Vrbo Reviews

The first few years we listed on VRBO we had plenty of inquires and rented our house frequently. We could communicate back and forth with our guests and fully met them before they sent us a deposit. Multiple times VRBO made it more costly and complicated to have our property appear in a fair position on their listings. There are many different kinds of houses in Key West but the VRBO sorting system would put properties ahead of others on searches, even when they didn't fit the search criteria. This past year has been a nightmare and we have had no inquiries, after renewing at $900+. That is because we haven't paid ever more $ for banners, more and more photos and extra fees to advertise special pricing to have visibility.

Echoing all of you. Changes are ridiculous, we are NOT hotel rooms... We are homes in a variety of sizes. New service fee total turn off. I own 6 vacation condos on the Alabama gulf coast, a few miles from Florida border, two of them very high end. The service fees are sometimes close to $200. Fortunately I do all my bookings through a professional reservation system, ivacationonline.com and love it. And I'm leading my ads with 'no service fee' and guests are excited to save that money. Have been using them for four years and I take approx 250 total bookings each year.

I have been using HomeAway, etc. for 15 years and all of the vacation rental websites were purchased by VRBO this past year. Talk about a change. I can no longer screen my renters and my renters have to pay a 10%+ rental fee to book a condo. I always buy the platinum level advertising packages which are very expensive. I do not like to pass on my advertising costs to my renters so I have always encouraged my renters to book direct with me. They save money and they like that. The whole point is vacation rentals by owner... I no longer have any control over my properties and they make my renters pay to rent with me. Absolutely sticking it to the renters. If I refuse to make my renters pay them they move me off the list or to the bottom.

VRBO keeps changing the rules to squeeze more money out of owners! Their latest ploy is to force owners into doing online booking or you'll have to pay more. Worse, your property will be ranked lower if you don't do online bookings. I've been with VRBO for over 20 years... I sick of the repeated changes and am leaving at the first opportunity.

As mentioned by hundreds of others I started out super happy with my listing on VRBO. It was a great help financially and a great success. Now with the new fees charged to those booking I have seen my requests to actual bookings fall completely flat. As a paying annual member my days with VRBO may be coming to an end when my subscription expires. Greed kills another great business. I hope they see the light before it's too late and other companies replace them.

We were one of the first 80,000 to join VRBO so we have been with the company for a very long time... We were very happy with the company, the service and the value for the first 10 years. About 5 years ago their fees rose astronomically but we continued with them. The recent service fee and talking to a customer service rep on some island somewhere has been the straw that is breaking the camels back not to mention that our bookings are down substantially. We are done... As soon as our subscription runs out we will not renew. We hope other owners will follow suit and leave what has now become a very big rip off...

I've used VRBO in the past, and there was no fee. So they really should have made clear that they'd be charging a fee now. Instead, there was no mention until the final step of paying. I assumed the fee was coming from another rental company and they were displaying it, but I have since found out that was not the case. I will not use VRBO again, as I cannot trust the site to not change again and hide their charges somewhere.

Founders Carl Shepherd and Brian Sharples of Austin must be very upset about what has happened to their dream company. We ask, "can they do anything to help homeowners who signed on along with them and took a chance on their dream?" I have used HA for over six years and praised the company's practices and business model. One of my listings expired on April Fool's Day -- but I was no longer a fool -- I did not sign on again! When my only other listing ends soon, I will cancel that as well. I have a small business and have been devastated. I may have to sell my duplex cottage if this does not change.

I booked a holiday apartment in Vancouver through VRBO. The owner subsequently cancelled the booking and kept all of the money. VRBO (HomeAway) refused to do anything about it. They said that is is not their responsibility. They are complicit in the fraud by the owner.

We have been listed with VRBO for 6 years now. The first five were absolutely wonderful and I was constantly raving about their service. This year, however, has been the complete opposite in every way! As most have stated the additional fees they are now charging guests has significantly decreased rentals!! We use to get 90% rentals from VRBO and 10% from Airbnb. This year it's 40% VRBO and 60% Airbnb. And they still want to argue this fee has not changed things? We have called, sent letters, joined forums, called again and nothing seems to get them to open their eyes to what they are doing to this once upon a time great company. On top of this issue they started setting their own check out/check in times and when I called to ask how to change it they simply said "Oh that's a glitch we are working on."

We have had a family rental property in the Cayman Islands listed on VRBO for the past 4 years. Until this past year, we have been very happy with VRBO and with the number of rentals we have had. But, as is well documented by others, Expedia bought the company with several significant policy and service fee changes. We too have had virtually NO bookings since these changes occurred earlier this year. I have called VRBO every month to have them look at our analytics, which clearly graphs our activity from before these changes were made to the present, a graph that shows very active rentals a year ago to no activity now.

I used to use VRBO several times a year and loved it! Not only did I use it numerous times, I recommended it to several people. Not anymore! I got on a few months ago to begin booking trips for this year and they have added 2 new fees, in which added on average of $200 extra dollars to my trips. Needless to say, I didn't book anything, nor will I in the future. Very disappointed. I will find a new site for future use.

VRBO/HomeAway has now changed the parametres of areas when searching for properties. Instead of focusing on which city your property is located, they are allowing other properties in the province/state to fall into your area. This means that when someone is looking for a property, they are seeing what is around the area up to 100 miles away. That is very misleading to the person searching and takes away from the true availability of which is actually in the city. For example, there are 8 vacation properties where my home is but when you search the city, it tells you there are 57.

I signed up on VRBO in Jan. 2016 and in Feb. 2016 they added a service fee based on the amount of the rental. Had I known of this service fee, I would of elected to go with one of the many other vacation sites that offer a 3% fee vs. their 5% booking fee, 9% service fee, 3% credit card processing fee. Forget about double dipping. They are triple dipping. I unfortunately signed up for their annual membership and these fees were rammed down my throat. Not what I signed up for! They should at least honor the agreement for those that signed up for an annual membership, as it was presented at the time of sign up. Very unethical and deceptive practices. Not next year, I am already setting up my properties on alternative vacation rental sites.

I have attempted to book numerous vacation rentals on this site, only to have them all rejected. They all show available, but when booked they inform you that they are booked or that the price is triple the listed amount. The site is intentionally designed to make it nearly impossible for travelers and potential travelers to complain or warn others.

We are professional vacation rental company who have had an account with VRBO for over 12 years. During the last 12 years we have gone through many different business models, price changes, acquisitions of VRBO by HomeAway and Expedia. VRBO has used our data to build their brand and take our SEO. VRBO/HomeAway was a key component to our business model years ago and in the last couple of years watching with disappointment all the changes we realized that we needed to focus on our own vacation rental brand, loyal guests, and our own marketing.

I have been with VRBO for 14 years. I had two homes on the site until they dropped my initial listing from #1 on its listing to #60, because others paid higher fees. I didn't know until a renter told me that she "finally found my listing." I was shocked. You used to be placed according to the length of time that you had been with VRBO. Loyalty doesn't exist with them. You have to buy it. Now they have snuck in the "Service Fee" and are charging the renter above and beyond what we as owners pay. WE ALREADY PAY THEM TO ADVERTISE AND RENT OUR HOMES ON THE SITE!

VRBO apparently thinks it is too big to fail. I first listed my property on Airbnb. Since I want to build a clientele quickly I also listed our property on VRBO the same day. While Airbnb started allowing potential guests to view our listing immediately, VRBO took 9 days to "approve" our listing and scrutinized the ownership and even our marriage license to verify who owned the home. In the meantime I made over $1000 on Airbnb. I got one booking through VRBO and decided after that guest checked out I would cancel the listing, but was persuaded to reconsider by other VRBO owners that we know.

guess what folks, VRBO does nothing to vet guests before letting them into our properties. Guess who is out the money, not VRBO of course. If I was vetting them they would have not made it over the threshold in the first place. This is a great reason for not accepting online bookings unless they want to insure the bookings.

I will add my name to the very long list of dissatisfied owners using VRBO since the institution of their "service fee" for guests. I pay $998 to VRBO to list my property. In the previous four years of listing on the site, my seasonal summer use property has always been fully booked by February. This year, VRBO is charging my guests up to $400 to book a week! I currently have 4 vacant weeks during peak summer period, which I believe is due to this booking fee. These 4 weeks are worth over $16,000 to me. I, too, am looking elsewhere to advertise my property.

I have a vacation property in the US and have been using VRBO. We have a payment issue that is not allowing our customers to pay for their upcoming vacation. All of our renters are returning and have become very frustrated with this issue. We have spent over 20 hours on the phone with VRBO and the issue is unresolved. The customer support team is virtually nonexistent. I'm led to ask are they dumb or incompetent. I don't know which but one of those statements is true. At the same moment, VRBO has added a 10% weekly charge for no added value. I'm now taking our rental fee, the old fashion way, by check or cash. I'm also looking for a new management site. Please, if you are looking for a web based management site, buyer beware of VRBO!

I have been using VRBO for years. Now a mandatory 10% fee is charged to users. I pay a full service company to manage it for the same fee. They schedule cleaning, deliver keys and maintain it. The VRBO is only one of many places to rent my unit. I pay a flat fee for their service. Not only is this VRBO sneaky fee added, it locked out bookings unless they pay it to VRBO before booking. This was also implemented without telling me. I'm now looking for an alternate by owner rental site. I don't need the extra stuff and fees. I bet they will be hearing from a class action lawyer soon. Hope they change their mind on this change.

Homeowners working with VRBO, BEWARE of CREDIT CARD FRAUD if you are using the commission-based system and VRBO collects the money for you. VRBO gave us a client as paid in full for Easter week. VRBO deposited the money in our bank account but 10 days later, it was taken out plus a $25 dollar charge back fee. Seems VRBO accepted a stolen credit card and provided us with a false client email and disconnect phone number. We had an impostor (plus her six friends) staying in our house!

Back in November of 2015, I booked a 4-bedroom home in downtown Rapid City, SD, well in advance of a family summer vacation in July of 2017. I did this early because I wanted a nice, clean home that suited my family's needs. 5 MONTHS later, the owner broke the lease and the only other home in that area that I would have considered renting was booked solid for my dates. I ended up reserving another home through FlipKey, 3 bedrooms, 15 miles from where I wanted to be. As a result, the smaller home forced some of my family members to stay home, after purchasing non-refundable plane tickets. I am quite devastated over this and very angry about the fact that a HomeAway owner can, at will, pull the plug on a client who has dealt with her in good faith.

A one star is way too much to give VRBO at this point. Their business practices are now despicable since being taken over by Expedia for $3 Billion. We have 5 homes and have used VRBO for 10 years and have really loved doing business up until now. They are greedy and dishonest and hopefully will be put out of business. Does anyone have any ideas on what other sites would be good for advertising?

As a homeowner who has advertised on VRBO & Homeaway for nearly a decade I'm appalled by the greedy initiative implemented by Expedia which was quietly rolled out and conveniently given a corporate spin as a way to "guarantee" travelers can "Book with Confidence". If this is the case, why not simply allow travelers to choose the option to pay the 4-10% "Book with Confidence" fee? The fee is deceptively couched as a vague "Service Fee" to provide the traveler a "safer and more secure" booking experience with "premium 24/7 customer support throughout their trip" rather than what it really is -- a corporate booking fee to improve their bottom line. If this were actually a book-with-confidence-guarantee fee why not provide the option to pay for travel insurance, and if travelers find value in it, Expedia should not have a problem charging this as an optional fee.

VRBO has raised its fees significantly every year for homeowners who list their properties for rent on their website. Our fees have gone from $999 a year, to $1,499 and now to $1,899 a year, just to place an ad on their website. But raising our rates by $400 each year wasn't enough - now they have blindsided homeowners - who are already paying exorbitant fees - by charging renters a commission as well, which has caused demand to virtually stop.

I would like to let people know about a class action lawsuit filed on March 15, 2016 entitled Ivan ** v. Homeaway, Inc. and DOES I-10 (Case No. **) in U.S. District Court, Western District of Texas, Austin Division in which Homeaway is being sued for breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, fraud, fraudulent concealment, violation of Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act, Violation of Cal. Consumer Legal Remedies Act, Violation of Calif. Unfair Competitive Law, and Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing. This lawsuit also asks for terrible damages, injunctive relief, pre and post-judgment damages, exemplary damages, and attorney's fees and costs.

Have been advertising with VRBO for seven years. Bookings have dropped, I believe the new service fee has been a big drawback. Looking for another way to advertise my place. They slide that charge in there, when I am already paying a yearly charge!

I manage my parents vacation rental home near Lake Oconee. Homeaway doesn't even allow the option to sort out individual owned vacation rental anymore. My parents have decided to go with a professional rental management company because with all the new fees and best book matching tool ends up costing too much money and placing managers above everyone else. At first I fought the idea because of the cost, but it has saved me all the hassle of having to manage the property, and gives them some peace of mind that a local guy will be there if the guest need anything. Managing from over 4 hours away was always a challenge. They used a website called Rented. It gave them a few different options of local management companies and they met with the best one. Glad to have it off my hands and out of VRBO's.

I have been advertising with VRBO for 2 years. I just wanted somewhere to list my seasonal property. I pay 10% of my income for that "honor". I have never had a problem. This year they've added their own fee to MY BOOKING! Over $100 extra for my customers to pay. A pop up showed up on my page that I could not close. I was unable to communicate with any of the inquiries I was receiving. When I contacted VRBO, they told me that if I wanted to communicate with my customers, I had to arrange for online booking and payment. I have an email stating such. I was appalled!

I have used VRBO to list my vacation rental property for the last 3 years. I've had great experiences with the guests and the website and all has been well. When starting, I had very low rates just so I could get more guests in to provide good reviews for future years. Now they suddenly sprung this "Service Fee" on my customers without any warning. Not only did we not know about it, but they provide no literature showing exactly how it is calculated. Apparently my $500 per year subscription fee and the 3% credit card booking fees aren't enough for them, they need to have their hand in my renter's wallets as well. They claim they are providing more services to the owners and renters as well as increased advertising for more bookings. Yet at this time last year I had 63 nights booked for the prime season and now I have 14. That sure doesn't sound like their "value-added" services are helping anyone but VRBO's bottom line.

My ONLY complaint is that VRBO just added a service fee for renters in March 2016. Before that, I had all the bookings I wanted. Great renters. Really worked well. Great tech support. At the moment they instituted these HUGE fees, my bookings stopped. I can see adding a $50 fee to the renter. But a PERCENTAGE. Come on! Regardless of what VRBO claims, for rentals in a regular range, people are paying 6-8% which is highway robbery. Up to a maximum of $499 booking fee. Is this max supposed to be reassuring? Suggestion to all: explore rental on VRBO, then call the owner and book outside of VRBO. Then they will not get any fee. That will teach them. When a system is a rip-off, work around it. This was a FIVE STAR system before the user fee. I loved it.

We've all heard the complaints! Most homeowners have suffered huge losses in rental income thanks to these ** at VRBO/HomeAway. Having said this, my plan has been to leave these greedy crooks. Before leaving I built my own site with "GoWebsite", signed up for a free 2 month listing with "Vacation Home Rentals", and a totally free listing with "Home Escape."

Have been an executive in corp for 30 years and I have to say, what Expedia did when buying HomeAway and VRBO is really screw up a great website and instead of creating the best product possible for owners and renters, they increased their fees all around, charging the homeowners and advertising annual charge, then charging a fee for each time framed booked to both the homeowner and the renter and tries to force the owners to accept a " book it now" online electronic booking with customers that I do not even get a chance to speak to. And Expedia/VRBO/HomeAway then threaten to put you at the bottom of the rankings and listings if you don't let them book your house in the future. That's blackmail!

We have a vacation rental and it was almost fully booked before the new fees were instituted. We have one prime week left and now understand why it is not booking up. We will not be using VRBO next year.

Our vacation rental in Mendocino has more five-star reviews than any other listing in the area. We are number one! Yet, we are not in VRBO's "Top 50 Mendocino Vacation Rentals" because we are not in their booking program that charges guests a fee. The are also flagging our page with an orange banner that says: "To book this property, you need to complete your booking through checkout on the VRBO website. We can't protect your payment if we don't know you've booked through us. Learn more". Then click on the learn more tab and they try to scare guests away with talk about possible fraud.

February 2016 VRBO has deceptively added a 4-10% service fee, paid by the renter, for all reservations booked using the VRBO payment process. This homeowner, as well as most other homeowners, believes this fee is without merit as the homeowner already pays a hefty fee for advertising on VRBO and the fee does not add any value for the renter. VRBO's justifications for this fee are 24/7 customer service and secure payments. The 24/7 customer service is just a marketing ploy because if a renter has a problem with the rental they will call the homeowner for remedy. The secure payment is also a marketing ploy because for the last 4 years I have used VRBO's payment process without any security problems. Expedia purchased VRBO in late 2015 paying 4 billion dollars for VRBO's 1 million subscriptions and this fee is just a way to recoup that layout.

We rented a townhome (Property ID: **) which had 4 stars. It was horrible. Stunk, filthy, scary dirty. We reviewed with photos of the disgusting toilets, sinks, full ashtrays, etc. We spent two hours cleaning before settling in and that was only because we had no other options. Our intention was to warn potential renters and simply to provide truth. Evolve never published the review. We contacted them a number of times. They said they would publish the review but did not. Now the property has over 4 stars. Clearly evolve filters reviews to increase the ratings of the properties and to keep their revenue high. Unfortunately the reviews they post are only the positive reviews.

Our family has been using both sides of VRBO - as a consumer of vacation rentals and renting our own vacation home for over 15 years. On the side of the consumer of vacation rentals the service fee has no added value! And on the vacation home owner trying to rent side, we pay fees of about $1,200. But the worst part of this is that over the past 10 years we have consistently booked between 12-15 weeks in the summer. This summer we have 1 week rented. We have 5 star ratings, we have return guests, but this year with the added service fee people are using other sites. I felt something had change earlier this year. It was like some algorithm had changed and we couldn't put our finger on it. VRBO... You have lost this customer. Zero stars for you. Sign us up for the CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT!

Corporate greed just hit "Ludicrous Speed" (in words that a Spaceballs movie fan can relate to)!! The VRBO model worked because it was just that..."Vacation Rental by Owners." It was a site where a vacation traveler could shop for a vacation rental at owner direct pricing and get the best value because there was no "middle man"; i.e., no booking fees, no commissions, etc. The vacation traveler had the good feeling of buying "wholesale", and with a good selection I might add.

I own 3 properties and have been advertising on VRBO/Homeaway for 10 years. I pay about $1,200/year per property and have never used their online payment or book it now features. So as of yet, they have not been able to extract their new "service fee" from my guests. However, my properties are now so far down in the search list that my inquiries have dropped off to almost zero. They are using the best match to try and beat us into signing up for online booking and payment, meanwhile implying to our guests that it is unsafe to pay us directly since I don't book through them. I am disgusted with the company's blatant cash grab and looking to move my rental listings elsewhere. Sign me up if there is a class action!

I have spent approx $10,000 with VRBO over the years and always thought they were value for money when advertising my Edinburgh, Scotland rentals. I paid them to simply advertise my property. I paid them extra to be higher in the search results. I paid them well for this and they rewarded well with bookings. That has ALL CHANGED. Next to no enquiries for the last few months even though I renewed at the 'gold' level. Why? Because I refuse to go to their instant booking system. I like contact with guests direct. I like having my own contracts and payment methods. I like linking guests to websites when they ask for advice. I like linking them to my own website. I don't like guests paying hidden fees to VRBO when I pay for my VRBO adverts. I don't like these controls VRBO are putting between myself and my guest, and their sheer GREED. I will not be renewing this autumn.

I signed up 2 properties, 2 years ago on VRBO and had lots of bookings. I even liked the update with the hospitality manager. But what has happened this year has just been appalling! We as owners are losing our ability to take payments as we feel fit for our own property. I was not able to access my site without changing my payment method!! I work with an onsite property management service and I CANNOT accept payments myself.

Since the new fees have been enforced, I have not had one new booking. Last year at this time I was almost booked for the season. So far, monthly renters who see a "service charge" of $499.00 payable to VRBO either haven't responded beyond seeing the fee or have responded by asking me to eat the fee on my end. Worst of all, despite the rhetoric, there is no real added value to support the new fees. It is all just a money grab.

We have been members advertising our condo rental on VRBO for over 20 years. Until this February, everything was excellent doing business with them. We paid to advertise, they sent us the perspective guests and the guest paid us on our own rental site... No extra charges by VRBO. But, unbeknownst to all of us using this site and paying $1200 to them to advertise our rental site, they are now charging the guests 4-9% more on the rental of our units. So, if I tell a guest that the total cost to them would be $5600 CAD renting our unit, it would actually cost them between $224 and $594 more that VRBO would pocket! And I believe that would be in US funds, not CAD. I do not believe they even tell the guest ahead of time that this will happen, but I am not sure about that part. Anyway, we are VERY UPSET AND DISAPPOINTED. Sign us up for the Class Action Suit.

I called VRBO/HomeAway to update my email address which their website would not allow me to do online. This company is a joke to deal with! The woman I spoke with was very condescending. After about 40 minutes she realizes that she cannot help me. She also has no idea how to do this. I also feel like she quit trying to help after she realized that I am a property renter not owner. How is it not possible to update/change an email address!!! Since VRBO was bought out new rental fees have appeared. A home that rents for $150 per night is now close to $200 with all of the fees!

I have been a customer of VRBO/Homeaway since 2002. At that time they were known as Cyberrentals. It was a website that owners could market their vacation properties for rent, speak directly to their guests and guests felt comfortable renting from owners on this site. I have had a lot of success renting my homes (3 total) through VRBO/Homeaway and our guests are very happy also because we are able to pass our savings along to them. At the beginning of this year (2016) Expedia purchased the site and since then It has dramatically changed. The website is slow, bookings have significantly dropped & guests are now being charged a 4-10% service fee to book online. I am not sure what "service" is provided for that outrageous fee!!! We have 3 homes on this site, we pay an annual fee of approximately $1500 per home. We also pay 2.9% fee for the "book online" service (this is separate to the service fees that our guests are now being charged).

I paid the highest fee. Returned calls quickly TO THE TRAVELER. Did exactly what VRBO wanted. Then just this year dropped way, way down the list because I did not want BOOK IT. Now I find out I need at least 10 BOOK ITS TO MOVE UP to anywhere above the bottom where I now closely reside. And then I am sure the rules will change again. BOOK IT is not for me. I am not a hotel. I like many rent out a very nice home for travelers to enjoy - not a party house. Where do we owners go to have what we once had with VRBO? This is just not working and the rules change like the weather. There is no trust and the extra fee is so wrong on so many levels. ONE STAR IS TOO HIGH!

Expedia has purchased VRBO and HomeAway. Last year as a new owner I had 1500 to 1900 visits in Mar and Apr 2015 and filled my summer. So I decided to increase bookings for off season by paying an ad fee of $590 to increase view. This would place me higher. What a bust. Their strategic match has cost me views. I went from 1500 views Mar 2015 to 271 for 2016. I am currently 12 days into April and have 45 compared to 1900 last year for the month. Now I have only 2 bookings from them for the entire summer. Their new fee structure is cheaper. Last year they took 10% off my rent for a fee. Now they shifted it to the renter. So I reduced my rate to offset. But leave it to the big companies to take over and mess it up.

We have been customers of HomeAway/VRBO since 2012 when we listed our vacation rental property with them. We have been very satisfied until they released (without warning) a new "renter service of fee" between 4% to 9% of the rental amount. As customers of these two companies, we pay an annual subscription fee to them, which is why we went to them in the first place. With these added fees, potential rental guests now think that we are charging them for this added fee and therefore bookings are way down.

I have been on VRBO since 2003 and pay over $1200 to advertise there. In Feb 2016 they started deceptive pricing. When a consumer views price quote, it adds between 5-10% above the actual rental fee. The guests now are charged a junk fee if they use the VRBO Book-it-Now. However, if they call the owner they can save hundreds of dollars by actually paying the rental fee, but that price isn't shown in the quote. Renters need to look at the rates within the ad, *** DO NOT GO TO "Get Instant Quote" ***, OR YOU WILL BE CHARGED EXTRA. To find the real price go to the rate section within the ad then call owners direct by looking to the right of the page for Owner then click on "show phone number". Expedia is deceptive and should not be supported.

Have used VRBO in the past and it was pricey, but okay. I will never use them again. 2 nights for a $235 room is costing me $718.15. That come out to $360 a night!! $85 cleaning fee, $49 Package Protection, $42 service fee!!! Ridiculous!! I will never go through them again. Actually Evolve was the renter of the property, so had to pay them both!!

While staying at another resort in San Pedro, my mother & I were to travel to the Sapphire Beach Resort Jan. 28 for 4 nights. My mother was not well enough to make the trip to Sapphire, and I immediately contacted the resort owner Anthony Goupil. There were 2 emails exchanged between us, & he then refused to correspond further when the issue of refunding my money had to be discussed. The cost was over $1400. He begrudgingly offered to refund me $500. I made a formal complaint to VRBO-HomeAway, and my complaint was recorded, and was told that the owner has 7 days to reply. That VRBO does not mediate this type of dispute, they encourage the traveler to correspond with the owner. The owner did not respond to my complaint in the time stated.

I have the same exact frustration w/ all the other reviewers. I've called the Customer Support team multiple times but they are useless unable to do anything. Since the new "Best Match" algorithm our property went from top 5 on first page down to bottom of 5th or 6th pages. Everything went downhill: viewings, site visits, inquiry & booking. I've complaint that since no one can see our listing, there is no way to get bookings. Our listing has the highest rating review counts compare to all other rentals in the area & I can't believe that we are not "best match" to anyone searching our area. I'm willing to join the Class Action Lawsuit because I believe VRBO/HomeAway/Expedia has breached our contracts & now I'm considering not renewing our listings.

I currently have five vacation rentals with VRBO and Home Away, but I will not be renewing my listings with them since they have become profoundly greedy since Expedia took over VRBO and Home Away in December 2015. During the last month, VRBO has instituted a rip off "service fee" of about 10% that is paid by the renter, but VRBO makes it look like the owner is getting the money,

They used to be so great. Decent value and a great service. NOW they are doing everything in their power to screw both property owners out of money, AND guests... with NO benefit. Their new ways of listing, their dashboard, their ridiculous new software... I cannot WAIT until another company out there takes them over. Because I will move SO fast, ALL of my properties listed. I've already started using Airbnb and they at least don't try to rip people off.

We were one of the early customers of VRBO and for years were satisfied with the website exposure. We had many booking on our property. When Expedia bought VRBO, the website went downhill. Few bookings, they added a service charge which most guest resent and go to other websites. Our current cost is around $1,300 a year. It was around $199 when we signed on. We paid for a website to list our property not for a property manager who adds service fees that we did not agree to. I wish a lawyer who's has a property listed with them respond to these many complaints. We intend to go elsewhere with our advertising. Sayonara VRBO!

I have been using online advertising HomeAway/VRBO for over 15 years. Prior to Homeaway, Pat from MI had created Great Rentals which she sold to HA which bought up everyone else and then by Expedia. It has been a continued downward trend with every merger. Terrible customer service and more money for the ads. Somewhere they have went from Advertising Company to pseudo property management company. Now they feel they have the right to charge our guests a service fee when they provide no service to our guests. We pay for our ad. Why should our guest pay them a service fee for no service! GREED. I hope it backfires. We need a new company to come in quick to compete. If they continue I will move all my business from them.

Our property management business has now delisted all of our properties from VRBO and HomeAway. We can longer trust them with our business. We now use a company called Fetch My Guest that enable us to use any listing site we choose and giving us back control of our guest communication. We are now converting at a much higher rate and building relationships with all of our guests!

I am extremely upset over the recent addition of mandatory service fees that VRBO recently added to each reservation. My inquiries dropped off and my customers are reluctant to rent my property now with the new fees. This is all due to greed by VRBO/HomeAway. I paid my annual membership and they secretly spring the new fee on us is a SLAP IN THE FACE! It shows me what they are all about- money. And you get their same crappy service. I called them today and demanded my money back - all they could say is that they can do whatever they want to and that there was some fine print in the contract when we signed on with them that allows them to take advantage of us whenever they want to. We need to drop them and go elsewhere. I am confident they will lose a lot of customers over this. Airbnb is less than half of what VRBO charges. There are also some free sites as well. Bye bye VRBO - you're not keeping my business.

I've been listing my single property for nearly 8 years (started with VacationRentals.com). They began with a fair listing price and have continued to add and double the listing prices, while adding some website features. The next wave of greed continued with listing gimmicks that could not be checked and credit card fees which they get paid nicely on.

Having been with VRBO for the last 10 years and having been satisfied, I cannot tell you how disgusted I am with them since the last half year. No bookings, and if there is a request, we do not hear from them again. I would guess because of a additional booking fee they charge our customers. We are paying close to a $1500.00 a year. It has been reported that Expedia bought Homeaway and VRBO for 3.9 billion. I guess Expedia wants VRBO customers to pay for its 3.9 billion acquisition.

Horrible isn't a strong enough adjective to describe VRBO's continued journey toward its goal - seemingly - of total customer dissatisfaction. Have used their services for 3 years- they were borderline okay to deal with. We both profited from our relationship. They are trying to use- seemingly- the Airbnb model, but it won't work because they have the wrong mindset. Have loved our relationship, but it has changed. I will no longer pay for site- hosting and no longer require my guests to buy the insurance they offer. I will no longer use VRBO in my travels-Airbnb. Saved well over $100.00 using Airbnb over VRBO for our SF trip this year. Like us the host rents on both.

We have been with VRBO almost a year now. We are not happy with the changes VRBO has recently implemented. Our customers have been affected tremendously and so have we. Our business dropped by 50%. We will not be able to continue at this rate. We understand VRBO has to make money, but we feel this increase has really been terrible. Our customers complain that we are false advertising. By the time they figure in the fees a room that costs $145.00 will cost $200.00. Thank you for this site!

Adding to the long string of good comments this pure greed-driven profit was implemented with no notice utilizing an obscure portion of the terms and conditions. Traffic has plummeted, literally, and rental inquiries are approaching near zero. We have rented through them for 7 years and will be immediately moving our business to other sites and awaiting any notice of class-action lawsuit. The profit from a whole bunch of ZERO rentals and renters switching from VRBO will be worse than zero. We can only hope that as revenues plummet the hoarding executive in charge of this "baggage fee" idea borrowed from the airlines will be fired and the concept reversed.

Out of nowhere our prospective guests are getting hit with a "service fee". Unacceptable. Going to AirBNB. It may not be better and they do charge a fee but at least they are very up-front about all charges; not so with VRBO (Home Away).

We signed up for a year's subscription, then they go and start charging renters a new fee so they can double dip. I don't see how this is legal for people who had signed up before for a specified, but will now get less business because the price increase to renters. They said it was so they can "improve customer service." Two years ago I was never on hold for help. Now the hold times are all 10 minutes and longer.

I called today to find out about service fees, since our house is managed by company they will not talk to me. I pay their fee and have for the past 8 years, but not now. They have to be the most rude not give a damn people I have dealt with in a very long time. Employees match what their company stand for, VRBO is becoming a shell. One that feels it has become too big to fail, too big to care about it base, forgot who got them where they are now, US, failure starts as a small stream and as you'll know builds to a mighty RIVER that will take down the largest of company. Remember GM.

I used to absolutely love VRBO both as an owner and a guest in travels throughout the world but I absolutely HATE them now!!! I have had 3 properties on VRBO over the last 6 years with dozens of 5-star reviews. We take immaculate care of them and bend over backwards to make wonderful stays for our guests. Since I have not signed up for the gouging online booking things have really changed.

I was trying to reserve a vacation home for March of next year. Using VRBO I couldn't do it. It worked well last year but they have changed it and so now I will go elsewhere to find a place to reserve. What a piece of crap this VRBO is.

For years I've used VRBO to find vacation rental properties for me, my family & friends and even my boss when he travels. It used to be an easy site to use & reliable. About a year ago I started to notice that I would enter parameters for a search and would get back a list of what seems like good choices, and then would find that the actual price charged was often more than doubled what the "from" price was. This wasn't even in high season - I often would see houses listed at $130 that came in at $300 per night when I requested a quote and that is before all the added fees. For many I did a search to see where the lower amount came from and found no days at all listed at that rate! About the same time I noticed many homes listed in my search as available where actually NOT available for those nights.

We have been a participating property manager with VRBO for over 10 years. We were very satisfied with their marketing of our property over that period of time. We followed their recommendation to have personal contact with our potential clients by contacting them by phone or email. Our bookings went up each year to the point where we were able to make this a profitable small business venture - even adding a second property with plans to add more. We are in a popular vacation rental market - the Estes Park, Rocky Mountain National Park area of Colorado. The last time that I looked, there were about 500 VRBO rental properties in this market. So our market is VERY competitive. We gladly upped our subscription to the highest level each time they introduced them, including their price increases, because there was real value to us in doing so.

What VRBO had done with the mandatory service fees and other policies is unacceptable business practice. There are plenty of sites to use that are much better and I am checking out all of them. One that I just learned about is Home Escape. I would recommend to all owners and renters to visit this new site, which is 100% free at the moment and see if it works for you. If anyone can recommend other sites I would be interested in looking at those myself. The only way to prevent problems like this is to cut into business by going elsewhere. Let's all join together and do that. I am certain they will regret their greedy decisions but it might be too late.

Hate VRBO now. I used to value their service. Now that TripAdvisor bought them, they've bullied their customers into charging a service fee directly charged to my customers. Actually I see a reduction in service. AirBnB... here I come. Anything but VRBO and Homeaway. Hate VRBO!

I have been listing my properties on VRBO and HomeAway for over 10 years. I now have 8 properties and pay up to nearly $1500 for a listing because it's the only way to get visibility in a market with nearly 1500 listing. Let's say the average listing pays $700, that equates to $1,050,000 for my market. The company now says it needs more money and is charging guests up to 9% of the entire rental cost. This is pure blind greed! Judging by how precipitously my inquiries and bookings have dropped and how outraged homeowners and guests are, it is safe to say this company will not survive in its present form.

So many reviews focus on that sudden and shocking "service fee," which provides no service that any traveler would want, so I agree with all that has been said about it being a cash-grab and an outrageously high percentage of the rental fee. It should be abolished, but I was told as late as today that it's here to stay - and spreading globally. Sounds like a pandemic.

Same problems on my end. This service fee has caused every booking I've had in the past few months requires the tenant to pay an extra $499 on top of everything else just to line VRBO's pockets. Here we owners for all the hard work to make our homes great rentals and they screw us and future tenants with this ridiculous fee? The book it now is also such a scam. They take out more and more fees with the credit cards (when I've always received a check in the mail instead) these service fees and the subscriptions they require us owners to pay. Shame on you VRBO, homeaway and Expedia. All horrible companies. My bookings have gone down. People have become more indecisive about moving forward and it's all due to this new service fee that adds zero value to the customer. I hope a class action gets started. We have been tricked, mislead and manipulated.

A good company turned bad because of greed. Been with them 8 years. Just announced a fee for travelers. Been told by 2017 they will REQUIRE everyone to book through them, with a fee for that. Also won't be able to communicate with renter until AFTER their fee has been paid. My listing is up next Feb. Time to move on to something else and dump these guys. It's a shame.

I too am not happy like everybody else with the new service fee. I have used Vrbo for three years now. This year I have two houses. One platinum plan I paid $1300 for. The other is a high-end rental. I paid another $1300 for one week. After paying that they started the service fee with saying nothing first. In comparison they're the only advertising site I used, last year I was fully booked. Now I have nothing to be on April 2016 as far as bookings. I too will certainly be looking elsewhere for my advertising.

Earlier this year, VRBO/Homeaway imposed a new service on people who rent my beach house. The fee, up to $499, has driven renters away from their websites. In the past, I'd be fully booked for summer by now. This year, I have not had one inquiry since January. I paid $699 to list my property. Their greed has made my listing worthless. What can be done?

I have been with VRBO for over ten years and been very happy. Like thousands of other customers I wondered why recently my bookings drop to about zero. When I tried to find my listing on the vacation by owner rental site I found it almost impossible. I have a beautiful house on the water and never lacked for rentals. At that point I called VRBO to see why my house was next to impossible to find as I thought maybe a mistake was made.

VRBO.com has started charging renters (we pay them an annual fee of up to $1800 a year to use their website to rent our condo in Hawaii) 4% - 10% of the total contract, a new fee. Because I have never used their online payment system (I use a collection company) they have put a banner on the top of my website telling renters: And I quote "This owner doesn't offer online booking through VRBO's checkout. You won't be eligible for our Book with Confidence Guarantee." VRBO sells guaranteed stay policies because I recommend them all the time to our renters. But the fact that they have "stamped" my website with this statement, it looks like my payment system is not secure. This is intimidating.

I started listing my vacation home with HomeAway in 2007. Until February of 2016, I have been very satisfied with the service I got as a homeowner. In February they instituted a mandatory service fee to renters. Since then I have had NO BOOKINGS! I have called to complain and their response, "sorry but that is not going to change and we will also be forcing you very soon to use online booking where you will also be charged credit card fees." Does anyone know if the original agreement allows them to initiate these fees without restriction?

I am a property manager that has strived for years to balance profit and providing people a good value. I actually take it seriously that many people work their butts off all year to save to take their families on a good vacation. My primary beef is that VRBO has tricked the industry. They started off reasonably, but have consolidated power by buying out any serious competition along the way, raising rates as they killed off competition. I feel that they are now acting arrogantly, like they monopolistically own the industry (which I think in effect they do) and have just gone insane with this latest rate increase proposal. I pay them $699/year - which is WAY UP over the years, and I already consider unreasonable. Now they want to charge my average traveler a 9% fee. My travelers will go elsewhere or not book at all. I have reviewed dozens of other VRBO users who say bookings have dropped off the map.

I had to put one star down because the review would not go through without at least one star. We have been advertising on VRBO for 6 years now and advertising two properties. For years we were very pleased with VRBO as consumers as-well-as homeowners. I now have let one of the subscriptions run out because of the horribly embarrassing advertisement and terrible customer service. If you have not seen the ad go to the home page of VRBO and scroll to the bottom of the page. Then ask yourself if that is how you would like your property represented - Zero class, zero respect and zero professional quality! I am going to pull my second property off of the website. Please contact me if there is a class action lawsuit.

We started using VRBO last spring along with a local management company for our condo in Captiva FL. It worked well until they started with all the fees. This is a lose lose for both owners and guests. We are doing all we can to find a different arrangement where we control the payment through our onsite management company. Would welcome any alternatives which have worked for others. Many thanks.

Thousands of individual homeowners have contracted and become loyal and dependent to VRBO and HomeAway and their business model to rent their vacation homes. The site was designed as a marketplace connecting individuals and that has been terrific till now. I have 2 listings on their site for almost 10 years. The response, customer service and overall success was great till last year when they were bought by Expedia. Last year I noticed a sudden and unexplained drop-off in inquiries and reservations. This year, without notice to the homeowners they implemented a 10% fee that the renter has to pay. They carefully disguise it to make it look like the homeowner is getting it. They do this coming into the busiest rental months of the season, so there was no time to prepare.

Sign us on for a class suit! My inquiries are consistent but my bookings have fallen. We will be looking for other options to rent our home when our subscription expires. Vrbo/Homeaway must think we are like blind sheep following the herd and they are the wolves! We're done. It was great while it lasted.

Had we known VRBO would change its terms and charge renters an outrageous service fee, we would have never chosen them to begin with. Now we have collected our review with them and are almost forced to stay with them. If there will be a lawsuit - we are in! We feel betrayed!

Was very happy when 10 years ago I found this company to list my 1st vacation rental with. It stood for: Vacation Rental By Owner. A few years ago they allowed property managers... didn't like that... but, they needed to make more money they said. Now, I have 6 properties listed with them & VERY unhappy about the way they have changed their business plan to charge travelers up to 10% service fee & make it look like the homeowners are getting this $$. Travelers aren't paying it & we are losing business! Doubt I will be renewing when all my properties come up for renewal in the next 3 months! We are all looking for another avenue... GOODBYE VRBO!

I am an owner of a vacation property listed on VRBO/HomeAway. I paid my $899 annual fee plus $49 monthly fee along with the owner's fee they charge per booking. A lot, right? But so worth it. I LOVED that my guests were not charged a booking fee and I raved about that to all my guests and ran any sale I could through VRBO. NOPE! NOT NOW! My guests are now charged what they refer to as a "service fee". I am furious about this expensive 9% fee added to my quote! It wasn't on the quote I filled it out but appeared after I pressed "ok". I didn't "ok" this fee! I guess they were hoping that I wouldn't notice. The practice of charging guests a service fee but hiding it in your statement seems like an unfair business practice.

I have recently placed 2 of my properties for rent with VRBO. I have had both with Airbnb for 3 consecutive years and I'm extremely happy with Airbnb services. The only reason for placing my properties on VRBO was the possibility of reaching more possible renters. BIG MISTAKE! VRBO is a rip off for both owners and renters. PLEASE, DO NOT USE VRBO! Not only they are charging the renters this outrageous fee, they take over 40 days to pay the owners for their already collected money! This is to say the least, absurd and a bad way to do business! I'm out and it's a shame! I'm back using only Airbnb. I have heard about FlipKey, but for now I'm going to stay with Airbnb only. SHAMEFUL! BAD COMPANY! RIP OFF!!!

We had rented through VRBO several years ago and it was a great experience so we decided to do it again. We found a condo that we loved for the price and dates that we were looking for. It was for 5 nights in June. I hesitated to book through the website because it didn't state the terms for the renter's insurance. So I called the number listed. I was told that the condo was available and since life sometimes happens, I chose to purchase renter's insurance. I was told that I could cancel it within 10 business days. I paid my condo deposit and the $111 for insurance. The very next day I received an email from the owner of the condo stating that they were very sorry, but that condo had a six night minimum stay during that time of year. Nowhere did it say that on VRBO's website, nor was that mentioned during the booking process.

After 4 years of a successful business partnership, VRBO recently started a new 11% "Service Fee" which was never part of the original contract. We have lost at least 50% of our business through this website because of these exorbitant fees which are charged to the customer at the time of booking our vacation rental property!

I have rented through VRBO 3 times in the last year and suddenly this last time I was charged with "travelers fee" of $123.80 for booking online for the very same house I rented 9 months ago. I am very disappointed that this wasn't fully disclosed before I rented or I would have rented directly from the Management company that holds the rental. I will do my best to bring awareness to others about these outrageous fees charged to book online.

In the beginning... VRBO gave regular down to earth home owners an avenue to advertise their rental vacation homes to down to earth vacationers who wanted to get away from the commercialized, impersonalized mega property brokers. It was a marriage made in heaven! Owners paid VRBO a reasonable amount of money to provide a well run user friendly website to advertise their vacation rentals to prospective renters. At that point, renters contacted owners personally and the two (owners and renters) worked out the details on their own. Fast forward to today. VRBO raises its rates to owners (I pay over $1300 per home for platinum level on 5 homes) charges high credit card fees (I don't use credit cards because I don't want to raise my rates to cover the fees) and is charging renters a service fee to book through the website (no one knows what for) which amounts to 4-10% of the total balance.

They are new & need listings NOW to take off!

I have 3 properties on VRBO and will not renew these once they expire. I loved the idea of a site where the owners managed their own property and offered much better rates than hotels or property managers. Since 2007, their annual fee has almost doubled, you no longer have seniority listing placement UNLESS you buy into all of their add-ons and additional fees. Now they've sold out to Expedia and they're just another big travel site with the goal of charging as much as possible. As owners, their annual fee is already expensive, they try to add travel insurance without the guest noticing and now an outrageous booking fee that the guest has to pay. The owners have no say so in any of this and VRBO's greed is out of control. It's now cheaper to sign with a property manager. SAD!

Totally destructive to good relations with customers. These folks have One thing on their minds and that is how to get that Very last nickel out of your pocket and into theirs. My guests are offended, I'm offended. THIS is Not going to Fly. I started out with just ADVERTISING... That's all I wanted. These guys are not happy with just ONE piece of pie... They want yours too. Expedia and VRBO have so many companies doing the same thing. My inquiries and bookings are destroyed. Three years of hard work and goodwill down the drain. Shame? I doubt it. Plus now they make you wait and wait and wait and wait for a human customer service representative. I don't know what I am exactly paying them for anymore.

As a host that used to get paid the minute my guests arrived, I started noticing a delay last summer to where on a regular basis I might not even see my money until the guests stay was over. I called last summer to complain several times and VRBO pushed me off to Homeaway and back and forth. Neither had an answer and told me that it had to do with weekends, etc. etc. Why were things all of a sudden different? They had no answer and pushed it back on me, telling me to buy another service so that I would get paid in advance. I don't need to get paid in advance, I just want to get paid when the guests arrive like I did 2 years ago!

I have been a subscriber of HomeAway since 2008 (ultimately, I landed on VRBO when the companies merged and that was nice... for a while). Gradually, there have been changes made where control is being taken from the owners (under the guise of protecting the travelers) but this latest service fee was the last straw for me. I have had 1 (count 'em "1") inquiry since February because I have circumvented the system so that my guests don't have to pay the ridiculous service fee - as a result, they bumped me down on the search results so new guests can't find me! I even paid extra for a "featured listing" which they assure will result in many more inquiries from potential guests -- not so in my case.

I too, do not agree with the added booking fees. VRBO is double dipping and should either charge the homeowners for listing OR eliminate the guest booking fees. I do not remember this being brought to my attention when I renewed the listing. I am also looking at alternative sites to advertise my property. I would be in support of a class action lawsuit - surely at least one homeowner is a lawyer that would know how to accomplish this. I hope a large percentage of homeowners do not renew in 2016. SHAME ON YOU VRBO/HOMEAWAY!!

We are not happy with this new concept and the associated service fees. Our bookings have dropped off significantly since the fees were implemented. And there is no adjustment for the subscription that we've paid? Is anyone doing a class action suit against these guys? At the least we want our subscription fees back. I believe we are entitled to damages too.

We have been using VRBO to rent our ocean front property for 3 years and have been very pleased until they implemented their new fee. Since this has occurred our rentals are down. We still get inquiries but people are not booking. I believe it is because of the new fee they are charging and or the links to other rentals at the bottom of my listing directing them elsewhere. I am not paying VRBO so they can advertise their other rental properties or areas. Do this on their site not my booking page.

I have used VRBO for four years and was very pleased with their service until the last two months. Now that VRBO has been purchased by Homeaway, they are changing their agreement, placing new fees on clients as well as mandating that we "book" through them. I do not plan on renewing at the end of November 2016 and am looking for another venue to advertise.

I have listed one property on VRBO for the past 5 years and have been mostly satisfied. I pay almost $1000 per year to list a 3 bedroom home in Northern CA. Recently, VRBO suddenly started imposing their own fee at about 10% to renters. There was no warning and no explanation. Potential renters are complaining and inquiries have dropped off. I lost a booking today as a direct result of this fee. In an effort to provide guests with an alternative, I posted my property on FlipKey. When I offered this to my potential guest through their inquiry, VRBO removed the name, FlipKey, and the link so that the information would never reach my guest. VRBO has gone over the top with this fee and imposing such control over homeowner and guest communications.

We have been with VRBO with a flat fee for over a year and have been very pleased until we are suddenly hit with this outrageous "service fee". What service? I do not consider a percentage of the total booking any sort of service fee. It is a brazen money grab where neither the owner nor the renter has any say in the matter. A service fee should be a flat fee to cover the actual booking service, say $15-20. But an extra $200 or more for a service fee? That's just extortion. I do not want or need their marketing assistance and if I did I would pay extra for it as many VRBO owners currently do. The transient room tax in my area is 12% so with this additional take from VRBO we are over 20% additional before cleaning, insurance, etc. We will definitely be looking at moving to another site.

I went to book a short stay in Miami beach and found one we liked on the 12th floor oceanview. I started the booking process and within 1 minute our credit card had already been charged 1/2 the amount and I haven't even gotten the contract. When I got the contract it stated that they will assign us a room in their inventory similar to the one I wanted. Wait a minute, I wanted the 12th floor only, so I called the # and it was disconnected. I looked at the charge on the cc and called that #. Someone answered like it was a cell phone (just said "Hello"). I told her I wanted to book the one in the ad and she says they don't have one on the 12th floor. "Well your ad is false" I'm thinking.

I've been duped with a Platinum subscription & now VRBO bullies owners into doing things their way (credit cards, accept anyone - even if it means losing your rental permit. Who cares about neighbors and occupancy laws? Not VRBO!) Their sales pitch that new "service fees" insure the travellers' trip are BS. If a traveller has a problem VRBO will have them go to their credit card co. first before they do anything. What kind of service is that? Waiting on hold with customer service is at least 10-20 min. Charging consumers up to $499 fee when the owner has already paid (in my case premium) is double dipping! CEO is pompous and arrogant. Their research justifying the fees is highly questionable (owners have not been shown any of this). Sign me up for the class action lawsuit!!

Signed on in 2007 for around $350. They then put the squeeze on every year saying you'd lose your place in the search order unless you upgraded your ad to include more pictures. I did this every year for an average increase of 20% per year to hold my place at #32. In 2014 the new squeeze was ad online billing for an additional 10% of rent value which is another 56% increase over my now $1400 annual cost for the ad. And now their latest squeeze is to charge customer another 10% they say to increase advertising. That's interesting. After my 2nd year of VRBO membership, my rentals stabilized and have never gone up. My rentals actually went down last year because they lowered me to #89 as punishment to a 9 year customer who bought into all their photo squeeze rate inducements now paying $1400 per year for my VRBO ad.

For several years I have used the VRBO website as a means to find, and now rent out my own vacation property. It was a simple, cost effective way to deal directly with property owners. Not anymore. Suddenly this year part way through my prepaid advertising period, a service fee is added with less than a months notice. I specifically paid to not have a per booking charge, to now add a special 9% service fee to our guests feels like the old bait and switch. I've run my owner service based business for over 30 years. Treat customers with respect and don't get greedy, do what you've agreed to for the price if you want to stay in business for the long term.

Rented through VRBO, sight unseen, and gave nearly $8000 upfront to the owner for 5 months' rent - our entire savings for our first year as retirees. Showed up to a filthy, cockroach and ant infested dump with broken lights, stove, and BBQ grill, disgusting furniture, nasty carpets that hadn't been cleaned in a decade, broken railings, etc. The owner refused to give us back our money so we spent one entire month deep-cleaning the house, making repairs, cleaning the garage and shed, and waiting for service people to come in.

I was so glad to find this website as I could not figure out why the inquiries to my rental dropped to zero. The fees to the traveler are outrageous and I cannot imagine anyone willing to continue with a rental after finding an additional $100 plus fee to VRBO. I will not be renewing my subscription when it expires and will actively seek a different venue in which to advertise. I hope that a new website will appear soon. I have been with VRBO for many years and pay for a top tier spot but no more.

Not only is the new 'service' fee reprehensible as owners already pay for the listing. This is possibly the worst case of communicating a price increase/new fee I have ever seen. It brings into question their true motives as if HA/VRBO literally thought they could sneak the fee in without owners and renters noticing. It is insane, particularly considering the recent increase in fees and their continued pressure to control the financial exchange of the booking along with CC fees. We will be discontinuing VRBO listing. Looking for a respectable competitor.

Attempting to rent a home through VRBO, I noticed a "service charge" of $116 added to the cost of the rental. None so mentioned on their advertised home rental. Contacted owner, also did my own research. My attention to ripoffs was alerted when I noticed VRBO literally requiring we rent through them, rather than directly through the owner. Bottom line: VRBO is trying to create unearned millions of dollars in rental fees by "providing the service of securing renters' contracts for their own good". Bovine excrement! That kind of money for "securing" a one week rental is unconscionable GREED. Received email from owner this evening cancelling our reservation, apparently as I refused to pay the extortion money demanded by VRBO. He and other owners may have been recipients of a good flow of renters heretofore, but renters with principle and more than a double digit I.Q. will find other options and see that they work.

I am a property owner and have used VRBO for this property since 2008. We always sell out the entire summer... with the exception of this year. VRBO implemented substantial fees which will increase the money they get from my rentals by over 700% all at once. They say this is for a guarantee, which does not guarantee anything additional for the renter, and to increase their advertising budget. Increasing advertising budget by 700% when you have a monopoly on the market does not sound fair at all. This was implemented without any coordination with the property owners, without any input from property owner and the largest impact to be realized is to the property owners. It's like if you rented a car for one month and in week 2, they added more service fees to the rental, changed the rental agreement in the background and threaten to come and take the car if you don't pay the new fees. A breach of agreement.

Since instituting their service fees, I have had 1 cancellation and no bookings. I feel I have to lower my price to now compete with the other properties that agencies have. I called customer service to ask what the fee is (it's in the 5-9 percent range) and even they couldn't tell me. Their advice was to try to book my own property and see what the fee is and back it out from there. I loved VRBO in the past but now the experience is far worse. How do I explain to return renters that their price is up by 5-9 percent with no benefit to them? It takes away any price increase I could possibly make for this year. They say that this will drive traffic but even their statistics are now suspect - it shows new bookings when people are just making payments.

These people are criminal in their dishonesty. I have filed a complaint with the Florida Attorney General, with the state's Consumer Affairs licensing division and with the Better Business Bureau. They lied to me and cheated me. I paid for a two month vacation rental in St. Augustine, Florida based on information provided on the VRBO site but the property turned out to be a dump. The webpage information provided was misleading proof being that it has now been changed to delete some of the misleading information. They moved us to another property and told us we would be taken care of for our two month stay.

Our VRBO property has seen a complete drop-off in inquiries since the service fee was put in place. This is extremely unusual for this time of year. I wonder if the reason VRBO started the service now is because this has typically been the busiest time of the year for bookings. VRBO said that they will remove listings from their VRBO site if an owner states that a renter can contact them directly to pay instead of using VRBO. Some VRBO owners have been removed from the site already apparently. How would owners who currently advertise on VRBO band together and fight this? Would it be possible to create our own online rental site owned by owners? Think of that - all of the profits would go back to the owners. We have been very happy with VRBO in the past. But, we aren't happy about this at all.

We have listed our Scottsdale, AZ home with HomeAway.com since 2009. For quite some time, we were extremely pleased with HomeAway. Some time back, that began to change... Due to all of the automated systems they have implemented. Having a vacation property listed on HomeAway and VRBO has become extremely and unnecessarily egregious!!

Just like other reviews I had a potential renter call regarding a quote asking what the fee was and suggesting I was dishonest in my rental charges. Since I had no idea of what this was I called HA and after a 39-minute wait had a discussion with a CSR that informed me that I was emailed of this change. I checked all my emails and there wasn't one (included deleted ones which I was told by the CSR I had done).

VRBO has initiated a service fee with absolutely no benefit to either the owner or the traveller. They also did not communicate at all with guests. If I would have known this I certainly wouldn't have renewed. If they planned to do such dramatic effects to what they are offering (and what I paid for), they should have told their customers (owners) FIRST. If we agreed, we could have resubscribed.

Our vacation property has been listed on VRBO.com for 2 years, and we have been using VRBO as travelers for 15 years. This month, they have started charging our guests (and us, when we travel) a hefty percentage, even though we already pay a hefty fee to advertise on their website. They say it's for added service and added protection. We do not want to need either. Things have been fine for 15 years. Now that they have a monopoly on the market, they are charging this ridiculous fee. This was not in our yearly contract, and we have lost our guest bookings since the fee was implemented.

I, like so many others in this forum, have been a long-time vacation home advertiser with VRBO. Today, the new service fees added $111.00 to a guest that was attempting to book a 6-night visit. This is not a small fee and is a total deal killer for guests. I am finding that more and more owners are switching over to Airbnb. I am also now going to give them a try.

I too am upset with VRBO. I have email them and stated this. I have also asked VRBO to estimate how much of their annual subscription charge would be returned if we cancelled. I believe since they changed their process we all should have the right to cancel and receive a refund on unused portion of subscription.

I am extremely grateful to the owners who have detailed the slimy business practices VRBO is now employing. I have been a happy renter through VRBO through the years, and just now am in the process of buying my first vacation rental property which I planned to list through VRBO. I have heard enough to be convinced to avoid VRBO and will let them know that. I will probably stop using Expedia as well. It's very unfortunate and I hope all the owners affected negatively will find acceptable alternatives. You have all saved me the grief of going through what you have experienced, and I appreciate it. It's important to spread the word.

I write this review while I have been on hold for over 45 minutes waiting to speak to someone at VRBO to request a refund for my subscription. This is the most egregious fee I have ever seen and the reaction reminds of what Netflix went through when raising the price. The company almost went under. Almost assuredly, the homeowners could do the same to VRBO in this situation. Chief Operating Officer Tom Hale is hosting a webinar on March 23rd where he will speak on the changes at Homeaway/VRBO. I was appalled to read that they feel this is going to assist me in renting my property in any way. I urge fellow owner to take a stand against this greed. I have already listed on Airbnb with 7 inquiries in the first week. No inquiries on VRBO during that same time period. I will be listing on Vacationhomerentals.com tomorrow.

I'm with VRBO since 2012, not long. Was very happy how they did handled all issues, till in January 2016 I realized that they charge my tenants service fee. I did called them. They stated "Why do you worried, it's not your money." This is sick, I am getting non reservation since January because tenants does not want to pay extra so I paid $1000 an year for one condo, each tenant now has to pay % from booking, and it's legal??

If there are any other attorneys interested in helping tens of thousands of owners please contact us through the "Say no to VRBO" Facebook group. We as owners feel strongly our initial contract with VRBO/HA has been violated. We chose an almost $2,000 "platinum" listing as opposed to a "pay per booking" listing to be able to connect with potential guests directly and not have any charges imposed on renters. This was violated midstream by assessing a service fee to our guests of up to $499.00 and making it look like we were charging it to them. Big listing fees + large surprise service fees = class action lawsuits.

Have been with VRBO for 2 years, seemed ok and was working. Then out of the blue the new service fee is added. I have added on average more than $100 per booking. Will they give us a balance sheet to show what all the service fees went toward? They say advertising and improved customer service. Well I haven't seen a commercial or ad anywhere and my call today to them had a 25 minute hold time. I can see how well this fee is helping. Helping line the pockets of management, that's it. Also don't check the auto refund security deposit. They keep the money for you, it doesn't see your bank account and the VRBO interest rate for that hold is 0.00%. If there is another good option out there please share it.

I have a short-term (vacation) rental and have used VRBO.com for over three years. My rental has the greatest number of 5-star reviews of any VRBO/HomeAway property in our service area. I mention our status as a testimonial to understanding customer service and business. Over the last year or so, VRBO.com/HomeAway has instituted several new fees/penalties.

I can only say I wish I could put no star to VRBO. I have had a good experience in general until recently we encountered an issue where someone decided to vacation for free and claimed fraud at the end of their stay... we never felt any support from VRBO and we had to try solve the whole thing with no advice whatsoever except for a "it does happen". We did however let it slide as a one of... I was wrong!

This company is becoming one of the most hated companies in the world. It is like they are TRYING to reach the #1 most hated company. The business model we all signed up for as vacation rental owners is in the process of being replaced by one that we will NEVER be on board with. We are only putting up with it until a viable alternative comes forward. Then we are all leaving. Expedia, this poisonous reputation of VRBO is becoming yours now. Congratulations. All my travel dollars are going elsewhere.

Just logged onto my account and realized there were new fees implemented on Feb. 18th with zero notice. For a $2400 monthly rental, my renters are now being charged $174 extra on top of 10% taxes, exit clean, rental application and Spa and Club transfer fee which goes directly into the pockets of Expedia (VRBO). This is criminal! This is a class action lawsuit, and I will certainly be a participant. Shame on you Expedia! Bookings and inquiries will plunge. Not a smart or ethical decision.

Up until 2015 VRBO was a very practical, very functional interface intended to connect ordinary people with a home to share with ordinary people looking for a home in which to stay. I have used VRBO in both capacities for a number of years with great satisfaction. Then comes the latter part of 2015, Expedia purchases VRBO and everything changes. As a homeowner yearly subscription pricing for the package that would guarantee the most views jumps by 40% without notice. At the same time views, inquiries, and bookings are drop dramatically allegedly because searches are now driven by a proprietary algorithm which is guaranteeing our property is all but impossible to find. To top it all off Expedia decides to charge our guests an unannounced and arbitrary service fee. A 9% service fee (!) added to the rental price.

I have had my vacation rental property listed on VRBO 16 years. In the early days they conformed to their name Vacation Rentals By Owners. Then they slipped and started letting non-owners list with them – they should have changed their name to VRBOPM Vacation Rentals By Owners and Property Managers, but they did not as they were no longer operating in an ethical manner. Now that they are forcing the original property owners to use their booking services and fee system – they should called Vacation Rentals by VRBOPM as they have hijacked their original customer base and want to do it all, for a lot of money of course.

I have been renting my vacation villa through VRBO/HomeAway since 2008. I pay well over $1000.00 to have my property listed in the top tier. They continue to change the requirements for placement midstream, and now they have added a service fee without notifying the owner first. I received an email from a guest who had a confirmed reservation complaining that the price went up. I did not have a clue what this person was talking about. This is truly upsetting. As others have mentioned, my inquiries have been very slow and I am not closing rentals once they receive a complete quote. My business is suffering. I intend to go elsewhere with my business. Shame on VRBO/HomeAway.

I have used VRBO/Homeaway to list my vacation rental exclusively for the past 6 years. It has been a great platform for my business model, until recently, when they rolled out numerous changes with little to no warning. Not only are they imposing an added guest fee of 4-9%, they are pushing me to conform to their payment, cancellation, booking, and refund policies, with little to no flexibility in how I run my business. Not only are they forcing me into this, they are charging for it on top of the yearly platinum subscription fee of $1600!

I've 2 properties listed with VRBO with paid subscriptions. They are advertising "Free Listing" with a "Pay-Per-Booking" option. How can VRBO charge a "Service Fee" to guests of owners who have a paid subscription? They are simply being greedy and ruining business for owners. I've not gotten a single booking since the fee went into effect. Guest may only book if the owner somehow covers the service fee in the form of a discount. Other websites either charge a Pay-Per-Booking or paid subscription but not both. VRBO needs to remove the service fee for owners who have a paid subscription regardless of it showing as a fee to guests because bottom line is that owners have to pay it.

I was wondering what was happening, now I know. This new service fee is killing my reservations. As others have stated, normally this time of year we are booking for the summer. I have not received any reservations since the fee went into effect. I just paid my annual fee to stay in VRBO/Home Away but I am going to research other avenues with which to reserve my home for guests. I am sad that this has to happen as I totally enjoyed VRBO and the ease of security payments, online payments, and correspondence. I hope I find some other rental service that can do the same. If anyone can share, please do. Sorry VRBO, as a homeowner, I am leaving you. Sad departure.

My thoughts and sentiments are the same as in all of the other reviews!!! One thing that I did not see mentioned, is how VRBO is implying that if the renter does not book through their website there is a distinct possibility that they will get ripped off (click on the link to someone that does not do Book it Now and their phone #). They are implying that we, the owners are unreliable and plan to steal the renter's money.

VRBO is a bully, abusing rental owners and now abusing renters. Owners are forced to provide online booking or you will drop in the search listings. Owners are forced to pay for Platinum listing or you drop in the search listings. More than one owner in the same complex can buy Platinum listing, so you share rotation with all Platinum purchasers, but Vrbo never discloses that.

New "service fees" are astronomical, driving away business and are misleading to consumers as it posts the fee in a way that makes it look like the homeowner gets the fee instead of VRBO. Fees are ridiculous. Airbnb charges substantially lower fees (less than half of what VRBO charges) plus no subscription fee with Airbnb. VRBO is double dipping and driving homeowners out of business. I have lost business due to being an economy property and guests don't want to spend $400 extra on service fees. PERHAPS this is pocket change to VRBO with their new double dip scheme. IT IS A DETERRENT!! VRBO is out of touch with the average consumer!!

As a vacation property owner, VRBO now disregards the owner's need for a rental agreement signed by the renter. We must know to whom we are giving the keys to valuable property. Copy of drivers license, employer, number of guests, emergency contacts, etc. are critical. Also most property insurance companies require a written rental contract which defines and limits liability. Property owners listing with VRBO are NOT renting motel/hotel rooms with constant onsite SUPERVISION. VRBO must now think with their new policy that owners are oblivious to this obvious distinction.

I recently purchased a condo in Florida. I paid VRBO $1500.00 at the first of the year to list my property. I was getting several hits a day and several bookings. For the entire month of March I have only had 3 inquiries and no bookings. I tried to call VRBO several times and could not get anyone, put on hold and no one ever answered. Then I came across this site and read all the review and now I clearing understand what is going on and why I'm getting no response. I'm am very unhappy like everyone else and I will not be renewing with VRBO when my contract is up. We all need to find other means for listing our properties. I'm going to check out HomeEscape, TripAdvisor and Airbnb. If anyone has any other ideas would you please post up. Thank you.

This is an explanation of why I will be leaving VRBO just as soon as I can establish myself elsewhere if it doesn't improve quickly. I am sickened that they added this 'surcharge' after their "POINT OF DIFFERENCE WAS NO ADDED FEES!" 4 years ago I left all other advertising for THAT REASON and went to them, paying $1300 per year to advertise my rental property. Now I pay them $1600 per year to advertise because they jacked up the rates and they have the audacity to start charging my guests a 'service fee' so they "can afford to market us better"?

We have 2 properties on VRBO in AZ and we're about to add a third. The fees that VRBO is now charging (our guests) to book our properties are ridiculous and outrageous (9-12%!!!). As it is, we property owners pay upwards of $1500.00/property/year. Now they are charging guests! This also leaves us "Property Owners" very little - if any room to adjust our prices. This new 'fee' is a MAJOR deterrent for people using the VRBO or HomeAway sites let alone wanting to continue with VRBO in general. I have called in to customer service to voice my complaint. Take note VRBO. If you don't get rid of that "FEE", you'll be losing all of our business to Airbnb. It will be goodbye VRBO and hello Airbnb.

When I was booking a vacationer I found out there was an extra fee on their booking. I was not aware until this happened. I told the vacationer I would look into it, so I call VRBO and they told me they sent an email out to each owner. Well they didn't at that time. All they send is which property is a great one to go to or their convention they have every year. I asked them what the fee was for and they said it was to protect credit card fraud and other things. I told them that is a bunch a crap to charge people more money.

I am very disturbed about the usurious rate (usually 10%) VRBO has begun charging travelers for booking trips. VRBO says this is to improve marketing and service. I now experience longer wait times (20-30 min) than ever when calling customer service. I also believe the additional expense to travelers is a deterrent to using VRBO and forces homeowners to lower their rates to stay competitive. I think they should remove the service fee entirely as this was not in the agreement I contracted for with them in October 2015. VRBO has subsequently been purchased by Expedia and has then implemented the new fee which I feel is unethical and suspect may be illegal and possibly subject to a class action lawsuit.