Vrbo

As a property owner I am advising everyone out there to not use VRBO to rent out your property. They do not support their property owners and they don’t lift a finger to help you with any question or any situation that arises. Their customer service is absolutely horrible. The people that answer the phone can never answer a single question and they always promise to create a case number and escalate the complaint or situation up the chain of command. They give you a case number and tell you that somebody above them will be reaching back out to you within 24 to 48 hours, but time and time and time again you are ignored and nobody ever follows back up with you. So if you wish to protect your home and your rental business you should definitely stay away from VRBO until they get their act together and develop a proper and helpful system for customer service, which is completely nonexistent as it currently stands. Any issue that arises usually takes over an hour on the phone and result is no resolution and no proper answers because nobody there and seems to know what they’re doing. They’re happy to take your money but definitely have ZERO interest in helping you or resolving issues!! Just the WORST!! Their owners app doesn’t even work right - it doesn’t show you much of the info you need to see & access as an owner and the company has known about this problem for at least the last few years because they tell you not to use the app when you call in because it’s “still not working properly”. For years it has not worked properly and they’ve known and haven’t bothered to fix it. It seems like a bunch of kindergartners run this company. It’s just awful which I guess is why there are SOOOO many complaints on here and why they have lower than a 2.0 rating. I guess they just don’t care.

This is an amazing company to use for your vacation rentals. The website interface is fairly easy to use and I like that it has the option to favorite the properties you are interested in. This makes it easier to narrow down. It is also very detailed which can be helpful while trying to find the perfect location!

Some of my most memorable vacations were set up through Vrbo. It use to be that Vrbo was the cheap alternative to getting a hotel in a vacation destination. However, I have found that over the years the prices have steeply been climbing, even one of the spots that we have frequented. Still, I feel Vrbo is the best source for planning your next vacation. In the long wrong, you typically can find a better spot for a cheaper spot and all of the owners that I have worked with are friendly and caring. I have had a great experience using Vrbo.

VRBO is the worst company/customer service I have ever interacted with. VRBO has zero sense of responsibility or accountability for its properties, so if someone places a misleading or fraudulent property listing, VRBO leaves you in the dark trying to get your money back from the person who scammed you. They were hard to get a hold of, evasive, poor communicators, and when you finally pin them down on it, worthless as a company and lacking in any kind of integrity. Whenever I give recommendations on a vacation or vacation stay, I always make sure to say "Make sure not to use VRBO", because using them for anything can only be described as one thing, a mistake.

I will NEVER use VRBO again. They do not stand behind their rentals. I booked a home in Florida with them in March 2021. We were supposed to leave on February 8 and were notified on January 20 that VRBO canceled our reservation because the owner sold the house. VRBO made no effort to work with us to find alternate lodgings especially at that late date. The real insult came when we looked for the refund and found out that the owner of the house was from Great Britain and everything was converted to pounds . When it came time for the refund, the dollar had dropped and we received less than what we paid for his reservation. VRBO said they had no control over this. We also asked for a refund of our insurance policy and again VRBO said I'm sorry but we have no control over this. Well VRBO if you have no control then I have no other choice than to find other avenues to book my rentals. Buyer Beware!

My last vacation rental was through VRBO and the experience was great the house was exactly the way it was portrayed and it was very comfortable stay

We have used VRBO for trips to New York City, St. Thomas, and Myrtle Beach. Great security and easy to get in touch with owners. I feel very secure using this to find some great homes in other areas. Makes travel much more fun!

I just started to use Vrbo this year. I rented a place in the Thousand Islands, NY area and changed my mind several times, necessitating that cancellations & new reservations needed changing. There was never a problem doing either. The customer service they provided was terrific. I plan to use them for my 2022 vacation next!

It was a great vacation. The only negative was the miniature coffee pot that did not make but two cups. The coffee did not get hot or stay hot while making. It did not meet the standards of the rest of the rental. Thank you. Never a customer of turnkey but Vrbo yes.

VRBO is awesome. As new industries develop, VRBO has become a safe and trusted property rental source. It offers great properties, good on terms, contracts are easy, and communication with property owners is simple. I love using VRBO for the vast selection in properties available for any event or vacation.

vrbo.com is the industry leader and standard. I have been with them for 15 years.....4 different properties through the years in two states and two countries. No one produces results that come close to vrbo. I have seen the evolution, growth, change they have gone through and responded to. Thank you for all my bookings - don't know what I would have done with out you vrbo!

We have used VRBO for several years! They show the property accurately and list numbers and information for the owners. Pricing is listed and insurance is available and usually have several units at a complex listed. We don't look anywhere else!!

I have used VRBO for several years now to find vacation homes and properties to rent. We usually have more than 5 going with us, so we cannot use hotel room...it would cost too much to pay for more than one room a night...SO for us, it is much better to get a whole house or condo...with plenty of room, a kitchen, grilling area, and our own porch. Also, it is great for larger gatherings of family members!

VRBO had the chance to show loyalty to me as a customer and did not. There is an owner on VRBO with a listing that that now has 3 very similar negative reviews. The bottom line is that it’s fraudulent and VRBO is not doing a thing to help me recoup my money. After a handful of positive experiences, I will now never trust VRBO with my business again. Very disappointed and discouraged.

Stay away from using VRBO. Use a site that does not allow owner to rent directly to you. VRBO does not assist you if you use them to rent then have problems or if the property is not as listed. Being that you have to pay before you can even rent, the owners can false advertise then refuse to refund you anything. I rented a house in SC using VRBO. The property was completely false advertised and we had numerous problems while there. The owner refused to assist and then after I posted a negative review, VRBO removed it and said the owner accused me of lying. Even after I sent them texts and pictures of the property they still refused. So the owner can continue ripping people off and vrbo will do nothing to assist and then will remove your negative review if you post. The owners know this, so they just keep doing the same thing to renter after renter. Use another trusted site to rent. Vrbo is the worst site I have every used to book a vacation on. Never again!!!!

We booked a property in Florida towards the end of May for an August 14th vacation. On August 1st received email that booking was canceled due to water leak in vacation home. As per email we would be refunded the full amount and were to contact Vrbo to decide for a replacement property. We contacted customer service, our information was collected, and we were to wait for an email response from the cancelation team. After continuous attempts to reach out Vrbo due to no response from cancelation team we continue to receive the same message from customer service. We are told that we must wait for the cancelation team and that they will respond between 24 to 48 hrs. It is August 9th as I write this, and we have not heard from Vrbo. We ended up renting another property through Air B and B. Due to short window, all properties on any Travel website were twice the price. We had no choice but to pay double the price for a rental for August 14th. Vrbo has the worst customer service. They were supposed to find us a replacement and defer the cost of higher price and never responded. All correspondence is done through email, and you cannot get a person that is working on your case. We have used Vrbo on numerous occasions but never had an issue until now. But you never know what you get until you have a problem. They are not on the same level as Amazon’s Customer Service. I will never use them again or recommend them. Go with a different Travel company.

The booking experience went smooth and the property owner was great to work with. We had a great rental experience. My dissatisfaction is with VRBO's policy that limits the time I can post a review. I am a busy person and the review was not a top priority. When I dedicated time for the review, about 5 weeks after my stay, VRBO gave me a message that my ability to write a review had expired. I called customer service, who contacted the property owner, The property owner was great to work with again, but could not over ride the VRBO policy. I just got off the phone again with VRBO customer Service and Mark reiterated the policy. I asked them to over ride the policy, but they would not. My property experience was great, but my VRBO experience was terrible. VRBO does not know how to take care of customers who have simple requests.

I have used VRBO my first time, I had to go to Florida for a family reunion, it was wonderful to rent a home for the amount of time I stayed and I would do again. I had everything I needed for my vacation. Thank You!!!

I have vacation rental property listed with VRBO and also have rented vacation property through their site IMHO they are # 1 in customer service..highly recommend to everyone... Totally 100% pleasure to do business with...

I was referred to you through a friend. We have not took the trip yet but have it booked. The condo owner has been very helpful and it was easy to work with the company to complete the arrangements for payment. I found a good variety of condo's to match my needs and it was easy to search your site. I will follow up after our vacation. Annie

Vrbo is a great resource for finding affordable vacation housing and we use it all the time! Every time we have booked through them, the experience has been pleasant, the unit well taken care of, and overall a great experience.

I have loved almost every place we've every rented through VRBO. We usually always have a kitchen which also helps to make travelling easier. I feel like we always get better places when we use VRBO as opposed to staying in hotels.

Had an amazing experience with VRBO! Rented a beautiful home in Austin Texas for a girls weekend, and the property was incredible! The interface with the app made communication with the host easy and check in and check out through the app and website was great too! The properties listed on VRBO are a level above other home rental sites!

The VRBO owners app is not user friendly and CONSTANTLY glitches. As a host, I’m unable to get guest’s messages or replies from guests, which results in losing out on bookings and taking care of my guests and when calling VRBO, it goes no where, as we all know VRBO‘s customer service is non-existent and the WORST in the industry! VRBO is a wannabe company that charges way too many fees and does not deliver a good service or cares about their hosts or customers. Shame on you VRBO for horrible customer service and a really bad owners app.

We booked the original stay 2 weeks in advance, flew to our destination, and then at 3:59 pm (1 minute before check-in) our host cancels. We were on the phone with customer support, on hold that is, for over an hour trying to get help with the situation and find another stay. (YOU CANNOT BOOK THE SAME DAY THROUGH VRBO) So either way, we were screwed for the first night. We thought we lucked out by finding another Vrbo listing and the owner said we could arrive a day early no problem. What a relief... Only to arrive after dinner and find that there were already people staying there, so we left... and the owner wanted to refund only 50% of the $1,300 bill even though we were no longer able to stay there. My boyfriend and his army vet brother ended up having to get two hotel rooms at a Holiday Inn instead. After the second bad experience, I started writing reviews to warn people and he is still on the phone with support... going on 58 minutes. Not only that, but the refund is not immediate... it will take several days to get the $2,000+ back which will be hindering our overall vacation. I don't understand how this 'company' is in business at all. Terrible experience. We will stick to hotels in the future. It's not worth the stress of not knowing if you have a place to sleep when you get off the airplane.

If you have no issues with the property, VRBO is fine. If there are ANY issues, you are out of luck (unless your travelers insurance covers the issue). VRBO is basically non-existant if there are any problems - all they care about is that you made the payment, after that, everything is between you and the property owner. I would STRONGLY recommend that if you find a property you like on VRBO, that you try and search for the same property on other websites; ones which actually help and suport the travelers. As the name of the company states, VRBO is vacation rental by OWNER. The owner has final say in everything once you have paid for the reservation.

Unable to get money back from trip planned prior to COVID. Flights and island canceled and yet VRBO does nothing. Their canned statement saying they encouraged the property owners to refund at least half fell on deaf ears when our property owner refused to even consider it. I was given the option to visit again at a later date for half the rate. But no refund to the sum of over $10k . Numerous complaints to VRBO and still they would do absolutely nothing. I don't feel that I should pay any money to either their fees or the property owners. Those owners had a mortgage to pay whether I was renting their space or not. Not only that, but regardless of having to cancel the trip, there was no way they could rent that place out to anyone else due to the pandemic. VRBO had every ability to force the property owners to refund funds and yet they would not. I absolutely, emphatically would never use this company for any travel plans. They DO NOT stand by the traveler. They are difficult to get on the phone, the customer service is contracted with people outside of the country and even if you leave messages to return the call, you never hear from them. DO NOT USE VRBO!

I had just had a really bad experience with Airbnb (an issue mainly due to lack of cleanliness) so I decided to try Vrbo for the very first time. I finally found a space that was a new listing, but had one 5-star review so I figured I would be ok trying it out. I arrived 3 hours earlier than my check in time just to see the location of the house. I wasn’t happy with the location, since it felt unsafe for me as a woman on her own, to drive at night. However, after the bad experience at Airbnb, I really didn’t want to make a big deal of things or create any kind of conflict. I arrived and saw one woman, who I later found out was the owner of the house, cleaning. I stayed outside of the property for 15 minutes while I made a phone call, then decided to leave since I had arrived too early. I did notice that throughout my whole texting conversation with the owner she kept mentioning that she had a cleaning & repair crew that would go replace the washer (and that’s why I had to wait to check in until 4pm). I noticed the whole time I was there that I only saw her, one person, and thought it was odd that she had felt that it was necessary for her to lie about having a “cleaning crew”, but again, I didn’t want to create any conflict. I just needed a clean, safe space to spend 2 weeks in quarantine before heading home to my grandparents. When I finally checked in, the owner was still in the garage. I immediately felt uncomfortable that she was there at the property because I had been very specific about going out of my way to isolate before heading home to my 80-year old grandparents. Again, I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I also noticed that there was a washer and a large amount of trash right by the entrance. Not a good view, it immediately felt like a very lack-of-class move and like she didn’t’ even actually bother making the place look nice for her guest. Again, I didn’t say a word. The driveway and entryway were full of dead leaves, grass was overgrown, it just felt cheap and like the owner had not even made a small effort to make the place look decent for me. I walked inside and took a quick tour of the place just to check if I saw anything crazy. 1. Kitchen zinc still had a piece of cilantro on the side. (Not a big deal, but big warning flag that maybe she had not cleaned the space as well as she promised). 2. One of the toilets still had brown spots all over. I immediately took a picture, since I’m assuming that was feces that she didn’t bother to clean. I went to the other bathroom and even though it wasn’t super clean, I didn’t see any feces so I decided to just use that one. I didn’t want to create conflict and I brought my own cleaning supplies so I figured I could clean myself. I went back outside and started unpacking. She was still there for another 2 hours in the garage, which she said she used as storage. Again, I didn’t make a big deal about it. But it did bother me that I felt that she was invading my space. I know that it is her property, but I had paid a lot of money just to have privacy and it felt like she wasn’t respecting my space. It felt intrusive. Since day 1 I wasn’t able to sleep well because there was a very loud noise coming from outside or the walls right by the bedroom. Eventually I got up and searched for an animal outside or in between the plants but I wasn’t able to find anything. The noise kept on going and I was just so tired that I passed out and didn’t find out what it was. Next morning, I woke up and tried to watch the TV. It wasn’t working. I texted the owner and she was nice enough to come take a look. I asked her to please stay outside since I was quarantining. She did stay outside for 30 minutes but since she wasn’t able to fix the TV, she eventually came in. Again, I didn’t feel comfortable having her come inside, but I wanted to have a TV, so I allowed her to come in and stayed in my car for a little over an hour until she fixed it. I thanked her for helping me solve it and for wearing a mask like I had requested, but I did feel disappointed that she had not had the TV and space fully ready before my arrival and that I had to allow her into the home, when the whole purpose of me renting that space was to be able to avoid any kind of human contact. That night, I couldn’t sleep again with the animal noises, but she had been annoying the last time she was there, and I didn’t want to unintentionally open another window for her to come back in again, so I didn’t text her about it. About 2 days after this, there was a tornado warning and the alarms were ringing. I had not experienced this before and I immediately texted her since I didn’t know where to seek shelter or what to do. She only responded after the alarms and alerts were over. I understand that she doesn’t control the weather. However, I was disappointed that as a Vrbo Host, she didn’t have a safety manual or some kind of guideline letting people who didn’t grow up in the area know what to do in case of a tornado. Apparently, it was tornado season in Irving, TX so she would have been aware that a tornado was likely to happen. Up to this point, it’s all issues that bothered me but since I don’t like to create conflict, I simply let them go. However, the real horror story starts on Sunday, Nov. 29. I was very cold that day and decided to turn up the heater. I pressed the heater about 6 times but the temperature wouldn’t stay at 76, so I decided to text the owner very politely and ask her if the thermostat was working. Long story short, she went completely crazy after this. She started sending me screenshots of the current temperature of the home; that’s when I realized that she could see and control the temperature of the home from her phone. It’s not that the thermostat wasn’t working, but every time I tried to put the temperature above 70 (this is in late November), she would immediately turn it off. Then she started texting me non stop for hours, like a completely crazy person. She texted that she would come to the home next day and fix the thermostat because it was broken. It wasn’t broken, she just wanted to set it up so that I wouldn’t be able to set up the temperature at any point higher than 70. I was freezing and upset that I had paid so much money and this crazy lady didn’t even let me turn on the heater. In addition, she started sending me nonstop screenshots all evening and night letting me know that she was monitoring the temperature. She started sending me condescending texts saying that if I didn’t take care of the energy there wouldn’t be anything left for our children. I was in shock and immediately called Vrbo at least 20 times throughout the night because I kept on getting transferred and/or disconnected every single time. At one point I was even considering calling the cops because I honestly got so freaked out by her constant texts. At one point I begged her twice to stop texting/sending messages through the app. because I had to wake up early next day to work and she was still texting me screenshots of the temperature after midnight. She also kept on saying that she was going to show up next morning to “fix” the thermostat even though I very politely asked her to please not come during the day since I was busy working from home and in meetings and that I was also trying to quarantine. That’s when she proceeded to threaten me and tell me that she was going to just cancel my reservation and not issue a refund if I couldn’t keep the temperature under 70 degrees. She also said that I was lying and not quarantining because SHE HAD FOOTAGE of my boyfriend coming to visit me one night. I was creeped out, I felt like my privacy was being disrespected, the way she stated it as “having footage” really made me feel like I was being watched and it was such a disrespectful and condescending way to address a guest. I was shocked! I don’t know why I proceeded to politely explain that he was also quarantining, when it was none of her business. She was so offensive and I honestly felt a little threatened that if I said the wrong thing she would just show up. Her constant texts at that time of day and her previous behaviors the few times I had observed her in person made me feel like she wasn’t very balanced psychologically and I just didn’t’ want to risk it. I called Vrbo and let them know about the situation. One of their representatives even suggested I call the cops when I released access to the conversation that (thank God) was mostly texted through the app. However, with my plan to quarantine and how uncomfortable I was staying there and thinking about not wanting to trigger a psychologically unbalanced person, I let Vrbo know at 3 am Monday morning, November 30 that I was in the process of packing and I was going to leave first thing in the morning. I explained the situation, gave them access to the conversation, told them if she texted me one more time I would file a police report, and demanded a refund ONLY for the nights that I wouldn’t be staying there. I got one hour of sleep that night and at 6am packed everything into my car and left the property. While I was on the road driving for 10 hours, she started texting me. When I got a chance to stop at a gas station I simply blocked her number. This has honestly been the worst experience of my life. One could argue that I overreacted but as a woman alone (my boyfriend lives in another city 2 hours away from Irving, TX) a woman of color, a foreigner in Texas, I really didn’t want to risk it with the current social and political climate with someone clearly psychologically unbalanced. I consider writing reviews or complaints a waste of time. However, I am taking the time to write this because I’m in shock and I truly believe this situation was completely unfair and unethical. I felt threatened and Verbo not only was completely useless, but they’re still refusing to issue a refund for the transaction. This has been the worst experience of my life and no one that crazy and disrespectful should be allowed to rent/manage their property on any of these platforms and, most importantly, Vrbo shouldn’t be allowed to simply get away with horrible hosts, terrible bad customer service, and just keep my money without a fight when it’s simply unfair. I’m not even being unreasonable in spite of all the issues and requesting a full refund. I’m requesting the bare minimum, which is a refund for the 7 nights that I didn’t get to stay in the property because the owner made me feel threatened and a refund for the cleaning fee since she didn’t even bother cleaning the feces from one of the toilets. I’m still in shock and it’s unbelievable that businesses allow these situations to happen. Hopefully by submitting this to the Better Business Bureau, Vrbo will conduct an investigation and stop allowing her to rent or at least manage the property herself because she’s not equipped to do so with her disrespectful, controlling, condescending and threatening ways. Vrbo should also be investigated for not reacting properly, proving absolutely terrible customer service (I counted at least 30 phone calls within a 24 hour period and they were completely unable to help me in any way. I also kept on getting (perhaps intentionally?) disconnected and placed on hold at least 20 times) and for not accepting to issue a refund in a situation like this. Most importantly, I hope other consumers learn from my experience and decide to use a hotel instead of Vrbo. I will never use their services again and have already told my coworkers, family members and friends about this terrible experience. Unfair business practices should not be allowed and at least I wanted to fulfill my civic duty and report this owner/host, this company and share my terrible experience. Thank you for your time!

Terrible company. First I rented and paid for a Hawaii rental- got a confirmation number. Then 3 days later said price was wrong so had to pay more!!?? Vrbo would not budge to meeting in the middle or taking the blame and giving us the listed price or the responsibility for messing up! Just said find another one! Now I found a place to rent for next summer paid for it and received confirmation it was booked. The next day I got man email saying it’s not available so find another one basically! The dates were out there!!! Now I am stuck again without a place It was hard to find in the first place. What is the deal with VRBO?!? It sucks lately. Vacations are being ruined!!!!!!!

Great selection of homes at great prices. I was not a big fan of their COVID policy. I had to give up half of my deposit because i was not able to travel during my booking secondary to COVID.

Vrbo is a competitor of Airbnb and has similar listings. It has many of the same properties as Airbnb. My main complaint is that it is difficult to find your reservations on the website.

As per Government orders & Global pandemic dictates, we cannot travel. VRBO & Owner refuses to change our travel dates or refund or help out at all. After connecting with THOUSAND upon THOUSANDS of other travelers online in the same situation, it is clear that VRBO does NOT care about public safety and is more concerned about short term money gains versus long term reputation. This will be the end of them. AIRBNB did the right thing and changed their policy to serve their customer base in this emergency. Does VRBO think they are immune to social media? The airlines refunded us, the tours we booked were no problem, the ski resorts, the lifts, the rentals, the car rental company, etc. VRBO is the only one giving us problems. We are currently out $5k! We have saved for years for this. STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!! THEY DO NOT CARE ABOUT THEIR CUSTOMER BASE. WE WILL NEVER EVER BOOK WITH THEM AGAIN, AND WILL CONTINUE TO SPREAD THE WORD.

We rented property in Galveston, TX over a month ago. The property owner did NOT send us the code to enter the property. We call her all night long, with only options was sleep in our rented vehicle or pay last minute price for a hotel. We opted to pay for the hotel, assuming the owner would offer to at least reimburse since it was her fault completely. We owner finally contacted us the next morning with the code. Upon arriving at her property, while watching TV in the bedroom, the 9'TV picture turns off but the audio is still there. NOPE no timer is set and nothing in the setting was set either. We for her to reimburse for our hotel room, she informed us that she wasn't making any profit on the property...BLAH BLAH. Our nightly rate at her property was $68.33 and she offered to refund $65...HOW is that acceptable? I want Cleaning, Service Charge and Taxes reimbursed since we did NOT stay the three (3) nights we paid for. We have contact VRBO numerous times with no explanation or resolution. I travel at least 4 times a year and will never use VRBO again. Do your research, check and double check there are people that refused to do what is right so I publicly let other know.

VRBO withholding guests $3000 security deposit for 40 days! I have been an owner advertising on VRBO since 2001. Customer service is ABSENT for owners and renters. I rented to a repeat guest over Christmas. The guest paid a $3000 security deposit held by VRBO. As of today, over 40 days later, the guest has still not received their refundable deposit back. I have made 5 calls to VRBO and my guest has made 7 calls to VRBO and they continue to tell us there is a problem with the system. I have asked for a supervisor to call me 5 times and no one has called. VRBO is ruining my rental business. Do no use VRBO, they have no customer service.

I booked a condo in Asheville NC on Oct 29th for the month of November. condo was available on line and VRBO accepted my money for the monthly rent. I called the owner - property manager on Oct 30th for the access and he told me that condo has been rented till March!!. it has been 2 weeks now, i am calling VRBO everyday to collect my money back, explain everything from scratch to call center employees everyday, so far no real action taken. The owner took the property off the web site, sent a message to me and them saying he doesn't work with VRBO anymore and VRBO is saying they still need to talk to him before they pay my money back.!!!! Horrible set up, worst call center. DON'T USE VRBO OR HOME AWAY!! AirBnB is way better.

I have booked with VRBO/home away more times than I can count. My family and friends use them as well. All experiences have been good ones. As a loyal customer, I expect loyalty in return if something were to go wrong. In September of 2019 I booked a property for November 19. It was a home in Las Vegas for a half marathon race and mini family vacation. As always, I paid up front in full. In October of 2019 I was notified by VRBO via email that there was “possibly an issue with my upcoming booking” and to contact the owner. I did as they said and was upset by the owners response. He stated that VRBO had taken everything from him, shut down all his properties and left him bankrupt. He then notified me that not only was my booking cancelled but he had no funds to refund me my money for a trip that was more than a month away. I wasn’t too panicked at this time because I knew VRBO would take care of me with their “Book with confidence guarantee”. After all, it’s that what booking though a site like this is for? For security? Boy was I wrong. I first responded to VRBO’s initial email in which prompted me to a 1-800 number. I called this number and was lead through the ringer. They could not help me at this time. The lady said the owner had received a “serious complaint” and as a result had to be shut down. That is all she could tell me. She said she would expedite my case and I would receive a call I about 24hrs. 24hrs later, no call but another email.... stating that VRBO could not help me (with no explanation given) and that I needed to dispute the charge with my credit card company. I called VrBO 2 more times after this looking for answers... no one could give me any information other than “This is a unique situation” and I was finally told to stop contacting them. I am appalled to say the least. DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY. Airbnb provides a much better service with a guarantee they actually stick with.

VRBO booking guarantee is a complete falsehood. These are just 2 reasons for refunding a booking from their website. • If the property is significantly not as described, unsafe, or you are denied access, you must contact Customer Support within the first twelve (12) hours of the event. • If your reservation has been canceled less than 30 days from your stay and you are unable to locate a similar property available during the same period. I was also quoted this information over the phone by a representative-when I called because the owner – rented the first night of our trip to her current guest before we arrived. She refused to refund the night’s stay. She claimed it was up to VRBO to refund it – They told me this was her mix-up and she needed to refund it. I questioned the promise of the guarantee and I was told the above were reasons to refund a booking. I was dealing with the exact reasons given for a booking to be guaranteed by VRBO but was still denied a refund from either VRBO or the owner. They offered no concern that we were traveling a great distance and had nowhere to stay. After HOURS of trying to work this out through the message system and VRBO– the owner-Marj refused to honor the 2nd night of the booking then refused to refund the money for this night too. Marj flat out lied promising she would place a check in the mail to refund a portion of the cost. It has been 2 weeks. Do not trust this owner. Do not trust that your booking is secure because you booked with VRBO. Do NOT stay here. You may or may not have a room when you arrive. You will definitely not receive a refund and will have to pay for a 2nd night’s stay.

First of all we are a recently retired couple wanting to find a great place to take out entire family on vacation so we found called Camelot on Cinnamon Beach. This is a beautiful 7 bedroom, 7 bathroom home three houses from the beach. We booked this home 11 months in advance. We have 10 adults and 5 children. Upon arrival on Saturday, June 1, 2019, we found the swimming pool at the home had not been cleaned. As the children were so ready to jump in the pool we quickly called and they sent someone with a skimmer and said they would be back on Monday to clean the pool. My husband later that evening got into the pool with the kids. He got some water in his eye and it immediately started burning and turned red. For the rest of the week his eye was infected and by the middle of the week they were both infected. This was not a good way to start a vacation. On Monday evening we got all the food prepared to cook on the grill by the pool only to realize the grill didn't work. So we called and the same lady came and checked the grill and said yep, it doesn't work. She said she would have to get someone else to check it later. They finally came and cleaned to pool on Tuesday. They came on Tuesday and checked the grill and stated it was simply out of gas but they never returned to re-gas it. Did I mention the awesome movie theatre at the property also didn't work. We realized this after we had all the kids seated and ready with popcorn to watch the movie. Also, the first night my grandson found sand in his sheets. The kitchen garbage can stunk like it had never been cleaned......oh but wait....it gets better. Thursday evening my daughter in law had a big red bite on her leg. My son specializes in animal control and recognized this to be a BED BUG BITE. So, he checks the bed they were sleeping in and sure enough there were live bed bugs in the bed!!! He started checking his sons bed and also found red blood stain on the mattress where he was sleeping. So my son slept in another bed and his son moved to the sofa. First thing Friday morning we called and they sent a Professional Company to confirm BED BUGS which he did. He advised us not to sleep in either of the beds he found bugs and evidence of bugs. He told us that every stitch of clothing needed to be dried for 45 minutes in the dryer and all luggage to be scrubbed with soap and water. After he left I called VRBO and advised them and asked what to do. They said they would find accommodations for us for Friday, as we were supposed to leave on Saturday. They also had other guests checking in on Friday. I asked how they were going to be able to accommodate other guests if they were going to treat the house for BED BUGS?? They stated they had already relocated the next guests. So, I waited to hear from them. They later called and said they were unable to find accommodations for us and we could leave and they would refund one night. I told them we could not leave because we had to do laundry for 15 people and beach towels and scrub suitcases and would like to have until Sunday to complete this since the other guests had been relocated. After checking back with us they informed us that we would have to check out on Saturday as the people were coming after all. So, I assume it was not even treated for BED BUGS then and probably since then. We worked all day Friday without even getting to the beach as we were busy getting the laundry done and making sure as best we could that we didn't have any bugs with us. The Professional told us that the BED BUG eggs could live up to a year. So, I made a complaint to VRBO and told them we should be reimbursed for some of our trip since two nights were spend looking for bugs not to even mention all of the unsatisfactory issues, Bottom line they offered us $500 is we would sign a paper saying we would not give a review on social media, internet, etc. I told them I wouldn't accept hush money. That was just another insult to injury as far as I'm concerned. This is a million dollar home that they are not maintaining very well. A few things I just accepted but BED BUGS are not acceptable! They are nasty, leave really nasty bites and very hard to get rid of. Who thinks we deserve a refund? I just wanted to warn other people renting this property so you won't bring BED BUGS into your home. Totally unacceptable in my book.....or my BED!

DO NOT USE VRBO FOR YOUR TRAVEL!!!! Please pass this on to your friends and family and it will save them a lot of money and heartache. In October of 2018 my mom and I decided on a last minute trip to Hawaii for my birthday in December. After booking flights to Seattle and on to Hawaii I decided to save some money and try something new: VRBO. Even though some friends of mine had had trouble with a home they had rented in Florida through VRBO, cockroaches to be precise and lots of them, I was renting a newly remodeled condo in a well known property: Aston the Whaler at Kaanapali Beach, so I felt pretty comfortable with it. VRBO gave my info to BLACK ROCK RENTALS and I was contacted by them. I was surprised when they asked for all the money up front, including taxes and room cleaning fees, but I had every intention of going to Hawaii in December so I didnt think much of it and paid for ROOM #1113. Two days before we were to fly out my husband's father died in a freak accident and I had to cancel our flights and accommodation. Of course I wasnt expecting refunds, just vouchers or credit for future travel. Both Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines were wonderful. They were sympathetic and kind over the phone and with little effort I received a credit and voucher for future travel. After emailing and calling Black Rock Rentals I was denied any kind of voucher for future travel or refund. The over $2300 prepayment was nonrefundable and lost, no exceptions, even if due to the death of an immediate family member. The only way to get any refund was if the unit was rented out to another party (after looking at VRBO I found that they had relisted the condo). I wrote Black Rock Rentals again and told them that I was absolutely astonished that they would keep all the money even in the event of a family death. They refunded me the cleaning fee of $175 but kept the rest, even the taxes. Then they removed the rental from VRBO. Thinking they had gotten another party to rent the condo I wrote them and asked about it. Their response was that "they could not list a last minute rental on VRBO." It was heartbreaking to have my dearly loved father-in-law pass away, but these owners (owners of room #1113 of Aston The Whaler at Kaanapali Shores) made a sad situation even worse. It's hard to believe that anyone could be so heartless in the midst of such a tragedy but there are no exceptions and no laws that protect you against these situations when you use VRBO! You are at the mercy of individuals who have no morals or principles and who only care about making money. I can only hope that my story will help protect others who are tempted to save a few dollars by using VRBO. You may only end up with cockroaches, but in the event of an unplanned emergency you could loose thousands. Had we gone through a legitimate hotel/resort we would have had time to cancel, but not with VRBO who requires a 60 DAY NOTICE for cancelation. PLEASE BEWARE!! GO THROUGH A LEGITIMATE TRAVEL COMPANY like Booking.com. After all that VRBO won't let me write a review since I only paid for the rental but did not actually stay there.

I’ve used VRBO to rent a room to surprise my wife. The selection was OK, the website was harder than others to navigate. It was on the pricey side compared to other hotel rentals, but I always try to see if there’s anything worth staying in on their site. Worth having.

My friends and I booked at 5 bedroom house with VRBO in December, 2017 for a wedding in August, 2018. Everything was paid in full and confirmed. 48 hours before we were due to arrive, VRBO contact us to let us know that there was a glitch in their system and the people currently renting the property had extended their stay so the house was no longer available. The offered us a 4 bedroom house from Saturday - Tuesday instead and not comping anything. We all arrive Friday morning for the wedding and now have nowhere to stay. All of the hotels are now exorbitantly expensive. I would stay away from VRBO at all costs - they do not honor reservations book 7 months in advance.

If you want to rent a property - do NOT use vrbo. There is nothing but issues but the worst part, if you do have a damage and claim the damage deposit, they block the listing until you pay it back in full. My guest damaged the table, even wrote to vrbo about it, and my listing‘is blocked even though he admitted, I sent pictures and original receipt. The customer service is horrible, I wait up to a week and longer for a simple reply. I used to list my properties on the website for 8 years but will no longer since they think they can control and decide. They changed a lot lately and I can only recommend to stay away. All fine unless you really have an issue, they only support renters because they pay their extragous fees. I will not accept this and I can only tell you - Stay away!

In helping small business owners for the past 14 years, especially in the vacation rental industry, it is sad to see a market behemoth like VRBO.com slowly take away the business of owners across the country. Not only do they want to control the calendar, money and rules, but now they want to control the communication. Who owns the small businesses anyways? An owner isn't even permitted to communicate with a prospective client unless it goes thru the VRBO.com system. So many leads are lost this way due to unnecessary rules and steps. Hopefully another company takes notice of the trend that small VR owners are leaving VRBO.com on a daily basis and creates a platform that is fair and continues to support the small business owners. Another market giant has tried, but is following the same format at VRBO.com. They also are losing clients on a daily basis due to this practice. Having a corner on the market is one thing, but when others figure out how to get the traffic, hopefully VRBO.com falls as quickly as it was built.

I've been an owner listing on VRBO for over 12 years. They have gone from amazing (12 years ago) to the most hated company in the Vacation Rental World. Their fees are excessive (normally 12% charged to my guests by these thieves) and they offer NO value. Don't believe the B.S. about their "carefree rental guarantee" or whatever stupid marketing name they have for it now -- it offers you nothing that your credit card company doesn't already offer. It's a farce. You are paying 12% for nothing. It's insane. Guests, use the pictures you find on VRBO or the verbiage of our listing to find our direct web sites using Google. Then book from us directly; you'll save hundreds of dollars and have a much better experience!