HomeAway
Questions & Answers

One way you can assure yourself is to contact the owner directly. There should be a phone number that connects you to them. We always talk directly to our renters/potential renters. That way, they know you are real and I know that they are real. There are a lot of scams out there and you have to be careful. If you get suspicious-looking email, contact them and tell them what you are looking for and ask intelligent questions about their property. I also ask our future guests what they are coming to the area for. Do they plan to have a lot of people in the house? We negotiate terms and price. That way, we're both happy.

Homeaway has been posting their own fake positive reviews (on other sites like TrustPilot) to combat all the massive numbers of authentic negative reviews. The last answer by Mary L. Reeks of an insider/employee spreading propaganda and the corporate spin they have been putting out to justify them taking exorbitant fees that do NOTHING for the owner or the traveler. The fees and guarantees are all smoke and mirrors/bait and switch by a company that is not interested in owner or traveler--their only interest is putting the fee in their corporate pocket. Of all of the tons and tons and tons of posts I have read, there is not a single owner that trusts HomeAway any longer to protect host and guest. The opposite is very apparent--the host and guest need to be protected from HomeAway

Hello, I believe Mary L. Who answered above likely is HomeAway themselves answering your question. I also believe they authored the question. The question and response is their propaganda. Guests have been successfully renting legitimate homes online for years. The legitimate pre fee answer that HomeAway.com used to explain is always be certain to speak on the telephone on the number listed on the site before ever booking a property. You can easily verify property ownership and someone's existence a number of different ways. In the past if you called HomeAway.com they would simply verify owner for you. Now they will tell you that you must book online and pay their fee to protect your trip. This is non sense. You can check property tax records, Google searches may tell you a lot about owners, etc. It is important to trust and want to deal with owners if you would like a successful stay in a vacation rental home. Otherwise, you should stay in a more hotel like property. It is a complete scam that paying online and paying service fee to HomeAway.com or VRBO online will protect your vacation. They will also try to sell you trip insurance after the fee too. Nothing will save your vacation from ruin if you rent and travel to a home that is not legitimately represented or doesn't even exist. You will not find and they will not be able to find you a suitable or comparable substitute whether you paid the fee or not. You must speak with the owner and verify their ownership in a manner that makes you comfortable and be excited to be a gentle guest in their home.

If you book and pay through the Home Away site, you will be safe. I rent out our vacation home and use the Home Away process from start to finish. It protects the host and guest.