Our experience with VRBO was horrible. Five days before leaving on our Christmas vacation, our property owner canceled due to a pipe burst in the property. I called VRBO immediately. Then called again each day leading up to my vacation and was told that the Booking Guarantee would ensure that their rebooking team would find us a suitable/similar property. When I called the day before our scheduled arrival the person that day guaranteed that they would personally work with rebooking. On the day of our arrival, that agent booked us to a cheap hotel in the area, still no call from rebooking. I asked to speak to a manager on several different calls, I was told there was no one else that could assist me. I found my own accommodations. The rebooking team finally called me at 4 pm on my second day of vacation, with no options. "I'm sorry but we can find no suitable accommodations for you". Her solution was to put me in a cheap hotel for the week. Since I did not book my new vacation rental through VRBO there is no monetary compensation for my stay. Had one of the six other agents I spoke to explained how I could have booked through VRBO or one of their sister sites and VRBO would have covered it perhaps that could have been an option. Customer service with VRBO is horrible. I am a regular user of Airbnb and never had these issues. Save yourself some time and frustration and do not use VRBO. read more

i booked a condo in New Orleans last week. The day I was leaving Boston to travel to New Orleans, I got a text from the property owner/manager canceling my reservation. The reason was an "unexpected fire inspection". Since this sounded suspicious, I called the fire department, which confirmed that they hadn't schedule any inspections. I complained loudly to property owner/manager, but they offered me nothing. I ended up having to spend another $300 to get a hotel room. I contacted VRBO when I returned and they did nothing to help me, compensate me, or even take action against the property owner. That's the last time I use VRBO. They are unethical, and don't care about their customers. read more

Vrbo/Home away hosted this house from an agency called Houst and made no checks. The landlord showed me paperwork saying she parted ways with the company over a year ago. They had cut keys ILLEGALLY to her property. I arrived with my party that had travelled from Milton Keynes and hull picked up the keys open the door and a woman was in the house folding washing. She permanently lives in the house with 3 other tenants imagine her surprise when a stranger has the keys not only has keys the front door but walks into her home. We was made to wait outside whilst trying to contact Vrbo who say that they have 24 hour service however we couldn't get through to them for over 45 minutes. They tried to put us in a hostel for overnight even though the house that we had rented was a For double bedroom house. We ended up staying in a hotel apartment where there was four cot beds on the floor. We had booked for the weekend from 6-8th. VRBO put us up for the first night but refused to sort out ongoing accommodation even though I had spoke to Tristan and he assured me that the "reallocation" team would assist finding somewhere to stay the following day. I was assured that someone would contact me by 9 am the next morning no one called. I called to chase up what was happening this time I spoke to a Tristan M he point blank refuses to find accommodation for the rest of my stay and suggested that we find and pay again out of our own pocket. I asked to speak to a manager he refused to get one and hung up the phone. Vrbo still haven't issued my refund. Each agent you speak to Oozes with fake sympathy and they are soooo " understanding" yet no refunds are being made. I paid £472 I was on the street in the rain and being told it's down to you to find somewhere else. DO NOT SPEND YOUR MONEY WITH THIS FRAUDULENT COMPANY. YOU WILL NOT GET YOUR MONEY BACK AND WILL BE STRANDED. The cherry of top of the cake was being charged £300 to phone the customer service being put on hold for up to 45 mins at a time. read more

As a property owner I am advising everyone out there to not use VRBO to rent out your property. They do not support their property owners and they don't lift a finger to help you with any question or any situation that arises. Their customer service is absolutely horrible. The people that answer the phone can never answer a single question and they always promise to create a case number and escalate the complaint or situation up the chain of command. They give you a case number and tell you that somebody above them will be reaching back out to you within 24 to 48 hours, but time and time and time again you are ignored and nobody ever follows back up with you. So if you wish to protect your home and your rental business you should definitely stay away from VRBO until they get their act together and develop a proper and helpful system for customer service, which is completely nonexistent as it currently stands. Any issue that arises usually takes over an hour on the phone and results in no resolution and no proper answers because nobody there seems to know what they're doing. They're happy to take your money but definitely have ZERO interest in helping you or resolving issues!! Just the WORST!! Their owners app doesn't even work right - it doesn't show you much of the info you need to see & access as an owner and the company has known about this problem for at least the last few years because they tell you not to use the app when you call in because it's "still not working properly" (their words, not mine). For years it has "not worked properly" and they've known this and haven't bothered to fix it. It seems like a bunch of kindergartners run this company. It's just awful, which I guess is why there are SOOOO many complaints on here and why they have lower than a 2.0 rating. I guess they just don't care. read more

My husband and I rented a beautiful cabin in Carnelian Bay, CA (Lake Tahoe) August 15 - 19, 2021. The cabin was absolutely beautiful and spotlessly clean. We were unable to get the TV to work, so we called the customer service number for help. When they were unable to walk us through to problem solve, so they sent a VRBO property manager to set up the TV. He arrived within 15 minutes of our call! The technician was friendly, professional and fixed the problem almost instantly! The following day, we found the garbage disposal to be "dead". Again, we called VRBO customer service and a VBRO technician arrived at our convenience within 20 minutes of our call! We have rented from VRBO in the past, all in the Lake Tahoe area and have always been satisfied. read more

We booked a property in Florida towards the end of May for an August 14th vacation. On August 1st received email that booking was canceled due to water leak in vacation home. As per email we would be refunded the full amount and were to contact Vrbo to decide for a replacement property. We contacted customer service, our information was collected, and we were to wait for an email response from the cancelation team. After continuous attempts to reach out Vrbo due to no response from cancelation team we continue to receive the same message from customer service. We are told that we must wait for the cancelation team and that they will respond between 24 to 48 hrs. It is August 9th as I write this, and we have not heard from Vrbo. We ended up renting another property through Air B and B. Due to short window, all properties on any Travel website were twice the price. We had no choice but to pay double the price for a rental for August 14th. Vrbo has the worst customer service. They were supposed to find us a replacement and defer the cost of higher price and never responded. All correspondence is done through email, and you cannot get a person that is working on your case. We have used Vrbo on numerous occasions but never had an issue until now. But you never know what you get until you have a problem. They are not on the same level as Amazon's Customer Service. I will never use them again or recommend them. Go with a different Travel company. read more

We tried to rent a beach location when we had family from out of town. The "owner" called us and questioned us about age, residency, gender, sexual orientation, etc. then cancelled with less than a week to go because "we had a local address". Unless you're a straight male white, don't use VBRO. read more

I booked a rental 4 months vefore our trip. The 1st rental cancelled because of covid after holding my money for almost 2 months. Tye 2nd cancelled right away because they rented it for my dates on another app. 3rd rental didnt reply for over a month while holding the money, cancelled, then reposted it for 2x the price! The final rental, which was booked a week before our actual trip, the owner's phone was off, so i couldnt speak to him at all. Vrbo waited until 5 hours after check in to fulfill their book with confidence guarantee and put us in a hotel for the night. They wouldnt rebook our rental, and allowed the owner to hold my money. I had to dispute the charge with my credit card company because vrbo was willing to let us be homeless on vacation. The next day after checkout at 11 am, we had to wander miami until I booked an AirBnB around 3pm. We got into that booking within 30 MINUTES. Vrbo allows automatic booking acceptance, so even though you booked, the owner my never know about it unless they check their app. AirBnB makes the owner accept a booking BEFORE charging you. Vrbo also is an accomplice to owners pyramiding their bookings, meaning they can post it for a low price to start on vrbo, then reposting for more on another site and cancelling the cheaper booking, until they hit the highest price someone will book. Terrible company. read more

Terrible service! I've been doing Airbnb for a little while now and I decided to give it a shot to the VRBO. Today was the checkout of my very first guest. Although they left the place semi-clean, they brought a dog without disclosing, and the dog peed on the bed and all over the floor of the master bedroom. As I'm used to the quick and easy resolution process from Airbnb, I wasn't so worried about this one. I could be more wrong! Turns out they said I didn't set up the protection plan (I didn't even know I had to set it up). There were no alerts or reminders about setting this thing. Because of that, they said I was not covered. And I would have to cover for the cost unless the guest agreed to pay. The gues already lied about having the pet and is objecting to paying for anything. The app on the phone does not give all options, like escalate or chat with customer service, so I had to call. It was only a waste of my time. They said that I have two options for protection. 1- would be insurance for $59, $79 to $99, which are not refundable to the guest. This makes my listing more expensive and less competitive. Also, if I have to file a claim, it would have to be done through a 3rd party company. For emergencies, like I have today, would not be much of a help, and no guarantee of coverage. 2- I could set a deposit amount for any amount I wish. This deposit is refundable to the guest, but if the damages are higher than the deposit, I would be on my own to cover the rest. This deposit makes my listing even more expensive out the door and offers me less coverage. On the call with customer service, I requested to talk to a supervisor. I was told that the supervisors don't answer calls, and it could only be scheduled for 24-72 hours. The app itself is not user-friendly, and the process is not clear on what we as hosts have to do to make sure we are covered. Due to the horrible experience, I will pull my listing out of the platform. I have already contacted other hosts to tell them about my experience, so they know about the lack of protection. They are also pulling from the platform. Be careful when posting your property through these guys. You might have more to lose than gain. read more

Stayed at three properties during our 12 night trip to Puerto Rico they were all $1M plus homes. I think its important to note for this review that all three of these properties were listed on multiple rental sites not just VRBO so I can't give VRBO credit for the condition of the properties as all these property renters were "professional renters". While the properties were great VRBO and their support are a joke. Also in addition to all their BS fees they mark up the nightly price, the cleaning fee, pet fee, etc. Once I find a property I like I talk to the owners and cut these clowns out. Here is an example, we booked a property that cost in total $3,485.00 for four nights. Turns out about $800 of that was straight to VRBO. I understand they need to make $$ as do we all, but the bogus "Service Fee" seems like what they are getting and seems fair but they throw an extra $75+ per night on the room rate, the cleaning fee, etc and they end up getting ALOT more than the service fee. I was pretty pissed to find out that our 12 day trip to puerto rico netted VRBO $2400. There are other smaller companies that are actually transparent on their pricing I would go with them or always try to book direct with the owners. read more

Vrbo is a nightmare. Do not take the chance of losing your down payment not to mention your highly anticipated vacation. I made a reservation in June 2021. A month ago we tried to view the property to show family. The pictures and property was not available. Three phone calls accomplished nothing but fake assigned numbers. Upon further investigation into the property through the Florida Secretary of State, All Dream Vacations did a Voluntary Disolution in March 2021. It is illegal for Vrbo to advertise and take reservations for this house. The past three calls have been a new set of run around and hours on the phone sending to wrong "escalation division". They tell you it will take a week to process; three times now. They have not sent the promised email. I am looking into my other options to get my refund. I have emailed Vrbo plenty of evidence. Save yourself a headache. Use a more reputable site. read more

Horrible! Had me pay 1 year in advance, charge $181.00 service fee, and won't even give me the address of the property until a couple of days before my reservation! This place is a clown show, so I cancelled my reservation, hopefully get ALL my money back! read more

Make sure you follow their guidelines on any reviews you give on any property to rent BEFORE you submit. We had the worst experience on a condo ever and tried to give the owner an honest review. It looked like the review was accepted, but today I receive an email from VRBO that said my review "needed a little work" and had to be resubmitted. When I followed the link to see what the problem was and resubmit... OPPS! TOO LATE to review this property! I received the email and immediately went to the site to see what had happened. Never again. read more

When arriving to our VRBO rental, it might as well have been a Myrtle Beach Motel. As a frequent traveler, I have never had such a bad experience with a rental company. The customer service was non-existent. Upon arriving to the hotel building from the airport, my uber driver used Google Translator to WARN ME that "this was not a safe place and to watch our belongings." We checked in and went to our room to find that it was not clean, and a lock was missing off the main door. There was aluminum foil on the stove top, tables and countertops disgusting, hair was in the bathtub and overall, we did not feel safe there. The rental conditions did not match what was represented and advertised on their app. We were not willing or able to stay there and were forced to make another arrangement last minute, at significantly more cost. Vrbo, nor the host, were willing to offer a refund or even a partial refund due to the conditions. The customer service might as well be non-existent. This is exactly what Vrbo needs to guarantee, otherwise why book through them!? This needs to be made right and other consumers need to be aware of this as a POTENTIAL SCAM. They need to stand behind their product! Suffice to say, I will continue to be very public about this. read more

I booked a place in Puerto Vallarta on January 1, 2022 for a group of 12 to celebrate a 55th birthday. Tonight, February 13, 2022, they canceled without explanation. I called and was put on hold, then hung up on. read more

Was going to Forks Washington. Mom had a medical emergency. Admitted to hospital. Not able to stay in Forks as planned. Host would not cancel the reservation, or reschedule (which was requested). VRBO live agent suggested I contact a lawyer to 'address the host's behavior'. I have friends in forks that know the owner of the house; they were disgusted. read more

I called to report that my host was not returning calls or in communication and I could not access my rental on the day I was supposed to check-in last September (in 2022). I had to find another place last minute- with my child- in the middle of Atlanta on Labor Day Weekend! I was then shuffled around and given bad information from various people at Vrbo because of the technology issues they were experiencing, or at least that is the excuse I was given each of the 6 times I was asked to submit the exact same information. When I finally tracked down an email address of someone high enough up in the company to get a knowledgeable person, I was informed that I needed to go through my bank before Vrbo could refund my money (this was in November of 2022- 2 months later). I initiated that process within a week of being given that information. As soon as I got the letter back from Bank of America, I contacted Vrbo again to update my claim. A person from Vrbo, that I had previously worked with, then called me, on July 4th, to tell me that my claim was approved and that I would receive a refund. That same person called me back twice to see if I had received my money yet, and now (in August of 2023) I get an email saying that it is, in fact, denied. I can say that I am extremely disappointed in your entire company and plan on spreading this opinion as widely as I can. I have talked to 11 different people in this company and emailed at least half of them, and I have the records to back this up. I am extremely disappointed that Vrbo is not backing up their claim. read more

Nightmare for $284. Rented a "sugar shack" in Gualupita, NM in October 2021. Arrive in afternoon to a one room cabin. The bathroom was in the corner with a shower curtain wrapped around toilet for privacy. We could have dealt with it under normal circumstances but the owner neglected to put propane in heater and then left town for the weekend. it started to get VERY cold in the middle of the night but by then all we could do was wait it out. By morning, the pipes had froze in the sinks and toilet. we packed up and left at dawn. The owner contacted us later in day. I explained and request money back. She blamed us for not letting her know. I have tried to get refund through the credit card, cabin owner and VRBO. No luck. Watch your back with this company. read more

VRBO has gone downhill ever since we started using it many years ago - straight and swiftly down hill, copying all the horrific AirBnb strategies. The fees have become outrageous. The offer for insurances for everything imaginable, the customer service is awful when trying to contact the company. The home listings are still what we're looking for, so we may be forced to use VRBO again, unless and until we can find other solutions to the whole AirBnb / VRBO / Booking.com model. read more

The property owner cancelled my booking (originally confirmed on Feb 14) 10 days prior to check in without reason, even after messaging them. I then called customer service and talked to one individual, whose call was dropped after holding for 24 min. I then called Adele (I can provide an ID number privately) to try to find another property, but no reasonably priced property was available with the conditions requested by this time (May 13 for a check-in date of May 21). I asked if the company could help pay a $600 difference between my original booking and another similar one in Newport Beach, but she said that wasn't possible and that no one in the company could make that happen. I am very disappointed, not in Adele, but that a company like VRBO wouldn't be able to help a traveler in this situation. read more

I will NEVER, EVER do business with VRBO or Vacasa!!! They are quick to take your money and provide ZERO customer service! My 87 year old Aunt and I have a beach trip scheduled for tomorrow. My Aunt fell ill about 10 days ago and I sent multiple emails, texted and tried calling for 8 days straight. After being put on hold for over 45 minutes (each call) I ended up hanging up. I FINALLY got through yesterday and was told if I had called 7 days prior to check in, they would have issued a credit. I told the rep that no one replied to my messages and I was not able to get through by phone. She said there was nothing they could do. Lesson learned the hard (and expensive way)! read more

this is the worst Company I have ever dealt with. They also useTurn Key Vacations and Vasca! They would not refund my cancellation within the time frame allowed. I will never use any of these Companies again!!! read more

It is 8:52 PM on Saturday, March 27th. Over the course of this week, I have spoken to eight customer service representatives, spent 9 hours on the phone, spent an extra $1,318.68 on top of the $1,453.25 I spent to book a trip to Hilton Head, and am very very frustrated. Let me start from the beginning: On March 3rd, 2021, I booked a trip to Hilton Head for my boyfriend and I. It was a condo near Folly Field Beach. I debated picking a cheaper place on the Vrbo site, but the slightly more expensive property had a lot of good reviews and a video of the inside, so we went with that condo. I paid the first installment March 3rd upon reserving the property and I finished the payment schedule on March 7th. I received all the normal confirmation emails from Vrbo that my reservation was all set up and good to go. Then on Saturday, March 20th, I was planning for my trip and I went to my Vrbo app to see if my reservation had any updated details about how to check in or the specific address for the condo. However, instead of finding any of that information, my whole reservation had disappeared! I was shocked and confused; I have booked through Vrbo before and I had not experienced this issue. So late Saturday night, I contacted the customer service call line. I spent a very long time on hold, but eventually got to speak with someone who was equally confused as to what was going on with my reservation. The rep asked me to send them all the proof I had of the reservation. I sent screenshots of my confirmation emails with my reservation and property numbers, proof of purchase through my credit card, receipt of purchase for the protection insurance, and a picture of the strange blank Vrbo page that appeared when I tried to see my reservation (all info of the property had disappeared from their site - including pictures - everything!). The rep informed me that all the information for my reservation had disappeared for them as well and that they needed to get the Tech Department to look at my issue as it was very strange. I was assured that the Tech Department would email me once they looked at my case. I was to call back on Thursday if I didn't hear back - 2 days before my departure to Hilton Head. So on Thursday I called back, because I had not heard from the Tech Department. It was extremely frustrating to have to re explain everything to a new rep all over again even though I had a case number with all the information I had told the previous rep. But, at the time, it was a small annoyance. The new rep then assured me, once she found my case, that the Tech Department would for sure get back to me by Friday - the next day - the DAY BEFORE MY DEPARTURE. I expressed that that was very uncomfortable for me as I would want to know where I was staying more than a day before my trip. But the rep let me know it would be fine - that my case was labeled as a top priority. I was also informed that I should start looking for other properties that were available in case they would need to rebook me using the "Booking Guarantee" that Vrbo promises. So I waited, again. I STILL DID NOT HEAR FROM VRBO - So I called back again, on Friday, to speak to another customer service rep that had no idea what I was talking about even though I had a case number. This rep tried to contact the original hosts - which was confusing to me because I was not sure how they had that number when they told me they couldn't find my reservation or property on their side. But they also could not get a hold of the host for my original reservation. BUT INSTEAD OF THEN HELPING ME TO REBOOK - as their "guarantee" promises - THE REP TELLS ME TO CALL BACK THE NEXT DAY! Her explanation was that rebooking can not happen unless it is the day of the original reservation - that I would need to wait until the check in time to call and get a new property! I expressed to this rep that that was ridiculous! I was leaving Saturday morning. This call was happening on Friday. So I would be in the car - driving to Hilton Head with no address - no reservation - waiting for them to contact me about a new booking. She said that is how it works and quickly got off the phone. To see how the rest of the story turns out, follow this link to my google doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/13o-fxJJkNf5GXeGodpT_RjlVbiSuF8YkX959Fwi25jc/edit?usp=sharing read more

Never use VRBO. We booked a trip last winter to Aspen Colorado. The property owner never communicated with us. We did not receive any instruction, direction, verification that our trip was reserved, except that our credit card was billed. After numerous frustrating calls with customer service, who read directly from a script, we were unable to get any answers. We were told that we needed to fly to our destination, go to the property, and if we weren't able to get in, then VRBO would find us alternate accommodations. This is totally unacceptable as they would not tell us if the accommodations would be in the same location or at the same level. Imagine, trying to find the property without proper directions, suitcases, skis, etc. and not knowing where you are staying. We were able to track down the owner of the property by searching for some time on the internet and found his place of employment. We then called the business and were able to get in touch with someone who got in touch with the owner. Two days before our departure he verified our stay and just said he was unable to communicate with us because he was out of the country at the time. The property owner was minimally helpful before and during our stay. But the reason for my review is to warn others not to use VRBO as once you pay for your trip they do not assist you if you are having issues with the property owner and you are left to deal with things on your own. read more

Worst experience with Vrbo. Last year I booked with them but they ended up cancelling my reservation for no reason. Same thing happened this year except it took two months of calling them every day to get my money back. Both Vrbo and the owner were extremely unresponsive and unhelpful. I will never be booking with them ever again. Don't waste your time and money!!! read more

With only 5 days before check in, I wondered why I still hadn't received the check-in details from my VRBO manager and/or owner. It was a booking VRBO and the renter both confirmed. I made the booking over 3 months before, because after all, this was Key West during the height of spring break. When I tried to find my reservation, it came up as cancelled. VRBO cannot produce any proof I was ever notified (because I wasn't). Worse yet, their systems prevent any traveler from going beyond the off-shore tier 1 level of customer support. And even those CSA's are relegated to messaging with their superiors. Superiors who apparently hide behind their computer-only/non-person-to-person, live phone call interactions to decline even to communicate with travelers VRBO has wronged. Oh yeah, and I'm out an ADDITIONAL $1,800 over and above the cost of my original booking because... did I mention it's only 5 days out from my dates during the height of spring break in Key West FL? Worse yet, inferior accommodations... from a 3 bed condo. right on the water to 2, double-queen bed hotel rooms with no views of the water. VRBO still won't even tell me who/when/why my CONFIRMED reservation was canceled. read more

False advertising, overpriced, slumlord running a scam! It's nothing like the description or photos. What a rip-off!! I had spoken with the listed host of the property prior to my booking, which was only 24hrs before our actual arrival. He failed to mention that he's currently "in between internet providers" at the moment, so there was no Internet access, which meant no TV's either. We chose this overpriced rental because of the rooftop lounge area that's listed as an amenity with photos showing that it overlooked downtown, but upon our arrival, the door is locked to all guests due to Covid. It's obviously been locked up for a long time, but they still advertise it as a selling point on their VRBO photos/bio. Without the rooftop, there's no other option to sit outside at all. Not even a chair in the "mulched" backyard. The business owner controls the temperature & keeps it at 76 degrees. Difficult to sleep when your sweating profusely in your bed. The evening before we left, it was cooler outside so we opened some windows for relief and to air the place out. The front room curtain rod pulled right out, like it has done many times before us. There were drywall screws pushed into 1/2" drywall & no backing in the wall. Drywall alone will not hold 9' tall curtains & metal rod. In typical slum lord fashion, the owner took $786.00 of our $800 deposit for emergency curtain repair & soiled sheets (aka: from sweating profusely in our beds) This must be an ongoing scam played out on unknowing travelers. Our deposit was taken before we even boarded our plane. There are locked cameras monitoring the front and back at all times which is creepy. I've rented from VRBO for years, but never again. They've offered no help and we're left dealing with this poor slum lord on our own. read more

Just tried to book 2 apartments that were available on their website. 24 hours later we received an email of cancellation. Don't trust it!

Beware, beware, beware of Vrbo! I am so sad to write this review. I have very little experience with traveling beyond camping. My income has not permitted luxuries like hotels and reserving homes for my travel. This experience was one of my first. I am "mature." I felt like it was time to treat myself and my family to the comforts that a cabin would give us. I could not regret this decision more. I felt confident when I made my reservation through Vrbo. I was under the impression that the reservation I made was for a cabin that was accessible. Furthermore, I thought that Vrbo protected their consumers. Not so! I made a reservation for a cabin that was not accessible during the late winter/early spring. Our time was for the very last week of winter. I am a teacher, and this trip was to be taken during my spring break. After making the long drive from our home in Mesa, AZ to Duck Creek, UT, we were stopped short. The roads were completely snowed in and the cabin inaccessible without snow tires or chains. I live in Arizona. I had no idea that this is typical for the area in which I'd made my reservation. This was not included anywhere in the posting. If you're wondering, it was the Spendid View Retreat located in the Duck Creek Village of UT at 2115 Strawberry Creek Dr, Duck Creek Village, UT 84762. Owners are Josh & Amanda Whinery. When I contacted Vrbo, they did nothing. Although we were never able to reach our destination, we were forced to pay for a week's long stay, and received no refund. I encourage all to avoid using Vrbo when making reservations. They do nothing to protect their consumers. read more

False details of the property... No mention of unit being on second floor no elevator. Unmarked step-ups in hallway, poor lighting. Smelly old furniture . Not handicapped excisable. Don't purchase accident insurance... You will be charged and you have to go after Vrbo to get your money back. Good luck with that. Property # 1887812 read more

If I could give them zero stars I would!! I made a reservation to stay in a cabin in the middle of the woods 3 days ago and I just received an email today stating that it has been cancelled because of COVID-19 and they are not refunding my money. I did not cancel the reservation... I am packed and ready to go! AND... they are still taking reservations!! This is criminal... I called and asked for the refund and they are not offering refunds. Apparently I should have purchased trip insurance. If I cancelled the reservation I would expect to pay... but they cancelled it. Apparently they are doing this all over the country. read more

In light of the coronavirus pandemic we decided it was wise to cancel our reservation. VRBO has repeatedly refused our request. Now they have taken the full amount of the rental from our debit account. To add insult to injury the travel insurance we purchased through the VRBO site is giving us the runaround. read more

Property Address: 2480 Lupine Trail South Lake Tahoe, CA 96150 A Vrbo property to stay away from Renter beware! My family and I reserved this home for a family reunion in South Lake Tahoe, CA. for August 12 through the 17 in March 2021. We made the final payment for the booking in June 2021. Unfortunately, for all concerned, California fires on at least two sides of S. Lake Tahoe, created unsafe air quality according to airnow.gov and CNN. Today, August 11th, the entire area is shrouded in thick smoke according to CNN. I emailed Maureen Dillie (the homeowner) on August 6th to explain the situation and then again in response to her email on August 7th. Below are her email responses to me. The offer of winter months she made were not doable for us due to work schedules. Also, the suggestion of buying an insurance and canceling the trip, aside from verging on illegal, would not work after reading the policy and talking to the insurance company involved. I attempted to get this resolved through Vrbo. An agent told me that they were generally recommending to homeowners to refund under these conditions. That never occurred in this case. Two more calls to Vrbo lead to escalating our case to supervisors. I was supposed to get a phone call back from supervisors in 24 hours, which didn't happen in either case. In conclusion, given that we as a family stand to lose almost 8k, we are having to spend time and effort to dispute the reservation charges at this time. Homeowner's email responses: August 6 "I can understand your worries, however we have a zero cancellation policy. When you booked the home two months ago, you agreed to this policy." August 6 "I believe you can add on travel insurance right now, and cancel to receive your money back without causing a loss to my business. Otherwise, my business partner and I are willing to have you rebook for September or October for dates that are available, at the rate you are currently booked at. " August 7 "I understand what the health risk would be and I certainly do not wish to have your group put themselves at risk. During COVID, my family refunded money to everyone, at an incredible loss for us. Therefore we instituted a strict cancellation policy last fall so that we would not suffer from such huge financial losses again. Each group has to read and understand the strict cancellation policy before they book the home. This is to ensure that we are protected from blocking off our calendar, thus turning away potential guests, for guests who will cancel. The smoke is not something any of us could have predicted, however, wildfires are very common in CA and we have had smoky skies from August through October for the last few years. Sadly, it has become a part of our seasons- wildfire season. " read more

facts: VRBO gets paid by owners of rentals, they get nothing from the renters so they only side with owners. Owners can review, change and delete renters reviews. The renters do not get to reply to owners, the renters get one chance to reply after the owner initiates the review, then owners get to reply again and even delete the review from renters. Making the whole review process (which I look for when renting) bias. VRBO is a scam. I was very surprised when I contacted VRBO. They only care about the money...thus the owners. read more

Terrible in very way. my reservation was cancelled last minute due to it being the host's birthday, seriously. Now I have to fight to get my money back and try to find new accommodations. Zero assistance from customer service, they were completely useless. This is the worst booking site anywhere. Avoid it at all costs. read more

TRAVELER BEWARE. Advice: Find a way to book directly with the host or on another booking site if at all possible. Customer service has been horrible. VRBO rep blatantly lied to me about speaking with the host. I was able to contact the host directly and obtain confirmation from them that the reservation was cancelled, however VRBO will not update the trip status to cancelled and subsequently will not refund the outrageous service fee they charged. read more

Stay away!! It's worst company to book anything. Their property owners have been deceiving travelers on their reservation/cancellation policy and VRBO don't penalize them at all. It happened to me twice and learned hard way. It appears that VRBO have been helpless with their property owners and giving travelers hard time giving their refund back. VRBO acts stupid with their cancellation and refund policy!! read more

We stayed at The Boathouse on Pigeon Cay Cat Island Bahamas with Leslie and Ned as "hosts". I have rented multiple places via vrbo in the past and never will again after experiencing the awful rental and awful customer service from vrbo. The rental experience is almost beyond words and we wound up staying at another place with no refund. I felt like my only justice was going to be a scathing vrbo 1 star review. I was denied even that satisfaction when I included my email in my review (which isn't allowed, I wanted to be able to send accurate photos to unsuspecting renters) and after multiple calls to vrbo they said nothing we can do you can't review it now. I also reported the listing as inaccurate and falling apary and they did nothing. NEVER USING THEM AGAIN! read more

This is by far the worse rental I have ever had encountered. Do not book Tom and Sandys place in Lake Parsons Brandon Florida. They are scammers. They told me to leave their unit unlocked at check out then 8 days later told me they were charging me for smoking cigars and extra cleaning which was false. They are scammers so beware read more

Horrible company. Rented house in Davenport Florida 7/10/21 - 7/17/21, Champions Gate 1573 Tempo. Infested with cockroaches, many other things wrong but the roaches made the vacation miserable. Never Again! read more