There is one critical difference between VRBO and AirBnB. With VRBO, an unethical owner can write a negative review that is completely and blatantly false and VRBO does not provide any mechanism for the guest to provide their response to that false review. AirBnB does provide this type of mechanism. I have encountered unethical owners twice, once with VRBO, once with AirBnB. With VRBO, the owner got mad at us and gave a completely false review, all 1s. And I was unable to provide my version of the events. With AirBnB, they provide the guest with the ability to post a response to an owners vindictive negative review. In my opinion, AirBnB's ability to let guests respond to owner reviews of guests, helps keep unethical owners in line. VRBO doesn't do this. You are at the mercy of the VRBO owner's review, no matter how false it is. read more

VRBO IS A VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD ...JUST ASK PAPA AND THE GRANDKIDS VRBO IS A VERY VERY VERY VERY BAD COMPANY THEY HAVE NO PROBLEM PULLING THE RUG OUT FROM UNDER YOU.......Me and my grand kids spent week looking at aruba homes to rent , they had a ton of fun,, pappa we like that one papa we want that one, they finally settle in on the one with the flamingo in the pool ! we booked the vacation home thru vrbo 4 months ago, 12 people total going kids grandkids family... we are all going down to watch papa run the aruba marathon .....6 weeks to are vacation they send email , heres the email Hi Mike, I hope you're doing well. Unfortunately, the house Moko 119 is no longer part of our program. We explored alternative options for you, but we regret to inform you that there is no availability for your reservation dates. We will proceed with the cancellation. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Please let us know if there's anything we can do to assist you further. thats was it no help as they claim they will do. first they said i didnt send the documents , then they said the property is not part of are program,, my first time booking this stuff,, just shameful. never new this could happen legal ? moral? bad buisness. now i need to find a place for 12 people including 5 kids, in a short time read more

I got scammed. I reserved a property. Everything seemed all set. I took an Uber to the address I was given, straight from the airport after my plane landed in Houston. When I arrived, the property was abandoned - no furniture, dust and dirt clods on the floor. The front door was wide open. The other units next to it had their windows boarded up. It was clear this was not the property in the photos. In any case, I had no place to stay. I contacted support demanding a refund. They said they would try to get me another property but were unable to. That was the last I heard from them. I disputed the charge with my credit card company, which was denied because my credit card company said Vrbo has a "procedure" that handles it. Again, I never heard from Vrbo after that about the case and now I am out more than $650. I WILL NEVER USE Vrbo AGAIN! I highly recommend avoiding Vrbo at all cost. DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THEM! I'm actually surprised there hasn't been a class action lawsuit brought to them yet. read more

I'm a new host and had our first guest who gave a nice review a week ago but it has not been posted on our listing. This is unacceptable and poor business practice hurting marketing and revenue efforts! read more

HORRIBLE experience having just booked a week with a property that turns out, VRBO does not have access to....now they are giving me the run around about refunding a lot of money! It feels like a major scam -- taking money from folks without having access to make good on the service being sold then refusing to refund money? DO NOT USE VRBO! The customer service loops through frustrating "attempts" to help but they are really not helpful, just make the situation worse as it makes you more mad to have to re-explain yourself and the situation over and over again. Try Wander! Much better customer service. read more

Worst customer service I've ever dealt with at a company. Booked a stay that offered free cancelation. Decided we did not want to stay at the property after all after reading the negative reviews for the property. Requested a cancelation before the deadline, and have been fighting with both the host and customer service for my money back. No one takes responsibility and points fingers to reach out to the other party. Cannot get anyone to cancel my booking, even though I have asked 15+ times and have all the documentation to back it up. Will never use this platform again for my bookings. The host refuses to speak to me through VRBO and is holding me hostage with my booking that I don't even want. read more

THEIVES-FALSE ADVERTIING AND PROMISES Booked a 1 month stay prepaid. Showed up to the property, looked nothing like the pictures, was a 1 bedroom 1 bath and the ad stated 2 bedrooms 2 baths. The host tried to get in a physical altercation with my driver, he was drunk and lived above the unit iin the middle of nowhere. I stayed one night and left. Called VRBO upon arrival and told them I was afraid for my safety, they did nothing. I've tried to get my money back now for 3 months without sucess. I've sent pictures and videos, they kicked the property off the website but still wont reimburse me. Their marketing slogans are "Book with Confidence Guarantee" and "Stay Neighbourly" Yeah right!! Anyone have similar experience?? I dont trust VRBO anymore and I want my money back!! read more

Great experience! Thank you VRBO customer service. There was a major issue with my reservation that prevented me from staying in the home. Not only did the customer service team answer my call in a timely fashion, they stayed on the phone, activated a full refund, and then assisted me in locating a hotel then VRBO paid for it! Best Customer Experience! read more

On June 25, 2025, I rented a VRBO for four days with a charge of about $1,500. This was steep, but I was willing to pay for what was described as and photos portrayed as a charming cottage, "on a white sandy beach" and a nice private pool. When we arrived on July 29, 2025, the smell of sulfur and natural gas were overwhelming. There was nothing behind the house but rocks, seaweed, and trash. The pool had broken pieces everywhere, and immediately adjacent in the next door property was an empty pool with pooled water filled with mosquitoes. There was a closet with floor to ceiling trash packed into it. The floors were filthy and the bedding had visible stains everywhere. There was mold all over the property. We immediately turned around and left the keys and notified the owner we wanted a refund. The property was a health and safety hazard and a gross misrepresentation from what was listed. The listing continues to be the same on VRBO's site, despite VRBO being aware since July 30. I have attempted to resolve my concerns with the owner's and VRBO's fraudulent business practices, but VRBO has done nothing but give the runaround, delay, lie, and commit ongoing fraud. I have probably rented a dozen VRBO properties without issue. After this experience, never again! read more

My two sisters and I rented a house through VRBO in Bellingham WA right on Lake Sammamash. The home was two level with a deck, walking distance to lake, gorgeous view and beautiful home. When we opened the door and walked in the house stunk so bad of cat urine. We opened up all the windows an turned on all fans to see if we could alleviate the smell. We noticed there were no towels, no soap in any of the bathrooms, laundry room or kitchen, beds did not look like they were made with fresh sheets, kitchen was not wiped down. There was no book anywhere telling us of wifi network name or password, no instructions on how to use air conditioner, tv, etc. We checked in at 5pm - one hour after check in time and at 5:20 a lady shows up and identifies herself as the cleaning company and told us we were not supposed to check in until she can clear the house? She smelled the cat urine right away and got on the phone with her company and more people showed up trying to get rid of smell. It was so strong my eyes were watering and my sister started to wheeze and cough. We couldn't stay there. The cleaning company could not get the urine smell out as it was permeated into the carpet and furniture and wood flooring, We called VRBO customer service and they did not help us find a new place to stay, they did not help facilitate for a refund, they only reached out to host and the host denied the cat urine smell. VRBO asked us for pictures and we could not take pictures of a smell. We stated that to them and VRBO customer service could not think outside of the "procedural box" and since we could not take pictures of a cat urine smell they could not help us. While on the recorded line with VRBO I walked to each person from cleaning company and asked them if they could smell it and they stated yes and the customer service person said he could hear them. Host still denied that anything was wrong, and we he was not even there. We are out $1700 + the expense of the new hotel we had to stay in for the next two days since we couldn't stay in that house. VRBO said they would have their quality team go over this and get back to us in 24-48 hours. We wrote a letter stating in complete detail what happened. VRBO got back to us 1 1/2 weeks later stating issue resolved????!! It was not resolved. We replied back and asked what the resolution was and they never got back to us. BUYER BEWARE! You pay your money up front and will never get it back. VRBO does not care about you or your circumstances. They do not facilitate a refund or help you find another place to stay if your VRBO rental turns out bad. My family and I will NEVER book with VRBO again EVER. I will tell any of my friends and family to back away from this. VRBO is a rip off! Owner was a dirtbag for not believing us. Why would we save up for a vacation for 2 years, pay $1700 just to not stay there? read more

VRBO allowed a transaction to go through without confirmation. I attempted to rent this vacation property in Miami and the owner changed the dates of availability during the transaction after I had already paid. VRBO accepted my payment for the entire amount for the trip and paid the owner who acknowledged receipt. Within minutes I realized I'd been scammed so I formalized the cancellation through VRBO. The owner kept my money and VRBO refused to intervene. Do not attempt to rent this property. The owner will steal your money, ghost you, and then VRBO won't assist in resolution. https://www.vrbo.com/3486474?unitId=4059605 read more

My rating is -0. I booked a unit, received a confirmation that it was available. I then received a message from the owner cancelling the unit and he advised he was not with VRBO any longer. I contacted VRBO and received an email February 15, 2025 that they would issue a refund within 7 business days. Nine business days later I am still waiting for the refund. When I called VRBO they said they did not have a cancellation for this unit? Last time I will use this source for booking. read more

Vrbo has deceptive practices. I cancelled my booking which was 7 weeks in advance within 30 minutes and was given a refund of $361.46 instead of a full refund of $1046.04. I was told it was up to the host, whom had a new booking of the same dates within 24 hours. read more

I would give a negative rating if possible. We booked the house on VRBO at 13203 W Palo Verde Dr in Litchfield Park Az near Phoenix one month in advance and our credit card was charged. The house on VRBO was called "Amazing Litchfield Estate with Backyard Oasis". It's 5055 sq ft with five bedrooms and sleeps 12. We contacted VRBO four times in order to get our entry code and one hour before check-in they finally told us the house was over booked and we cannot use it. We had family flying in from all over the country. We are reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. They also sent us a message stating that it's easy to book something else so get over it. read more

By wife booked a house with Vrbo and had to cancel 2 months before the stay. We were informed the neither Vrbo or the p.o.s. host will not refund our $4,300! Vrbo told us we have to contact the host, Vikash Sachania (a supposed "super host") who refuses to refund us and has stopped all communication. Customer service is non-existent and is the worst I've experienced anywhere. Very long hold times, hung up on when I asked to speak with a supervisor. The absolute worst experience. DO NOT USE Vrbo! read more

Do NOT rent through VRBO!!. If you are a renter, you have no rights. You might think that buy prepaying the booking in full that you are guaranteed the rental, but the homeowner can cancel your booking at any time with no consequences at all. That means you can be canceled right up until check in. Their so-called, "rebooking team" is a joke. You can't call them. You go through the regular help line and are told you will get a call back, "in a couple of days." You will be offered whatever properties meet your needs as long as they are slightly higher or slightly lower than what you originally booked. If the rate is higher, you will have to pay for the entire rental. They won't even honor the price for their mistake Don't let your holiday get be ruined!!! read more

I would never ever book anything through VRBO. I rented a house from Oct 9-Oct 11 (2023). This house was located in Belmont CA. So if you consider visiting San Francisco Bay Area do not rent anything in Belmont. This particular property was managed by a property Manager, and I see them more at fault than VRBO. So, if you see any listing from MARBELLA LANE on any site. AVOID it. This particular house was completely misrepresented and falsely advertised. The pictures shown on the VRBO site did not match the actual property specially the furniture. On the site it was shown a nice leather couch and the house actually has an old, dirty broken couch which is very disgusting. Kitchen supplies were not clean, and the house was suppose to be for 6 people but not enough plates, forks .... There were spider webs all around the kitchen ceilings and dinning area. The walls were are damaged and one had a hole in it. Patio door handle was corroded from inside and outside. read more

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1 star is too many. I thought Vrbo is just a poorly managed company. That is true. but worse, it's actually a fraudulent company. I'm an owner. I had a guest who violated my house rules right away. I asked Vrbo to cancel his booking and issue no refund as it is their policy. To my shock they issued full refund to this jerk. now that I am protesting they say you cancelled the booking!! see just how choatic and no man's land is the freaking company who cannot control his employees or take responsibility for their actions. someone within the company cancelled the booking in my name and now they say sorry since you cancelled the booking we can't do anything. how do you describe that? I describe it as a rotten Fraud ridden company. A company like that has to go out of business. worse yet, after vrbo cancelled the booking the guest refused to leave my property and stayed one night and obviously didn't pay anything and the MoFus at Vrbo are not doing anything about that either. Vrbo needs to go out of existence. This level of fraud and incompetence is unprecedented. read more

I unsubscribed from all Vrbo emails on June 20th. Then I unsubscribed again after receiving more emails on July 23rd. After two unsubscribes they are still emailing me on August 20th. No customer service email to contact. This is unethical behavior. If I had more time on my hands I'd start a class action lawsuit, but that's what corporations are banking on - the fact that we're all too tired and too busy to notice these things. Gross. read more

vrbo is a horrible, unreliable company. I booked a long time in advance, paid in full to go to Redwood City to the cemetery where the memorial for my late son is situated. We were to go up as a family so I booked a 4 bedroom house in Redwood City. They cancelled the afternoon before we were due to arrive. They customer service was absolutely terrible. NEVER book with this company! They will let you down at the last minute. read more

I rented a cottage on VRBO. Summit Cabin rentals put up cameras and didn't list that in the listing breaching VRBO rules. I didn't receive check in information until 5:03 and check in time was 4:00. It was not pet friendly as listed. I asked to be moved to another cabin that was pet friendly and was denied. I was over talked, bullied, and manager was rude! VRBO has not helped me despite all of the violations from Summit Cabin rentals. We had to rent another cabin from Hearthside cabins which I highly recommend! read more

Horrible experience with vrbo!! They don't care if your home is disgusting and won't give you a refund no matter what you say. Do yourself a favor and stay far away from this company !!! I wish I had knows this before! read more

I booked my reservation via VRBO to a place in South Carolina for August 2024 for a week. VRBO advertises 100% refund if you cancel. I cancelled the next day since plans changed. They did not refund me the full amount and kept $84.62 for processing fee. Vrbo is doing false advertising and not be be trusted. They DO NOT REFUND YOU 100%. Be warned. read more

I have rented through VRBO multiple times in the past. Never again. It was much better with decent customer service before Expedia purchased it. Now their customer service originates in some god forsaken call center where you can barely understand the people reading from scripts. I put a damage deposit down for $1500, which was absurd in and of itself. Owner of rental was happy with our stay and gave good review. Ten days have passed and I am still waiting for a refund of my deposit. That was this past months rental. The one before was a place that was completely misrepresented in the listing. They had restaurants within walking distance -- not. It was a good 30 minutes to the nearest restaurant by car. In fact all of the points of interest were misrepresented as being a lot closer than they were. I am sick of them, but they seem to have a monopoly despite their dismal reviews and multiple complaints on yelp, BBB, and reddit. I am done though. Will book through local real estate company from now on. read more

The location at the Gabriel in San Antonio is a total scam. The owner knew that the AC was not working because when we got there the fans were on high and a ghetto box fan was in the bedroom. Needless to say because temps were close to 100 that day, the temperature in this unit was still 88 degrees with the AC on . We kept messaging her and she acted like she couldn't read our messages . I had to reach out to VBRO. We will see if either she will refund us or if they will. Horrible experience. read more

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I wish I could give zero stars. What happened to me with VRBO should not happen to anyone. I booked a place which was perfect for my family and after the booking reservation was approved, I proceeded to book the next 3 nights along our route, relying on having the property we had booked in Raritan, NJ. Several hours after I received the confirmation of my reservation of this house, I received a message from the host saying he had another booking and my one night stay interfered with that booking so I needed to cancel my reservation. I asked for clarification but when I didn't receive a response, I called VRBO. They told me he couldn't cancel and I should not follow the instructions to cancel. Then the host cancelled my reservation and refunded my money. I called VRBO again (on hold for over 20 minutes) and was told the host would be spoken to but there was nothing they could do. It was unbelievable - I messaged the host again and he then said "it was an emergency" so he changed what he originally wrote. Clearly, he wanted multiple nights and cancelled my reservation to make that happen. This company is terrible. I will never book with them again. TERRIBLE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE read more

I think VRBO has become a scam business. A shady host cancelled our reservation and failed to cancel officially through VRBO. We have not been refunded the money and it has been weeks! VRBO customer service is THE worst. Stick with Airbnb! read more

In general VRBO has been my go-to for rentals. and I would have rated VRBO with at least 4 stars had this bait and switch not occurred. In April, 2024, I booked a lovely vacation stay in California and one month later, VRBO sent a bill for an additional charge of $68. I called and the rep said there had been an error on their side and I owed more. They were unwilling to reduce the amount or remove the charge. It seems as though the original fee doesn't mean you've paid in full if later an additional charge can be levied. Very disappointed in this practice Im willing to address/change this rating if I hear from VRBO with a reasonable resolution read more

We booked a weeklong stay in Morro Bay. The week prior we found out the property management company, that was in charge of the property, was no longer managing the property and was under investigation from the DA for embezzlement. We contacted VRBO and were told that we had to wait until the morning of our check in before they could do anything. Upon doing more investigating on our part, and contacting the new property management company, we found out the property was already booked to someone else for our stay. They told us they notified VRBO of the circumstances happening with this property, and many others under the old property management company, and asked VRBO to be proactive and notify anyone that had booked the properties under the old property management company, which they did not! Knowing we had no place to stay we never went to Morro Bay and the morning of our scheduled check in we contacted VRBO again and asked for a full refund, under their Book with Confidence Guarantee. After 3 months and 11 phone calls to VRBO, we finally received the following email: "Dear Lori, This is Amanda withthe Vrbo® Guarantee team. Thank you for contacting us regarding your paid reservation for VRBO property 2425298 After reviewing your request, we suggest that you contact your financial institution or credit card issuer to inquire about options for the return of your funds. You can provide your credit card issuer with a copy of this email, in order to seek further assistance in recovering any charges for the referenced Reservation ID: (&#$*(Q#()&#(__% If no mutual resolution is found with the owner or manager, and your payment provider is unsuccessful in recovering your funds, please reply to this email by attaching any pertinent correspondence received from your financial institution. Thank you for your cooperation and patience with this process. We look forward to receiving your reply. Best Regards, Amanda Vrbo® Guarantee team ref:_00DC0PxQg._5008b29hBWP:ref" So in other words, they have NO GUARANTEE!! Some additional information, originally, we had this same property booked thru AirBnB, which was cancelled thru them with no explanation why. We found the exact same property on VRBO and just assumed the property management company switched companies, so that's when we booked the property on VRBO. After speaking in detail with the new property management company, we realized the reason we got canceled on AirBnB was because they were doing their part to be proactive, as requested by the new property management company. Obviously VRBO does not care about their customers. We will NEVER use VRBO ever again and will continue to give our business to AirBnB and we suggest you do the same. read more

Vrbo - Vacation Rentals Near Me - Wareham, Massachusetts

I have booked a place using the VRBO website for a stay in WARSAW Poland for my wife and 3-year-old daughter. When they arrived at the place at the time of agreement there was no such building found and the phone number that was provided by the host wasn't valid. After contacting VRBO and spending 1 hour and 35 minutes "I was transferred from department to department" because the system wasn't working while my wife and daughter were outside in the cold waiting. In the end, my family was offered 3 options at the hostel stay which were 10$ a night for the inconvenience. I spent more on an uber ride to the place! Horrible service, please stay away! read more

We booked 10 months in advance and had both payments taken out and for all of us from 4 families to drive up to 4 hrs away to find out that the property isnt a listing anymore. We planned to stay in leavenworth to be close to town and then we had to get another cabin 1 hr away over a pass in Enumclaw with airbnb. Called vrbo to see about getting compensation or something for them ruining our trip and keep getting the run around from a call center in another country. We will never use VRBO again. Customer service was horrible and our trip was ruined. read more

The place we booked was absolutely filthy. There were pee stains and pubic hair on and around the toilet. The floor was sticky. The counters had not been cleaned, and still had someone's food on them. Laundry was piled up in the corner of the living room, and laundry still in the washer/dryer (so don't expect to be able to use them). The whole building was overwhelming with the smell of drugs the minute you walk in. The outside of the building had trash all over the place. Nowhere to park (even though I had asked about parking before booking). Even the police chief from my hometown told us to get out of there immediately because it was not a safe neighborhood. We stayed on the phone with VRBO customer support for 2 hours and sent them pictures showing the filth. The agent agreed that the place was filthy and unfit to stay in, and agreed for VRBO to put us up in a hotel for 1 night... HOWEVER, they are refusing to refund the money that we paid for this rental that we couldn't even stay in. Stay as far away from VRBO as possible. read more

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Don't ever reserve a house in las cruces NM 2350 Real Del Norte. I had a reservation for 6 weeks and they cancelled my booking less than 24hrs before , what a nightmare and incredibly Rude Saying they accidentally double booked. Gimmee a break I call BS read more

Vrbo sucks. Use airBnB. Property misrepresented with 3 fewer beds and I couldn't connect to wifi for the first 4 hours. We made do, even though we had to tell people to bring air mattresses. I contacted Vrbo immediately upon returning and they said they can't do anything. Cancellation policy requires host to confirm before receiving your funds back, even well within there cancelation window. To wait a couple of days for 1-2k is ridiculous. Website is slow. In general bad experience with VRBO read more

VRBO was great when I started renting through them in 2012, but has gone steadily downhill, picking up speed after the merger. Their customer service is an exercise in futility, with each agent saying they've "escalated" the issue and I should get an email in 48 hours, with no response or fix. They dropped 80% of my hard-earned reviews off my listing, and even more painfully, dropped my Premier Host status because I don't have 3 reviews per quarter... because I booked a long term renter THROUGH THEM. They shoot themselves AND me in the foot. For the first time ever I have no bookings for the year ahead, and about 1 inquiry/month. Pathetic. read more

Vrbo - Vacation Rentals Near Me - Wareham, Massachusetts

I've been working on getting a refund for 47 days and counting. The only attention or "help" I've received came from the fact that I googled the emails of the C-suite executives and sent them a thorough letter with screenshots WHILE on hold with regular customer service for the 5th time. If you want ANY help from this POS company, try reaching out to these people @vrbo.com trent.york john.ostlund kevin.locraft steven.stamstad melissa.fortenberry clement.mazen chas.erickson pascal.collet stephen.feltner bill.higgins mike.butler steve.davis mike.sutter tina.wayend justin.rao john.smith Again, still no resolution to my case, but bothering the top earners of the company will at least get you an email expressing faux concern. read more

Will never use VRBO again. They don't hold owners accountable and ultimately we paid the price for an owner who seems to habitually double book and then lie about it. We were stuck at the last minute and forced to check into a single room at a 2 star hotel. Customer service = talking to an offshore call center in circles. I don't know what's changed as we've used VRBO confidently for almost 15 years, but the last few bookings have left a really sour taste in our mouths, and our most recent vacation was ruined because of their poor policies and service. Never again. read more

I've rented our vacation home with VRBO since 2009. never had unresolved issues. this summer renters did major damage, but they also complained about the property to VRBO. despite sending picture and receipts VRBO never resolved our issue. they froze our account so that we loose all repeat business. they never gave us the damage deposit we deserve. and I never got a reply to my emails. support chat kept saying the issue "had been escalated." read more

Whether as a host/owner or as a guest VRBO is no longer to be trusted. I had years of experiences with them that were positive. They started increasing the fees they charged to both hosts and to guests. They do not care one ioto about customer service. If one has a question or a problem they are totally - either unresponsive or unsatisfactory. All done with them. read more

Racist PLatform that enables racist hosts. The host showed up on the last day of our stay and kicked us out with out any warning or proof to what she was accusing us of. This is a video of how the home looked when the host showed up unannounced and unexpected visit to kick us out. How do you justify cancelling our trip and keeping or money when your home looks like this? This was based solely on the colors of some of the guests skin. The host profiled us completely wrong! https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/i3s44gwj43027fcgl0ohj/2024-05-19_11-26-50_000.mov?rlkey=888h9r2uo20hh5nloxf8sjxo2&st=tfacpks6&dl=0 read more