HomeAwayReviews 1,748

Nope, l think l got the info l needed just reading the customer reviews. Sounds like you guys need to get your crap together.

I booked a cottage for the Christmas holiday through HomeAway. Even though the dates said it was available, I got a response back from the owner that it was already booked. I had given my credit card info to HomeAway so I calledl them right away to let them know I wasn't able to rent and not to charge my card. They assured me it would be fine. As it turns out I didn't get charged for the rental but I was charged a service fee of $90 Canadian. I called to make sure I would be refunded and was told that in up to 14 days I would be automatically refunded. That was 6 weeks ago and no refund. I tried to call their *******145 today and it is out of service. I have given up on this but be warned not to deal with this company. By the looks of the other reviews, this is a common occurrence with this company.

I let out 2 properties in the Dordogne, France. I completely agree with all the criticisms leveled by the posts on this page. I was a very satisfied customer of Owners Direct until the US take overs. Now you are forced to comply with HomeAway and their money grabbing system or you get penalised and your property slips so far down the ratings that you get almost no enquiries (apart from the scams).
Today I discovered that you also lose between 2% and 4.7% in an invisible "transaction charge" if you allow your customer to pay by credit card, which you are coerced to do to if you want to keep your rating position. Total ripoff.
My last 2 bookings have been very confused by the booking process, and time and goodwill has been wasted trying to sort it out.
It's a greedy business model, and I hope people migrate away from it. I will be checking out alternative sites - any recommendations appreciated.

Booked a house in October for two families for Dec 28-30. Owner cancelled on me on Dec 23rd. Never got a full refund. When the owner cancelled, I called home away to book a new house and since I hadn't gotten any money back yet I expected them to at least waive their booking fee. Manager told me that their "system" won't allow them to do that. Been three weeks, 5 phone calls, and about 4 hours on the phone, still haven't recieved a full refund. Again I'm told their "system" can't refund me, the owner has to. Their "system" had no problem taking $1011 out of my account within 2 hours of me booking. Funny how that works. Never again.

Reserved a place in Florida for March. Home Away failed to inform me that the property manager did not contact them to approve the rental so the reservation was cancelled. Yet, they charged my credit card three times even though the reservation was cancelled. Took 1 1/2 hours on the phone to try to straighten out the mess. I never received an email about the cancelled reservation and no one could tell me why. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY.

Deceptive way to tag on that impressive "service" fee... would be nice for you to list it as a "home away" service fee at check out so when the suckers who check their bank statements and realize that "service" fee went to home away and not the owners/management they thought it was going to, they could have the option to just go through the owner or simply find a different property - it's not that I don't mind paying a fee, I'd just like the option to decide whom I pay a "service" fee to and whether that fee is justified or not. Also, a tiny question mark right by it is a pretty pathetic way to save your butts and say that you 'told us so' as it's tagged on at the end and people can easily miss it as they are checking out. That's what I think about that. I probably wouldn't have complained or even cared if it was presented in a straight forward - shall we say honest way at check out. When I tip someone I like to know I'm tipping them! What a concept right!? Not impressed... Happy new year!

OUTRAGEOUS... was charged $500 by HA because I prefer to handle my own monies and business after 20 successful years doing so. Without pay on line. Inquiries dropped 90% this year because my ad for 1 br was put at the bottom of hundreds of others and mixed in w/ 5 other towns. If by some miracle, a renter clicked on, there was a notice saying that this owner does not use our pay plan so basically infers that renter is unprotected... also shows 3 other choices ON MY PAGE but no mention is made that no fees are charged when not using pay plan... just charge owners more, hide their listings, suggest they may be suspect and lie about better service and more advtg. Criminal.

It may look very good and attractive, but you always have to have a back up plan with this site. We reserved a one bedroom condo more than 24h in advance, and there was no confirmation answer nor from owner nor from the site. They still check if we have an available amount of funds (charging the amount on the credit card), but they do not say that we got the appartment. This ruined badly our plans leaving us desperately waiting for the answer from the owner until the last minute. Finally we had to find a hotel room which was something we did not want to do. Super irresponsible as service. Never fully trust it.

I recommend you don't ever try renting with Home away. They ask for your credit card information before the rental is approved by the owner, and say it will be scratched if the rental is declined. The rental was declined because the cottage was already booked by a different site. My credit card was still charged the "SERVICE FEE" OF 82.99 which is complete bull$#*!. I have called Home Away Customer Service about 5 different times and keep being told the same thing... "Your credit card will be refunded within 3-5 business days". It's now been 15 business days since the property was declined. Complete BULL$#*!

HomeAway property # *******... As an American visiting Guadeloupe, I was up for the challenge. We had a great property, spoke limited French, but that's part of the adventure.
Long story short, the owner charged us $360 dollars because his automatic roll up window stopped working. One turns on a switch, a light goes on. One turns on a switch, the roll up, rustic, rusty aluminum window goes up. Apparently, when one neglects their property, they hold the renters responsible. His wife, Dominique was apologetic... she knew were inconvenienced all week. Pierre did not think so.
Beware...

This company is really something! They tell you that you have to request a reservation and that the owner has 24 hours to reply. They take your credit card and tell you that you will not be charged. They then immediately get an authorization from your credit card company, before they even know if the home is available. This authorization reduces your credit on your card by the full amount of the booking plus fees, taxes, cleaning fees and, security deposit. Then the owner rejects the reservation because the home has already been booked for the dates that you requested on another site. Home Away then tells you, "oh yes you will get your credit back in 7 to 10 days (depending on your banks policies)". When they let you know that the owner has rejected your request they tell you a lie, "your credit card has not been charged". However they are just playing with words because in fact their authorization already reduced your credit availability by the full amount of the charge for a home that Home Away actually did not have available to rent to you! Now if as I did you make multiple reservation requests for different homes all of which, are unavailable because they have already been booked on other sites, you end up with your credit cards being maxed out. When I called Home Away two days in a row they promised to have a supervisor call me back but it never happened and when I protested about their abuse of my credit for homes that they did not in fact, have available, the answer was, "that is our company policy". This is pure ruthless abuse of power and abuse of a customers confidential information. They think because they are so big and now owned by Expedia which by the way condones their behavior. We shall see.