VRBOReviews 2,004

I booked an apartment from August 28-31 in Montreal through VRBO. When we arrived the "Unforgettable Apartment with an Amazing View" was anything but. Had to use my phone's flashlight to find the apartment because there were no lights in the hallway. Upon entering it smelt strongly of pesticide. It was visibly gross and unkept. $20/day cleaning fee? Duct tape plastered on the thresholds were tripping hazards. The picture of the flowers on the wall, are flowers stuffed into a hole in the wall. Crumbling balcony was scary. Not only because of its condition but there was a space wide enough for a child or animal to plummet 19 floors down. We left within 10 mins. Sent the host pics and explained why I wanted a refund. He was quick to reply before, but not now. I did the VRBO chatbot for help. Colossal waste of time which resulted in it saying it could not help me and to phone customer service. Another colossal waste of time. Told me I had to contact the host which I did to no avail. Customer rep phoned the host. He spoke to the host but the host hung up and the rep couldn't reach him again. So he said I had to phone the host to get my refund. I said you work for VRBO and he hung up on you, where do you think I am going to get. I said that this dishonest/unclean host is representing the company you work for, you have the power to shut him down. Rep said he could do nothing. I asked to speak to a supervisor after 30 mins and the rep said he would phone me in 1 hour. 5 hours later, surprisingly no call. The host messaged me finally and said he would give me $118 for the last 2 nights since he could not rent the first night under such short notice. Must be the new math, because $315÷3 nights=$105/night and 2 reimbursed nights is $210. I told them I would settle for that even though the first night still included a cleaning fee in the price. Checked out this host's listing again and couldn't find them a few hours later? Hope he is gone into hiding for ever, not just until the dust settles. FIRST and LAST experience with VRBO and I am on a mission to make sure noone I know has a FIRST experience!

Coastal Sisters helped us in a pinch, we had some business in surfside and reached out to some friends and they referred us to Coastal Sisters. Upon putting what I thought was a decent review for the stay, since we were unable to stay in the house due to the bed being completely uncomfortable, to the microwave not working, to bugs in the home, as well as cracks in the floor (you could see the ground below the house) at the Lazy Cajun, sand in the couches and bed, as well as TV's not working... I then got rude messages from Coastal Sisters saying they were disappointed in my review - then proceeded to call the people that referred me and had them call and harass me about taking what I thought was a nice review down. Then the friends proceeded to call my mother while she has a heart problem and about to have heart surgery - as well as I just lost my son. I feel that they took this way to far and I told them I would give them a good review and I thought I did for the circumstances (which I never mentioned in the first review) This is very upsetting and very unprofessional - At this point I will NEVER use them again! Unnecessary drama, just to get a good review, when you knew your property was unfit to rent! NOW here is the real review!

Edit to add- I contacted Vrbo's parent company directly and they were able to issue a refund. However, I still stand by my original review of Vrbo's money-back guarantee. My bank took 6 months to do their part, so it was impossible for me to have completed the process within Vrbo's 6 month deadline.
I called to report that my host was not returning calls or in communication and I could not access my rental on the day I was supposed to check-in last September (in 2022). I had to find another place last minute- with my child- in the middle of Atlanta on Labor Day Weekend! I was then shuffled around and given bad information from various people at Vrbo because of the technology issues they were experiencing, or at least that is the excuse I was given each of the 6 times I was asked to submit the exact same information. When I finally tracked down an email address of someone high enough up in the company to get a knowledgeable person, I was informed that I needed to go through my bank before Vrbo could refund my money (this was in November of 2022- 2 months later). I initiated that process within a week of being given that information. As soon as I got the letter back from Bank of America, I contacted Vrbo again to update my claim. A person from Vrbo, that I had previously worked with, then called me, on July 4th, to tell me that my claim was approved and that I would receive a refund. That same person called me back twice to see if I had received my money yet, and now (in August of 2023) I get an email saying that it is, in fact, denied. I can say that I am extremely disappointed in your entire company and plan on spreading this opinion as widely as I can. I have talked to 11 different people in this company and emailed at least half of them, and I have the records to back this up. I am extremely disappointed that Vrbo is not backing up their claim.

Listings on VRBO are grossly misrepresented. We have had strangers coming and going for all hours from an RV in the yard. Needless to say it's not "entire property" as advertised. The Host (Sam), was confronted about the strange people when my Wife had text him asking; 'why there are strange people coming and going from the property...' The Host responded with making it our issue; saying 'you are being unreasonable, they have nowhere to go.' Absolutely unbelievable response and the true definition of "gaslighting". We contacted VRBO to tell them we do not feel safe. We are not able to allow our dog outside and most importantly, we were never told there were people on the property. It is supposed to be against VRBO policy for a shared residence or property to be advertised via their platform. However, this is the second and last listing we have stayed at that was a shared property with other guests (strangers). We rented the listing through VRBO as we were under the impression we would have the property to ourselves, this wasn't the case. Feeling safe and secure was not a concern for us from the Host nor VRBO. We will absolutely discontinue utilizing the app in the future and just wish this review to be a fair warning to other users to be cautious and diligent in renting through VRBO. It is not only a platform where listings are inaccurate but is a platform where your safety and security are of no concern. Just an fyi, the property we rented was a home in Moses Lake Washington right on the lake next to the highway (VRBO made me remove the address to protect the owner), Owner: Sam. Be cautious in and with this listing and "Host"
The listing: Check out this property on Vrbo https://t.vrbo.io/npMvt527rCb

My first time using Vrbo has been a nightmare! And this will be my last time! Beware! Stay far away! They charged me an extra $2300 months after my initial vacation was completely booked and paid for on time and early. They charged me a $1500 "refundable damage deposit" twice and also another $800+ which does not compute into anything at all. I called many many times to try to get this fixed and they absolutely acted like they didn't hear at all what I said over and over and over. I even had my husband try to talk to them. I have absolutely never had such a nightmare experience happen before. The extra $2300 is a lot for me and I have been so stressed trying to get this fixed with Vrbo. I believe it is a scam company. I had to report fraud to my credit card company. My host Ashley Mattingly or Jamie Garrey ( I believe she uses a fake name) could care less about my issues once my stay was over. I believe the reviews are fake and filters. I choose this room because of the 5 star reviews and my experience was not at all like the reviews. I also believe that Vrbo does choose which reviews they want to post. Upon arrival to my room there were large linen bags in front of the door that we had to move to get in. They stayed there for 2 days so I messaged the host about this as well as the smell of our room and having no clean blankets When we walked into the room it smelled like mildew and/or smoke and stayed this way throughout our stay. We looked around the place and could see mildew all over the walls and ceilings where the vents were blowing the mold down onto us including in the bedroom. The mattress was yellowed and gross. My son had no blanket to sleep with on the couch because the blankets smelled like the room and definitely were not freshly washed. There were stains on the couch and areas that you could tell her hired cleaners had not touched for a long time! If you need anything you can not go down to the hotel desk and ask for anything. You have to message the host and wait for her hired help to assist you with anything. The host decided which messages of mine that she wanted to reply to. After she got her money, she could care less about my issues including double charged for $1500 as well as another $800 months after my vacation was all paid for! I have never experienced anything like this and I will warn anyone I can from using Vrbo!

0 stars, if I could! We will never book through VRBO again! They cannot be trusted with your family's vacation. We booked our July vacation in January with another family. A townhouse that we would share together. The property owner, Don, cancelled on us just weeks before our vacation. When I emailed him, he lied and said that VRBO cancelled on us, and he had no idea why. Our friends heard nothing from him until they got to the property for our vacation, the property was under construction! They got moved around twice before ending up in a hotel! I emailed the property owner and VRBO 3 times and never heard anything back, no help at all! Vacations are too precious, too expensive to trust VRBO with! We finally did find a home through Airbnb but paid much more due to the timing of everything. We will go through Airbnb from now on!

Booked for July14-22,2023. Owner Rios asked we notify him when our plane took off & landed. Rios apparently knew there was a problem b/4 we left but didn't tell us. We did as requested & asked for an early checkin. Although our reservation was for 3pm, Rios said it would be ready at 4pm. Then b/c of an "emergency" he was putting us in a "wonderful" place for the 1st night. The place had bugs crawling in the bed. Towels hid two ripped up leather chairs. Stove & fridge looked like a 1960's dorm room. We took pictures & video. Counted 9 live bugs that crawled on us. Washed the bedding so we could sleep. It was a cheap room in need of repair with cheap decor. Rios said he rented "bug" room from Booking.com & tried to make it our problem. Rios took no responsibility for: 1) breaching our rental agreement; 2) not telling us the truth so we could make our own decision about the 1st night; 3) or the fact that HE picked it. Rios then lied about the condo being ready at 11am the next day. It was almost 1pm. The condo is pretty. The view and AC great. The cabinetry cheap. No dishwasher. Beach & pool access limited to 9am.-6p.m. Otherwise locked. Beware riptides. Elevator gets stuck. Parking FAR away & space very small beside a cement wall. 2 days later condo water was off. Couldn't flush toilet, bathe, wash dishes, drink. We said we were leaving on the 19th. Rios texted us he would immediately refund. Many complaints to VRBO later Rios has ghosted us with no refund. A "real prince".

I have been a VRBO host for 8 years... Customer service is always a challenge, even for us as hosts.
But, we are currently going 2 weeks with No Payment (owed thousands). Over seas call center keeps telling us to wait. No way to contact anyone on our own...
So, what's the answer? Keep hosting VRBO guests for free?

It's said one should judge a company by how they react when things go wrong. Well, based on this, Vrbo gets a 0 (I had to choose one star). With just over a week to go, I contacted my host to confirm where and when to pick up the the keys- they said they didn't know anything about the booking, despite Vrbo taking payment and confirming the booking via email. I wanted to book an alternative straight away while there was still some choice. However, I was convinced by Vrbo to go along with their process only to be strung along for 5 frustrating days. I spent hours each night holding and then having to re-explain the situation to each person. I had emails telling me my "ticket" is closed when it was far from resolved. In the end and with 3 days to go, I had a re-fund and the offer of the only similar property still available online, to anyone. By this time the choice of comparable properties on any websites was limited unless I increased my budget. I ended up with hassle, an inferior alternative and to add insult, they didn't even refund me in full. Very poor Vrbo. Won't use you again!

A year ago I booked an apartment. The day before it was cancelled. Had I not e mailed them I would not have known! I had to find something else in 24 hours! The new apartment was not nearly as nice as the one I booked. I got the money back but no explanation as to why this happened.

To say this company is incompetent would be too kind. They do not care about their horrendous IT issues which allow for double bookings, lost reservations and
Inability to communicate with hosts. These issues have been going on for well over 2 years at least. If you need to contact customer support, expect to be put on hold for hours and then hung up on. The chat feature is even worse - they will ask you a thousand questions and then disconnect you. Then you'll have to repeat the process and probably be disconnected again. They will ignore you, ghost you and frustrate you in hopes that you will give up and be stuck paying whatever amount they decide. Even if you are double booked or cancelled in, you are lucky if you get a refund in under 6 months and tens of hours dealing with customer support. *******@vrbovictims on twitter for hundreds of disaster stories.

VRBO has horrible customer service and the host was not responsive. I spent hours on the phone with customer service and tried to contact the host throughout the entire day yesterday. The host would not respond to messages and her voicemail box was full. Customer service (no one would help after 7 times calling) is very unprofessional and would not help at all after I spent hours on the phone with them. They kept repeating that the host has to make decisions and that the host can choose not to respond to the guest. This is unacceptable and VRBO should be ashamed of their customer service and having a host like this representing their company. I will never use this company again. Airbnb provides excellent customer service and VRBO should do the same.

In the last year I made 3 booking at VRBO, in 2 occasions after the payement was process and booking confirmed the owner ask me for more money and cancel my booking because I refused and the other one, for no reason decided to cancel my booking.
This behavior is unprofessional for a respected company and makes a fool of the client that use their services. The owner have no penalties for doing so, they abuse the client rights and
Jeopardize their vacation.
A company with this behavior should not be allowed to operate with complete impunity from consumer affairs

Vbro sucks do not use their rentals trash and they promise to help if a rental is bad and they don't! They hang up on you when you try call. Our Renta had no air property was 100 degrees inside had friend with heart trouble. Place had $#*! roaches trash around it beds where nasty dirty

We went to London and rented a flat for 3 days. When we arrived we learned someone had put our rental on VRBO, but it was a fake location. We actually met the owner of the flat who lived full time in her apartment. It was a scam! VRBO refunded our money.
While homeless in London, with high tourism, Pride and Wimbledon beginning, hotel rooms were limited.
I called 4 times to VRBO for help 4 times I was hung up on.
When I asked about being reimbursed for the added expense of the hotel room, I was told since we didn't make the reservation through VRBO, they weren't obligated to make up the difference. We paid 3xs more because they didn't do their job and vet the property before adding it to their web site.
It's risky renting through VRBO, and their customer service and policies are not supportive of the renter.

VRBO used to be quite good. Now I get mostly spam requests from Eastern Europeans looking to "write a check" (which will bounce) in a well known scam that wastes time until you realize they aren't real renters. Worse, one thing I do is write back to people when I get a request to hear a bit about them and their stay (you don't need much to identify as real) but now VRBO marketing geniuses have eliminated that option (no communication until you accept the booking). Morons all of them - and with this kind of thinking they surely will be an irrelevant service soon.

I am a handicapped person for the last 23 years. I am not able to climb stairs or walk for long distances. When I rented this condo 4 month ago, there was nothing about the elevator not working. When I arrived, the elevator is not working and was blocked in the building. So for this vacation, I'll spend it at this condo. I contacted both the owner and VRBO. They said they can not do anything about that, they will not help, and it is my fault that I did not read the revision for the property regardless they did not notify me that they change the description. So thanks to both this is the worse vacation I ever got.

Seems after looking at all the VRBO reviews I am preaching to the choir, but DO NOT EVER book with VRBO. They are an an AirBnb wanna be and never will be. Their customer service is horrible! Always someone working from overseas that I can barely understand. Half the time they drop the call (i believe on purpose). I booked a trip through (reservation #Property ID: *******) VRBO instead of AirBnb simply because I could not find what I was looking for. A week before the trip I was curious that i did not receive any messages informing me of my stay, check in instructions etc. So i reached out through the VRBO messaging system to the owner (who in this case was a management company) No return message. I then called their customer service number listed on the VRBO reservation no answer. I left a message with no return call. I did this 5 different times throughout the week with no luck. I then sent other messages through VRBO messaging system, no answers. I then call VRBO to investigate this, I was put on hold numerous times while the agents tried to reach the owner, they couldn't get through either. So they created a useless ticket number (*******) to supposedly "expedite" my request for a refund. After calling back and forth spending hours on the phone I gave up. VRBO should stand behind those they allow to be on their platform. They are supposed to do the vetting so that we have no concerns about the validity of who they represent through their platform. However, VRBO refuses to return my money for accommodations I could not use. They finally said its the owner who should reimburse me. That's the problem VRBO! Don't you get it? The company won't answer their phone, returns calls or messages? Now its up to you to stand behind your booking platform! Then you need to go after the owner themselves. Good luck with that. This is not over. I will leave warning reviews across the internet and file a complaint with the BBB as well. I might even get a small claims attorney involved. This is pretty simple. Why don't you get it?