Vrbo Reviews

I wish I never would have signed up with VRBO. It has been a disaster from the get go. Today I receive an email stating that I was charged $25 for a guest cancelling their reservation! This is on money that I never received, that VRBO has been floating! Unethical, bad business model, powerless customer service.

I received a review that said exactly where I live. Even though it is part of VRBO's guidelines tenants can't reveal where you live. Because they didn't give my exact address instead described exactly where I live, it doesn't count. Plus you can go to Airbnb and get membership for FREE!! Plus I have received 3 times the amount of booking from Airbnb.... btw it's FREE! VRBO is $349, ug!

We tried to book this property for 2 weeks. We received a quote and emailed a few questions about viewing the property and our intentions. We decided to put down our card to make a reservation even though we were unable to view the property due to it being currently occupied. We then received an email stating that the rate quoted was based on a monthly rate and since we only needed 2 weeks the price over doubled, but then offered us a smaller unit for less time for still more than originally quoted. When we called to talk to them about this issue they tried to explain that this was a monthly rental. After a lot of double talk they kept pushing the other property and we found that the one that we tried to reserve wasn't even available for a whole month. Total bait and switch. They kept pushing their alternate property and I can't help but wonder if that is the one they are trying to rent all along. Totally shady.

Stay far away from VRBO! We "reserved" a property through their website. Subsequent correspondence was intercepted by a spoofer through a flaw in their security with the owner. We are out more than $3000, and VRBO declines to respond.

After many years working with vrbo, they recently were bought by expedia, and have changed their whole system to no longer be fair or ethical with home owners. Instead they pushing hotel stays which their company now controls and they are pushing houses that they take 10% of booking listings with instead of following the rules of the system which we signed up for. We have been paying for platinum listings and keeping a 100% success rate with guests and the company for years. All of that $ and work equaled us in the top 15 listings for our area. Now that the company has been acquired by big business they have changed the system to not allow platinum house owners any real benefit. Now the cost it costs to keep these spots with the company doesn't even get covered by the rental amount they are bringing in for us. It's too bad because this company used to be the best out there. Beware if you're thinking of listing with vrbo.

I'm writing hoping others will follow. I have been a member/property owner since 2008 with VRBO. This time their changes have put my unit from second to 50 something placement in our building alone on their site. I paid for platinum and also paid another $300.00 and followed all their guidelines to make sure I stayed in my place that I have secured. They are not consistent and I find their latest changes to be very hurtful to our income. We count on the revenue to help pay for our unit. They have given us no real answers when we have contacted them. I wish we could file a class action lawsuit against them. They have also let management companies take over the site and I believe VRBO stands for vacation rental by OWNERS!!! Not management companies. I believe there are many other unhappy VRBO subscribers who were blindsided by these changes. Sincerely, owner of a VRBO site.

After one and one half years of VRBO I have had a few situations you are not told about in the contract. You have no control over the reviews which are written about your property and the guest is more important to VRBO than your business. This itself may not mean a lot since we have had 38 five star and one four star review. The four star was an excellent review with the exception of the hide-a-bed mattress which we replace the following week. We were able to response to the review with the fact had you simply called us we would have replaced the mattress the next day. Quest don't understand a homeowner cannot read their mind and fix anything until they are told. We recently had a family of eight with six children who created some damage which required less than a thousand dollars to repair.

In October of 2014 I inquired of vacation homes in the Central Coast on VRBO website. Without my knowledge a booking was made through Seaside Real Estate in Morro Bay California. I first noticed the charge the end of July 2015 on my credit card bill for the week of July 4 for 3,600.00. I am being charged for a home I never stayed at and with no record of a booking by VRBO. Seaside Real Estate refuses to even have a conversation of this transaction forcing me to seek a lawyer. VRBO continue to deny a booking took place; however, I am in fact being charged almost 3,600.00

After paying >$1500/yr to have the platinum advertisement with vrbo.com plus the Home Away ads (charged before the two merged), our position was moved to 34th place, sometimes 50th, even though we've been advertising through them for 7 years, have had a history of many yearly bookings, have professional pictures, respond within hours of an inquiry, have generated >1,000/yr of payment processing fees, have had over 66 reviews, yet they put us in 34th or later placement. Ahead of our home, are chains and many homes without as many ratings/bookings/all higher prices/fewer amenities etc.

I am an owner who has been listing several properties with Homeaway and VRBO since 2009. We have now stopped due to several problems and do not recommend going through them for renting out your property or renting a property from others. We paid for a gold subscription level (899 dollars) instead of the classic at 399 dollars. The results in page views and inquiries were exactly the same, a fact even confirmed by their customer care team! They are refusing to refund us for the excess paid for a service they have not rendered. We have had much better results using other companies to advertise. Also, we have had clients contact us after having booked a fake apartment through their system. They were never refunded. The first client which came to us with this was back in 2011, and obviously this is still happening.

For years I had listings on VRBO when it actually meant something. Vacation Rental By Owner. Today I have grown and for the past few years have listed up to 30 properties on HomeAway and VRBO. I have never been more frustrated with the greedy company than I am today. I probably pay an average of $1600 per listing. Every day, as we all know who list on this site, we are thrown a new hoop to just through. For years I have jumped. And what good does it do. Nothing. I pay for platinum. I use the stupid "book it now" which I don't want nor does the traveler. I update calendars just for the sake of updating calendars . And what do I get? I slide further and further down in the rankings.

We rented online through VRBO (HomeAway) a vacation rental for Boston and paid $1140 plus $425 damage deposit. The full amount was charged to our credit card at the time of booking (Sept 17, 2015). We tried starting October 10 to contact the owner both independently and through VRBO and he never responded to our attempts, thus we had no way to access the rental or any information.

Okay. I'm going to try to make this short. We booked a trip on VRBO for a condo. 8 business days later my mother was hospitalized. She had an appendicitis and they also found cancer. I called the owner of the property immediately. Told her my whole story and I did not request a refund but just to reschedule our trip for a later date. They would not work with me! We had already paid $1,100. And they wanted another $800 to reschedule!

A tenant, who told us, "The house is great," and who added an extra week, and then also asked to reserve for next year, wrote a bad review, after we (the home owners) told him about some damage. And get this - we didn't even charge him to fix that damage. In good faith we absorbed the cost and sent him money back. The tenant also did not pay the house cleaner which he was supposed to do in the contract, sticking us with the cost. The tenant also said something out of context in one of his negative attacks. He said, "The owners were swimming in the pool," when he arrived. Well he FORGOT to mention that he arrived 7-8 hours too early and that we ALLOWED him to stay. That's right, we gave him an extra day and we left immediately.

I had a bad experience with VRBO. In trying to organize a trip I tendered my payment for the week. I next got an email saying the transaction was canceled. On following up with the property owner she blamed the VRBO technology but expressly told me she would work it out and save those dates for me. A week before my trip she canceled it. Lesson learned. Always keep a backup plan with VRBO. Sadly VRBO would do nothing to help and would not allow me to post a review for other travelers. I found a company called Airbnb that seems to have better offerings. Hopefully that will pan out.

Booked an oceanfront suite with a private balcony. We got room 217 @ DBR and Conference Center. It was ocean front but the roof of the cabana bar was directly in front of our balcony! The suite (Room), it was not a suite. Was supposed to be fully equipped, it only had a few assorted cups, plates, pans, etc. We booked the stay through VRBO.com and paid what I thought was a premium price for 8 nights, $1512.75 which I thought was high. Then when we checked out, was charged $135.04 and was told that was the condo fee $15.88 per night, that nobody had mentioned! Total $1647.79 for a under equipped room with a bad view! Oh, did I mention the bathroom was so small you almost had to stand in the bathtub to close or open the bathroom door? P.S. A friend went to Cancun for 4 days and spent less than half of what we did, including airfare. Just saying.

VRBO is the worst site ever. They don't let hosts review guests so since there's no qualifying who's staying at your house, our first guest was a woman who traded sex for the fare with her taxi cab driver as she had no money. They also accidentally booked her in for a longer period of time than she paid for. They synced my calendar with the wrong property, so they had space blocked out on my one listing instead of the correct listing. We have a bedroom suite and they won't let you list the pricing separately so every quote they send out for a booking is incorrect. I edited the quote they sent tonight and they figured their commission wrong. I called to question it and the rep said it was a "rarity in the algorithm" that computed it incorrectly and couldn't be fixed. They can't figure 10% incorrectly? And of course, it's in their favor.

I wanted to rent an apartment advertised by VRBO HOMEAWAY. Owner asked for a security deposit/damages of 1,300 euros more than what rental payments would be each month. Money was sent to Giacinto ** as requested 4 months prior to my arrival in Florence. Once he received my money, HE cancelled my contract for no reason. I was stunned! I asked that my money be returned either to my friend who lives in Florence, either the euros I sent him or the $1,904.60 in Canadian funds that came out of my account. At first his response was OK then he came up with some excuse why he could not do this. One month later he sent a money transfer to Canada which was neither in euros or Canadian funds owing. My bank sent him a letter stating that the amount owing to me was still $228.15.

Does not report your actual comments. Homeowners try and scam you out of deposits and whatever else they can do! Website is no help. Take your money and run!

We are regular people who have traveled for many years and stayed in vacation rental homes listed by either VRBO or Home Away from Michigan all the way to Florida. We found every home we stayed in was exactly as advertised, clean and the owners we talked to were all very pleasant people to deal with. We liked the experience so much that we decided to buy a vacation home of our own in Florida and listed the home with VRBO. Other than a few minor format changes they made, we have found that they have been an excellent resource to list our home. We get many happy renters who leave great reviews of their stay. VRBO/HomeAway handles everything from the listing to booking and refunds. They are very responsive to both owners and renters and are a professional company made up of many vacation homeowners themselves.

I paid over $1,000 for a year's subscription to VRBO.com, and I just noticed that they have ads for competing rentals within my ad! That is like a TV station charging Coke to air a Coke ad and then the TV station inserts a Pepsi ad within the Coke ad to "show them a multitude of choices so they find their best match". I'm not kidding, that is what VRBO told me in an email that basically said "too bad, if you do not like it, take your business elsewhere" which I am certainly doing when my ad expires. The practice may be legal, but it sure is unethical.

I've had listings on VRBO for 10 years and before they were bought out by Homeaway, they were great. After the buyout, there was a huge rate increase. When I first listed with VRBO, I was told that the earlier listing would be first to show up on their listing level (gold, platinum, etc). In the middle of the year I had paid for, they stopped doing this and had different rules about the listing order (if you took credit cards, how many pictures, how fast you answered emails). Also, without telling us, if we didn't click on out calendar enough to suit them, they would just block our property out and nobody would see it.

I used VRBO for many years with great success. The company was purchased a couple of years ago by a holding company that is simply ruining this business both for people trying to rent a place and for people doing the renting. The fees are outrageous now, the service is nondescript to awful. It is almost as if they bought the company to wring every last nickel out of it short term. And they will then undoubtedly sell it to some unsuspecting person who will have just bought a hornet's nest. VRBO owners hate them with a passion but don't really have any choice. Instead of taking their enviable position in the marketplace and using it to grow they have decided to use their position to rip off and degrade their clients. This is a disgusting example of corporate greed and shortsightedness. I am confident they will ultimately fail because they treat everyone they interact with abusively.

We clicked a button that said "Request a Reservation," expecting to hear back from the owner about availability. Instead he charged our credit card as if we had clicked a "Reserve Now" button and when we communicated immediately that we had made other plans while we were waiting to hear about availability, he said that he had just turned someone else down for our reservation and we were locked in. I requested that he just contact the other party and give them the reservation but he never responded. We disputed the credit card charge, but the credit card company said we have to work it out with the vendor, who said to work it out with the owner, who referred us to Homeaway.

I've been listed with both VRBO & Airbnb for about 8 months. After getting a $2400 booking and only receiving $2000 after booking and transfer fees, I decided to pay for their 1-yr membership. That was 3 months ago, and I've gotten not a single booking since. I made the colossal mistake of listing a client's property at the end of July. Just found out that the first booking was made with a stolen credit card. I do not check ID or anything as I assume the entity taking the booking has done their due diligence. Turns out the name on the credit card and the name on the book was different - how did they miss that?? I stated that to VRBO/Homeaway.

VRBO decided to cancel my account because a portion of the property was sold. They decided early on that this was a full transfer of ownership and would not listen to any comments that I had to the contrary. They also decided not to refund the roughly $500 spent for the subscription price. On top of that, their customer service was quite misleading, with each person quoting a different situation. In the end when they started talking in a more consistent voice, they became very condescending (for example, when I asked to speak to a manager receptionist Haley declined several times, then put me on hold for ten minutes only to come back on the line to say "Ok, I will ALLOW you (emphasis mine) to speak to a manager" and then stated the manager was just going to say the same thing. She then put me on hold again and I was disconnected).

We rented a condo in NH. Two charges to HomeAway on our credit card - $450 for the rental and a $1,500 security deposit. We never got the security deposit back. Called, on hold for hours, filled out a complaint form, etc. All they say is "We are attempting to contact owner," read: "We forwarded your complaint." When I asked "What happens if they do not respond?" I am told they will not be able to post on their website anymore. What? "How about my $1,500???” “Yeah, sorry, that is between you and the owner.” “Can I have her phone number?” "No." “Her email?” "No." “So, you can collect my money but you can't refund it?” "Yes." Total garbage. They will do NOTHING to help you get your money back. BEWARE. AVOID THESE CHARLATANS AT ALL COST.

I've been w/ VRBO since 2004 and up until about 2 years ago, they were doing a good job for me. They have become a disaster for my renters and for me. My most recent issue is their calendar, which they admitted to me recently had been changed. My response was that every time their webmaster makes a change, it's a disaster for my renters and for me. Their Customer Service Reps are rude and have been trained to begin a non-stop sentence in order to keep me from saying anything. I can't get a word in edgewise. They won't even acknowledge that I'm speaking. They interrupt and go into non-stop sentences, which have nothing to do w/ the problem I need to describe. I've lost so much money due to renters' inability to book w/ me. I cancelled my listing and moved on due to complete frustration.

In January 2015 we paid VRBO in full for a top floor condo facing Okanagan Lake, for one week. In mid July they confirmed our requested reservation. We arrived July 30, 2015 to hear that our unit had an air conditioning problem, and it was not useable. In exchange we were given an inferior ground floor unit facing a hotel entrance and their garbage area. We were advised that we would be compensated for the considerable downgrade, and we would be moved after the weekend. We discovered that a couple with at least one child were staying in our reserved unit that weekend. On August 4 we were moved to a slightly better unit, not facing the Lake. We have been promised at least 5 times that we are owed a refund, but after each request we are stonewalled. Don't know what to do, but try and contact the authorities.

I've been renting with HomeAway and VRBO for at least ten years. They were my go-to place and I never even thought about using another company. However, my last beach rental through them was super disappointing, so for my August of 2015 I purchased insurance through them. This is something I've never done in 30 years of travel but I thought I was being smart. Well, this beach house was also not as described so I left the house and went home and made my carefree claim. SURPRISE! It was rejected immediately. Now I wonder if anyone out there ever received carefree rental insurance coverage from HomeAway or VRBO without having to jump through hoops.

Reviewed a VRBO rental a few weeks. It was a OK place but was lacking items like Cable (1 "iffy" station came in) and had bugs. They (VRBO) didn't post it, people should know. All negative reviews never get posted.

I've booked locally and internationally through VRBO and sister company HomeAway in the past and have had great experiences. After spending the past week spinning my wheels searching and emailing hosts to secure an apartment rental in Manhattan I am feeling hesitant to use the company in the future. Every single inquiry I've made was turned down stating that the listing was not available for my dates. After entering my dates and other filters into the search, I would expect to get an accurate representation of available rentals. Not the case. Every single listing that came up, had my dates open on the calendar with a note to the side that the calendar had been updated either the same day or the day before.

We rented a house through VRBO.com and our $500 was not refunded to us. When I attempted to write a negative review to warn other renters about the owner of the house, VRBO refused to publish my reviews. I subsequently discovered this is standard practice with VRBO. They DO NOT accept negative reviews, and therefore their reviews are not accurate at all.

My family rented a property using VRBO as the rental agent. The property owners decided 10 days after our rental was complete to keep our $500.00 security deposit. The accusations were unfounded and I asked the owners 3 times for dated before and after pictures. This fell on deaf ears as we left the home as we found it. VRBO property nbr 506783. I wrote 7 reviews and submitted them to VRBO, each time I was told what I was writing wasn't relevant. Each time I changed making it shorter and shorter to meet their criteria (which I met even on the 1st writing).

Home Away (VRBO) has been persistently trying to sell their Online Booking and pushing it on customers. As a property owner I refused to even consider it for many reasons. It's not enough that they are taking almost $400.00 for an annual membership but now they want to tell us how to collect our money as well. Since my yearly membership expired and I already had my property booked for the season, I thought maybe I'd try the new Pay Per Booking option which they had been pushing. I figured I'd have nothing to lose.

Property 67655 - We rented a property through VRBO (treat retreat in North Carolina near Smokies). The renter accepted our payment and then failed to give us any arrival information. We made many attempts to contact owner as did VRBO. At 3:00 pm on the day of arrival we found another cabin. We thought VRBO was a respectable company and we would get our money back on first property. Even though we paid VRBO, they said we needed to work it out with owner. Owner did not budge and won't return money. VRBO has been no help. Beware using this site for your rental needs!!!

The Falls-15th Floor Luxury Condo, Inner Harbour/Fairmont Empress - So disappointing! We come to Victoria every year. This year we tried VRBO instead of our favorite hotel because we wanted to stay together. There are 2 couples. We were to arrive today however had to cancel. We had a family emergency - a family member had 3 seizures w/in 12 hours last weekend. He is on medicine that needed observation for 5 days. I immediately sent the owner a note letting them know this & if there is anything we can do. She stated their policy was a 6 week cancellation. I then asked if we could pick another date & of course pay a fee so no money would be lost & in fact could make a little more for the inconvenience.

VRBO #576828 in Sechelt, BC, Canada - Upon arrival the owners showed us around the musty-smelling apartment, all-the-while complaining about the previous renters and how they left messes in the kitchen or left wet things on wood surfaces. Then we were presented with a two-page list of rules that must be obeyed. These rules were extremely petty and arbitrary. We had prepaid for three nights, but on the second day, we were informed by the owners that we had run afoul of one of their rules that didn't even appear on the aforementioned list. In spite of our apologies and the fact that we had caused no harm or damage to the property, they insisted that we leave immediately without a refund for the last night of our stay.

I am a professional property manager in the Vail Valley, Colorado. I had superb lead generation on my listings until the company was purchased by the current holding company. I've seen my listing prices for from $345 per property for a platinum listing, to over $1500 for each property - with no placement guarantee. Now, in order to get preferred placement, I have to run payments through VRBO, for which I'm certain they also get a nice kickback on their "Book Now" feature.

Anyone can give a review on VRBO/Homeaway anonymously. All one needs is an email address to create an acct. with these sites. Recently had a bad experience with a vacation rental. At first VRBO would not submit my negative review. My review was not verbally abusive in any way. I just listed the problems we had with misleading location, lack of cleanliness and unresponsive homeowner. I went back and forth via emails and phone with VRBO regarding their refusal to publish my review. They finally agreed when I raised my star rating from a 1 to a 3. I made NO changes to the review wording.

I had a very thorough and almost neutral review to a cabin I rented on VRBO.com. The owners of the cabin responded very negatively, and I responded back. My review was very indicative of the stay, the cabin and the owners. I went back to check a couple months later and my review, and the other negative review on the cabin were gone. I started to realize that this cabin had been in business for 2 1/2 years and only had 4 reviews that were all 4-5 stars. VRBO.com is removing negative reviews. If you think about the business model, negative reviews can kill a rental, and VRBO only makes money if a cabin makes money, so why wouldn't they remove them? But then what are you to believe as a customer? It's deceptive at best. I will no longer be using this deceptive and negative service.

VRBO #661265 at shores of panama - This man took our deposit. He was supposed to return it. But, he lied, lied, and lied some more. He is apparently in the habit of ripping people off to pay for a condo he cannot afford. The transactions are done over the phone using your credit card. So, you are never guaranteed a refund. Stupid on my part, but lesson learned. I hope to help others from falling into his trap!

I have been a loyal customer of VRBO/HomeAway since 2009. I have been extremely successful booking my property through their site. I treat this as a business, not a hobby and have always done the things necessary to keep my listing at number 2-3 in rank. (Calendar up to date, quick responses to inquiries, take credit cards, buy the rental insurance, max pictures, etc.)

We booked a condo through VRBO in Panama City Beach FL for one week in June 2015 (VRBO listing number 304199). The unit itself was ok but the overall property had issues. I attempted to post a bad review on VRBO but was told repeatedly my review was not relevant to the property no matter how much I tried to modify it to conform to what they told me to make it. Then upon reading the many posts on consumer affairs it seems this is standard operating procedures for VRBO and they don't allow bad reviews to be posted.

We rented Hummingbird Cottage for the weekend of August 7 - 9. While our stay was nice and the accommodations matched what was listed, we have been unable to resolve an issue regarding the refundable deposit because the credit card we paid the rental with had to be cancelled. The owner stated that she attempted a refund, however our credit union has no record of such a transaction. At the owners request, we supplied the numbers to both the replacement and cancelled card and was told a refund would be made the next day. We have yet to receive the refund or to hear back from the owner or VRBO regarding this matter.

We reserve a home in the Kona area for the 2015 Ironman. After booking the owner calls me and wants to go around VRBO. After a month I figured out why he cancels the property... to rent it out for higher. A week later and I still have not seen my refund for my original deposit. I call VRBO and as most internet companies you get someone that cannot speak English well enough to understand what they are saying. Frustrated and hung up the phone. The positive is I get to file a dispute with my credit card company. VRBO and at least the property owner I dealt with are on the poor end of doing business with.

I have contacted both the property owner and VRBO in numerous occasions trying to locate my £100 deposit placed in a property rental in February 2015. It is now September 2015 and still I'm no clearer as to where this £100 is or why it hasn't been returned to me. My partner and our daughter stayed with the property owner and had a great time, he even helped her with an art exhibition on the last day, fetching and carrying. She says we are the only people to rent through VRBO, VRBO say she has let too many people and returned no one's deposits. Yet they still allow money then get through her hands? Even if what they say is true, surely they have some responsibility being as your money passes through them. I am so angry and upset about this. We are not rich people and had to borrow to pay the deposit on this rental which was necessary for my daughter's schooling.

In early May 2015, when we first contacted Abbey Lane Cottages through VRBO, we inquired about two accommodations, The Captain's Quarters and Cozy Cottage. After consideration and numerous emails with the manager, we booked the Cozy Cottage. We sent our $300.00 deposit and signed a very detailed contract. We received the formal rental confirmation VRBO ** on May 27th 2015 for Thursday August 27th to Sunday August 30th.

You should check that your homes listed as "pet friendly" actually accept pets. We inquired about a "pet friendly" Louisiana site (which even included a pet fee) and received "We ask that no dogs, Thanks" (?). Not sure if this was a scam, someone with poor English, or maybe they don't know what a pet fee is for? For those of us who travel with pets - just a waste of time.

So UPSET!!! My rental booking is down by 40% this 2015 summer due to VRBO changing their search to "best fit" or something like this. Bottom line is I believe us property owners need to move away from this mega site as they are controlling booking as they see it "fit" for them to make money. Not in the best interest of property owners or renters for sure.

Rented a home through VRBO. Was told by the owner if we write a negative review on VRBO - he can simply take it down, as he did not want unfavorable reviews to adversely affect his rating! A house infested with flies and tattered linens is something other guests might want to know about? I guess the rating system on VRBO is flawed at best.

I rented a house from the VRBO site and I was unhappy with the outcome. Told owner that I was very upset and would let my feeling be known via a review on the website. The website refuses to post so I am very concerned that they only post positive reviews so customers like me don't get the real story.

I have attempted to book accommodations twice on VRBO. The first host never responded. The second host was very responsive and accommodating but for the fact that there was no way to book his property. I will now officially give up on VRBO. It has been a huge waste of time.

Had gone online to look through rentals and logged on through my Facebook. Some time ago I had updated my Facebook account and switched to a new email address. Apparently this email was never updated through VRBO (why I don't know since the accounts are linked). I found a rental I liked, and rented the home. Afterwards I went back in to pay my deposit. I logged on through Facebook and I went to my account and it said to send an email for verification purposes. I had an email sent, checked my email after some time and nothing. Called VRBO to see where the email had gone so that I could log on and pay my deposit. They informed me that my account had my old inactive email. I asked where I could update my contact information and they informed me that "you cannot update your account information."

I received an email from Evelyn on March 3, 2015 regarding the rental unit for final instructions for her rental unit. She clearly stated 11 pm as her check-out time in the email. I do not believe I have to verify/validate her information since she has done this multiple times & it is my first time renting from individuals. I went on this trip with 6 other people & had forwarded her last email with final instructions to 3 of my friends whom were also under the impression that check-out is at 11 pm because that is what the email states. We planned our trip based on the time she provided.

Rented condo at Aqua Resorts thru VRBO. Place was filthy and needed maintenance. Went to VRBO to write a review to warn others before they rent. Review has never been posted. Obviously they only allow "good reviews" to post for people to read. This is wrong and misleading to only post positive reviews. I now understand why the last review on this unit was a positive review but was 4 months ago. Will not use VRBO again.

A home in a vineyard - the perfect place to be for a 60th Birthday, Napa weekend with my girlfriends!!! We did it all, from this superbly located house. It was beautiful, clean, and had more than we even needed. I'll be coming back!

When we arrived at this mountain condo we expected to find it as advertised. It smelled like sewerage, had filthy carpet, egress was impeded by damaged door frame, non working smoke detectors, rumpled beds with used plastic fork on top. Fireplace was left dirty. We could not stand it. We left and called the owner. She promised return call. Never happened. We called again. No answer. We asked VRBO for help. Never happened. Sympathetic ear at first until you really want assistance. Then you learn VRBO has NO hold over its customers and will not offer any words of advice except seek counsel. Owner finally responded by the way. Guess what? We punched a hole in the wall of a room we never stayed in. We left within 30 minutes of our arrival. Our PROPERTY CASE # ** did us no good. Why use VRBO? There is no reason. Never again will I consider using VRBO.

I had a negative experience at a property rental listed on VRBO regarding the Lotus Lake House in Grass Valley, CA. I posted a factual review and the owner was allowed to attack me personally both on and off the website. He wrote harassing emails and left voicemails threatening me if I did not remove the review. Apparently this practice is allowed by VRBO. The owner was then allowed to post personal information about me on the website and VRBO refused to remove the listing even after I escalated the problem to a manager. So there is a reason there are very few negative reviews posted on VRBO.

I booked a rental through VRBO.com and up until the day before our arrival I still had no idea where the home was located; how I was to get a key to get into the home; if it WAS a true rental or I had been scammed. I called VBRO and was pretty much told that I was responsible for my own reservation. I got the feeling this company was detached from my questions about what I would do, and where would I go, if this reservation was a scam. I was told "how the owner runs their business, is up to them." I did not feel VRBO was a company that required much booking details and accounting from their owners. I did finally receive the home & gate key from the owner the day before our arrival which had me angry and turned off by this company. I will never book through them again.

Owner has not returned our $300.00 deposit, does reply to emails. Her phone number doesn't work. I can't find any customer service numbers thru VRBO/HomeAway that work, no help for the renter who has problems! Property is rundown, dirty worn carpets. The decking around the house is in major disrepair, loose boards and nails sticking up throughout, a big safety concern. We stayed in August, the house got too warm. No air conditioning and there are few window screens. Ceiling fan in the main living area didn't work. There were two large bags of garbage left on the porch from previous tenants. (Per rental agreement you are asked to leave garbage on the porch.)

Frustrated with searching. Just this morning I looked at a listing that had not been updated for 14 months. Either the calendars are not updated or the owners do not respond. I do not understand this. Wouldn't it be easier for owners to update than to receive inquiries constantly? Instill use local realtors whenever possible.

The reviews cannot be accurate on VRBO.com. I recently stayed in a place that was nothing like the dozens and dozens of reviews it received. I didn't think to actually look at the "traveler's" profile before I traveled, but should have. Upon my hugely disappointing trip which I cut by two days because the accommodations were so unsafe and so unlike the reviews, I re-read the reviews, all of which seemed so legitimate before traveling. There is absolutely no way those were authentic and when I clicked on each "traveler's" profile, only TWO of all those reviewing the space actually every reviewed anything else.

I rented a condo in Oahu in 2014 and when we arrived our unit was on the same wall as the elevator with non-stop noise. It had never been disclosed. We tried to stay 1 night and couldn't sleep. It was so noisy. We called the property manager who admitted it was a problem but the owner refused to do anything. We moved out and had to pay for a hotel. I complained to VRBO and they refused to post my complaint. I will never book with them again.

My first time to get paid as an owner by VRBO has turned into a problem. They hold the first payment for 30 days, then disburse. The VRBO note to me on my dashboard was that 'payment had been disbursed 8/6'. So when I went online and checked my bank account 8/8, it wasn't there. I called VRBO, explained my situation and was put on hold for at least 10 minutes while VRBO's rep checked with ANOTHER company to see where my money was. When he came back on, he told me it should appear in my account in 2-3 business days. I asked him how this other company did their disbursements and he didn't know.

Vacation rental owner or property manager name, phone number, and email address: John **, **, sender@messages.homeaway.com. Website and vacation rental listing ID #: vrbo.com VRBO Listing #**. Description of situation and desired outcome: On March 25, 2015, John ** (the "owner") confirmed my reservation of this listing in Vancouver from July 30, 2015 to August 10, 2015. He took my credit card number as a means of holding the reservation, but did not charge anything to it. He said he would accept only cash in payment on the day of our arrival. I offered other secure means of payment, such as certified cheque, bank draft, or money order, but he refused them all and effectively said it had to be cash or he would cancel the reservation. I accepted his terms.

VRBO has by far the worst connections to customer support that I've experienced in years. They keep you on hold for 30 minutes no matter where you call from. Then to add insult to injury tell you in a recorded message how quick they are to respond to customer needs. Then have a delayed relay Indian support team who lose your call within minutes of answering and when they finally do answer, can't hear you so eventually hang up. The company happens to be one of the best vacation services, until now, but they are like the worker who comes late to work every day and does an exemplary job. He quickly gets fired and VRBO should be no exception. There are too many other services that are more deserving of the mindless work involved selling someone else's property for rental. Companies like this that are big, fat and stupid to boot surely won't be around much longer if they continue this MO.

My reason for booking through VRBO instead of directly through homeowners (which would be cheaper) is to protect against fraud. That is absolutely not the case. After submitting proof of a fraudulent property, VRBO did not go to bat for me whatsoever. So what is the point in paying the additional money? They don't even warn about the property. It's still listed with no alerts. I have spent thousands of dollar through them. Never again!

I reserved property #669561 in New York City 4 months in advance and paid 100% in advance for a stay starting on Friday, May 22nd (Memorial Day weekend!). On May 21st (the same day of our flight out of Salt Lake City) we received an e-mail from the owner stating that previous guests had caused damage that could not be repaired in time for us to stay at the property. I think that the property owners had a more lucrative deal from somebody else for the holiday weekend so they bumped us. The grief and anguish of trying to find a place for 4 adults to stay in New York City on the Memorial Day weekend with no advance notice was excruciating! We are required to give a 60 day cancellation notice on our end in order to get a refund on our money. They did refund the money that I had paid in full earlier in the year but there should be compensation to me for cancellation of my reservation with no advance notice.

I went through the VRBO website and rented a cabin called Northern Retreat at St. Helen in St. Helen, MI. I received a confirmation from VRBO, AND a confirmation from the owner. In addition, my bank account held a nearly $1000.00 charge for the property. After all of the confirmations and bank transaction had been effected, the owner wrote to say "Oops, [her] partner had already promised the property for those dates." I asked her to reconsider in that I had received the confirmations, my bank account had been docked, and the VRBO website STILL showed that the property was vacant at the times I had reserved it. She did not. The bank held my payment for 5 business days before restoring it to my account.

We rented a cottage for a week in San Diego for my grandson's wedding. In a conversation with the property (#3878930) owner, John **, I asked if my son 44, and grandson 17 could spend 3 nights with us. The property had a king bed and a full size futon. Mr ** agreed and said there would be no additional cost. We were delighted with the cottage and the Hillcrest area of San Diego. Our problems began the following day when my other children met us at the cottage to plan the next day's activity. We shared some coffee and donuts. There were 8 adults and 4 children present for approx one hour. While they were there I got a call from VRBO, saying the property owner was on the line and wanted everyone out immediately. He asked that I call the owner directly and correct the problem. I called and the owner did not answer. I left a message saying there must be a misunderstanding. Our group was just there briefly and everyone left.

The banking agency, Vacation Rent Payment, from Walnut Creek, California made a mistake with my payment account that has been completely impossible to work out. They have taken my bank account information and misused the information, not allowing me to receive payments or direct security deposit withdrawals from my checking account. I have spent WEEKS trying to remedy these issues with no avail. When I finally received a supervisor she had the same resolution that I had tried already 4 times with no results.

We worked with VRBO for the past 3 years their service for advertisers that pay the vast amount of $ to keep VRBO afloat is declining at a steady rate. A quick search on reviews from Hosts you'll see why. Their customer services and "support" team doesn't do "service" or "support", they "sell". A listing at Gold Level $899/yr received 17 inquiries in a year = $53 per inquiry. A listing at Platinum Level $1299/yr received 16 inquiries in a year = $81 per inquiry. A listing at Classic Level $399/yr received 7 inquiries in a year = $57 per inquiry. Basic Maths. You get better return on investment from burning a load of cash. $81 per inquiry is about 20 times more than Google would charge you for pay per click advertising.

The day we had to check in he disappeared. He didn't answer the phone calls or e-mails. He said her mother would be there to open the house and when we call her, she said she has nothing to do with the house. A cleaning company guy was inside and let us enter to the house. While we were waiting for the cleaning to finish, another man entered the house without announce and later we learnt he did the A/C maintenance and he said he will change the A/C machine on Monday. But we had no idea what he was talking about or how to proceed since there wasn't any responsible person to address to (and we are on holidays, not taking care of his house or anything).

I am an owner of a VRBO rental. I have had great guests for the most part, many are repeat renters year to year. Everything was great with VRBO till Home Away took over. Now I have problems with my calendar, it has made direct contact with my potential renters very difficult. They seem more interested in handling my rental than VRBO did. We've always done it on our own. I've had conversations with my disappointments with them to no avail. I'm about to update my calendar and hope it sticks. We have a beautiful rental as described in our ad. I've heard stories from my guests of other places they have been, we know what to avoid. There is always toilet paper and lots of towels at our house. Don't just blame VRBO - there are bad owners out there also.

As a VRBO subscriber, I communicate with my renters thru their "Dashboard." That's how I answer guests questions. If you go back to the guests email to check that you answered every question... you will lose EVERYTHING that you just typed.

We rented a place for a week at 511 Rideau in Ottawa, Canada through VRBO (this was the second time we used VRBO for a rental - the first time went fine). After having a pretty bad experience with this rental, I decided to post a review. This was the first time I wrote a review - usually things go well and there is enough positive reviews out there that I do not need to add more - I also do not like to open accounts to write reviews. For this one however, I felt that other travelers should not have to go through the same experience that we had. In particular, the material posted on VRBO (and a whole bunch of other sites such as hotel.com, venere.com) is so misleading that I had to write my own review.

I recently made my first serious attempt to use VRBO to book a unit. I know I was looking during a very busy period in the area, so expected difficulty in finding something. So, at first it didn't bother me when I found a calendar that showed availability and then later got an email saying it wasn't really available. But it got more annoying when it happened 3 more times. And yet even more annoying when a week later all those properties were still listed and showing availability on the site.

My wife and I were there at Bella Sirena in Rocky Point, Puerto Penasco, Mexico in April, 2015 and had to leave a $200 security deposit. They took my deposit because they said we damaged a table while there. My wife and I are in our 60's, were there only two nights, and ABSOLUTELY did no damage to any tables. They have been very uncooperative at Seaside Reservations in Lukeville, CA. Also, the resort manager, Ernesto, has refused to return any of my 6 calls to him. I would NOT recommend this place because there is an underlying current of distrust there, and one gets the feeling they want to rip one off as much as possible. Spend your vacation money somewhere else!

I have had a listing with VRBO.com for years and recently have had terrible problems in getting inquiries with losses every day because they cannot get listings correct or in the right areas. Try and get customer service to do anything - FORGET IT! Talk about the run around for months! I do not use their credit cards and they hound me to do so - IT IS ABOUT THEIR BOTTOM LINE and NOT YOURS! The listing was archived - who told them to do this???? I have begged them to fix it because they do not give refunds but they state that the tech support has to repair problems, for months and months!!! Really! Try to talk to the TECH Dept and they do not allow it. VRBO.COM TERRIBLE COMPANY!

Rented a house in Ojai, Ca. We were eaten alive by fleas. Called the property manager who offered to refund our money for one night. Now we haven't heard from her after repeated phone calls. How convenient. Dishonest and not reputable. Definitely not worth the money. Oversold on the website, what a tremendous letdown. Cannot be trusted.

Scarborough Affair, Rehoboth Beach DE VBRO#68033 - We spent a week with 15 family at this VRBO rental. The location was just off Rt 1, at an inconvenient distance from all shops and restaurants and with a very long walk to the beach. The floor layout offered no privacy. The owner falsely advertised 8 bedrooms, but one of the bedrooms was two twins located in an open kitchenette and one was in between a bathroom and another bedroom--it was actually six bedrooms. The shared bath for the two king rooms on the first floor required passage through the kitchen, offering little privacy. The AC on the second floor was inoperable; a service tech was called in and directed that we leave the three bedroom doors open at night in order for the air to flow. The owners were argumentative and accusatory through our week long stay.

First of all I would like to point out that the rental property itself was great. I have no complaints about the property titled Villa Blue Sky Cape Coral, FL. We had a great stay in the place and the owner was very friendly. My review was on the property management company "Blue Sky Property Management." I had a less than successful experience dealing with this company. THE PROBLEM IS... VRBO would not post my negative review. They said that I violated their review guidelines. I reviewed the guidelines again and reposted to meet their satisfaction and I was rejected every time.

I tried booking several condos that were listed as available according to the calendar on VRBO, but then received emails back from the owner that they were NOT available. In each case, the calendar was supposedly updated a day or two beforehand. Owners shouldn't be allowed to advertise falsely that a unit is available when it actually is not. I won't use VRBO again!

It is just very misleading. On the site is says taxes not included, yet they have published nightly rates that include the tax. What happens later, do they again add in the tax since the site clearly says taxes not included. Don't trust sites that do this to the travelers.

This was our first renting a vacation home from VRBO. What can I say? Their Home Away commercials were very cute. Couldn't resist the dog in the commercial. We stayed at this home located at 307 North Signal Street in Ojai, California on 6/26, 6/27, and 6/28 2015. When we checked in, we were very pleased with the house as it looked just like the pictures shown on the website. We were relieved as it was our first time renting a house through VRBO.

My husband and I recently had a terrible experience with a VRBO rental, with the listing not being as advertised (AC not functioning, over 90+ degrees in the home, water the color of urine from the faucets, no drapery/blinds, lacking furniture, lacking basic kitchen necessities they advertised having, etc). When we asked to leave, and be refunded, we were denied by the owners. When I threatened to complain to VRBO or Amex for a chargeback, they instead withheld our $1000 cash security deposit. We now are taking them to court with an attorney. Despite our horrible experience, VRBO won't allow my negative review. I edited the review twice to "meet their guidelines", have called and emailed customer service, but they ignore me. I also think they will not accept bad reviews, or possibly they are bribing the owners under the table to pay them to not post. Who knows. But we will NEVER use VRBO or HomeAway again.

SEASIDE GETAWAYS - don't use this company. They hide the fact that half the houses are falling apart and that they have a bed bug issue in some of the homes. The sheets aren't always linen service so you are taking a chance of sleeping on the last guest's sheets.

Using the VRBO/Homeaway website we booked a condo for Thanksgiving 2015 week. On the website it says, in several places, 100% refund if canceled at least 30 days before arrival date. The owner's name and the exact address of the property is not revealed until you book & pay the deposit. As soon as I received the contract from the owner, I became very concerned.

I checked rates thru VRBO. I was instructed to call 888 998-1894. The condo St. John villas St. John USVI was booked at the price they listed. I checked more weeks & same thing. They are advertising prices & no dates are available at price quoted on VRBO.

If you are thinking of listing your property on a commercial vacation rental website AVOID HomeAway/VRBO. My log cabin has been listed with this company for years. Recently the company has made MAJOR changes in their marketing and rental processes, a business move to increase their profits BUT with detrimental consequences to the homeowner.

The beach house we rented only had positive reviews. I wondered why. We rented it anyway and stayed a week. After our review, I wrote a review of the pros and cons but it was never posted! I gave an honest review with the good and the bad. How can we use these rental sites if the owners have a choice to post what they want?

I recently posted a review on VRBO for the above property. I made a mistake when I got back and without discussing it with my wife ask if it were possible to stay again. Without detail, I listed each problem after changing my mind and the owner stated that I "blackmailed" her by putting an honest assessment of the property and my stay there because I didn't get a total refund when she contacted VRBO. This is false. The unit was antiquated and I ignored it. The owner contacted VRBO and stating that I said "if I didn't get a full refund," I'd post the review. I did ask for a price ADJUSTMENT. Not a full refund. The review was removed after the OWNER contacted VRBO and in her reply to me stated that she had never gotten anything other than 5 stars and that it was "sour grapes" on my part.

I have rented on VRBO for many years and have had good experiences until this past February. Found a house in Florida that we wanted to rent. When the inquiry came back it was not owned by an individual but a Travel company in England and managed by a local property management company. We decided to go ahead with the booking, much to our dismay. We got to the rental and the lock box code provided was wrong. I then spent $10 on my cell phone making long distance calls to the emergency number for the property management company to get the code. Finally into the rental and we thought all is good now. No such luck - the pool heat that we paid for was not on. Again tried to call the property management company but it was the weekend and the office was closed and this was not classed as an "emergency."

This is a company that gouges and gouges and gives you very little in return. You are held hostage to doing things their way, or you appear so low on their listing, it's pointless to even be there. For example, we are in the Cayman Islands and have a bank account on the island. They insist on having the ability to deposit right into our US bank account! Well not everyone lives in the USA, but you are punished if you don't. They are not fair in how they have you listed. I used to be #1, now I'm on page 2. They keep on coming up with schemes to take more money, like adding more pictures. If you don't pay to put more on the site, well those that do appear higher.

On April 3, 2015, I entered into a rental contract for Dec 26-Jan 2 of this year, and paid the deposit. Then on June 3, 2015, I received an email stating that my reservation had been cancelled, deposit refunded and remaining balance cancelled. I immediately replied to the email asking why the reservation had been cancelled. I called HomeAway/VRBO to see if this was a mistake. They said that there was nothing that they could do to help me other than providing the owner's phone number to me. I also attempted to reach ** by phone (the name of the property owner changed during the time period of 2 months, yet the phone number remained the same), but I was only able to leave voice messages.

VRBO advertises condo rental units in Breckenridge CO with associated reference number, shows pictures of the unit, provides a detailed description of the unit HOWEVER, the unit you actually rent could be any unit. The listing are generic! Clearly, false advertising, lying, deceitful and deceptive. If I didn't ask for the actual number of the condo, I would not have been told that the unit I picked from online pictures was not the one we would get.

Rented luxury condo at 201 in Iron Horse, North Star. The rate was 2000.00 week with cleaning. This rate was the same all summer. We were there June 3-10... listing advertised being in the village of north star and how great it was to be right in the middle of restaurants, theater, gondolas for hiking, etc. None of these, except 2 restaurants were available. We stayed there to be able to take gondola hiking. No mention in listing that services unavailable some of the year. Left 2 messages for owner, unreturned, and VRBO has not published my review.

We have about VRBO 30 listings. Recently they have created insurmountable procedures to getting info from potential guests. We are through providing them 10k+ year. If you want to "live" on VRBO's dashboard and pay all the commissions then you are perfect for them.

Rented a place in Vancouver downtown. It was listed as "Brand New" very quiet neighborhood. We were told we would have parking right in front of the condo for $20.00 per day. After talking to some of the residents we realized we paid $180.00 in cash for on street parking which she pocketed. Called the city and a permit was $10.50 per week. When we called her on this she talked in circles and told us this was a service she provided. When we walked into the building, the very old building, there was a sign posted that it was treated for bedbugs!! This 1938 so called brand new condo seemed ok though. After getting the tour of the place, it seemed nice enough. After she left we started to look around and found that the entire kitchen was run by extension cords running all along the walls. The oven was so filthy we could not use it. We had to take the carpet outside and clean it, disgusting.

Watch out for VBRO (and vacation home rental companies like it)--some homes are truly represented--and it seems many are not. So from rental experience--try to visit or send someone to visit the home you plan on renting. Only the too good to be true pros are mentioned and photographed in the write ups. It's pretty shocking when you arrive. Before you rent--ask the owner or property manager to tell about the cons of the property to try to get a feel for what the property is really like.

I booked with a property owner named ** for a cottage on the bay in Gulf Breeze, Florida through VRBO. This was done several months before the scheduled trip and I made a large down payment to her thinking that I was scheduled for a summer vacation. A few weeks before the trip I received a notice to make my final payment but as I tried to push the pay now button, it wouldn't go through. I was promptly emailed that the payment was cancelled. Owner told me that VRBO had double booked but upon contacting them I found out that she was alone responsible for booking.

I would never use their site again. I was looking for a house rental in Washington. I booked what I believed to be a "house" on VRBO and when we arrived it turns out to be an apartment rather than a house. So we are now spending our quiet romantic vacation cramped under somebody's house with them thumping above us with very little privacy. I do not the listing has changed since we booked it and the price has dropped almost $100 compared to what we paid and now is clearly listed as an apartment. When I went to lodge a complaint it will take days to process by then we will be back in California. VERY VERY annoyed after 12 hour drive getting here. Not at all what we expected or wanted. I can supply a receipt when I am back home.

I rented a house in Temecula CA. On the VRBO website in May 2015 The pictures were beautiful and it received great reviews; 5 stars from everyone. The house on the outside was beautiful and the garden and views spectacular, however, the inside of the house was dirty and smelled bad, the beds were uncomfortable and the bathrooms were unusable. When I tried to post an ACCURATE review on this house VRBO refused to post it. I rewrote the review according to their "guidelines" and they still have not posted it and have closed my account. Renters BEWARE... you may not be getting reliable information from this website.

We reserved an apartment in NYC for a week from Ideal Oasis through VRBO. When I walked into the Ideal Oasis lobby it was full of disgruntled people. There were several different parties waiting there for their apartments to become available. They were all being told that they were waiting on the cleaning people to bring the key back to them. It was already after 5 pm and 2 hours after the apartments were supposed to be available for check in. While I was waiting, another person called and said their key didn't work for the apartment they were trying to get into. After 2 employees did some looking around at their stash of keys, they discovered they had given him the wrong key.

We rented VillaVerde1 #5 Tamarindo, Costa Rica (May 19-24). It was disgusting with barely or no running water depending on the day, could not flush toilets, we could not take showers or do dishes, smelled like sewer in the condo and all along the street. The property manager clearly did not care. I feel taken advantage of, it was unhealthy and am having health issues since, not to mention my hard-earned money was taken. This rental should be taken off the VRBO rental list completely. Where is the quality control? This property is managed by Longasta real estate **. He acted like he could care less and why should he? He had our money. I want my money back as it was like living in a sewer for 5 days.

Condo rented in Branson MO was so unacceptable we could not stay there. Carpets were disgustingly stained and unclean. Sofa was stained and cushions sagging and uncomfortable to sit on. But the very worst part was the horrible smell of mold. Contacted owner who chose to keep all of our money even though he knew we would not be staying there at all. Almost $900 spent for absolutely nothing.

My house was not even listed with them. One of my enemies put a bad review on me and they listed it as a review for VRBO on another one of my properties. I called and told them how is it possible for them to post a review on a house that does not belong in their advertising. They posted it anyway.

I have been a member since 2009. The yearly costs have continued to rise. For the important rental inquiry time, they had my marker placed in Virginia on a golf course. I called and spoke to a representative whom stated he could not locate us on Lake Gaston, although two neighbors in our cove are listed with them. I have received one booking this summer, which is a repeat customer. Every other year I have been entirely booked. My prices have not been raised. I find it very odd. This is my last year with VRBO.

I have spent many hours trying to find a place in Chicago for an upcoming trip. What I have found on VRBO breaks down into 1 category: places that say they are available that aren't. Either calendars aren't updated after someone rents a place or they have different requirements than they list on the site - like 6 day stay requirement when the site says 1 day or 3 days. Most of these places you need to email to find out this information, so it takes you several days to get a load of responses that basically say you are out of luck. I asked a couple of these places why the site doesn't reflect this information and they have all said that VRBO isn't the primary way that they do business, so they just don't bother. Well that's what I suggest regarding VRBO - don't bother you will end up annoyed and frustrated and have nothing to show for it.

I'm sure I could tell you this cottage is lovely if I actually got to spend the night in it. Myself & 5 other girlfriends settled on a this cute little cottage for a girls' trip & 40th birthday celebration. The cottage was booked & deposit paid over a month in advance. We all made the track from Vancouver, BC to Seattle. When we arrived in Seattle, one hour before we were suppose to check into the cottage, we got an alarming phone call... THEY HAD DOUBLE BOOKED US!!!

I began using VRBO and VacationRentals.com in September 2014. Within a couple of months, I received a warning message that my account was going to be restricted due to violating policy and not accepting all bookings and payments through their payment system. Never have I taken a payment outside of their system, not once, not ever. In fact, on my own website I had all of my listings, 45 of them to be exact, linked to my VRBO listings because I wanted the Damage insurance that comes with my VRBO bookings and to avoid the security deposit hassle. After talking to customer service, they removed the warning, only for it to appear again a couple of months later. I again talked to customer service and they once again removed it, both times telling me they didn't know why it was happening.

I have rented a condo through VRBO HomeAway on April 3rd, 2015. The company renting the condo - Avanti Way. I was promised by **, agent at Avanti Way that my deposit will be returned the following week. It is now month and half and I still have not received my deposit. All attempts to contact the agency, calls and emails, including attempts to contact the manager of the agency, remained unsuccessful. I greatly appreciate your help!!

done.

We had a fantastic week in Sand Pointe 124 on Sanibel Island. The condo was very warm and inviting and full of many extras to make our stay wonderful. The condo provided awesome views of the ocean both day and night and was centrally located near many great restaurants. We would highly recommend this unit and have already booked our stay for next year.

I have a guest currently in my vacation rental property. This guest booked months in advance for her holiday and according to my dashboard, the guest made three payments which all went through. However, now that the guest in my place, only two of the three payments from VRBO were disbursed to me even though on my dashboard it says all three have been disbursed, on the same day. I have dealt with five different people at VRBO, and get a different story every time. The confusion and lack of care is astounding to me along with the stock replies i.e. "We are doing all we can" which means every time I call they simply send an email to the office that disburses payments.

I own a house that is listed through VRBO. I have been reading these complaints. I am here to tell you that Owners are being treated equally as bad as our potential customers. It used to be you got a request because the customer found you through VRBO and you were able to take over the booking and get on with it. Now VRBO wants to handle ALL aspects of the booking, including taking the money, holding it for you until after the guests stay (read - collect all that interest instead of you getting the $).

I have utilized VRBO for many years. Just recently switching back after long-term rental for 5 years. First 3 months went wonderful with requests and bookings. I paid for a feature ad and am unsure of why I have not experienced any new inquiries or bookings since doing so. My home is in the Corridor area of Cabo. I have 5 star reviews from all recent guests and the house is very reasonably priced. The listing order has been revised to include specific areas which I tried to explain to their customer service were actual housing development areas and that my specific area is not listed. Point being, if you are not familiar with Cabo, you will not search Cabo - Corridor Areas - Other Corridor Areas, 3 different searches required to get to my property.

The site is OK for renters, but they aren't the customers of Home Away/VRBO because renters deal primarily with property owners. The property owners are the customers of HA/VRBO & they seem to agree that they are HORRIBLE!! Because they are the largest, they seem to think that they have a monopoly, so they can care less about their customers/property owners. I have been with using Home Away & VRBO for over 7 years. I have 3 properties listed with each, i.e. 6 listing at the highest levels offered. Last year I paid them over $7,000, but I won't be renewing my subscriptions because I am getting no bookings. That's because my listing priority is so low. For example, on Home Away using all applicable filters, my 2 BR cabins are # 54 & 55 out of 150. Without filters, & on VRBO it's even lower. The problem is that they keep changing priority criteria so they can get more $ & some recent priority requirements are things I don't control.

Arrived at 7:00 P.M. in Jerusalem. After one hour of chasing ** for the key, he appeared. We dumped our bags and went to get dinner. Upon returning, we were overcome by the filth. The shower leaked so badly then I fell in the watery "bathroom". Exhausted, we fell asleep. Checked into Leonardo Plaza where they told us of two other couples from last week with same experience. Asked for a refund less the one night and was told to go to H-ll.

I am trying to book a vacation rental on VRBO but can't seem to get by the bait and switchers. Seems like the properties that I like are always booked for 'my dates' but they are happy to help me find something else. C'mon VRBO, get your anti-fraud crap together! Instead of burying your link to report a fraudulent listing, why don't you embrace it like all the other reputable sites and manage this problem? It appears you are enabling or even promoting this activity for the listing revenue but regardless of which it is, I'm going to a local Realtor to book my trips from now on. I'm done with you until you get your ** together.

So I booked a condo in Navarre, FL in June 2014, paid a $200 deposit owing $675 more by March 3rd, 2015 so we cold take our family vacation this year. Vacation was to begin April 4th, 2015 and end April 11th, 2015... as the date was getting closer we had some questions for the owner so we contacted VRBO to get owner's information only to find out they couldn't find our reservation at all or even the property listing. Finally found it under my husband's name and gave us property owner info. After calling at least 30 times that day we finally speak with her, she states she no longer owns the property so now where do we go, who has our money?? Contact VRBO again to let them know she no longer owns property and they state that the only thing I can do is file a complaint towards her, so I fill out that paperwork and email it back to VRBO in which they give her 7 days to respond in what happened.

I found a listing in Akumal, Mexico, over Christmas thru VRBO's sister site, HomeAway. I sent an inquiry, along with dozens of others. Many came back as already booked and I just filed or deleted the emails. I received one email that said they had had a cancellation. The first thing I did, because with dozens of inquiries, I couldn't remember the listing, was to look it up. Sure enough, it was listed as available and within my price range so I responded that I was interested.

Researched the VRBO website and tried to rent the property unsuccessfully. Called the 800 number to clarify and secure the rental. On this call I found out that the rental was available, but the rental cost was 3 times what was posted on the website. This is a classic case of bait and switch. TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!!!

While searching for rental home for a week in La Quinta for next year, we found a home that was handled by a company called Presented by LUXE Vacation Homes. We selected our dates and were quoted $2,100.00. When we sent the email trying to complete the rental, we were sent an email informing us the price was actually $4,244.00. I called the company immediately. I was told that the quotes on HomeAway did not include "taxes". Really? 2K in taxes? When I told the woman I would stay away from any property managed by them, she said, "good". Nice. To add insult to injury, I am now receiving spam emails from luxury business in the La Quinta area, courtesy of this untruthful property management company.

VRBO's new search functionality for travelers is a failure. Their original map-based searching was simple and effective. It worked like this for the USA - Pick a state from the US map, then pick a region from the state map, then you got a list of cities to explore. Travelers could return to that list of cities and explore all the hidden nooks and crannies out there. It worked for over six years for me.

On the road to a vacation rental in FL, the real estate agent renting the property told us not to come as the rental payment had been removed from his account so he had changed the entry pin and we would not be allowed in the unit. The agent at HomeAway/VRBO had returned the payment as "the bank" had informed them the payment was fraudulent. The credit card company had no record of any contact with HomeAway. If the credit card company had been contacted they would have contacted me as I was the only party who could determine if the payment was fraudulent. Since I was on the road to the rental, there was a problem and I lost time and money to obtain payment so we could check in the following day.

We tried rent "Island House C 219 Ocean View Rentals, Hdtv, Wifi, St Augustine Beach Fl' for the month of June in 2015. After sending an email and getting no response, I called their reservations line 1 888-840-6538 on March 20th 2015 at around 6pm cst. The agent that answered told me that they don't respond to emails and that they would not honor the price listed on their website of $2,395 per month. They indicated that they could only accept $5000 for the month. This is twice the price that is listed. It seems misleading to post such a low price and not honor it.

After years of subscribing to VRBO without a problem lots of 5 star reviews joy of ownership. I allowed some so called vacationers book my property at a discount since it was off season, then they changed their minds and had to go another week. I told them to amend the lease and would allow the change since I had availability. They said they would, I told them where the key was from the 1st contract. They sent back the lease without giving me a damage deposit and no record of their drivers license or addresses. They never signed the new lease.

My wife and I rented a vacation rental March 3-11 2015 @ $175.00 per night for 2 persons.. in the complex known as TERRASOL Unit No. 107 Tortuga Building Cabo San Lucas Mexico VRBO Listing No. 461635. This property was/is managed by a Real Estate agent out of Las Vegas Nev. (**) Summerlinrealty www.specialistspm.com

I am a first time user of VRBO. I contacted a listing to see if I could stay there. The property owner only contacted me through my personal e-mail address. They requested I mail a security deposit check and then a month later mail another check for the full amount. Before mailing the check for the full amount, I wanted to double check the website, as I had not received any confirmation from them. Turns out I had no listed reservations. When I expressed I found this odd to the Owner of the vacation rental, they said it was easier for them to not go through VRBO.

They are obviously trying to become a website-only business with no employees, just revenues and of course higher profits. The latest glitch is "two-step-verification"--you can only sign into your account via your US cell phone. I guess nobody thought of ex-pats. So I have no way of getting into my listing to change calendar, prices etc. And no, they don't respond to owners' e-mails, I already sent two. I won't even get into their insistence on getting into the price quote business, when their system can't comprehend tax rates or seasonal prices. Clearly a company getting ready to go down the tubes.

I am a homeowner that has been a client of VRBO for years. I have been scammed by a renter. The renter was caught in her scam, and I confronted her with the situation. She in turn filed a complaint, prior to staying at my condo. I responded on March 5, 2015. On March 21st, I contact VRBO, due to the scam artist trying to reverse her cc transaction. The agent was very rude, and stated that "I never responded to the complaint." I said, "Pardon?" I responded, March 5, 2015. I was placed on a long hold, the agent returned, and apologized that she found the complaint. In regard to this incident, I have contacted VRBO approx. 12 times, and have been misguided. I have gone as far as security.

We had listed our French condo with VRBO for many years. Several years ago the company was purchased from the original people who started it and fees went up dramatically. We accepted this and moved on. However, recently VRBO has changed their listing policies again. It used to be that when you searched for properties in our town (Andlau) you would get 8-9 properties, all located within the town of Andlau. Now, if you search for rentals in Andlau, you'll get over 250 properties showing up, most of which can be up to 3 hours from Andlau. You would have to check on a map, every property listed in order to ensure that you are close to the place you have indicated.

First of all, I am a property owner/manager who pays for a listing on the VRBO website. So my experience isn't with a rental entity who has listings there, but with the VRBO corporation itself. I have an ongoing problem with the VRBO messaging interface. Basically, it's glitched out on two different bookings twice now, and message responses FROM my renters are coming back to me with two lines that say that I have "responded to your message" then a long rundown of all the rental information and then the entire message thread. No new information, my most recent message is not in the thread, nor is the renters response to me. Any attempt to respond to these messages generates the exact same response to my renters and myself. Is this what I'm paying for?

My family and I booked a home at 5524 Gregg Street owned by ** (http://www.vrbo.com/620146) for an upcoming wedding in September. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we were forced to cancel our reservation. According to their listing, the cancellation policy states that a 100% refund will be issued if the booking canceled at least 30 days before arrival date. I promptly notified the owners of the cancellation on February 2nd, more than 7 months in advance of our reservation. ** responded with the following, "Sorry to hear but we can certainly understand and thank you for notifying us early. We are happy to issue a full refund. This is a cash flow business and we will do that as soon as our next reservation comes in which shouldn't be too long."

We just spent 3 days here and we're shocked at how 'icky' this house is. It smells so strongly of dog urine and mold that we didn't even want to stay here once we walked in. The carpet isn't clean, the dining room chairs are gross (stained), and that would be an easy fix. The windows haven't been washed, so the view is marred by that. Our sheets had stains on them and we were not sure they had been washed. The only decent areas were the 2 bathrooms. This place is perfect for frat boys bringing their dogs.... for families, no. We were very disappointed.

I inquired about a property in Puerto Rico, called Playa Azul, Laquillo Beach, Puerto Rico, from ** & some dude named **. She uses him to get your credit card information, saying he is your "contact person when you arrive". Problem is, their mouth does not match their contract so I did not sign it. I called back in 5 minutes and told ** to give me back my "refundable" $250.00 deposit, because nothing we spoke about is even remotely in the contract, that is in writing!

I rented a 3 bedroom, two bath condo that was in a development that was still under active construction and I was not informed of this. I was told pool and tennis court...neither of which is completed. Everyday at 6:30 am trucks rumble past the house and the beeping and dust-laden air prevails all day long! What is my recourse? I complained to the owner to no avail! How do I go about trying to get at least a partial refund? This is a two month rental at 3500 per month. My dream vacation is a nightmare! The owner's name is ** and the address is ** and the name of the complex is Gran Paradiso. Can you offer any advice?

Last year I rented a condo in Gulf shores, AL & it was the third condo in the list of the complex where we wanted to stay. I almost never found it again. We found out that Home Away is now putting rental companies, that charge way more than owners do, to put all of their condos first in the line of each complex. The condo we wanted to stay in was now #49 on this website of VRBO instead of number 3 like it was last year. I clicked on many of the first condos & was so shocked at the prices. They had gone up by at least $350.00 more per week.

We booked a short term rental, paid a 50% deposit and then had to cancel (4 months prior to booked dates/policy was 30 days prior) due to loss of my job. The homeowner, after nearly two months, has not refunded my $450 and ignores all attempts at communication. VRBO claims they are purely an advertising medium and can do nothing to help. Their website boasts about security and fraud protection, but provides none. VRBO seems to be more protective of the advertising homeowners, so if renters stop using their site, the homeowners will no longer need their advertising medium. VRBO either needs to be clear that they are strictly for posting ads, like a newspaper, or provide the protection they advertise. The false sense of security and loss of my money without any concern is beyond unacceptable!

In 2010 I began renting my beachfront condo to short-term transient guest to cover my expenses with this condo. Like so many other property owners, I turned to the service that I used myself, VRBO.com (acronym for Vacation Rentals By Owner). Initially, VRBO was nothing more than a classified ad site for property owners to post their properties in various categories based on location and amenities. Initially, the process was pleasing and enjoyable. Skip forward 5 years and there is not a day that goes by where I do not think of a way to escape the necessary evil in my life. VRBO!

I've used HomeAway or their affiliate VRBO for several years and not had a problem until this month when I lost $2000. I blogged this along with my seven mistakes at lizlies.org. I didn't buy "vacation protection" because it's outrageously expensive and I doubt you'd ever see a return despite the page on HomeAway claiming "Guarantee the rental meets your expectations." I realize they disclaim they are "facilitators" but so is PayPal, Amazon and eBay yet they work hard to provide conflict resolution.

My wife and I rented a house in Ecuador for almost 3 weeks. When we arrived, the property was not clean so we hired a person to clean it. Next it was never mentioned there was a busy highway between the house and the beach, very noisy starting at 5 am; internet did not work, phone did not work, microwave did not work and we did not have hot water. We contacted the property owners several times with no satisfaction. PROPERTY # 655761. I think we should be reimbursed at least part of the rent as this property was not as advertised. I wait for your response. THANK YOU.

As far as the 2 stars for VRBO/HomeAway goes, they're a big controlling company - practically a monopoly on the vacation websites - and I hope to God that some start-up vacation rental site knocks them off the ratings. But until then, I'll have to continue listing with this expensive, non-responsive company. REGARDING SCAMS - I'm a property manager. My VRBO account got scammed. People thought they were contacting me, but they were contacting a scammer at my email address. Without going into details, it was incredibly easy for the scammers (who we found out were operating out of Hayward, California) to hack our accounts and take over. They were offering Travellers a discount if they paid their booking deposit within 24 or 48 hours.

VRBO, which is a subscription based service, unilaterally and without notice imposed a new fee on subscribers compelling them to offer their guests a "Rental Guarantee" to which only VRBO profits.

We have been with VRBO for 3 years and this year, we have had it!! We have a lovely rental property and every time it is rented, VRBO has deposited our money directly into our bank account. This year, they changed that without notifying us. We have a renter paying us for July. The first payment is being held by them until the person checks in, which has never happened to us. We have a 5-star rental home (5-star by every single review) and yet they want to keep our money for 6 months. I have tried for 2 months to get resolve and I keep getting the "runaround!" I am frustrated BEYOND MEASURE!

We rented the Bluff house on the Bahamas through VRBO. The location of the house is nice but we had serious problems. Firstly, the number of rooms is not as advertised: the housekeeper is staying in the house for the first night (on instructions by the owner). This takes away one room and besides this room is in a very poor state. The other rooms were dirty; in one the toilet was not flushed and there were hairs everywhere. Worst of all was that the water tanks were not working and we were therefore without fresh water halfway through our stay. The owner was not able to fix this.

We rented a house in Grass Valley on Rollins Lake Rd. It was a beautiful house but there were some issues. No internet minutes available, outdoor speakers disconnected, pool murky. Turns out the house was put up for sale between the time we rented and the time we arrived. Evidently the renter's were renting it out as a vacation rental. We spent our time but still have not gotten our 750.00 deposit back. Another group we know went shortly after us and they have not received their deposits back either. The person that rented said "we don't have it," so they illegally spent our deposit money. I have their names but am not sure what to do.

We rented a property advertised on VRBO. The property was not as depicted and was a dump so we didn't stay. The owner kept our security deposit and rental fee and we had to take them to small claims to recover our money. VRBO did nothing but protect the owner and still allows them to advertise even though we won in small claims court. VRBO does not protect consumers and knowingly allows owners to misrepresent their properties. Beware of VRBO they are not responsible or accountable.