Vrbo Reviews 270

I made a booking today and immediately received a confirmation email which was correct. However 2 hours later I received a second email which informed me that instead of 50% of the cost being charged today and the remaining 50% at the end of June, I had been charged the full 100% today, which also more or less blows my credit card limit. In addition, a further fee had been added to my account, a "Non-refundable Accidental Damage Deposit Waiver" which features nowhere on their booking website. How dishonest can a company become?

VRBO has CHANGED!
If you encounter any issues whilst on vacation you can forget any "customer service" from VRBO..even though you paid for it...go check your bill. You did.
1) Call- line: International "help" will ask for your number in the event you become disconnected. You will then become disconnected. Nobody will call
2) Chat: Chat is going to ask for all information and then refer you to the Call-line.
3) If you write a bad review...VRBO will return an email telling you to revise your review or it will not be published
4) MOST IMPORTANTLY: VRBO has NO AGENCY. They will eventually tell you that they are simply an advertising platform and they can do absolutely NOTHING to help matters between host & guest. They literally give all your money to the host & roll the dice hoping that over 50% of ppl using their platform will be moderately happy & not write any negative reviews
I've rented over 20X all over the world....as long as you never run into problems or an unscrupulous "host" you will be fine. The minute there is a problem..you are 100% on your own.

Tried to book 5 different places.
3 claimed no availability during this time (why not blank out those dates in the calendar then), and 2 didn't reply.

Total waste of my time.

I am a premier host and the customer service from VRBO is humiliating. I dislike Airbnb but I am going to do everything I can to minimize my business with VRBO. My rental is $2100.00 a night and they have dismissed me as a child. They disabled my listing when thought I was hacked. They did not contact me and closed my case without contacting me. I had 14 active reservations. I called everyday for a week before I got any results. They are terrible for hosting.

Property # 406205 on the Vrbo site was booked by us for a 4 week stay in April 2020 for which I paid £947.40 in January 2020 the world then entered lockdown and overseas travel was banned On contacting the owner I was told by him that Vrbo had advised him to defer our booking for a year which we agreed to one year later and we are in lockdown again on contacting the owner again he was unwilling to defer for another year and insisted we holiday before the end of 2021 which I said would not be possible when I contacted him later to say we could not take up the booking before the end of the year and would it be possible to refund the money I was told he would check his statements to see if he had been paid as Vrbo do not pay him until the property is occupied numerous emails later and all have been ignored
Through no fault of my own I am £947.40 poorer and no holiday but the worst of it is the fact of just being ignored as if I don't matter to these people is what annoys the most

Agents says

Andy R
(Agent)
I am sorry for that, you can also use the messaging system on your dashboard. I hope I was able to help you, would that be all for today and cut off. The discussion was about this. If you put VBRO phone number into the dashboard VBRO block it.!!!! Am I talking to a plank of wood?

VBRO offered a solution and advised me to advise the client to phone a number. When I posted the number on the platform communication portal they block their own number.....! Laughable.

It is just a junk outfit. I've been saying it for 10 years. It just gets worse. A client wants to pay but the VBRO tech just refuses to take a card. I called them on chat, before enabling chat you have to give your site ID, the first question what is your site ID!!!!! You have it, I've just provided it. I tell them the issue, client with booking ref and can't get a credit card to work. Response can I have your phne number.

I booked a place 5 months in advance for myself and 2 nieces. We spent hours for 5 months discussing what we were going to do and the fun we would have. Little was I to know this would be a nightmare I couldn’t wake up from. First the people in Redondo Beach Eric H and his wife Anna, STAYED AT THE HOUSE WITH US. No privacy, 1 bathroom for 5 people, 1 bedroom for us 3 and 1 bedroom for them. The ad never said it was a shared house. I would not have paid $1000 of hard earned, saved money on a rental I have to share with COMPLETE STRANGERS. IN VRBO’S CONTRACT IT SAYS THAR OWNERS CANNOT BE THERE WHEN THE RENTERS ARE THERE. So I call Verbo and guess what? I needed PROFF the owners were Sharing space with us. I WAS ASKED TO VIDEO TAPE THE OWNERS. It’s is if Vrbo called the owners to tell them we were trying to get a video of them because they disappeared. Since I could not get a video Verbo basically hung up on me. My vacation was ruined. It was uncomfortable, dirty and dishonest. I feel as though not only was my money stolen, but my vacation and relationship with my nieces all suffered because of unethical owners and a company who clearly does not give a damn about anything but stealing your money and memories.

The property in Lanzarote was fine once we had gained access. We sent several texts to a number, supplied by VRBO, to arrange for the property manager to let us in. NO response. We found the property. No one awaiting us. No key safe code had been sent. We tried the mobile number again and again but it was unreachable. It was now getting dark and cold.
I discovered a London number for VRBO. It rang and rang and rang. My wife was then cut off after 28 minutes in hold. The chat feature was a joke. I was 285 in the queue with I think
a 185 minutes to wait!
We were getting very concerned fearing we would have to spend a night in our hire car.
A Good Samaritan neighbour was kind enough to help us. Her local mobile also had no luck with the number supplied by VRBO. The GS was kind enough help us find a hotel for the night. At 03:00 being unable to sleep I attempted to use the hotel's WIFI to contact the "owner" via the VRBO site. I received an apologetic message a couple of hours later with the missing key safe code.
We eventually got to our villa at 09:30 the following day.
We were NOT HAPPY.
The remaining days of our break were pleasant save for the weather which no one can control.
I will try and find an email or postal address to make sure my thoughts are read.
I have failed to find an email address. The only contact is a landline in London. See above!

AVOID!!!
GROSSLY MISLEADING We booked through this app. Property was dangerous and not as advertised at all. VRBO just responded now. 'we are an online marketplace that brings hosts and guests together. We are not involved in the rental transaction'.
Case closed and £4000 lost!!!!
Please please do not use this company.

Let's review, shall we? Just to back up my review regarding a scam property that VRBO are currently deliberately ignoring complaints about which is with the bank and police, their customer service hang up on you in online chat if you mention potential scam or fraud, screenshot available if they read this. Oh, and VRBO responded to my negative review of their website by lying about contacting me to discuss my issue so the customer service is also completely untrustworthy and dishonest. This is a site to avoid like Covid...

The rental process itself was not a problem. We had to cancel and refund was processed quickly. However we had also purchased the insurance for property damage advertised alongside the cost of the rental. Europ assistance would not cancel because the booking was not for longer than 1 month. This is inappropriate and misleading advertising as these important terms were not clear and the offer was not a fit for a shorter rental.

My family have had a terrible experience with renting their property via vrbo. Recently there were guests at the property. They were very inconsiderate guests and many items were binned, it was dirty, and a lot more after a party was held at the property. A request was made to obtain the deposit to cover the cost of replacing the items and the additional cleaning that was required. However vrbo didn’t get the deposit from the client that was staying, they apparently don’t always do this even though it’s requested. Now we can’t get in contact with anyone who can help us sort this out. They charge a lot to advertise via their website but lacking in customer service. Terrible company!

If I could write a zero i would. DO NOT DO NOT RENT FROM THEM> I've travelled all around the world with homeaway.com when vrbo bought them its only asia who talks to you.. I couldn't believe the nightmare on new years of all days. The owner wrote on my messages after multiple attempts to get into the rental that he told vrbo to cancel. Well guess what someone didn't so they send us for one night an emergency hotel and tell us pay the other two nights AND WE WILL REIMBURSE YOU FOR YOUR RENTAL PLUS THE ADDITIONAL TWO NIGHTS.. Well that didn't happen. They'll be hearing from my lawyer. DONT DO IT. THEY ARE NOT RELIABLE AND THEY SUCK AND PUT YOU ON HOLD I SWEAR IT WAS 13 HOURS ON HOLD. Now they told me a supervisor will call me back . Funny no one has a direct number or an email. Their supervisor was supposed to send me an email to reply too....,. guess what NEVER RECEIVED. don't do like us and have them ruin your vacation!

We booked in October with VRBO and paid at the same time, when we arrive 22 / 12-2021 the hotel is closed no messages from VRBO or the hotel, Juan Rodrigo the Manager for ARENA SUITS in Santiago de Teide answers in bad English that we should call Hetnandes, who does not answer, nor Rodrigo answers longer, then we contact VRBO, end up with a first person who gives the case a number after we have had to wait 5-6 minutes by phone, we are connected to person two who will handle the case, who in turn hands over the case to their help team, nothing happens, we do the same process for about 10 times in one day we get 2 days in a hotel but the remaining 8 days from Christmas Eve onwards no help, the only thing they ask us is to book new via Expedia which is the parent company of vrbo and pay the hotel and then ask for the money back, so we will pay twice as much as it costs right now .. after their reluctance to book themselves for us and make a voucher that we requested.

When VRBO refuses to give us a voucher but puts us without accommodation, watch out for a company that does not show up for its guests. No more Expedia, VRBO, Hotell.com and any other Expedia Group companies, watch out for these scam companies!
Boffe Elgh 24 / 12-2021

Never ever rent a property through VRBO. We have been trying since early 2020 to get a refund of any kind for a flat in Rome that we were forced to cancel because of the pandemic.

The host refused to give any money back. We asked instead for alternate dates in either 2021 or 2022. She refused that as well.

To date, we have been refunded a 200-euro cleaning fee. VRBO has not even refunded its own 10% commission. Nor have they taken the host in Rome to task — a woman who has done this to others, to judge by reviews of her other properties.

We are now out more than $4,000 US for a property we can never stay in, and VRBO has made it clear that it has no interest in resolving the issue. Instead, they have fobbed everything off on our relationship with a clearly dodgy host. Given, however, that VRBO has taken a 10% fee, they should surely have some form of legal obligation.

Further to my poor review in 2019 when I highlighted Vrbo's new abusive policy of holding all deposit and pre-payment rental monies until AFTER guest check out....... I understood from Rebecca Barton this was hopefully going to change but 2 years on its still in place so a booking I took for July 22 means Vrbo hold the monies 8 months in their account. I have costs to maintain our villa and don't believe a company, which after all is just a website should inflict this policy on their owners, its impossible to justify and frankly an abuse of their market dominance - which has come about through acquiring all their competitors. I accepted a recent booking because it indicated I was being paid the 25% deposits in November but this is not correct - misleading communication from Vrbo. I called to speak to my new account manager Sarah but was not able to get her number nor was the agent able to ask her to call me ! So upon complaining about this continued policy was told lots of other owners are unhappy but its not changing. Well, I will just have to cancel our bookings then because we cannot afford to have our money sitting in Vrbo's bank for 8 months. Owners watch out !

Booked a 4 bed rental for new years eve, paid in full September, this week its cancelled due to overbooking, disgusted no attempt to find another place, no compensation, and we have no chance now of finding somewhere, this was a special trip with my siblings, absolutely disgusted!!!!

As an owner of two properties, I am a longstanding advertiser, but am getting ever less business from VRBO and am urgently looking for alternatives.

They are bedeviled by technical problems but refuse to admit they have them. One of my properties persistently fails to appear in searches. I call many times to complain but simply cannot get the operator to understand. Instead I get mechanical, idiotic answers like: "Our visitors will find you if they do enough research on the name of your village." This is delivered in a thick Asian accent and I can hear cockerels crowing in the background.

I ask to speak to management but am told that they refuse to take phone calls or emails. Let that be the obituary for this awful company. My fellow owners in this region have abandoned interest in VRBO and gone elsewhere for the bulk of their business.

Absolutely terrible customer service. I am an owner and have tried twice today to get through to customer service in the Uk. Both times I was put through to American girls in the US with absolutely no interest in resolving and issues. The first one was half asleep and repeatedly said « no, not possible » when I asked to be put through to a manager, the 2nd pretended suddenly not to hear me and hung up when I asked if she was not « customer service » when she told me I would have to speak to customer services to get my issue dealt with.
So stressful, zero interest, zero customer service, zero follow up.

I used to use this website all of the time when it was branded 'Home Away'. Whilst nothing has changed that much they have not kept up with the times. You cannot select a filter for properties with EV car chargers. You can with their competitors. This is the sole reason I no longer use the company. Such a shame.