Vrbo Reviews

I have had our condo in San Diego listed for 10 years. I just cancelled my membership as VRBO has changed drastically. As an owner, you are not permitted to communicate directly with the renter. I want to know who is staying in my home! All payments must go thru VRBO and not sent to you until the renter leaves. They used to allow PayPal or checks to be sent. Then they started adding an extra fee to the renter...for what? You pay a fee you list but they have to also Rip off the renter? No thanks...I've moved on.

My 18 year old daughter VRBO'd property #** in San Diego - bought insurance. Has her plans changed - she canceled. What a nightmare to get money back! CSA Travel Protection is a bunch of liars, Vacation Rent Pay is a joke and the owner has yet to respond or pay back her money. They all point fingers at who to talk to and then "put you on hold" until your call drops. They even told me to call Wells Fargo as they said they made the refund. "Can I get a tracking number" - "We don't have that but you can send a screenshot of your daughter's bank statement to show no return." WHO DOES THAT!!! Never again and do not rent and cancel VRBO number **! Liars and scam people.

I have been a listed vacation rental property for over 10 years, up to and including 2018 I paid a yearly fee to be represented on the VRBO and HOMEAWAY sites. I've had 3 reservations early this year with a payout to me for over $5,000 and I have yet to receive my funds. I've called 2 times a week long distance from Costa Rica and they have been very talented in giving me the runaround and I now believe that their plan is to simply try to wear me out and abscond with the funds.

I'm a native of Barcelona who lives there part time and in California the rest of the year. As 4 relatives were coming to visit this summer, a month ago, through VRBO, I rented a 2 bedroom apartment for a total cost of U.S.$1,217 which I paid for in full. I received confirmation of my reservation for 5/28 to 6/2/2019 in an ideal location close to other family in Barcelona. I exchanged several e-mails with the owner/property manager Aleksandra ** (VRBO #**) and was looking forward to meeting her.

Rented Mar 1 thru VBRO in Nashville, TN. Had one returned email contact with owner Mar 3. Paid in full with added 500.00 deposit for damages. Property states fully refundable up till June 13, 50% after June 20. Mar 30 needed to cancel due to people in our party unable to travel. Messaged owner 6 times since Mar. 30. Sent message to phone listed. Called phone, goes to message saying voice mail full. Called VBRO twice. Get told I have a case number. Then an email saying contact owner. I have tried. Marc, owner does not respond. Makes me think is a fraud. Email says if this does not work contact your credit card. Who has my money? If VBRO still has it they should refund it per contract agreement. If they allow frauds on their site they need to be responsible! Not sure if we will ever get our refund. I have used this company before and did not have a problem. But now after this experience, I would tell people to stay clear!

Tried to rent a place off of their website paid and full. It was not a true listing. Do they check out anybody before listing their properties? Now we are trying to get refunded and they are not helping at all. This is so upsetting when you save for a vacation and they basically steal your money. What a deceiving company. DO not Trust!

I called to see why I hadn't gotten paid for a reservation. After 3 yrs of advance payments: Why would VRBO change my advance payment by a traveller to payment at time after traveller check in? The person asked if she had answered all my questions after she would not answer to the reason why I had to reapply for advance payments. Apr 8 2019. A cash grab? Should be told if time of payment is going to be changed.

My experience on VRBO sucked. I've been an engineer since 1986 and consider myself highly professional. I wanted to stay at a rental home in the Broken Bow, OK for July 4th holiday. I submitted my request and it was rejected in less than 4 hours. No feedback whatsoever. I don't believe VRBO is a good place to look for short term vacation rentals. It doesn't appear to be a legitimate platform.

VRBO in December started to withhold taxes for states and municipalities. The problem is they have been withholding the funds but not remitting them monthly as required by the state. Have tried since March 21 (over two weeks) to get this resolved but I keep getting the runaround. Horrible call center and process that doesn't work. Frustrating!

VRBO/HomeAway has many hidden costs. Property says sleeps 10 but you're charged $10 extra per person per night as "additional guests". Also not shown are cleaning fees, service fees, and taxes all of which are charged after they tell you your reservation had been confirmed. An additional $800 refundable damage deposit is also charged on your credit cart. So it may look like your cost will be $955 for 5 nights for 10 people, but in the end the real charge is $1,844.60 (not including the $800 refundable damage deposit).

They started charging renters a fee for booking a reservation based on the amount of the reservation. I rented through a realtor so I was double charged with fees and had no idea the property was listed by the owner through VRBO until I received my credit card showing the fee. The owners are already charged a fee. I think this is unethical.

Reserved property through VRBO supposedly represented by Wendy **. Paid substantial deposit, then received a message from VRBO that property was no longer listed. Cannot get a refund. Cannot cancel. Cannot make a new reservation and my travel is two weeks away. Have tried repeatedly to contact Ms. ** for a month with no returned calls or messages. WENDY ** IS A FRAUD and VRBO takes no responsibility. Ms. ** apparently does not have the authority to represent properties for which she takes deposits. Run as fast as you can away from Wendy ** and VRBO.

Yesterday, I booked my first reservation on VRBO, got the property confirmed, and then I received this email this morning: "Dear Traveler, It looks like you may have contacted Vrbo property 7683334 about a potential booking. While this is an uncommon issue, we believe this property to be falsely represented and have removed it from our sites.

What in the heck is going on? I’m being told Airbnb backs their customers and VRBO. doesn’t? Do you think we really wanted to find a different place to stay late at night from the time we got there in Daytona Beach Florida — NO!!! Would you sleep in a bed when you pull back the covers and there’s a bunch of small black bugs jumping around? A bunch of cigarettes in an ashtray in a nonsmoking place? Somebody’s old pizza in the microwave? The owner saying he’ll fix it and go to Walmart and get clean bedding and doesn’t? I would have been so angry if I slept in that bed with bugs and got infected bug bites. The guy who owns the place was so off that we went to the hotel desk and asked for a manager to escort me and my friend up to the place to get our stuff.

I don’t know where to begin. Rented a guest house in Scottsdale, AZ. The property was completely misrepresented even after numerous contacts with the owner of the property. It was unbelievable. After being forced to find and pay for new accommodations Attempting to work with VRBO has been a nightmare. I have never been treated so poorly in my life. It’s a crime that they are getting away with their claims of not being liable for anything.

I have been trying for 3 months to get in touch with Jim ** who is the contact for the Villa Sete that we rented from Mar 31- April 7 2019. We cancelled because my husband (81 years old) fell in our driveway and broke ribs. He was advised not to travel for at least 6 months. I contacted Jim ** on Jan 27 2019 to let him know what happened. In the meantime we had paid £173.00 as a downpayment. I have tried 3 times to get in touch with Mr. ** but he will not reply to my emails. I would appreciate it if someone from VRBO would contact me but I won't hold my breath. Our reservation # is **. If I was you, I would think twice about using Jim ** to rent anything...

I rented a huge home in Scarborough, ME right on the beach with 10 people, for one week. The total cost was over $10,000! The list is endless of what was wrong! Let me start with this: THIS HOUSE WAS FILTHY!!! The “AC” was a joke. There was 2 wall units for this enormous home. Saying the AC was inadequate is putting it mildly. The house was as hot as an oven! The pool was NOT heated. I paid EXTRA to get it nice and warm. Many kitchen appliances were not working. The gas grill was broken. The house was overrun with ants. There was a broken window in the dining area and one day it rained and the water came in. The linens provided were a joke, as half of them didn’t fit the beds or were missing the top or bottom sheet, as well as old, worn, skimpy thin towels, ONE per person! And YES! We called over and over and were promised someone was coming to address these issues!

I searched VRBO for days looking and comparing rental vacation properties in Myrtle Beach. In looking at the properties I also viewed the rates that were all different. Some charged for cleaning service, some had owner finance charge, some had refundable deposits etc. The one I chose did not list a refundable deposit, it only listed the weekly rate, the VRBO service charge and the tax. I even emailed the manager to ensure there was no surprises on the cleaning fee. I was assured the cleaning fee was included in the rental fee.

It is very rare I rate companies this low. But HomeAway/VRBO is horrible. I booked a place in Smoky Mountains NC (Like Edwards from William WA... See other negative comments). My host sent me an outrageous agreement after I had confirmed my booking through HomeAway/VRBO. She wanted my SSN, copy of my DL and PASSPORT (like hello) and credit card number. Her new terms would allow her to charge for pretty much anything! I cancelled the reservation and Robyn ** (host) will not refund my money... HomeAway/VRBO agents all add the same words "we completely understand but there is nothing we can do."

Tried to book a rental that was supposed to be available. Property owner rejected our reservation within two hours. However we were charged $481. VRBO fee on our card. Thirty days later we still do not have our refund. The property we tried to booked is still showing available! According to VRBO the owner must initiate refund. When I first called VRBO they told me it was my credit card company fault double booking! WRONG!

My wife and I made a reservation through VRBO, and paid in full at the time of the reservation. The owner then sent us a lengthy legal document about "house rules," that was absurd in length and odious in detail. We decided that the owner was likely unreasonable and immediately cancelled the reservation, within 24 hours of making the reservation. The owner would not refund the reservation. There is no email contact for VRBO: you must call, and wait on hold. We were also disconnected 3 times in a row and VRBO staff were not helpful. We will never use VRBO again.

Bear on mind that you cannot post negative reviews unless the rental is completed and the owners can cancel with zero repercussions. I paid in full for a house rental in Savannah GA and the owner canceled with a rude text. Because she canceled I was not even able to post a review. OWNERS HAVE ABSOLUTE POWER TO CANCEL WITH NO RECOURSE FOR THE RENTERS.

I made a booking months ago ** for a cottage in Port Isaac Cornwall. I was fully paid up. Two days and a month prior to the start date I was greatly surprised by receiving an email from the owner saying they were sorry but were double booked. Yes of course I am offered a full refund but there was no offer to find another location for me with the possibility of greater expense being reimbursed. This is a huge inconvenience. I tried to find a means of complaint formally through VRBO but none could be found. I feel I have been hung out to dry!

Although I had used VRBO once in the past year without incident, my most recent experience with them has turned me into a crazed lunatic. For the past 2 weeks, I have attempted to book a particular property in London, and I kept receiving automated declination notices from VRBO stating that there were insufficient funds in my bank account and to contact my bank. I immediately contacted my bank, and the bank representative and I then called VRBO together to assure them the funds were adequate.

VRBO is not much of a service. We had a reservation for a property in Paris we made months back and owner canceled a week before we were to arrive. Major inconvenience for us and VRBO is useless in any dispute. Site precludes leaving any public review. We are steering clear of this company. Fortunately there are other choices out there.

Four reasons NOT to rent from VRBO. First, whatever the posted rental rate per day is add an average of 50% for mandatory fees and taxes (depending on length of stay). Second, if that is not enough to sway you, the reason for #1 is they have three companies you will be contacted by about your vacation - VRBO, Vacasa, and Home Away - each of which has to get their palm greased. Third, none of them have email addresses so you must call. If you call and are lucky to get someone (usually a foreigner you can barely understand) they will know nothing and not be able to help you at all. They will send you to another number. Each of the three entities will send you to the other and you WILL be caught in RUNAROUND HELL. Fourth, there is no service. You are on your own, and good luck getting your deposit back. Use VRBO if you must but my caution is GOOD LUCK.

Shortly after we booked a home in Galena and made the downpayment we received a note from the homeowner stating that the rental prices had not been updated on the VRBO site. The true charge was triple the original amount! He cancelled our reservation because we did not want to pay his “new” price. VRBO customer service did not assist us either.

We tried to rent a condo and were given a confirmation number, 5 minutes later owner emails me saying the price went up 43%. Did I still want to rent? I called VRBO customer services to cancel and was told that even though the owner said no I would have to wait 5-7 days for a refund after the owner agrees to the cancellation. I asked why they even charged my credit card and no real answer was given. I asked to speak to a supervisor and was hung up on. I called back asking for a supervisor and they would not put me through to one. A bad company.

VRBO's accounting company Yapstone called me to say the tenant had stopped payment on his credit card SIX HOURS before the rent was due to commence - I had already given tenant access information. VRBO would not assist me at all, said to call the tenant and ask for payment, and if he refused, to "contact the authorities." Tell me VRBO, what are you charging a fee for if I am screening and and getting payment directly from the tenant?

We used VRBO for the first time believing that they are big enough to have excellent customer service. We paid $7,500 as a deposit on an apartment in Cape Town and two weeks before we arrived we discovered that the advertiser was part of a fraud gang operating in SA and the he did not own the property. We learnt that some people who had rented via VRBO arrived to find their money had been paid over to the fraud gang without proof that they owned the property and they had to return home without accommodation. According to VRBO policy we were guaranteed our money back. NOT SO. They have told us to claim via our card provider (VISA) and yet they still have our money in their account. We have been passed to several different people holding on the phone for hours and still no money back. They should be avoided like the plague!!!

WARNING! We booked a home rental in Rome with VRBO for 8 people. We now found out that the owners are nowhere to be found and VRBO already gave the owners all of our money. VRBO claim they are helpless in their ability to get our money back. This may be an isolated case but it appears that this company can’t be trusted to stand by their customers. And yes, I have used them in the past and everything turned out fine but now I know that when things go wrong they will still take their fees and leave innocent customers hanging.

Like others have mentioned, bait and switch is common. We reserved a beach house in Siesta Key, FL well in advance for March 2020. We agreed to pay the listed daily rate for a full monthly rental. The "Property Manager" (David **) even assisted us with the booking, and we paid a deposit of $6,000. That should secure the booking...but it doesn't. VRBO crows all over their website about how you can cancel at any time up to one or two months before your trip and get a full refund of your deposit. What they don't tell you is that the landlord can cancel as well. If he sees rates rising for rentals, he can pull the rug out from under you and you will be left with no rental at the last minute. Or he can publish a bogus rate (like Alberico **, the owner of our unit did) to increase traffic, then tell you when you are stuck with no place to go that your nightly rate will be double. Buyer beware.

My friends and I (there are 12 of us) have had a house booked for MONTHS and our trip is just 12 days away. The property owner canceled our booking and left us with nowhere to stay! Absolutely unacceptable. I do not recommend this company for bookings because we are now trying to find a living space for TWELVE people.

We had a property owner try to DOUBLE the price after we had paid in full and with less than two months before our trip and had to find another property. The customer service department (so I discovered) is in Malaysia. After trying to get their help several times over a couple of weeks, they finally sent my case to the fraud & securities department in Austin, TX. Of course, I never heard from them, so I canceled the reservation before losing my money. Whatever happened to consumer rights? The most upsetting part was that I could not give a review of this property online to warn other renters. So, beware of VRBO #**.

We reserved and paid full price for a rental property in Florida on 15 November. WE did not realize that VRBO was taking 100% of the money, we thought it would be a deposit! The property owner canceled our reservation on 17 Jan by text and we got our official cancelation notice via email on 22 Jan. The property owner stated he would refund the money within 5-7 business days. We filed a complaint with VRBO on 17 Jan and they said they would help us find another place to stay. Remember, the property manager said he would refund our monies within 5-7 business days. Neither happened and by 2 Feb we booked another location. Take in mind we were told VRBO would help us find another room. They did not respond to any emails. They were very sorry this happened and were very concerned on the telephone but that was the extent of VRBO's assistance.

I did a reservation through VRBO in August 2018 and paid in full. In Feb 22, 2019 I received an e-mail from VRBO cancelling my reservation with no reason. I went to their website and found that my cancelled listing # **, property owned by Federico **, was available to rent during the same time period I had the reservation for, but he had increase the cost by 111.00%. I call VRBO and they gave me a case # but they said there is nothing they can do because the owners have control of the properties. I cannot even write a review on the listing telling people what has happen so they are aware of the problem. This is probably legal but it is unethical. We are going to our grandson wedding. Now we have to look for another rental in a short time. Can Consumer Affairs do anything about this behavior, so other people do not have the same experience we had?

I have been renting on VRBO for 10 years - not too many problems. Now I have this renter make an instant booking. He stays in my property for 2 days and it’s trashed - I have to repaint walls, cigarette ashes everywhere, clear violation of my rules. So I call VRBO - they say the policy is blanket and they can’t do anything. The most I can do is send another payment request or email this fake Gmail. Wait what!? You’re not going to step in and provide disputes resolution! You’ve lost my trust - 10 yrs is renting as a owner. But $5k in damage because you couldn’t check someone’s driver's license!? Absolutely not - I pay $399 a year and the 3% credit card fee per renter (yes that’s coming out of my pocket) and an additional amount per renter ($50-100) and you tell me that’s all for advertising!? WHY AM I PAYING YOU!? I can’t even get this user banned from the site - the most I can do is rate him badly.

VRBO service fees tend to jump upwards for no reason when booking. Looks like gouging once you have shown interest in property. Used last month at 5.5% service fee. Looked at same property for about same $ rental for next year and it again showed 5.5% service fee. Contacted owner to request discount as repeat customer. Delay of 48 hours as we agreed to discount amount. Booked to find that slight discount on rental had jumped VRBO service fee to 8.7%. Hour on phone being passed around from rep to rep only to be told that they can vary fees at their discretion. AVOID this company.

I rented a nice looking studio w/ kitchen in Palm Springs for a month. VRBO accepts payment of $2,700.00. I arrive night of reservation to find the owner says it's not ready yet. This is already 4 hours after agreed check in time. After giving in and checking back two hours later he says it's still not ready! I show up anyway as I have nowhere else to go. It's a DUMP. Trash bags block the entrance. Trash bags are in the unit. Rancid curry odors are overwhelming. It looks like a crack addict has been living there, the place is filthy. Also window don't work, bare horrifying light bulb is the only light source. The owner is scurrying speaking unintelligible English. I try to use the restroom. NO HOT WATER! I'm freaking out. It's now 10 PM and it's pouring rain out and I have nowhere else to go.

VRBO's website leaves a lot to be desired. Multiple times I had to clear the browser history so I could ask an owner/manager a question - their form would not accept information without doing this (I was directed to constantly clear browser history by VRBO customer service). That was annoying - but what was really bad with their website was I loaded my card information 4 times because it kept kicking it out with error messages stating my address info was incorrect - it was not.

Tried for almost two hours to speak to a USA representative and/or a manager about a fraudulent property listing. The India representatives were zero help and refused to transfer me or ask for a manager. This company is worthless. Leadership...take notice! This is where the downfall starts!

This is more of an issue with VRBO than the property owner. Looked at booking a place to stay for 4 nights in Orlando, came across Calypso Cay Villa for great rate...but should have known there was a catch. Got a message from the "property owner" after I submitted the reservation that said in order to get the rate on the listing, I would need to take a tour of the facility while staying. If not, the rate would jump over 300%. One - I don't think timeshare companies should be permitted on VRBO. Two - if they are, the terms of the rental should be CLEARLY defined on the very first page before you go any further with a reservation. I wanted to complain to VRBO but they make you jump through hoops just to try and lodge a complaint.

728 Dotters Corner Rd., Kunkletown, PA... was a “Cozy” and “FUN” home for our family to share! This “SPACIOUS and STYLISH” home... provided the 8 of us with an AWESOME “Winter Weekend” experience! The “Game Room” exceeded our expectations as we relaxed and enjoyed the 3 pinball machines... pool and foosball tables... multi-genre jukebox... and simulated golf driving range! We were impressed with the “Barn doors” and decorative accents... Joe ** infused throughout the home! Well done Joe! Thank you Colleen ** for a comfortable and priceless stay in Kunkletown!

The New York condo we rented on the Upper East Side was advertised as a one bedroom. It was a Murphy bed in the living room. The condo was run down and dirty. The location was awesome. The place was not. VRBO was not willing to help when notified.

I booked a property in Ft Walton Beach FL, in October for March 2019 and paid the deposit. Purchased airline tickets for my husband and me in December. Last week I got a notice that the balance was due, so I paid it immediately. Yesterday, the owner contacted me to tell me that she had canceled my reservation because VRBO didn't charge me the right amount.

If you are a guest, please know regardless of the inconvenience calling a VRBO representative or using their website, you must do your own cancellation. Hosts want to help you, but VRBO forbids it. I assisted two guests, one with a critically ill child and one newly diagnosed with cancer with their cancellations. I have been stripped of my Premier Host status because of this. Hosts pay for the privilege of being listed with VRBO, but not other sites and this is the treatment we receive. Unfortunately, hosts are not given this information or instruction prior to being penalized.

We booked a property in Waikiki (VRBO #1413243). Did not know that we booked this as received no verification from the manager Ben ** even though we had to put in credit card details. A week out from the trip after we had booked somewhere else we finally get an email asking us for our trip details. As we had already booked somewhere else and could not cancel we asked why we were only hearing from him now. He had our phone number as well. He said we put in wrong email address and he only just figured it out. He told us to cancel the booking which would have resulted in him taking 50% of the booking. Tried to resolve this with VRBO but they don't seem to care. Also trying to take legal action but they just give you a generic email with no contact or phone number. They have taken $1600 of our money and have this crook of an owner on their books. Do not book VRBO #1413243 in Waikiki.

I accepted a last minute booking (maybe 2 days before arrival) for my condo in December 2018. The guests were horrific - spray tan all over the sheets and towels which wouldn't come out, broken lamp, filthy, lots of guests, just completely disrespectful. At the end of their stay, the agent who handles this for me made the mistake of letting them know there would be something coming from their security deposit to pay for damages. Big mistake. Next thing I know, they ask VRBO for a chargeback. There was zero reason to think they would prevail given the fact that these people were factually there the entire time, checked in and out by my agent, and had made zero complaints. My agent was contacted by VRBO via email and he responded to their requests.

Booked a cabin for the Smoky Mountains. Read agreement, put in payment info. Was told I would be charged a amount and the rest 30 days before trip. A hold for full amount was put on account the second I hit enter and then VRBO put two holds 178$ for service fee. After I called Sunday (they advertise 24 hrs) and waited over an hr, I hung up and went online for the chat. I was told that all those fees were just a hold and they would fall off if I cancel the reservation. They couldn't do it, I had no idea I booked through another company. Going on the VRBO was no use because they had no cancel button. I called the 888 number on the page, waited again. Finally got a person NOT from VRBO to cancel this, send me confirmation and drop the huge portion from my card.

My booking was canceled by the owner after 2 weeks of the booking and right before my holiday starts. So VRBO had first assured me that they will find a similar place for me and kept me waiting for the last moment. I made 100 calls and emails to them. I was willing to pay extra for the apartments I like. Even though the apartment was available, they didn't book it, but left me hanging till the depart for my holiday. VRBO agents are extremely irresponsible, they will assure you so much but never does keep their words.

VRBO customer assistance is truly abysmal, in fact almost non-existent. The 'Book with Confidence ' guarantee is marketing only without any substance. I have booked with VRBO in the past without issue. But recently, I booked a stay in Mexico and had been trying to reach the host via VRBO to confirm our arrival time. After 3 attempts, I never heard back once. I contacted VRBO and they said they would try. But no one called me back. The final payment went through on my booking but I had until this week to cancel for a full refund. I opted to book elsewhere realizing this seemed very suspect. I followed the VRBO process and initiated the cancellation- it said to allow the host 24 hours to respond- but maintaining consistency, the host did not respond.

Rented our home Dec 21-25, 2018. Housekeeper upon arrival Dec 26 late in day found door left wide open in 5 degree temperature inside thermostat reading 80 degrees. Looking around from entering realized something not right. Every light in home was left on. She immediately started taking videos and pictures of damage Destroyed decapitated karaoke Santa lying on outside deck, dishwasher overloaded and broken, locked door to owner room attempted to be opened with a tool that scraped and damaged the door, towel rack pulled out of the wall. This was reported to us Dec 26 and we notified Home Away immediately. On Jan 4 the $1000 security was deposited in our bank. On Jan 9 it was withdrawn from our account. We were notified by Home Away we had to provide documentation with pictures and receipts and we did that by Dec 29.

Tried to book a home through VRBO only to find that the owner added an $800 fee to my reservation. VRBO stated that this was acceptable and would not allow me to book the property at the advertised rate. This is a classic bait and switch. Don't waste your time with these clowns.

The continuing increase in fees charged to both the owner and traveler with HomeAway and VRBO are making their platform less desirable from both an owner and traveler perspective. Every property owner I know that uses their platform wants nothing more than to drop them as soon as possible because the combination of fees charges since the take over by Expedia have become abusive. We are all hoping that Airbnb and other rental platforms will grow in popularity for both the benefit of the property owner and traveler. I already feel this trend is in motion in my area as the revenue generated under VRBO/HomeAway has declined in the past year. I have 3 properties coming up for annual renewal in 2019 and I am strongly considering dropping them. It's not like either myself or my guests have benefited at all from the increase in charges. Revenue from their platforms are down and that says it all.

We own a 3500 Sq.Ft. Beach Home that we take great pride in and opened it up to others to enjoy as well in the summer of 2018. Our first rental season (2018) with VRBO went very well and quickly achieved PREMIER PARTNER STATUS. The customer service reps. were very helpful and listened to your suggestions and seemed to care. Read on to see where it all changed for the worse.

I started listing my property with VRBO about 6 years ago. It was a wonderful website and gave owners and guests the opportunity to communicate and ask questions. As an owner, I was able to establish a rapport and offer an invaluable amount of customer service to my future guests. Since Expedia purchased the company it has gone downhill. Imagine checking into a hotel and having a machine spit out your key. Want area info, sorry. Have questions, sorry. Problem with billing, really sorry! Want to be fee'd to death? Now we are talking! That is the only thing they are good at! Wait, I forgot one. Their guarantee that you pay a ridiculous amount for is worth nothing.

Just went to book two (TWO!) nights in a condo at Virginia Beach. Listed as $175 per night. Total due now? $1,100. Why? $175/night, cleaning fee of $150 (REALLY?). Other fees $49, refundable security deposit, $500 (WHAT?) and then taxes on top of that. $1,100 for two nights in the winter? Forget it.

In early January I booked a Vegas "luxury condo" via HomeAway. My booking receipt said the property manager would sent me an email with check-in instructions. When I hadn't received such an email (or any other communication) from the property manager/owner as I neared check-in time, I attempted to contact the "manager" via the provided phone number. I got an answering machine that promised a call back. When I still hadn't received a call after the check-in time, I tried to call again. Same result. Lacking any way to gain access to the condo, I made other (very expensive) arrangements.

Our party of 7 (4 adults and 3 children under ages of 11) travelled from Chicago USA to Aruba January 5th 2019. At the time of check in we were greeted at the rental property by an associate of the owner and rental manager. Upon inspection it was clear the property was not as advertised and failed to meet safety and cleanliness standards indicated by the owners. After raising our concerns to the property manager, who escalated them to the owner via phone we were told there was nothing they could do about the issues due to it being a weekend and they would “fix it when they could fix it”. The owner was also, drunk and verbally abusive to me on the phone, telling me he suggests I DO NOT leave his property. Upen leaving and in the next correspondence with the owner requesting a refund, he indicated he knew where we were staying, again another reason NOT to communicate with the owner anymore.

Think twice before booking a property through VRBO. I booked two properties for a 12 day stay in Hawaii; one was a dream and the other a nightmare. The nightmare property was a unit at Island Colony and I had a signed contract through Hawaiian Paradise Retreats, (who had numerous negative complaints on Yelp) which would be the only correspondence I would receive from them. Several complaints on Yelp stated how they canceled their reservation at the last minute which was the same situation I was having.

We rented property ** on VRBO. The owner (**) gave us a small discount if we went offsite with the payment. We were to rent the property for the entire month of January 2019. We drove all the way from Michigan to "snowbird" in Florida for the first time. Without letting us know, Suzette had the property listed for sale and was actively showing it when we pulled up on January 2, 2019. The realtor literally had to move her car so we could park under unit and unload. The owner also stopped by unannounced to drop off a remote control for a DVD player.

I spent a couple of hours getting my Florida VRBO site up and running (despite repeated problems saying my photos weren't the right size!?) and I got an email from their "underwriter" in either Ireland or the U.K. saying I needed to provide a bunch of stuff including my U.S. driver's license (I don't have one, I'm Canadian as I explained), my and my wife's passports, a void check, and on and on. I provided it all except the DL, and finally a week later I was asked to provide a bunch more things, including said driver's license again, and our marriage certificate (as if we travel with our marriage certificate - what is this, Saudi Arabia?). Sounds like a scam to me. Meanwhile my Airbnb listing on the same property went live problem free and has been producing great results. I wouldn't waste my time with VRBO.

I got 3 quotes online for a weekend accommodation and this company was the cheapest (I have a screenshot of the quote) so I booked through their website. Nowhere in any of the quote did it say it was in US dollars and when I got the charge on my credit card it was so much more than any other quote because it had been converted to AUS dollars. I have called the company twice and they have fobbed me off telling me to ring the property owner to sort it out but the property owner can’t do a thing about it. I would never recommend this company to anyone.

My husband and I own a country inn which we rented out through VRBO for years with no problem. Then VRBO was apparently bought out by Expedia. They're now using (a third-party?) that goes by the name of Yapstone or Rent Me or RentPayment.com. (Is it REALLY a third party, or just THEM using an alternate name?)

I arrived at the property and realized immediately that it wasn't what was advertised -- the homeowner advertised a "separate English basement" space but it was actually a guest room on the second floor. I left immediately and called VRBO. They said they would investigate. They were willing to admit that the ad was misleading and violated their terms of service (they took the listing down), but they refused to refund my money. They said my dispute was with the homeowner who had already refused to refund my money. DO NOT USE VRBO.COM.

Will not pay me my money... They say my account number is wrong. But when I ask Yapstick they won’t give me old account number to fill out on their DocuSign. VRBO and HomeAway need to be shut down. Use Airbnb! I’ve talked to supervisor on HomeAway and they even called their payment processor and won’t give them the old number. This is all a ploy to rip the customer off and keep their money. HomeAway or VRBO won’t allow a update of account on their website. Looks like I will have to sue to get my money back. I will never use these incompetent crooks again!

Their incompetence will prevent you from renting your property, and they do not take any responsibility for their actions. Moreover, they do not advise you of their policy, nor is it posted anywhere online. I listed two weeks that I had at the Marriott Desert Springs Villas 1 in Palm Desert, CA. One week was a studio for the first week of the Indian Wells Open Tennis tournament, and the second week was for the full one bedroom at the same resort. All units at this resort are the same. It is a five star resort usually sold out for the Open.

Rented home in Scottsdale last year in March for use this year in February. All payments made (Including the exorbitant fees). Owner cancelled rental less than 30 days prior to our arrival date and only refunded half of our funds. VRBO has been much less than helpful, telling me several times to “wait a few days.” Today I received an email from their “Trust and Security Department” instructing me to contact my credit card company if I want the rest of my money.

After many years of using we have given up on them. Have been burned twice in the past year. They take your money and give it to owners. Owners backed out at last moment due to them selling the property. Couldn’t get money back and VRBO will only give you a couple of choices for rentals that THEY think is similar. That was a joke. Their fees have gotten outrageous. Example. $1056.00 for 7 nights plus fees it becomes $1623.00. We now use Airbnb or bed & breakfast which if you’re staying for 2-4 days usually works out to be much cheaper and you don’t have to spend time cleaning a home on the morning you leave.

Understood wrongfully that my fee of 160.00 meant VRBO took care of booking the reservation to the cottage I chose and handled the payments to the property. All they did was show available properties and after I chose I had to contact the realty company that was representing that property and do all the lease signing and payment plan through the realtor. VRBO basically took my money and showed me a picture of a cottage. That’s it. Big rip off.

Our accommodation at Santosha Barbados - through VRBO - CanadaStays canceled our booking (previously confirmed in writing and fully charged for). This was done at the last minute when we had already flown to our destination. They suggested we contact the property manager directly yet the property manager never answers the phone and has a message saying they are unavailable. They advised that a full refund will be given within 24 hours and 3 days later after several emails advising it's unreasonable they refund part of the money and kept a booking fee. Our trip was planned based on this accommodation and we are now left with no suitable options of accommodation as all places are fully booked. The response from CanadaStays is that the Property Manager canceled on us.

Booked a property. Paid deposit and full amount plus insurance only to have the owner say they made a mistake and were actually negotiating with another party. VRBO only coordinated a complaint however after refunds we lost almost $400 CAD in exchanges and of course you can't follow-up with VRBO as they have a very lame customer service support system. In our world this represents theft.

Rented a home “Adobe Hacienda Compound” through VRBO and Premier Properties Mgmt Co. in Taos, NM, for a ski trip. The “caretaker” of this property #636055 through VRBO made this an awful vacation experience. She was rude and charged a cleaning fee of $525 after we checked out even though we did all the dishes, put away cots and pull out beds except for one. There was no check in/check out procedure book and there were multiple septic tank issues and bug problems. Our main complaint is the disrespect that this property caretaker showed to us as customers and VRBO continued to charge us an extra $525 for “excessive cleaning”.

Please do yourself a favor and use Airbnb instead! VRBO is an awful home rental service with some of the worst customer service I have ever received. I booked a home in Croatia for my family of 9 to stay in May. After booking, I started noticing oddities on the homeowner's profile and it was impossible to get in contact with them. Considering we were flying across the world from the US to Croatia, I figured it wasn't worth it to get stranded overseas. I cancelled the VRBO well within the 48 hour cancellation period but never received my money back because the homeowner didn't 'approve' my cancellation.

Rented a studio for 1 week to visit over Christmas to visit our Grandchildren. Basically just slept in the studio! Owner gave us a bad review for not “following rules“ because we left the air conditioner on upon leaving! She told us to leave as we found it? Air was on when we arrived? Bottom line, giving us a 1 for “following rules“ could give the impression that we partied & left the place a mess! Owner gave us a 5 for cleanliness because we left the place immaculate! ISABELLE, make up your mind! If we left the place in great condition how did we not follow the rules? Bottom line when You rent with these sites You leave yourself vulnerable to crazy people who can say whatever they want! Oh & by the way she refunded our security deposit! Again, guess we were pretty good renters!!!?

My wife and I have experienced terrible customer service from VRBO the past 12 months. I spoke with customer service representative, Menissa, told me our VRBO account was "hidden" for a month because when I responded to a potential client the home was not available for the dates they requested BUT didn't check the DECLINED button that our account was hidden. We were never notified. I highly recommend NOT doing business with VRBO... They are not homeowner friendly. We are canceling our account at renewal April 1, 2019.

Rented a place on Vancouver Island for a week in July, 2019. Paid a deposit of 957.62 which was debited twice from my credit card. Called VRBO today and the lady on the other end of the phone was less than helpful - hung up on me actually! The problem didn't seem that difficult to correct to my way of thinking so I remain in limbo! Wonderful way to run a company!

Second time we booked and paid then they come back and say not available after I got the kids excited and then had to break bad news. We have to cancel the insurance. We have to wait 7 days for a refund. Do not use. Horrible. Horrible system. Will never use again.

I’ve booked this house on October 21st. I received a confirmation email and also bought the insurance. When I went online to my profile I had always my booking there. Then on, I chatted several times with HomeAway customer support, and they confirmed that everything was ok and I even have the screenshots. On December 25th I called and someone at customer support told me that my reservation wasn’t confirmed!!! What??? That the home managers never confirmed the property even though HomeAway or VRBO charged me for the insurance!!! 500 usd!!! My vacation thanks to you, went to the toilet. I’m going to start a legal process against HomeAway and its subsidiaries. Never assume anything. VRBO never takes responsibility about the properties they advertise. They suck at customer support and they don’t follow up. I’m still trying to get my 500 refunded!

Stayed at a VRBO rental in Puerto Vallarta Mexico and had bed bugs! 3 of 5 travelers got them and then needed medication and medical attention to alleviate it. They did not believe us even though we had pictures of the bites and a physician diagnosing them as bed bug bites. Disgusting. They did not even want to refund our money. We were then forced to find another hotel while on vacation to accommodate 5 of us at holiday time and pay again. Horrible experience. BEWARE! YUCK!!!

I booked a condo on the beach for the weekend of my wedding through Expedia. It states pay deposit and pay later, with booking through Expedia previously I know a deposit is only one night which was $150. They took $461.10 out. I went back to where it says cancel on website and it says I have to contact property manager which is Home Away. At which time was told they have to contact property manager and gave me a bogus number that does not ring and goes straight to voicemail, which is not set up. I called Home Away back and told them they are listed as property manager on my bank statement and on website. They gave me this crazy story about not being able to go into account and give me money back without contacting property manager. Had to file fraud with credit union.

After listing our property with Airbnb for several years we decided to try VRBO for greater exposure. Big mistake. First off was the clunky hard to navigate website. Wasted hours setting up our first property then discovered that I could not import any of that entry work for our second, similar property. Then discovered that it took weeks to "verify our payment and security information." Then discovered that verifying our first property did not verify our second. Really? We got a good booking, a work crew for 44 days in shoulder season. However, VRBO is holding the money for 30 days. No reason or explanation, just "It's our policy." Our property is tied up with this booking. No cash flow. It's tax time. Airbnb pays 24 hours after check in. Airbnb has a slick interface. Airbnb has excellent customer service. List with Airbnb and avoid these jerks.

Are any of VRBOs listing real? I have spent three months making requests for rentals on the south shore of Long Island. I have heard every excuse in the book from owners who do not revise their listings to reflect: the owner is no longer renting, the owner has decided to only rent for week long stays, the home will be under construction for the next 9 months, the owner is using the home for a particular week. Is there any policing of owners by VRBO? What does VRBO take its money for? IMO, it is certainly not for validating information on its website to remove or update inaccurate listings.

In November of 2018, I booked a one bedroom "Ski In Ski Out" condo at Snowshoe Mountain Ski Resort in Snowshoe West, VA through VRBO; who allows "Mountain Valley Realty" to list rental properties on their VRBO website (VRBO should revoke their ability to list any more properties on their VRBO website.) (For the past 17-18 years I have booked all of my lodging stays at Snowshoe directly with the Snowshoe Mountain Resort and have NEVER EVER had any issues, problems, or disrespect).

So I had never heard of this site and was looking for a rental cabin for our honeymoon. We found one, we had liked, so we had booked it. I noticed afterwards that they charge a $65 fee that was non refundable. I later found out the owner does not charge the fee. I found out, that if you get the owner to call and cancel the entire reservation through VRBO, you can get all your money back including the $65 fee. And their customer service is like all Indians who can barely speak English. Honestly, in my opinion, if you find something you like, just book it through the owner instead of these people.

I booked a condo with MaryBeth ** through the VRBO website. This was my first time ever booking a rental property and using VRBO. I selected my dates of travel, purchases my plane tickets and secured her property with the total being just under $700 for a week's stay. She contacts me after the instant booking (at this point I’ve already paid her and secured the stay) and she tells me her rates had not been updated for the season and requested an additional monies for the stay making the new total just shy of $2000. She said my options were to pay or cancel.

We are frequent VRBO renters so are not new to how the process works. Long story short, VRBO refuses to refund a reservation fee they charged us ($409) even though we canceled according to all policies a few days after making the reservation. The owner/management company followed policy but for whatever reason VRBO has not and I have spent countless hours trying to do so. I'm in an endless loop with them. I have a pending reservation with them coming up, but will use any other service but them in the future. BEWARE OF DECEITFUL PRACTICES with VRBO.

I booked a property in February 2018 through their mobile app. We plan on visiting my daughter in Paris for the holidays - one week before our trip, the owner tried to switch properties on me to a smaller property. The only reason they contacted me was because I reached out to them to see if we could get in early. When I called for assistance, VRBO said they would help - sent me 2 links to alternate locations. Never followed up and I get a different person every time I call and have to go through all the detail over again.

We rented a cabin in October for a Christmas vacation paid in full. The owners decided 4 days prior to our arrival that they didn't want to rent anymore. We was refunded our money, however, it took 5 days to be refunded. We scrambled to find another cabin, finally found one. We had to go from 2 bedrooms down to 1 bedroom. It made our vacation not so exciting.

VRBO sucks. Do not use them. I had an owner cancel on me last minute and VRBO did not follow through on their booking guarantee. They are a nightmare to work with. I Tried Airbnb and they came through.

This is our 3rd booking through VRBO. We had had the impression that VRBO's "Book With Confidence Guarantee" would protect us in the event that something would go wrong with our booking or the property. Well, the ultimate situation occurred -- we booked a ski in/out condo in Big Sky, Montana for this coming March, paid our $826 deposit and have been looking forward to taking our family on a ski vacation.

Serious the worst experience ever with a rental company. If you rent from this company then you asked for it. They take your money, then if you have serious problems with the property then they are advised to tell you that they can do nothing for you, you have to reach the property owner. I wanted to visit their company to meet with their executive manager and they are not allowed to tell you where they are located. Really, you are not allowed to tell the customer where you are located for security reasons. That sounds like a legal lawsuit just waiting to happen. Lost my money to this company and will never do business with them again.

Their website is flawed, your credit card is charged first before your account is verified. I entered the wrong email address for the reservation request and they charged my card right away before even my account was even verified! I called VRBO immediately to ask them to fix my mistake, they said they can't, and deferring to the owner of the listing stating that "VRBO is only an advertisement site and take no responsibility in resolving issue." I contacted the owner to ask them to change the email that tied to the reservation, they stated that only VRBO can change that...

I contacted an owner of VRBO #**, who also lists VRBO **. The owner then contacts you and tells you how to go around VRBO and contract directly with her. So I did it to save myself some money. BIG MISTAKE! This owner lives above these 2 units and she has 2 dogs that bark incessantly. I have video to support it. IF this company wanted to know they missed out on their fees by this scammer owner. In addition to the dogs (and I am an animal lover, I had my dog with me), she had contractors doing work almost nonstop, even on the weekends!

Have a single room renting to help with my monthly rent living here in NYC. Everyone knows how tough this state is and how expensive everything is. I don't have a luxury condo, apartment or hotel/motel, it's just a single room. I went online searching how to make extra money and I saw HomeAway in a listing of rentals smh. I cursed the day I found them...

I had never used VRBO before. A friend and I decided to use it for a short three night rental around the holiday. I liked having a whole 2 bedroom apartment for less than the price of a hotel room. I didn't like the rigmarole to get the key, the large security deposit, and the many fees added in by VRBO. Don't be taken in by the nightly fee that they advertise. By the time you add in the many fees plus the security deposit, it's not much cheaper than a hotel. Next time I'll use a hotel.

I booked a house thru VRBO and bought Travel Insurance recommended CSA, it was supposed to cover cancellation of trip due to loss of employment. I had to cancel the reservation due to cancellation of the job 7 days prior to the reservation date. They denied the claim, it was $2400, stating I did not meet criteria. When I initially called VRBO, they said they have nothing to do with, cannot refund, the insurance will not even hear us out. SUCKS!!!

A local property management company uses their own website to promote their VRBO rentals. I had half a dozen guests suddenly appear despite VRBO calendars showing no bookings. Each guest had the same story- they were notified while en route to a previously booked property and told that property was not available or had some problem with it. The managers offered an upgrade choice with my property. None of the bookings were recorded and none of the money deposited.

Updated on 06/05/2019: Rented a Villa off VRBO/HomeAway in August of 2018. We had 8 adults and one baby spending Thanksgiving in this Villa. We arrived at the villa late in the evening and noticed it was not well kept or clean. The carpet had stains, rips and tears throughout the property. The Kitchen had a layer of grease and grime throughout. All floors were dirty and we couldn't walk around without shoes. All of the bathrooms had dirty tile and showers with mold and mildew throughout. The mirrors and glass had dust, streaks, were yellow and cloudy. We were not comfortable sitting on the furniture because of stains, we used towels to sit on. The worst, however, was the pair of dirty thongs left in the corner of a room under the crib from a previous tenant. We immediately contacted the owner and VRBO.

In April 2018 I made a mistake of booking one month house rent (for January 2019) in Costa Rica through VRBO. In October, 2018 I became suspicious after few messages to the homeowner. She rejected to provide location details and ignored my last message. I looked on the website and the ad was gone. I decided to cancel (as I was eligible for a full refund) and book something else instead. VRBO agent processed my cancelation request on October 19th. I received a cancellation confirmation on October 23d. I was waiting for my refund 7 business days.

Long story short - We rented a house. The AC went out the last 24 hours we were there. There were many other issues (glass tiles broken in pool, grill didn't work, the water to one the bathrooms didn't have cold water, and burned my 10 year old nephew in the shower to name a few). The owner said he'd make it right to us for that day but he did not, has ignored 3 phone calls and multiple emails from VRBO. But do you think VRBO cares? NO. VRBO continues to let him be on the site, accept rentals and make $$ & doesn't penalize the owner.

Help!!! VRBO is holding my damage deposit hostage! I've been home for over a month now, and VRBO states there is a "technical issue" that is why my deposit hasn't been credited to my credit card. The owner had immediately released my damage deposit to VRBO. I'm calling every day with telling them it's been _ days that you've been holding my damage deposit hostage. And I will continue to call every day until I get my money back. It's over $400.00 that I could be using towards Christmas presents!!!

If VRBO claims they are only an ad site, why do they advertise their "service fee" to be needed as part of our (consumer protection)? Why am I paying a fee for them to deny any responsibility for advertising a crappy listing?

BEWARE. VRBO does not refund any of your yearly owner fee to list your property if you close the account because you sell the property, even if you did not receive any future bookings. You also CANNOT transfer your account listing number or the listing itself to the new owner. Customer service is a mess if you get transferred overseas. I totally do not recommend doing business with VRBO or HOMEAWAY or any of its other subsidiaries.

I rented a home in Albuquerque that had beautiful photos indicating a clean and 5 star rental with high standards. When we arrived, the house had a mildew stench that burned our throats. The house did not have 3 usable bedrooms but two cobwebbed and empty bedrooms. The bathtub was rusted and the house/furniture had a film of dirt and dinge. The house was falsely represented on VRBO. VRBO indicated that they are NOT responsible as they are only an advertising co. However, they post the house, show photos, reserve, and take money... But they are "not responsible". I was not able to stay there as it was a health and safety issue. I was only refunded 1/2 of my reservation, despite that I needed to pay for additional lodging. I do not recommend VRBO and find their lack of responsibility appalling.

We booked a property in Asheville NC for a mini vacation around the end of October 2018. The month prior our Son was notified that he would be transferring to a different plant, with his company, and it was to occur the same week. He contacted VRBO to cancel the reservation and was instructed that he needed to communicate with the owner of the property through their app system. Which he did. The owner agreed to cancel the reservation, however, no credit has been returned and the owner will no longer communicate with us.

There is NO protection to you as a renter under VRBO guidelines. Landlords can charge upwards of $1000 for a "refundable damage deposit" and keep whatever they see fit without any proof that you did any damage. We rented a condo for 3 days, were NEVER in it, except to sleep and they kept $250 for a "mark" on the dining room table. Basically these landlords get away with everything and VRBO customer service does nothing except tell you to "talk to the owner". RENTERS BE AWARE. DO NOT RENT FROM THIS SITE.

I have listed a couple of properties on both Airbnb and VRBO over this past year. VRBO has better customer service and answers phone calls promptly. However, the fees are substantially higher and my biggest frustration is that owners receive payment five to six days after the guest has checked out. With Airbnb I receive payment on the day of check in. Keep in mind that both collect payment at the time the reservation has been made which can be months in advance.

I rented property #403881 August 27, 2018 for a trip that we were planning on Oct 18, 2018 to San Francisco. The homeowner pulled a bait and switch on us. The property we rented was very nice. The one they wanted us to accept as a replacement was a dump! I had contacted the property owner 3 times to make sure that all was good with our rental. He assured me that it was. 1 day before we were to arrive in San Francisco I called to get the check in information to the house. The next day the homeowner's father called back saying the property was overbooked. We had no place to stay. VRBO told us that they would get us a hotel with 2 queen sized beds for 4 people. UNACCEPTABLE.

RATED ONE STAR ONLY BECAUSE I HAD TO CHOOSE SOMETHING!! It doesn’t deserve ANY stars! My husband and I booked this property October 2016 for our little family for Nov 17-22. The property was booked less than 30 days to vacation. I was diagnosed with breast cancer less than 2 weeks after booking said property and scheduled for surgery November 21. Very upset the day after learning I had cancer, I contacted the owner explaining our terrible situation and asked if he would please allow us to cancel and be reimbursed, he agreed but never followed through.

I rented twice from VRBO (year apart) and twice my card was used next day for purchases in other countries. Once for $12000 and once for $900. Both transactions were made same or next day I used that card in VRBO to pay deposit. Was using that card for so many years and never any theft but just after VRBO payment, card was frauded.

We had issues with one of VRBO property owners. VRBO would not respond they said the property owner would have to resolve it with us to this day no one has responded. I have contacted VRBO several times and still no response.

We rented a place in Cancun. The initial payment upfront was about half of the total cost. However the owner of said place decided to sale the place and could no longer rent it to us. There would be no problem with that however the owner did nothing to give us our refund. They should have contacted VRBO to tell them what happened and we would have gotten our money back. So we try to cancel it ourselves. The only problem with that was that in order to cancel it we have to contact the owner who will tell VRBO to cancel. See the problem? We never got a respond from the owner. So we contact VRBO.

My experience as an owner has always been exemplary. Their customer service is over and above. They will walk you through any online challenges that occur. I have always had a great to excellent travelers. The customer service staff is always helpful and professional.

The property was nothing as described. It was unclean. The smell of mildew was overpowering and since we were not provided the address until the day before arrival, we had no way of knowing it was in a very unsafe area with a high crime index, also confirmed by the South Bend, IN Police Dept. For these reasons we did not stay as we did not feel safe. We tried to work with the property owner for a refund and were refused. VRBO did nothing. We filed a formal complaint but they were useless. Needless to say, we were out $900 and had to pay more for hotels during our trip. I would never do a VRBO again. Terrible customer service. We were also unable to review the property at 1234 Miner Street, South Bend, IN because we didn't stay there. That property should not even be allowed to be rented on any site.

I made and paid upfront a reservation a year in advance for my daughter's graduation to ensure that the extended family had a place to gather and celebrate the weekend. In late Oct, the property owner sent me a note saying that they were selling the property and would have to cancel my reservation. They did offer another property but was more than double the distance away from the city and did not accommodate the same number of folks. On Nov 2nd, 2018 logged in to VRBO.com to find another property and found that the original property was re-listed but at a much higher rate. Clearly this is a case of bait & switch. VRBO reached out and said that their trust & security department was investigating but to date, nothing has come of it. Thankfully received a full refund of what I paid, but now cannot find a comparable property for the price I paid back in April. Don't waste your time or money with these jokers.

I just made a reservation for an apartment in Ireland for 2020. The calendar showed availability, the credit card charge was taken, but lo and behold, no reservation! The next day I get a message from the owner saying her 2020 calendar is not up. Not so, I just made the reservation on your calendar. Upon calling VRBO the agent tells me it is the responsibility of the owner to update their calendar. Upon emailing the owner, she tells me VRBO has not synchronized her calendar. So here I am the consumer stuck in the middle paying for an apartment in Ireland, with no reservation.

If I could give zero stars, I would. I recently attempted to book a vacation home through VRBO. I sent the request to the owner for the dates I wanted. The property showed available and the rate was $289/night. The owner contacted me and said that rate was wrong, I need to back out and re-book with a rate of $400/night! I located the same rental on Airbnb and sent the same owner a request as on Airbnb the owner had a lower rate. The owner again denied my request. I filed a complaint with VRBO alleging bait and switch and they told me they take these complaints seriously. Obviously, they do not, they did absolutely nothing and the owner still has the property listed for rent on their website. Stay far away from renting any properties through this site, they are terrible and when there is an issue, they will side with the owner.

VRBO charged my credit card for a reservation I made in Italy and then the host responded back that the property was not available during my requested dates, even though it showed on the website that it was. After taking days to credit me back, I was credited less than I was charged due to the change in the exchange rate. After calling VRBO and speaking to a very rude agent, she indicated that the host credited me back the same amount back that I was charged in Euros and that it's not their fault that the exchange rate is different. I told her that my card should not have ever been charged as the property was not available. This happened TWICE. She told me the host gave back the same money they received. So I guess VRBO pocketed the difference?

11 woman were supposed to drive from Philadelphia to Savannah Georgia on the weekend of September 14th. Hurricane Florence was about to hit the East coast. 4 States declared state of emergency's that we would of had to drive through. With all the warnings and evacuations along the east coast we canceled. We purchased trip insurance for this reason but because Savannah was not evacuated they told us we could have gotten there. It didn't matter to them that 95 was flooded and we couldn't have gotten home and 95 was closed on the 15th. Still was told we could have gotten to our destination. So you are to risk your lives and drive through wind and rain because they say you could have gotten there. So beware of the insurance company because they don't pay and they don't care. VRBO has done nothing for us.

VRBO decides what reviews they will post to the public and what reviews you will never see. I posted an accurate and factual review about a negative booking experience I had and they refuse to post it. I was unable to stay at the location but paid my reservation in full with no refund. VRBO requested that I write a review and when I did, they denied posting it due to the fact that I did not actually stay at the property. Their policy explicitly states that I am able to review the booking and inquiry process, which is exactly what the content of my review was about, but they still refused to post it after learning that it was a negative review. The star ratings are fixed and NOT an accurate depiction of consumer sentiment. They post only what they want you to see!

I am not an owner, but have used VRBO many many times in the past when booking rentals. I noticed these new fees on my last rental in Pass-A-Grille beach Fla. I'm searching now for spring and summer 2019 rentals. After reading the comments on this thread, I will no longer be using VRBO to find accommodations. The owners I have done business with were all wonderful people. I do believe that what VRBO has done could very well impact their sites in an extremely negative fashion. Greed is a terrible thing.

Updated on 11/07/2018: We have cancelled our reservation more than a month ago. Today still received request for payment. Horrible customer support, buggy software. Morons! Amateurs! They can't test their crappy software! Their trust & security department is incapable. Don't be surprised if all your personal info is already leaked out.

Please use a rental company that will have someone to talk to and able to refund your money if there's a problem. VRBO will NOT refund money. Money can only be refunded by the homeowner and it is at their option. The place we stayed had cockroaches and we left. The owner is stating that we didn't give him time to fix the problem, which can't be fixed in one day, so he's not refunding our money.

My experience confirms everyone else's review. VRBO's refund policy sucks and you should book your vacation somewhere else. I have booked a property in Steamboat for the end of January 2019 at the beginning of October 2018. A week later, another couple wanted to join so I cancel the existing reservation for a bigger place which I also booked through VRBO. The property charged us $100 cancellation fee and VRBO kept their service fee of $133 since the property kept $100.

I am a homeowner. We own a $1 million home in Annapolis MD. About 100 nights for 2018. While most of the renters are satisfactory, the level of adverse selection attracted to VRBO is unacceptable, but expected. Homeowners beware and pay attention: VRBO has contempt for you, and you and your asset that generate their revenue are a one sided equation. They bend over and protect their bad actor renters, and you will be threatened frequently for defending your asset. Generally by support staff that do not speak English well. Have been well trained to not allow you to speak to supervisors or so called executives of this dying company. You will be strong armed into submission by threats that emanate from pathetic IT systems that they do not invest in that create multiple answers, always to the renter's benefit. You will be told competing answers by this staff, so rely on nothing if you find the answer you believe correct.

Do not trust VRBO reviews. Owners can reject reviews, and owners review the reviewers! Less than a ** review gets YOU rated as an unsuitable guest, and they can blacklist you from future rentals. Guess why so many VRBO reviews are 5 star!

My family booked a house rental in Europe for Christmas week, however, an older family member broke her knee and will be unable to travel. We canceled our VRBO rental reservation within the deadline for a full refund (and 2 months before our reservation date) and VRBO and the property owner kept 60% of the deposit - $800 for a $2000 deposit! We were told by VRBO that it's up to the property owner to decide how much to refund. This sounds completely illegal and like a tremendous scam. VRBO advertises their "travel with confidence" guarantee but it doesn't appear to have any meaning. VRBO offered to try to negotiate with the homeowner and sent them an email letting them know they "are able to refund 100% of our deposit." We are waiting to see if the property owner decides to do the right thing, but legal action may be the only route to take in order to get our $1200 returned.

VRBO took a house we rented down from their site (reason unknown) and never notified us. They claimed to have sent an email but could not produce it when pressed. I would think an $12,000 deposit would deserve a phone call but they're the worst company ever so... Then they were no help in either getting the deposit back or finding a new place two months before the holidays. They're making so much money and have no customer service so what can a consumer do? We need more owner managed sites to compete and take this monster down.

I believe they don’t post negative reviews about rental properties. There were no reviews posted for my rental. I didn’t notice until after the vacation that the property had been on the site for years. This should have been a red flag. The condo we rented had dirty, stained bedding. The description of the area had some inaccuracies. I wrote a review. But it was not posted.

VRBO and HomeAway were advertising sites. Now they bill themselves as booking sites. They charge us (the homeowners) an annual fee. Then they charge every booking a fee to the renter. on top of that, they also charge a credit card or ACH fee that further reduces the payment to the owners. If we offer alternative solutions for payment (our own credit card company is cheaper than theirs) then they threaten to remove us from the site for "language against alternative contacts or payments." They have hit the last straw with NO WAY for a renter to contact us unless they put down money NOR for owners to reach out to a renter before approving the booking. As this is our second home we want a say in who rents and who doesn't before the site takes their money plus their fees. They were smart in how they rolled this out on the anniversary of your renewal. It is terrible in how they treat owners of properties which make up their business model.

After using realty companies to plan vacations for over 20 years, we decided to try VRBO. We saved several hundred dollars by renting directly from the owner. This resulted in the creepiest vacation ever. The owner had night vision cameras outside of the rental. OK... so maybe he was monitoring for security reasons... I get it. When the temperature inside the rental rose to 78 degrees we could not understand. We had set the thermostat at 70. After the members of our party accused each other of tampering with the thermostat, we soon realized the owner was controlling the thermostat remotely. If we lowered the temperature it would “mysteriously” be raised. Hmmmmmm... Made us wonder if there were cameras inside. Worst vacation ever. Will go back to using realty companies.

THEY DESERVE NO STARS. They take your payment, then don't pay the homeowner. They use a Payment processor called YAPSTONE. I used my Canadian VISA card to book a property in California. They took my payment but still after 60 days they haven't paid the homeowner. The homeowner had a wonderful property, but they keep giving excuses. They are afraid of a "CHARGEBACK". Why? Because it's a foreign credit card. NONSENSE. If they were concerned about fraud, they should have DECLINED MY CARD, not authorized it. STAY FAR AWAY FROM VRBO. SCAM SCAM SCAM. Airbnb is their competition EVERYONE.

VRBO Ruined my 1st father-son weekend with my toddler... VRBO cancelled my reservation while I was on my way to the house with no explanation. I had a car full of stuff for the weekend and my one and a half year old son. This left us with nowhere to sleep and scrambling to figure out other plans. When I called all I got was rudeness and the run around, I'll never use VRBO again.

Recently rented a home from Vrbo, the home was not as presented and vrbo was of no help in resolving any of the problems. To top it all off I was unable to write a review! Basic scam artists. Never again will I be this foolish!

ZERO customer service. Requests information they will not give. Argumentative, condescending, disrespectful, arrogant... I could go on but hopefully, the message is received. You have a problem with this outfit and you are in for a very nasty surprise. You are blocked from communicating directly with the property owner until you put your non-refundable money down. Good luck.

I recently booked a home on VRBO and unfortunately had to cancel due to a family member being diagnosed with cancer. We moved her into our home and could not take our vacation. The vacation date is still one month away and when I notified VRBO they said the owner has a "No Refund" policy. How is that even possible? They refunded less than 50% of a 2 night stay that was almost $450 and I'm was told by VRBO to be grateful that I received anything at all. Their site says that you can book with confidence since you're protected when making reservations them. What an outright lie! The homeowner should be ashamed of themselves for this as they have more than adequate time to rent out their property. If this was a last minute cancellation I would expect some of my payment not to be refunded, but again this is over a month away.

This is a response to Vacation Rentals concerning taxes. I think it is disgusting that a company as large as yours does not have a way to collect the Florida State Tax of 7%. You manage to collect the county tax of 6%. Before Oct 1, you had the ability for owners to impose a percentage of tax on a line item that needed to be collect, this option worked very well. You also had a line item to incorporate your service fee. Now you say it is our responsibility to collect the Florida State Tax, HOW?

I can't say enough about our experience at 241 2nd Street Key Colony Beach, Florida. From the time we arrived the house felt like it was our home. We were greeted shortly after arrival by a person from the management company to make sure we were able to gain entrance and we were asked if we needed anything. The house was exceptionally clean and both bathrooms and the kitchen are updated. The baths are equipped with clean towels, soap, shampoo and there are extra towels in the laundry room that is equipped with a stacked washer and dryer. The kitchen is equipped with newer glassware, dishware, pots, pans and a cabinet of spices.

VRBO's stated advertising on their site that you can book with confidence and that your charges are 100% refundable conceals the fact that each owner can list a contract (found only through following a link) that allows the owner to keep a substantial deposit. I made a reservation and cancelled the next day and the owner kept $200. I was sure that was a mistake and contacted VRBO... 5 different times. Their position is that I should have clicked a link to see if there were other conditions by the owner. I'm out $200 and very disappointed in the way they conduct their business. NO TRANSPARENCY in the way they conduct business.

I'm in the middle of an audit with the Taxation Department and they want back records of payments received from VRBO for 2017. I have spent 4 hours being bounced from one department to the next... First no-one can find my property... Next I'm in the "wrong department" "Let me transfer you"... I've been through 6 departments, lost 4 hours of my valuable time, and still have no answers. I would NOT recommend working with VRBO/HomeAway. It's not the first time I've had problems getting questions answered regarding payments - but it's definitely the MOST frustrating experience I've had.

I cannot express to you how unhappy I am with this company. I am a superhost on Airbnb and the experience is like night and day! VRBO has a separate company that processes all payments. They do not live up to their rental agreement or payment policies. They charge you fees that are hidden. There is virtually no host support at all. It is difficult to even find a phone number an a rep that can actually do anything to help. Even their customer service staff agrees with how terrible their customer service is but their "hands are tied". PLEASE - spare yourself the pain and just use AIRBNB.

When VRBO first opened, tenants made their rental arrangements directly with the owners. Contracts were not consistent. I was nervous. Eventually, I found myself renting several units a year. It is significant to this VRBO review, that I never had a bad experience with an owner. I have never had to contact customer service - so I am NOT reviewing VRBO's customer service department. VRBO evolved with every new parent company, and I thought I would hate the last change... the one where tenants were charged a fee for booking their stays. I almost switched to another site. So far I am glad that I did not change. I was used to dealing directly with the owner, and the new system brought back all the insecurities from before. But now that I have done several rentals for which I have paid a fee, I have formed a new opinion of the VRBO platform. I actually like it, and I don't mind paying the fee.

I have rented my properties on VRBO for years. One could easily set up properties and pay a yearly fee for their service which was excellent overall for years. Then, they decided, apparently out of greed, to emulate Airbnb. They added the pay per booking option. However, owners could still choose the yearly pay option. Then, they added Vacation Rental Payments. BEWARE!! They now force every owner to apply to this company and funnel all funds through such. Also, they take a full 30 days to "decide" if the owner is approved while your ad is NOT LIVE!!! For the second year in a row they did not renew my ads "pending approval" and could care less that the ads were down. After I call, they then tell you it will be a few more days, up to 30! My advice: If you have other options through which to rent your units, I would recommend taking them!

I rented out a condo through this company for 4 night that and charge me $923.00, all I got was an email stating my reservation was ready. They never once gave me an address or the hotel name. If you want to safe your frustration don't use this company because you will also end up paying for a $89.00 service fee through VRBO which I'm assuming it for customer service and if you need to do any changes or want specific information they will tell you they can't help you. And you have to call another company and again you will have to give out all your information to get a different reservation number and they too will not give you the exact address or name to your hotel. This reservation process was a COMPLETE HASSLE. I have wasted a whole day to get reservations and 1 hour just to check in at my hotel. RESERVATIONS ONLINE AND THROUGH THIS WEBSITE (COMPANY) IS POINTLESS.

We rented what we thought was a private cabin in Drake, Colorado. The “property manager” was actually the owner and lives there with his wife. We essentially were renting rooms in someone’s house. They claimed we broke a window handle which was broken when we got there and kept my $150.00 deposit. The owner yelled at us (2 45 year old couples) and very creepily let me know he was watching me from his window. Their neighbor was screaming and shot a gun late at night. Creepiest trip ever. And they gave me a bad review. I will never use VRBO again. Ever. I have 3 witnesses to all of this.

I had booked a 3 bedroom condo for a family reunion and we reserved dinner reservations, a walking tour and more for our weekend. 3 days before we were to go, the owner canceled our reservation. No explanation whatsoever. The VRBO customer service was the worst. They barely speak English, their phone service is terrible, and one of the many calls I tried to make, the person hung up on me! My sister also called them multiple times to argue with them about the deposit refund. After hours of trying to find another place to stay, we had to cancel our weekend. SO disappointing. I WILL NEVER USE VRBO AGAIN. AWFUL BUSINESS.

I used VRBO a few years back to rent out our beach house. It had good customer service at that time. I decided to use the VRBO.com website again and what a mistake! They now have awful customer service. They have outsourced both the customer service as well as the payment company to what appears to be the Philippines. They now are charging the customer and the renter exorbitant fees as well as not releasing the funds to the owner of the home until after the rental period begins. They are holding thousands of dollars probably millions nationwide, of other people's money for months and collecting the interest.

Lesson Learned and We Were Burned – Sept 2018 I had reserved lodging for my vacation before leaving on my vacation. However, within the first several days of my vacation, one of my lodging confirmations cancelled. I had to quickly locate new lodging within two days. I go to VRBO and requested a property and felt relieved to have found something on such short notice. My wife and I go to dinner and on our return, VRBO sent a splash screen to our phone telling us the property was not available on the dates requested. Back to the drawing board!

Let me add to all of the negative reviews. I used VRBO for beach trip rentals for years without a problem. When I booked this trip, I was charged so many fees that were not explained. I was shocked by this because it was very strange. I then realized that HomeAway was affiliated and I thought maybe that was the problem. We did not get any fees back either. Luckily we got to use our rental and they returned their $400 deposit that we paid. The bad part was that the kitchen in the apartment was all torn up with 2 guys replacing the boiler. We were told that it would take 2 hours to fix, but that turned into 2 days without hot water. We had other issues too, but I won't bring up all of them here.

I recently (tried) to stay at a VRBO listed property for a friend's wedding in New Hampshire. The owner canceled the reservation the day of my arrival. She didn't even have the decency to call, text, or send an email. I turned on my phone after my flight touched down to see that my funds had been returned. I finally got in touch with her, and the reason for the cancellation was that she didn't have time to clean the place. (!) She was so rude - it was completely disheartening. I told her I would just wash the sheets because I really needed somewhere to stay, but she said no (because I might give her a bad review).

I used VRBO to book a weekend stay in cabin to see the waterfalls in Georgia. I booked the first one, paid, got insurance, got confirmation number, good to go! NOT! About 10 min later, I received an email from that property owner stating he had already booked the unit for that weekend so it was not available. I finally received a partial refund weeks later. New story... I went back to the VRBO website (silly me) that same day and booked another cabin, paid for rental, cancellation insurance again and got confirmation number. The week before the scheduled trip, a storm came up from the Gulf of Mexico so there was rain and lots of it coming in so we decided to cancel our trip. We had cancellation insurance, right? Wrong. That was 5 months ago and I’ve still not received anything from VRBO, HomeAway, property owner or anyone else. Will NEVER use this site again.

I had to cancel our vacation rental with VRBO. We cancelled within the 60 day time frame for full refund. They refuse to pay us the full refund saying we had to contact the owner directly. Did that and he stated that they didn't give him any money and are keeping my 400.00. This messaging went back and forth so many times and they are trying to tell me that I was 59 days. Wrong??!!! I just want people to know that if you cancel you pretty much won't get a full refund. VRBO keeps your money and will argue with you to no avail. Was so frustrated we finally gave up and they sit with my money. Just greed is what I feel about them and will never book again with VRBO!!

Terrible experience with VRBO/HomeAway customer support while trying to get refund for cancelation that is well within cancelation policy. VRBO is practically useless in their attempts to resolve the matter as they have no way to contact the owner. They allowed listing with no contact information and provided zero protection from fraud. Their "Book with Confidence Guarantee" policy is a clear misnomer. Stay away from this business.

Before my VRBO reservation was made, the homeowner told me he'd give me $100 off the rental, which was documented in VRBO messaging. I chatted with VRBO customer service to ensure that this was possible and was told it was. After the rental fund's disbursement I received the $99 damage deposit refund, but not the extra $100. I messaged the owner multiple times but received no response. I called VRBO customer service and was told they would have to "escalate" my complaint and they had me fill out a formal complaint form.

We have used VRBO before and were very pleased. We had not needed to use the cancellation policy. I would encourage any travelers to read all the print in this policy. 60 days or less cancelation forfeits 100% of your payment minus the deposit. The owner was willing to work with us. The VRBO was not helpful at all. We will not use them again. Live and learn. God Bless them and pray they take better care of their customers.

One day, I began receiving e-mails from VRBO about an account being opened. When I went to VRBO.com, an account had been opened using my e-mail address with the username of "PREMIYA SCHASTLIVIY EMAIL PODHODIT K KONCU ** ZABERITE VIYGRISH DO 20 AUGUST." That is literally the username, I copied it directly from said e-mails. For those who don't know Russian, it's claiming that I won some kind of prize, and that to claim it I need to go to the link by August 20th. Obviously, it's some kind of scam.

We have used VRBO in the past with no problems. We were looking forward to a vacation, booked an available property two months in advance. Got a confirmation, money was exchanged. While driving to vacation destination, we realized we haven't received the lockbox code. Attempt to contact owner to no avail. Three hours into the drive with three children under four, we finally get a hold of a VRBO agent. Put on hold, lost call, three separate times. We then get a text that said, "Contact us immediately, your reservation has been canceled."

We rented a VRBO-brokered property in Venice Beach California. I will be opening another post about the owner Venice Local Living. We arrived at the property late and it was NOTHING like the pictures. There was literally filthy, caked on dust everywhere, walls, doors, light switches were dirty. There was no soap or amenities in the bathroom, and the towels had such a bad mold/mildew smell that we could not use them, or dare shower. There was NO functional lighting outside, and the smoke detector was non-functional. There was an ant and spider infestation. There were ants all over my personal belongings. The property manager did not pick up the phone or call back.

VRBO, also known as Home Away, shows very misleading prices on their search for vacation rentals. For example a home that is advertised with a $250 rental rate per night, will actually cost $779 to rent for two nights. It is laborious to figure out all of the additional fees they add on for "security", "cleaning" and so on. Prices should be standardized and easier to see so consumers can compare. Additionally, I stayed at a place last summer and did not receive a deposit refund nor any notification of why I did not receive a credit. There is no accountability for property owners to have to return deposits - which are hundreds of dollars.

Reserved a rental with a 100% cancellation guarantee up to two months before check in. Requested cancellation four days later (five months before my time is up) and received no response from the property owner. Sent another request - nothing. Waited an entire week before calling VRBO for assistance. Now they said they have to open a claim on the property owner and wait for a response. Only then, after the deadline, will they open another claim to start refunding my money. In the meantime, I am on the hook for $500+. This is not fair. They should refund my money and deal with the property owner on their own behalf. Instead, they're deciding to leave the customer hanging. I will no longer be renting from VRBO and will spread the word to my friends and family. This has been a horrible experience and not at all worth the trouble.

On booking via VRBO/Homeaway, I was required to provide personal data, and make a full prepayment plus a "service fee." I did not agree to receive any marketing communications but ever since, they and affiliates have spammed me relentlessly, and refuse a resolution despite phone calls, web chats, and the involvement of the BBB and Texas Attorney General.

They charged over twice their listed price on the website. They said the listed price was an average? Who knows what that means. I also did not like the extra "fee" they charged which says it is designed to make your leasing experience more pleasurable???? Will never use VRBO again... BEWARE.

Rented a property in Bradenton, FL for Aug 26-Aug 31. Bought the recommended trip interruption insurance from their check-out page. Worst case of red tide in 20 years forced cancellation due to health issues. FL Dept. of Health warned anyone with respiratory issues to avoid red tide inflicted areas. I cancelled the trip thinking certainly I would receive a refund under these circumstances. Think again. Owner Maggie only cares about money, and the recommended insurance from VRBO denied my claim and was basically a scam. Read the reviews for CSA Travel Insurance. Of course, VRBO takes no responsibility for this insurance, even though they recommend you buy it in case something happens that you have to cancel. VRBO/Home Away and CSA Travel Insurance are a total rip-off. Stay very far away.

When you put in your destination, dates, and guest count, it pulls up properties in the area You can then filter further based on beds, bath, etc. When the results set come up, there is a price per night and price for 6 nights that is shown. You can sort the results based on that price. When you click into the property, the price is drastically different... 5 times more in most cases. I called customer service and was hung up on twice when I presented my concern. The third agent told me that the price on the result set was an average. It does not say that it is an average on the website. It is very misleading a very bad user experience. For this, I will be using a different company to book my vacation property.

Where do I begin... The pictures of the house were not a true representation of the house. I cant attach the correct pictures to this review. I messaged about early check in and received a call about 5 minutes later at 12:02pm saying there was a problem with the sewage - wasn't sure if we could even stay at that house. They would let us know at 3:30pm- check in is at 4:00. They would make sure the house was going to be safe and enjoyable. I was very upset because I picked this house for specific reasons. She did TEXT and say the house was ready. When we arrived trash in the front of the house a big box with garbage and full trash can. The landscaping on the front yard- a joke at best, areas that were dug up and not tended to. The inside of the house was fine- the pictures do not reflect accurately but it was good.

We rented a home through VRBO for a 1 week stay in Dauphin Island, AL. We found 2 hidden cameras in the common areas of the home including living room. This is a beach house, so we had 3 children under the age of 3 in the home, that were running around naked a various points of the vacation in the living room. We notified police, as this is a crime in the state of Alabama. We also notified VRBO, and they said they don't handle personal complaints, and to take it up with the Home Owner. Are you kidding me??? I have proof of hidden cameras covertly installed into carbon monoxide detectors, and VRBO is condoning this practice. RENT ELSEWHERE.

Living the dream on Florida's Emerald Coast! is the name of the property. The condo owners are Cristy & Tom **. I messaged them on VRBO about our initial check of the condo and found that a bath towel was missing, the place had not been cleaned well at all, and glasses/dishes were still dirty from previous uses. We washed all dishes/glasses, cleaned floors, and even purchased additional towels from WalMart so that we did not have to share bath towels. They were friendly and apologetic that we found it that way and mentioned waiving our $100 cleaning fee and would get with management about replacing the towels.

***This is not a bad review against VRBO but of the property (Kaibo Yacht Club Rental) on their website that was a horrible experience - The photos and reviews posted on the VRBO website were in no way indicative of the actual property.*** Let me start by saying that I don’t know where all of the amazing reviews on the VRBO property page are coming from but it is certainly not what we experienced during our stay (Aug 14-19 2018).

Even I have tried to do any new reservation twice. 1st-time representative said I will connect to the booking department. After waiting for 30 minutes in call disconnected. After that, I contacted again. This time the person who picked my call he was very rude. When I asked to help for reservation he said, "Go to VRBO website. There you will find what is available. You do it from there," and he disconnected the call. The payment system whatever they are having is right now is the worst thing, they have to change that. It confusing for the customer. I would like to zero rating but there is no option that's why I am giving 1 star.

We rented the vacay property at 4 Moreno point in Destin FL known as the MELLOW MANGO. It was nothing like the VRBO photos. It literally looked abandoned. The pool was filthy and over run with weeds. The house was 89°, the fridge didn't work, bathroom outlets didn't work, drains were clogged, shower water handles literally came off in our hands. The house hadn't been cleaned and had food stains on the cupboards and walls and an unlimited supply of cockroaches. The property's vegetation hadn't been landscaped either. The windows were water damaged as noted by the permanent fogging of the glass.

Sunday August 13th, we arrived at the hotel around 5 o’clock and went to our room 805. The first thing we noticed when opening the door to our room was all the black mold that covered the room. As we looked around we noticed many things were broken. The stove burners were disconnected and laying on top of the stove, The Freezer was frozen solid, the drawers to the dressers were busted out through the bottom. Tiles were laying all over the floor, there were plastic silverware that had been washed over and over again, one coffee cup and 2 glasses for my family of four. The towels looked like they had been used to clean with. Everything was disgusting. It looked like this room should have been shut down and not rented to anyone. Ocean Breeze did nothing to help. Will never use them again!

If you are new to the vacation rental business do not use VRBO!!! As an owner of multiple vacation homes, I am VERY disgusted with VRBO. We have listed with them for years, and the rules keep changing. I am sick and tired of the poor customer service that they give to the owner and the consumer!! Fees that they charge both ends have skyrocketed out of control. I don't think most consumers are probably even aware of the struggles we have with them on our end also. I do NOT recommend anybody do business with them from either side!!! Go direct if at all possible, Google the name of the business and you can usually find their personal information. Or like us, we are also on Facebook. Cut out the middle man and the company might be forced to change their ways!!!

I booked a place and the rate shown was not the rate agreed to. The property owner was fine but calculated my service fee to them based on the higher amount that is nearly double. I called and was hung up on twice and now says that the number is not working. So I tried to chat and was disconnected 6 times. I finally got through and rather than help me the agent was rude and kept cutting and pasting an answer that didn’t address my question. They are in effect stealing money from me. I am beyond frustrated. Rentals are expensive and a company like this should not be allowed to stay in business. Disappointed.

We were promised that the executive team at VRBO reviewed my cancellation due to disability and illness and promised a full refund. Upon my inquiries the story changed many times. Ashely insisted that a credit was made through a processor. The processor had no idea what I was talking about and hung up on me because she did not speak English.

I rented a home in Hawaii for 8800. A month before our trip, (now) I learned through an acquaintance that our property was inaccessible due to flooding 4 months ago. Prior to sending my bulk check to the owner of $6400, I asked if his property was affected by the floods and if anything would affect my stay. To which he replied no, I sent the check and he cashed it. Come to find out, he is living in the rental, knew full well the road there is open to owners only with checkpoints, and when he cashed my check, the mayor has notified the residents 3 weeks earlier that the road would be closed through October (my stay was in September). He will not return my money but offered to reschedule in the future. Like I would ever rent from this person again!

Air conditioning was not functional the entire stay and ice maker did not work the first 2 days. When the nightly rate is $566.67/night, then the lack of advertised air conditioning becomes a significant issue and there has been no partial requested refund per "certified letter and FedEx mailing" on my part. I am a 77 year old senior (retired financial analyst) with an extensive travel history, and this is the first time that I have encountered this type of situation. I realize the property owners are new to renting as they only purchased the property this past March; however, there is a defined obligation to provide the amenities as advertised.

Lake Skaneateles boat house- Upon arrival we had to clear the yard of dog poop. When we stepped onto deck to see beautiful view we were greeted by hundreds of yellow jackets that made their home in roof (for many weeks). Kitchen had mouse poop on counter, dirty dishes in cabinets, garbage in bathroom & kitchen. Furniture in living room had broken recliner, and chair with missing cushion, but chair pad stacked instead. Bed rolled into middle, owner left everything out with no room for anything. I immediately complained & owner offered for me to wait and meet exterminator (Not my job... His job if he wants to rent his property... I’m supposed to be on vacation, not a maintenance manager!!). VRBO has offered nothing as far as price reduction, still have not received my $500 cleaning deposit which is a joke because I cleaned!!! Please think twice before using this company!!! However, water is wet and Skaneateles is a beautiful city!!

This review is specifically about our reservation for Christmas 2018 in Key Largo, FL; however, we have had multiple bad experiences with both VRBO and Airbnb. We reserved and paid in full for a home in Key Largo for our family Christmas. The listing indicated it was available for our dates so we booked it, only to have the host say it's NOT available for those dates. After some negotiation, the host said YES, absolutely we can have the house and we paid for it in full at that time.

Terrible experience using VRBO to book Shep's Quarters in VA Beach. I lost my security deposit of $1000. House was dirty upon arrival. Owner claims it was my family (even though I took pictures when I arrived at emailed her the next morning). She also lied about me not having permission to bring 2 small non-shedding dogs. All lies and I lost $1000. Beware! VRBO took her side of course. She took advantage of me and it was ok with VRBO. Never Again! Worst vacation ever!

VRBO was my "go-to" for vacation rentals. Now I see online $200/night - which for 3 nights would be $600. BUT the VRBO price is over $1000! They ADD more than $400 in fees, taxes and service fees to VRBO. The pricing is OUTRAGEOUS and definitely designed to screw the renter! Never again, never again - if they allowed less than 1 star I'd give it a negative. This is a great lesson in how to lose customers.

I recently booked a vacation rental through VRBO. BE AWARE!!! I booked a 1 bedroom condo with a king size bed, 1 sleeper sofa, futon, and cot. I thought that I won the lotto, because the condo was so affordable. Cost of the condo $250 per night, compared to Smugglers Notch Resort rate at $450 per night. Now I know why the condo was so cheap.

I am a property owner, I am evaluating VRBO's management. VRBO is an awful property rental agency. They accept more than one reservation for my home, then cancel both. They won't allow my property manager to speak to the clients (potential renters) to answer questions to make sure this is the right house for them. They repeatedly take money out of my checking account, and make redundant accounting errors. They now introduce "YapStone" to unscramble their errors, and YapStone is just as bad as VRBO.

I booked through VRBO/HomeAway for 5 nights in Aiken South Carolina to bring our daughter to school from New Hampshire. Basically the owner of the listed property was already in foreclosure which obviously is nothing we could have known as his property was still active on VRBO. After he took my full payment, I didn't get a single response ever again. We were made aware by a former employee of the rose cottage estate that Steven **, the former owner, had skipped town after the foreclosure and that the rose cottage's new owners would not be available for rental when we were coming anyway as they were in a construction phase at property. We flipped out since no one from VRBO ever informed us and the listing was still active.

I have contacted VRBO for our vacation in the Florida Keys. I found a wonderful property and the website said this home was $100 per night (I have screenshots). The homeowner reached out to me saying my dates, 4 nights in September, were available and she will rent to me. Sounds good? Just wait! I went to book and she now tells me that the nightly rate was $200 and she would never rent her home for $100. I inquired about the price difference stated on the website and she didn't respond.

We rented a property two months in advance for a family reunion. We had 15 family members from 3 states traveling to the house. When we arrived the property owner said she had made a mistake with the dates and the property was already occupied. She told us to call VRBO and that they would find us a place to stay. VRBO was unable to secure anything for us - hotels were booked, all properties booked. We were homeless with children on the streets. Had to spend FOUR HOURS on the phone, with 40 minute wait times each time I called just to negotiate with them. The only property we were able to find was on their competitor, Airbnb's, website and they refused to pay for it.

I used VRBO for the first time this past July. VRBO is currently holding my $500 refundable deposit. After many phone calls and runarounds I still can't seem to get an answer as to why they will not refund my money. Nothing was damaged as per the homeowner and she has no idea why they will not refund the money. She has tried to contact them also but they give her the same tag team phone calls. They just continue to put me on hold and transfer me to other people. And the process starts all over. NEVER USE THEM!!!

HomeAway (VRBO) commits fraud by stating reservations are 100% refundable if cancellations are made 60 days prior to arrival. They would not refund our deposit when our cancellation request was submitted 7 months prior to arrival. "John" the "customer care" representative admitted that the 100% refundable statement was incorrect and assured me that he would "ask" the owner to correct the discrepancy for future renters. We would not have booked the house a year ahead of time we knew that the deposit was not eligible for a refund. This is fraudulent advertising, buyer beware, this is not an ethical company.

We rented our condo for 30+ years. This year, VRBO/HOMEAWAY required that they must collect monies and deposits. Our first rental with them was a scam! VRBO does absolutely NOTHING to protect owners - and treated us like we were a nuisance complaining about the chargeback and just allowing the people to get all their monies returned. After looking on their forum, apparently this is very common at VRBO. No help or support whatsoever for the owners.

We have used VRBO for our vacations over the past 10 years and have always had good luck either finding a property to rent or a rental company that works with VRBO to rent. We have rented a beachfront condo in Pensacola Beach twice in four years and the rental of this same property this past year was a total nightmare. The rental company we used for the property was Pensacola Beach Rentals on Pensacola Beach. We selected the property again this last summer due to the fact the property worked out for us two years ago with no problems. I certainly understand that these properties turn over every week and issues arise that need to be fixed, but I expect the issues to be minor if the property is properly maintained by the property management and owner.

My friends and I booked at 5 bedroom house with VRBO in December, 2017 for a wedding in August, 2018. Everything was paid in full and confirmed. 48 hours before we were due to arrive, VRBO contact us to let us know that there was a glitch in their system and the people currently renting the property had extended their stay so the house was no longer available. They offered us a 4 bedroom house from Saturday-Tuesday instead and not comping anything. We all arrive Friday morning for the wedding and now have nowhere to stay. All of the hotels are now exorbitantly expensive. I would stay away from VRBO at all costs - they do not honor reservations book 7 months in advance.

Renter beware when reviewing reviews on VRBO and Florida Rentals.com. We rented a condo unit, on the first floor, of the "Ashley" condo complex in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida. We experienced numerous problems from the refrigerator dying, a constant undulating sound and a dining room table that was bar high (we are seniors and we have a handicapped daughter). The owner refused to cover our out of pocket expenses and as much as said that we caused the problems. I wrote two negative reviews on this condo; one on VRBO and one on Florida Rentals.com. Neither reviews were published. I called VRBO and got the run-around for 45 min. They were supposed to get back to me; no such luck. I also sent Florida Rentals.com two inquiries and never received a response. Conclusion: Don't trust reviews. Ask for the names, dates and contact info for the past 3 renters. If the owner refuses, move on.

VRBO (HomeAway) has stolen money from our checking account. This has been an on-going problem which has not been resolved since January of this year (2018). I have made numerous phone calls to HomeAway's customer service department over the past 6 months, and I have sent several emails to the HomeAway to them as well as their payment processing and chargeback departments with no resolution. This problem began when a "traveler" made a reservation of our property through VRBO/HomeAway. Based on this particular "booking," a partial payment was deposited into my checking account on 2/1/18. Within a few days the traveler changed his mind and wanted to cancel the reservation. However frustrated with the traveler's indecision and lack of commitment, I agreed to refund the deposit made into my checking account.

The lack of transparency by Home Away/VRBO. I used VRBO several years ago when it was called VRBO, not Home Away. When it was VRBO I had no problems. In 2018, the first rental payment to my bank account was made within a few days of it being received by Home Away; it was minus a hefty wire transfer fee, which did not happen when it was called VRBO. As It got closer to my renters arriving (8/2/18), no money had been sent to my account. When I called about it, they said I was on a "check in plus one" payment plan. Which means, I will not receive the final payment until the renters have been in my home for days. I was never informed of this change by Home Away. This policy was not in effect when it was VRBO!

VRBO charge me $140 fee for taking a payment and didn't even handle the rest of the vacation. The company that did handle which was Teeoff Beach charge me a $40 fee and handle the rest of the reservation. So I call VRBO and asked why they charged him $140 for just taking a payment and they said well that's their policy and it's it and that's that. Beware of VRBO. Do not book through them. They are crooks, thieves and liars. They never mentioned $140 fee when they took the payment but they said, "That's policy. It's it and that's that." I will never deal with VRBO again. They are trash sucking monsters.

I reserved a 3 bedroom unit in Vista Cay (Orlando FL) on 6/20/18 and paid with my credit card. Woke up the morning of our trip to an email sent at 12:30 am cancelling our reservation. We were on the road! No refund yet.

I wish that I had read reviews of VRBO before using them to book a cabin. I didn't notice that all the reviews of vacation rentals posted on their site are 100% positive-- isn't that interesting? On top of a premium rate for a weekend cabin getaway, there was a large damage deposit; a cleaning fee; a general administrative fee; plus tax. All those extra fees added up to an additional 66% of what we thought we were paying for a two night stay!

Attempted to make a vacation rental for specific dates in July 2018 back on May 20, 2018. After locating a property and supplying dates and credit card info a message appeared on screen that those dates were NOT availabale and I should try different dates. Different dates were not an option so I left the website and booked with a different company. Almost a month later, I receive an email to pay my balance on the July rental I had wanted. It appears that VRBO charged my credit card a $323 deposit without informing me or sending any confirmation. After contacting VRBO by phone they put me on permanent hold and did not get back to me.

Tops’l Tides at Miramar Beach - Destin, Florida: We recently stayed at this condo July 7 - 14 in unit 406. This unit had very old nasty carpet, no hot water for part of our trip, and the cleaning fee of $200 was a joke. There were clothes left from the previous guest. I requested a refund for one day and was quickly denied. Don’t waste your money on this condo, the pictures are very deceiving. #406

Booked a vacation rental in February of this year (2018) for use in June of this year. Owner contacted me about two weeks prior to the rental stating that I would have to "change my dates because the house was being listed for sale". What? This vacation was coordinated with three families and was 500 miles from our home city. Travel plans had been made in good faith. The owner was very blunt and didn't seem too concerned with the position they were putting me in. So much for the hospitality industry!