VRBOReviews 2,004

VRBO new "best match '" has tanked my rentals. St Pete beach shows over 6000 rentals available/ in reality that equals all rentals as far away from st Pete beach as 50 miles and an hour plus drive / confusing to guest and costing the home owner dollars / if it was a zip code search engine driven like befor it would be more realistic. No one wants to thumb thru thousands of rentals to find themselves booked an hour away from there original destination. Is there a better rental option? Trip advisor is up to 18 percent commission. VRBO used to be the best.

Have been VRBO and VacationRentals client with up to 6 listings a piece for 12 years. Initially the service was good: basically an introductions service between potential guests and me. I could speak to the clients before renting to make sure that the property was compatible with their needs and answer any questions they had about policies and money. Now that homeaway has eliminated all competition by buying up all the online vacation rental website except Airbnb and become a monopoly it is just awful. They charge my clients additional fees, do not show my listing in search results even though i pay a fee for just that service, print scary warnings over my listing because i refuse to use their insta-book system which is costly both for me and my client and dies not allow a vetting of my renter. Their rate system is not flexible to my needs and often they have shown a rate that is incorrect online to potential clients. Teh customer service is abysmal. The price goes up up up and the business model is totally different than what it started out to be. Why wont somebody start a reasonable priced website like the way vrbo originally was! I'd sign up in a second. I recommend we all cancel subscriptions and explain why.

I rented a home through VRBO in NYC in early December for 8 people. The home was fine. Upon making the reservation, I was asked for the rental fee along with a refundable $1000 damage deposit. The deposit would be refunded ~14 days after checkout as long as the owner agreed that no damage was incurred. About 4 weeks after we checked out, I called the owner to see if the refund was on it's way. He told me that there were no issues and he believed he released VRBO to process the deposit. I called VRBO/Homeaway and, by the way, getting through to VRBO is almost impossible. I spoke with 13 different people over the course of 4 days. They kept telling me it's an issue with the owner. I called the owner back several times who assured me the problem is not at his end but with VRBO. This ping pong match is still going on and I don't have my $1000. VRBO has written me an email (instead of a requested call from a live person) which basically says I'm on my own. They told me they are not responsible for the damage deposit and to check the fine print on their website.
I have rented from VRBO several times over the years and have never had an issue until now. I called one of the property managers I had rented from before and was told that VRBO was acquired by Expedia a while back and since then, the company has had a multitude of issues with property owners and renters alike. I will never rent from VRBO again. They are just walking away from my problem. Their concept of customer service is very different than mine. They get their money and they are done with you.
Anyone who reads this, please take note that your security deposit may be something you'll never see again.
If indeed, this is a bigger issue with the Expedia people and their management approach being implemented at VRBO, than shame on you too. I won't be doing anything on your website either.
Good luck to any one who does business with these companies.

DO NOT RENT FROM SANDY VACATIONS! Hali'i Kai 10H in Waikoloa Hawaii!

Check these photos out
$5900 for 10 days in a total filthy dirty unit! No AC, 8 burnt out light bulbs, bugs, we have tons of bites! Dirty old sheets, pillows & bedding. Dirty pots & pans in the cupboard, mold in the dishwasher & shower heads... Garbage in the vase on the front porch... no handle on the microwave oven, missing screens, broken windows & blinds, broken fan...
It was horrible! The filthy kitchen mat was so old the backing had disintegrated and was like a pile of sand on the floor... hence the "joke cleaning company" never cleaned under it, or much else by the looks of the place. Per the cleaning co-We don't usually turn on all the lights when we clean, we don't check the dishes every time we clean... no wonder it's a dump! The maintenance man was " off the island " for the holiday I was told... by the condition of this place there is
"No"maintenance man!
The grand finale today was the power company shut the power off as we were leaving! Apparently the bill hadn't been paid since 9/30/16.

Sandy wanted her $5900
2 months prior to our arrival not sure where that money goes, because it sure as hell isn't used to keep this place up.

FYI
Her penthouse in The Fairway villas had similar issues in 2/2016.

I booked a property and paid the entire amount in full up front. (DO NOT DO THIS, YOU WILL REGRET IT!) The property owner never 'confirmed' the reservation yet VRBO took the entire amount (over $1100) out of my bank account and now I'm trying to get my money refunded. You will spend LOTS of time chasing YOUR money to get it back. If you can find the customer service number on their website *******291) you will speak to someone who thinks this is no big deal and will forward you on to their financial folks *******106). From there you will be given cancellation authorization codes and be told to call your bank only to find out the cancellation transaction has not processed from VRBO and you will need to wait another day to see if it processes over night. I will NEVER book a reservation again... this is ONE BIG HASSLE. I'll return to let you know exactly how many days my $1100+ is tied up in limbo.

Booked an apartment for 10 days for Dec 27-Jan 6 2017. In the beggining of Nov the owner took the deposit of $200US and then a few days later took the first payment $633US and then a final payment of $540US. We then received an email from vrbo around Dec 1 stating they suspended be account of the home owner we were renting, and to cease all communication with them. We explained that we had already payed the full fee. They were no assistance and told us that they would reach out to the owner to return the money. The home owner could not access there account to return the money. Here we are for two weeks dealing with Vrbo with no conclusion until visa gets involved and sends an ultimatum to vrbo. They then make action to return money and we get refunded out amount on Dec 14 minus $150US currency exchange fees, plus no where to live. I will never use vrbo agaim as they were no assistance and ended up costing us money and bo place to live. Vrbo is terrible!

Great if you don't have issues with the home owner. I paid over $1500 deposit for a 7 week stay and when I went to pay the remaining $1600 plus, I was told the payment would not go through due to a problem on the end of the homeowner! After multiple attempts to resolve this, and hours on the phone with VBRO, & calling the homeowner they tell me they will look into it. They made two attempts to email the homeowner and the homeowner says he contacts them and they say my credit card is declined. I called my bank and they said there is no way the credit card was declined. They tell me they will turn it over to their IT department and can't tell me when the problem will be resolved and if not resolved by tomorrow I am out over $1,580.00 and the homeowner has the right to keep the money and rent the space! I called the homeowner and he has not called me back. VBRO had no problem taking my extra $200 to be assured I would not be scammed and now they tell me that I can't get my $1580 deposit back unless the homeowner releases it? WHAT? DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH VBRO or HOME AWAY! I have used them MANY times and no problems. BUT when you do encounter a problems you get NO support! BEWARE!

I have been using VRBO and Vacation rentals for 10 years to advertise my vacation rental. I have NEVER had a bad review until last week. The reviewer was lying ( and I provided email proof to VRBO) but they will not remove the review. I provided the emails where the reviewer said she wanted more money off or she would give me a bad review. They don't care if the reviewer is lying. They said they can't help me at all. They were rude and could care less. About their customers. I will be looking for alternatives to VRBO, Vacation rentals.com and Home Away.