VRBOReviews 2,004

I cannot believe that VRBO is able to force these fees on consumers. And the nerve... get us signed up, pay all the costs, lie to us about how the "Book Now" works - Since these fees have taken effect, not only have we had no rentals, but not very many inquiries either. There must be a better place to advertise your vacation rentals. We are on Air BNB and don't mind paying their fees as we don't pay anything to have our homes listed on their website. It actually works very well. Please someone give some input on where we can list our rental properties without gouging the consumer. Typical big business... Keep in mind there are lots of large corporations that have gone under and hoping this will be another one. We must stick together and try to put an end to this or else cancel our listings.

I am a home owner and have rented through VRBO.
I just learned of the new Service Fee that VRBO has added to each booking. This will negatively impact our business. Home owners were not contacted about this fee and I assure you our renters are taken care of by me and my wife. This fee is deceitful and will not serve our guest in any way. I hope all renters and home owners call and complain about the Service Fee. I will make arrangements for our guest to book through other avenues.

I hope for a class action lawsuit to ensue and am quickly looking for an alternative.
Hi have always held platinum memberships for my two properties and suddenly, without my approval; they add traveler fees to my guests which I can not control.
This was done without my approval or option to withdraw my account and get a subscription reimbursement. The CEO published an "after the fact" letter to the members in Support FAQ explaining the reasons in a thin attempt to justify it. The sites were consolidated and now they are going to start squeezing the clients to extract all the profit of property rental.
They require using their booking / finance system for 3%; take a subscription fee and now extract up to 10% from your guests. Well we know who that really come from; our rental income!
To add insult, I just had a client see the fee and cancel their booking after paying for it with a credit card chargeback. I was then charge $25 by VRBO for the chargeback fee; since they could not collect it from the client.

Our stay over the New Years Holiday's with the inlaws and kids was the best ever! We travel to Santa Barbara from Sonoma each year at the Holiday's for the beauty of the ocean and the warmer weather. Our stay at #2364 was outstanding. Close to everything, ocean, piers, and downtown, never had to use car. The home was beautiful, spotless and the kitchen perfect with the best of appliances and I mean the very best. Decor very nice and new with a great upper deck to sit and enjoy breakfast and a cup of coffee to start your day. We will be back and if fact have already booked again.

I am a homeowner on VRBO and am so embarrassed by the people they hire to represent their company. I have been on hold for 15 minutes with no apologies, and have hung up on 2 separate customer service reps because they were so rude. I've been trying to switch the account the money goes into for 2 years, and have been unsuccessful, again, with no apologies. Really bums me out that a company would accept such a low quality of service in this fast paced day and age where pleasing the customer is #1.

I hope one exec reads this and makes change.

I have paid for five platinum level listings costing around $1500 each for many years. I had been satisfied that was a fair subscription price to pay for the traffic and bookings I received. I even succumbed to being okay with running all the payments through you for the 3% fee. I have always tried to offer a great value to my guests, keeping prices affordable and offering great accommodations and service. Keeping my customers happy and my calendar full. Thanks for totally f... king up my hard work and business with your corporate greed. You have always offered little in terms of customer service and you will be easily replaceable. I will keep my eyes open for the next site to rise. I have two listings coming up for renewal in the next few weeks and that will not be happening. Anyway, 50% of my business does come from airbnb, where I also list. And it will probably fill up my calendar on its own. And I'd rather allow extended vacancies than subscribe to your unconscionable 10% fee to line you and your board of directors pockets. This just aint gonna fly in this community. You really messed things up for your hosts, their guests and in the end yourself.

This out of the blue added "service fee" is absurd. List your property elsewhere! Who knows what else they will try to pull. They have added a fee of 4-10% that goes directly into their pocket claiming they are the last property management company to add this fee. YOU ARE NOT A PROPERTY MANAGEMENT COMPANY! This fee comes out of the guests pocket but inevitabably causes the property owner to lower their rates so guests can afford a stay at the property. Those of us who list on VRBO are the little people and this percentage is a huge chunk of money. And how do they decide what percentage fee gets applied to which reservation? When I paid my membership to join VRBO it did not include this "service fee." I look forward to joining the lawsuit.

I've been paying vrbo/homeaway since 2008 to advertise multiple properties.
I'm truly blown away by their new "service fee"
I do not think it is legal and i'm certain that there will soon be a class action suit against them?
I think that they like much of america has sold their soul to satan and become a dark & evil entity.
It was my understanding that when vrbo 1st began it was for the good of the people. I. e. To help middle/lower class america travel and afford vacations worldwide without the greedy hotel fees.
It is so ironic that vrbo is now charging more fees than the hotels.
I just called my vrbo representative who actually told me that renters love this fee and are embracing it.
Today when i spoke to my "rep" at vrbo this is what transpired.

I kept asking her what the fee was for and she kept calling it a customer satisfaction fee.
I asked her to break it down and she said it guarantees the traveller their deposit back.
I said that the 4% c. C. service fee they charge already does that.
She just kept insisting that it was a wonderful new fee that guests love.
I said if they love it so much that make it optional and not mandatory?
She then said it was for their own good.
I then said is vrbo now a dictatorship?

It is truly bizarre that a vacation rental company makes a bogus fee like this mandatory.
I told her that we would all be in a nightmare of financial disasters if if expedia and all airlines and hotels and all companies worldwide were to adopt this sort of fee and that all made it mandatory? She said that she loved her job and that it was a legitimate fee.
I now think that she is brainwashed. Or a cyborg employee.? How can anyone think a mandatory fee with no explanation is a good thing? What is happening to our country.

I have now written a letter that goes out to all my potential clients explaining this fee and asking that they call vrbo and voice their opinion.
I also have advised them that they do have numerous options to pay without these
Greedy bogus fees.
I. e. Bank to bank wires, pay pal, square etc only carry 3-4% not the new 10% customer fee recently added to quotes on vrbo.

To conclude:
I will still keep some of my accounts with vrbo and i will just have my client pay through bank deposits and wires and pay pal and square.
I would advise all my fellow hosts to do the same and maybe if we all unite we can force vrbo to do the right thing and decline and get rid of this blatant and unnecessary act of greed.

Ps
I wanted to give them no stars but it made me put one to post?

I am absolutely disguised with your new "service fee". After many years of using your service, I am now actively looking for other options. I had never used AirBNB out of principle, but I will be listing with them immediately. Trip advisor also. I can't believe you will charge $500 on top of the funds I already pay per booking! Unbelievable. I hope to heavens another service will pop up. I have 3 houses, I will remove them asap.

When I first listed my vacation rental with VRBO, I thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. I enjoyed about one year of peaceful bliss. There was a shakeup in upper management, and in early 2015 changed with two major players leaving, and others moving up the food chain to lead. They immediately began pushing mandates down on home owners, posturing the company for a corporate buy-out which eventually took place 7 months later when acquisitioned by Expedia. More mandates followed. The straw that broke the camel's back for owners was when VRBO began charging a mandatory variable 4-10% commission fee on top of the rental price, a fee they called a "Service Fee." All the owners were offended as well as at least 50% of the potential renters. It was a dark day to be an owner at VRBO. Management kept trying to ignore pleas to remove the fee. Some were even taunted by Customer Service reps who queried "Where else are you going to go?" meaning there were no other viable marketing options who could compete with VRBO. At the time of this review, all the owners seem to be looking for ANY other venue, and plan to terminate their listing with VRBO. They started out great, but went to greedy. Sadly, it will cost everyone a great deal.

Don't believe HomeAway's and VRBO's negative fear-based propaganda that you NEED to book your rentals through its online booking system. They write things like you need "Payment Protection" and "Book with Confidence Guarantees" in an attempt to manipulate you into going through their online booking system so they can add their excessive "service fee" to the cost of your vacation rental.

Don't believe this company's lies. They are lying to travelers and they are lying to the owners who made VRBO and HomeAway the successes they are (were). Under the Expedia regime, HomeAway and VRBO have become the greed-driven Evil Empire, blinded by $ign$, and must be brought down!

Many independent vacation rental owners have their own websites and Facebook pages where you can contact them directly and cut out the middleman's commissions. You just need to do a little Googling and searching to find these owners who care about their homes and about the people who rent them.

You also can book through vacationhomerentals.com and homeescape.com and pay no traveler booking fees (i. E., "service fee")!

I have two properties listed and pay over $2,000/year for these listings. How dare they start charging our guests a service fee. They have thousands and thousands of listings. Can you imagine the money they are making! Now they are asking our guests to pay a service fee! Probably millions more in their pockets. I was never notified of this charge. It just showed up on my quote to a renter. I called VRBO but, of course, got no satisfaction. Our phone numbers are on our listing. Guests should just give us a call and book over the phone to eliminate this service charge. I was thinking of mentioning the service fee on my listing and asking people to give me a call and book over the phone to eliminate the fee. Wonder what VRBO would do about this?