VRBOReviews 2,004

VRBO has provided horrific customer service during this difficult Covid-19 experience. We had reservations for a house in Boulder for my daughter's graduation from college. Graduation was cancelled and there is a travel ban, so needless to say, we don't need the vrbo. The owner refused to issue a refund and VRBO refused to refund any of their service fees. I wasted over 5 hours on hold, only to be told - "it's between you and the rental owner and we can't help you". I find this to be completely unacceptable, as there is a reason I went through a company like VRBO - so that there is someone who is able to help in times like this. This is in complete opposition to the excellent service I received from Airbnb when I had to cancel a vacation due to the covid 19 virus. They were extremely helpful and did all they could to make it as painless as possible. I will never rent through VRBO again.

I made plans to travel to Mystic CT in February 2020 for an overnight stay on 4/10 (property # *******ha). Unfortunately, we had to cancel (3/15) because of COVID-19. My sister has an auto immune condition and her doctor forbid her to travel. We have contacted the property owner twice thru email and VRBO has asked him to respond. No response AT ALL. Finally, had to contact my cc company to dispute the charge.

Very disappointed about the total disregard from the property manager in a time where everyone needs to come together. I own a small business that has been hit hard so I understand having to refund money but if he had responded we would have rescheduled but I would not stay in one of his properties ever. Bad image for VRBO as well.

Sadly, unlike Air BNB, VRBO are leaving their customers hanging in this challenging time of fighting the corona virus. I was forced to cancel my trip due to travel restrictions and the host is refusing to refund. I had the same thing happen with Air BNB, and they completely refunded me. However, VRBO is not stepping in to protect their travelers, leaving us to fight greedy property owners on our own, in which most have been unsuccessful in collecting any kind of refund. Unfortunately, I have lost over $4,000 on a trip I had no choice but to cancel, while also losing my job in the last week due to the pandemic. It's absolutely unacceptable to treat your customers this way in the most challenging of times.

Booked a property through VRBO recently, and ended up being directed a property manager "Veeve". Several weeks after booking, Veeve canceled our booking for the original property. Despite my instructions to cancel and refund our original booking, Veeve then created a new booking at a different property, and sent a new booking confirmation email almost a week after I requested a refund. All of this is clearly against Veeve's own website policies.

When contact VRBO for help, they explained that they could not force Veeve to refund and could not provide any leverage or influence to solve the issue. Further, they explained that the VRBO traveler protection policies would only apply if I first traveled to the original property, and while physically present confirmed with them that I could not enter the property.

Any claim of safe booking or traveler protection that VRBO claims to provide is not going to apply outside of very narrow situations, and so you are basically on your own if you book through VRBO. My suggestion - skip VRBO and go directly to the property manager, but don't use Veeve.

I can't get a 100% refund due to foreigner who owns the property! The representatives that I have spoken to on the phone or live chat have been apologetic but not getting anywhere with the home owner! Airbnb has told their home owners to refund money back to owners and why is this not the same for VRBO? Very disappointed since I have used them many times in the past and have had to cancel before and never having a conflict. I hope VRBO can iron this out or this will greatly affect their company in the future

We had an expensive two-night reservation in Pahoa, Hawaii. Due to a governor's order to limit spread of COVID-19, it became impossible for any visitors to go through with their travel plans in Hawaii. On all other reservations the we had, we were treated very fairly. BedandBreakfast.com, however, shut down their main phone line (we called multiple times over several days, and they always said "technical difficulties"). It was impossible to even discuss rescheduling or getting a partial or complete refund. Their whole focus seems to have been to keep the money, even though their innkeeper could not have accommodated us even if we could have shown up--the whole island was shut down. We'll never reserve through them again.

VRBO customer service doesn't even deserve 1 star! I booked a trip for my family and I but the Coronavirus caused us to have to cancel our trip. Carolina Cabin Rental was amazing and gave us the refund for the cabin but I was told that VRBO would have to refund me my $125.00 fee. I called 3 times waited on hold for 30 minutes only to have the 3 different people that answered the 3 times I called to start to listen to me than hang up. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY THEY WILL STEAL YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY. Cari Brackett

I have rented with VRBO in the past and have never had any issues. This time has turned me off of the company moving forward.
I rented a property over a month ago and had no issues. The property owner has messaged me letting me know my full damage deposit will be refunded in 5-7 business days.It has been almost 20 business days since I received this message. Every time I call VRBO I get a note left on my case or get told that is has been escalated. This was over a week ago! Now, I get hung up on when I call and ask to speak to someone who can help me.

**Warning DO NOT BOOK WITH VRBO** I am writing this post to expose the pure SCAM that is VRBO during a nationwide pandemic (Coronavirus). My family and I booked a vacation rental in Siesta Key, Florida for our spring break vacation in April. We paid a large amount of money, being $3,500, as she has 5 children & we needed a large rental. The rental is also on the beach. The beaches have since been shut down as the state of Florida continues to be one of the epicenters for the Coronavirus outbreak. The owner is refusing to refund our money and IS NOT being accommodating to change our dates when VRBO "suggested" to give renters a year to change. We contacted VRBO who was NO HELP and stated it is between us and the owner! I am sure they are doing this to other poor families who paid good money to go on vacation, some of which may REALLY need it during this time of unemployment and uncertainty. This is such a scam during a nationwide epidemic when we cannot be going on vacation during this time particularly to a place (Florida) which is as I said is one of the a primary locations of the virus.

We had to, unfortunately, cancel our girl's weekend to Scottsdale due to COVID-19. The owners said they would give us a full refund but did not refund the total amount. They kept $400. They have not gotten back to me regarding the discrepancy in the refund, and when I called VRBO, they were absolutely useless. They said that it was at the owner's discretion, and while they "urged" their clients to provide full refunds, according to their policy, they only needed to refund 50%! My family and I also had a booking with Airbnb in Florida, who fully refunded the total. No questions asked. VRBO is incredibly unprofessional and lacking integrity. I understand their frustration on their part and the insane amount of money they are losing. But what about the thousands of people who rent from them that could use that money back due to unforeseen circumstances. Don't book with VRBO!

We can tell a lot about others for how they behave in a crisis, and VRBO has failed the crisis test. Their "policy" (if you can call it that) states that clients who must cancel for coronavirus should get at least partial refunds, but it's ultimately up to the property owner to decide how they want to handle a refund. VRBO's stance - to cover for their property owners rather than care for clients in a pandemic - is a business model that doesn't work. I booked with VRBO, had to cancel due to travel restrictions, and now I will, apparently, receive no refund.

Through these first weeks of Covid-19 there are many companies that have gone above and beyond to try to make sure clients do not suffer for something that is out of all of our control. I'll go to those companies in future, and leave VRBO behind. While I appreciate that some reviews on this site say that individual owners have come through, that seems like just good luck, not a corporate policy that people can trust. And, just FYI, VRBO is doing nothing to resolve this. (All of this in reference to VRBO property ID ******* in Maui).

Cannot get a refund for the April California vacation we had booked and now cannot go on due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Take some responsibility for your business VRBO, and dont just leave policy for your business and brand down to the owners. Owners are greedy, wouldnt give a full refund as they "need to protect their rental income". These are the kind of short term decisions in crisis that destroy businesses in the long term, and I hope thats true here. Greedy company with greedy "hosts".

Can't believe vrbo is allowing they're home owners to not reimburse they're Canadian renters they're money when they can't get to florida with flights canceled and borders closed during the covid 19 crises. It just shows how inconsiderate this company is during this time when people's worlds are turned upside down. We will never use vrbo anymore and will do everything we can to tell everyone else what type of a bloodsucking company this is to do this to people during such a terrible time. Florida depends on people from countries like Canada to keep they're economy going and there are companies like vrbo that's going to discourage people from wanting to travel there anymore, we paid $2200 for a house to rent mid April and they're not willing to give us our money back, knowing that it is beyond our control to get there. Shame on vrbo and they're associates. Everyone be aware and never book through this company anymore and also be aware that they are associated with expedia.