Vrbo Reviews

I feel misled by VRBO regarding insurance charges. I clearly remember selecting only one insurance policy, yet I was charged for multiple additional insurance products that I did not knowingly authorize. When I contacted support, I did not receive clear proof of my consent. Instead, I was repeatedly redirected to the insurance provider, which did not resolve the issue or explain the charges. Overall, the process lacks transparency, and the insurance additions during booking were not clear or properly explained. I feel that the way these charges were applied is misleading and unacceptable.

NEVER AGAIN VRBO!!! I booked a cottage through VRBO for a short 2-night stay. For a weekend trip, VRBO immediately charged a massive $1,500 security deposit to my credit card. The stay is over, and the landlord immediately gave the "all clear" to return the deposit, confirming zero damage. Yet, I have now been waiting for almost two weeks, and my $1,500 has still not been refunded. As I was told the refund is scheduled for exactly 14 days after check-out so there is method this deplorable behaviour!

My experience with Vrbo has been completely unacceptable and has exposed serious flaws in both their booking system and customer service practices. Three days before my scheduled Memorial Day vacation, my reservation was abruptly canceled due to a “double booking” error allegedly caused by VRBO’s platform. A failure of this magnitude should never occur, especially for customers who booked and paid in full well in advance.

The Company Vrbo is not going to protect you from their hosts. We had a host that was scamming normal people out of their hard earned money. The Host deceived us and misrepresented the property and has been doing this for many years according to him. Vrbo's custom protection consists of asking the Host to refund the money if he refuses you are out of luck. We traveled all day to get there and found the place to be unsafe. We had to drive another hour and a half to find a place to stay.

If you have no issues with your rental then everything is great. Watch out if there is any issue, vrbo and the hosts are working together. The guest is not a concern. A hot tub cleaned walked in unannounced, apologized and went and cleaned the hot tub. Clear privacy violation and safety issue. When I reported this to vrbo and the rental company, they said they had no record of a hot tub cleaner accessing the property. Either they are lying to cover their end or someone was entering the house under the cover of a cleaner. The person cleaned the tub btw….

I have been listing by beach house for five ears with VRBO. Several months ago, after not having any booking for months, I called Customer Service (what a misnomer). Apparently I had forgotten to pay the local Short Term Rental License and instead of advising me of this, they merely restricted (delisted) my property. I have made countless phone call to the so-called Customer Service, numerous on-line Chats, sent several emails, sent copies of the paid STR license SEVEN TIMES, and after two months I am still delisted and no-one from VRBO has contacted me to tell me why!

I wish there were a zero rating. This company needs to have a class action lawsuit filed. I booked a condo back in March for a stay coming up May 22nd in Galveston, TX. When I booked this, it stated the price per night and stated "all fees included." I then went to booking page and it showed the amount of my condo for one night was $148.05 and there were some taxes added for a total of $198.05. I paid this amount in full. As it is getting closer to my stay, I realized that no one had reached out with information on how to access the property so I logged in to VRBO and found that the owner of the property had messaged me through the website, which I had no knowledge of.

To say the least we will not be renting/booking through VRBO. We booked our place on January 11, 2026, for our stay in April from 4/19-4/25/2026. When we walked in the place was a mess. The linens were all stripped from the bed and left on the sofa and armchair, or mattress. The bathrooms were left in unsanitary conditions, there was trash left on the floor bottles left in the rooms, on the tables. Used condiments was left in the fridge. The back door was left unlocked, the porch is not screened in as was mentioned in the ad, the yard was a mess. I have videos and pics. When I called VRBO, I spoke to Anish, promised me a call back in 20 minutes. We’re now 3 weeks after this whole nightmare and still, no call from him.

VRBO has high service fees. For my summer weekly rental, they took $300 service fees and also block out personal phone number information. It is my property that I should have the right to communicate with my guests directly in case of issues or concerns. But VRBO won’t reveal contact information until it is booked via VRBO. Also each time, VRBO charges about $300 or more on service charges during summer season. As much as we are paying for these fees, they took website should function and stream in a much higher speed rate! It doesn’t upload pictures in real time and calendar or inbox messages are extremely slow!

Upon our arrival late in the evening of 4/4/26 we encountered the following:

First I had to open a new account and lose all previous points because they flat out refused to allow me to change my email address. Booking a new place was ok but then I asked a simple question about how payments show in my account and their AI went nuts telling the host I wanted to cancel. It turned into a complete mess and then I did indeed end up cancelling. Then I get another insane message telling me I was entitled to a 100% refund (cancelled well within the time frame) but the host was the one who cancelled and the host had a no refund policy so I would not be getting a refund. Well...the host had already sent the refund info. and had no idea what VRBO was talking about. The host agreed VRBO had become a pain and mess to deal with. I will NOT be using VRBO again. Do yourself a huge favor and use a different service.

We were faithful, good Silver customers of VRBO visiting many of their homes and then we came to a VRBO property today after hours of travel. The owner was inside the VRBO house even though the property was listed as a home we would have completely to ourselves on the VRBO site. We were so tired and so were our pets we traveled with. The house was nasty.

Do not use VRBO!!! We rented a house in Pigeon Forge in late March 2026. We arrived to a dirty place and construction zone. Construction going on both sides of the house and in back and front of it. Equipment and back hoes parked up to deck. It was just unacceptable and VRBO’s excuse was they couldn’t get a hold of the owner OR management company for the home so there was nothing they could do other than give us the cleaning fee back since it hadn’t been cleaned before our stay. There were even dirty cloths and towels in the house when we arrived! VRBO took absolutely no accountability for what we reserved on their site. DO NOT USE THEM….

The "all-in" claim on Vrbo listings is misleading. The rental service fee should be clearly disclosed on the website and in each listing, and not charged immediately upon booking. I filed a BBB complaint and got a refund, but I haven't read horror stories from other renters who haven't been as fortunate.

I’m sharing this because I’m still furious and I want other travelers to know what can really happen on VRBO. Last month I booked a condo in Hallandale, Florida through VRBO for a two week-long stay with my elderly mother and her aide (both in their late 80s). The listing specifically advertised “elevator access,” “beach chairs and pool access for guests,” (for which we paid an additional amenities fee per day to the Beachwalk resort) and “well-maintained amenities.” None of that was true.

I need to send a message to report the way we were treated by a host that we leased from for an entire month from March 15th to April 11th. We did not get our 30 days that we paid an astronomical amount for. She was 3 thousand higher than others in the same building. There was a lot of work being done the whole time we were there. She said she would refund some of the money but instead charged extra because my guest for 3 days had a small very good dog. She said if we gave her a good review she would take care of it. Nothing was done. Her name is Sandy F. But it is not the name she gave us.

Host refused refund, Vrbo no help, no resolution. Host denied refund, Vrbo unresponsive, no help. Host refused, Vrbo silent, no refund, no help. Host uncooperative, Vrbo no help, no refund. Host denied refund, Vrbo ignored issue entirely. Host refused refund, Vrbo failed to resolve. Host denied refund, Vrbo offered no support. Host unresponsive, Vrbo no help, no resolution.

The information on this site is inaccurate and misleading. There appears to be no reliable process in place to prevent fraud or verify property ownership. I was able to make a reservation and pay in full, only to arrive at the location and be informed by the host that they no longer owned the unit. This is completely unacceptable and reflects a serious lack of oversight and accountability. I would strongly caution others before using this platform.

I am writing to file a formal complaint about VRBO’s payout process, high fees, and extremely poor customer service. I have now completed two bookings on the platform. For the first one, I had to wait the full 30 days as a new host. For this second booking, I was told I would have to wait another 3 to 5 business days after disbursement. When I called my bank today, they confirmed there are no pending deposits from VRBO. If the payment had been sent today, I would have received it today — but nothing is showing up.

Hello, I booked through VRBO owned by Expedia March 23rd-24th. I cancelled my reservation as soon as we got there, there were roaches all over the place. Mostly where the kitchen utensils were stored. The owners immediately gave me a refund for my down payment. But I’m waiting on my refund for the $595.84 I’m still owed by VRBO. I was told by Vrbo that they would contact me back after contacting the home owner for approval for the refund. But I have not yet been contact and I’ve been lied to. The homeowners were telling me that they were never contacted by Vrbo and this happened 2 times. This is ridiculous. I am being scammed, frauded, sick from the roaches and I’m looking to get an attorney.

Warning - read the fine print... In the post... Avoid listings that say they want your credit card so they can "Upsell" other products. RE: reservation ID **, VRBO property ID 9736543 LeMalo, Host Naples Florida Vacation Homes, LLC (NFVH). First, I will tell you that I have stayed in dozens of VRBO properties and have never had a problem nor posted a negative review. In addition, I was a VRBO host for 3 properties over a 10 year period, and I never received a complaint or a negative review from any Guest.

I have booked a property for 23 people (with young kids/toddlers) on Dec. 3, 2025, even though our booking starts 3/31-4/3 . I used my $60 OneKeyCash which was expiring 3/01. 3/4 after I paid in full, the property owner messaged me stating that they had to cancel my booking because their contract was not renewed! I had to look for another property and there were only few on the price range we can afford, lost my onekey cash, and lost early booking discount! And when I called the VRBO cs to at least put my expired $60 onekey cash, the agent couldn’t help. He then pass me to the supervisor and I was put on hold for almost 2 freaking hours!!! In the end they couldn’t put the $60 onekey cash in my bill, they could only put it back in my account after 2-3 business days which I cannot risk waiting before booking!!

Another 1 star review for VRBO that should be zero stars. I recently purchased a beach condo. Someone just knocked on the door asking if we were done cleaning! We explained that we lived here part time, they said they had rented it on VRBO and had documentation on there phone for our address. They were obviously disappointed and we were a little freaked out that someone could be renting our condo. We called every VRBO number we could find. All off shore customer service of course. Nobody could tell us if our address was listed as a rental or provide any help or explanation how this could happen. How is that even possible that they can't see if my property is in their system? Since we only plan to live here part time, we would like to get to the bottom of this and clearly VRBO could not care less.

I planned a trip and had to cancel the next day. I did not get a full refund and left me with over a thousand dollars out of my pocket with insurance. The insurance is a joke.

HORRIBLE!! Without our permission they discounted our room rate and HAVE NOT PAID US ON ANY OF OUR RENTALS! Avoid them like the plague. We are headed to Airbnb.

Yet another terrible VRBO guest. Since we hosts no longer have any option of reading other host's reviews of guests, it's a crap shoot who is going to end up inside our properties. The star system algorithm is not cutting it. This guest had 5 stars, but 8 reviews that were invisible! He had zero interest in: house rules, communication, and even basic accountability. Left entrance door wide open when going out for hours. Smoked weed inside suite in spite of sign on door at eye level about property being a non-smoking unit. This with a covered deck area for smoking right outside the door. And more. After ignoring all communications, I forced him to meet with me by making the entrance key he'd left on the deck table while out again unavailable to him. I was surprised to find that he was a grown man in his 60s. Not someone in their twenties, which is who usually acts with this kind of disrespect. SMH.

Absolute worst communication and refund details. I booked a room and the next day I cancelled due to a family emergency. I was charged 322.00 and only refunded 135.00. I paid extra for trip cancellation insurance and the process to submit a claim is almost impossible. I inquired with host for full refund, they said VRBO was responsible for that. I contacted VRBO and they state the insurance company is responsible for this. Never will I use this service again.

Beyond terrible. Bad enough that we couldn't get into the place — they gave us the wrong lockbox code *twice* — but once inside we discovered the place was disgusting: filthy, smelly, cramped (photos online were taken in a mirrored wall to make the place look big), so full of other people's clothing and belongings that there was no place to set anything down, much less unpack. We left immediately. The owner refused a refund, thinking they got me on a technicality I guess, with Vrbo's collusion. Their first response seemed almost promising — "We sincerely apologize for the cleanliness issues you encountered" — but after refusing my request for just a 50% refund, my emails all generated the same response: "We're no longer monitoring this email." Thievery, but apparently legal enough to get away with it. We're out over $1200. If were had a real attorney general, she would be looking into Vrbo.

Beware booking anything on or connected to Vrbo! I tried to book a property on a third party site and received a "this property is not available" error. I thought nothing of it and moved on. Fast forward two months, and I get a random email from Vrbo about our "upcoming trip." I log in to the app, and they billed us $655.72 for that glitched booking. When I contacted support, I was on the phone for over two hours only to find out that booking didn't actually exist on my side or the host's side. I have now spent almost two weeks continually arguing and sending documentation to their support through Messenger and email and STILL do not have a refund. I am now disputing the charge through our bank. This is the worst customer support we have ever experienced!

Vrbo CS is the worst ever. I had to contact them due to not having a proper code to access the property. Since the unit did not have cell phone access, that meant driving 15 min to town, talk to an agent that didn't know the basics of CS, then drive 15 min back to rental to hopefully have the right code. Manager tried to put us in another hotel since they couldn't guarantee I could get in house. Complained to my agent when I got back home but have been ignored so far. Never again will I use Vrbo.

I arrived at my VRBO rental to find bed unmade, dirty smelly dishes in sink and towels all over bathroom floor. Called the host, who ignored my calls, texts and messages through Vrbo. Kept calling and he answered finally. Promised to send a cleaner if went to dinner. Left for two hours, exhausted after 9 hr drive. Came back and nothing had been done. Host continued to ignore my calls, texts and messages. We left to find a hotel 30 minutes away to have a bed to sleep on. Vrbo would not refund until they spoke with host and host did not answer. They said they give him 24 hrs to respond. I get an email a week later saying host will reach out with partial refund. We didn’t even get to use uninhabitable property and they are refusing a full refund. That’s is bad business and I don’t want anyone else cheated out of money.

We have experienced AI enhanced homes, Vrbo Host not vetted and scam the guest out of 50% deposits then cancelling 24 hours before guest arrive. Vrbo has not vetted Host or vetted each Host property. Be aware of scams by Host on VRBO.

Customer service group in India is a joke. You can't understand them. Reduced my stay with the property owner and VRBO refuses to reduce fees or taxes. It's a broken corrupt system. Someone needs to take Expedia to court regarding their fee policies. We stay In a lot of vacation rentals and I will do everything I can going forward to bypass VRBO. If you do need to change a reservation, you really just have to cancel it and rebook. Their archaic systems can't handle it otherwise which puts you through their customer service HELL.

Wanted a day early check-in on an instant booking.

This is absolutely the worst company to deal with ever in the history of mankind. I canceled a reservation and they were refusing to refund my charge which they told me to cancel in the first place. No customer support at all.

I have used VRBO for many years with great success. For 2 new rentals this summer VRBO dinged me for a fee and kicked me to the rental company who have sent blank docs for me to sign and instructions to pay them directly although VRBO states not to.

I am a property owner. Last year I engaged a management company that advertises on many platforms. At that time I asked a VRBO phone representative to cancel my account. The other day I received a booking from VRBO. The property is rented, and I let the guest know the details of the cancellation. I contacted VRBO again to arrange for cancellation of the reservation and to again close the account. They did send a cancellation email to the guest saying the property was not available because of a natural disaster or property damage! An email rep is trying to collect a cancellation fee from me. Not only is customer service unhelpful, they are unethical. If you are a landlord, do not use them.

Booked a stay with VRBO that had 100% refund if canceled by a certain date. VRBO didn't mention that the host can refuse to accept a legit cancellation by that date and just hold onto the money indefinitely. For some reason, some properties are not billed to VRBO, meaning they are 100% powerless to get your money back, referring you to your bank. A fraudulent host can hold onto your money for her and VRBO has absolutely no recourse. Waiting on my bank to resolve.

Vrbo is covering up a public health concern by deleting my review of Black Mold throughout house. They tried to return cleaning deposit after multiple people became ill and a few had to leave mid vacation.

I would give zero stars if I could appear. This company has unethical business practices. My booking was canceled twice by the host. Second time our safety was at risk as they allowed a stranger a key card to our room and he was intoxicated and passed it on the bed as we were entering. I had to call the police to have him removed because the property staff did not feel the need to, but he was so and possibly unpredictable that I felt it could be a safety wrist. The police did take him into custody. VRBO has no oversight over their hosts or properties. I have had over 10 hours of phone and email correspondence about both of these canceled bookings and have yet to receive the refund I am due based on their policies, therefore had to book a new hotel last minute on a weekend and pay more. This company cares nothing about the guest experience.