FlipKey Reviews 

I am currently in a dispute with flip key over a a booking fee that they refuse to refund.

Long story short - I booked a condo on March 4th, 2019 and cancelled the next day on March 5th, 2019 due to a family loss. The owner was more than willing to refund all my deposit, but was unable to refund the $218.28 "booking fee." I would understand if I cancelled a week or more later or if the trip was a month away, but I did not.

In the cancellation policy it states, "If cancelled within 24 hours and the trip is 60 days or more away, A 100% refund will be given." It also states that, "Unless cancelled within the 24 hour cooling off period the fee is non-refundable."

I cancelled within 24 hours and my trip was not booked until July 2019. If the booking fee was non refundable under ALL circumstances, that should have been posted in the policy, but it was not. I have sent all the screen shots of this information from their website, and they are the least bit helpful. I filed a dispute through Pay Pal, and they now reached out to me still unhelpful and stating they will charge me. If you want to lose money and do business the a corrupt company, I definitely recommend Flip Key!

Yesterday I booked with flip key and I booked a listing that posted. After making my payment I later received an email stating that one of my dates were not available. I immediately contacted them to see why they excepted my payment if one of my dates were not available. I was told that they would get in touch with the property manager give me a call back. I did receive a call back Stating that they were going to do everything in their power to give me another room booked, however it was not much help. This morning when I woke up I received another email stating that there were too many inconsistencies with them I booking and they were refunding me my money. I don’t understand why they would except my payment if those dates were not available. I would never recommend this website so anyway as I should’ve took the signs from the reviews that I saw before making a reservation just feel like this is very unprofessional and I will not be booking again with this company.

This was my first and last experience using Flipkey. I attempted to book a great, last-minute deal, but the transaction was canceled by Flipkey due to "inconsistencies" with my reservation. In this transaction, the money that I paid was immediately returned to my account. The email that I received from Flipkey stated that I could possibly still stay at the property and that my information had been forwarded to the property manager. I then received another email from Flipkey reminding me that the property I was trying to book was still available and to hurry and book it before time ran out. In the meantime, I directly messaged the property manager through Flipkey and they responded and sent me a higher quote for my stay, but the deal was still good, so I again attempted to book, thinking that there was an error in the pricing and that was the problem with my first attempted transaction. Surely, after I directly communicated with the manager and was given the okay, this transaction attempt would be successful. Again, the money was taken out of my account and I received an email from Flipkey stating that the reservation had been canceled due to "inconsistencies." I emailed back, questioning why this had happened for a second time. The response I received said that "as explained in our previous emails, your bookings were canceled due to some inconsistencies found with them. Unfortunately, we will be unable to take any future bookings from your end." You know, I probably would have never even bothered to write this review, but the snotty attitude in that email is what made me want to do so. I worked in customer service for many years and if a customer was upset, I would be falling over myself with kind words, apologies, empathy, not an email implying that I'm not worthy of their service. They stated that a refund had already been issued and to check with my financial institution as far as time processing for the credit. The refund was issued, but because of processing, it has still not been credited back to my account. I am fully aware that this is on my bank's end, however, if my reservation for a family vacation has so many "inconsistencies", then why was my card charged and the funds immediately taken out? Now, I need to pay to stay somewhere minus the money that still hasn't gone back in yet.

I had a problem trying to cancel after an owner of a property for FlipKey was trying to charge extra cleaning fees & I found out in advance of the stay. I was happy to book a cute cabin for the weekend through flipkey for $331 with a $200 deposit held as a damage deposit. Upon booking, I received a HUGE application from the cabin owner asking for information such as "yearly salary", etc. Then I saw in the paperwork that owner was going to charge me $75-100 extra for cleaning. I called the owner to ask if this was an EXTRA fee beyond what I paid online and he said yes. I called FlipKey to cancel immediately (this was going above my budget). FlipKey was not very helpful. I told them I wanted to cancel and they told me I couldn't get a refund. On a later call, FlipKey told me I could get the rental money, but the owner wanted $15 and I couldn't get my booking fee back. They also told me that the owner told them that he never told me he would charge me extra. I told them I had an email that he sent with paperwork saying he would, and asked if they wanted me to send it. They told me they didn't care. I asked if they didn't want it so they could talk to him about not doing it to others and there was a big pause, and I finally got it...they didn't care as long as I gave up on trying to get my booking fee back and went away. So they ended up keeping my fees and I cancelled. Not a company I would every use again...especially with so many other great options to use.
***Update: After this review posted I was contacted by a very nice agent from FlipKey. This was by far the nicest person I had ever spoken with. I had sent in the paperwork from the owner about the extra fess (even though they had said on phone previously they didn't want it) and she had received and reviewed it. She said she would follow up with the owner and previous agents I had spoken with. I still was not offered a monetary refund, but she did offer me booking credit with FlipKey.

Horrible booking site, would never suggest this company. Not reliable and clear with booking procedure.

Flipkey is one of the worst companies I have ever dealt with. This company is all about charging that service fee no matter what after 24 hours from booking. We booked a house, then found out the home would not be in the condition described. After getting ahold of the home owner and agreeing that the house would not work for us we contacted flipkey (27 hours from booking). Flip key would not budge on charging us the $100 service fee for doing the booking since it was now after 24 hours. And this was for a rental that was 5 months from the booking date. Their customer service is out of india and is horrible. It is all about getting that fee.

We had to file a complaint with our credit card. After they investigated the problem we were reimbursed all charges.

I will never use nor recommend this company again.

Update 1/29/2019
No, I don't think you really are not sorry. Your response of "Unless the owner cancels the booking, or you cancel within the 24-hour cooling-off period, this fee is non-refundable". Doesn't take into account that the listing was inaccurate. It will usually take more than 24 hours to figure this type of issue out. The proper response from customer service should have have been "we are sorry, here is a full refund and we will address this issue with the owner." and maybe update your terms of service. I'm sorry that you work for a crappy company.

It was quick and easy, but after i booked the house and paid for it. the owner switched to wondervacationhomes.kigopro.net to communicate. But that site does not recognize our country and hasn't our code in their list. that was a bit frustrating. Luckily for us they sent the info in our email also so we could communicate.

but it would be nice of flipkey would announce beforehand that after you reserve the owner will use another site to communicate with you.

was treated very well and they took good care of my cancellation and new booking.

one problem tried to contact owner he will not reply

I reserved a property and paid in full. A couple weeks later they cancelled on me. I had to find a new property, but being weeks later I had to pay much more. The second place better work out.

Not impressed. I have not been able to get the address of the condo that I paid for. Each time I inquire I get a different answer about when the property manager will give me that information. I have used VRBO and other vacation rental services and have never gotten answers so evasive.

Easy, quick, with a logical interface. The best web sites are the ones that work without me having to think once about it.

Everything work ok.
It was easy to book. No problems

I have used Flipkey before and have found fantastic homes to rent.
I found the homes to be beautiful, they are always clean & inviting for our family. Way better than staying at an overpriced hotel. We eat organic food and we can bring it with us and prepare it at leisure. My husband is a chef, so why go out ! Love the opportunity of having a choice in our vacation plans. Flipkey gives me that choice at a variety of different states. 5 Stars in my book ! Thanks !

Very easy to use, no problem with scheduling a reservtion.

Have used other booking services and I like FlipKey. It is user friendly and intuitive. Look forward to using it again in the future.

Worst experience ever in the rentalservice.
Owners be carefull cause flipkey or Tripadvisor only cares about it's
percentage on deals %.
They don't care about your property. Or the state it's left behind when you try to claim some damage deposit. Owners are fishing behind the net.
reply:
That is the problem "only physical damage" My property was left in a state that looks like a dumpster. The housecleaning needed 2 persons extra for 2 hours just to drag the rubbish outside, a ton of empty alcohol bottles all over the place, Pizza boxes, sunbeds from neihgbors inside, twice the amount of people slept inside and used of course an excesive amount of electricity.
In my rental agrement is stated what is allowed and what isn't. And we ask our renters that they leave the house in a clean state.
All proof was on camera and photos, it took 7 months from your side reply on this matter. For a claim of 100€ with bill send in.

If that's your protection program i thank you. But i will go where they do care about owners 's property.
My house is delisted.

Kind regards
F

Rather than reduce their fees to the guest to attract more vacation rental owners and more guest bookings, they tell owners that collecting 100% upfront is no longer available. Their schpiel is that if I collect less upfront I will get 40% more bookings. Ah no, reduce your fees which guests KNOW are the highest of online booking platforms and THAT's why your bookings are low. Guests arent stupid. And, vacation rental owners are no longer getting guest contact info when you stop the 100 percent payment. How is the home owner to send a contract to the guest?
Do you think that owners who invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in their business arent going to get guest registry and rental agreements signed by the guests. News flash: insurance companies require it. No, contracts cant be sent via a secure e-SIGN service to a cloaked email on flipkey/ tripadvisor. So you are now screwing the guest as well as the owners who feed you. It's a shame that flipkey/tripadvisor thinks they are going to take control of my financial affairs of my business. While a 50% deposit is sop for fly-to average one week rentals that are booked weeks and months in advance, it doesnt work for drive-to, local destinations booked days or a week in advance. Figure out your own business first before you think you will take control of ours.
Your fees are ridiculous and much higher than HomeAway and Abnb.
Better yet, guests need to book direct with the vacation rental owner.

The five bedroom house we booked a year in advance turned out perfect for 7 adults and 3 children. Everyone enjoyed the pools, TVs in every room and large kitchen. Family get togethers can be tricky, allowing everyone enough space.
The house was very clean, supplied with basic necessities and lots of pool towels.
Throughout the process of communicating with Flipkey and Evolve, it was easy and professional. We’ve always been happy with Flipkey and will continue to refer to them.