HomeAwayReviews 1,748

On October 2016 it took some navigating around the site to reach customer support's phone or email, no 'Contact Us' at the bottom of the page. Secondly, the owner gets to rate 1-5 on the following: overall experience, cleanliness, house rules and communication with no explanation/comments. Thirdly, I received my rating after having reviewed my stay which mysteriously they lost (a long but thorough paragraph which words I now eat). I had only a month to review, and then was locked out even in responding to or questioning the owner's rating - no open rebuttal. I could go on.

I gave it two because I did not have a hard time getting and staying at the place but would not recommend.

I want to give them zero stars! I booked a house six months ago for our trip to Disney. I just happened to check the website and it had been cancelled this morning! 6 weeks before we are to leave for our trip. I was never notified by email or phone. I called Homeaway and they could not tell me why and were no help at all they told me I needed to call the owner of the property. The owner will not respond to my inquiries or email and the phone number is not accepting calls at this time. I looked at the same house again on the Homeaway website and our dates are available again. So hopefully someone else's vacation does not get ruined.

A ladies' trip was cancelled several days before scheduled, due to significant flooding in the area of the property. The homeowner refused to refund the cleaning fee ($200), although the property was not used. Home Away would do absolutely nothing. We didn't even ask for the property rental to be refunded. Home Away did charge me $101 for a Service Fee. A ripoff all the way around. I had used VRBO (Home Away) for years, but in recent years, I am seeing a very negative trend with them.

I've been a Homeaway property owner for at least 6 years. Todays date is 5-8-2017 I've been wondering why my reservations have come to a screeching halt. I'm a 6 star reviewed cottage on a lake in Norther Michigan. So I called customer service, never had to before, and they informed me that if I hadn't updated my calendar in the last 30 days, my listing which is current, goes into oblivion and can't be viewed. This has never been the case in the past, I was not made aware of the change and now I have lost income because of there gross negligence. I'm very disappointed, which was evident in my conversation, and not a single olive branch was offered in consolation. I can't believe they are number one.

Booked a 7 week rental in Spain. Had to cancel within the 100% refund time frame.

Spoke to their totally inept and useless customer service (that's a joke) informed me verbally but never by Email (won't ever put anything in writing) that I was entitled to a full refund BUT guess what only ever got under 50%.

Spoke to my credit card who upon looking at the evidence decided I had fraudulently Been under refunded and made good the difference.

Would advise you give this dead head of a company a VERY WIDE MISS if you need a stress free booking.

Will still use this to find accommodation but will NEVER PAY THROUGH THEM. I always do a deal direct with the owners. Never had a problem as they seem to be honest people to do business with.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

I found a condo in Nashville on homeaway.com that had availability on my four-day vacation dates. I paid the $1,000+ deposit with my credit card and agreed to pay the full price on the requested date. I complied with every single term; I didn't change a thing. A day later I was sent an email informing me that my "offer" had not been accepted. What? I lost a day of searching for a vacation home and am shame-faced with the relatives I urged to use homeaway.com. Never, ever again. Do not use homeaway.com. Why did they tell me this property was available?

I would highly suggest that you do not book this property unless you want to have your vacation ripped from underneath you even after it was confirmed and you paid the deposit.

On 4-11-17 Kimberly Smith-Lehigh, property owner, confirmed by dates, added it to her calendar and I mailed her the deposit on 4-16.6 days ago she cancelled my reservation without notice to me until yesterday, stating that my dates are not available. Why was it added to her calendar then? Why did she take my deposit then? She basically sent me an email saying I can come a month later or she will refund my deposit. Really? No consideration at all.

Unacceptable. How can you trust her or this site if they will not stay true to the reservation once confirmed and paid for.

Tried to post a review on HomeAway to warn other travelers and you can't do that since you did not stay at the property! You can send in a complaint to HomeAway about the owner but its not post anywhere. You have no way of warning others.

Never again.

I am a Homeaway host. They STOLE me 100 US$ on my bank account for a chargeback...
The guest were in my house since 2 nights when they wrote to me to inform about a fraud with the credit card used for the payment, that I have a guilty of fraud in my house, and that I will not be paid for the rental (more than 1800US$...)
Let's imagine how you feel when you have to go and meet robbers in your rented house...
And they had the cheek to stole me 100 US$ on my bank account as a chargeback fee!

I recently went through Home Away to find a place at the lake for a group trip. Had several issues with owners not getting back to me within 24 hours and my reservation subsequently not going through. But when I finally found an active account I booked. 3 days later I wake up to a negative bank account balance due to two charges of $1,130 and two charges of $500. I called homeaway to be told in a short manner they are cancelled and I shouldn't worry about them. After telling them I was worried as I had no access to my bank account due to the completely unnecessary hold of funds I was transferred to an "account service rep". This guy then provided me with codes he assured me I could provide to my bank and in one easy step have the charges dropped. Well, according to the bank this is common practice and the codes are actually not in any way helpful. Luckily my bank helped me to clear the false charges and I was able to pay rent and bills on time (barely). I know Home Away may not have loyalty to their customers as most of us (or myself anyway) are one or two time users. But this was absolutely ridiculous and completely avoidable had they not placed 4 totally unauthorized and unnecessary charges to my account freezing over $3,000!

**Major Announcement from HomeAway**

"Communicating and paying through the HomeAway checkout helps to ensure you are getting the benefits from your bookings, like improving your position in search results. For travelers, it helps them have an easy and secure booking experience.

When a traveler sees multiple websites or gets different booking instructions, it can get confusing.

To help simplify the process, the links youve added to your listing will be removed since all travelers should book safely and securely through the HomeAway checkout. If you were previously using your website to show travelers pictures, process bookings, or let them know about your availability - you can do all those things and more in your dashboard"

** WOW ** All Hosts take notice~

Well you have now outdone yourself HomeAway.
First you start charging ridiculous fees to travelers (On TOP of what we hosts are paying for your services)
Now - after I pay you $500 to list my home you are going to take away MY links to my website -
Because let's face it - it has NOTHING to do with confusing the customer- but EVERYTHING to do with the fact the customer might not USE your company to book our homes.
What is icing on the cake for us is the fact that you believe we are THAT stupid.
Nice job - you just ranked right up there with AirBnb.
I am so glad that there are other listing companies coming up behind you.
Remember - History shows us that NO company is immune to failure - you just took a step in that direction.
I will be looking for a refund of the $500 that you just charged me without telling me of these changes in the works (because once again - DON'T patronize me by telling me that you just thought this one up - you have been thinking about it for awhile)

First time to use them. Never again. After flying internationally to Japan and finally getting to our place to stay it was obvious there was a double booking. So we were out on the streets. Called home away for help. They said they would refund. That's it? Finally they said they would try to find another listing. 20 minutes later I get an email with an option with no price. Sent email back asking what the price was. 90 minutes later at 1005 pm they sent a note back and they hadn't heard anything from the host and i might want to book something myself. Well by then I had already done that. I'm not going to sit around for hours waiting for help. But I did get a text and an email earlier than my original booking had been cancelled... I kind of knew that already. That's how you help a stranded traveler after a confirmed booking? I expect faster makeup and something more than "we will refund" you.

Terrible service.

Since HomeAway's acquisition by Expedia this hosting service has grown evermore dysfunctional.

Been a host there for years. At one time they were truly helpful and courteous to their hosts. At this time, I have found them to be progressively less personal, courteous and helpful to me.

Their search engine is a total disaster! Search for Silver Spring and you'll come up with a listings in two other local jurisdictions.

They seem to have no regard for the quality nor content of their hosts' listings...

Beware; proceed, if you're bound to, with extreme caution.

Booked a trip to a popular destination 1 year in advance.
Received a generic response that trip would be cancelled.
Now there is no option for an alternate location.
Cancelling agent was John Gonzalo *******789.

I booked a vacation rental in New York City and paid a deposit. The owner(Garland S.)cancelled 2 weeks prior, citing he anticipated a family emergency. The truth is, he listed it for a higher price. He only refunded a third of the deposit and when I contacted him, he stated he didn't know how it worked. He refunded a little bit more, at which point, I contacted Home Away. They told me that despite the "guarantee", there wasn't anything they could or would do, and that I would have to take care of it myself by contacting my bank about a fraudulent charge. Meanwhile, I had to find a new place to stay and pay a whole new deposit still while awaiting my refund. Awful experience. Will never use again.

We bought a house in Costa Rica as a rental property. Mostly based on the previous rentals through Homeaway. The house and its concierge service, both of which we took over, received great review and those are posted on Homeaway.
We did tons of work changing the listing on Homeaway. But we are not able to change the payout settings.
Made several calls to customer service. Each time they suggested different things. They also sent us a form to fill out with DocuSign. We did that, but nothing was changed. Next time I called the, they insisted on us setting up a whole new listing. But then we would have to do all the work again with the photos, settings etc. But more importantly, we would lose all the excellent reviews of the property and the concierge service.
This is simply unfair and stupid! There are lots of ways they can confirm that the request is coming from the new owners. We can answer the security questions, have password etc. Why can't they let us change that? As it is now, all the payments go to the previous owners. Simply unacceptable!