HomeAwayReviews 1,748

My sister and I planned a one week vacation together for our two families. This morning I booked room 205B through HomeAway.ca and Kumulani Vacations & Realty. The same morning my sister paid for another condo in Haleakala Shores for her family. A few hours later Kumulani emailed to say that the owners of our condo want to stay there for the same dates as us so they cancelled the reservation without asking. They offered us a condo in a neighbouring resort. They are unwilling to pay the $250 cancellation fee for my sister's condo so that she can move over to the new resort. We are now forced to pay higher rates for a new room so that our two families can enjoy our vacation together. HomeStay, Kumulani, and the condo owners have offered us nothing to conpensate for our financial loss and inconvenience. All so that the owner could remove us from the condo so they can stay there.

Scam, fraud. Booked holiday, paid in full, received confirmation - day later holiday cancelled. So far spent 10 + on the phone trying to get a refund. According to HomeAway they have not taken any money, but my credit card statement shows different.
My emails are now being rejected with advise to contact HomeAway New Zealand - I was going to Devon! When I call, I'm now put on hold and left there until the phone cuts off. I shall be taking legal action for recovery of costs and reporting the company to the police and the financial services authority.

Reserved 2 properties through HomeAway. Dates changed for an event so we were forced to cancel both reservation. This was 4 months before planned travel. 1st property owner acknowledged cancellation on the website. We asked this person about the deposit refund status and interestingly enough they stated that HomeAway keeps the money up to the point the customer stays at the property. This was handy information to know for the 2nd property.
2nd property: the owner would not acknowledge our repeated cancellation requests over several weeks. I called HomeAway for help on this. They recommended I contact the owner to resolve. No luck with that again. Contact HomeAway several more times with the same advice to resolve with owner. Frustrated enough, I request HomeAway refund the $1000 deposit I have into this property. They indicate the owner has the funds and it's up to me to resolve the issue. I stated that no... HomeAway keeps the money until such time that the customer stays at the property. After an awkward silence, the HomeAway rep states that I am correct. No progress made there tho, it's still up to me to resolve.
The owner did finally acknowledge the cancellation after my son who lived in the same city, called the owner. Seemed he would answer a local call but not out of country. Once the owner acknowledged cancellation on the website, we did receive the total refund back.
-So a few things here:
-We noticed the price of the 2nd property went up substantially from the initial price on the website. Beware of this.
-HomeAway cares not about their customers. If there are any issues, your on your own.
-HomeAway is concerned only about money and will lie to get out of paying up.

Lesson leaned here, stay away from HomeAway and it's affiliates. It looks shiny and professional on the outside but God help you if anything goes sideways.

I cannot believe that not only do you hold our reservation money until our guests are actually in our properties, earning goodness knows in interest, you then feel it necessary to charge 2% processing fee. You are one greedy company. Maybe you should start considering the owners and not just the guests. After all without us you wouldn't have a business.

Come on somebody start a company that looks after the owners as well as the guests and keeps to their terms and conditions.

I have used HomeAway for several years and NEVER had a problem. The last time, however, I reserved a home in Richmond, VA which was canceled by the owner about two weeks before the date we were to rent the property. I received about a third of the money I'd paid back in a refund. I tried to contact the owner and when that didn't work, contacted HomeAway. They were initially really great, trying to contact the owner on my behalf, and also claimed they were working on finding me another property. I finally got ahold of the property owner and was refunded another part of the money, however was still owed about $70. After a month and a half of contacting HomeAway (they were working on it) and the property owner (never got a response), HomeAway finally refunded me the service fee... but I'm just out the money that the property owner owes me! Luckily it's only $25... however, I asked, and even if it had been hundreds of dollars, they would not be able to do anything to get my money back. I was also informed that the property owner has since been taken off of the site and their account cancelled, so They suggested I contact my bank and file a claim through them. I really don't believe I'll use HomeAway again for fear of getting burned.

We booked a property through HomeAway on July 11,2018. On July 31 I receive an email that the listing was fake. HomeAway guarantees they verify their listings... right. I called them and I have a case number and everything yet here I am over a month after Home Away charged my credit card immediately for the listing and they have not reimbursed me for their screw up. NEVER NEVER EVER BOOK THROUGH THIS COMPANY OR ANY OF THEIR PARTNERS VRBOShow More

We are currently staying in s property we booked through HomeAway. Be warned they do not check the condition of the property plus there are hidden extra costs such as paying for bedding! (incredible) tourist tax and cleaning (even though the property may be dirty when you get there... 100 Euros for the privilege!). We are going home early as to put it briefly the property smells of damp, is furnished using old and uncomfortable furniture and looks like it needs gutting and starting again. We paid 1300 euros to stop here and I've no doubt will see none of that refunded. There must be s better way to book reliable holidays.

Have had a listing with HomeAway for more than 10 years. Just recently Home Away has changed all the financial rules between owner and renter so they can take their huge slice of the pie. Owners take all the financial risks and yet HomeAway thinks they can book the property and keep the money until after the renter takes occupancy. On shorter term rentals, the renter has left already before I see a dime. On longer booked rentals sometimes 6 months to a year in advance. They keep the money until the renter checks in. NICE FOR THEM! They push you into signing up for Vacation Rental Payments program and if approved, you are supposed to be allowed the Advanced Payment Option to receive the deposit and final payments within 5 days. Yeah... right, good luck dealing with their outsourced calls to India and abroad to get a straight answer. I have been trying to get a straight answer for over 3 weeks and both divisions (HomeAway and Vacation Rental Payments). Even they can't explain their collaborative information as to why the approval hasn't posted yet. I am so over dealing with communications with HomeAway, they actually now are just in it for the money and don't care about OWNERS or RENTERS. There must be other companies that work in a professional business manner and not be trying to rip people off for extra fees. Somethings got to change here...

We rented through Homeaway "myrtle beach vacation station". Drove 10.5hrs to our rental property. It was filthy dirty, the couch was black, stains and bugs on bed and something that appeared be from the human body. There wasn't any bbq area as stated. When we called to complain they stated "sorry there's nothing we can do". Finally after some arguing they moved us to an "upgrade" closer to beach. We waited until the cleaners finished. Upon entering there's trash and cig butts, broken glass everywhere out front. The front door blinds were torn and hanging. There are bunk beds in every room but are to small for an adult to fit under. The windows either wouldn't lock or water poured in during the rain. The front bedroom had broken jagged glass in the frame. The a/c didn't working in living room and you had to dump dehumidifier tub or the humidity was unbearable. We had to wait an hour to get in while they cleaned. We spent 2 hours cleaning after cleaning people left. It was absolutely filthy. We put sheets on all furniture before we sat on them, bug covers on beds, swept piles of trash from under couches. There was rodent droppings in all kitchen cabinets, there's too much to list. We were supposed to stay for a week but after only 1.5 days we left and uprooted family. We found another place and had a fantastic time. Please be careful renting from these people. They ruined our vacation and don't want it to happen to you. Thank you ruining our vacation!

I am a home owner and list my property on HomeAway (formerly aka OwnersDirect). In the contract is says that payment will be made the day after the guests arrive. Late last year they were paying later and later; I now get paid more then a week after the guests arrive.
I was trying to refund a guest their security deposit but was repeatedly getting error messages. Since they don't answer emails I had several online chats with a customer service agent. They keep telling me it is a technical issue and their technical department will solve it asap.

On top on their stupendous charges (commission, booking fees, payment fees and vat), their service, also to home owners, is mind boggling.
I have closed my account with them.