HomeAwayReviews 1,748

You are offered no protection against scammy landlords with homeaway. They are free to misrepresent amenities.

The homeowner, knowing they were in the wrong offered a credit when I was 30 minutes away from arriving for my vacation. I have 2 voicemails attesting to this. Months later All Poconos Rentals has failed to process this credit and Homeaway's only response is to call them to ask about it. All Poconos Rentals in turn stalls saying they have to look into it. Rinse... wash. Repeat. Finally Homeaways outsourced customer service team escalates my case only for me to be met with a blunt, too bad, so sad response of, we can't do anything because that's an agreement between you and All Poconos Rentals and "that's your fault for not reaching out to us first". When I asked, what they could have done for me if I did, they claimed they would have relocated me to a comparable location. Which is ridiculous and a lie since all comparable locations have been booked for at least a month. Who are they kidding? Their reasoning kept changing when I defeated their lies with logic. They keep pointing to "terms and conditions" while being 100% unable to give a specific term or condition that addressed the situation. Their "escalation team" has not been much better. I have a solid claim that is easily enforceable in court, but the fact that it has to come to this is why you should stick with AirBnB,

I asked to delete my account with all my personal information. After many verifications to prove that its mine account they wrote me that they can not delete it. Without any reason. Just "Thank you for contacting HomeAway Trust and Security. I appreciate you formally submitting a request for account deletion. However, I am currently unable to process your request at this time. Please try again within the next couple of months." According to GDPR laws this website has no right to refuse delete your account with all personal information there. Its against the law. THE WORST WEB EVER! STAY AWAY!

I also was not allowed to post my review of a less-than-idea rental. They hide behind their rules' at all costs to protect their homeowners and give renters no ability whatsoever to leave a bad review. I requested' (I literally used the word requesting') a refund of part of my rental cost from the owner because the AC was not working properly in the middle of the summer in New Orleans! HomeAway removed my review saying I attempted to blackmail' the owner out of money. Are you kidding me?!?! Seriously, do NOT use HomeAway. I never will again. Airbnb all the way from here on out. HomeAway disgusts me at this point. Totally biased to their homeowners. They do not care about your rental experience at all. I had to have one of our kids sleep on the living room floor for the first two nights because the AC was not working. Do you think HomeAway wanted to hear about that?!?! Nope! They completely took the homeowner at her word. They had no interest in my side of the story at all.

Sunshine Hopkins home in Silver Sands Country Club off Portola in Palm Desert. Address of ******* Sterling Drive / Palm Desert, CA ******* and gate code 1999# is a scammer with loads of experience and knows what she is doing.

The property is listed as the entire home with a pool. Be aware... she props up a partition in the hallway and remains in the home while you are there, which is against Home Away/VRBO policy. The entire house has camera surveillance which is a little daunting. She indicated she was trying this process out but her bio clearly indicates she has experience doing this in foreign countries and Los Angeles. You will share the home with her and whomever else is behind the partition.

We told her we were not comfortable with the arrangement and that she specifically said in an email, which I still have, that this was not a shared house. She checked us in and then cancelled the reservation which then removed our opportunity to leave a scathing review on the Home Away/VRBO site. She kept the money and would not refund anything.

There is one review on her site and the person is a relative with the same last name.

Stay away from Sunshine Hopkins and this house.

We just returned from Gatlinburg. We rented a 3 BR 2.5 BA through Homeaway at 1608 Zurich Rd. Every bed had dead and live insects, garbage in the trashcans inside, beer bottles and cups around the hot tub and long black hairs on the bed sheets, towels and on the counters. The place had a terrible odor as well. We called the owner and he said no one has ever complained but was aware of the terrible smell. I had to wash all the bedding and towels upon arriving since Steve Baker was clueless. He emailed the next day with a promise to refund $50 for cleaning and I'm still waiting. They are also missing working smoke detectors. The property is in chalet village. This would be a nice property if clean.

Never paid any Annual subscription for your listings! This website is a SCAM! I paid $499 for 12 months and after 5 months, they suspended the payments due to a issue with Yapstone payment so No reservation, nobody can pay online and HOMEAWAY don't want to refund me! You have to sign an agreement with no refund anyway!
Be Aware! Never pay any suscription on this website, it's a SCAM!
Furthermore, worst service customer, hard to reach them and incompetent staff!

HomeAway makes you believe you are booking with confidence, but really there is NO PROTECTION whatsoever. You have the option to buy an insurance plan, although who wants to pay a fortune to go a few states over to North Carolina! (This isn't a trip to Spain).
Specifically, do not book any trips with property owners Becky and Tay Filer. They refused to refund my money for an upcoming trip to North Carolina with weather forecast of an impending Hurricane Dorian Category 4, a state of emergency issues, flights cancelled, and consideration over mandatory evacuations. It is unacceptable to loose $1500 for a five night vacation to North Carolina. These property owners at not trust worthy!

I am seeing all the other recent reviews and have to agree - this company no longer cares about those of us who are paying them (a lot!) to have our rental properties on their site. Fees are multiplying the system is barely functional (the new "rates calendar" essentially rendered my property invisible for a few months) and the "customer service" reps are sighing, rude, obnoxious 20-somethings that might as well be rolling their eyes, chewing gum and filing their nails while they "help" you. Truly the worst of the worst. I would rather NOT rent my place than give these people another dollar.

Up until a few years ago, HomeAway was great to work with. But then they started to force down your throat changes that put more money in their pocket when they didn't add anymore value to the process. They didn't give you a choice on accepting their additional fees. After building up a clientele over the years, it is tough to move away from HomeAway, and they know that. So they keep finding way to charge you more. My payments, from me or my guests, have increased (no exaggeration), 600%! Yet I do all the work and they only provide the website! I will leave HomeAway in 2020 and encourage everyone else to do so if you want to keep your hard earned money.

This company has been going down hill for more than 14 years since I started with them. First it was easy... You talk to the renter and you sell the rental. Now HA and VRBO (Expedia) wants $600 a year to advertise. Up to 10% of the rental fee, 3% of the transaction fee, another 3% if you want your money before check in ( like every other rental in the world) It adds up to 30% in the end as taxes and fees keep coming. On a rental of $1900 the fees were $975. I wish someone would come up with another solution!

This company has really gone downhill since Owners direct was acquired by Homeaway then Expedia. Last year The service fee on my property was 170 and 400 for one and two week stays despite the same rental charge. This year 7,8 and 11 day stays had service fee added of 523 Euro but by July it was 609. If you complain the simplest live chat takes hours as you wait and wait for them to get back to you and all they do is cut and paste from the help sections you have already read. They don't show my property even when I specify the number of bedrooms for my village of under 1000 but instead offer properties elsewhere that have signed up to their even more expensive instant booking. Have just signed up with a different company.

Seeing so many one star reviews is giving me no consolation like I'm not the only one who got scammed via HomeAway. Luckily only for smaller sum but still. Not to mention identity theft possibilities... I must go to police now to report the scam, not for the money which is long gone by now, just to protect my good name as it will be probably used for the next scam.
This site isn't doing anything to protect the users and obviously don't take any responsibility either.
Just stay away from them. Run!