VRBOReviews 2,004

I booked the rental through VRBO because of that seemingly amazing "Book with Confidence Guarantee". I thought VRBO would act just like e-Bay, and have the neutral judgement and control over the deposit. After many phone calls and emails back and forth, the agent in their Trust and Security team told me "the transaction is between you and the owner". VRBO can do nothing other than sending my complaint to the owner, who obviously doesn't care see the fact one more time and then totally ignores it. In summary, do not expect any protection by renting through VRBO.

My husband and I decided to take a quick get-a-way to Moses Lake for a few days before school started. We took our 3 teenagers and said they all could bring a friend. We purchased lake floaties, junk food, brought bikes and were looking forward to doing nothing at all but lay on the dock play in the water and enjoy a few days of relaxing. The owner of the property texted me the access code to get into the home the morning of check in. My husband and I were traveling separately. I had an appointment in Moses Lake and he was coming later that evening with our 3 teenagers and their friends. When we got to the property their was already a family present. Apparently the property had been double booked. The property owners manager kept saying this isn't our fault. I was surprised because it most certainly wasn't my fault. I had communicated with the owner earlier in the day via text and received the access code to the property as well as good wishes for a fabulous vacation. The property owner did refund 100% of the fees, but continued to promise us she was finding another property for us... Many text messages and waiting. We wasted a good portion of our vacation sitting in a miserable hotel room waiting for a response from the property owner. She eventually texted me what an inconvenience this was for her... Meanwhile we had to buy coolers to put all of our perishable food in and incurred so many additional costs. The sad part about it was she felt I was harassing her when I was inquiring what she was going to do to rectify the situation. Obviously this property owner is not a seasoned business owner and does not understand the meaning of customer service. I am on a mission to make sure anyone who is considering this property proceed with caution. In the event the property owner double books the property you could be stuck in a 2 star hotel with empty promises of finding you a property wasting your vacation time... PROCEED WITH CAUTION...

When VRBO first came out, I used it extensively all over the world. You could communicate with owners, ask questions about anything and the owners were responsive. I just booked a VRBO in Austria and had a problem with the check in. I paid 97 Euros for VRBO service fee for this rental and there was no number to call to contact the owner (owner tel number did not work), there was an email only to VRBO. They sent me a canned response back 24 hours later. NO help when you need to check into a place, now you have to find wifi and write an email to VRBO? Stay away - don't ruin your vacation by thinking you have something booked only to have not support. I am very pleased with Air BNB they still have the right business model.

The fees have risen, which I was willing to accept. Now, they have restricted my account because I had to decline too many booking requests that were outside the guidelines of the properties I rent out. The only way to free up my account is to pay $399 to upgrade my account to premium. I had to spend 1 hour on the phone to get this answer.

Yes. Everything that everyone has said is true of VRBO, but there is another problem. Now their software will not work with Internet Explorer. When I called them about it they told me to just use another browser. What? Their CEO made $95,000,000 last year (the highest paid in the nation) and they can't get a web developer to fix the problem. As an owner, it is one thing to have to open another browser to see my dashboard, but potential customers might very well give up. I have not talked to anyone that has a single good thing to say about VRBO.

I joined VRBO years ago when the idea of renting houses for travel was still pretty novel. The site was great, the property owner/managers were great and would get back to you promptly, the prices and fees were reasonable - no complaints. Since then, I've mostly done hotel travel but gave Airbnb a try for longer stays, and I really loved the experience. This past week, I've been trying to plan a weekend getaway with a few friends. We collectively decided to use VRBO since that's how we found our last vacation place together (we never even looked at Airbnb). Big mistake. The calendars aren't updated, so while some listings offer the option to "insta-book", it's not really that at all. Even after entering your credit card info, you still have to wait for the property manager to confirm. After trying to book several houses, a few never even responded, and the others had no availability. One of the hosts even modified our original reservation dates and said, "Hey, we don't have your dates available so we booked you on the following weekend." What?! I mean, I'm sure they were just trying to be nice but... don't you think it's a bit odd to expect four people to change work commitments, childcare, and transportation to accommodate your never-updated calendar? Even after saying "no thanks" we got a request to pay for the wrong dates. Finally, we got so pissed off trying to contact property managers to no avail that we started our search all over again on Airbnb. Literally within an hour, we had a new place booked and confirmed - cheaper, better, and no hassle. Don't even waste your time looking at VRBO. Their fees are horrendous, there is zero customer service or accountability, and the availability calendars literally mean nothing. The platform itself seems to be stuck in a time when e-commerce was kinda new, but nothing really worked properly yet, so you basically had to get on the phone anyway to make sure your booking went through, and of course it didn't, so you had to follow with a strongly-worded handwritten letter... who has time for that? I mean, I sometimes wish I could go back to 1998, but not when I'm trying to book a vacation.

Probably because they were bought by Expedia, VRBO has changed. Now they want to make more and more money on guests AND owners. They now charge a year fee of $400 for the owners + 5 to 15% additional "booking" fee to guests.
I have been with them since 2009, and enjoyed it. This year they kicked me out. They are trying to follow the same system as AirBnB and FklipKey, and many owners are leaving. The other rental sites don't charge both the owner and guests, only the guests.
This system, started by AirBnB has increased the price of renting to guests. I didn't charge an additional 10 to 15% "booking" fee. Now, I will have too, because the three big companies (VRBO, FLIPKey and AirBnB) do it.

I've bought my wife gift cards from Bedandbreakfast.com for Christmas for the last two years. The first time things went great. This last time though we checked in and got all unpacked when the lady at the front desk told us that they would not accept our gift card. I argued that their property was listed on the b&b dot com website and that the b&b dot com logo was on theirs. To me it would go without saying that they would accept the gift card.

Apparently though there are some members of b&b dot com who do not accept b&b dot com gift cards. Upon investigation I found that this is disclosed deep in the terms and conditions of the website however the website is set up so that it's very misleading. As a result we had to leave the property we were at and scramble to find one that would take our gift card. My wife was in tears, I was so furious I was shaking, and we were ready to just turn around and head home. Finally after calling several more properties on the site who would not take the gift cards we found a place that would take the gift card where we could stay for two nights (our vacation is four nights). We spent a whole nother day trying to find a place to stay for the following two nights which we finally did but now we are waiting nervously for our refund from the first property to post to our account. If it does not by 4 pm today, we may have to cut our vacation short.

The rep at b&b dot com was very sympathetic and apologetic but really took no action to help our situation. Our vacation is pretty much ruined because of them.

Bottom line: don't bother with the gift cards. Just put cash aside for your trip and save yourself the headache.

We have been with them for several years, never had any issues at all. Since the Expedia takeover, I have had to call customer service 8 times! If you don't set up your rates for future "seasons", your rate reverts back to something ridiculous. And I have had potential renters call me out on this! But sorry, your are NOT renting our direct ocean front condo for $150 a week in 2020. Now a long time renter has informed me that my property is completely blocked for 2018-2020, but when I go into my dashboard it does not show this. Terrible! I will not be renewing either

I have stayed at B&B's around the world for more than 40 years and none have impressed me more than the Topanga Canyon Inn. Not only was the location above Topanga Canyon spectacular, but the hospitality of graciousness of our hostess, Elena Roche and her family made my wife and I feel "at home" for our entire three day stay.

The beautiful Spanish-style décor of the Inn was enhanced by paintings of the local flora by Elena who, in addition to being a lovely hostess, is a superb watercolorist.

Elena joined us for incredible breakfasts each day, engaging in wonderful conversations with us and our fellow guests, who had come from Germany, England,
Texas, and Colorado. Meeting new friends with various backgrounds and experiences is one of the joys of staying at a B&B.

On our final day when we had to depart for the airport before the normal breakfast time, Elena made sure that we would not go hungry and prepared a meal of waffles (with mixed berry compote), eggs, blueberry muffins and fresh melon. What a wonderful way to end our visit.

We look forward to coming back to the Topanga Canyon Inn whenever we return to the Los Angeles area.

I have been using VRBO for 8 years and all the things said by other owners and guests about Expedia's takeover of VRBO and HomeAway are my exact sentiments and experiences.

As an owner, I have sent questions to the VRBO site and their statement is they will not respond to everyone. I too will not be renewing my subscriptions and will go elsewhere. All of the properties are unique and all owners take pride of ownership and want the best experiences for our guests. VRBO does not really care about this. All they are interested in is forcing and bullying and pressuring owners to accept all bookings without the owner's ability to screen guests to make sure both will be getting the best experience possible.

What used to be a great mom and pop vacation rental company is now a nightmare for both vacation rental owners and travelers. I could go on and on about what a horrible company they've become since the Expedia buyout, but I see many others have addressed most of my complaints - however... they've now added one more rotten way to control owners interactions with guests and this one takes the cake! So like many owners, we get reservations from guests through our own personal website, plus other places we advertise. Now, when I go to fill in those dates as reserved on VRBO's calendar, they require the guests name, email address and other information (even those the booking was not done through their site)! Talk about trying to take total control of your vacation rental. With the required information they have no business having in the first place, they start hounding the guest to buy travelers insurance, sending them welcome information on your property (all canned messages) and then thank you letters requesting the guest download their app and book future rentals through them. Even if I go to make a change to an older reservation that happened before this calendar requirement, I have to give them the guest information to make the change. They work on the fringes of unlawfulness but with all the $ they collect from travelers and owners, they can afford to pay big bucks to high powered attorneys. I AM DONE WITH VRBO AND WILL NOT RENEW MY SUBSCRIPTIONS. There are more options showing up such as HomeEscape. I'll do a jig and celebrate the day this horrible company folds!