VRBOReviews 2,004

Every few months there is some type of computer glitch that essentially deletes one of my properties from the site. It can't be found using the applicable search criteria and it takes a week or more to solve the problem. Now that they are forcing owners to use their online payment system so they can charge a percentage based fee for all OUR rentals, I will be using another marketing site since the only thing that made VRBO more advantageous to the other sites was its low rate.

Vrbo is the most inept unprofessional clueless company i have ever dealt with. The reps are poorly trained rude and clueless. They are so poorly trained they actually lie and refuse to escalate issues. The new vrbo service fee is rediculous and pithetic. The company as a whole is and has opened themselves up to multiple class action lawsuits. The actually admit to discrimination in their policies, procedures, and test programs. The lack of communication is epic and deliberate. It is amazing vrbo is actually on business.

This company and the property owner are out to fleece you out of you money. They will cancel your reservation at a moment notice, breaking a legal contact with some bull$#*! reason then rent the unit for a higher rate. They conveniently do not keep rates and availability current on the web site, and their costumer service is deplorable.My suggestion is to deal with a reputable company and let these scam artists die a slow painful financial death.

I screwed up and honored a request from a VBRO landlord to pay in advance via Paypal for full rental and $500 security deposit. When my security deposit was not returned, I filed a case with VBRO notifying them this home owner had successfully persuaded me to pay using Paypal and now will not respond to my repeated requests to refund my security deposit. I tried to file a negative review to inform others of my unfortunate dealing with this landlord; my review was rejected by VBRO. Bottom line is this web site only allows positive reviews to be published and sanctions dishonest property owners! Wow do not trust anything you read on VBRO web site.

I've rented our two vacation homes ourselves for more than a decade. One is on Bald Head Island. An island with no bridge - only ferry. Last year they changed the search engine so if a vacationer puts in bald head island they get ten pages of homes on the mainland before they get to our listing on the island. I guess they think the ferry service is good enough. VRBO is a greedy terrible customer service business that has increased their cost to owners to list while substantially decreasing service and now charge vacationers too. They took my money and ran - don't let them take your's. If these guys owned CarFax they would be charging buyers a percentage of the sale price to look at the reports. Greedy!

Numbers don't lie. VRBO you should listen to what customers are saying. The demise of your business is forthcoming if you continue doing what you are doing to both the owners and the renters. Anticipate a lot of owners will leave your "service" and a lot of renters will be looking on other sites. The latest ratings for VRBO - tell the story.

Rating Distribution

5 stars... 38
4 stars... 21
3 stars... 13
2 stars... 39
1 star... 438

VRBO used to be our go to site for vacation rentals and we have had three or four great stays and I have just booked another in Florida. However, while perusing properties in the Carolinas, I noticed that many had fees added (service fees of up to $89) and that with taxes, cleaning and sometimes other miscellaneous charges the price would be much more than originally stated. Also "average" nightly price would be many times that once you put your dates in. Not all property owners were guilty of a laundry list of fees and variable rates but many were.

I read elsewhere that VRBO was sold to Expedia and has changed their business model. Significantly, VRBO (includes Homeaway) etc has to compete with Airbnb which charges property owners less and passes costs to the consumer/renter.

VRBO needs to go back to its roots.

1. VRBO fees are just horrendous- I've listed my house on VRBO and AIRBnB and it's 10% vs. 3% so for the same time period my house was rented VRBO charged my 300$ vs AirBnb's 95$.
Same for the Travelers/guests- AIRBnb charges 3 x less!

2. VRBO's calculations that I get as the owner are so convoluted and confusing and nothing adds up, that I am sure it is done on purpose to confuse owners, as you would have to call VRBO every time to have it explained to you.
I'm sure they want the fees to appear very 'professional' with many fancy words that actually mean nothing, it's a way to justify outrageous charges!

3. LACK OF SECURITY FOR OWNERS- the number FAKE requests and scam requests I get from the VRBO website (mainly from UK) is around 60-70% of all requests!
VRBO can implement a very simple procedure to verify the guests but they will not- I actually asked them about it as you have to waste time investigating the guests yourself all the time, and VRBO replied " We just want your business(money), we are not here to protect you, you have to do that yourself'!
I actually have this in writing when they emailed me back!
(AirBnb has a very simple method- phone # verification by the system, and a VISIBLE to owner guest's profile with a picture and any previous reviews, and a short bio. Works like a charm)

***I HAVE NEVER gotten even 1 fake request from AirBnb, but about 25 from VRBO in this past year! ****

I have a couple of guests booked from VRBO for this year (80 % of guests are coming from AirBnb anyway) so after that i will be cancelling my account with them. I hope their abhorrent business practices will be their demise.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND AIRBNB, actually customer friendly, inexpensive, great service, great website, just a fantastic experience!

Sylvie,
Canada

I can't even put everything that happened into a nutshell review. The thing that made me most angry was that they kept my $300 for nearly a month after the owner released the refund. Also, terrible customer service... spoke to a man named Joey, unsure if that's really his name as he had a thick accent I could barely understand, and he gave me a disconnected phone number to reach out to for looking into my refund. I'm going to stick with airbnb from here on out since they have great policies and customer service.

We have 3 bed and breakfast in Greece. We pay many advertisements every year. This is the first time, that I pay for a hole year, and the advertisement get not live. Although I have sent an email that everything was ready. Also, I did not get an invoice. After a year, they charged me again for the same advertisement! The one that is not live. I try to call them but nobody answers. I sent many emails and finally a lady calls me to tell me that they will refund the resent payment. Perfect! What about last years payment?

I have listed my vacation rentals for years on VRBO, but they have totally changed since they were bought by Expedia. In addition to charging me for my listing, they started also charging guests to book through them. When I offered guests alternative booking options, they cancelled all of my listings without notice and left me without any way to communicate with guests. Unbelievably bad customer service as well. When I called to find out why my listing was cancelled, the rep told me to "read my emails", when I asked what could be done about this they said I could "send an email" but he advised they have no obligation to respond. When I asked about a refund for the $2000+ paid to list my properties, they said I wouldn't be getting one. When I asked who I could escalate the matter to - they gave me the EMAIL address for their legal department, but advised they would only respond if I hired an attorney.

My advice to guests looking to use their sites: Homeaway, VRBO among others is to find an alternative. Their rental guarantee is meaningless as is their trip/travel insurance. I have dealt with many guests who have been cheated on both fronts. The rental guarantee is simply a ploy so they can collect their "Service Fee".

I am an owner of a total of 9 vacation rentals and have nothing good to say about VRBO. We used to get all our guests through the site but now that they got bought by Expedia their customer service is awful and all they want is your money. They charge us more than $500USD per listing per year PLUS charge the guests a service fee PLUS charge the owners for the credit card processing. Seriously this is just rude. They even monitor all messages sent between guests and owners. That's just too much. Tip: Look up your vacation rental property on VRBO and then try to contact the owners directly. You safe the service fee and receive way better customer service!

We found a nice property thru VRBO website & booked a reservation that listed an itemized list of the charges.
When we received our credit card bill, there was a mysterious additional charge of $100 that was never presented during the booking process. When I called to question the charge, they told me the charge was for booking thru their website. Never received any notice about it or detail of the charge until i complained. They were rude in addressing my concern & acted like it was too bad for me because i should have known. Watch out for hidden fees - i will never book thru VRBO again!

VRBO/HomeAway/Airbnb web site runs rampant with fraud and scams. The VRBO/HomeAway/Airbnb web site is nothing more than a marketplace for scammers. Property owners pay yearly fees to list properties. That is this web site's bread & butter. There is zero incentive for them to protect and assist renters... and they don't. I've been scammed out of $4000 and VRBO's response was contact your credit card company for a charge back reimbursement. They take no responsibility for fraudulent owners and property managers on their site where they claim to "verify" property owners. In 5 minutes of my own detective work I was able to verify actual property owners on the two rentals I was dealing with through the San Francisco Tax Assessor's Office! What does this tell you? VRBO doesn't take even 5 minutes to verify property owners which leaves renters wide open to scams. I've been going round and round with their Theft & Security Division which should tell you another thing... if they have a Theft & Security Division they know there are tons of scammers on their web site. In any case, the Theft & Security Division have been unhelpful through this process. I am in the process of contacting attorneys and anyone interested in sharing your experiences is free to contact me at *******@outlook.com
Prospective renters: Do yourself a big favor and go through a reputable realtor for your vacation rentals in whatever area you choose to vacation.