HomeAway
Reviews and Complaints

The VRBO unit we prepaid (4 months in advance) was DOUBLE BOOKED when we arrived. The property manager promised a refund. The VRBO customer service found a hotel plus promised us a refund. The customer service supervisor confirmed that we would get a refund. We submitted the request for a refund when we returned home. The customer service again promised us a refund.

When the request arrived at the VRBO accounting department, our refund was denied repeatedly. Their email referred to their policy of providing a hotel, period. That policy cannot cover every situation. It certainly did not cover ours.

We had rented an apartment so that we could travel with our two dogs and our disabled son. It gave us the option of a full kitchen for preparing special meals and a safe place to leave the dogs. While we were thankful for a roof over our heads, the hotel was not a good solution. We could not leave our pets in the room. (Hotel policy) We could not prepare necessary meals for our son. We could not go out to a restaurant. We forfeited theater tickets. Worst of all, we could not attend the sporting event we were in town for.

Considering the situation, their policy of swapping a prepaid apartment for a hotel is not a fair deal. To top it off, several of their employees lied. There has been no refund. This is very bad business.

My husband and I pre-paid for a VRBO condo for ourselves, our disabled son and two little dogs in Boston for 5 nights. When we arrived, someone else was in the unit. The VRBO site double booked our pre-paid space.

The customer service at VRBO spent about an hour on the phone with us trying to resolve the problem. They were able to find a room at a pet-friendly hotel and offered to pay. Their customer service person and her supervisor confirmed this along with a complete refund of our rental costs. They told us this was approved by higher sources.

The use of the pet friendly hotel was a roof over our heads. It was not the complete solution. The hotel does not allow animals to stay alone in the room. We were not able to spend time in the city or attend prepaid events as planned. We could not eat out. All of our meals were delivered and eat while sitting on the edge of a bed. We were essentially captives of our situation.

We paid a very high price, well in advance of our trip, to have a safe place to leave our dogs while we were out. We expected to have use of a full kitchen for our son's needs. None of these things were possible.

We contact the VRBO customer service when we arrived home to ask when we might receive our refund. Their decision was to go back on their original promise of a refund and call it even. In no way was this an even swap. We are more than disappointed by their decision. Not one bit of this was our fault, but VRBO is not holding up their end of the bargain. They let us down in Boston and they let us down when we got home.

I see from this page that I am not the only person who has had a Vrbo reservation cancelled at the last minute. Mine was paid in full over 90 days in advance, including the cleaning fee and security deposit. It is during a peak holiday. Now, it is very difficult to find an alternative. The cost of our trip will nearly double. My complaint is that all of the rules pertain to renters. Owners can cancel a paid reservation with impunity. Is there no contract law that applies when someone receives money and holds it for over two months and then fails to provide the services? Why isn't there insurance against such arbitrary sales practice? This does not breed confidence. I will not rent through Vrbo again.

I have been renting my villa since 4 years via HomeAway. I had the first two years many requests from candidates and managed to rent around 16 weeks via HomeAway (August - July and some other periods out of the summer).
Last year the number of rentals decreased and it is in 2019 totally dramatic - 1 week in August !

If the hit rate does not improve, I will not resume my listing in Feb 2020. I will opt for alternative channels.

Can you explain me why the hit rates have decreased so dramatically ?

Thank you in advance,
Pascale Vande Velde

Dear sir or madam my name is guss i.m using the homeway owner application..my listing: ID 4763295 MY complaint is i have guest was stay at my villa on 27 of march till 4 of may 2019 code booking is HA-QNIKXM name of the guest is Sarah Floyd coul you please follow up this case for me ..i.m not really feel good with this ..thank very much for your attention.

Best regards

Guss

April 1 2019

I booked by online and I paid almost $5000 29 nights.

It is not cheap but I expect good service and good room,

When I arrive front of apartment leasing office lady mad me .

She said we cannot accept Airndb . I was standing door m security guard gave envelop and brought to room.

I was surprising it. When I entered room the rom are beginning to smell.

Dishwasher, refrigerator are not clean and light is broken.

He sent guy new day after I smell too much cleanser and not clean.

I bad smell from bed, I take off cover and sheet . I am really shocked that they have many stains,
I do not want to sleep this bed

Creepy, insanitary, dirty, ill health .

I gave one room key but they have two room keys for safety. I asked to give another my room key to Luis Sanchez but he did not give to me.

Somebody tried to open door that is unexpect visitors.

This company did not prepare for customer . I am a woman and Japanese that is why they do not care about me.

I paid almost $5000 29 nights . I check this room price is $2600

They charged double . Advertising tells that close Staple center .

This is not close staple center . Parking space is too tiny . Area is dangerous .

I request refund and move out for my heath .

Their service is unprofessional . This room is not $5000 value .

I saw homeaway but he gave Koi interior Inc business card .

I did not see this name from online advertising that is tricky .

Address is 609 St. Paul Avenue LA CA 90017

We had planned to stay at a villa for10 days, arrived one day late due to stormy weather and ended up only staying 3 nights. When we arrived at the property we found a dirty fridge, dirty oven, dirty coffee maker with old filter and mildew (replaced by another dirty after complaining), dirty dining table and broken chair, dirty water dispenser, dirty windows, dirty walls. Further more, the main entrance was via the main bathroom ( the villa has been divided in two parts to be able to rent two properties which is not mentioned in listing). There's an adjoining door to the second villa from where we could hear the family next door conversations clearly. After three days of back and forth emails with owner, and sending photos of dirty things to which she tried to resolve superficially (never was a cleaning lady sent but the owner's husband showed up to clean specifically the places we would show on the pics),  she offered an extra free night  but we would have to extend our stay ( unrealistic since work and plane changes cost needed to be considered)Then when we finally had had enough and said we regretted our decision to stay in this villa, the owner gave us the option to pay only for the nights we stayed and led us to believe her fees would be refunded when she quoted the night rate including fees until we asked for details. To which the owner responded she would confirm only after we  had  found alternative lodging. By then we knew we would have to leave without resolving the fees. As predicted when we had found a lodging, she sent us the detail list of fees and she didn't reduce anything. We could have cleaned and stayed but at the end, we doubted everything in the house had been cleaned. We have been in TCI four times and this was our first bad experience. These owners have too many properties and don't currently have the staff to take care of guests.

We tried to contact HomeAway and they did nothing to help us resolve the issues with the owner. What we expected from them were at least two things: to have the owner waived the cleaning fees and for us to be able to receive the review link for the property. If the customer can't review the property when problems occur then homeaway is not being honest with their customers.

It is a pity homeaway does not respect its customers. We have been a loyal customer for many years now but we will no longer go to them as a first choice.

Have tried for many days to process a booking only to receive the following message "We're sorry we are unable to complete your booking please try again in a few minutes". When I phoned in yesterday I was told I needed to complete the booking over the phone and they would take my credit card details. Bottom line I don't trust them so did not do it.
Why would Homeaway not tell customers that they're experiencing technical difficulties rather than the lame message prompting customers to keep trying in essence just wasting a customer's time.

Also perhaps training agents to not be hostile over the phone would be advantageous as well especially when customers are irritated and frustrated over the length of time it takes to complete a booking.

Made a booking for a family ski trip to idaho at one of their properties. Even though the trip was a year out, they required over a $3, 400 deposit when I booked in late november, 2018 for a trip in late december, 2019.

Its been 2 1/2 months since I made the deposit, however today I received an email that the owner has decided my rental dates conflicted with their holiday plans and they needed to cancel my rental. I appreciate that conflicts can arise, however in this instance it appears the owner just changed their minds and decided that they wanted to use the unit instead of renting it for my chosen dates.

In these circumstances there should be some type of financial penalty on the owners part. The apology they provided really doesn't mean much.

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So my playlist gives a breakdown of the homeaway family works and gives a lot of info instead of searching for it, because they do not put the info out for you to see
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In the process of creating a listing on VRBO.com / Homeaway. I refused to consent to a credit check through thier 3rd party payment company, Vacation Rental Payments. This information collection is a violation of my privacy rights, as i am NOT applying for credit or a loan, nor do i give my personal financial information to anyone online. I don't believe they have any valid reason to be demanding personal financial information from me.

I told them i would NOT sign this consent form, just to list my house on VRBO and receive rental payments through a 3rd party payment company. I do rentals regularly through Airbnb and Booking.com and have had no such requirements on other booking platforms.

I don't believe VRBO.com should be penalizing people for wanting to protect their personal information.

I have supplied all other requested documents proving i own my home and verifying my ID. I believe they should give me a listing on the website, even through i refused to consent to a credit check. People should have the right to do this. I should not be denied services, because i opt to protect my personal financial information.

To the attention of the Product Development Service -
I have the following complaint which I have already asked HomeAway Customer Service to forward to the appropriate people :
- I received an enquiry on Jan. 2 for a rental period in March while the traveller (Brecken Cutler) meant April as mentioned in the message;
- enquiry had been immediately followed by payment of a deposit;
- after consultation with the Customer Service on the right approach to be followed in order not to be penalized as owner I had numerous exchanges of messages with Brecken Cutler which resulted in traveller's cancellation request (see my inbox);
- I accepted the cancellation and agreed on full refund contrary to my policy ;
- in the course of the process, Brecken Cutler had sent a message in a second conversation box which I did not see in the middle of the 12 mails exchanged for the case ;
- by chance, I looked into my inbox yesterday and realized that a red flag appeared next to the second box indicating that I had not replied to the inquiry ;
- I immediately put a message in that box but noted that my response rate in the ranking matrix had already been affected by this issue ;
- conclusion : I feel quite upset by this penalization as, from the date I started my subscription, I have never replied to enquiries in more than 10 hours and in this case it is obvious that the traveller made a duplication on same mail, same name (Brecken Cutler) and for same period (March 18 to 22) which HomeAway system is unable to identify ;
I therefor request that my response rate penalty in the ranking metrix be lifted and restored at 100% as it should be in view of the fact that I did my utmost to reply to the traveller's errors.
It is also to be noted that I had already issued a complaint last year for a similar case where exactly the same data were sent by a traveller for a reservation request in two different conversation boxes.
I never received any reply to that complaint.
I hope this time consideration will be given to this new request.
Thank you.
Regards,
Michel
property 8209191

I have been a property owner that has listed with VRBO/ Home Away for 15 years. You have become the worst company I have ever dealt with. All of the changes you have made recently have not gone well for me. I tried for months with many phone calls to get my account and the payments working correctly. Every person I spoke to at HA told me something different. They referred me to VRP and they tell me what HA told me was wrong. No one could help me and no one cared. I pleaded for people to help me get my payments fixed and no one would. I finally talked to a manager sent them proof of ownership and heard nothing. I did the same thing again with another manager and heard nothing. My payments went to the wrong person but no one cared.
I have never dealt with customer service that was so uninformed and unhelpful. It was and continues to be the worst company I have ever dealt with. The IRS is easier to deal with. The staff either knows nothing about customer service, doesn't care or just wants to get rid of you. They always ask for my call back number but have never call back.
You should be embarrased with the terrible company you have created. I am baffled with how you can pass yourself off as a property listing company. Charging our renters before they can speak to us is just plain stupid. I have not talked to one renter that likes or understands it.
You have taken all of the fun out of rental property management.

I booked this property back in September. Today, 17 days before we are supposed to arrive I get an alert that the owner canceled my booking. We have flights booked and this was a celebration for my sons 30th birthday. My mom passed away in April and we booked this vavation because it is too hard to stay home without her here. So late in the game I can't find anything! Please help!

Thank you!

Owner Robin Andrews - HA-F732CP - 6187320 - on arrival at the apt it was dirty, on the second day we found ants on the island in the kitchen and had to buy ant spray, also Lisa the key holder came and witnessed an appalling noise we think from the lift and continual noise from apt above it continued thro our entire 2wk break (earplugs should be supplied) this apt is supposed to be wheelchair friendly but the lift isn't. The lift isn't big enough for 3 people or one person and 2 suitcases. The tower is 8 floors high not 12 assuming there are 4 apt's on each floor as on our floor making 32 apt's not 12 as advertised. The large bathroom is so unpleasant we couldn't use it has a small break in the wall with rubbish piled up around the a washing machine in the middle of it. The lounge is so tiny and not at all comfortable the furniture is past its sell by date and needs replacing. The island is so big it's impractable, the microwave was dirty on arrival and timer was broken, master bedroom hasn't got bedside lights, the bath is too narrow to use, the air/heater we got it working for aprox 15mins Lisa got it to work for the same length of time it thenstoped working altogether the dishwasher was rusty. As this apt is today it is not pleasant day or night the noise is intolerable. This apt is in a residential block not a holiday block and is advertised as refurbished.
If possible we would like some sort of compensation.
Jenny & Peter Harvey

On 11/17, at 2:14 p.m., I paid for a reservation on the above property from 12/29 to 1/1.
Immediately after submitting my payment, I realized the cost was much higher than I anticipated.
On 11/17, at 2:20 p.m., I submitted a reservation cancellation. As per the HomeAway website, I also contacted the property owner.
Within six (6) minutes, my credit card was charged for the entire amount (approximately $3377.00). This includes a security deposit.
There are multiple messages to the owner of the property regarding this matter.
On 11/19, I contacted my credit card company regarding this matter. We engaged in a three way conversation with HomeAway.
At that time, a credit for the $1, 000.00 was returned to my account. The remaining balance was still pending.
As of today, 11/21, the entire amount of $3, 377.00 is charged to my credit card. Capital One is aware and we are disputing this charge.
No lease was ever signed by the way.
Any correspondence with the owner has gone unrecognized.
I expect to receive reimbursement for this charge promptly.

We stayed at property 8368998 in PDLA Tenerife, we went out for the evening and on our return the door had been forced open and the safe stolen, which contained passports, cash and bank cards.
The safe was not anchored correctly and only glued into the wardrobe, the owner said he was not aware of how it was anchored and would accept responsibility. It has cost us €2000, we feel the owner is responsible as he provided a safe which was not fit for purpose.

I would like some explanation as to why I received a notice today saying that because I had not responded to a booking request within 24 hours you have suspended/hidden my listing and requiring me to log in and re activate the listing. I am paying you for an annual subscription and you have no right as long as I am paid up to "hide" my listing, certainly not because of this incident.
As it turns out, I was sick in bed yesterday and when I checked my email this morning I saw the request and answered at 8:24AM today, October 3. When I then got your email saying my listing had been suspended because of the 24 hour time limit, I checked and the request came in at 11:05 on October 2: so it does not take much to figure out that 24 hours had not passed. So I would appreciate an explanation as well as some documentation that I agreed when I signed up that you could "hide" my listing if I was unable to respond in 24 hours. This is the first I have heard about this policy and I would think you had a legal obligation to make my ad current as long as I was paid up.
Thank you
Regards
Linda Lockhart
6587704
Res: id: HA-L3YK2D

HomeAway payments are not deposited to accounts until after the guests have left the property. The deposits paid are kept until the whole payment is received. We have 2 bookings for January and deposits have been paid for both. We don't see this money until after January 2019. Interest paid to HomeAway? Fees paid by customer! Something wrong with this picture!