Vrbo Reviews

I would never recommend booking through this company. I called to cancel my reservation due to the COVID-19 and sat on the phone for 3 hours just to get the runaround. I was told I was being transferred to a “higher up” where he told me I could be lying about being on the phone for three hours. I proceeded to tell Him I would be happy to send him a screenshot. How unprofessional and rude! He also told me I should have purchased insurance and it is not his fault there is a virus outbreak right now. These are the kind of higher ups dealing with customer affairs and wellness? I will never book through this company again. DISGUSTING!

My husband and I booked our trip to Hawaii and were really excited until the Pandemic of COVID19. We didn’t panic and thought we would wait things out but now we are weeks away from our travel date and boarders are now closing. When I reached out to VRBO and asked if they were waiving the 60 day cancellation policy I was told no. The owner of the condo also said no to refunding our money. I don’t think I’ll ever book through this company again! This travel restriction is out of my control and would have thought VRBO would understand and refund our money. Also, the thing is, we would have rebooked once this pandemic was over. Definitely won’t be booking anything through VRBO and will ensure to advise all my friends and family of this disappointing service.

We booked a condo through Vrbo for a stay in Park City, Utah for March 13-18, 2020. We tried to cancel our reservation due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Vrbo said we could only cancel and receive a refund if the property owner agreed. "Rob," the owner living in Australia, has refused to provide any refund or accommodation. He's simply keeping the full amount, and doesn't care that there is a national health emergency. And Vrbo says it can't do anything about it. So essentially, if you book through Vrbo, you're on your own. It's nothing more than an advertiser for the property owner.

During the Coronavirus pandemic, VRBO is advising renters to contact owners for refunds. However owners are not willing to refund anyone! It is disgraceful that during such scary time their own concern is profit! No support from Vrbo. Other companies are refunding!

VRBO has been completely hellish to work with during this current pandemic, we were suppose to fly to the UK but because of all the travel bans we had to cancel. The owner will not answer any of my emails and VRBO just tells me that they have nothing to do with it. Do not use this service and for sure do not book this place if you go to the UK Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, Greater London, UK Property ID: 8636376. This owner is profiting off this crises.

Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic AND National Emergency, all of the events we were traveling for were cancelled and travel and crowds were discouraged. We had no choice but to cancel our booking for the rental house we had previously booked to stay in. While ALL other airlines, hotels, cruises gave full refunds due to the extreme circumstances, VRBO assumes none of the loss and showed zero compassion. They “urged” the individual homeowners to refund at their own expense, and offered no financial responsibility and assumed no loss. The homeowner we rented from was only able to offer us a portion of our money back as he was taking a huge loss with all of the cancelations and VRBO did nothing!

I like VRBO. I don't like one owner with whom I had to cancel because of the Coronavirus emergency. She will not give me a full refund because it is within the 60 day window even though this pandemic is unusual to say the least. So stay away from Rachael in Minneapolis. Her owner ID: **.

We booked a family vacation over March break at Sonny Skky’s Paradise Gulf-View Retreat. Contacted the property manager TurnKey Vacation Rentals and VRBO to enquire about cancelling and reimbursements they are offering due to the Coronavirus pandemic. They don’t care! Will not offer us a refund or credit. So unrealistic and uncompromising during this outbreak. Wish we had have booked through Airbnb because they are offering full refunds and making exceptions to their cancellation policy: NEVER using VRBO ever again, how dare they be so insensitive during a time like this, our government is strongly advising not travelling outside of Canada. The country is in a crisis travel advisories worldly and VRBO only cares about the $2800 we paid for the trip. SHAME on You!

The Rental house #694131 Madeira Beach Florida was going to be a great family vacation but we had to cancel our trip due to the nation's “State of emergency“. Carrie, the Home owner, was wonderful to work with and we plan on renting the house in the future.

I book the wrong apartment on the website, the owner or the website did not make clear how many rooms were inside. I contacted the service right away, about 5 minutes after (only in English) it is a chance that I can speak english in an area where people only speak french in Canada (the owner speaks only french too). It took several phone calls of 15min to an hour to be able to do something because VRBO policy is that they cannot cancel on their own, what a mess. The owner doesn’t answer to them anymore, and my 800$ for the booking will be spent on nothing. Worst booking company ever.

Bernard of Brighton, Colorado. Mar 09, 2020. VRBO supports Rental Owners who discriminate against Disabled Persons and those requiring a Service Dog. I made a reservation in mid-February 2020, for Property ID 1064907. When I informed the owner that I am 100% Disabled and have a Service Dog, the Owner immediately Canceled my reservation stating Service Animals are not allowed.

I have used VRBO twice in past month. Both times I purposely declined the cancellation insurance, both times a charge for it, (the last one $80) was added to my bill. I called both times, the last time I immediately called and they told me they could not remove it as my request for the property was pending. I told them I wanted it removed immediately so I wouldn't have to call a second time, They transferred me to their associated insurance company and I got a message to leave my phone # and they would call me back. I didn't want a call back, I wanted to settle this, so I stayed on the line but they didn't tell me that I couldn't do that, and the line hung up on me. I had spent over 1/2 hour on the phone with no resolution of the problem.

Booked a stay at what was described as a luxury home in Costa Rica. The house was falling apart, was animal infested, sheets and towels were moldy. Let the hosts know how shocked we were and asked to opt out of booking. Owners negotiated a heavy discount based on similar properties nearby and we agreed. Owners asked for us to wait a few days (at which point we had checked out) to see the credit, but of course, never put it through, despite our repeated requests for them to make good on their promise. We had promises in writing and when we called VRBO for recourse and to intervene, VRBO washed their hands saying there was nothing they could do. Owners have sent us insults and threats following our negative review, yet VRBO refuses to deal with the situation or deal with or delist dishonest owners. Disappointed with the experience, and shocked at VRBO's failure to address the issue.

We booked a place to stay for an event. The owner cancelled the booking saying that the property had sold, but there was no sign of a refund. My wife has now been on the phone to VRBO for over an hour to learn the following: We have a case number but we still have to check for the refund and get back in touch with VRBO if it doesn't happen. Presumably spending another hour on the phone in the process.

I am an owner with more than a few listings on VRBO.com and I've been a client 5+ years. VRBO once was a wonderful, user friendly system that created an environment that was safe for travelers and safe for the owners. All this has changed. While the customer service reps are friendly, they don't understand how to correct the most basic billing issues and, the ticketed issues (forward to another level of support are IGNORED). Weeks will go by without any feedback or resolution.

No booking deposits since October 2019!!! We have around 80 homes that we advertise on VRBO and we have been pushed into higher monthly subscriptions; as when I started this company the listing were $89 per year and the site was used for simple advertising. Over the past two years it has required online booking, they charge renters additional booking fees as well as the person listing the property. Mind you that the listings now cost $599 and there are fees EVERYWHERE! Forget all of the bookings from the past, as renters aren't booking as often due to ridiculous booking fees.

Properties are totally misrepresented. In the absence of any policing, owners are free to fleece renters at will. Our current “cottage” of 500 square feet could be described as follows: no heat with 42F nights and days in the low 60’s. The heater did not function or was shut down to save a few pennies. 2 broken windows, 1 boarded up with the board falling off. Semi finished or horrible workmanship. Gaps, left out tiles, paint splattered around, doors so crooked they can’t close. A cleaning lady that forgot her job function. Years ago. New kitchen cabinets installed so poorly they are separating at the seams and, eventually, will fall off the wall.

Horrible Processes, inaccurate information from Customer Service reps, they are pretty much useless. They cannot guarantee that the listings are accurate, that you will be refunded if unhappy, that the owners are responsible, you don't know and they do not indicate if they have other complaints filed against the owners. The owner never responded until 20 days after I had sent him a complaint and Vrbo process is 24-48 hours. They tell you to do a review in order for them to look into a claim, then you cannot attach pictures, no one gets back to you, and the reviews are not posted.

Booked a location for my son's college graduation in Pullman, WA for May in the early part of February. Booking accepted, paid for, money deducted from account. Three weeks later, I get a message that says "Oh, sorry, the company double booked for the same dates". I tried to get in touch with the property owner by messaging him through VRBO, telling him he needed to refund my money and thanks for nothing because there are no vacancies at motels within a 90 minute drive of Pullman now.

We arrived at Hidden Gem in Crystal River Fl VRBO early evening & found door code not allowing entry. Messaged owner numerous times and called, voicemail said box full. Couldn't leave message. VRBO directed us to a local hotel mostly on their dime. Owner Carley ** got back to us between 10 and 11 that night and said she will have neighbor check out lock, no apology just that we should leave hotel at 10:44 at night and try door again, really.

I booked a condo on VRBO. Due to a change in my travel plans, I had to cancel. It promised me a 100% refund as long as it was cancelled by a certain date, which it was. I went to website, went to my reservation, and there were only 2 choices, cancel booking or reschedule. I hit cancel booking. I received a response within hours from the host, the man who actually owns the condo, saying no problem and he authorized a refund. I questioned why it wasn't 100%? He said, the rest VRBO will process after the refund processes. So I waited. But never saw it from VRBO. So I called, and got the snottiest little Filipino, who accused me of not canceling the booking, talked over my voice and was rude. I told her, I hit the cancel button, how else would I have received my refund from the Owner/Host?

I have been offering my property for a while on VRBO. They have become sooo expensive. For example, today a client had to cancel his reservation. By contract he would be refunded 50% of what he paid (less than 2 month before rental). He had paid 1800$ reservation, he got 900 reimbursed, I got 200, rest is for VRBO! Other example: Customer paid: $3,047.75 for a rental this summer, I got $1,923.95. Plus now, if you want to get the payment directly, you should leave an extra 6%, if not money will be received few weeks after the end of the rental! AirBnB has become cheaper than them unfortunately! I am looking for other options! Yes, they are big, bringing quite a lot of business, but really.

Booked a vacation rental on VRBO for an upcoming trip. The way it works; you place your request and the owner either accepts or rejects. In this case the owner accepted and took my money for the rental (in the local currency Euros). One week later the owner canceled my reservation and refunded my money in Euros. The issue was that the exchange rate between the booking and canceling had changed and I lost a lot of money. When I explained my issue with VRBO, they said that could not do anything for me and that I should take it up with the bank. Really, the bank. Anyway, just want to warn people that may be booking anything at a different currency. In my humble opinion, VRBO should have stepped up to the plate and reimbursed me the loss in the exchange rate. If it was me that canceled, it would be a different story, but it wasn’t and it was totally out of my control.

I have been a host with VRBO since 4/2015. I was extremely happy with the service and support I received as a host. Since Expedia bought this platform the cost to me and my guests has risen exponentially with a significant decrease in service. I have experienced multiple incidents of the mobile app and web site becoming non-responsive. Most recently, they are experiencing issues with their website and seem unable to resolve issue. They executed a 'nonbookable' automation feature that is not working properly. I have been trying to get resolution to multiple dates on my calendar showing up as blocked. I have not blocked these dates; the site has automatically applied 4 day blocks to days after a reservation. I cannot reach anyone to resolve problem. The website does not provide an e-mail address to send complaints. I guess this is intentional so there is no documented proof of issues. This VRBO / Homeaway site has become a joke.

Browsed this service several times before committing to try them out. I should have listened to my instincts. My very first "booking" I was shown a fraudulent listing which I input my cc/debit info to "rent" and was charged. I contacted the "owner" to confirm details at which point she informed me that it was pretty much a rooming house which was not what I was shown, booked, and was charged for. I booked what was advertised as a private home. I then had to endure this person attempting to argue with me over the phone including when I called the corporate number. She also attempted to get me to cancel the booking which would have penalized ME financially. I did eventually get my money refunded after several phone calls and a short period of wait. It was an obvious scam and I would never trust my personal or cc/debit information or their listings again.

VRBO users beware. Today I booked a VRBO and minutes later realized it was too far for the first leg of our journey. I immediately canceled the reservation giving the owner an explanation for the quick cancel and the reason. Then the reservation was canceled but I was only refunded 39% of what we paid. I realize I made the mistake, but this is terrible customer service!

VRBO fails to apply any taxes that may be applicable to your total upon checking out. I wanted to rent a condo for a few days, researched options, and found something I wanted to rent. I set up the rental, reviewed my total and decided it was more affordable than other options I researched. After I made my payment though, I was emailed saying I still owed for hotel taxes because of the location of the rental property. This was close to an additional $100 to rent the property. The tax was not included in the total/final price shown to me during check out. Had this additional tax been included in my total, I would not have chosen this property, or company to rent through.

Lighthouse Gulf Shores unit 1408. The unit is without a doubt the worst condo we have ever been in and not to Mention the uncooperative landlord. Here is the list of items we found as we arrived at the unit, shower leaked out on floor and ran over to wall, both bath vents hanging by a screw, room vents on air conditioner closed and hanging by one screw, chair support broken, toilet ran constantly, chair in bedroom wicker bad, deck tables very rusty. Will cut yourself if used. No lids that fit pans, one burner on stove crooked, only four bowls to use, no stool to get stuff in Cabinets, alarm clock not working, dishwasher leaked on floor, no 2 cup measure. Blender broken, old broom with bad end, shower item holder falls down, comforter on main bed has numerous large bleach spots on it, ceramic tile floor has numerous holes and cracks in it, all furniture cushions are worn out, all lights and very dim bulbs. Could hardly read, no maintenance agreement in unit.

Scheduled a rental in Clearwater Florida a year in advance to attend the Elite Invitational Softball tournament. Paid in full, received the address one week before. After several attempts to contact the owner about access to the home, I called VRBO. They called the owner, who happen to have a number of properties with them, and came back to the phone and said the property had been sold and no longer available. No problem they would accommodate us. Valentine's weekend at the beach, nothing available. Offered to put us up in a hotel but we would have to pay 1500 for the weekend for two rooms and they would pay for two rooms.

BEWARE! I stayed at a VRBO property in early January 2020. After rating the stay and including a slightly negative feedback the owner who had rated me 5 stars prior to seeing my review subsequently deleted hers and charged me $95 in damages including stealing a washcloth. She even charged me the convenience fee that she has to pay VRBO which I was told she is not allowed to do. I paid for an hour of late checkout as the website did not match the contract.

So I have booked with VRBO 2 times, once last June and then this week. Both times I declined the protection plan and both times I was charged for the protection plan. When contacting the property manager she indicated I would need to call VRBO. When I contacted them after waiting for 30 minutes they told me there was nothing they could and really did not seem concerned. I contacted the protection plan insurance provider after again waiting on the phone for another 30 plus and finally left message for them to call me back.

We booked a place on VRBO for Belize. They sent the confirmation, A week later sent a cancellation. An issue with the booking, the first time we booked, owner did respond in 24 hours to the request, and VRBO sent a email saying so and we were not charged for the reservation. VRBO offered other properties to book there. We did want this home, so I resubmitted a new reservation request and the owner did respond.

I booked a week in April at Tybee Island through VRBO. Due to a family emergency I needed to cancel. (February- 2 months out). I tried to cancel through VRBO within the 60 days (required to get full refund) but the site kept taking me to a page requesting I refresh with a?. No phone number to be found... Nothing. Finally the next day I decided to reach out to the owner- Susan **. I was able to cancel but when my email confirmed the cancellation it said I was refunded $870 of $2062.35 I paid. (Under 60 days said 50% refund once I cancelled... Not before.) I was instructed that my cancellation was less than 60 days (59 I missed by 1 day) even though I tried to cancel before.

I have been using VRBO for at least 10 years. I think I had to use their customer service for a minor complaint once before and the response from them was very good. This time I paid a lot of money for a single night rental through VRBO. The owner contacted me once after payment to ask for my email and phone so he could send me check-in details before we arrived, and that was the last I heard from him. Tried emailing him on the day of arrival but nothing.

Horrific service. I had a substandard experience. They did not help me at all. After many calls and e-mails I would never ever recommend them at all. I wish I could give a negative as 1 star is 1 too many.

As AN owner. I've been with VRBO since 2009 When VRBO was actually Vacation Rentals By Owner. Never had any issues. Loved this company. Once Homeaway got their hands on the company things got bad, then worse when they decided to intrude on our payment systems by using a third party (Yapstone) to collect payments. All I had was problems. It actually took 6-7 months and I can't tell you how many hours to fix these issues. My accountant at the end of year could not figure out all of the their mess.

The customer service people want to help but have no access to the billing department which is holding millions in customers money for a year or more and using it to do what?? So any issues we speak to a person with very little information of access. So all they do is read a page for answers. It's ridiculous. I have been waiting 4 days for a billing department call back.

VRBO the company has now broken their own product by not allowing the guest any direct communication with the property owner or the property manager. All COMMUNICATIONS MUST GO THROUGH VRBO!!! The result is chaos. Complaints from the guests about any problem large or small is now routed through a 2 step call center process, NOT IN THE USA, but in the PHILIPPINES. Before, you could simply call the owner whose contact phone number was right there on the listing site. NOT ANYMORE!!!

I just wanted to warn other travelers. We have booked numerous times on VRBO and have never had a problem until this January. We falsely believed that booking through VRBO offered the consumer some protection. The property we had rented resembled more of a crackhouse then a vacation rental when we arrived. We were shocked and did not feel comfortable staying somewhere covered in stains with exposed wires (with our toddler). We contacted VRBO right away and then have done nothing to rectify the situation after weeks of arguing. They had us deal with the owner who of course had their money and couldn’t care less. I don’t want this to happen to other people so I am posting this warning to think twice before you book with VRBO - this offers you zero protection so please beware.

Renter beware! I made a reservation online for Hawaii, it went through and my card was charged the correct amount. The problem was I never received a confirmation. I called customer service, they were nice enough and said they would turn my case over to the proper department and I would get an email or return call in 23-48 hours, easy enough! Forward seventy two hours later, no email, no call. I called again, and they ask for all the information again, long periods on hold, and repeated information over and over. It seemed like no one typed anything I told them - it was mass confusion. Then I got disconnected, I called back!

We have been using VRBO, nearly exclusively for all our travels in Europe and US for the last 10 years. Anytime we stay over 3 days in a place we turn to VRBO. I would estimate 30-40 rentals over that time span. We have NEVER had a problem. The properties are usually better than presented and the owners have been responsive, kind, helpful and top rate. Again, never an issue. We are in our 60s and mid range travelers. In Europe our stays range from 3 days to 2 weeks in one property with an average of about 10 days for a trip that is 3 to 4 weeks in duration. In the US we take long weekends or week reunion getaways with families and friends. Using VRBO allows us to experience the ebb and flow of a place and often meet and make new friends. Fantastic!!

The owner of our rental house cancelled our reservation a few weeks before arrival, citing a problem with her HOA not allowing short-term rentals. She sent us this notice through message on VRBO but then did not proceed with cancelling the reservation. We called VRBO for assistance and they were absolutely useless!! They told us we had to wait for the owner to cancel the reservation and they couldn't do anything. In the meantime, we needed to re-book a different house but couldn't until VRBO released the funds that we had already paid. This was a $17,000 rental!!! Their solution...wait 24-72 hours for the owner to (maybe) officially cancel the reservation. While waiting, there are fewer and fewer homes available for us to rent because we are traveling there for a huge tradeshow that is taking up most of the city. The call center is terrible. They won't escalate you to anyone that can help. STAY AWAY!!!

I've had my condo on Amelia Island listed with VRBO for about 3 years. Although the fees are high, I was earning money.. Regularly getting my income from rental directly deposited into my bank account. Now, they owe me over $4500 for a few bookings over the last two months. They keep giving me various stories... Yapstone Problem, my problem.. They say my bank account number I've used for the past two years is wrong - suddenly - and somehow it's my fault. Then it's their system (the believable excuse) but yet after 4 calls and a few hours on the phone with unpleasant customer service (after all, it's all my fault they say) they can't get it fixed. IS THERE A CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against VRBO that I can join?

Insurance was bought through VRBO, but they will not pay. I sent doctors letters describing heart surgery, but all they do is keep asking for the same information again. I submitted everything they asked for including credit card statement. I will never use VRBO again. They were no help. What a rip off.

This has been a time consuming and horrible experience. Despite the owner releasing the funds two days after our stay, and despite repeated phone calls with VRBO, I still have not received the security deposit refund. Even though I've opened a case with them and each time I'm told someone from their financial department will contact me - nothing. And it starts all over again. And when I request a supervisor, I'm placed on hold for so long, I'm forced to hang up. Worst company ever and will never do business with them again. And will be certain to share this everyone I know.

I had a confirmed reservation for a cabin in Blue Ridge Georgia. Less than two weeks before my travel date the reservation was canceled due to the owner selling the property. This was less than two weeks before Valentine’s Day which was my reason for the trip with my wife. When I was told the reservation was canceled I was offered no assistance or compensation. Due to the short amount of time I ended up booking with another company but I paid more money for a property that I did not care for but because of my short time frame I really had no choice. They Say they have A booking guarantee but I found out first hand they do Absolutely nothing for you. I believe you should judge a company on how they react to a problem and with this company they didn’t react at all. I will never use them again and I warn you if you have a problem they will not help you and this wasn’t even a problem am I am was a problem on their end.

The VRBO rental agreement only protects the home renter, not the people wanting to spend time at a home that fits their vacation criteria. While planning a trip to celebrate our Mom's 70th birthday, 2 homeowners cancelled our reservations with no notice. One gave no explanation at all and the other got caught renting out their condo and had to face fines from their HOA. As a renter, if I cancel at the last minute I face a penalty by losing money. Yes, I was refunded my deposit but the time spent looking and ultimately finding a rental that suits everyone's needs is lost. Not once, but twice! I will not be using VRBO ever again. Vetting owners to be sure they are on the up and up should be a priority to VRBO and having the owner forfeit a portion of the deposit to the renter would make it fair if there was a family emergency and the home needed to be used.

Last summer my husband and I were planning a trip. I made the reservations with VRBO for a rental in Friday Harbor, WA, along with stops on the way up, as we were driving. I purchased the insurance when I made the reservations, only to discover later, the dates were only for our stay in Friday Harbor. The VRBO person that I asked questions regarding the insurance cost and policy for our trip was less than knowledgeable. We got as far as Richland, WA, four hours from home, when my husband became unable to continue the trip and we had to return home.

I have booked with VRBO for years and have been satisfied. But on my most recent booking, I received a contract that was $425 higher than the original agreement. I spent over 4 hours on the phone trying to resolve with no luck. Finally spoke to the owner myself and she agreed to give me 10% discount although she claims the error was theirs. I agreed even though price was still more than original agreement. I contacted VRBO and asked for a refund of my service fee since (1) I worked for several hours to resolve this and ultimately did so without their help and (2) I am still paying almost $200 more than original agreement. They flatly refused. Will not ever go back!

Rented a property in Seaside thru VRBO that listed the property managed by Sunburst beach vacations aka Southern Sands. 2 days ago VRBO notified me that something was wrong with situation and to not pay them more than the $2,000 first payment I had made! I checked website immediately and it was shutdown. Called number and no longer working number. Emailed asking for refund. Looked owner Steve ** up to find this guy has been sued countless times and involved in multiple lawsuits from investors and more since 2016. VRBO was also extremely unhelpful with crediting me back asap so I could move forward with another reservation. I even said look just put the amount I've already paid towards another deposit I make today with VRBO because I need another property asap.

Owners can cancel their reservation with you, for any reason, at any time, and VRBO takes no responsibility and will do nothing to help you. VRBO's Book with Confidence Guarantee is useless when a popular destination books up for the dates you have planned your vacation. There is no repercussion to the owner because you cannot leave a review on a reservation that they cancel.

On January 7, 2020 I was trying to book a home in Bermuda with my credit card. The Vrbo site kept saying the card was denied. I tried 3 times thinking I typed something in wrong because the card had a zero balance on it. I called my MC card # and they said the 1st charge did go through, and I said that can't be because I never received a confirmation from Vrbo. So I called Vrbo with my CC company on another phone at the same time and the customer service rep @ Vrbo said the charge did not go through that it was declined. So I opened a dispute with my Mastercard company. I called Vrbo to open a claim on 1/13 and they said someone would look into and get back to me within 48 hours.

My rental was not at all as described, no way was it a luxury unit. The building was perhaps an upper scale condo but the unit itself was 3 star at best. Also, I was not able to leave an honest review despite attempting to contact the company. I suspect the 4 very short 2 sentence reviews I read were bogus. Buyer beware.

I booked recently an apartment through VRBO.com. All through the booking process the total price of the booking (including cleaning fees, service fees) was stated 711.08 EUR. After I had entered my CC details, everything seemed fine. But than for some reason no confirmation e-mail was send. This made me a bit suspicious. Later came an e-mail of the property, but there was no information of payment details. I just was asked to fill out my arrival and departure time. That made me even more suspicious. So I asked the property directly (as they contacted me directly) to send me any payment details. And they did and again, the total sum stated was 711.08 EUR.

I was able to speak with someone when I called who saw my correspondence that I had written the review on but quickly resolved the issue and refunded the fee which I saw the next business day. I changed my review from 1 star to 2 stars. Though the overall experience was one star but the final assistance I received made a difference when I was having anxiety of having to deal with them any further.

VRBO, part of HomeAway and under the Expedia umbrella. I had used VRBO a number of years ago and had a good experience with them. This was before they were bought out and under the Expedia name. Expedia had previously stranded us in Mexico, cancelling our flight. That was the last time we used Expedia. Just this month, however, not realizing that VRBO was now under Expedia, we booked a trip for this summer and got back a confirmation email of total cost of $248 but when my credit card bill showed $271, I called.

This is from the perspective of a property owner using the site to rent. I have never in this day and age seen such horrible customer and tech support. You are never allowed to talk to tech. Customer reps will tell you they deliver the issue to them and that is it. You never hear from them again. I have a pending reservation for two weeks next Christmas That I am unable to accept accept because they are having an "internal issue", I have called three times and written two emails. The only thing the customer rep told me was it will be at least a week. Who in the world takes a week to fix a glitch?? After one day the interested guest will not even respond to me. This cost me a huge amount of money. If anyone knows of any recourse please tell me. We pay huge sums of money to advertise there. They get away with such abuse and basically scam us.

Be aware, VRBO charges up to 9% additional fee on top of what you would normally pay. I booked vacation rental on Big Island, HI in January, 2020. It is surprise to me that VRBO charged me $251 service fee on me (traveler) in addition to charging owner side for their property listing fee, their business model is charge both owner and traveler side. If you (as a traveler) don't want to pay additional and expensive service fee to VRBO, please find other vacation rental sites.

We booked a unit in HI for 2021. We received a confirmation and we paid half of the rental which went through on our credit card. After that, the owner contacted us to say she had the wrong rates on the VRBO site. We would have to pay a substantial fee to keep the reservation. We quoted the VRBO policy stating that she could not raise rates after an accepted booking. She then cancelled our rental. VRBO cancelled it within 30 minutes as well. We called VRBO to question this deal. The agent was going to contact a supervisor, but we were disconnected. He did not return the call. VRBO did not follow their own guidelines. The owner still has the same rates on VRBO today. Other consumers should beware. This is a scam. We will advise everyone we know not to book through VRBO.

VRBO is engaging in aggressive surveillance of consumer online purchases. If you travel, book hotels or flights online, use Airbnb, or use a credit card for any purpose related to travel, VRBO has scooped up your data and has created a profile on you. Your data and your profile are used to bombard you with ads. VRBO's customer service is routinely poor, and they have no email address or chat line to handle customer issues. The wait time for their customer service phone line ranges from 23 to 45 minutes. Doing business with VRBO should be considered risky.

We made a reservation in October for a trip in the middle of March. Two weeks before we're to leave VRBO cancelled, leaving us scrambling to find lodging in the Florida Keys. They gave no explanation or apology or any suggestions for finding a place to stay on such short notice. We suspect someone desperate offered more money. We will NEVER use VRBO again.

I have rented numerous times from VRBO, mostly for work, some for personal. We have always been ideal tenants, we leave the property in the same or better shape than we got it in. I have had numerous great experiences, great houses, owners. I rented a house for 2 weeks in Vegas for a trade-related work event, and cannot get the owner to communicate with me about the address or the code to enter the house... and tomorrow is the day I am suppose to start my rental.

If I can do no stars I would! Rented a property to house 16 people. Bought everything for my trip and find out 2.5 weeks before my trip that the property that my home is through switched my rental and never communicated the change and the new rental is not comparable. Contacted VRBO and property Executive Villas to cancel which they stated we were able to since they basically screwed us at the last minute. Paid over $2K for the rental, 2 weeks later still fighting with these people to see my refund.

Beginning in October 2019 I attempted to search out and book a vacation rental for four people in Palm Coast, Florida in March 2021. When I settled on a condo at Canopy Walk, the first couple I contacted seemed friendly and advised me that they couldn't rent that early for 2021. They explained that they would contact me in January 2020 for the booking. They did not call or email and on January 10th when I contacted them they said they had booked it already because it is a popular area - precisely the reason I tried to book early.

I booked a property with a free cancellation until May 3, 2020. The property owner was kind enough to make contact with me and inform me that the property features might not be what I expected. I filled out the cancellation form with VRBO and the response I received from VRBO was "the cancellation request has been forwarded to the property owner, if the property owner does not make the refund within 24 hours contact the property owner directly." There is no reason for me to believe that the property owner will not process the refund, but I find it discomforting to know that while VRBO processed the reservation and the payment, they don't process the refund. BEWARE: VRBO will make you fight it out with the property owner to get a refund. If I don't get a refund within 24 hours I'll call my credit card company and request a merchant chargeback.

I rented a property through VRBO that was advertised as 100% refundable up until a few days before arrival. The property owner cancelled my reservation due other circumstances and said I would be fully refunded through VRBO. It's been 3 weeks and I have not received my refund. Initially I called VRBO and they said they needed to "push" my refund through and I would receive it in a few days. I waited a few days and called back for the status and was told I need to work with the property owner and although refunds typically go through them, they will not stand behind my refund. Now I'm out $1672. Totally unacceptable. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND NOT USING VRBO. There are better options out there. #VRBO

We booked a VRBO in Australia for December 2019 to January 2020. Due to the bush fires and horrible air quality my family was forced to cancel our trip just 4 days before leaving. VRBO did not refund us a single penny, even though the situation was out of our control. We ended up going on vacation in California and used VRBO to book again in hopes they would refund the service fee or do SOMETHING for us and even with us re-booking through them they still refused to do ANYTHING! We understood that it was so last minute and the renters depended on that income, but for VRBO to not even give us the service charge (which by the way was almost $600 for each place) is absurd. I would NOT book with them ever again. We will be using AirBNB from now on! CAUTION TO ANYONE WHO PLANS TO BOOK THROUGH THEM!!!

VRBO is a great tool, but one very frustrating thing is they allow properties to be listed with a low daily rate but then the owners add outrageous fees on top of the rental. VRBO should not allow additional fees but require owners to include any fees they want to collect to be part of the daily rate.

I booked a last minute vacation rental. I got an email from property manager the day of rental stating that my reservation was cancelled. I called VBRO and got the property manager. She said that she doesn't know how my reservation went through since there is a 3 day ahead booking policy. So not only did we not have a place to stay, VBRO charged me $160 refund fee! Be very careful dealing with these crooks. This was my first and last experience with them!?

We are extremely frustrated with VRBO for a couple of occasions. The most recent is one that I cannot get past. We are looking to rent in the Palm Desert, Ca area. We found the perfect one and booked early in 2019 (paying entire rental upfront). A week before Christmas we received an email that the owner cancelled our unit. We have been planning all year and inviting family and friends to visit. Now, what do we do. There is nothing comparable. I feel that vrbo should make the owner honor the agreement. Or find us something that is comparable. We are definitely looking for another company to find us something.

We stayed in a sub-standard VRBO vacation rental during Christmas week. The home was dirty and had many electrical and other problems. VRBO offered no support for dealing with the manager and had not published by one star, detailed honest review. Beware of VRBO rentals.

I have had 2 properties listed with a VRBO for 7 years. In the past year they have instituted payment policies that are unfair to owners. My reservations are generally made 6-9 months in advance of a stay at my property. The potential guest pays 100% of the rental rate at the time of booking. I used to get paid when the Customer paid. Now I wait until the day after the guests check in. Vrbo holds my money and earns interest for months while I have $0.0 from my guests payment. I should have that money as soon as they pay! Is this even legal? I know it is unethical! Vrbo also charges the guest a fee that I do not participate in upfront for booking a stay at a listed property. So they have their fee (no problem) And my fee (BIG PROBLEM). They have all $$$$ upfront. I have nothing! They are next to impossible to get on the phone. If I want to speak with someone! Average 18 minutes response time to answer a call?

My wife made a reservation a few years ago that the website was not clear was non refundable. I lost $1500 for a reservation which we could not use. I would never use VRBO ever again. They are a ripoff.

I think VRBO does their perfunctory responsibility, advertising and payment processing. There doesn’t seem to be any vetting of owners or follow up of complaints. I rented a house in Orlando a few years ago and it was perfect. The house was great and the owner was honest and repaid 100% of the security deposit promptly. In December 2019 I rented a house in Orlando. The stay was fine but when it came to refunding my $400 security deposit the homeowner kept $50 of it for himself. He said I left the grill dirty. The problem is I never used the grill. He was unconvinced and in not so many words, called me a liar. I can’t be the first renter he did this to.

I did not want to give them a star for rating. I was searching for a location at VRBO. The price was 40$ per night. When I tried to book it became 244$ per night, plus fees and tax the total was more then 450$. Maybe it was a mistake so I look to the next available. The rate was u91.31$, plus 98$ owner fee and tax 28$. You add to get the total. I will not use this service.

Vrbo.com claims to be an advertiser for property owners. They allow the property owners to add bogus charges not already agreed upon after the fact. Point being, you can lose your deposit for ANY reason and VRBO will back the person charging (stealing) your money. Do not use! Buyer beware!

Horrible horrible horrible!! I wish I read the comments on this page before going through VRBO. I’m out $800 and did not stay in the rental due to misrepresented housing, it was disgusting, bad communication, and not what I paid for! Pay the extra money for a hotel or Airbnb!

Due to VRBO's lack of vetting, my family of seven and I (including two children), were stuck in the middle of a dispute between a landlord and tenant on CHRISTMAS EVE. Basically, tenant rents home out on VRBO, landlord does NOT give consent, landlord rolls up on my family and I with no idea of what was going on. We should have known there were issues when we walked in and found out the house was dirty and there was BROKEN GLASS all around. Sheets barely washed. Gross.

This has been the worst situation possible. This rental place is the absolute the worst. We’ve emailed them, called several times with our concerns and issues and no help at all. Even the management they use for their properties are very rude, non helpful. This rental home the refrigerator is not in proper use. We contacted management and Love Rental no help. We toss out all the food we bought because it went bad. The dryer was not hooked up correctly. The vent was not even connected properly. There was lint and dust all over the house. WiFi is horrible. Was never able to make any calls in this rental. We tried but only to have dropped calls.

I can book a reservation through VRBO but cannot cancel the same reservation. I’ve been trying to cancel my reservation for my June 2020 honeymoon since December 12 2019 and VRBO cannot help me because the property manager, Alain ** uses a third party software program that does not allow VRBO to do, well, anything other than to take your money. Bye VRBO. I’m done!

I rented a place for my mother to stay by VRBO and initially the place was very clean and safe. After three days rat droppings began to appear in some parts of the house and increased considerably. I warned the owner and vrbo expecting some assistance and they didn't return back. In addition, when I called them they told me that they couldn't help me because of the time it had passed. They didn't help me to find a new place for my mother, they didn't pay my full money because it was NOT my fault the place was not SAFE. Moreover, I rented a new place from Airbnb more expensive and my travel became a nightmare. I am extremely disappointed with vrbo and Home Away.

I'm a vacation rental owner. I don't trust VRBO. The main problem is payments: they handle all payments, guests are not allowed to pay you directly, and that's OK, same on Airbnb. But if a guest doesn't pay, VRBO will NOT inform you. No email, no text, nothing. They send the guest a reminder, and that's all. If you check carefully, you can find if a guest has not paid. But VRBO doesn't care. I have currently a guest who hasn't paid, and I need to evict him. So be careful, VRBO/HomeAway don't manage correctly the side they should manage: payments. In fact they don't bring anything better compared to airbnb. They are more expensive (I pay $500 per year for my listing on VRBO) and they don't provide good services.

I will never use this service again. I made a reservation for the coming weekend. The reservation went through without a problem until the owner contacted me and let me know that VRBO screwed up and reserved for a blocked out weekend. This would not have been so bad if not for the fact that they had already charged me a $475 rental and $500 deposit for the stay and i was told there would be no refund if I cancelled on short notice. When I called about the refund, I was told it would take seven business days for the refund to be posted to my account. So the policy at VRBO is if I cancel I get punished and if VRBO cancels I get punished. Fortunately I can afford to pay for another rental without the refund, but I would guess that many would have to cancel their plans if they were suddenly out a $1000.

I rented a house thru VRBO. The house is in Ajijic Jalisco Mexico. Not a cheap price 350.00 per night. I rented this location to meet my family that lives in Guadalajara and to celebrate my Mom’s 75 birthday on December 23. Three days before the trip I received an email telling me that the reservation was cancelled due to a plumbing issue. And just like that my four months of planning and preparation went down the toilet. No apology. I got my money back but we ended up canceling the celebration and our Christmas since we were unable to find another place that will suit our plans. Dealing with people that are not professionals in the Hospitality industry can be devastating. Months of planning and Two weeks of vacation wasted just because this people did not provided appropriate maintenance to the property they rent me. Worse Christmas ever. I don’t wish this to my worse enemy.

If you don’t see the property live before booking, you don’t know what you’re really getting. If you run into issues, VRBO’s policies are not designed to truthfully assist you. You’re stuck. Period. Save yourself money and time. Don’t book.

I made a booking request for a property in Hua Hin, Thailand, at Baan SanPloen, a condo we know well, on the beach in Hua Hin. This condo, and about another four to six condos in the block, are managed by a Mr. Naruporn **. I sent several e-mails to Naruporn and received no replies and my booking request was not accepted. I would avoid booking any properties managed by this guy, as he obviously has no interest in communicating.

Within a 24hr period our reservations were cancelled after receiving confirmation and paying via credit card. The 1st owner gave no reason for the cancellation property #1746801. We booked our second property #1490975, reservation was confirmed. Credit card acct charged and within 8 hours they cancelled our 2nd and last reservation we will ever make thru VRBO. This owner claimed a "glitch" in the system. The helpline is absolutely no help. We were able to successfully make a reservation thru Airbnb and has not been cancelled.

I thought I had booked a very nice 3 bedroom condo at the Ritz Carlton in Aspen Highlands at a hefty price, only to find out I was totally scammed. Called VRBO and told there was nothing I could do. We are one week away from going over the New Year week and now can't find anything! Police are now involved due to the phishing scam I got caught up in. How they run a web business if they cannot secure the site... Horrible experience and no money back, how can that be.

We stayed at a VRBO home in Nassau Bahamas. We had a very bad roach problem along with text messages from owner we would get a refund. Owner said if we didn’t do review in 21 days we would get a refund. After no guarantees or confirmations we logged a complaint with VRBO. They were no help at all even with all our pictures and texts we supplied for our case. We were told VRBO would contact us within 24 hrs..then 2nd call 48 hours then our 3rd call 48 hours..all this time telling us not to post our review to wait until they got in touch with home owner. Well it never happened. Hoping in the future there is some sort of ethics that home owners have to follow when renting their homes through VRBO..something needs to change to protect the consumer when it’s a legitimate complaint.

Worst experience with a filthy property located at 23 Hollybank Avenue Lower, Dublin 6, Ireland that we made via VRBO. We promptly left the property and found a hotel; VRBO was entirely unhelpful in securing a refund. However, they dragged the complaint on for 6 months reporting that they were working on it. I finally got one of their customer representatives (I use that term loosely) to admit that nothing was going to be done. Renter beware - some properties are great, but misrepresentation by owners leads to disappointment and loss of your money. We will never use VRBO again after this dismal experience.

I agree on rental contract and VRBO lay out all the fees for both renter and owner only to find out just before renter arrives the owner fees get changed from original contract. Example 14 nights rental original fees $124.94 but just before payment it is increased to $156.35 which includes a hefty processing fee. Then when money is transferred I lose another approx $50 on transfer fees. Why and what is the processing fees for if I additional pay for all transfer fees. This happens on every rental contract now????

In late November we contracted to rent a property via VRBO/Homeaway. A month later and less than two months before we were to go, the owner canceled. Apparently, at the time he was advertising the property for rent he was also negotiating the sale of the same property. A month later the sale went through and he simply canceled the rental leaving us high and dry. At this point finding a comparable rental is next to impossible and anything we would find would cost us a ton. When contacted the owner was unapologetic and didn't seem to comprehend that his advertisement was fraudulent. VRBO was equally blase and responded by telling us to just find something else. Basically, not their problem.

Beautiful home - greatly remodeled....now a party house for rent. I live in the neighborhood and it has been a nightmare. No laws in place -YET- for this. I cannot speak to anyone connected with VRBO, their web site spins over to Home Away. There is a manager, but NOT the owner..?! This is a residential neighborhood, not a convention center. Nuts. No one lives there, just groups that come and go. I do not get to sleep well with every occupancy in a home I have lived in for 9 years.

Absolutely brutal customer service. Customer booked my property yet I was unable to "Accept" the booking. Kept getting error message that something went wrong and should try again. After several tries over several hours still unable to "accept" the booking. As the time frame to accept is 24 hours I was getting concerned and contacted customer service who were polite but non-responsive to the issue. Said they would send ticket to tech department and may take 5 days to fix and I would receive an e-mail when resolved. As acceptance by me expired in 24 hours this was obviously not good. I asked if they would be calling customer to explain the problem and ensure that property is booked for them (no), can they provide customer contact and I would call (no), would they be compensating me for missed booking or refunding my annual fee for lack of performance (no). In essence they would be doing nothing.

As an owner setting up an account and still trying to list our properties, Vrbo is THE WORST most INEPT vacation rental platform and customer service in the world! This is why I only list with Airbnb. The ONLY reason I am trying (yes, still trying) to to list our properties on Vrbo is because a business partner wants us to use both. They have already locked me out of my account email before I was even done filling it all out! It's now been 1.5 weeks and after turning in all their ridiculous "requested documentation" to prove I was including Photo Id, DL, Deed to our properties, and utility bills...which our property is still under construction so we don't have utilities hooked up yet...but that does not mean we cannot pre-book dates for when our properties ARE ready...and now they are saying we cannot.

Like so many others I recognize that VRBO has customer service in the Philippines, or similar place with people whose English is barely understandable AND, the information they do provide is often wrong, AND they are unable to have any authority. It's just terrible! Most recently VRBO changed the system that OWNERs get paid through. Prior to November, OWNERs got paid when initial payment was made by renters, and then again 45 days prior to guest check-in. Now, VRBO receives guests' payments often months in advance, and VRBO keeps that money, interest free, until 7 days after the guest checks in. This is bogus, it is theft and it may well be illegal. I will find another vehicle to rent my property out.

We booked a property through VRBO/Homeaway for over the Christmas holiday in Los Angeles. I was notified via email that the property was no longer available. Apparently, the property owner was fraudulent. That was over 2 weeks ago. Since that time we have been jerked around to various different departments (rebooking, Claims, Trust and Security), when all I have been asking for is my money back. We had to pay upfront for the entire stay including a $500 deposit. Just received another email today saying it will probably be about another month before we see any sort of reimbursement from this company. VRBO is holding our money hostage, and I cannot afford to book elsewhere until they refund our money. We will rethink ever using this property rental service again.

We recently stayed at a VRBO property, managed by Wyndham Resorts, and the house was not in good condition. A couple things were even downright dangerous to leave unpaired. I learned, however, that in the process of leaving a review, if you clicked on the “no, I didn’t enjoy my stay/frowning face emoji”, you got booted out of the process. One question was asked, and it was "would you recommend us to others". No place for comments or to leave stars. I only got to leave my review by clicking on the opposite emoji, saying I had a good time. So logic tells me that others might have reviewed the house honestly, but were unable to leave their reviews. I feel like I was scammed.

I booked a rental through VRBO for New Years' Eve months in advance. It was cancelled by the owner through no fault of my own, and I found myself without a venue for my event only a month before the holiday after friends had already taken off work and made plans to be in attendance. I contacted VRBO support who said they would help find me a comparable place and honor the rate within 4-6 days.

Property owners beware!! Class action lawsuit should be filed against this website! Homeowners have been ripped off and abused by this website! We as homeowners should be awarded damages for our losses! Unfair business practices due to greed!

I sent a poor review of our stay in Boston this summer. I got an email back saying they will review it and get back to me. They never did! They don't want to lose their source of revenue which is their listings at any cost!

My guests stayed on 11/27/19 and left on 12/1/19 - VRBO finally paid on 12/2/19 BUT only after calling them two times. The first call on 12/1/19 was useless as the Customer Service Rep was not empowered or trained to solve my issue. He logged in a request for someone to contact me. On 12/2/19 I had not received a call/email from VRBO so I called again. The new rep could not resolve my issue therefore, I had to insist my issue be escalated to a manager - I was on the call with VRBO for an unreasonable amount of time (approx. 1 hour). I'm pretty sure VRBO holding my funds for these 6 days is unethical (maybe illegal). VRBO should pay me a late charge or offer some form of compensation. An apology would be nice as well.

As an owner of a condo in Maui, my experience with this company has gone from great to absolutely horrible. Since Expedia bought it in 2015, they have increased the fees they charge guests, the fees they charge owners and now withhold all revenues until 1 day after guests check in. In addition, the revenue does not get disbursed to you until 5-7 days after they guest leaves! What was automated with respect to guests receiving information on access to the condo is now no longer automated and you have to send to guests individually! I used to be fully booked but because of the extra booking fees that they have now tagged on that guests pay, it was become more and more expensive for guests and I am now only at 80% full. I will be leaving this company and looking for alternatives to advertise my condo soon!

I contacted Vrbo.com to schedule a vacation Oct.25 - Nov. 2, 2019 at a property located at 2951 South Highway A1A Melbourne Beach, FL 32951. Upon arrival at approx. 4:30 PM, it was evident that the Air Conditioner was not functioning and the temperature inside the condo was 84 degrees and humid. The owner's contact information was provided by the Vrbo app and I immediately contacted the owner, Carole and explained the situation. She apologized and said she had just learned of the situation and would call me back shortly, which she did to advise that a repairman would be out in 1/2 hour. We waited until after 7:00 PM at which time I attempted to contact the owner once again. She did not answer and I left a message and also sent a text advising that we were going to go to dinner and that I would like a callback and to know what was going on. Again, no response.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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