VRBO
reviews and complaints

We scheduled a week in La Quinta, CA Spring Break 2021 and then COVID-19 hit and we were unable to fly and take the trip. West coast states actually suggested residents not cross state lines so we could not drive from Oregon either, and in addition, California closed down most venues and restaurants. The homeowner very reluctantly agreed to let us reschedule to November 2021. My wife and I are in our mid to upper sixties so in a higher risk age group. My wife was in excruciating pain and was subsequently scheduled for hip replacement surgery, and the physician would not allow her to travel or fly prior to surgery in November due to continued spikes in COVID-19. When we contacted the homeowner, she was again very rude, thought only about herself and refused to refund us our deposit or even provide another travel credit for future use even thought it was obvious that no one was using the property nor would be as long as the strict guidelines were in place in CA. To make a longer story short, she was so ignorant and self-centered, she would not even refund us our cleaning deposit even though no one was going to stay at the property. Prior to this, I have been a loyal VRBO user, but they less washed their hands of it and told me to try and work it out with the homeowner. That didn't work, and I feel no support from VRBO unless they step in and apply pressure on the homeowner I am done with VRBO. Please do what is right and demand the homeowner refund us our money. To have a young, selfish homeowner have so little understanding and respect in the year of COVID-19 for two people in a higher risk age group is unacceptable and you would expect VRBO to make this right. I would also like to know where I can write poor reviews for this property to save others from dealing with this very unethical homeowner.
Thank you.

Property #274406ha 6465/67 South A1A, Melbourne Beach, Fl. 32951, Owner: Gina
My VRBO account shows one cancellation because we mistakenly booked ½ of this home and needed to book the entire home for our April 2020 vacation. After paying, in full, it became necessary to cancel our rebooking due to Covid-19. We purchased CSA travel insurance and our claim was denied. The owner, reluctantly, allowed us to reschedule to January 2021. In November, as holiday travel advisories continued, it became necessary to cancel, and we asked to reschedule once again. We are a group of elderly adults, some with serious health issues, advised NOT to travel by our doctors due to Covid-19. We offered the owner a $1500.00 rescheduling fee, offered to clean the home after use and to reschedule anytime there was an opening from September through December 2021. VRBO could not reach the owner and emailed the owner asking her to contact us. The owner has failed to give us the courtesy of a reply and appears to have blocked us. We paid more than $5000.00 for this vacation and, at the very least, deserve a response to our inquiries. The owner let us down. The travel insurance company let us down. VRBO let us down.

Before going with Vrbo, I called and spoke with many different representatives. I asked many questions so that I understood all of the workings that have changed with Expedia. What each representative knew was a little different from each other.

I finally spoke with someone at a more knowledgeable tier. He was helpful and showed me where to go to get some of my questions answered. My problem was there was not central information center laying out the website policies. I am not sure where to find that again.

Each representative was careful to explain the money collected by Vrbo would take 3 to 4 weeks for Vrbo to process it and get it to me. What each failed to say was Vrbo will keep my money until the tenant takes possession of the unit.

I was under the impression that when they collected the first payment I would get my portion in three to four weeks. However, I just found out that isn't true at all. Vrbo has collected thousands of dollars for the my two-booked units leased in 2022, and they are holding on to this money for a calendar year. There is something terribly wrong with Vrbo holding on to money that should be in my bank account. By having their representatives intentionally not make it clear that I will not see a dime until the tenant checks-in is deceitful. I am upset because I was asking questions every which way so that I was sure I understood it all. The simple fact that Vrbo keeps the money until the tenant takes possession was withheld.

The listing said 1st time rental so no address. As a matter of fact it was not put in the system till after it was to late to cancel. They advertise an apartment. It is a motel room. Limited security. [censored]ty place and no pics tgat would really allow you to see it for what it is. A f, motel room. Really,
I think vrbo needs to not have scammers list property. I rather go a different way but your reputation should get better. Thus kind of advertising that gives false sense of property is wrong.

Booked Res #79661 ID#5817 with VRBO and The Wine Stay prior to Covid. Prop mgr has declined any refund, charged a damage deposit not authorized, and when trying to apply credit to new stay, Mike Little thought it would be a good idea to try to extort an additional $2, 300. He won't answer our letters or attorney letters and not someone you want to do business with. Who does this during Covid? We are out $7, 154 and won't work with us at all!
This was a double-50th bday celebration in Sonoma, now it's a nightmare dealing with someone using a pandemic to his advantage. Serious warning! When looking at properties in Sonoma, CA.

I am Abidemi Akande, I made a reservation for an apartment for three days at Flat 1, 7 Rasaki Balogun Street, Atlantic View, Lekki, Lagos Nigeria.

Reservation was for the 24th to the 27th November. £279:80 was duly debited. Confirmation came through. A few days after the booking was updated and I discovered the site had been taken down. Subsequent messages were ignored.

I was still hopeful that accommodation was intact and attended premises but was denied entry at the gate. Phone calls were not answered and this occasioned extra cost of £200 to get a substitute abode.

There was no communication nor refund.

I feel VRBO platform should not be made available for what appears to be a fraud.

I will report this to UK authorities and have reported this in Nigeria as well. The premises will be thoroughly investigated.

I eagerly await a refund and adequate compensation.

To my surprise, the same vendor still advertises on your platform.

I rented a vacation rental from VRBO for 10/16-18 of 2020. I contacted the owner when we arrived and was told the property had been double booked. The owner wrote me a check for $350 and apologized. When I got home, I called VRBO and told them the situation. Customer service told me that the owner still owes me $50 for the cleaning fee. I contacted the owner and he sent me a $50 check for the cleaning fee. I called VRBO back to tell them, they told me that the owner should also sent me a check for $50.40 for taxes. I emailed the owner. He said that it is VRBO's responsibility to pay taxes. I contacted VRBO again, spoke with Alex. She asked for verification of the checks and asked that I email them photos of the checks. I did so while I was on the phone with her. Then the call dropped. I emailed her and asked that she return my call and gave her my phone number. She has not returned my call. I am expecting a refund of $96.40 for the taxes and service fee.

In August 2020, VRBO gave the address of my property even if the total payment of the rental was received. People spent their whole stay ( 20 days) without paying the second portion of the payment. I was never notified of such like I used to when Homeaway was my platform. When I called VRBO about the partial payment on my bank, VRBO said they had some trouble with their computer program and I would received the complement of my payout shortly. I was patiently waiting for them to resolve their issue.
I discovered after the departure of the tenants that I was never paid for that second payment by the tenants. While VRBO was casually giving my address to the tenants, they also were quick to take their full booking fees and taxes on the total amount I never got. As the results, I had to pay for the booking fees, the taxes from the rental money that was supposed to go to me. I got robbed twice - one from the tenants and then from VRBO.
In addition, I never got the deposit for damage protection that was promised from VRBO. They breach their contract which state protection of owners with insurance and deposit.
It is hard enough to have to pay for all the expenses from the tenants who basically did not pay me, BUT I don't think that VRBO should benefit from a payment I never received, neither should I pay a tax on that absent payment.
I have talked to 3 customer service agents who brushed my concern away and a supervisor that never called me back as promised. I am irate at their dismissal after putting me at risk giving my address and with no insurance of any kind.
VRBO should refund part of their supplemental booking fees, part of the overpaid tax, and partially or fully pay for the unpaid rental portion ( do they have insurance for that?). In addition, change their policy of giving addresses before the total payment has been made.

The worst customer service ever. I am a Vrbo Owner of two properties. I tried to give a customer a refund and because they had already checked out I called VRBO for advice they told me what to do and I followed the advice exactly. They said they would send me an email that I was to respond to the email never came and when I called back another rep told me that everything I had done was wrong and they refunded the money to the gas again even though I had already sent a personal refund. Every time you call you get a different answer and the last representative I spoke to did not seem to understand the problem on my complaint at all. Most of the people answering the phone seem to have limited understanding of the English language and communication is Difficult to impossible. The rep said he would escalate my part problem after he refused to let me speak to a Supervisor. He promised me that someone would call back within 72 hours it is now been a full week and I have heard nothing

VRBO has suspended my listing not giving sufficient time for me to provide requested documentation. A guests did damage to our property and it took a few days to get the estimate written up, mailed to me and the repairs done, and I tried to submit the documentation however my emails are being rejected. This is totally unfair I cannot get a resolution.

Karla & Jason Marshall
Listing #4620326

We rented a property in June 2020 .we called vrbo inquiring on canceling our trip due to covid -19. We just called to see if we cancelled we would get a refund. We then tried contacting the property owner and she never answered . We never received the security code to the property . The day after we were supposed to check in, we received an E-mail saying the owner cancelled our reservations. It has been 4 weeks now and no refund. We can not get in touch with the owner .and vrbo is no help . They say all they can do is try and contact the owner. They also can not get in touch with wiener!

When downloading the payments we have received, I realized that the 'Deposit Amount' column and 'Payable to You' column did not match the money we actually received in our account. We called a couple of times and here is what we found out. VRBO has not taken out the 'Service Fee' amount detailed on the worksheet and it is still included in our deposit amount listed on the worksheet, which we did not receive. They said it would be fixed but here we are a week plus later and not fixed. If using their worksheet for tax purposes, the figures are WRONG. This is a major mistake on VRBO's part and only adds to the many other accounting errors we have noticed. Their worksheets are so confusing, not very customer friendly. And, now we are waiting weeks to receive our money. VRBO says "it's unfortunate you haven't received your money but we have problems concerning cancellations and bookings due to COVID-19", well it's unfortunate alright. We are refunding cancellations due to COVID-19 but we are not getting deposits for new bookings. And, they think it's 'unfortunate'. They charge a hefty service fee to our customers so as to better/upgrade their systems and all it has been is a huge mess.

We booked this home for a long weekend to visit my son is Scottsdale. When we booked we paid in full because it was about 30 days out. After booking we ran into a few issues with my son being exposed and self quarantine and such. I reached out to the property manager BRENT PAULY. Our initial emails were responded to until I brought up possibly cancelling. His lack of customer service skills were unbelievable. Here are a few of his responses to us:
"There was a pandemic prior to you booking. If you are worried about being around someone who has been around someone else with Covid-19 maybe they should not come. You and your family had every intention of coming out here even with Covid-19 still being around. I am not sure what is changing now." WOW — .. After all that, things were ok with my son and we were going to keep the reservation. Then 7/3 Chicago issues an Emergency Order to self quarantine when returning from AZ starting on 7/6. We are all returning to Chicago and work outside of the house so that is not a possibility. Plus the increase of cases in AZ caused us to cancel our reservation. We reached out and received the same response.. if they rebook it we will get some type of refund. It was 3 days out at this time and no way would it be rebooked especially in AZ now. We asked for a credit to use for another time/location etc. Same scripted response... no we are outside of the cancellation period. This was our 1st and obviously last time to use VRBO. Their website says they advise the owner to show flexibility with cancellations during this Covid time. Some much for flexibility. Extremely inept customer service! c

Owner # 560859 had guest book on 5/30/20 (Guest booking # HA-ZFT3NC), guest completed stay on 7/5/20. VRBO has not paid owner for this booking and keeps extending payout dates (funds now held by VRBO for 38 consecutive days after booking). Guest damage deposit is also being held for an extensive period. Basically VRBO is not paying owners or guests money owed.

We had to cancel a booking, 2 days after it was booked on June 5, 2020 and we are STILL waiting for our refund! I am tired of hearing their excuse about COVID causing the delay! This is pure and simple thievery! We have used VRBO for many years, but this situation has caused us to find lodging elsewhere. I have called them and emailed them and while they say our refund has been processed...we still haven't received it. I wonder who's enjoying the benefits of OUR money?!

Last November I rented an apartment in Oaxaca, Mexico, for July 2020 through Vrbo. The Covid19 pandemic hit. I am in the most vulnerable group (79 years old with heart problems and diabetes) and I was forced to cancel my trip so I would not be exposed to the virus. I notified Vrbo in writing, explaining the circumstances. They acknowledged the cancellation but said that there would be no refund. Now they are holding over $ 1000.- of my money, unwilling to give it back to me.
I also had a booking with Airbnb which I also had to cancel. Airbnb answered within 48 hours and issued the proper refund.
Vrbo should follow the same fair policy during these hard times. They do not even have a customer service number. This complaint should be a warning to others to avoid a company that does not follow industry ethical standards.

We made reservations in colorado in March. Due to cover the wedding we were going to was canceled and travel has been difficult. 60 days prior to the reservation we tried to cancel and get a refund. even thought the website has "free cancelations" they would only return their portion and not the owners portion of the almost $900 deposit. Each call into home away and vrbo led nowhere. no one would respond saying they would contact the owner. 2 months and multiple calls (at 20 minutes on hold each time and getting disconnected) with no results. no call backs and each call goes to a different agent that knows nothing and starts over. Terrible business and will never use these sites again! Total Rip OFF!

We rented a house for two days end of March then the virus and we needed to cancel our trip.We were advised for vrbo there were no refunds allowed.We waited for owners reply about a credit we heard nothing. Got a letter stating vrbo was hoping the owners would work with the renters but ours didn't when they did contact after 2 tries she mentioned a credit then said vrbo gave us a refund for 27.00 out of the 504.00 we paid.Like anyone planned on a virus becoming an epidemic!Don't book with them so unfair