Vrbo Reviews

I have been using VRBO.com for approx. 4 yrs to advertise my vacation rental. Recently I feel as though my authority has been hijacked by the site. They have new policies that 1) Mandate I accept payments through credit card despite my preference for payments by check AND they charge me service fees for the payments. 2) They block my email address and phone number when I try to communicate with a potential guest. 3) They have added service fees for my guests that I believe are unfair and onerous. When I questioned these policies I was told it is for my welfare and the "have my back". I asked them to back off and I can handle it myself and they refused. I am disgusted with the service since they partnered with HomeAway. I will be looking for a new booking service.

I was very disappointed using VRBO as a host and ultimately stopped using that platform. The customer support for hosts sucks. You have no one you can talk to. Most recently a woman checked out of my rental because we had a heat wave and I do not offer air conditioning (I never claimed to). VRBO sided with me and refused to refund her the money, however she reversed the charges with her CC company and so VRBO went to debit the money from my bank account. They already sided with me earlier!! Why do I pay them a fee each guest if they don't support me? That was the final straw.

I've normally had great success renting homes via this site, but recently had to cancel a reservation due to medical issues. I had to bite the cost of the deposit for the house, but for some reason VRBO charged me an additional fee, even though there was no justification for it. It wasn't indicated anywhere in the reservation process or on the contract. Not only was customer service absolutely useless, but they refused to accept culpability in this matter. I would rather use Airbnb where the fees and refund policies are clearly outlined.

Checked out 10 days ago. Left the place in immaculate condition. Still haven't received my $250 damage deposit back. Owner says it's VRBO, VRBO say it's the owner. Will never use this site again. The house was great. The process is broken.

Their site claims that owners will respond within a certain amount of days. I had to make arrangements due to medical needs and appointments and booked over 24 hours prior to needing the property. I never heard from the owner once and we were less than three hours from the destination. I had to call VRBO and ask them to cancel and told them they shouldn't allow owners to post when they don't respond. I will never use VRBO again! At least Airbnb gives you a contact number. What a joke it is that they can hold thousands in deposit funds. I guess a few have ruined it for the rest of us. So much for affordable lodging.

A few months ago, June - July I made a reservation through a well known online company for my vacation. I had to cancel my reservation, and they told me in order for me to get my money back I'd have to contact the property owner, so I did. The property owner kindly agree to a full refund. I called the company back and they told me they were going to process the full refund in parts. So I waited and waited, I got part of that money back but I'm still missing some of it. I kept calling the company and every time they tell me a different story, I contacted the property owner again not too long ago and I asked her why I haven't received my money, she replied saying that she never received that money and that I should call the company I made the reservation through so I did, they told me my money was processing and that I had to wait 7-10 days.

VRBO stands for vacation rental by owner not vacation rental by Expedia. You pay a yearly fee, the guest has to pay another fee when booking and now you can't even contact each other to get guests beforehand. Worst company. Go to Airbnb!

We have used VRBO since 2009. In the beginning, we were very pleased with the service VRBO provided us as owners. When HomeAway partnered with VRBO, we began to see changes that we weren't comfortable with as policies were being put in place that seemed to over-step the boundaries of what VRBO was initially set up to do - create an avenue to advertise Vacation Rentals By Owner. When Expedia took over, things went from bad to worse! VRBO wants absolute control over every aspect of the rental process. It is no longer the site it was created to be. It should be called VRBGCCC = Vacation Rentals By Greedy, Controlling, Corporate Conglomerate! I am seeking another option in which to list our condo. We will not renew our listing with VRBO.

First time user for North Coast Vacation Properties. Location was 1202 N Pacific St, Oceanside, CA. The unit was not clean. Both bathrooms had mold on the shower curtains, floors were dirty, not enough linens, and the kitchen window and screen had so much dirt and grime on it that it distorted the view of the ocean. Bedroom window blinds needed replacing. They were missing slats, no privacy from people walking by windows from outside. One bedroom fan only worked on low. This is a great location to stay. Walking distance to restaurants and shops. Beautiful ocean view from balcony. Owners of unit need to put more linens in unit and the cleaning service they have contracted needs to be replaced.

I have nothing but heartaches with my listing and trying to book. Was charged twice for a one year listing and they didn’t even try to refund. Also their service for rentals suck as I do not get to talk to the owner until I give them nonrefundable maintenance. VRBO you suck.

As a VRBO advertiser and property owner I feel I have no control over the process, which includes the charging of fees to guests, which I consider exorbitant and withholding contact and personal information from owners and prospective renters which prevents me from vetting them or providing additional information. I have had wonderful guests, in large part because I have been able to contact them through emails, messages and phone calls. VRBO has now made this almost impossible until the client pays. This is totally unacceptable!!! VRBO has the time or the ability to screen, as we homeowners are accustomed to doing. I strongly object to you basing fees on deposits and sitting on deposit money. Your payment system excludes the option to pay by e-Transfer (Canada) bank drafts or cash.

I booked a house on the ocean in Marshfield MA for a week. I used VRBO to book the house. During the booking procedure I was asked if I wanted travel insurance in case I needed to cancel the house rental. The only option on the VRBO site was to click yes or no. I clicked the yes button and moved on with the rental agreement process. There was no other mention of travel cancellation reasons on their website process. I have to cancel the rental because of an emergency business trip to Europe during the same week as the rental. I called the VRBO insurance company called CSA Travel Protection and they are telling me after 5+ weeks after opening a claim that I am not covered by their travel policy.

Booked an affordable place across from pricey hotel where I'd be attending a convention in Clearwater Beach, Florida, months ahead of time. Paid in full. All set. Not: When I'd heard nothing re: checking in a few days before, I sent a message to the owner, Dan **, via the VRBO website. After a couple of day with no response, I resent the message. No response. I then sent a text message to his phone, as listed on VRBO. No response. Then called VRBO and they tried to email him (cc: me) at an email address on file. No response. Finally, over the next two days leading up the conference in Clearwater, I wasted in total a good two hours over several calls with VRBO. I was told more than once not to worry: They'd find me a place to stay.

We were shocked when we walked into this rental from Alan **. My husband refused to take his suitcase out of the car and simply said, "We are NOT staying here!" Not only did our car get damaged by a deep rut in the dirt road leading to this place (we had to have it fixed when we got to San Diego) but, when we got there, it was a dump. I took photos of how bad it was because I couldn't believe it. The caulking around every sink and tub was cracking and flaking. The place hadn't been painted in years. The furniture was falling apart. The downstairs was like a dungeon. The owner obviously takes no pride in his rental and merely treats it as a cash cow. And he has the nerve to charge an average of $325/night!

This was a great company when I started with them in 2002. Loved them. Now, absolutely the worst. They have basically taken management away from owners and charge renters fees that have hurt my business - and those of others that I have talked to. Some of us have had to lower our fee base due to the fees renters have to pay. The only reason I still rent through VRBO/Homeaway is that it is currently the site that people know. Hate it. Will quit it in a heartbeat when find an alternative.

VRBO will now not let you communicate with your clients without accepting their reservation first. I often need to have some dialog with the tenant before approving them regarding dates etc. (ie they request Sat - Sat and I rent Fri - Fri). VRBO has turned away clients whose reservation requests had "expired" according to their new policy, even when I tried to be in touch with clients about available dates and pets. Also they have begun funneling the clients through their online payment process, which charges $$$ service fees for no added service.

VRBO is garbage! My husband and I rented a cabin on the VRBO site for our honeymoon only to find out that it was doubled booked and our cabin was canceled. We drove all the way from South Georgia just to find this out with no phone call, email or nothing! I am extremely disappointed. The people we talked to on the phone were rude as hell. This is not how you should treat people! I will make sure all my friends know what you do and who to avoid. You should be ashamed of yourselves.

I manage rentals of a Cape Cod cottage which belongs to my wife and her brother. So I should have been delighted when the following review appeared on the listing I'd placed on VRBO (Vacation Rentals by Owner): “Wonderful, well-maintained and super comfortable. Amazing property, beautiful house! Absolutely loved it. Perfect location, good size and no issues at all.” These boiler-plate accolades seem to have been produced not by a person at all, but by a machine.

I recently rented a flat in London which was advertised at 3 BR 3 BA. It was also advertised as sleeping 6. The master BR was advertised as having a "lovely terrace accessed thru French doors". Firstly, there were only 2 bathrooms. Secondly, the third bedroom could only accommodate a small adult or a child. And lastly, the "lovely terrace" was in such poor condition (rotted and absent railings) that the manager's assistant told us not to use it. When the manager was confronted with these and more complaints, she began her vicious personal attacks of me and accused my daughter of fraudulent activity.

I advertise in VRBO and found out that they are charging travelers a fee at the time of booking a place. You will not have access to their email address or phone number until they that fee is paid up. I already paid for the service and charging the traveler another fee is purely obnoxious and greedy. It makes the traveling not fun from the start. Also for the traveler, it makes no economic sense when you have to pay another $400.00 for absolutely NOTHING and just the privilege of using their database which the owners already paid for. It just likes Amazon charging you a fee every time you buy an item. Moved to Zillow and it is free.

There are many hidden fees. I was not sent an itemized bill and had no idea what I would be paying until they had already taken the first installment out of my credit card. I did not know why the price was so high until I contacted customer service, who just kept saying "Airbnb does the same thing" (no, they don't). It turned out that they were charging 40% more than the base price for the property due to service fees, garage fees, maid fees, etc. I'm sure some of this is from the owner and some from VRBO. But my real problem is with the way the reservation and payment works on the VRBO website. When you click to reserve a property, it is approved or denied and the first payment comes out of your credit card before you have seen the total cost. The price per night that you see when you book is very misleading. I was roped into a price that I didn't agree to and I couldn't cancel without losing the payment I had already made.

I have been with VRBO since 2007. I was pleased until now. They will no longer allow reviews if the tenant did not rent thru VRBO. I keep a clean, well run condo at Beaver Creek Co that is ski in and ski out, yet condos in Avon (not in the ski area/but in the town) are allowed to say they are in Beaver Creek. I want to talk to prospective tenants, I want them to talk to me and pay the security deposit. VRBO would (I guess) never repair any damage, yet they want to charge the tenant insurance, collect tons of fees and then add on 6%+ for themselves. WHY!

Appears they are not interested in making it easy to post reviews of rental properties. From what I understand, if the owner does not like what you are intending to post, they can block you from posting a negative review.

Expedia (and its subsidiary HomeAway) purchased VRBO in 2016 and Expedia is not even BBB accredited! Despite assurances that "nothing would change" everything has changed and it now dictates the owner's refund policy, takes the damage deposit under its control, and when the owner clicks on Terms and Conditions they are deemed to have accepted any new policies - even those that may occur after the rental agreement has been entered into. They also say the owner's contract is 100% non-refundable -- even if the property has been sold. The list goes on and on. Specific problems include: The owner has no ability to talk with a prospective renter prior to renting to them. VRBO has blocked all contact information of the renter and if the owner sends them their contact information it will be Xd out.

I have used VRBO to book two properties. Last Year I booked a house in Turks and Caicos, no major issues. The photos did make the inside look newer and cleaner, but I blame that on the owner, not VRBO/Home Away. Good overall experience. This summer I booked a hotel room at the Delta in Prince Edward Island, Canada for one night. I've stayed here before and it's very expensive, but the best location. I first checked several sites for pricing, as well with the hotel direct. VRBO/Home Away had what LOOKED like the best price by $150.00/night.

VRBO & Home Away are portals for anyone who wants to list their rental property. They do not verify information or stand behind their listings. They allow horrible, unscrupulous owners to post property rentals and collect the fee offering zero recourse for incorrect listings. I recently rented a house that came with no bed linens or towels! Not even a hand towel in the powder room. When I attempted to file a grievance with VRBO/Home Away I was told I should have asked that question of the owner prior to renting the property. Once I was notified sheets were not included my money was not refundable and the owner was unwilling to negotiate. There were many other inconsistencies including the allowability of pets. I booked a No Pets property to avoid allergies only to arrive and find the couches covered with blankets and a note on the counter advising against allowing dogs on furniture.

This used to be a good service. Don't know what happened but now they not only take money from the people offering the property they tack on a 10% service fee to the renters. For they you get a big fat zero! No help in a dispute and no response from the company. I highly recommend using a local rental company at the location you are choosing for your vacation or use VRBO to establish contact then do business with the property owner on the side. You'll save a heck of a lot of money.

Flew from GA to Utah with my elderly father and my brother for a long-awaited trip. Upon arrival found the check-in information to be incorrect. Spent a long time on the phone with VRBO, and they were not helpful. At one point, we were actually asked to knock on the doors of adjacent properties to see what the correct property was to rent. We had to make other lodging arrangements, and thankfully there were vacancies in a local hotel. VRBO said that they do not handle refunds, and that I had to get it from the property owner. He was unreachable.

Months ago I rented an apartment in Spain for five days in September 2017. Unfortunately, I did not obtain cancellation insurance, but I doubt that it would have mattered. Hurricane Irma (a Category 5 storm) made its way toward Miami. I contacted the apartment owners via email and told them that I was afraid our flight would be canceled. It was. The Governor of Florida issued a state of emergency and an order of evacuation. We boarded up our home and left. I notified the Spanish landlords and hit the cancellation request on VRBO.

I agree with everything said previously. I have been with VRBO from the start. It was great! Since the founders have retired it has gone from bad to worse. Culminating with the advent of Expedia. I refused to sign their new contract on the grounds that no sane person would agree to such clauses as allowing them to DEBIT my account without my prior authorization. Got a few threatening mails from them but no reply to my objections. Like others say, I like to know who I'm renting to. This has advantages for all and makes the rental much more meaningful than a financial transaction. Guests often became friends. I quit.

I was a very satisfied “owner” client of VRBO since 2009, until this past year and the takeover of Expedia. Now I think of it, some of the problems started when HomeAway came in. I feel I have no control over the process, which includes the charging of fees to renters as well as owners, which I consider exorbitant and withholding contact and personal information from owners and prospective renters which prevents me from vetting them.

I booked accommodation with HomeAway for 59 nights at C.B.L. Apartments, Le Chamonix Blanc Av., De Courmayeur Chamonix, Haute Savoie. I paid in full for my stay thinking, now l can book flights to Paris & other accommodation. I received a message 16 days after payment was deducted from my account that my dates would have to be changed as the owner had decided he wanted the apartment for 2 of the weeks l had paid for! When l replied that l was not interested in changing my dates, l was informed that the owner was canceling my booking. This now left me with flights l had paid for, accommodation in Paris paid for with no chance of a refund.

Sadly, St. John was devastated by Hurricane Irma. My heart goes out to the residents of this beautiful island. After receiving an email from Island Abodes stating their property was uninhabitable and they would not be able to process refund requests at this time, I contacted VRBO requesting their assistance. The agent said they will NOT be able to assist me at all. In the event Island Abodes is unable/unwilling to refund our deposit, VRBO will NOT intercede with the owner of the property. Her only advice was to give the owner time to process refunds and contact my credit card company as a last resort. What exactly is VRBO's purpose in this vacation transaction? How does VRBO benefit me? Why didn't I book a hotel? What was I thinking? Out trip insurance through CSA travel protection will not cover this natural disaster. Their agent said they might possibly transfer the insurance payment to another trip IF Island Abodes refunded our down payment.

I thought it was strange when my tenant paid VRBO with an American Express credit card and then I received an e-mail that it would take a full month for me to see any money, with PayPal I always got my money within a week. But I marked the calendar and waited. The money didn't come that Friday and then we had a three day weekend. I got an e-mail on Tuesday that the money was at my bank but it wasn't. I called the payment center with VRBO but every day, I was told to wait until tomorrow. Friday came and I got an e-mail saying my bank sent the money back to them. Instead of telling me what information was wrong, correcting it in a minute and giving me my money the same day, they told me to fill out a bank change form and wait another week. I talked to my bank and they swear this money was never deposited, and they never sent it back. When I asked the payment center for proof the money was sent back, they refused to give me any.

USERS of VRBO now HOMEAWAY BEWARE. They are representing some terrible property owners that are not only thieves, but horrible business people who steal your money and will not refund when there's an emergency. ESPECIALLY when you need to boogie out of an area for a coming storm towards the east coast. I used to put VRBO right up there with Amazon, but no more! They won't back you at all when you need help, nor will they hold their lying property owners responsible when there is a dispute. I will NEVER use them again after 7 years of faithful patronage. Again, USERS BEWARE. You're dealing with them at your own risk. The photo of this guy's property is one to avoid at all costs. He's a price gouger, and told me he'd refund my money twice, but then changed his mind. Avoid him at all costs. Property #141437 in Murphy NC.

This is my third complaint online about VRBO/Holiday Homes. Unlike Airbnb and TripAdvisor, VRBO has the most incompetent accounting staff imaginable. For over one year I have had issues receiving my payments from them. I have had guests arrive and leave and still no payment received from VRBO/Holiday Homes and every time I contact them (which is number of attempts for each booking) I am reassured it will never happen again. And yet it does. I get very few bookings the through VRBO, they lag far behind all the others in attracting bookings for us, so going forward I will refer every inquiry to the other rental sites and not renew. I have had the poorest customer service from them that anyone can have, and the incompetence when it comes to simple math and professionalism is just not just astounding but also illegal. They are in breach of their contract every time they withhold funds from us but this seems to not be a concern for them.

I've used VRBO in the past and never experienced any issues with the rentals until this past summer. My husband & I decided to rent a beach cottage in Destin, Florida. The pictures of the rental seemed nice & had great reviews. The homeowner met us at the rental to give us the keys & of course to receive our final payment. After driving 11+ hours we were both exhausted; the homeowner showed us around the home. We both realized that the house isn't being maintained very well. It states that the house has been recently painted; well they need to find a new painter. Dirt on the walls in the living room. The closet in the bedroom wouldn't close once it was opened; a dresser was inside which takes up most of the space; so not enough room to hang clothes in. Went to plug in my phone charger in the bedroom & noticed that something must have been spilled & ran down the wall to the baseboard.

No response to property owner complaints. Did not yet post my review of the property my family rented. I sent a complaint about a property. The stay on the island was fun, but would have been vastly improved had the issues in the property detailed below been addressed prior to my visit. I stayed there from Saturday night until Wednesday morning.

VRBO has set up a 2 Factor Verification system that required you to register your devices for using to log into your VRBO account. I was told that this would only be required to do only once. I registered my iPhone, computer and iPad. This is going on three years and I'm still required to have a verification code sent to me to log in. I was thinking of leaving VRBO once my listing expired last month, as they also implemented a new online booking feature that charges guests an additional service fee, along with charging me for the year.

I have been a customer of theirs since 2007. At that point in time, the product they were offering was satisfactory to very good. I was able to screen and converse with my guests, collect the rents, and felt that the advertising and promotion they offered was satisfactory for the cost. When rates went up, I was unhappy, but paid them as I knew the cost of doing business had probably gone up. Well, I renewed with them in April 2017 for an additional year, but did it unhappily. I found out that Expedia had bought them out, and not only had the rates to the owner doubled, but they list properties in my area that are NOT in my area, so that they can bury the ones who are not allowing them to collect their money, book their calendar, charge the guest, charge the owner more with each booking, charge credit card fees, damage insurance, and most importantly, not allow us to talk or communicate with the guest.

My family and I rented a large home 6 months in advance, paying the agreed upon 50% deposit. My brother's family cancelled on us and we cancelled the reservation, 4 months in advance. The cancellation policy clearly stated on the VRBO site "see owner's rental agreement for cancellation policy." It states with cancellations made >30 days prior to the arrival date will incur a penalty equal to 10% of the deposit. This would be 362.60. Our penalty was 777.00, per the balance that was refunded to me. I contacted VRBO twice, via email, and both times got a ‘beat around the bush, convoluted response.'

I booked two nights on VRBO to have a peaceful getaway in an accommodation at Seagrove Beach called Zen Retreat with owner James ** a few days before my vacation, it became clear my mother was extremely ill. And I thought she might not survive. She died prematurely and unexpectedly and I was in full communication with James **. I canceled my trip hoping someone would be able to rent the accommodation. James refused to give me a refund or credit or switch dates despite the fact that my mother died about 24 hours after I canceled. Sometime on that day he closed the opportunity for someone to reserve one of the nights and increased the price for the nightly for the following day more than 200%.

We own three condos in Las Vegas at the Signature MGM. VRBO and HomeAway were great for our vacation rental business until this year. They changed their format and even when I type in the search engine "Signature MGM" I get tons of other properties that are NOT The Signature MGM. Our business has dropped significantly. August and September are usually our biggest booking months for the next year. We have not booked a property for over two weeks. This is ridiculous. Where is the ROI for the fees we are paying?

What once was good is now as bad as it can get... In short, before Expedia bought them, vrbo.com was a great site, and worth the money 500 a year. We paid to list and now they have so frustrated the process of vetting guests and getting to know them and getting paid, by anyone but them or even paying them and us, to a point where with filtered phone numbers that I am getting out of the business as it’s not worth the extra effort that used to bring in extra income. Airbnb is by far the better site if you have to go through all this, uncertainty and frustration and risk and neither is any good anymore for the absent owner.

We rented two vacation homes through VRBO the last 2 years. Both times the homes were not as represented by the owners in the advertising. The furniture was very uncomfortable, the homes were dirty and messy, one living room sofa was damaged, stained and even had a hole in it. (The sofa in the photos on VRBO website makes it look new.) One of these owners did not have anyone really check her property before the new traveler gets there. In our case, the owner actually asked us what the property looked like when we called her complaining the TV did not work! Both times we stayed in the vacation rental because we felt we had no choice.

We stayed at a VRBO/HomeAway rental that was poorly maintained and unclean. I wrote a detailed complaint to VRBO and included photos of some of the issues. Essentially the bottom line is that I can file a complaint, which will be forwarded to the property owner, but then it is up to the property owner as to whether or not they will make any changes. VRBO/HomeAway, when I contacted them following my written complaint said there is no recourse unless the property was misrepresented. I said, "This property was listed as a 'cozy cottage' but I wouldn't describe it as that. The VRBO representative said would not constitute misrepresentation; she meant if the property was listed as a four bedroom but only had three bedrooms. I commented that we were told there would be a grill out for our use but there wasn't. That still was not enough of a disparity between listing and actuality.

I tried to upload and pay for a new listing. I was sent an email from a third party company that VRBO and HomeAway have decided to do business with called Vacation Rent Payment. That is when everything went south. I called and left messages to the number provided in the email and I never got a callback after several days. I called again and was able to speak to someone and they put me on hold and sent my call to the same person who never called back. So, I called again and asked to speak to management; they asked what it was about.

VRBO use to be fantastic! I have had my property listed since 2011 and loved it. I was able to navigate the site and my guests were able to reach me. I like getting to know my guests before they arrived and them me. I have many returning year after year. Now I have very little contact with my guests and feel I have very little control. I also do not like the online banking. This is my business and my money. They should not have anything to do with my banking!! Ridiculous and just a money grab for the home away company. We need another site that will be like the old VRBO, owner having the control!

Beware if you are Canadian and renting a Canadian cottage you can be charged American funds. With no notice just a $ sign!!! According to VBRO a dollar sign $ is suppose to Mean American funds??? Being Canadian I didn't know that a dollar sign wasn't Canadian funds... I called and tried to get to bottom of this and that is what customer service rep told Me... $ sign is American money... I guess our Canadian money isn't Real money!!! Next time I will Make sure I am booking with my "fake money" so I am not shocked at my Visa statement!

I've have been using VRBO & Home Away to list vacation rentals in Daytona Beach since 2007. We pay a yearly fee to be listed on their website. This fee isn't cheap, if I'm not mistaken the renewal on 1 of the 5 condos we have listed with them is coming up and it is about $500 per year. I would be good if VRBO & Home Away raised their fees back up to around the &1000.00 amount I was paying when I started in 2007, if they would just go back to the way it was then. It was so much better when they were just a listing site not a booking site. As of now I'm hoping before my next renewal comes up I can find another web site that is what VRBO & Home Away use to be, or maybe I'll just have to build a website to list my condos on and do advertising for it on the internet.

I booked a vacation rental house back in Oct 2016 for my extended family of 12. I paid in full along with $1000 security deposit. 3 weeks to my trip, I get an email from the owner of the property that because of the city code issue, they can no longer rent the property. I did get a full refund back but the point is my family has been looking forward to this trip for a year and even took days off from work. We were trying to locate another property but it was too expensive. We had to cancel our long awaited vacation. I feel that the owner should find a comparable property but all he did was recommend a few places.

I have to agree with Nelson of Loveland, CO, VRBO which was bought by HomeAway in 2006, was great for all our other rentals up until now. Since Expedia bought HomeAway in 2015, I've never paid such ridiculous fees. They don't let the owners or managers communicate with the renters or us with them. Our last rental the manager didn't even know we were coming until a couple days before our arrival. The property was almost double booked. Their customer service is a joke and a waste of time. We will never use anything that Expedia has bought ever again.

I am losing business by using the new VRBO. I have been using VRBO since 2005. This year I have had my property hidden. I have had 2 weeks of vacancy in July due to hidden property. I pay VRBO to show my place on their website LOTS OF MONEY. It is my business how I handle my potential renters. I want them to call me and I want to call them. VRBO won't show my number. I am ready for a class action law suit. Anyone else?

Second time that I have experienced unprofessional customer service reps and sales department reps. I have been with VRBO for 8 years and loved the old VRBO. I sang their praises, even wrote articles about them as a travel writer. I will no longer be doing this. They are charging fees to renters/owners and taking the vacation renters by OWNER away entirely. My renewal is up today, I was going to renew and then again so mistreated by the reps and the customer service. They state renters will pay 5-12% fee when renting depending on the rent but can not provide a scale. They charge owners credit card fees and charge renters service fees and charge a yearly subscription for what? I hope they lose all the good rentals by owner and it becomes vacations beware! Really who wants to work with a company that treats its clients with such hostility.

VRBO with a great reputation was bought out by HOMEAWAY double charging first me $400 now my guest $70 a guest or more. I have to sign in every time with passwords every time. My home is in a rural area with bad phone service. Now every time I'm sent some email no service to sign in. I never get to talk to my return guest or any they're booking when they're already booked. The customer service 15 minute wait they say but it's longer going to India somewhere. I've always been paid before arrival. Nowadays after checking out HOLDING payment For 1 Month before I get paid. Ripping people off. 5 years NEVER had to call VRBO. Now 6 Times a month no good.

My family rented a house for the first full week in July in the mountains of North Carolina. When we arrived to check in it was unacceptable. It was littered with cat hair (not stated in rental proposal that cats inhabited house) and a rail up a steep hill was detached and created hazard for climbing up steps. We could not stay without severe allergy response and danger at entering. Homeowner only refunded 50%.

Be cautious when using VRBO/HomeAway to book rental properties. They charge a fee in addition to any charges associated with the owner's rental agreement. They list this as "Service Fee" on the rental request email confirm. Here's how it worked: I found the property that I wanted to rent on VRBO/HomeAway; they sent a confirmation via email that lists the "Service Fee" Charge after you have provided credit card info (in my case $264.00); The confirm told me that the owner's rental agent (travel agent) would be contacting me within 24 hours; I then proceeded to book with the agent direct (not VRBO/HomeAway) after negotiating terms of the agreement with agent.

Is anyone aware of all the scammers that have taken to renting homes thru the vacation websites. I was scammed by a group of girls that paid with a fraudulent credit card. I had a bad feeling about them and called VRBO before they checked in. VRBO would not give me any information about the person that actually booked. All their profile said was she was a member since 2017 which means she could have opened her account 2 days before (Which I found out she opened it one day before). It took 4 weeks for HomeAway to notify me the card was fraudulent and the money was charged back out of my account.

I just sent this to a representative of VRBO, a company that was once good but is simply awful now: We have decided not to renew our listings with VRBO. We long ago grew tired of constantly being strong-armed by VRBO to conduct OUR business to better suit/benefit VRBO. Among our too many to detail fully complaints is the fact that the amount we were told we would make from a listing was nowhere near the amount we did make. We went round and round with VRBO over this because it screwed up our accounting and took a ridiculous amount of time to figure out each payment. VRBO acts as though the CC processor is another entity and oh gee, they can't possibly factor the CC fee into the computations to give us a clean net amount.

I just rented my property for the first time through VRBO. I learned today that they received approximately $5,000 from the person renting the property. In three months they collect the rest. They keep this money using it for their own purposes and four months from now they send the money to the owner. I wish I had read the fine print.

I have purchased an add on VRBO since 1991, the old company was great! Over the years I increased my level so I was higher to the top of their page. Then they sold out last year, ** in a hand basket! I paid for inquiries, I got the person name, phone number, email and personal address. I contacted them to talk to the potential renter, gave them an idea of our complex rules and ours, found out their age and how many cars and how many people would be staying. Our complex has rules to age! Now all I get is a message from VRBO or HomeAway that I have an interested renter, I get no Idea of their age, how many cars!

I made two reservation and paid for it. I even got confirmation from them that my reservation was confirmed. I get to airport in Thailand. I look at my email. It showed both of my reservation are canceled for reverse charge by the bank. I called my Bank. They told me the VRBO has not tried to charge the booking, I called the VRBO. They are telling me they sorry and they will get back to me in 48 hours. I always used Airbnb. This time I wanted to try this company, I will never book any of my vacation rental with this company.

The recent changes VRBO has made requiring an owner to have a traveler book their rental using VRBO's online booking causes us to drop VRBO. We have always worked directly with the traveler renting our vacation homes. It has worked well for us. We communicate directly with the renter, quote the availability and pricing, reduce everything to writing in a rental agreement for our mutual understanding. We charge the renter directly, which means we receive our money and don't have to depend on VRBO for our funds. (We believe that using VRBO's online booking the owner doesn't receive their money until after the occupancy has taken place. Not good.) VRBO is hiding the owner from the renter and vice-versa in an effort to control the owners. VRBO is looking to gouge both the owners and the renters. We don't need them. Yes, the listings have been helpful, but not at the cost and change to how we do business VRBO is now requiring.

My family and I have used VRBO and HomeAway in the past and have had good results. Our most recent experience will keep us from ever using their service again. We rented a beach house in Ventura, CA for one week, and while the location was fabulous, the condition of the property was only tolerable. The listing had Air Conditioning as an amenity, yet there was none, and the owner "doubted" that it was listed until I showed her property manager the listing. It was also stated that there was a TV in the master bedroom, but there was not. It turned out that those were minor issues compared to the water leak which caused the bathroom and linen cupboard to smell so strongly of mildew, that it was difficult for me and my family to use that room.

I have been renting my beach condo through VRBO for over 10 years and stuck with them even though the annual subscription fees kept going up significantly over the years, because I was getting quality renters and had total control on screening and collection of security deposits and rents. Ever since they merged with HomeAway and VacationRentals and were acquired by Expedia, the business model has rapidly deteriorated. I think this happened shortly after the original founder and Chairman retired in Sep. 2016 and John Kim was hired as President to run the operation. My subscription expires Aug. 31, 2017 and I sent a letter today via FedEx to Mr. Kim and enclosed copies of all of the below complaints (at least 13 pages that I could print out -- there are probably a lot more).

I have listed 23 properties and booked nearly 5,000 guests via VRBO since 2007, but new owner Expedia, which bought all the HomeAway/VRBO brands, has turned the brilliant business on its head. Originally a listing service a la Craigslist (albeit with "advertising" fees of up to $1,000 per property), Vacation Rentals by Owner (VRBO) quickly grew into the premier marketplace for vacation homeowners to connect with quality renters. Not content to make millions of dollars off the simple site, Expedia elected to make billions by beginning to charge not only owners for their listings but renters up to 10% of the total rent for each booking. For example, a 3-night booking of a luxury home for $2,000 now incurs renters a $200 "service fee."

A number of reviewers have complained about the changes that VRBO / Homeaway are forcing on its customers, and the exorbitant fees for both owners and renters that go along with it. I completely agree with them. I have been renting our treasured holiday home out for 5 years, very successfully and have received consistent 5-star ratings from guests. This has been partly due to the personal contact and engagement with each guest and their specific circumstances. Now, VRBO is getting in the middle of that relationship - sending out canned emails to guests (it's hard to know WHAT guests are receiving). Forcing bookings through the website and charging fees to everyone. $151 "Service Fee" was going to be charged to a guest for a 3-night stay, ostensibly to fund the maintenance of the website. Who in their right mind would pay that fee. As Owners, we pay a fee to use the website. This is just gouging!

I am the owner of ** and VRBO has no policy or protections for its customers and the American Disabilities Act. Owners that cannot use online booking have no protection and paid ad fees then are dropped because they do not book thru VRBO when they physically cannot use the online booking yet they paid contract ad fees. VRBO and HomeAway operate under federal laws of the United States and the ACLU is investigating. This company is NON CLIENT AND NON CONSUMER FRIENDLY.

I have been a homeowner with VRBO for 4 years and because we do not live near our rental home we use a local property manager and do our booking directly with them. This has worked just fine for 3 years but now that Expedia has bought VRBO they are finding ways to not only screw renters but also homeowners. First they do not allow us to access to inquirers emails or phone numbers so we cannot contact them directly. Then they stopped emailing me the inquiries so I have to go onto the site to check on a regular basis. Finally about a month ago they decided that since we weren't booking the house on their website that it wasn't being rented so they just took my house off the website.

We sent a request to Suzette ** in Destin for a property to rent for vacation. Couldn't make it because of military duties so she rescheduled for July. What she didn't tell us is that she was going to charge us $385 to reschedule. She gave us 24 hours to accept or offer would be declined. We did not accept, offer declined but she reverted back to our original request. The payment for the original request was almost $1900. AT NO TIME was I provided a cancellation policy, nor at any time was a cancellation policy listed on the website anywhere. Suzette ** kept our money and we never went to Destin for vacation.

The changes recently made at VRBO are ridiculous!!! Contact information about guest can't be obtained until the guest books the unit. Obviously the idiots at VRBO have no clue on the 101 questions that guest have about their potential vacation experience. I waited 14 minutes to speak to a Customer Service Rep only to be told that the "higher-ups" made these changes. When asked to speak to a manager, I was put on hold again. Decided not to wait... but can assure you, I will not renew my annual subscription!!!

In the 11 years I have been a member and started paying 149 dollars a year the minimum now is 399 a year and they have controlled almost everything you put on your sites. I own two very small units which has been established on the site and now they want me to pay for 2 ads. Just another greedy business. They have bought every ad company for vacation rentals and keep changing their rules to benefit themselves. They now also charge the owner for collecting the money.

VRBO has decided to FORCE people to pay for bookings through their website by withholding all contact information for renters until a reservation is made. This completely eliminates the home owner and prospective guest from talking to each other prior to booking. What VRBO is forgetting is that they aren't representing a hotel which takes everyone... They are representing a homeowner who has the right to understand who is staying at their property and decide who to rent to and who not to rent to.

My husband and I have had very good luck with VRBO in the past but I will not be using them again after our most recent experience. First, I do realize that VRBO is not at fault for the fact that our accommodations were less than pleasant. After VRBO placed us with a property at Myrtle beach, we were in contact with the owner/property manager from that point on. The communication was terrible. They didn't even give us the specific address for the hotel until the morning of, and we were wondering at one point if we had hooked up with someone who was running a scam.

This is our second issue with VRBO (HomeAway is part of the same group). If I could list "0" stars I would. They have been non responsive. The property condo owner in the Broadmore area in Colorado Springs cancelled our reservation 6 days before our trip. Everything was paid in full, acknowledgment of the agreement signed, and now we are in the process of struggling to get our fee from VRBO refunded and had to find another property quickly. There is absolutely no consequences by VRBO for irresponsible and reckless property owners with no accountability whatsoever!

I concur with all of the below reviews. I am disgusted by the absolute gouging by Expedia since buying VRBO. I believe they are stealing from both the property owners and the renters and I feel they are in the process of dying a not so slow death. I can get better service from VRBO and Tripadvisor using this business model and for far less money to both myself and my renters. It is only a matter of time before word has fully spread and, as they no longer provide a unique service, VRBO will become irrelevant in the vacation rental world. I plan to start a petition on Change.org to force Expedia to be more transparent with customers about these changes. My renters are angry and have no idea why these huge fees are added. They lash out at me about the final totals. This is not right, if I am still asked to pay a subscription fee for my listing.

I own a beach condo in Florida and have had a listing on VRBO for 6 years. I would communicate with the potential renter, negotiate a price, and if agreed upon, send the information over to my management company to complete the reservation. The management company charged the renter a very modest service charge to cover the credit card fees and I paid them a commission. This system worked great and the renter had the security of knowing that if any problem would arise, it would be taken care of on a 24/7 basis.

Just found out once you renew your subscription you are forced to use their payment plan, where the traveler must pay by credit card or debit card through VRBO. We have had a very successful Vacation rental business with travelers paying by check. Sorry to say, we will no longer be using VRBO and hope that they will rethink this new policy. This is just another way for VRBO to take control of your business. VRBO is paid for advertise but they want to manage.

For about 10 years we have been advertising our ski homes on VRBO. We have been very successful in filling the time spots when we were not using our home. We have rented to caring renters, have been paid on time and have had many returns. All payments were by cheque or Interac. Now VRBO has decided that all rentals must be made through them, charged on credit card, 3% paid by owner, up to 10% service fee charged to renter, all payments in US funds at an additional surcharge. Our home is not a typical ski rental. It was build specifically for our extended family by an award winning master builder. It was furnished with care and is filled with family keepsakes and art. If VRBO thinks that we will allow unchecked renters entrance they are crazy. We will cancel when our contract is up.

#178662 1005 Treasure Lane Vero - The first thing I will say is the property is not what is seems. When taking the pictures of the pool they must have had a wide lens on the camera, (very small). Upon arrival the house was 82 degrees, you're in Florida come on really. My husband called Colleen ** to discuss the issues with the a/c.

As an owner of listing **, I am very upset that VRBO is charging renters high fees for nothing and charging high fees to owners as well. Now they have changed their policy whereas an owner can't contact a renter prior to accepting a booking. I have used them for years but they are now double dipping on charges to owners and renters. They are denying their property owners a right to contact the renters and get a feel for the type of person that may be renting their property. I think VRBO/Homeaway is violating their fiduciary duties to the owners that pay them to represent them on their vrbo listings. This may be a legal matter. I intend to leave them if they do not change this policy back to protect owners.

I have had my property listed on VRBO since 2007. The company charged a listing fee that was quite expensive but I was able to communicate with the people who were trying to rent my condo and I kept it rented enough to help cover my costs. VRBO and HomeAway were bought out by Expedia in the past year or two, and since the change in ownership, the company has gone from an advertising company to a rental/ booking company. They now charge exorbitant fees to anyone booking and they will not allow me as an owner to communicate with folks interested in my condo until the interested person pays the service fee to VRBO that is over $200 for a weekly rental. This is in addition to the booking fees. If I even try responding to the folks with my email or phone number it is x'd out. Because I was not booking to some folks during college spring break and for some "party" groups, they hid my listing with no notice that they had done this.

I have been with VRBO.com for over a decade and have really enjoyed their service for my two homes. I paid for a listing service, not a booking service. VRBO.com doesn't own my home, I own my home. VRBO.com and Expedia do not understand that we are renting our home not a hotel room. Each home is sacred to their owner and every owner wants to make sure that their renters are not going to trash their home.

I have read the reviews regarding VRBO and agree with all that is said. It is true the owner of VRBO is greed based. Their goal is to extract as much money from us homeowners as possible. As of today, they now charge a VAT on the service fee, that is a value added tax. This is false. The service fee collected by a company is income, it is taxed as revenue. To collect VAT is a misrepresentation. As a homeowner that has been with VRBO for 5 years, I am disappointed with the new ownership. They do not care about us homeowners. We are their milk cow. I am not a whiner. I have figured out a way to bypass the service fee and the blocked email/phone number situation. My goal is to make my renters happy at the true minimum cost. I work for my renters. I want them to have the very best vacation at my house. VRBO will lose in the end.

I am having difficulty with VRBO's handling of the vacation rental payments made by my guests. VRBO (aka) HomeAway is owned by Experian who uses YapStone to 'power' the collection of money from the booking Travelers through Vacation Rent Payments, Inc. It is a three ring circus and I recommend the public stay as far away as possible from any of these entities. Over a month ago VRBO's money changers aka YapStone, Inc (based in California) sent me an email demanding that I agree to NEW Terms & Conditions as regards their collection and forwarding of the guests' payments into the account. I was obliged to set up with YapStone in order to list on VRBO/HomeAway.

I am an owner with a Pay per Booking listing on VRBO. I am absolutely astonished by how poorly VRBO operates. I signed up late summer of 2016 and received no inquiries or bookings. In the late fall of 2016 a potential guest managed to track me down through Facebook and ask why I did not respond to any inquiries. I contacted VRBO and was amazed to find that I had many inquiries and reservations but that due to a technical issue internal to VRBO the inquiries and bookings never reached my Inbox and cost us tens of thousands in lost revenue. That took a week of phone calls to work that out with VRBO's technical arm. Then when I started receiving inquiries my guests' credit cards were consistently denied.

VRBO and VACASA won't return any money. And, they won't allow me to post an online review of my dealings with them. In January 2017, I paid for a 5-day stay with VACASA vacation rentals. The Blue Pacific vacation rentals unit was in Harrison, Idaho during the most expensive and popular vacation time of the year (July 7-11). Eight days prior to the check-in date, I had to go to the hospital emergency room, followed by emergency surgery 10 days later. As it was physically impossible to travel, I called VACASA. They promised to try to rent the unit to someone else. 5 days later, just before surgery, I checked, and VACASA still had not changed the condo's status, to let people know it was available for rent. When I called again, Karen, a manager, said she had "No responsibility, whatsoever, to try to rent the unit out again". She then changed her mind, after reading her agent's 5-day old notes promising to try to rent the unit to someone else.

As a homeowner on VRBO for over 10 years I am extremely disappointed with the recent changes being made with limited/no regard for the property owners who have built this site. I joined Vacation Rentals BY OWNER, not BY YOU. VRBO's recent business plan has created a hostile takeover of the owners’ rights to manage their own properties. VRBO is an advertising site, not a property management site. You have NO boots on the ground in the locations that you now want to control. Multiple complaints and attempts to speak to someone competent have still not been addressed.

We travel often and all over the world. We have been using VRBO or HomeAway for years. In the last year or so it has changed completely. The service is awful and the added fees are high. But mostly, the customer service is unbearable. I have TRIED to make several reservations in the last few months all of which I never get a confirmation and have to call customer service. I always speak to customer service reps who do not speak good English and can not get most of my information correct (because of the language barrier). As well, because of their errors I have to double book properties to make sure that we have a place to stay when we arrive and then come to find out that maybe we do have a place.

I want to invite to all owner to get together for any way and go to the court of law, and make this people stop with this abuse. They have people by the phone that they only know how to sell service. They have not any training to resolve any issues, so don't waste your time calling there. I will invite the people to make a Sue or a Complaint directly in any court of law. If you Know a lawyer or somebody who knows how to make this please let me know. WE NEED TO STOP with this abuse. 4 years ago I subscribe with VRBO just to advertise my property. That is my home and I want to be able to negotiate with my property. Now you cannot. they want to make all the deals and I have been damage this year because they want to charge for everything. So again this is America and those are our properties, I invite every person to get together and sue this people.

I stayed at a home that was MISREPRESENTED online. VRBO cannot help you. They are difficult to contact to report the issues and once a complaint is issued they push you around from department to department. I have waited online for long periods of time just to be told they will transfer me, again and again. They make it difficult to resolve the problem. They are also rude. Also, once a Owner cancels you from the reservation but still charges you for not staying you cannot write a review. Therefore, the Owner's property has only Good Reviews. So unfair for the future travelers. This particular Owner now has many Code Violations against the Rental Property. VRBO needs to get their act together.

VRBO is terrible. I called them twice because of a problem with a booking (NOT the owner's fault). They take a huge fee and offer zero service to client or consumer (actually negative service--because they generate massive frustration and do not solve problems, even after insisting on management involvement). I almost lost a week's rental two weeks from the start date because of their managing incompetence. I will always use local property management companies and direct owner contact in the future, and will always urge friends to do the same from here out. You will get better service that way, the travelers will save money, the renter will make more money, and everyone will be happier.

Was recently scammed when booked my property in Nashville thru VRBO. Renter used different name & phone #. Used my house to serve alcohol to underage kids. Sold tickets. Trashed my house with over 200 people going thru my house. Then stole things out of my house & then reported to the credit card company that property was not as advertised to freeze the payment. VRBO not helpful in protecting what happened to me & wanted proof that someone even stayed at my property! It's costing me over $5000 to repair damage & disinfect my house. Will never use VRBO again... apparently these people do this all over Nashville! ** people were involved in this scenario... would recommend meeting people face to face & verifying their true name address & credit card info. Once again received a check from someone this week twice what I wanted & said return the balance. When asked for an ID wanted to send his wife's instead blah blah. Scam!

I have been with VRBO for 9 years. In the last 16 months my bookings have dropped to almost -0-... and so are the inquiries. I keep calling and they keep saying nothing is wrong with my listing. However visitor travel to Maui is way up. The hotels and cheap condos are the things that pop-up upfront of any other listings. When a traveler puts in specific bed/bath etc... many times says there are no properties that match that description. Expedia has destroyed the custom rental market.

This was one of the best experienced we have had on vacation rentals. The condo was all it promised and even. Excellent neighborhood and easy to get to from the city. The manager, Mr. ** was helpful and very welcoming. I would highly recommend this condo (2033 West Jarvis Chicago). Get the Garden Unit... it is the best since there isn't an elevator and it is almost like having the courtyard to yourself.

Well, it's happened again! Take a perfectly good business model providing a needed advertising platform and add in fees for services either not needed nor outrageously expensive, cutting into property-owner income whilst preventing necessary communications between owners and guests; this is "service"??? All we need now is for the Austin call center to be moved offshore so no one even understands the nature of the problems, much less the nuances or specifics, and VRBO will have become another TripAdvisor or AirBnB... useless to all except their bottom line. None of these booking platforms can never duplicate the level of service we provide our guests, nor can they respond to guests with personal calls that actually meet the needs of guests.

It has been a long time since I booked a vacation of any kind. I booked through VRBO and got charged 158.00 for a $1800.00 stay. On the payment information it says the fee is calculated as a variable of the percent of total reservation. Never would I have thought it would be this much money. I contacted the person I booked with and he told me this is not the first time he has encountered this. He pays VRBO a yearly rate and then they charge the consumer, so they are getting paid twice. Never would I use VRBO again.

Although VRBO has always charged me a yearly fee, I continued to use it for the majority of my rental bookings because I felt it offered me better professional service. Even, after they started charging my guests a service fee, I used them because they allowed me access to the guest's contact info which allowed me to offer my guest alternative payment options if they didn't want to pay the service fee. Many of my guests still chose to use VRBO because they felt more comfortable using their HomeAway Payment service. However, now, this has changed and my guests are now forced to use HomeAway and I am forced to pay VRBO's exorbitant credit card and foreign transaction fees for rentals.

VRBO has changed their policies without owner consent. I have been with HomeAway since 2011, when it started out as an advertising site for homeowners. Over the past few years it is "streamlining" its site to make it a booking platform. We are a property management company and our homeowners have hired us to market and manage their homes. Last year, VRBO began charging guests a fee as well as the fee homeowners pay for advertising on the site. We paid our annual fees expecting to be able to contact prospective guests via telephone (a requirement by our homeowners) before they book and was informed now that HomeAway is changing policies again to not include guest information until after guests are booked and paid.

VRBO are horribly unethical and are legally stealing billions. We have been advertising since 2012 on this site that promised only seller fees but now are charging every renter that rents through them A HUGE BOOKING FEE that does absolutely nothing for the renter. They lie and say that they are getting a "BOOKING GUARANTEE" which is a complete lie!!! Now that they have lured hundreds and thousands of people on this site they change their policy and STEAL BILLIONS FROM THE PUBLIC!!! They are a lying cheating MONOPOLY AND NEED TO BE STOPPED!!!

Caution to renters and owners: VRBO was not satisfied with running a consumer-friendly website and is in the process of introducing greedy changes to their rental platform. As owners renew their agreements they must enable online booking and pay VRBO a service fee of between 4 to 9%. Worse, renters will also be required to pay a "service fee" on a rental, so VRBO will now be gouging both owners and renters. Pretty greedy. Further, owners who don't aggressively rent their houses under this new booking agreement will be punished with lower rankings. I will renew my contract for one more year as I research my options. I had been very satisfied with VRBO, but now I'm extremely disappointed and disturbed by these changes.

I used VRBO for many years to find vacation properties for our family's annual vacation in Florida. I was, for the most part, satisfied with the service they provided. So, when I became a vacation owner myself, I of course, went to VRBO. I paid an annual fee for listing my property. I had many inquiries. I was able to directly contact prospective renters to speak to them and get a feel as to whether or not they were a 'good fit' to rent my property for the 3 month high season in Florida.

First, let me tell you I have read the other recent reviews (that are all 1 star) and they are true. My review is more general and I encourage you to read the details in the other reviews. What I would like to emphasize is that not only are the bad reviews regarding the homeowners who want to list with VRBO (and it's other company homeaway) true but the experience to the renters are also very negative. They obviously paid way way too much to buy this company and are now destroying it trying to make their billions back at the expense of both the guests and the homeowners.

VRBO charges property owners a high rate to list vacation properties, the process was that guests inquired on the listing and their inquiry was forwarded to owners along with contact information so rentals could be discussed prior to booking. They have changed their policy now to not only charge for listing, but no longer providing the guests contact information and forcing the guest to book online and pay a high service fee, payable to VRBO. They moved from a listing site to a booking site, refunds should be issued to all property owners who signed up for a service that VRBO no longer offers.

VRBO has become a scam aimed at renters and homeowners. I have used them since 2009, but their transition to a solely revenue generator instead of a facilitator for renters and owners has become intolerable They used to charge an annual fee to the owners who advertised on VRBO. Owners could subscribe to different levels of listings at different pricing which ultimately, according to the listing level, positioned the property in their listing hierarchy. The more you paid the higher your listing. That methodology has changed to the more revenue they can generate from the guest and the owner the better off the listing.

With the "new ownership" of VRBO/HomeAway, my business has dramatically decreased. The "customer service" is virtually non-existent. I made over 10 calls to the "customer service" phone number because of a "virus" that affected my account - 5 WEEKS later, I was forwarded to a "technical agent" who finally resolved the issue. Prior to that I was instructed to "change my email address," "change my password," "send an email to spoof@homeaway.com," "HomeAway Security hotline." ALL of which I did, no response in over 7 weeks from their email, their security hotline phone number goes to nothing!

A wonderful, easy to use, simple for both owners and renters has been ruined by Expedia. I've used them for 10 years with great success but now Expedia wants to control my investment and force fees on both parties. Plus, they HIDE your property if you fail to adhere to their corporate policies. Maddening and insulting treatment of their clients (homeowners) that have made them the #1 platform for now. Avoid supporting them, use other platforms and let your friends know that this is not a company to support.

I am an infrequent traveler but have used VRBO in the past. I was disturbed to see an unauthorized charge on my credit card after booking a condo through VRBO. I called the phone number associated with the charge. After being transferred several times through static, impaired lines and customer service reps with accents that made it difficult to understand, I was offered the direct phone number of the property owner. I declined since I was relatively certain they would refer me back to VRBO and I would ultimately end up no better off, angrier and exhausted by the run-around.

I have been using VRBO for several years, either to book trips for my family or for the property I manage for my father. I have definitely had some great experiences with VRBO, more good ones than bad but this one bad experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth and overshadows all the good that they can be. I have 3 apartments to manage in a small town that draws many visitors, especially during a 6 week period in the summer where prices go way up and the town is really buzzing with tourists.

I booked the apartment in Venice, and received the confirmation. 3 days before trip, started to check my emails to organized my travel information. I found my Venice rental been canceled and I have apartment at Murano island (I was not planning to go to Murano at all). When I called to VRBO helpline, after 1 h 32 min, they explained "I requested Murano Place myself," and they can not help me to cancel it. Phone service is ridiculous I was on hold too many times, without any result.

I have called VRBO several times to resolve a problem and each time I have gotten a different story as to the potential resolution. First I was told I would receive an email within 24-48 hours that would enable me to resolve the problem. When that email didn't appear I called back and was told that it actually would be 5 days before I would receive this email. After 5 days I called back and still my request has not been satisfied. I asked several times to speak with a supervisor and was told to hold and the phone rep would be able to get an answer for me. I was told the policy for this kind of problem had been changed and when I asked when the policy was changed, I was told the rep was not permitted to give me that information. I can't blame the phone rep, she has a script and can only deal with a limited number of problems.

VRBO is totally unprofessional in every way possible! They will take your money RIGHT NOW and try to get it back, good luck! They over charged me by $500 and wouldn't give me back the $500, they said your bank is holding it and provided me with complete BS numbers they referred to as "release codes". Of course being the trusting person I am presented the codes to my bank (CIBC) and wouldn't you know it, the codes are nothing but meaningless numbers coupled with a BS story. To put this already long rant short, I called and wrestled with VRBO so many times I lost count, threatened a lawsuit, you name I did it.

I have been a paying member of the VRBO vacation home rental website for more than 10 years. I list my home as a vacation rental on their site. In the last two rental seasons of my home on their website I have witnessed my inquiry to bookings fall considerably. After calling and speaking numerous times with customer service agents I have been told that the "Ranking Metrics" (a set of data collected on my home and others like mine in the area) is being used to place me on their website's "search" page.

DO NOT USE HOMEAWAY OR VRBO!!! HomeAway and VRBO has changed their policies without owner consent. I have been with HomeAway since 2005, when it started out at an advertising site for homeowners. Over the past few years it is "stream-lining" its site to make it a booking platform. Last year it began charging guests a fee as well as the fee homeowners pay for advertising on the site. I paid my fees this past April expecting to be able to contact prospective guests before they book and was informed 2 days ago that HomeAway is changing policies again to not include guest information until after guests are booked and paid.

I am a property owner who has been with VRBO for 10 years and very satisfied. Now, they are forcing us to book online and accept visa. By booking online, they can get a percentage of our rent. This is like putting an ad in the local newspaper to sell a car, etc. and then charging a percentage of our selling price. This CANNOT be legal. Also, even though we pay them to advertise, they insist on listing properties that are 60 miles from us to show what renters can get at a lower rental rate. THESE ARE OUR COMPETITORS! And they put them way ahead of my listing.

I have used VRBO to advertise my vacation rental here in Central Florida with a positive experience and they have slowly increased their rates demanding that owners use their site for booking which gives my customers a lot of fees, hassles emails, and not the personal care and attention I have given since 2007. They are making it impossible for me to interact with my clients and I am losing business to people that are not comfortable with the way they want the process to go. Booking online is not something I'm interested in and I do not want to be forced into it. Just because they decided to change their business does not mean I want to change mine or the way I operate my business. I have all good reviews and I simply want to use VRBO as my way to advertise. I've had customer complaints over the last few weeks of being on hold and having poor customer care from VRBO. Extremely disappointed.

We found the Legacy in Gulfport online and it sounded so perfect for our family. We picked this new destination for our family vacation because mom and pop are in their 80's and needed a place nearer to their home. Daughter told rental agent when renting that a balcony overlooking the water was crucial because her parents weren't able to get around very good and enjoyed just relaxing out in the fresh air. We arrived on Monday and they assured us that the balcony would be opened by Wednesday but that didn't happen. Construction was ongoing and the balcony was locked. We were required to walk around the building to go to the pool because all the doors were locked. The carpet was dirty and there were gnats everywhere. We really tried to overlook all these problems and just enjoy being together for a week.

I have been trying to get a resolution of my payments from VRBO for over a week, I am seem up to be over $200 per rental and when reviewing with customer service they actually recognized the problem. They sent me to HomeAway payments to talk with them who then told me it was an issue with VRBO. I have a case # and no resolution, no calls, no response and of course I do not have the income from the properties I should be getting. This is my first season with VRBO and this is pathetic. At this moment I am on the phone with customer service again getting the same runaround. At this point I don't know if they are this poor at customer or that they are actually stealing money from their home owners they serve?

This past year VRBO has added a service fee to the cost of booking. Everyone knows it is just a way of getting more money from owner's rentals. There is no service being given for the fee. Now they are saying, "You must use online booking to keep your account." I have found a way to get around this for a while but vrbo continues to tighten the noose to get their fee. This practice simply needs to be stopped. It is nothing more than stealing.

VRBO is now in the business of running our homes and charging fees that most homeowners are not aware of. The "service Fee" anywhere from 5-12% . Then the renter must go thru VRBO to book and and pay! Then the home owner is charged 3% for the credit card use. After 14 years of using VRBO I am done! If more owners would stand up and quit this site maybe the "greedy and controlling Company" would see the light. Better yet let's start our own site and truly be what VRBO used to stand for. Vacation rental by OWNERS!

I have been with VRBO since 2009. My rental did well before VRBO. Now that VRBO has become a booking platform and is using obfuscating methods to bill owners' visas for fees via rental and the tourist renters, I will not renew with them. They have told inquiries that my property is available when it is not. They are now forcing owner members to only book through a credit card that they can bill; they now want to completely control the owner's investment and business by having access to financial billings.

Originally, the VRBO website was great for getting out information about our cottage in order to secure rentals in a very cost-effective manner. Costs began to skyrocket with VRBO, and our property made its way further and further down the pecking order of properties. Today, I received the message that VRBO is making online reservations mandatory which means lining the company's pockets with additional costs for both the owner and the renter and they will not allow owners or renters to see each other's emails until rental is secure — quite a RIPOFF! So done!

I have used VRBO for years now to rent out two vacation rentals. While I found their fees for listing rather high, I still felt it was worthwhile and I got excellent guest experiences. They were bought by Expedia and now have changed their requirements to hurt both owners and guests. They now charge the guest a "service fee" which they don't clearly state when the guest is registering. It only shows once they've paid. This is bait and switch clearly.

Beware - We booked a home to rent at **. Our funds were sent to Cheryl ** with HomeAway who advertised with VRBO.com. In an email Cheryl said it was her home, gave us her text number in order contact her before our arrival so she could give us the door code. All was fine until one week before our arrival. We received an email from Cheryl saying she was putting us in contact with the homeowner, Teresa ** and, from now on we are to be in contact with her. We talked to Teresa, she said she has been in the home rental business for over twenty years and is good friends with Cheryl **. Yet, because Cheryl did not give Teresa any money from our booking Teresa would not rent her home to us.

I am a condo owner who has rented my Maui condos with VRBO.com for 19 years. Not long ago VRBO.com was bought by HomeAway.com which was bought by Expedia. They changed their entire business model which has hurt my rentals dramatically. Not only are they dollaring my guests to death with booking fees the guest gets hit with 3% charges for using credit cards.

I have had a lot of blow back from potential customers. I have had a cancellation from a customer because of VRBO, which affects MY rating with VRBO. First of all this year, I had potential clients who wanted to rent for 4 months. BUT they got the offer and starting complaining bitterly about the deceptive charges from VRBO. I explained that there was nothing I could do about VRBO's charges. They are driving business away left and right. Everyone wants to go outside VRBO to do business. The very things that should be protecting us with a safe transaction are creating very unsafe transactions. Last year, I had a woman booked for 4 months, and because of the incompetence of VRBO customer service in dealing with the credit card charge and her bank, she cancelled the booking. SHE WAS SO PISSED. If they hadn't dangled her and were better able to explain what was happening, or why it was happening, I would have had my booking. Disgusting.

If I could have given 0 stars or minus 5 stars I would have. Please be very cautious when dealing with payments through VRBO. In August 2016, I reserved a rental home for July 2017. I made the initial payment to VRBO. In mid-June of 2017 I received an email reminder from VRBO that the remainder was due. I accessed VRBO website to make the payment and was offered to pay by way of e-check or credit card. I chose e-check. After being prompted for my routing and account number I attempted to pay. Error message came up saying "something went wrong please check and retry" - which I did an additional 3 times receiving the same error message each time. I gave up and tried using my credit card instead and immediately was successful and received the confirmation of payment via email.

Renting a vacation property through VRBO has been a nightmare. I was supposed to have received check-in info 3 days prior to my trip instead spent hours on the phone (to VRBO's overseas call centers) the night before departure still trying to get the address of the property & check-in/access instructions. Finally they told me that if I haven't received address & instructions by the DAY OF MY TRIP they could put my family in a hotel room instead of the 3 bedroom 2 bath house with full kitchen & back patio complete with grill & fire pit that we had reserved. The house was pet friendly, walking distance to downtown & handicap accessible. VRBO could not guarantee that alternate accommodations would be equal.

I was truly unset that VRBO isn't going to renew my membership unless I agreed to online bookings with them. How sad! I've been with them for about 10 years so far with all 5 star reviews and many happy clients. Once I read how they are scaring away many of their top homeowners that have high quality, personalized attention for their guests, it's making me realize that they won't allow the quality control that I provide any longer. They're forcing the homeowners into a more cost effective arrangement... for THEM. Let us control our own property, VRBO, and let's talk again!

A couple months ago a friend and I started looking to rent a place on the beach for our families to vacation at the beginning of June. We rented a 4-bedroom condo on the beach for 4 nights/5 days. A couple days later, we were notified that the place we had rented had been double booked. Huh? So we were offered another place in Hilton Head that was more expensive than the first rental. We were offered no discount or perk for the inconvenience. 2 weeks prior to the vacation we were told the place we were now renting had been sold. Strike 2! We were offered 5 suggestions that were not in the least comparable to the 4-bedroom on the beach. Strike 3! We then had to go back to square one and find another rental someplace else.

We had a booking through VRBO.com. 48 hours later, when the guests were already checked in VRBO notified us that the person who applied for the rental and the credit card name did not match and it will probably be charged back. At that point it was too late to reverse the people already had the address and keys. They made a big mess in the apt! Lucky that they left! And of course the entire charge was charged back! So who is VRBO why am I getting a reservation through them? I could have just as well gone online and advertised myself and maybe be more careful because I would have checked out the person. They give you no backing. I gave away my apt for 4 days for free! Be very careful, you have to do verification yourself!

Went to book room for 2 nights, and found out that extra hidden fees were incurred later. $110 cleaning, $59 for damage protection, and to top it $39 for optional trip interruption which is a sham. Agent asked about trip protection, explained that we were flying standby, and we thought a good idea, and so did agent, not knowing until paid for that it is VERY limited in protection, and didn't cover our room when we didn't make it due to being bumped. (Always read fine print, lesson learned). So called both companies multiple times with no luck, only passed buck between two, no one wanted to do "right" thing to make a repeat customer happy, therefore the reason for not only a negative review of company, but of untrained agents, that only sell insurance to make quota.

I am so tired of dealing with VRBO and HomeAway and vacationrentals.com. Been with them for 5-6 years now and they were okay at the beginning. Then rates started going up and NOW they want to tell me what to do with my rentals (I have 3 of them listed with them). Just sick of it - they would not be half as particular as I am about who rents my homes. I am going with lakehousevacations.com and I suggest you do the same.

I am not only a vacation property homeowner but have used VRBO as a renter. They are no longer accurate in their "Vacation Rental By Owner" title as their new model has inserted themselves as the middleman, imposing unnecessary fees to both the homeowner which may increase nightly rates as well as fees to the renter. We are leaving this site as they have become greedy and truly do not care about either guests or homeowners. Their customer service is nil... I rented a unit in the complex where I own in Maui for family members and was charged $150 in additional fees. When I called because I had not received check in information I was told by the VRBO customer service rep that I had to call the owner. Seriously... That is NO customer service at all. It may take a few years but I think owners and renters alike will find other sites such as Mauiownercondos.com which operate on the old model VRBO used to be.

It was my first time using VRBO (home away). I made a reservation for Thursday-Sunday. I received a confirmation email stating that the owner has until 12:00 am on Thursday to accept or reject. With that, I was confused because I am suppose to be checking in on Thursday. The email stated I would not know until late Thursday or early Friday at 12:00 am. I would also be charged for Thursday, even though I did not occupy. I called to cancel the reservation, and was treated badly by 3 separate customer service agents. They kept me waiting long periods, hung up in me, disconnected me, and ultimately did not take care of the issue. I called my bank to reject payment and had to find the owner to cancel. They were rude, and not helpful at all. I think I will stick with Airbnb, and a host of other travel sites.

I rented our family vacation home out to a woman, her son, daughter in law and child. She paid thru Visa. She used the house in March 2017. She received her 500. Security deposit back on April 6th, cashed the check then proceeded to make a claim to her Visa card April 29th she did not receive the deposit back. There was additional claim she cancelled and then said she didn't use the house!

I'm a traveler and went to rent a home on VRBO for a trip this fall (2017). All was good with taxes, cleaning fee and then I see a service fee of 9%!! I guess this is something new since Expedia took over. I see it as a complete joke. I feel bad for all the homeowners listing their site on this site. I can see another, similar site, popping up and becoming "the place" for vacation home listings.

We have rented from VRBO for years. We have been very satisfied with all our rentals. We now rented a condo and found VRBO or HomeAway charged us $179.00 fee. There was never anywhere that indicated we would be charged a fee. I am very upset and have to pay this fee. I will never use VRBO, Expedia or HomeAway again and I am telling everyone I know the same. You have lost a great customer.

This is crazy, apparently there is a 60 days cancellation policy protecting owners' legitimate expectation. However this was not the case. Guest asked me to cancel his reservation asking if there was mold in the rear bathroom of my property located in Italy. She already knew or she ought to have known that since reviews state that there is mold. So the agreement was signed. All of the sudden she asked me to cancel asking if there was mold. I did cancel his reservation. Now VRBO trust and security department in particular this was Linda said was going to deactivate my listing basically extorting a full refund of guest's payment with a total breach of any legitimate expectation and cancellation policy rules. I would have expected at least the merit of this matter to be resolved by an arbitration with guest's credit card company!!!

We've had to cancel a reservation because of a death in the family and I have sustained an injury that prohibits me from traveling. Although I have signed a contract and there is no recourse for obtain a refund, the property we have reserved has not been relisted as available for the dates reserved. My wife has been communicating with the owner of the property and was told that relisting the vacancy on VRBO.com is not possible, but she would list on an alternative website. The owner has not provided that resource. My complaint is with VRBO for not having a compassion clause in the contract and the owner for not working with us to get the property rented.

We booked a VRBO for an extended weekend in order to attend a business conference and add in some beach time. We have previously used properties listed on VRBO for seven different trips. This time, the first difference we noted is that there is now an app. Apps are supposed to be simple and time savers. This one is NOT! We prepaid for the stay and were under the impression that all was in order, as the owner had assured us. We arrived at the private island only to discover that we were not listed at the security gate. We pulled up the corresponding information from email and app messages for evidence and were finally granted access to the island. We drove to the property only to discover that we had not been given the correct access code. We were not able to get in touch with the owner (travelling in Europe) so we called the VRBO "Help" line.

I have the same complaints as many other VRBO clients. In renewing a listing agreement with VRBO, I discover they are requiring us to accept online bookings and payment by credit card. They are putting up every roadblock possible to prevent us owners from having any direct contact with our renters prior to their booking. We have no opportunity to screen renters. I have no interest in online booking or credit card payment, of which VRBO imposes a 3% transaction fee on us owners and a 5-12% booking fee on the renter. These outrageous fees (which VRBO said would never occur) serve no purpose other than to extort money from owners and renters.

I just booked my first vacation rental with VRBO.com (also HomeAway.com) and I am shocked at the deceitful and misleading manner in which they charge hidden fees to their bookings. The individual owner of the rental we were booking was very helpful, honest, and easy to work with - my complaint is strictly with the online booking experience.

I perceive there are fraudulent business practices taking place: 1) delaying the release of owner's funds. 2) the mysterious calculation for the traveler fee that can change as VRBO pleases as well as if it is legal to collect fees on taxes, cleaning fees, booking fees or other fees that the owner has to incur with each reservation. 3) not representing me accurately by deferring a potential traveler who is requesting my complex's properties to other, non related off site properties included in their search. 4) telling me how to run my business and forcing me to accept their operating rules for deposits, how money can be collected and refunds. Please see below for further explanation.

I was emailed that VRBO/Home Away will no longer renew accounts unless I accept online booking and online payments. Plus they now charge a service fee of 5 - 12% to the renter. I can no longer accept checks. Renter must pay by credit card or electronic check (many will not want to give their account info). If by credit card, I pay the credit card fee. I got different information from the customer service and sales departments. I'm very dissatisfied that renters will have to pay extra and will ask me for discounts to make up the difference.

After almost 8 years on VRBO with 100 5-star reviews, I went to renew and was told that it was now mandatory that I be in their booking program which charges fees to both the owner and the guest. This would mean that I would lose direct contact with guests and would have to lower my rate to make up the difference of the fees. Since Expedia bought VRBO, there has been no end to the insults and disrespect shown to owners. They can make a killing on fees, credit card charges, usually-worthless insurance programs, and "the float" of money (from deposits that they hold for sometimes months before and after a guest visits). THAT IS IF AND ONLY IF they retain their listings after people like me get disgusted and bail. I'M OUT!!

I recently booked a 3-night rental through VRBO.com (actually, my husband did, which is relevant to the story). The listed price for the property was $250/night, so I expected that ($750 total), a pet fee for our two Teacup Chihuahuas, plus a cleaning fee, which is typically around $150, plus tax and perhaps a service fee. It should have added up to no more than $1000. Instead, when my husband sent me the bill, it was $1326. I was somewhat shocked, so I looked more closely at the fees. Here's what they charge: Cleaning fee: $150, Damage waiver fee: $49, Pet fee: $150, Tax $112.50, Service fee: $115.

I am no longer the owner. It has become VRB? (Expedia). They have completely inserted themselves into my resort business. Since 2015 I paid them to advertise and immediately found results; more bookings, more revenue, and more happy customers. Upon trying to renew for this year, their newly enforced online booking for property owners and costly service charges assessed to the vacationers have effectively whittled away something that was working great. It was so simple. It was travelers finding destinations. The rest was up to me. My calls and emails and our hands-on management style made it work fabulously.

We are a vacation homeowner who has used VRBO for the past 6 years. There are many reviews and complaints listed against VRBO who has changed their business model from a variety of paid subscriptions to a fee based system (fee also paid by renter). Our experience since the fee has been introduced has only been positive. Our bookings are significantly up even with the increased fee that the renters pay, and our listing is not quite high on the rankings. I would argue that the ranking system is now more consumer friendly, with the most popular and booked rental now showing up first rather than the listing that has paid the most for the privilege regardless of its popularity. I know that Google has similar issues, where they now show which search results are from an algorithm, and which ones are due to a promoter paying to be shown higher.

VRBO has changed their search engine that hurts the consumer/renter in the pocketbook substantially. And it doesn't even match up the right size or location of the facility the renter is requesting. They now tack on the extra percentage of commission for themselves and ask either the renters or homeowners to pay for it... in addition to their annual subscription fees. They've absolutely destroyed a very reasonable online booking reservation system through their greed. It's not good for the homeowner, and it's even worse for the renter.