VRBO
Questions & Answers

The owners, vrbo is just a listing site. Its the honor system. They have carefree insurance, but you can only stay two hours to get a "supposed refund". But you have to find other accommodations at your expense. Protect yourself by paying with a credit card. Amex is the best for customer support. Vrbo will not get involved or intervene on either parties behalf. A charge back with lots of documentation & photos is what you will need. You must do this asap as credit cards have a time limit on charge backs. I had to fight, but got more than half my money back, payed in two installments, the first payment was to old to recoup my losses. We suffered from a bait & switch.

As we had been in Tucson before, and had local contacts, we asked them to swing by the house and check the property out. It is always a good idea to have local people send you details, and this can be done through real estate people. We have done this in Palm Springs, CA and some other locations. Purchase insurance!

I have never had a problem with VRBO. But I never deal with small properties or ones with no reviews - I hope you posted YOUR experience to warn others!

Look for a property with excellent reviews. The number 1 complaint I hear from guests that have rented other properties is cleanliness. We pride ourselves on the cleanliness of our vacation rentals and have established cleaning staff. Did you talk to the owner/manager of the property you rented when you found the place dirty? Some owners/companies have the prior guests clean up after themselves and that NEVER works. Talk to the owner /Manager next time before you rent and get a feel for their polices
Linda Romeo
Evhms.com

That is the problem with VRBO. We paid for an apt in London and when we went to the address, the manager knew nothing. We got ahold of the apt owner and she sent us across town. We waited two hours for someone to let us in. While waiting a family of four stormed out because their apt only had two beds. They were on their way to an attorney. Our apt. Had one bed and a weird broken Lvg sofa. We out the mattress on the floor and gave the grand kids the bedroom. The maid was spectacular and tried to fix the sofa and got a blow up mattress to add to the bedroom. I use Airbabsb and mostly rely on friends.