Vacation Rentals By Owner [VRBO]

The vacation property is one, large Victorian home divided into 3 units and the owner of the properties lives in unit #3. We booked unit #2 six months in advance as a vacation rental to house a group of 7-9 family members. This was a very special trip as I was running the Boston Marathon and we were reuniting with family members we hadn't seen in a while. We went to great lengths in planning this trip and had specific needs related to our group. One member of our group recently had her 6th hip surgery and I inquired in advance regarding the set up of the unit to determine whether the unit would work as there was one set of stairs in the condominium. All looked good for our stay in Unit 2 as the one flight of stairs would not be an issue and the bedrooms/beds configuration worked well with our needs. Upon arrival, my in-laws arrived a couple of hours before we did and upon checking in were immediately moved to unit #3 as opposed to the unit we had reserved (#2). My in-laws were told the family that was booked for unit #3 was moved into our unit (#2) because they were allergic to dogs and that the owner lived in unit #3 and had a dog. My in-laws could not get a hold of me as I was on a delayed flight and could not be reached to address the situation and were left to wait for our arrival. When my in-laws stepped into unit #3 they found the place to be in complete disarray and Aihua(the owner) was frantically trying to get the place pulled together. It was obvious she was not prepared for anyone to stay there as it had not been cleaned and stuff was piled everywhere. The owner then left and I arrived shortly there after with my husband and a friend. The place was not only dirty but did not meet our needs in terms of sleeping arrangements and the most alarming of all was the fact that there were three flights of stairs that needed to be maneuvered by our family member who just had hip surgery! The owner (Aihua) mentioned to my in-laws she would stop by at 10:00am the next morning. I called Aihua shortly after I arrived as I wanted an explanation and she never returned my call that night. Aihua had mentioned to my in-laws she would stop by at 10:00am the next morning and she never arrived at 10am the next morning (apparently, she was at the property according folks in the other unit but never stopped by to see us). I had to call her again and we finally made contact and she came over to discuss the situation. We expressed our concerns and in the end she reimbursed us $750 of our $2000. Because of the inappropriate set-up of the house, two of us ended up having to move to a hotel for 3 nights and this set us back $1200 (rates are nice and high during marathon weekend). Not to mention, we caught up with the family who was moved tour our unit (#2) and they confirmed they were not allergic to dogs, never told this to the owner, and that they told the owner, they were not going to stay in her home (#3) and told us it was because the house was a complete mess! So, Aihua lied to us and placed them in our unit without discussing it with us. In addition, Aihua provided (what she thought) was a plate/dishes set (2 boxes left on the kitchen counter) to accommodate our group as she didn't have enough plates etc... Turns out each box had only 1 or 2 place settings and in the end she accused our parents of taking dishes! Unbelievable! All in all, a very bad situation that could have been remedied had Aihua, the owner, been honest with us from the start and offered to assist us in providing 1) a full refund or 2) finding reserve accommodations for us. She did offer to refund all of our money and we would then be left to find accommodations in Boston on our own during marathon weekend. If all family members had to get a hotel, at that time, we would have been out thousands of dollars...that is if we could find availability. Stuck between a rock and a hard spot. I have provided photos and here is the link to the property. Unit 3 isn't even listed. http://www.sunrealty.net/vacationrental/georgiarental.html. We originally contacted the vacation rental property through vbro.com. to rent unit #2.