HomeAwayReviews 1,748

Since Home Away took over Owners' Direct, the service has declined rapidly. The reviews from people booking are damning. From an owner's perspective, I can see no reason for HA to keep the deposit, which clients pay to secure a stay in an apartment/villa, for months before transferring it to the owner's bank account - other than pure greed of course to maximise the interest on their money. Surely the deposit is the owner's. It was when the company was Owners' Direct. Also, clients are complaining to me about the email system. They want to be able to contact the owner directly rather than through this third party system that does not actually work well. Although I have a villa listed with HA, I would recommend that clients look elsewhere as this is not a company I want to do business with any more. I'll be taking my villa off the list when my current subscription ends and will take great pleasure in explaining why I am withdrawing. Try AirBnB instead!

We recently rented a property in Sevilla through Homeaway and had a poor experience. I waited patiently to receive a link to review the property but I suppose they only send invitations to review if they have not had any questions or concerns from the guest. We have not been sent an invitation! The owner told during our stay that we shouldn't leave the heat on overnight because it "is a domestic appliance and will not be able to take continuous use"! So... were they monitoring the consumption from off-site? Or, worse yet, did they enter the premises without our consent? Either way, creepy! HomeAway is unreachable, and I doubt I'll receive a link to give an honest review. Makes me wonder if it was shills posing as legit guests who wrote the other good reviews I read before booking this property. I won't be using HomeAway again and to be honest, since these types of sites are built on property owners being truthful and trustworthy, I plan on using any of them only as an absolute last resort.

Hi I used HomeAway.co uk. We have a break between moving in to our new home. I booked a Place, the money was taken instantly and then at the end of the day the owner let and know the site was close.

The Customer service canncelled my booking and said they would find us somewhere better. Because they canncelled the booking they want me to spend another £650 and hope for a refund later... I have no spare extra £650 and now i have 24 hours to make sure my children are not sleeping rough on sunday night. They are not a trustworthy company or one that can sort out a system problem to provide the service they take money for. Never again!

We had a stay booked for 5 days at Christmas 2018. Within 30 days it became apparent we would not make because of an eye surgery and other health problems. I worked with owner who was able to rebook 4 of the days with another family I do believe but my motto is trust but verify and I could not. I tried to minimize my lose. Owner did all she could I think. I tried to get a refund from HomeAway for service fees so I could be comfortable with my lose. They refused and said it had to be re booked for the entire stay to get the service fees about $270.00 refunded. They refused... the owner did a lot but HomeAway could even have prorated it they but refused. A company that is not willing to make any consideration is not some place to spend my money and we as a collective group of 4 familes we spend alot in the mountatins.

WE BOOKED WITH HOMEAWAY VRBO. The condo we selected was lovely... One day into our vacation our money was refunded and a eviction notice was on the door. We contracted customer support and Tristin asked us to send eviction notice. After he received it, he advised us to leave immediately. He put us into a small hotel room for two days then tried to find a property we can stay at for the remainder of our trip. Small pickings only 2 star places... We were placed in the "bates" hotel... we had no choice but to take it. We paid 1000 for 6 days at the first place and this dump was 1000 for 3 days. Trying to get compensated has been a nightmare... They say that the 2 days we stayed at hotel on them was compensation enough.

The thing is: HOMEWAY / VRBO DID NOT VET THE FIRST CONDO. IT WAS AN ILLEGAL RENTAL. THEY TOOK NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ERROR. THIS REVIEW IS THE FIRST STEP TOWARD EXPOSING THEM TO TERRIBLE BUSINESS PRACTICES.
Celia I.

I have been with VacationRentals.com since inception, since I have
Rented out my Beach House for over 20 years. Back in the good 'ole days,
The site would connect travelers and owners for me paying a $300 fee
For my website. It was fantastic! Then the buy out began while
homeaway.com gobbled up most of the travel sites for vacation rentals,
Hence getting money hungry. I am being forced into making my guests pay
With a credit card on the site, so homeaway.com can GET MORE MONEY from
Me. I am NOT comfortable with this. Since our house is in Sandbridge,
Virginia Beach and 2/10 of a mile from the ocean, it is very
Popular. Many people want to have under-age parties here and I'm am
Fighting to rent to families in our quiet community. They are trying to
Force me to do "Instant booking" which I can't do since it would result
In double bookings and who knows how many people destroying my home. I
Want to TALK to my guests before they book and answer any questions they
May have. Just this week, I was informed that my guests CAN NO LONGER
Use my Paypal or send me a check. Homeaway demands ALL of the money up
Front so they can make more money. However, they still have this as an
Option on the website, which has lead to huge problems of confusion from
My guests. This has lead to them not trusting me or the homeaway.com
Site. Only recently, they are releasing the money to me after a booking,
Instead of holding the money up to a year before I receive it. I pay a
Yearly fee to homeaway to advertise and then they charge my travelers
What ever they feel like charging (up to almost $500) just to TALK to
Me. They do not deserve this "traveler's fee" since they do nothing to
Support me. My hands are tied. They are a conglomerate, and I have to
Follow their ever changing rules, which I am not informed of as an
Owner.

I have rented through HomeAway several times and not had any particular problems other than their increasing fees are not in line with the services they provide. Recently however I had a problem collecting my damage deposit back and Homeaway provided no help whatever in backing me up to get the deposit back. They basically told me it was my problem since I did not transfer the money through their system, the reason being this particular owner choses not to participate in that aspect of Homeaway and has his own contract. Unfortunately, Homeaway allows owners to use their own contracts and receive money independently. Renters who want to book those properties have no other option but to go along with the owner, hoping they are trustworthy. Often they are not and in that case, Homeaway will not back you up! It took 5 weeks to get my $2500 deposit back for no reason than the owner was lazy, greedy and chose not to send it out in a timely manner even though that time frame is far removed from what is acceptable with Homeaway. Homeaway does not put any consequences on these owners who use such practices to rip people off. For this reason, I will never use Homeaway again.

We had a complaint to make under HomeAway's Book With Confidence Guarantee.We experienced various difficulties-of HomeAway's creation- in sending it, but eventually succeeded in doing so.
The complaint was not acknowledged. Efforts to chase it were unsuccessful.
Then, after more than ten weeks, we received a poorly written letter from someone who appeared not to have read the correspondence, and giving no explanation for the delay.We wrote back and received another letter; it did not answer questions we had raised, and was largely rubbish.
We found the Book With Confidence Guarantee worse than useless, and we regard HomeAway as uncaring when things go seriously wrong.We will never use them again.

I booked a room at the MGM Grand through Expedia. The deal was I had until Sept. 15 to cancel. I looked at my credit card and they charged me 105.00 more than the original price. I caledl Expedia to cancel and they tell me I have to call Homeaway to cancel. Homeaway tells me I have to talk to a company called Hostie to cancel. Between the two, Homeaway and Hostie, I get jerked around all morning and I didn't get the cancellation. I had to call my bank to dispute the charges. As an extra precaution I had a new card issued. Horrible, horrible run around from these people. Stay away, you have been warned. Also, I have dealt with Expedia for 15 years. Because of this horrible situation I feel into through them, I am refusing to do business with Expedia ever again. Homeaway, Hostie, and Expedia. I am done with all 3.

What a nightmare service. I did a search with the Pets Allowed filter on only to be allowed to book a property which I later found out did NOT accept dogs. I had to cancel the reservation, within a half hour of reserving it but I was charged for 24 hours still. Then the property owner said we could bring our dogs, so we reinstated the reservation. I thought everything was fine until I discovered I was charged twice for this property! I've now been on hold for over a half hour dealing with trying to get my money back. They've given me a case number. Like I have a case? This is 100% their error! Booking vacation should not be this hard. This company needs to go out of business or learn from Airbnb fast.

I was with Bookabach for a couple of years and rarely had problems till its services transferred to Homeaway, the worst service I have ever dealt with. I had to change my password many times because the site would suddenly not accept the password, and still it would not accept the new password I had to create. The only way is to contact them, very timeconsuming getting through and the questions asked in order to authenticate I am the owner, property manager. But now I also have problems getting paid, seems my account is wrong during pay day, and the same process of contacting them occurs. Will definitely leave Homeaway.......useless, useless.....

I want to file complaint on michael young. Home is listed as 2 night stay, i tried to book four nights, he responds its a week stay. I respond with a copy of the ad which states two night min stay.
He then responds, Replied available-4 hours ago
"No, you don't have the money." is this the type of people you have working for your company? He is a arrogant person.

Property
#*******

Michael Young/ lienced realestate broker ( he cant even spell licensed)

If possible it is definitely best to contact home owner directly and also pay to his/her bank account.
Homeaway payment adds a huge fee on top of the rent, and holidaymaker cannot see it. You can get a lower price when renting directly from the home owner. This is the original meaning of whole thing.

If there is a refund situation, be aware that Homeaway refund may not work as you expected. The Homeaway payment system simply cannot be trusted.