HomeAwayReviews 1,748

I have used Homeaway twice and both times it was a disaster with the properties being grossly misrepresented. When I used them recently we could only stay in the apartment for one night before having to move to a hotel. We did negotiate a refund with the owner but Homeaway did nothing to help and charged the full service fee which is based on the price for the whole 5 days. They have refused to refund any part of the fee even though I feel they did not deliver any service.

I used Home Away last year in the Virgin Islands renting a villa. It was great, wonderful experience. I don't know if new management took over this year, but I made reservation and had to cancel.(within a day). They charged $104 service fee that I cant get back unless owner does initiates on website. Owner gave approval but claims he is out of county. Home Away should initiate this refund of THEIR service fee. Why should owner have anything to do with that. I booked another trip but now am afraid I will not get refund if I have to cancel. I was on expedia site when I booked this trip but somehow it re-routed to home away. I will not use them again

We recently had to cancel a reservation with homeaway and in doing so found out that apparently the property manager can pick and choose who's policy they want to go by regarding refunds. The rental agreement from the property owner stated that if canceled more than 30 days out we would receive 96% of our deposite back. However, homeaway states that if you cancel at 60 days or less, you only get 50% of your deposite refunded. We canceled 46 days out, so who's policy do you think the property manager choose to use? Yes, we're only getting 50% of our deposite back. You would think that between the two parties there would have to be a set, exact policy and not a "let the customer guess who's policy they will have to go by" scam. Deleted the app and learned a lesson about homeaway the hard way!

I rented a apartment in Maui for family of 4. There was only one small air conditioner inside the bed room and that was not providing enough cooling. There err bugs and cockroaches in the apartment. Called customer service for customer satisfaction guarantee. She was very rude and did not do anything. This company is scam. With all there added cost overall cost to rent exceeds normal hotels rates. Based on my experience, I will not recommend using this company again.

I booked a property this year at Cabo Roig, Spain as I had used the company before with no issues.
This year the accommodation was dirty, didn't have the ceiling fans it said it had and the cooker didn't work - my daughter has coeliac disease so cooked was essential.
There was out of date items in the kitchen cupboards (from 2014!) and we had to remove used razors and various other items from the bathroom cabinets as I think every traveller from the last 3yrs had left things.
We had to thoroughly clean the place and wash mats from bedrooms and bathrooms.
I contacted the owner and company, provided photos and the only response I got was that the cleaner said it was ok before we arrived!
I have since not received the link to leave a review.
Extremely poor customer service with Homeaway not responding at all and owner being extremely dismissive.
No direct contact with anyone on site and would not use this company again.
Received my security deposit back but no refund on the cleaning fee.

We rented an apartment from Etienne Feru in Annecy and was accused of having spilled oil on his floor. We clearly objected to this false accusation as the stain was present when we took over the apartment. We objected to any deductions being made from our deposit three times to Homeaway - we heard nothing and they paid the owner EUR 150 from our deposit! Ever since I have tried to reclaim my money w/o any luck. Yesterday I was informed the owner had provided 'sufficient evidence' of us having damaged his floor. I politely asked to see the socalled sufficient evidence as I was curious to see how the owner would prove an impossible thing. Guess what? Homeaway informed me? I could not get access to this evidence!
I can only urge everybody to stay away from Homeaway and in particular to Mr. Etienne Feru from Annecy. What a fraudulent pack of cheats.

These people have literally stolen $300 from us. We rented a condo through their service, paid in full. We went on our vacation, returned home... and waited for our deposit to be returned. The owner returned our deposit expeditiously to a credit card on file with HOMEAWAY/VRBO that was no longer valid. It happens. So, we called Homeaway and were simply told it would be returned when they received the rejected payment back from the bank.
So, we waited... and waited...
We called our bank - the issuer of the cancelled card - and were told by them our $300 deposit was RETURNED to HOMEAWAY/VRBO's payment processing company. So, we call "India" again. Of course, they have no record of our calls and no clue where our money has gone. I have a letter from the condo owner stating the deposit was debited from her HOMEAWAY/VRBO account. I have a letter verifying CHASE bank rejected the payment (because the credit card was no longer active) over a month ago, and SENT IT BACK to HOMEAWAY/VRBO. I have spoken to about 10 different foreign reps who have done nothing but pass the buck, give me erroneous info. And waste my time! The bottom line is this: You have $300 of my money. YOUR payment processing department lost our refund! THEY have my cash... and since it is impossible to speak with anyone at your company that has a clue, I will be leaving this review everywhere online, contacting the BBB and filing a complaint in small claims court. Your reps refuse to connect me with someone who can 1) speak English and 2) help me instead of passing the buck! These companies sure as hell take it quick enough... but when they are in the wrong, they drag their heels and could care less about making it right for their customers! I have used this service for years - never again! I suppose this is an example of how "great" we are making America... for industry... but to hell with the customer. There is no oversight so they can literally steal from people and the consumer is left with no other recourse but to waste more time and money dragging them into small claims court! Thanks for nothing

As a property owner I have been extremely frustrated by HomeAway following the takeover of Stayz. Their customer service is nil, technical support obsolete, and senior management appears to be more interested in promoting their own holidays then looking after their property owners and travellers. My suggestion is to use HomeAway to find a property that you like, search for it online to find their website or their listing on another accommodation booking portal. Do not book through this site.

I ad over 1000 fake enquiries which jammed up the calendar on my listing and all calendars which were linked.
When I called customer support they refused to put me through to a supervisor. Their follow up email is pathetic:

Dear Peter,

Thank you for contacting HomeAway Customer Support.

We have identified that fraudulent reservations are being received by some property owners in large quantities. I am sending your information to our Global Risk Department for further investigation. The current recommendation is to let the inquiries expire. There will be an initial impact on Ranking Metrics. Steps are being taken to remove the impact as soon as possible.

Visit help.homeaway.com for answers to frequently asked questions.

Sincerely,

Cynthia

HomeAway.com Customer Support

I was fooled by the HomeAway site into thinking they were the realtor renting a vacation property in Naples. We ended up paying ridiculously high fees that went neither to the realtor or to the homeowner. Had we realized the shell game, we would have rented directly from the realtor and saved hundreds of dollars in fees. I do not understand why local Chambers or Better Business Bureaus or Attorneys General do not put a stop to this.

I booked on August 10th for an arrival date of October 05. I was forced to cancel on August 14th due to unforseen circumstances. The rental agreement stated that a $50 deposit was required and that only half would be refunded unless 60 days notice was given. Well anyone that can count can see that there are only 57 days from August 10 to October 05 so 60 days notice was impossible. No big deal. I would be out $50.00.

Well they also had another condition stating that the property owner had to approve and cancellation and refund. They dinged my credit card for the whole rental amount of $873.00 and then generously offered me a 50% refund. I actually received ony $390.00 and they blocked my IP address so I could not leave a review on the website.

I could not recommend this site and it's service to anyone and wish I had never heard of them or of Property ID *******, Mahone Bay NS.

Stay away folks and save yourself a lot of aggravation.

Update: My credit card company agreed with me and reversed the payment (all except the $50 deposit) which I did not dispute.

We have holidayed in Villas on Majorca for years. This Villa Catalina in Cala D'or'was the worst. No one to meet us. An out of date brochure which meant we could only get a taxi after 45 miinutes on the phone trying different companies. The electrics desperately needed to be updated. They are overloaded and if you switch on the coffee machine the dishwasher doesn't work. My daughter spent a good part of her week calling the agency who responded quickly but in effect, we were acting as project managers for a rundown villa that should not be charging the amount that they are.

I cannot begin to explain how displeased and infuriated my experience with this website has left me. I was charged twice for accommodation meaning my credit card was charged $6000 instead of $3000. As a student, I do not have this money and now have $0 thanks to this expensive mistake from HomeAway. The customer service in dealing with the matter have been slow, rude, useless and overall completely pathetic. I cannot explain how painstakingly terrible this entire process has been for me and will be sure to insist to everyone I know that they should never book accommodation through this site. You have my absolute guarantee that I will never use this site again.