VRBO
Reviews and Complaints

The VRBO or Homeaway "Book it Now" feature is a rip off. Those companies are charging travelers and owners for travelers to be able to book the home "now". Travelers are charged an extra fee that, if the traveler books directly thru the owner, the traveler would not be charged. The owner is charged an extra fee. The only winner is VRBO. There is absolutely NO advantage to book thru Homeaway or VRBO. They have recently discontinued their cancellation insurance for Travelers.
You are better off speaking with the owner directly and avoid using VRBO "book it now" to book your vacation.

Member since 1999 I always had the premiere listing in our market, I paid top fee and did everything that was required to keep the premiere space. Now vrbo has put so many sub areas that they have decreased our leads by over 75%. Not only that when someone does find our site they are also furnished alternatives, usually cheaper). Now where they are deceptive they create hits on other owner sits giving the impression that vrbo is creating a massive amount of leads. To cap it off they also offer immediate transfer from our listings to the resorts that they represent. This is a very corrupt system that now even punishes our customers that list with us. In their main web sites they don't suggest that clients of the resorts check us out. We will now pay the least price we can get from vrbo and we will rent as many listings out of the vrbo network as possible.

So we talked to VRBO's "customer service" yesterday, and just to let everyone know what their new "business perspective" is, and I quote "we do not see the renters as your (the home owners) customer, we see them as our customers providing them the service." Last time I checked, I paid the mortgage, I deal with any problems, I keep the customer satisfied and returning year after year. VRBO is a listing/advertising service PERIOD! Apparently the home owners are not customers, even though we pay them thousands of dollars a year! Oh, buy the way, they also said that we should not be dealing with the renter directly, solely using their sytem and if we didn't should still be charging the 4-10% fee. HUH? This company has gone Bat S*** Crazy.
Did some research...VacationHomeRentals.com (associated with Trip Advisor), utilizes the old system that VRBO used, which served everyone well, and kept the business between the renter and the owner. It is also about half of the price. I'm taking my four properties and heading out of dodge, before I have to pay for a renewal!
VRBO got greedy and will be their downfall. I am spreading the word, to all that I know who use VRBO (which is a lot), to start heading to this other site, as well as bypassing the "book now" system and deal directly with the home owner.
ByeBye VRBO

VRBO has implemented an outrageous new fee charged to the traveler. We have been loyal customers for years. We have listed 2 properties and have rented from other owners all over the world too many times to count. This fee completely ruins the business model we loved and makes VRBO look like a greedy corporation. They implemented this fee after we paid our advertising fee with no warningand are offering no refunds. We are actively looking for a new website on which to list. What a huge disappointment.

As a rental owner I'm extremely frustrated with this new service fee! It is absolutely unacceptable and I am appalled by this new fee. At first they were charging only the owners and now also the guests. This new fee completely disregards any agreements that were in place with existing owners and renters. I will be looking for another service! VRBO is absolutely unprofessional, no respect! They need only money and they don't care about anything!

Vrbo has now done three things in the last 6 months to increase their profits with no consideration of the home owners that have made this site successful. Number one they have raised their prices about 20% each of the past two years. The latest in the last six months. Number 2 they now are putting other web sites on my site, such as hotels.com, among others which simply takes traffic away from vrbo and my site in particular. Number 3 now they have decided to charge an extra charge to my customers, just because they can to make more money. What the new short sighted vrbo management doesn't realize is that the site exists because of the owners and the owners supply all the listing for them. Now they are cheating and triple dipping. Vrbo should be ashamed of their new practices!
Sincerely,
Mitchell Lewis

I had used VRBO in the past and rented a place. The property ended up being a fraud, so I cancelled it. Then I called the owner and asked him to return my damaged deposit of $300, but he refused to give my money back. I told him that his property description was a fraud and he must return the money, I gave him 24 hours to do that. Later I received a message from the owner saying he'll come to my house and deal with me personally! I contacted the VRBO immediately and they promised to do something. I thought they'll ban that owner or call the police, but they did nothing at all! In the end owner just changed the description of his property and never returned my money. I'm very disappointed with VRBO.

I had a negative experience at the Lotus Lake House in Grass Valley, CA, listed on VRBO. 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 paid a $4, 500 deposit on a condo at "Aston at the Whaler on Kaanapali beach" on February 21, 2015. The advertiser/owner (Brian Mead/William Watts) ended up being a fraud and I lost my deposit. I only caught on to the scam because I was sent an email by someone purporting to be VRBO's Trust Dept telling me that the advertiser was a fraud. I found out that this email I received was actually a phishing email to try to get me to call them and give them money as well. The email told me to call one of two numbers and they would help me find another, presumably, legitimate, rental. (Looks like I was being scammed by two different crooks). I called Brian Mead to try and get my deposit back and he tried "stringing me along" telling me that he was "legit" and would be there waiting for me to hand me the keys to the condo when I arrived there. However, he wouldn't provide any contract and when I demanded my money back, he quit answering my calls or my emails. His name, probably false, was Brian Mead. His phone number was [protected]. His email was [protected]@gmail.com. I tracked his phone number to a Chapel Hill, North Carolina address. He had me wire my deposit to a bank account in the name of William Watts in Cudahy, Wisconsin. I've rented from VRBO before and had no problems so I had my guard down. Now I'll be cautious again but I'll never use VRBO.com again. They are impossible to get hold of by phone and, obviously, don't have the security in place to keep these scammers off their website.

I registered on the website www.vrbo.co, but I was disappointed. I tried to find a house for my vacation, but the website worked so slowly and all provided info there was real scam. I checked several phones numbers and all of them were fakes. I tried to contact the online chat agents, but they kept silence. I wonder if there are other people, who had the same experience. Let’s share views about this website.

I've been advertising my house as a vacation rental on vrbo.com for two years, and I really dislike this company. They are fixated on getting homeowners to sign up for the online booking program. Constant emails about it. Finally, they've decide to actually punish those of us who don't want to use the online booking system. If we don't sign up for it, we have to pay $50 more for a subscription. However, I did sign up for a couple of years ago, and it was a nightmare. Homeowners have very little manual control over the payments, so very often, renters will make a payment, and the homeaway system continues to send them emails (automatic) saying they have to pay. They refuse to separate the credit card option with the direct deposit option, and since most people would opt to make a credit card payment, we owners get whacked with credit card fees. When you have ten weeks to make your rental income, those fees really hurt. I opted out, both because of the fees and because it was such a pain in the derriere to use, and all went perfectly fine with renters sending the rent to me directly via check. I have an excellent rapport with my tenants, and one of the reason is because I want to keep the whole thing very personal, between them and me. But Homeaway is going the way of so many big companies in this country, acting like WE, their customers, owe THEM, and bending our arms to buy stuff we don't want or need if we want to continue using their primary service, which is advertising our houses and making them known to people looking for houses to rent. It's so sleazy and dirty. It's also arrogant. So we are punished financially now either via homeaway charging us more, or lowering our listing, if we don't opt in for online booking…OR we're penalized by paying ridiculous credit card fees! I hate this company.

I have used this company to list my rental in Mexico since 2009. I have never had any problems until this month when the company must have changed ownership to HomeAway. I received no notice of the change to the website which is significant and very hard to use now, or to any changes of their policies. This month I got a request from a prospective renter and needed help with using the webiste. I did manage to talk to someone on the phone after waiting 1/2 an hour. Next, I got a request from another renter and the payment was not handled correctly. Renters are to pay a $200 security deposit and then the rent and cleaning fee 30 days before arrival. The renter did pay the entire amount but only after I sent a request for the security deposit. After all was confirmed the renter complained about the fact that the terms of my rental were not honored by requesting the entire amount immediately. I am waiting to hear from VRBO by email about this matter but so far no response. I will not be renewing my lisiting with them for 2015 but will seek other means to rent the property. They are TERRIBLE, avoid them at all costs.

I rented a house in Florida through the VRBO/HomeAway website. I entered my debit card number and my account was charged twice. I fwanted to know what happened. After speaking to SEVERAL agents at HomeAway and contacting the owner, we were both given wrong information from HomeAway agents which caused an already aggressive owner to be unbelievably hostile and rude. Finally I asked to speak to a supervisor and found that the third party billing agency for HomeAway had a glitch in their system which caused a double payment. The owner was so difficult that I canceled the reservation. HomeAway just dropped the whole situation and then refused to help me get my refund back from the owner. I am still working on it! I would never recommend using HomeAway/VRBO/Vacation Rentals again!

VRBO won't let us post our review because they say it doesn't help travelers. I believe it does .. helps them be safer. Our review is below.. Beware travelers and don't believe reviews from VRBO

Casa Dos Bahias Home in Tulum - VRBO #509559 -- we were robbed!Not what we expected... for a vacation...

Casa
Dos Bahias is new and well-appointed. It's somewhat secluded with open lots on
each side, near the end of a dead end street. We had a pleasant stay until we
were robbed the final night.

We left 5 teenagers in the house and went up the street for dinner (less than a
mile away). While we were gone, someone apparently scaled the exterior wall of
the house, and broke into both second floor bedrooms. This occurred while the
children were on the first floor of the house! One of the children heard a
noise and went to investigate. Luckily, he did not discover the intruder(s).

We lost phones, an iPad, jewelry and our passports. The other couple had cash,
credit cards and an iPad stolen. The property manager had come to the house
that evening to inquire about our departure and quickly came back when the
police were called. He was helpful in arranging for us to get a police report.

The only way were able to get out of Mexico is that we had color copies of our
passports and the police report. Nonetheless, the experience was very stressful
and traumatic as we were never certain we'd be able to leave until the last
minute.

The irony of our experience is that we religiously used the room safe to store
our valuables until the final evening. We had packed before dinner as we were
leaving early the next morning. Since the restaurant was on the same street as
Casa Dos Bahias (which has a security guard at the entrance), we assumed our
belongings would be safe for an hour in an occupied house; we were wrong.

We contacted the owner, who informed us that he plans to take precautions to
make sure this doesn't occur in the future. He asked that we not post this
Review but we do so that others will be forewarned.

If you stay here, make sure you safeguard your valuables at all times. We will
not return to this property.

Shockingly filthy! We recently stayedat "Moments Tobago" (VRBO 328066) on our 2nd year anniversary, andwere shocked at the condition of the accommodations. First of all, food andketchup(?) were stuck on several plates, AND we found acockroach in the glasses cupboard, and also a dead one in the pots andpans cupboard. The dishes weren't clean; greasy fingerprints on almost all ofthe dishes, plus there were ants crawling on the kitchen counter and inthe cupboards...
The pool was slimy, green, and cloudy - iactually slipped and fell as I was walking down the steps into the pool - itwas that slimy. We didn't venture back in.
The microwave didn't work, the ovenwas moldy and obviously hadn't been cleaned in awhile, plus thecoffee maker is probably from 1970s - AND dirty.
On our third night, we both started itching andscratching - little red bumps came up, and we were horribly uncomfortable!We're still not sure where this "rash" came from, but we'resuspecting the bedding.
Although we reported the unhealthy status ofMoments Tobago, the owner(s) quite rudely refused any kind of refund. We endedup renting a different villa in Tobago, and had the MOST amazing time! Pleasedo not let this review turn you away from Tobago - definitely the most amazingisland and people! Just find a different place to stay, rather than MomentsTobago.

Owners agree to HHI condo to us for the week at rate of $758, which we agreed was a great deal. Ms. Williams immediately expressed remorse over agreeing to the price, cut us off, and rented to someone else after a last minute barage of emails in which she was obviously creating the illusion of trying to contact us. HHI is great...just save yourself some trouble and pass over this unit and rent from someone else!

We rented cottage #17 last week for spring break. We saw mult mice in the kitchen and bathrooms during our stay. Even had found a hurt bleeding mouse and a dead mouse which was very upsetting to our children (not to mention us). Found mult points of entry that easily could be spotted but owner never seemed to have fixed. Previous posts suggested mouse problem but owners assured it was taken care of and a problem in other cottages. We have stayed in other cottages at this location before and never had a mouse problem. Final day I found rat feces on my daughters toys that were in the nightstand drawer. I was absolutely horrified. Do not stay there. On a side note, the cottage is right near a busy hill road and the noise kept us up most nights.