HomeAwayReviews 1,748

I never thought this was even possible. I was interested in booking an apt in London and I got a booking request saying that the owner only accepted bank transfers. I called HOMEAWAY asking about the listing and if this was normal procedure and they said YES. Long after I sent wire, they sent me an email saying they believed the property to be a fake listing. It was too late to recall the wire.

BEST PART: it is a LIE that the payments are guaranteed. I paid US$3400dls and the guarantee is supposed to be up to US1000, But the guarantee is actually NOTHING, because the paperwork Homeaway requires is actually impossible to produce (like having JP Morgan Chase write a very specific 'notice of best efforts to retrieve payment" or something of the sort that they just are not allowed to do), NEVER, NEVER use homeaway. If as a business they allow people to run scams and get away with it, THEY ARE RUNNING A SCAM TOO.

I have been very unhappy with this company ever since they insisted that renters book on line. It should be the renters choise. Renters cannot get in contact with owners until after they put money down. Then if the renters go through with the horrible experience, they will get in touch with me. I find this unfair business practice. The extra money that the listing agencies charge is in the MILLIONS, charged to renter without their knolage. I do not rent to anyone until I inteview them. This is my home and I am in control and I want to do business my way. I have not receive payment and the renters have been in the house for several days. Blahhh!

Horrible experience by owner and HomeAway. Owner agreed to switch reservation date then suddenly switched back to original date with less than a week notice. He would not refund my money and I am out over $1200. Owner became volatile and angry. I spent hours on hold with customer service and filled out a detailed complaint with documentation. The company said I should try disputing charges with my credit card company and have not responded to my emails. Worst experience ever by both an unprofessional owner and a company that has zero customer service or support. I will never use their service again.

More and more people are becoming aware of just how bad VRBO and Homeaway have become. They have consistent treated owners and now travelers miserably. They demonize good owners and make the experience a misery for travelers. From the addition of an ever changing "booking fee" assessed for travelers to pay(supressed intil the end of the booking process and they have your cc to the shameful disregard for the homeowners who provide their inventory. If they actually took some of the money to do what they claim(like protecting the traveler and the homeowner, maybe ok, but they do not. CS is the worst, they use carefully crafted language, avoid answering legitimate questions, ban all negative comments from their social media sites yet do not help homeowners that have been victims of extortion from bad guests leaving threatening bad reviews for refunds. We live in a crazy world but this company is beyond belief. I hope the traveling public wises up. I always will search out the homeowner direct for bookings and i will always book direct with airlines and hotels. They often give travel rewards for loyalty. Bye bye Expedia/Homeaway

I have been with Homeaway for 6 years, I was very please with them til they started on line booking. I was happy with the way things were working out so I didnt get online booking, big mistake starting June 2016 was the last call I got til one in January 2017. I had been getting calls daily and had my place booked ever year til I refuse to join online booking. I had a year contract til April 24 2017 which I payed for, they wanted more money from me with the online booking. I will never use them again and tell everyone not to use them.

I own a small cottage on a lake in CT. I was interested in renting it out on a weekly basis for the months of May - October so I joined VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner) in 2005 and it was a lovely experience. I paid "X" amount of dollars per year to advertise on this website. When someone was interested in renting they would submit an inquiry to my email. Based on their needs I would submit a response. This personal communication was necessary to let the consumer know what they were getting for their money and sometimes resulted in negotiating different a different price based on their individual requirements. Lately VRBO has been taken over by HomeAway. HomeAway then began to push On-Line booking down my throat. I have no interest in on-line booking and never will but because I have made this decision HomeAway has made it increasingly difficult for me to access my site. They have a pop-up for on-line booking that blocks out your site until you agree to book on-line. They have taken away all the personal communication between me and my customer and have now begun charging my customers a service fee if they book my cottage. When they notify me that my renewal is due they do not supply anything (and I mean NOTHING) indicating changes in the website. I have never signed an agreement with them and when I ask them to supply me a copy of my signed agreement they won't answer me. You only find out about their changes when you access your site and discover that they have taken over your bookings and your money. Customer service is of absolutely NO HELP. The website says they are available 24/7 but that is not true. When you call they tell you they are available Mon - Fri between normal working hours.At times when I have finally gotten through not only have they not helped with my question or problem, they have actually tricked me into agreeing to things I had no intention of agreeing to. BEWARE OWNERS, THESE PEOPLE ARE CROOKS! Google them and read their reviews. I'm not sure who hates them more, the property Owners or the renters!

Crazy bad service. No 2 agents give you the same info to the renter or property owner. Property owner kept denying the reservation because they could not get things correct. In process I'm charged a rental fee for a property that I NEVER rented from them. In fact I have the property reserved through a rental company in the property area. They WILL NOT let you talk to a supervisor and they take you around and around in circles with NOTHING resolved.

Hey if your a felon, homeaway is the place for you! Book your apartment. Keep your hoodie on so the video cameras don't get a good look at you. You and your friends stay for a few nights in Luxury! When the charge arrives on your cc bill. Just say: "Hey creditors that wasn't me!"
The owner will unlikely dispute it bc disputes come in, not as homeaway but as 'yapstone'. Yapstone also charges a $25 middle man fee to dispute the charge on the hosts behalf - with no guarantees so the host will likely loose everything + $25.
If the host is savvy and disputes your charge. Don't worry. Even though Yapstone claims they're a middle guy working for you, the host, they will treat each dispute from the same felons as a brand new dispute, so the host will have to start all over again and again; so, will eventually give up and loose everything!
That's what they did to me. I LOST $1700+ dollars..

I booked a vacation through this company to stay at property #******* for a week. This was booked one week prior to me arriving at the beach house. I had unfortunate events arise and was forced to cancel my trip. I had purchased the trip insurance through Home Away. So I emailed the property owner and he quickly sent me a refund for my 300 dollar deposit and let me know he had a 60 day prior cancellation policy and he was keeping the remainder of my money. He did not send me documentation of this policy until 4 days after accepting my reservation and money.

I have been working with Home Away for 2 weeks now to sort out why my trip insurance is not covering this and how it is acceptable to let me know after taking my money that I would have needed to cancel my trip almost 2 months before making it to qualify. I have heard nothing back from customer service. I was told an email covering that they said I was getting a refund would be sent after our call and have nothing to show. I have sent in emails waited on hold and still 2 weeks later no refund no communication.

I would not recommend this company for any travel reservations as you are not covered with insurance and will never be able to get any one to return your call or email you if you have any issues.

I am a home owner that uses homeaway to find vacation renters. I had a bad review left with wrong information so I called to get the review fixed or amended. They said they can't help me. I then ask if I leave a review for a renter would the renter see my ratings. The customer service person said I had complete privacy in this matter. Well I reviewed a renter who left the house a mess and moved all the furniture around. An hour later that renter gave us a poor review with lies given ad the reason for the review. I called the customer service line and find out that the renter can see my review. I ask homeaway to wipe all the reviews clean even my 4 5 star reviews since they told me the wrong info. Nope they can't do anything. I will take my busiNess to airbnb and tripadvisor now.

I travel frequently and usually book with airbnb but for spring break most spaces were booked up so I decided to book a house with HomeAway and I absolutely regret it and would never do it again.

Prior to my arrival I paid my first installment for the home of $107. I then owed $192 which would bring my total to $299. After my stay I would receive $100 back as a refundable damage deposit.

The night I stayed at the home by bank account was charged $280. Nearly the total of what it should have costed AND the payment was unauthorized. I called HomeAway and they told me there was nothing they could do for me. A few days later, my account was charged another $244 unauthorized. Again, HomeAway told me there was nothing they could do and that I still owed them money.

This one night stay ended up costing me $631 when it should have rightfully cost me $199. I filed a dispute with my bank and am still waiting to receive my money back. HomeAway is such a joke. I'm disappointed.