HomeAwayReviews 1,748

Today I copied and printed, in order to put in my memory book, as a souvenir, the advertising for my short term rental in Paris which has been running in HA/VRBO for the last 8 years. For eight years my studio rented successfully enough to make my work moderately profitable and pleasant because of the many wonderful renters I met.

Although not very happy, I put the advertising in my memory book because I quit in November at the end of my subscription and will put the studio for rent on a long term basis.

I am unwillingly and refuse to continue abiding to Expedia's policies which changes my role from owner to manager good enough to clean and repair. Adding to my new role, the "book now" process which limits my contact with potential renters, the modified payment method, the lie concerning the charge for the 24 hours service (who is going to fix in Paris a water leak while sitting in an office in Austin Texas) and the new algorithm used which has placed my add so far down, because I refuse to opt for "the book now" system are responsible for my decision.

I consider that HomeAway, although functioning legally is basically reaping profits as a parasite would or as a scavenger.

If I were to continue renting short term I would have left HA anyway. Why pay a yearly fee to HA when there are so many site like Airbnb where one can advertise for free.

I've used Homeaway for our annual family cabin trips and also for when I travel out of state and have not had any problems prior until this year. Not only were we charged a 14% "service fee" by homeaway, we were charged for cleaning fees by the owners who refused to give us back our damage deposit due to "extensive" cleaning their cleaners claimed they had to provide after we left. I have pictures to prove the condition of the house when we left. Owners claims damages with contradicting stories and didn't even have the house cleaned till four days after we left the property. I thought that booking through homeaway with their "security deposit protection" will provide me with some sense of confidence but I was wrong. After submitting all the information they needed including pictures and details of the events, homeaway still denied my claim. I paid homeaway to basically do nothing. Their security deposit protection is a joke. Now I have no choice but to go through small claims court and waste more time and money to get my damage deposit back from owners who nickel and dime me for every penny that they could get even for things that are due to their lack of attention.

I've come to the conclusion that as long as they make their money, they don't care if the customer is happy or not. Homeowners are allowed to flat out lie about the amenities they claim their property has and then the property owner is allowed to give US a 1 review? We couldn't have been better renters during our week's stay. We left the home better and more well stocked than when we arrived. Be careful of all those glowing reviews because in our experience, it was the opposite. Lies! Homeowner asked for feedback and then was a complete a$$ when we did that. Didn't give a damn that my husband was attacked by a warm of wasps, simply from walking out on the pond's dock. Called us city slickers because he got stung. Actually we are country people. Way too many other issues to get into, but we'll never use Homeaway again. And beware of renting from "Berharnd" aka Martin in Bangor, ME! He's a liar!

I recently had my first experience of dealing with "HomeAway". It will certainly be my last. HomeAway SIMPLY SWALLOWED MY MONEY AND LEFT ME AND MY WIFE WITH NOWHERE TO STAY.

We had booked our accommodation on line and the confirmation from HomeAway said: "Your reservation is confirmed. PAID. We have charged your credit card for the full payment of this reservation."

They added: "To make arrangements for check-in please contact the property at least 72 hours before arrival. When we did this (by email), the owner of the property, a Mrs Yanni Tong, demanded that we pay $150 into her personal bank account before she proceeded. We told her that we refused to do this and that we would come to the property at the agreed time and would expect to be checked in. When we arrived at the property we were met by Mrs Yanni Tong's daughter, who demanded $150 in cash before she would let us check in. This we, again, refused to do. (The property, incidentally, is in Thames Street, Box Hill, Australia, and my wife and I had just flown from Manila. Imagine how we felt. WE HAD NOWHERE TO STAY.)

When we submitted a complaint to HomeAway we were given the reference Case # ******* and were then embroiled in never-ending correspondence with different people in the HomeAway organisation but received no satisfaction whatsoever. They just wasted our time.

However, it was HomeAway that took our money, not Mrs Yanni Tong, and it is HomeAway that is refusing to give us back our money. What a company!

In our correspondence with HomeAway we have discovered that they are interlinked with other companies called Travelscape, LLC (that's one company), VRBO and VacationRentals.

So maybe Travelscape, LLC, VRBO and VacationRentals are all good companies to avoid.

I hope that what I have written will be a warning to other travellers.

Dr David Clarke

I booked a stay with Homeaway in Portugal this September. On the website, it states I can receive a 100% refund if I cancel within 14 days of my stay. Eventually we found a better place, and we cancelled the reservation about 1 month before our stay. The owner cancelled the reservation after many requests from me, but did not process the refund, which is a separate step. I contacted Homeaway and found out that it's up to you owner to approve the refund, and there was nothing they could do. Now I am out $1,200 even though I followed their policies, contacted the owner, and customer service. Use Airbnb instead, at least they keep their word.

Worse experience ever!
They didn't want to know about the aircon that stopped working in this Sicilian heat, we could not sleep!
They told us to contact the owners which we did they did buy a portable one which wasn't enough as it did not reach the bedroom.
We complained again the lady on the phone was very rude and was not listening to our complaint they are just money grabbers, I asked for a part refund for our 3 week stay and they refused saying it's nothing to do with them, but they are quick in taking your money, I call it money laundering.
STAY AWAY FROM HOMEAWAY!

Went to Portland using VRBO which connected us to Barsala. They were extremely helpful, I had no problem getting our room, and they even gave us a free upgrade to an apartment right in the center of the city which was amazing. Their customer service was great, I had someone named Nika helping me through text the whole time and she was readily available to answer all my questions. In the future I will look to use Barsala and VRBO again whenever I need a place to stay.

Was recently able to spend a month in Carmel Ca. Through the rental company Sanctuary Vacation Rentals (VRBO), in Monterey Ca. To start with my home on San Carlos in Carmel called Sanctuary by the Sea was absolutely gorgeous. So well cared for. The decor was so peaceful the grounds immaculate and home all at the same time. The house manager, Candace, was always available and very concientous to every detail. The neighborhood is very beautiful and quiet. A view of
Point Lobus can be seen from the upstairs. The sound of the ocean and of Seals barking is so wonderful. There are so many activities to see and do and more restaurants to enjoy than you'll probably have time to try. Although, the kitchen in the Sancutuary by the Sea is superb if you are a person that enjoy cooking. Every attention to detail is taken. One of my favorite restaurants is Stravaganza located just a very short drive South on hwy 1 to The Carmel Crossroads shopping center. Many wonderful dishes to choose from. Italian, some Greek, and American. All prepared to perfection.(One of Doris Day's favorite places). Another located in the same shopping area is the Rio Grill, very good steaks and other fare along with a bar that serves great drinks. My other choice for the Carmel area was the Mission Ranch. The food is wonderful, along with the patio and view of sheep in the pasture. The chef prepared the dishes all from scratch. Prime Rib is a specialty. Artichokes grilled and served as a beginning are wonderful. There isn't a beach more beautiful to see or walk and swim than Carmel. Although parking can be difficult at times. Asilomar and lover's point in Pacific Grove are another great way to enjoy the ocean and tide pools. If you're looking to refresh renew or make some happy memories, Do yourself a favor call Sancutuary Vacation Rentals in Monterey or go online you will not be disappointed. Jody Gill, guest, from 7-1-2017 to 8-1-2017.

I have been a long time VRBO and HomeAway user. The core of my satisfaction was always to make personal contact with property owners before renting so I was comfortable with the arrangements and quality of the relationship. After all, I would be renting their home not a hotel. I wanted to feel safe in case of an emergency on my end or theirs. With Expedia's new policy basically blocking my access to owners combined with their outrageous added fees and online payment strategy, I will never book through them again! A true loss to me and the many owners I have rented from is the past. From now on I will use local rental companies where details of any rental are known to me upfront and payment and cancellation terms are acceptable to me. Note to Expedia "executives": I am not an idiot!

As an owner, they could not be less interested in sorting out THEIR mistakes.
They charged a tenant £850 less than they should have paid based on the rates advertised on my property page and then they tried to blame me. Their IT is basic and they are not interested in accommodating any problems. As an owner be very careful if you use their payment options, you may well be getting less rent than you are due and they really could not care less.

I initially signed up with the VRBO because they had great ratings for owners and customers alike as a tool to book vacations. I liked that I was able to absorb the cost on my end to keep customers from paying any fees on their end. Now they have come and mandated all owners book through their site and your they collect the money. Additionally they charge the customers from 5% to 12% Service fee. Up till now I also paid extra so that I could manage it myself/-talk to my renters beforehand. I could text them, call them, email them. Now HomeAway/VRBO is taking that away from the owners. They act like they are in charge and we should kiss their a** for providing a website. Well no thanks. You suck VRBO on so many levels. I am done. You are not the only platform out there and within a year I predict your customers will decline drastically. That's what you get for being greedy and controlling.

As all the others have said, HomeAway and the excellent sites that it bought used to provide a useful service: bringing owners and renters together. Now they try to operate as a monopoly keeping owners and renters apart. It's no good.

Having said that, we will stay with them because we found that StaySavr lets renters get in touch direct with HomeAway advertisers. Neat eh? We will now only accept bookings from guests who contact us direct.