HomeAway
Questions & Answers

I think insurance is important for holidays anyway, but the best insurance as far as holiday renting is concerned, is not the agency, who is only an intermediary putting the owner and the renter in contact, ( which is just what an expensive Private agency which puts the rental prices rocketing high so they can get commission does NOT want!) The fact that VRBO or Holiday Rentals or Airbnb puts renter and owner in contact with each other, is the safest and best second insurance. You have to communicate, send emails, phone, check up on accommodation and just like before taking a plane, you have to call the owner as the date gets closer to make yourself as renter and also the owner, feel secure about your arrival and to check up and see if everything is OK.
If you use the Holiday rental sites for what they are offering, which is the chance to communicate and 'bond' with the owner before your arrival, you will get maximum security and protection, way above the Private agencies who do not want you to contact the owners and who claim they protect you, when you are the owner and claim they protect you, when you are the renter, when in fact, the only ones they protect, all the way to the bank, is themselves for 20% or more commission and no help when there is a problem as they leave owner and renter to sort it out between them just as the sites, which charge no commission do.
Contact between owner and renter, especially as the summer draws near is the best insurance as sites cannot be held responsible for the bad behaviour of renters or of owners. They can just give you the maximum security of allowing you to ask the questions you need to know. Remember that the Private agencies, care so little about the owners that some of the British ones which are the most lax on the continent, do not even ask for ID, let alone care about who the renter is, where they come from or what the owner has done or not done to their home! They just want their commission. It is up to us to ask the right questions and ensure for ourselves that we have the right people and the right place with no surprises. Good luck to us all!

VRBO & homeAway have become too big & are now impossible to deal with.
Unless you have the backing of the 'owner'-
I don't think the "insurance" is going to help you too much.
So sorry for you:-(

Hello Amye, you're out of luck regardless, sorry. First of all, note that filing a claim with HA/VRBO is a lot of work, 8+ documents including notarized forms. Most importantly, the outcome is as risky as renting from shady owners.

In my case (property with health risks), rather than refunding our expenses they refunded instead the premium for the carefree rental guarantee, canceling the policy in the process. After months of back and forth, I had to choose between losing the deposit for good, or putting down more $$ to front legal costs.

Anything that is the owner's fault is between you and him/her, and HA/VRBO will simply claim no responsibility.

Please keep us posted on your success: I am seriously worried that you will not get compensated, and truly sympathize with you.

I hope the guarantee covers you. It didn't cover us when our rental was not as described. There is a very narrow window of what it covers and according to VRBO it is not insurance... I'm never using VRBO again, even though I used them for ten years. Air bnb all the way!

I hate to think the above is true. However, if you did not buy insurance it probably will end up this way. What a shame. Always call the owner to obtain a sense of what the person is like.

That's a very good question! Did you call VRBO and ask them that? If you bought VRBO insurance then simply call them and they will help you out. If you did not buy the insurance than you are out of luck.