem, which was my case, when I rented a home through them.

I checked out on Aug. 3, 2019 received an email on Aug. 10 saying my deposit was returned, it's Sept. 23 and I am still waiting on it!! Now VRBO wants screenshots of my bank account to confirm I never received it!!!! NO! They know when a payment does not go through! I've been told to wait to the next billing cycle, was given a release code, told it was on me and it was on my bank, now they want screenshots!! Hell no!! If I don't get my refund I'll see them in court, and I will make money and they will foot the bill! This is nonsense!

I wanted to rent a cabin on or near the Pecos river in the area of Pecos New Mexico. I found an ad from VRBO that stated a rustic cabin on the Pecos river. The ad stated that it had a "half bath". The price was $60.00 per day according to the ad. After the total for 2 days was totaled up the price was $261 and change. This price included $50 clean up fee and a $59.00 insurance policy for damages. I still wanted to go so I paid the fee. Upon arrival I was unable to get the key for the cabin due to the wrong information supplied by the owner of the cabin (Sondra **). I never got to go in the cabin. From the outside of the cabin it was obvious that there was no "half bath". I was told later during a phone conversation that there was an out house and 5 gallon bucket with a seat on it, in the bedroom. The cabin was NOT clean just from looking in the window. I have asked for a full refund but to date no refund. VRBO was honest in their ad. Luke **.

I'm an owner. My guests checked in 3 weeks ago (2 different reservations). HomeAway/VRBO is having issues with the bank transfer. I'm owed several thousands of dollars. They are unable to tell me when I'm going to be paid and no one is taking any responsibility. I'm getting ready to call my state attorney's office. Do not list your property with HomeAway or VRBO... Just use Airbnb.

Never will I trust VRBO or the property reviews again after the experience I had in September 2019 with property ID #**, Case # **. I can’t imagine with what other renters were comparing this place to. Neither the company or the owner is responsible or accountable in any way. If there’s a problem, it’s tough luck for renter. Property was not clean, and shower backed up and overflowed. I sent pictures and details for proof. Checked out early and began correspondence with VRBO and owner. Requested third night and fees be refunded. Owner said VRBO had the money, VRBO said it was the owner’s responsibility. Both dropped it. Emailed owner who did not respond at all. VRBO refused to even send a link to review the property. BUYER BEWARE.

When I first started listing my property 10 years ago I was highly satisfied with VRBO. As of late, I have become increasing disappointed with the product. The fees are getting completely out of control. I get charged an annual fee (which isn’t cheap) and then my guests get charged a 20% fee along with taxes and credit cards fees (which VRBO charges ME!!). It is getting really out of control. Now they have changed the policy that I won’t get paid until AFTER my guest checks in, unless of course I pay ANOTHER fee! It is very disappointing to see such a great company turn out to be so incredibly greedy and unscrupulous. I am searching for another platform that will deliver me the advertising I need without all of the ridiculous extra fees charged to myself and my guests.

Booked a nice spot in San Francisco, 8 hours from home for a business trip through the VRBO app. I received an email from vrbopay@homeawaypay.com which now I know is fraudulent but said my credit card was refunded and only accept payment through Zelle. Plenty of texts back and forth with the supposed property owner Tifanny **; even called her on Sunday to confirm the pet policy and she texted back that she was in church. May God send lightning strikes that individual's way.

Omg don't know where to begin. If you have listed a property with VRBO you are probably already upset with the fees they are now charging. But NOW they are withholding funds until check in. Seems like there should be a law against that. It's OUR money!!! THEN I have a project manager assigned to me and she totally LIES to get me to switch from a fee based payment vehicle that gets me my money when paid (but I still have to pay 3% which is BS) to VRBO payment vehicle. She lied to me and said it was prompt financial distribution with no fee. So I switch. And they now tell me that I will not be paid until my renter checks in!!! LIES!!! If anyone out there knows of a good rental site OTHER than VRBO and HomeAway, I would love to know about it!

This is one of the most unpleasant experiences I have ever had with booking a vacation rental. The first place I requested was listed as available but then the owner contacted me and said he needed to wait and see if he could book it for a month. So the search continued and I found another place. This time the site took my entire deposit immediately out of my account (something VRBO staff had told me would not happen) and then the owner of this place called and told me it was not available and it was VRBO's fault for listing it.

I booked with all information on people and pets included. Then was charged addition 200 for pet fee. After already booking rental. This should not be allowed. All info should be given at once. Would of been cheaper for me to stay at a hotel after all the fees charged. Very disappointed.

I booked a 5 night stay on VRBO. Then I found the same property on another site much cheaper, so I cancelled the VRBO reservation. I received an email saying the service fee was being refunded and the property owner would be refunding the deposit. Foolishly, I trusted this email. 3 months later I was reviewing my credit card statements, as my travel companion and I were sharing costs and I noticed the service fee was NEVER refunded, but the property deposit was. I contacted VRBO and they wanted every detail... making it a very long process for me to get my refund. DON'T TRUST THIS COMPANY!!!! Review your statements carefully!

I have had my homes listed with VRBO for 17 years. Now they are a money grubbing corporate wreck! They do not care about the homeowner at all and it shows in all aspects of the business. I dont know where to start, Put it this way, They charge so much that going through a realtor or vacation rental property manager will cost the same if not less than doing it yourself. VRBO used to be perfect and now NOT AT ALL! The should change their name to VRBCMG, "Vacation Rental by Corporate Money Grubbers."

I performed a search on VRBO for an oceanfront condo and ended up getting FIVE different prices by the end of my conversation with a VRBO rep. After entering the dates and other filters, several options popped up. I found one that looked great and was posted as $268/night. But when I clicked the link to book it, the price jumped to $311/night. I called VRBO to asked why there was a higher price when I went to book. The rep first explained that it was because the owner of the condo hadn't updated the rates. Then he said it was because rates fluctuate. So what is the point of entering the dates you plan to stay?? The rep told me that the actual rate was $239/night (LESS than what was posted).

I am an owner with a property listed on VRBO. They 'incorrectly' listed my home (and several others) in their site search criteria under a neighboring upscale community. We were unaware of this issue until a renter brought it to our attention. This renter relied on VRBO's search criteria thinking they were renting a home in this community. When arriving at our home (located in a different community) they were upset and posted a negative review as 'if' we as owners had falsely listed our home this way.

If I could give a zero rating I must certainly would. Customer service is horrible. I rented a condo in N Myrtle Beach that smelled of mildew and mold. In short Rental Sites are not inspecting these homes. No one is inspecting these homes. I left after the first night and Home Away Or VRBO refused to refund my monies. I have spent 4 months going around with customer service. No one returns a call and when you call in only to get a case number and told someone one would call you back. Home Away, VRBO told me that the owner would not respond to their calls or emails. So why is Home Away still listing her property???? Home Away denied a refund saying I did not meet the 30 day refund policy. What a crop of BS. I only rented the condo the day before leaving. I even emailed the owner to ask if she had any fragrances in any manner explaining I have allergies.

Booked an expensive ($5000+) house for Thanksgiving week and paid half in July. Received email two months (Sep 2019) before arrival that the house reservation was cancelled. We have 8 people flying in for a family celebration...and now no house. It seems VRBO and owner forgot to mention the house we were renting was for sale. Owner was happy to let us know today that the house was sold and the deal closed. NO SUGGESTIONS FOR HELP...Disgusting. VRBO will refund us (hopefully) and that is where it ends. No way can we find anything for our large group now.

Beware of using VRBO. Since they are essentially just an advertising platform, they will do practically nothing to help you if there is a problem. We abandoned our rental 7 hours after checking in, as the place was disgusting and had mold and cockroaches. We could not recuperate the cost of the rental and had to immediately find and come up with money for another place. VRBO was not only dismissive of our dilemma (ie. "No one else has left a poor review on the property, and since it's not technically an unlivable space, you will need to contact the homeowner yourself"), they were also devoid of human decency ( ie. "Seriously, 3 cockroaches isn't an infestation. It's not like the place is crawling with cockroaches" ).

We were evacuating from our home in Beaufort SC due to the impending hurricane Dorian. We had a confirmed, paid reservation for an apartment in Augusta GA. We were 20 minutes from arriving at our destination when I received an email informing me our VRBO reservation had been canceled. I was outraged since I knew reservations were difficult to find with so many people evacuating to this area. We had a previous hotel reservation that we had cancelled once the VRBO apartment had been confirmed.

I just received notice via email from VRBO/vacationrentals.com/Homeaway that it is apparently now “required” to remit the lodging taxes that I have been remitting for years. No big deal until I clicked on the “tax settings” in my Homeaway account and discovered that Homeaway is going to charge me substantial “service fees” on each and every type of tax (state, county and city) in order to make the tax remittances. This is highway robbery and ridiculously bad business on the part of Homeaway. These new charges are on top of Homeaway notifying we owners a couple of weeks ago that as of the date of the notice (NOT in advance) it was going to keep rather than send to us, 100% of our guests’ rental deposits until each guest checks in, unless we agree to pay an additional 3% charge over and above the 3% Homeaway is already taking from our gross rental receipts.

I have rented our oceanfront cottage with VRBO for the past 6 years. In the beginning it was a membership and your guests had the option to pay by credit card or by e-check which was a free option. I was very comfortable and enjoyed my experience but over the last few years, it is more like corporate greed. Now credit cards are 3%, no free option, there is a management fee to my customers above my rental rate, I still have the membership fee and now the payment company is charging another 3% fee for the payments. Last I checked, I am the one doing all the work! It is no longer more beneficial me to use VRBO than to have a local rental company handle it all. The next issue I have is with the trip insurance. I live on the outer banks of NC and at this moment there is a storm brewing with 175 mph winds with the center of the cone forecast to come straight over us.

VRBO has a policy that requires my family to drive into a hurricane that is scheduled to hit the NC coast during our visit. The Governor of NC has issued a state of emergency due to the impending storm. If I had booked hotel, I could cancel for no cost. Help change VRBO POLICY. I would be happy to change my date when a hurricane was not approaching. Help!

I would give them zero stars if I could. This company has no shame. They have a monopoly on the market so they figure they can continue to gouge both the owners and renters. They really don't do much of anything for their so-called guarantee (and charge fees they add on to the owners' rates that the renters have to pay) and owners who pay a substantial subscription fee, must use their 'payment system' to be paid and have now added on a charge of 3% of all payments if owners want their deposits upfront!!! Unbelievable. :(

Very disappointing and frustrating experience. And possibly financially too (still pending...). Property ID: 4941098. Address: 21 Marina Drive, Gloucester, MA. Issues observed upon arriving at the above property: Trash outside the unit, Cleaning supplies in front on the unit, Basement unit not identified in description of property – only “downstairs unit”, Dehumidifier inside unit not working properly, Musty smell, Rotting food in the refrigerator owner asked to be disposed of upon arrival, No flat sheet on bed. Sheet, pillows and bed cover did not appear clean, Dirty, stained chairs in living space, Bathroom shower stained and visible mold and mildew in multiple cracks inside the shower stall, Only ¼ roll of toilet paper with no extra supply, No curtains on windows – cardboard barely covering privacy space (for single female renter), Owner said she occupied top part of house, however not present and top part of house rented out which was not stated in property description, Owner mentioned killing spiders upon entering the property, Not ready for guests, not healthy and not habitable.

Last February 2019 I rented a condo through VRBO for 2020 for the months of January thru March in Mexico. I paid in full as was required. The owner just canceled my reservation! Even if the reservation is guaranteed doesn’t mean the owner can’t cancelled. Now I have plane tickets and no place to stay. I would NOT recommend this site!

Be aware that when you book through VRBO or HomeAway, you are paying a service fee on top of what you will pay the property manager who uses VRBO to advertise their home or property. It does state on the site, but in teeny tiny copy - “taxes and fees are additional” adjacent to the other fees - cleaning, processing, pet, etc, but it doesn't say upfront a flat rate service fee or even a percentage of what they will be charging you. They do send a confirmation email prior to booking, but I think it becomes unclear to some consumers what VRBO is actually taking from you and what you get out of this "service fee".

We rented a unit at the Sea Gypsy through VRBO. This is the first time using this company to book a vacation rental. Unfortunately the Sea Gypsy has very sketchy property management company. They were understaffed and didn’t have the room ready as per the agreement. In fact they had left the door wide open (security issue). Room wasn’t ready until 1.5 hours after the scheduled 4 pm check in and violated the agreement, and the room wasn’t cleaned properly. When I tried to put in a complaint through VRBO, they cut me off at first after putting me on hold for 15 minutes.

VRBO has bought most of the competition, and has been putting the screws to owners, in the form of fees, even charging owners a fee to get their own money! These fee are then passed on to customers. Before booking with VRBO, check other sites, Flipkey, Florida rentals, Airbnb, or if possible the owner directly. The rate are almost always less. VRBO does not have customer service, as an owner, I cannot contact them most of the time.

I showed up at the property I had rented and it was completely misrepresented by the pictures. I had to walk through a falling down entrance past broken chairs, an old refrigerator and a pile of rotting boards to even get to the entrance. The place was filthy and unsafe so I contacted VRBO for help and they wouldn't assist at all. I never stayed at the property. VRBO told me I had to work it out with the owner who was not available. She is still harassing me because I put in a dispute with my bank. Very poor management. Book through Airbnb, so much better managed. VRBO is no help at all.

Hey, all you VRBO OWNERS! Can you believe what they did to us? Now keeping our rental money until AFTER our (yes our) guest moves in! I have been a longtime VRBO owner and ever since Expedia purchased VRBO, they have raised prices to my guests, forced me to pay credit card fees and now have taken MY MONEY from MY GUEST and giving it to me AFTER my guest checks in. Not sure quite when, but AFTER. I am so frustrated with VRBO being so greedy and always taking...taking. I pay $499 to be on their site. I have a 5 star rating and guest LOVE my cottage. Owners...we need to let VRBO know this is not acceptable.

I cannot say enough bad things about this company. I was on hold for thirty minutes before I spoke to someone with an awful connection, not from me. The fees for owner and guest are astronomically high even compared to hotel fees. Their web platform for owners is so overly complicated. On top of all that I have to find out through the phone that they hold funds for 30 days after the guest pays. Are you kidding me??!! With Airbnb our funds are deposited within three days!! Awful company!!

DO NOT USE VRBO UNTIL TAX GLITCH IS FIXED!!!! I'm a property owner and I've used VRBO for 6+ years to list multiple properties. Overall I've been satisfied with them. Until this year. In the past, there is the option to enter fees and tax rates for city and state (it's mandatory to collect and remit to city and state). This year VRBO is now remitting and submitting State tax BUT NOT CITY TAX. Therefore after each booking, I have to hassle the guest to pay the additional city tax. It's unprofessional and unacceptable. I did not realize this glitch for 3 months which cost me thousands of dollars out of my pocket. VRBO is NOT fixing this issue and therefore I will be cancelling my subscription with them. Unfortunately this will cause me to "start over" with reviews and status and ultimately cost me rentals and money. DO NOT USE VRBO UNTIL THIS TAX GLITCH IS FIXED!!!!

Hello! I am a homeowner. I have a house listed on "Airbnb" and their process was so easy, payments are the very next day after check in. So, I decided to list on VRBO my available dates for more bookings. I received a booking for July 24th through the 30th. The guest was amazing. Came and went. It is now August 17th and I still haven't received my money from the booking. They have put in three "tickets". The last email I received said it was issued on August 6th and I should have it 5-7 days. I am still waiting for it and the one that was booked after it. Once my money is received I will not be listing my home with them.

BEWARE!! VRBO does not stand behind the rental agreements made by their condo owners, who can cancel an accepted rental with down payment AT ANY TIME FOR ANY REASON. VRBO does not protect the traveler. They will try to find you another place to stay, but if it is not the quality or location you want, it doesn’t matter. The traveler has to scramble to find alternate lodging or cancel vacation plans, while the owner is not expected to honor their rental commitment.

VRBO is by far the WORST booking company I have ever used. I booked a house in Orlando in June for a vacation in November. I was quoted $1500 price for the house, and put down a deposit. I logged back in in August to look at my reservation, and the price now says $2100!!!! I contacted the property manager and did not receive a reply. When I contacted VRBO, the representative said that they could not help me, that they could only contact the owner on my behalf and leave my number. I never received a reply. I called back and finally got a phone number for the manager, and he has still not called me back. The reservation will NOT let me CANCEL online, it must be done through the property manager. I just don't understand how it is legal to change the price AFTER you've put down a deposit. Never, never neverrr use them!!!!

Don’t use this company. I’ve been trying to get a refund of $27 since the beginning of July. I’ve made several phone calls to correspond to these people. I talked to someone at the end of July who said I was refunded on August 2nd. As of now it is still not there. So, I talked to someone else today and they insisted it was refunded on August 2nd. So next step I need to research on credit card to find the refund. So, I pulled up my statement activity from Jan 1 to now. And, I just found where they refunded it, but dated it April 26th. How on earth was I to find that when I was looking at August dates. This company is ridiculous and needs to be held accountable for the trouble and aggravation they put their customers through. Airbnb for me going forward.

VRBO payments/credits. Recently used VRBO. Homeowner was very helpful and explained VRBO had made some changes. Takes the company several days to process payments and credits. Over a week for credit. Where is technology??

I obtained a rental from VRBO at Jubilee Landing Orange Beach, Alabama. The rental company was Aqua Vacations in Gulf Shores, Alabama. We have rented condos through VRBO for many many years during the summer and for the entire month of September! We have had the most unpleasant condo rental experience with Aqua Vacations, the owner is Dana **. We rented Jubilee Landing 207 from their rental company to fish the last weekend of snapper season 8/1 through 8/4 paying $702. I paid for an additional parking pass, informed their office we had a 28 foot boat and paid for a boat slip. I emailed and called in advance to inform their office we would be arriving late and asked if we could park our boat and trailer at the condo until morning.

We were original members of VRBO and the company was sold to Expedia and things went South quickly. They don’t want you involved in managing your own property. They want to automate the entire effort, which does not work. Then they want to tack additional expenses to your customers and it’s both expensive and not needed. Every customer review on our condo was a 5 star and VRBO suspended our account because we would not use their automated booking system. We pay $499/year to list our condo, but VRBO has turned greedy and wants to dip into customer’s pocket now too. As property owners we want to ensure our property is not abused and their system does not ensure this takes place. We limit 4 adults or adult children combination into our 2 bedroom condo. VRBO would cram 7 or 8 in order to make more money.

Owner misrepresented property. Total nightmare. VRBO treated me like a criminal because they misrepresented property. I mean they are rude. They protect owners no matter what! I called and told them I would never do business with them again! Owner accused all kinds of things. It was all a lie! They sided with the owner! I GUESS IT'S A MONEY THING!

I tried booking a vacation home and requested agent remove a $300 fee. The agent did not respond to my request and just booked the vacation home. I canceled the reservation immediately but Agent is only willing to refund half my deposit of $1500. VRBO was completely useless in communication with the agent. I would not recommend working with VRBO to anyone.

I booked 2 vacation rentals at the same apartment in Italy for June, 2019 (booked in Dec 2018). I paid about 1/2 of the rent as a deposit. I received an email from VRBO about 6 weeks before the rental saying my reservation was cancelled as the property agent had gone bankrupt and I could file a claim in Spain if I wanted to (I live in Canada). Nice! I was under the mistaken impression that since the payment goes thru VRBO the money is held, providing some protection for the renter against unscrupulous renting agents - not the case.

I rented through VRBO because I believed them to be reputable regarding payment transactions. I paid the security deposit for a rental property followed a few weeks later by the final payment amount - I was paid in full. Then I received an email from the property management agent saying that Massachusetts instituted a new tax law requiring I pay an additional $360 for the week's rental. VRBO as well as the managing agent had known that this tax was required PRIOR to my signing the contract & paying the deposit. I was not informed that an additional charge would be required nor was I allowed to cancel the reservation with a full refund of money (I would have lost 50%).

Terrible experience! Sat on hold for 26 mins to book. They charged my card 8 times for over $4500! Never sent me a confirmation email! Spelled my email wrong! Employees can’t spell! Couldn’t adjust the rates per the owner of the rental! Made me cancel the entire booking after pretending they couldn't find my booking because they can’t spell my email address! Long wait times. Dumber than dumb employees. Worst company ever!

Wife and I rented a cabin in Gatlinburg TN for our twenty second anniversary. It was not as advertised. The first picture in the ad showed a pool with a waterfall. When we got there the waterfall did not work. There was a Keurig coffee maker so we went out and bought K-Cups for morning coffee. That did not work. The ad states there is an air hockey game, dart game and a pool table. Air hockey only scored on one side. The darts did not stick to the board. One of the cue sticks had no tip. The ad states about a Jacuzzi. Went to use it and there was scum on the back side. Ad show recliner and leather couch. They were old that when you sat in them you sank hard to get out. The mattress was old. Could fell some springs. Also bugs were inside. Not many but they were there.

Very upset about this. I checked in. Didn't sleep all night because I was dive bombed with traffic all night. The unit was almost in the highway. I had paid for 6 days. After my 1st night I told him I would be checking out and would like some of my money refunded. He refused saying, "You signed and agreement" saying "Our policy says only if you cancel 2 weeks before." THIS WAS PURE MISREPRESENTATION. I am aghast the VRBO takes no accountability for their owners.

I rented a vacation condo from VRBO in the South Lake Tahoe area. There were eight people all in their seventies and eighties and we looked at the rooms and found that one bed (double bed) was OVER 40 inches tall. The other people with me were older than myself and wife, so we took that room. We bought a step stool and found that it was inadequate for us to get on the bed. I felt as though I was in danger sleeping on that tall ** bed, so we decided to sleep on the living room floor.

This Summer I decided to use VRBO/HomeAway to rent our Beach House down the shore. I will never use this service again!!! First of all, a Homeowner does not receive any payment... any payment! until the Renters check in the home. Renters check in on a Saturday, payment is not received until Wednesday. Meanwhile, deposits and payments were made by Renter months priors in some cases. AS far as Customer Service Support you will stay on hold for a very long time & the general attitude of support is "Oh Well, there's nothing we can do."

I searched and found 2 homes to rent for a girls get together on VRBO. The first quote was $1084 for a week that included all fees and the other was $800 including all fees. On both rental requests the owners replied that the published rates were incorrect. The $1084 price quote became $2200 plus fees and the $800 quote became $1800. This company needs to correct the rates quoted or the owners need to honor them as published.

We have used VRBO before without issues. This time we are renting a condo with '5 star hosts.' After booking, we are informed that our total has gone up $26.00. After contacting the hosts we got a story that VRBO increased a fee that was meant for a different property. We were refunded $25. The deposit is nonrefundable. We are still dealing with the hosts and keep getting different stories pertaining to the overcharge. A vacation we thought was booked and going to be wonderful with 5 star hosts, is turning into a time suck and disappointment for a time that should be calming and fun. We can't recommend VRBO.

I recently reserved a VRBO listing for my trip to the Samba Fest in Coburg, Germany. I reserved it a few weeks ahead of time as there were 200,000 people expected to attend. The listing is 2873632ha. Once I arrived in the town (Rodental) I spent 2 hours trying to find the location. The address given on the VRBO listing did exist, and was indeed a castle, but only a museum. Finally found out this listing is actually 350 miles away in Austria. We scrambled to find accommodations, while trying to talk with VRBO online, but no help. My daughter, through our phone conversations, was only able to find 2 other locations within 30 miles that had an opening. I called a different number the next day, and was told they could get us other accommodations, and I explained the situation with the samba fest and the number of people attending.

I booked and fully paid for a rental months ago. Without warning or explanation, a few days before my travel date I received an abrupt rude notice of cancellation. This action taken by VRBO/Homeaway has caused me incredible inconvenience and disruption of plans made and lacks any real compassion or understanding. Apparently a contract with VRBO can be cancelled by them without real concern of the impact of this action. I am appalled by their treatment of me. I thought a contract was a contract-apparently not so with this company.

I saw a listing on VRBO today for a luxury villa in Maui to rent in February at a ridiculous price of $1,495 a night. This place was unbelievable! I had 2 or 3 email exchanges with the "owner" and told her I wanted to rent for a family reunion and wouldn't be able to book for a week or two. She said that would be fine. I went back online about an hour after our last email exchange and the property was no longer listed on VRBO under the property number I had found it before. However, I found the same property under a different property number on VRBO and it was listed at $11,000 a night! I also found it on another luxury villa rental site for $11,000 a night. I called VRBO three times (the first time she put me on hold to investigate). I was told when I called the 2nd time and 3rd time that if the property wasn't listed on the VRBO site then they couldn't help me (in other words, they wouldn't investigate).

The house was ok. Pool was cloudy the time we were there. We ordered a grill and had to call about it when we arrived. The pad they put under the grill wasn’t big enough so I was charged 25 for grease on one of the bricks. Charge 195 dollars said a bed my twelve year old daughter slept in that she broke the frame no way in hell. Charge 30 to get back rest of deposit because my credit card was compromised during vacation and he has to write a check to return what deposit he is giving back out of 750. Oh and a 12.50 fee to do all this. He is a scammer and doesn’t let you write reviews. Don’t stay at one of his properties. You will be sorry.

I would like to see the regulatory agencies put this company out of business! They insist that you work through them and not directly with the owner! Please...if you are considering a rental with HomeAway or VRBO, don't go through the company. I was made to wait 17 full days following my checkout to get my security deposit back. By the time I got it back, I was no longer allowed to review the property! In the "fine print" somewhere that you never see, it says that if the property owner reviews you first, then you have only 14 days to write your review and not the full year that 4 different agents told me on the phone! And for one of my rentals, the owner told me should would not return my security deposit if I wrote anything negative in my review. The company thinks this is fair to the customer. Seriously???

We rented a home from “Buy and rent from the beach reality” in New Smyrna Beach Fl. Our experience with this real estate company and VRBO was terrible. It will be our last time booking through them. The website pictures and descriptions were deceitful and nothing like what the property was in real life. Dan and Cindy were rude real estate agents and would not help us to fix this situation. This place was not a vacation. We couldn’t wait to get home. Terrible.

I was charged $1,500 security deposit on 6/18 for a three day stay that started 7/18. I don't think they should have charged me until a week prior. I completed my stay and called for my refund, and they have informed me that they are not going to refund me for another 2 weeks. This means that they have used my money for 49 days. I'm wondering if they are using people's deposit for their cash flow problems. I talked to the owner, and he doesn't even see the money.

A Baton Rouge rental offered what seemed to be a good value in a reasonable location. As a large family looking to travel together, discovering rentals to sleep 7 can be difficult to come by. For us, the price was a large factor in the decision to book this rental. Per the reviews, the neighborhood was deemed “seedy” but safe. So we purchase Travel Protection from VRBO and confirmed the booking.

Rented VRBO two story apt. in San Antonio TX for grandfather's funeral. Rules were no extra guest after 8pm or $50 upcharge would apply. Well my father and two brothers came to see me at 11am in morning. As soon as they arrived the owner sent me a message. "You need to tell your guest to leave now." "Failure to comply with my rules will be grounds for cancellation of your reservation." I didn't see until next day. But they were only there for about 15 min. Next day I saw message and felt like I was being spied on so I asked VRBO for transfer. The agent said "we can't just go into their account and take the money out" so I was stuck. VRBO admitted, and so did owner that I violated no rule but VRBO proved powerless to protect their client.

When I sent in my request for the rental property I also asked for and paid for cancellation insurance. It was to be granted when the owner accepted my application. The application was accepted. Unfortunately, the calculations were inaccurate and had to be redone, by cancelling and reinstating the agreement. My purchase of the cancellation protection was not reinstated. This I did not find out until last week. To get it now is an additional $500. As much as it was not my error, VRBO after approximately 5/6 hours on the phone with higher and higher ups + insurance agents (who owns them?) I still have no insurance. VRBO in my mind is like a malignant growth unstoppable and inoperable.

We had stayed on a property in Hilbert, WI and given an overall 3 star review by the owner. We were rated above average for Communication, and below average for Cleanliness and House Rules. I am not sure why we were scored below average for cleanliness as we had tidied up the place before leaving: countertops were wiped, dishes were washed and put away, and trash was taken out. The fridge and garbage basket needed some wiping down but nothing major, beds werent made but we figured the sheets were going to be washed so they didnt need to be made, and we had our trash sitting outside of the trash bin because the trash bins were full prior to our arrival.

We have made a booking through VRBO for a holiday flat in Gozo. We have booked and paid full amount for the lodging and 2 hours after we have made the booking and have also received the confirmation that it was confirmed, we have received an email stating that the flat was no longer available. They send us the refund but not full amount. They have deducted €25 for nothing. This is an irresponsible company and do not try to make any bookings through it. This is a fraud for sure. And another thing... I have rated VRBO 1 star because I cannot do otherwise. For it doesn't merit any stars at all.

VRBO does not really protect you and you cannot trust the reviews. We had a cancellation for a large reservation less than 4 hours before check-in (day of reservation!!) and we cannot leave a review for the property to protect others from getting burned like we did. Here is our saga: We made reservations for a booking with 3 adjacent lakefront houses for a 30-person family reunion. It was hard to find a place for such a large group, so we booked a year in advance (paid in fully July 2018 for a July 2019 reservation). We contacted the owner in June 2019 to start getting ready for the reunion.

Over the last week, we have been trying to rent an Outwe Banks, NC home on VRBO and have been very disappointed. We finally found a house that we thought was perfect. We requested a booking based on the rental rate listed on the VRBO site. The owner then replied that the rent was, in fact, over 3 times more than what was listed. So, we spent hours looking through additional homes for rent. We next submitted a down payment for another home. We were emailed (over 24 hours later) that the owner had not responded so that the listing was not booked. So, we’re back to square one. This is not worth it!! We’ll look only at reputable rental companies from now on.

My husband and I prepaid for a 4 night stay at Property #744264, owner Laura **, in Napa, California. We paid months in advance, $1,200 for the 4-night stay, but before our trip she doubled the rate to $600 a night and told us that if we didn't want to pay, we could go ahead and cancel. The way VRBO is set up, we can't leave a review for that property because we didn't end up staying there. So anyone in the future may get their rates jacked up to $600 a night, months after they think everything is all set up. This is bogus. Beware of VRBO and don't believe the good reviews since they set it up so that you can't leave a bad review if you get screwed over.

VRBO charges extra fee that is not mentioned in initial price of place that I rented. I only noticed the fee I was later charged when I checked my bank account later. The fee should be stated in original price of the place that you are renting. I will not be renting through them again.

I would not recommend this company. Although they were able to get my money back after the guy never showed to let me in my rental, they were very clear that I was at his mercy! Your money goes right to the owner and the company cannot control rather you get a refund or not if the home owner flakes on you. You are NOT protected like the web page says! If the guy hadn’t finally been reached (a day later) they would have “looked into it.” Meanwhile I am still out the $279 dollars and the money for a hotel room for the night.

Selected a VRBO property to rent, had an ongoing discussion with the property owner for the month prior to the rental dates. After a 700 mile drive, we arrived at the property to discover that there was no A/C, washer, dryer, towels, or linens as advertised. We quickly discovered that the property did have a well pump that worked 80% of the time. After the fact VRBO insists that had they known they would have provided equal accommodations; which is difficult to believe as it is a remote area and it was the 4th of July holiday week. The VRBO ad was the same for months preceding our selecting the rental and the amenities played a big part in our final decision.

The condo we rented was nice and had no problems with the owner. When I tried to get my deposit refunded it was a nightmare. First of all it is really hard to even find contact information to call customer service. Finally got a number and was told the refund was put on the card to call the payment provider. The payment provider is a third party of VRBO. Why would I have to call someone they pay to take care of their payments. So they ended up calling them while I was on the line.

We got a condo for a week in PCB Fl. It was the filthiest place we've EVER stayed. VRBO customer service was rude, and very unhelpful on getting anything resolved. Sliding door wouldn't shut, an inch thick of dust, pubic hair was in the shower, the list goes on. After numerous calls they finally wanted to reimburse us $50 for trip. That didn't even cover the blankets and cleaning supplies I purchased. Needless to say, don't book through them. Save yourself the headache, stress, and money and go directly through the owner of property.

Inquired about property 8960857 on VRBO via their web owner email. Given my recent unpleasant experience, I wanted to ensure the legitimacy of the rental in NYC. The owner contacted my job by using social media to investigate my background without my permission. After several threads, I was ready to book the property and she/they made the rental 30 day minimum so I could not rent. Please note the property was available via Trivago and VRBO for the dates of my travel prior my inquires. IE housing discrimination.

My rental was lovely and my host was great...but the insurance I purchased for my trip from CSA Travel Protection and Insurance Services represents Generali U.S. Branch was not. I arrived a day late to my rental due the delay/cancellation of my flight. and was informed after making the claim for the lost one night of lodging that: "Unfortunately, there is no coverage under this plan for unused nights if you have to arrive late to your rental. While we understand the circumstances were out of your control there is no coverage under this policy for partially unused reservations. As such, no benefits are payable for your claim." I was naturally unhappy with this resolution. I purchased this insurance in good faith that it would provide recovery of just such an occurrence. I feel I must advise the buyer to beware that purchase will not be as it seems.

We had a wonderful week at Jax Beach. I rented this unit from VRBO even though Nottingham Realty & Rentals is who actually has the unit. I have rented beach property either at Jax Beach or Fernandina Beach for the last 20 yrs and have never had to pay extra cleaning fees. However, the expectations of cleaning was excessive for this unit. Nottingham Realty and Rentals “adheres to a strict departure cleaning protocol.” As written on their rental agreement. You are expected to sweep, vacuum, clean refrigerator, wipe down all services, clean sliding glass doors, empty trash (I get that), wash all dishes and put away, (not put dishes in dishwasher and leave running as I have done in all other units I have rented) clean trash cans per Susan and list goes on, As Susan from Nottingham realty stated in her email to me “Departure day guidelines and excessive cleaning page from lease,” is sooo correct.

I've been with VRBO now for 6 years. I have followed their progression from an online booking source that allows you to run your own business to a company that will force its way into your business. VRBO will add a surcharge on to your rates as much as 9% which your guests will pay since VRBO funnels them into making payments by credit card. Your guests are then forced too pay it or look for another property to book. VRBO also forces you to accept or decline their inquiry immediately otherwise they mark you down and put your listing in a place where it gets less attention. Go ahead. Try to get help from them, but good luck touring the United Nations of dialects that you're going to encounter on the phone. A horrible company, interested in only making money off of you and your listing!

I’ve tried to be a helpful client and communicate problems with travel / times of arrival. Only for the company to not stand by their guarantee. The home owner rented the room to someone else that I’ve paid for in full and then told me I could not check in the date I paid for. She refuses to refund the night. Because I had communication with the owner Vrbo refuses to stand by their guarantee. So I’m out the money and a room supposedly guaranteed by Vrbo.

Renters have no rights with VRBO. I reserved and paid for a vacation rental with VRBO 6 months early, and 2 weeks before I was to arrive the owner cancelled it. I called VRBO and after being on hold for 20 minutes I was told that there is nothing they can do besides help me find another property (good luck 2 weeks out). After a long conversation I was told that the owner has the right to cancel the reservation at any time, including on check-in day. If this occurs the only thing VRBO will do is help you find another property, which they do by using their site the same way you can (so basically nothing). You do not have a reservation even after you pay for the property, just a simple hold which can be terminated by the property owner at their whim.

Not as Advertised. Book a one bedroom suite with kitchenette for this long weekend. Taking my son who has special food requirement son so made sure to book a room with a kitchen. Pics showed one bedroom with kitchen. NOT.

I booked a property through VRBO, something I've done many times before, through instant booking. I called my family and let them know the details. About 45 minutes later the owner cancelled it stating that it was unavailable. The dates were still open on VRBO so my brother booked it. This site does not promise that you will have a place to stay. I called and waited on hold 45 minutes to get someone who told me it's not VRBO's problem. They don't guarantee anything. Fair warning. Now I have to find a rental over the 4th of July.... Thanks Kim **, you're a HORRID MANAGER!!

I live in the U.S. I travel frequently in the U.S. Mostly I stay in hotels or RV parks. Over the past few years I have stayed in 4 VRBO properties. Only one stay was without problems. When I have experienced problems, I have called VRBO for “traveler support.” The calls are transferred overseas & the level of customer service is extremely POOR. After not getting resolution, I ask to speak to supervisor or to be transferred to a U.S. call center as maybe the language barrier is a contributing factor. Reps are trained to keep the caller on the line & continue trying to assist. I have called multiple times & spoke to multiple reps. None of my requests for supervisor have been honored.

I have used VRBO several times, specifically to rent properties on Hilton Head Island, SC. I won't use them again. There is a real lack of communication between VRBO, the owner of the property, and the potential renter. I have just again had a bad experience trying to rent a property in the Holland, Michigan area. The personnel I encountered from VRBO used a script to communicate. They were literally unable to communicate w/o it and therefore unable to resolve issues. Rent directly with an owner and save yourself a great deal of grief and money.

Do NOT rent your home with VRBO. I was a homeowner who used VRBO for years before I had to sell my home to pay a tax bill. It was a great house in a beach area and was very popular and I made VRBO tons of money and helped as every homeowner does, make them look great and improve their reputation with great photos and reviews of homes that they do not own but take a piece of the profit to basically advertise on their site.

If i could rate this service a zero, I would. VRBO allows their customers to be scammed. I was contacted by a VRBO email saying to pay a customer deposit through Zelle to the owner and it would be refunded. Long story short, I was scammed out of a lot of money. Trying to work with customer service and the security team was a nightmare. I've been on the phone with them at least 6-7 times within the past 6 days. I was contacted by the scammer again through email and they had my ACTUAL CASE NUMBER when telling me to call the Trust team at 877-228-3146. Which by the way is a scam number because the actual support number is 877-228-3145.

I had booked a house on VRBO for me and some friends and family to spend a nice weekend catching up. After reserving the house for the dates I wanted and pay a hefty down payment, I figured I was OK to start planning some things around the house to do. After a few weeks, maybe longer, I get an email from VRBO saying that my rental for the dates I specified has been canceled. No reason, no word from the homeowner, just a "You're out of luck bud, screw your down payment, it meant nothing." So now, everything I had planned for in that location I had to call and cancel, and I'm back looking for a place even more last second for me and a bunch of people to stay. Until VRBO holds the homeowner SOMEWHAT responsible, I highly recommend using another service. Stay away until then unless you like making last second changes to your travel plans.

Booked a vacation rental thru VRBO/HOMEAWAY for 2020. Had to cancel due to medical reasons, gave the owner 6 1/2 mos. advance notice, she refuses to return down payment of $4745.00 due to her NO REFUND policy. She re-rented the property immediately after I cancelled, but still will not give me my deposit. Seems to be running a SCAM operation, wonder how many others she had screwed. Trying to file a claim against HomeAway, but keep running into one problem after another. They ask numerous questions and require multiple copies of proof of rental which have nothing to do with my cancelling (i.e.) proof of age, Doctors certificate, proof of medical condition, date of medical problem, etc.,on and on. I and others I know, will NEVER deal with VRBO/HomeAway again. THE WORST!!!!

I inquired about a rental property in March 2019 and received an email back from someone posing as the property owner. Because I received the email back from the VRBO system, I did not speculate that I was in contact with a scammer. A few days later I sent payment to the individual, still believing I was in contact with the actual property owner. A few days after that, I received an email from the VRBO trust and security team letting me know there was a security concern on one of the properties I inquired about.

We used VRBO to book a 3 bedroom, 3 bathroom suite at the Prince Resort in Cherry Grove, SC. The bathroom vanity had hair and garbage in it. There were pee stains and smells on carpets, kitchen floor wasn’t mopped, dust on night stand, handprints, food marks on walls and doors. Management company was notified and sent pictures and nothing was done. Elevators were not able to handle the volume of traffic. We paid way too much money to have had to stay in filth. WOULD NOT RECOMMEND VRBO, CAROLINA PALM MANAGEMENT COMPANY OR PRINCE RESORT.

My listing is a 5 star rated listing on 3 booking sites including VRBO. A long term guest (3 months) booked 9 months in advance and even went to the trouble to come stay in the middle of summer to (preview) the property for their upcoming long term stay. They were excited about coming to stay for 3 months after the preview visit. One month into their stay their medium dog was aggressive with one of our medium dogs. Our dog was defending itself and nipped their dog on its rear end. We were very apologetic and covered their vet bill. They irrationally vacated 48 hours later. We offered to be sure our dogs were kept in our dog run the rest of their stay but that wasn’t good enough. The cancellation policy indicated they would not receive a refund. Vrbo and VacationRentPayment (Yapstone) also explained there would be no refund for the remaining 2 months of their stay. In our state this was an implied 3 month lease.

1st, their system kept crashing, then locked me out of my own rental. 2nd, called their help number. On hold for 30 minutes, was told couldn't see anything, call headquarters. 3rd called new #, (est hold time 10 minutes) after 22 minutes, someone clicked on but never said anything...8 minutes of that & I started writing this. I STILL don't know if my booking went through!

We were supposed to have payment received for summer rental property by June 6. It is now June 21 and we have called three times looking for our payment. Our renters paid in full in May and VRBO said the $ was supposed to be disbursed to us on June 6 however no one can tell us why it hasn't been disbursed or what they propose to do about our receiving our rental $. They have promised to call us back each time but no one has called so we have been forced to chase them. Also they are holding our funds and collecting interest on this money all while not owning up to their lack of reimbursement. Not professional at all and very disappointing.

I booked an VRBO in Belfast Ireland last August 2018 for this July 18th 2019. I just received an email Jun 19th from the property manager that this property is not available. They did not send me any alternate property to confirm. They simply said, "We are refunding your money." This totally unacceptable. The Open is that week and everything is full everywhere in Belfast. How unreliable this company is.

VRBO has no quality control of the properties they advertise. There is only one customer service number and they are the worst robots for people. Know absolutely nothing, keep putting you on hold and still have no info for you. I rented a property that as soon as I walked in, knew it was disgusting. Talked to the property owner several times and finally decided I could not have my family stay in this filthy place. It had not been cleaned or updated in years yet the reviews state otherwise but from 2 years ago. Split level with people staying in the other unit playing loud music, smoking pot - just awful. We left at 10:30pm for a hotel. But because I cancelled the reservation, you don't get to write a review!! So angry and VRBO does not care.

Gone back forth with customer service 3 times and still nothing has been solved. Each time I've been told everything would be handled, and then it wasn't. Just been a total nightmare. Customer service agents are really hit or miss - I had one girl send ME the paperwork she was supposed to send to the renter, and then come back and tell me that the renter had approved it? Really disorganized and unreliable. Ended up just canceling the entire reservation. Not worth the hassle. Will book through Airbnb.

I wanted to rent a property for my son and family coming from 10 hour drive and it said 1-2 days rental min. So I messaged the owner because checking in would only allow me 2 days rental. She said it was fine and would contact VRBO and tell them. She even called me. So I called VRBO and the guy could hardly speak English and tried to rent me another place in the area. I stated I wanted that one that I had applied for. He said it was not available. I said, "I'm looking right here and it's available." So I called the owner and just gave up. So much for spending time with my family on vacation. I have always had great experiences with VRBO for years. What is going on VRBO!!!

In MY opinion, VRBO is not a good avenue if you own a property to rent. We own a condo in North Myrtle Beach and we do use a local agency to take care of our property, as we live 850 miles away. We pay a pretty decent chunk of change to be listed with VRBO to begin with. Then, when a guest books our condo, they give VRBO an extra $100. "This helps VRBO provide a safer and more secure booking experience, coupled with 24/7 customer support throughout your trip." Really? No, once the booking is complete, guests deal directly with our agency. If there is an issue, they deal with our agency. At no time does VRBO even get involved past the booking.

VRBO doesn't allow you to post a review after 2 weeks, but a renter will not receive a refund until that time. Which means you can only post a bad review and take your chances at NOT receiving your cleaning deposit back $300, in our case. Camille **'s home in Rockport was not a true 4 bedroom, they put a room downstairs in the garage and the bathroom had no air conditioning. Taking a shower in the heat of a Texas summer with car exhaust is not fun... Use a different home. Tried to leave a review for her house but like I said VRBO won't allow you. Plus you have to wash and dry the linens. So wake up early on your last day, as you have to have everything cleaned including fridge and linens washed and dried before checking out at 11 am!! All of this is not told to you until it's past the time to cancel.

DO NOT USE THIS WEBSITE!! It is impossible to get a refund or get in touch with someone who can actually help you at this company. I tried to contact the owner of the place I booked 7 times (including when they gave me his phone number, and he hung up on me). I decided to cancel two weeks before our arrival date, so I could still get the 100% refund. I have now spent over 3 hours chatting and calling their customer service numbers, trying to get that refund. They keep telling me that I will hear back form them within 48 hours. It is insanely hard to get your money back and I will never use them again.

I would have given NO stars had that been an option. DON'T USE VRBO IF THERE IS EVEN THE SLIGHTEST CHANCE YOU WILL HAVE TO CANCEL. I have used VRBO in the past and have never had an issue, but that is because I didn't need customer support. Until now....I had to cancel a reservation that was already paid in full. I was well within the time frame to receive 100% of the cost returned to me. However, what I didn't know until now is that the homeowner has to APPROVE of your cancellation and until they do, you can't get your money returned.

I found my place of stay using VRBO and it actually exceeded my expectations. The cleanliness of the condo was excellent. Everything from the furniture to appliances were modern and didn't look old. The bedrooms were large and the wrap around patio was awesome. The patio extended around the entire condo and the view was amazing. The bathroom I felt was small and the shower was outdated especially when compared to everything that was inside the condo. That was the one and only thing I didn't like. But the location was perfect as it was close enough to all the stores and yet isolated enough from all the hustle and bustle of all the traffic and vacationers. The pool and beach were steps away from condo as you exited the elevator. The price was a little for the condo was a little high but after experiencing the peacefulness, cleanliness, and convenience it was worth it. I would stay at the condo and recommend it to others as well.

What a terrible experience to find out a week before your reservation that the property owner stole our money and the property was a fraudulent property. My family and I have been trying to work with VRBO customer service since April; and it is now the end of June. We made our reservation back in January. I called and spoke to at least 9 different people last night and this morning with no results. They keep claiming that their rebooking department is reviewing our situation and will call us back, but probably not today even though we are less than six days away from our travels. The rebooking department only makes outbound calls and does not accept inbound calls. Seriously?? This is also after VRBO did not believe the property owner was fraudulent and that our reservation was active.

I was looking to book a place for the Canada Day Long Weekend and I found what I thought was the perfect place. Great Location, decent price. So I sent off a reservation request. I receive a response from the own/manager say they sent me a "NEW" quote for the Long weekend. The Website price was $603 taxes and fee include and they decided to requote me $755 for the weekend. That is not right and completely unacceptable that they can up the price that is listed on the website.

The booking process was very simple. The contacts and information for arrival was very complete. The location and the property we booked was exactly as described and the owners were very helpful and accommodating.

Great concept, but I will not use this site any more, tired of the hidden fees. One room I looked at said "$117 Total price," but when you click on it the actual price is $202, after "cleaning fee," "service charge," and taxes. It's the same on every listing, the actual price is far higher than the listed price. Totally unfair and misleading. Just be transparent and give us the full price we will have to pay.

The hosts gave wrong address, and only upon arriving informs us of LIVE FEED. I agreed to security cameras NOT LIVE FEED. Live feed infringes on one's expectation of privacy and I should have been made aware from the start. This was a business vacation and the wifi was down (according to other reviews it has been down when they claim to have solved the problem). One has to stay in contact with work, after several hours trying to contact host to no avail I was forced to go to a hotel room with wifi.

Where to start? Booked a home for our son’s graduation from West Point. Lots of Family coming in, need a nice, large place to gather. Found a home and booked it. Prior to no-penalty cancellation, reached out to owner to confirm a downstairs bathroom bc our parents cannot do stairs. Owner confirmed there was a bathroom downstairs. When we arrived, found only a half bath. Explained to owner that would not work. We had to scramble to find rooms for family and ended up being farther away from our son and the events...at a great expense. Asked owner to work with us...nothing. Tried to work through VRBO.

Six months later and still waiting on refund. Booked a trip Jan 22nd, 2019 for travel April 12th at a cost of $3,030.00. This amount was immediately charged to my Amex card. I had to cancel Feb 10th. Although I was within the 60 day advance cancellation window, I have yet to receive the last $274.00. Both parties (VRBO/HomeAway and host) are pointing fingers. I have followed up with all parties two more times without getting resolution. Today I called American Express to see if they can get this resolved. Buyer Beware!

Booking cancelled day before arrival. I booked and paid for, along with multiple fees, a place to stay in LA 3 months before my arrival date. The day before, the owner cancelled my booking, with a refund, but no valid reason. I was unable to leave a review to let others know that the owner cancelled at the last minute, the company doesn’t allow you to make complaints or send mail to an address about a problem. My refund will take 5-7 business days, I don’t have a place to stay, no money to re-book at another location and no way complain to the company or let others know of the issues I had. Buyers beware!

Tired of VRBO allowing un-vetted renters to book our property. Tired of VRBO renters not having any host review history that we can access and assess before accepting a client. Tired of VRBO rules that allows anyone with a valid or stolen credit card to rent my property. Tired of VRBO scammers trying to steal our money. Tired of VRBO renters stealing our towels and household goods and disrespecting our property. Tired of the low class, low life, trash people that rent via VRBO. Tired of the difficulty in getting ANY form of customer support from VRBO. Tired of the long delays in getting payments transferred to our bank account. Tired of trying to navigate through VRBO’s maze of menus to find answers to the simplest of questions.

I just got back from four nights/three days in the London borough of Chelsea, staying at a VRBO-listed studio apartment. I have to honestly say this apartment was the worst stay for myself and my family that we have ever experienced in any rented accommodation. For a myriad of reasons, the apartment could not have been in worse shape, including black mold covering the majority of the bathroom ceiling, and windows that wouldn't close properly (important when you're at street level in a major city). Black mold is obviously dangerous; we called VRBO immediately and sent them photos of most of the issues (including the mold). They did nothing. I even had to call them back when they said they'd call to let me know if they could help. We spent as little time in the apartment as possible, trying not to let this issue affect the enjoyment of our London stay.

We booked a residence in the south of France. Pictures looked nice, it was for the entire house. The house included the use of the private pool on the property. When we arrived, we waited for over an hour for someone to meet us to gain access to the residence. At that time we learned that undisclosed to us, there were two apartments on the ground floor that were rented out to other people. The pool was shared and there would be 8 other people on the property and they had full use of the property including the small pool, our decks and the backyard. Loud music could be heard coming from one of the apartments. The amenities were not as described and the house could not be locked off from these other guests.

I booked a vacation rental in Italy with VRBO's "instant confirmation" that guaranteed reservation. They instantly charged me for the rental. However, the property owner immediately cancelled. Neither VRBO nor property owner refunded the money and I had to chase both of them for over 3 weeks to get refund. VRBO simply says that it is your problem to arrange refund from the property owner. Property owner asked to refund via PayPal rather than on my credit card and this resulted in PayPal charges to receive the money. Neither VRBO nor property owner will pay these fees. Long story short, steer clear of VRBO. They make it very difficult to get money back.

Two days ago I tried to make a reservation. The owners have 24 hours to respond. The owners declined saying that have not updated their rates for next year. Yesterday I tried again and was again declined for the same reason. Today I opted to use the Instant Book feature which claims you do not have to wait for an owner to respond. I was approved but a couple of hours later, I received an email stating they had not yet updated their prices for next year and to check back in a few weeks.

Used VRBO. Stayed at the Bonnie Retreat. Nice location, nice resort. Owners were super nice and receptive to any questions or problems we had. Lots to do in the area, and convenient to Harrisonburg and James Madison University.

My wife and I decided to go with VRBO after many searches through various travel sites. We booked a KING suite at a luxury hotel for our Memorial Day vacation at a location which was not close to a beach. I planned out our weekend by scouting local activities and lined up a full weekend for our stay while in the area. Upon arriving we discovered that our room didn't exist. The hotel was full and had no other rooms available. The hotel offered us a cancellation with no fees. We spent the next 50 minutes waiting on the phone with VRBO to cancel. Their mobile app and website had no way to cancel the booking. They ruined our 2019 Memorial Day weekend and wasted all of our time to plan and drive to the hotel. They offered no alternative or tried to help us find a new location anywhere nearby. No apology.

VRBO provide NO assistance for reviewing and complaining about poor quality or unclean properties. VRBO has been NON-responsive to all efforts to complain. Their “virtual” assistant provides no help. **

I rented Unit 31 at Destin Towers for the week of 5/25-6/1. When we arrived to condo we were given the door code for Unit 51. They changed my unit! I was never told this change was made. I contacted the “manager” Chris **, he told me that he called me 8 times and was unable to reach me. I work full time and only recall missing one call from him. I tried to return his call and he didn’t answer. He never once sent me a message through the VRBO app, or email. Which is how we had been corresponding since this started. I’m not happy that the changes were made without my approval.

Vacation Rentals By Owner or VRBO was a breath of fresh air. There was a spa/hot tub pool and pool table. Owners went out and bought a new game console so I would have something to play on the 3br 2bath home. Had a refrigerator fully stocked w/ condiments, a gas grill on back patio, restaurant menus w/ grocery store discount cards, 50 something inch screen, Cable, WiFi all across the street from Disney Land and @ $1,200 for 7days a definite change in price. D.L. was $485 per night one room, fridge didn't work, had to pay $25 per day Valet parking, doorman tips. VRBO 5???? ****D.L. 1????

I booked a vacation for my family with VRBO. My husband was retiring from 36 years of active duty Air Force, his birthday and say good to our kids and grandkids because we were moving out of state. The owner lied and cancelled ya the night before we were to go. I had to wait 7 days for a refund and find and rebook a new vacation. I contacted VRBO and simply requested they remove this owner from their site as she cheated us out of our money and lied about being double booked. I told them if they didn’t... they would be condoning this behavior. They did not... in fact they admitted. The owner lied but it is apparent they would rather keep that relationship than lose a customer and ruin a veteran celebration on Memorial Day.

Following a two-month advance reservation, owner sold property, closed escrow, and cancelled my reservation three days prior to dates of tenancy. Without protection from such reservation abuse, I cannot trust that the same will not recur. I will make no further reservations through VRBO.

We arrive to the home which we rented for three days. When we rented the home apartment via The VRBO/Home Away from Home, the description of the property stated it was refurbished and parking on the premises was available. Upon our arrival we had no where on the property to park and the property had no parking on it as stated. Called the owner who said she sent us a welcome email we never got with instructions on. She told us we could park in the public street if we found parking or in a paying parking garage ½ mile away. Well that was a bad start! So in opening the house door, we realize this was not a house but an upstairs apartment. Description stated it was an entire house, not an apartment above another apartment, which was occupied.

We inquired about renting the Sweetgum Suites owned by Revonda **. Property ID **. We have a family of 6, and the ad says room for 6 on the VRBO website. When we contacted her, she stated that there is only room for 5 if they put in another bed. We offered to bring our own air mattress instead and she said that would be just fine. We then booked the reservation, and after we paid for the booking we saw hidden under her owner fees that there was an extra $125.00 added for an extra guest fee...this raising the price per night quite a bit. We were NOT told about the extra fee and the site specifically advertised room for 6 to start with.

We were excited about our condo from the pics and reviews online, but when we showed up at our condo, the 2 bottom bathroom outlets didn’t work, so had to blow dry and style hair every morning in the bedroom outlet without a mirror. The pool had brown, algae all around the bottom of the pool. We noticed a neighbors water pipe was detached, so called the managers to make sure it wouldn’t affect our water supply. They came to check and said everything was ok and then charged us a $65 service fee. I have never had a property charge me when I reported a possible problem for their property! What a rip off! Beware, we thought we were getting a nice deal, but lots of hidden charges! They told me it was in the manual which I still have yet to find attached to any of those emails. ????

Rented property with HomeAway. Even bought the insurance. 24 hours into our stay my husband went blind in right eye. After all the necessary steps to confirm the problem was a detached retina, we flew back home and he had an operation, actually 3 of them. We requested a refund thru our credit card company and VRBO-HomeAway. $1500 for 2 nights stay. We sent documentation to all necessary parties. They gave us $300 and re-rented the place to another sucker. All caps used in error. Not yelling, just read the guidelines.

As a owner I put my listing with strict cancellation policies. The site specifically notes that traveler initiated cancellations get NO booking payments back under this option. Little do they tell you/or they changed the policy structure because I only received 50%. They either added or did not disclose that there are payment options which are set to 2 "payment" installments. The last being 5 day prior to check-in. Therefore because payment "2" had not been initiated, they do not consider it part of the booking payment. If I had known... I would NOT have used the option to let the traveler cancel their reservation.

If I could give a -star review I would. I will never stay at a VRBO, HomeAway, etc again. I booked April 15 for a stay April 28 through May 22 2019. I was there so my granddaughter could finish high school year. Her dad relocated and the house was being sold. It was at 640 Catamount Way Lilburn Georgia by MJ. Stay far away!!! I arrived late around 9:30 pm. Instantly smelled chemical fragrance smell and thought “Well I just put them up later”. Around 11:30 that evening I told my granddaughter I was having trouble breathing and my chest felt heavy. I started collecting the air fresheners. The next morning felt worse. Immediately contacted MJ and told her. She lied and said she only had a couple. I told her I already collected half a garbage bag full. She told me to sleep with the windows and both exterior doors open!!!

VRBO has the worst customer service. It has been more than a month since our stay at one of VRBOs property and our property owner/VRBO hasn't refunded us the deposit. I keep calling VRBO and they just say that property owner is not picking up their call and they are following up. I am at a point where I am going to give up on my deposit, I feel like I just got scammed. I can't even imagine how many people are losing their deposits through VRBO, and they have made the refund so hard that anyone will give up; I wasted countless hours trying to follow-up on my refund. Please do not waste your time and money booking through VRBO. There are better options out there.

We enjoyed our stay in the condo very much! It was clean, and stocked with things you would not have imagined -- like toys for playing in the sand and chairs -- little touches that just made our stay that much more pleasant. We had some minor issues along the way, but the property manager was available to us, and quite helpful every step of the way. We also had a beautiful view of the beach. Would definitely rent this condo again!

Ah yes, arrival... after being at sea for a week without access to the internet, we arrived in London to discover that our VRBO booking had been canceled by the owner THREE days before our scheduled arrival in Paris. The subsequent efforts to get a refund (or utter lack thereof) from either VRBO or the owner have been a nightmare. We have been hung up on, our credit card rep has been hung up on, we have been required to provide proof of payment, proof of identity and proof that the owner canceled despite the fact that VRBO has ALL this information.

I booked a vacation rental a year in advance at a popular winter destination, paying $2000 deposit. Owner cancelled after 3 months. Few properties were still available, and I just gave owner an interest free loan. I messaged the owner asking for a reason for the cancellation and got no reply. I had also received an earlier message from them, apparently sent to the wrong email address cancelling a different week They must do this regularly.

** College Station, TX 77845. Rented this house for our Daughter’s Graduation weekend and was extremely disappointed with the cleanliness of the house. From the dirty sheets and poop stained duvet to the toilet covered in feces one toilet even had urine still in it. Everything we used in kitchen had to be washed because it had dried on food. Dusty furniture and dirty floors. No storage for our clothes and no comforters on the beds, just a throw blanket and one bed had a see through quilt. Fridge was also gross and full of their food and the coffee maker was malfunctioning to the point that my husband was burned trying to figure it out! I have pictures to post.

First off... I wouldn't have given this business any stars, but couldn't submit a review without a rating. This was my first experience with this company and I will never use them again. I urge anyone that looks at properties on this website... do you due diligence! They do not have guidelines for the properties listed. Meaning that the property owners can do as they please. They also do not have call centers in the US and the people answering do not speak good English.

This company thrives on the theft of their customer's money. We reserved a bedroom in DC, property id: 7834324 for a much needed getaway. It was all we could afford. Within 7 days of the reservation, our grandmother (who lives with us) was rushed to the ER with kidney failure and reduced heart rate. We immediately cancelled the reservation. After approval, we expected at least a partial refund.

Our reservation was cancelled on 1 business day's notice. VRBO has done nothing about it. Clearly the owner had multiple listings and when he got a better offer he cancelled ours. This is a scam that VRBO must be responsible for. It is apparently a commonplace practice. Unfortunately we were not aware of the practice and suffered the consequences.

I would like to start by saying that I have used VRBO many times and always had great reviews. Last night, I was trying to book a cabin on the lake for my dad, husband, and two brother in laws for Father's Day gift. They love to fish. Danny and Julie's properties on Lake Seminole in Georgia seemed perfect. I quickly booked the property and went to bed (We were trying to keep it a secret.). The next morning Gayle emails me and mentions the one quest. I quickly respond to her that I made a mistake and there would be four people in the cabin. I even explained who they were.

VRBO refused to live by their guarantees, they don't care about anyone safety. They always only take the owner (listers) side. Unfortunately during our stay to one of their listings my daughter developed a rash. (There was nothing in their 1st aid kit but bandages btw.) I didn't think much of it at 1st thinking maybe it was from their detergent even though that had never happened to her before. However it began to spread. I bought her several over the counter creams and ** but they didn't help. The next day after our trip the rash had become even more horrific looking and was covering her chest, neck, behind her ears and some on her back. I took her to a walk in clinic and the Dr diagnosed her with hot tub folliculitis. Hot tub folliculitis is a skin infection of the hair follicles that appears after coming into contact with bacteria contaminated water.

I have been using VRBO for over a decade. I will never ever use them again! One week before checking into this VRBO I did not receive either the property address or the door code. I used the VRBO portal and sent the owner 3 emails asking for these items. Crickets....3 days before check in I called. No answer and their mailbox was full. Called VRBO, they gave me another number to text the owner. I did....no response.

Here's my review: just try calling them and see if you can reach anyone to help you! You will get a recording, then they will hang up! This company is an absolute disaster!! Do yourself a favor and go with Airbnb!

They are not reputable and have atrocious customer service. My reservation was cancelled a month before my trip. VRBO would not do anything to help us get another place in the same price range. Had to fight to get my money back. Then they refunded a lesser amount and I am having to fight to get the rest back. Why would I owe anything? The house owners cancelled on us! Have spent 2 hours on the phone to no avail. I'll never use them again. Do yourself a favor and use Airbnb!

They allow property managers to discriminate against renters! According to the Fair Housing Act you are not allowed to have different standards for renting based on race, age, and of particular importance national origin. The property reached out to me saying that my phone number was international therefore I needed to provide additional information otherwise they would cancel my (instant booking). As you can see they have different standards based on national origin and it is a clear violation and discrimination. By the way my phone number is domestic and I was born in the united states. I checked with HomeAway and my phone number was entered correctly into the system and very clearly was a US phone number.

I have used VRBO many times but this is the first time using a management company instead of dealing directly with the owner. The entire process was hard to understand and it was very difficult to get in touch with a person that would help us. We decided if it was this hard to book what else might be a problem. We decided it was not worth the risk. We had already paid 177$. The management co refunded the 88$ but the VRBO kept the 89$ for not doing the job and left us 89$ less for our future vacation.

We rented property 1549179 for 10 days in London, UK from VRBO and/or HomeAway, which are essentially the same organization. When we arrived we found the property uninhabitable and under major renovation. We phoned the contact and were given massive, but dishonest apologies. The owner claimed to have emailed us 3 times telling us of this, but we received no such other emails, only the two emails requesting deposit and final payment, which were received.

We rented a condo in Orange Beach for Spring Break and had many problems with the owner (no code to get into the condo, no parking pass, dirty condo...) After we wrote a poor review, the owner refused to give us our deposit back. He stated (lied) that we damaged the condo, but he never provided proof or a receipt. VRBO was no help! They contacted the owner and even though he provided no proof or explanation, they dropped our case. Sadly, this condo owner is still renting using the VRBO site. Because of this total lack of customer service, we will never use them again and we will never recommend VRBO.

VRBO is overpriced, and has the worst customer service ever. They take ZERO responsibility if the guest fails to pay (it happened in my first booking request that the guest's credit card was not approved for the 2nd half of their payment). The website will not even send you a courtesy email that payment didn't go through. If there are any issues with payment WHATSOEVER they wash their hands completely, refer you to their payment processing company, who then again refer you back to VRBO because they can't answer anything, and state the payment policies are VRBO's responsibility.

A VRBO was booked for my bachelorette party very far in advance. VRBO cancelled on us LAST MINUTE and prices went up over $1000 causing girls to drop out. NOT ONLY THAT, they wouldn't respond to our emails/ complaints. I tried tweeting, chatting on their webpage, emailing a complaint and absolutely nothing. We were refunded the amount we paid, but STILL.... They didn't give us anything to make up for the fact that we had no place to stay within even close to the amount we paid. AirBNB gave us $100 via twitter because they read and felt sorry for the situation. Now THAT is customer service. I will never use VRBO again and neither will any of the girls who are attending. Such a sad excuse for a company when they can't even respond to their customers.

Property was rented a year in advance for $6,614.44, which had to be paid in full at the time. This included a $1,000.00 damage deposit. There were 14 of us, ladies who have been friends since school days, who went in on this rental. It was listed, with photos, as 7,000 sq. ft. with casita, would sleep 24. The issues we encountered included: Two dishwashers that didn’t work, refrigerator wouldn’t dispense ice or water, wine cooler didn’t work, triple shower heads in master bath were not operational (handles removed), no instructions for operating televisions, incorrect information as to putting out garbage and recycle, sliding doors to patio very difficult to open (owner came on our 4th day and used a lot of WD 40 on the doors) and handle broke off one door, patio furniture very worn with stuffing coming out and broken chairs, toilet seat in casita was broken off (replaced on second day), television not operational until the 4th day, hair in shower which prevented it from draining.

I would give minus stars if possible! Rented a unit through VRBO in Washington DC for a family visit. The unit we were directed to was not the same one as listed in the pictures online on VRBO - totally different and FILTHY-complete with dirty laundry in washer/dryer-feet sticking to floor-filth that had accumulated for years and totally different setup than what was advertised. We immediately left and stayed in a hotel instead. Owner (Bob ** - sure it's a fake name) refused to refund-even cancelling our reservation at the end so that I could not submit a review. Not even refunding the insulting cleaning fee. His listing is now removed from their site.

I called VRBO Customer Service and the CSR was unhelpful and told me the standard line regarding damage deposit and that there was no other option. I told this ignorant woman that I needed to speak with the owner again and she hung up on me. VRBO sucks at whatever garbage they're peddling. DO NOT USE VRBO IF YOU WANT A GOOD EXPERIENCE!

We rented a condo in Phoenix for March 2019. The VRBO/HomeAway (V/H) "Service" fee for us was $250 US. Contract from owner indicated $250 security/damage deposit charge to be held by V/H. Reviewed total rental fee charge from V/H. The amount that was $300 greater than the condo rental & cleaning fee. The contract from the owner misrepresented the security/damage deposit as being held by V/H.

I reserved an apartment. The host auto-confirmed but doesn't answer to my messages. Wanted to contact VRBO for help but cannot find Customer Service number or chat. Help pages say that you can give a call or chat but do not provide not the number nor the chat tool. Very disappointed.

My stay at the cabin was great until me and my family checked out at 7am on the date of check out which was April 15th. I followed all of the homeowners instructions as requested. Me and my family cleaned the cabin from top to bottom. The cabin look just like it did when we first checked in. Around 2pm I received a text message stated that we had left the cabin in disarray due to bird dropping being all over the inside of the cabin and that she would have to retain my 100 deposit to hire extra cleaning staff to disinfect the entire cabin before other guest arrived. (THIS WAS A ABSOLUTE LIE).

I am traveling soon to Honolulu, and waited too long to find a place to stay. I was interested in 2 different properties listed on VRBO, and sent inquiries to both. I received replies from both, decided to go with one of them, and reserved it. I then received a message from the manager of the other property, after I told him I was not reserving his place. The message was that my reservation was being cancelled and I would receive a refund. I never reserved that place! I only sent an inquiry and the dates I was interested in. This was very alarming, and I had to go to VRBO's website to make sure I had not accidentally made two reservations.