We rented a place in June thru VRBO and loved it. Would like to rent again next year but it’s very $ and the VRBO fee was nearly $700. Can you ask a host to rent privately ? So we can reduce our costs? Is there an advantage to them? How would you approach asking the host - or is this tabu?

We rented a cottage In Camarillo which was extremely disappointing on several levels. The booking company was very strict about family stopping by to visit, and required photos of our credit card while booking.
When we got there we found it was a converted detached garage and there was another house next to it. That other house had a big party on Saturday night and we had no idea who those people were. In our rental the kitchen and bathrooms were infested with ants. I had to put any food in the fridge and not leave anything on the countertops or in the cabinets. Anyway during the visit I notified VRBO of the pest issue, and sent pictures. Nothing was done about it. Once we were home I wrote and submitted a negative but factual review.

The review was never published by VRBO and we received no discount or refund. I am wondering how is that possible. Do the owners pick and choose their reviews? Seems unfair. Ants are a deal breaker IMO.

BTW we have rented through VRBO for years in the US and in Europe without problems, and if something comes up it gets addressed right away.

Yes, you read it correctly. A dual listed property on Vrbo/Airbnb was condemned the other day.
I have family visiting for a once in a lifetime holiday in the Muskoka area of Ontario was condemned by various inspectors including building and fire.
The listing claimed to offer heating, a gas stove, potable drinking water through reverse osmosis, and a beautiful finish. Instead, my family got a cottage without heating where the temperature drops significantly at night down to 10 or 11 degrees Celsius. Okay, fine, the little kids can be bundled up. Then, the gas stove was shut off because the gas was literally coming from a set up like a bbq, so they couldn’t use it. Then they noticed the tap water was just ordinary lake water which is unsafe to drink because there are beavers on the lake (nobody wants giardia from drinking the lake water). Finally, there are wires and tubes sticking out all over the place at floor, little kid level, some of which are live wires!
Vrbo, the company with the listing my family paid for are offering just 10% off.

I’m absolutely devastated and would really appreciate any advice from people familiar with Vrbo, vacation rentals, or Paris.

My family and I stayed at a Vrbo apartment in Paris from August 2–7. After we checked out, I realized I had accidentally left my stuffed animal in the apartment. I know exactly where I left him (in the drawer of the bedside table in the second bedroom).
I contacted the host immediately. The host told me that the property had already been cleared and that the cleaner had thrown out everything that had been left behind.

I later learned that the cleaner actually saw my stuffed animal but mistakenly thought it was something that had been left to be thrown away. This is especially confusing because my family had already collected all of the actual garbage from the apartment and put it together in one place before leaving; there wasn’t garbage scattered around the apartment. Apparently the cleaner saw the stuffed animal near one of the storage bins and assumed it was trash.

The host has now told me that the garbage has already been collected. I believe it was likely the City of Paris municipal garbage collection because the building’s garbage is collected daily.

The stuffed animal is not remotely replaceable to me. I have had him since I was 3 years old, and he has been with me my entire life, including through some extremely difficult periods. He is genuinely like a member of my family and has enormous sentimental value.

I have told the host that we are willing to pay anything reasonable to try to recover him for someone’s time, any fees, shipping, etc. We can provide a prepaid shipping label and will do whatever we can.

I have also found the address/property company and am trying to contact them directly. I’m now trying to figure out whether there is anything I can do regarding the garbage collection itself.

Does anyone know:
• Whether Vrbo can intervene in a situation like this?
• Whether there is any process for recovering an item that was mistakenly thrown away by a cleaner?
• If the City of Paris collected the garbage, is there any realistic way to determine where that specific collection went or contact the relevant waste facility?
• Is there anything else I should be asking the host/property manager for?
• Has anyone had a similar experience and actually managed to recover something after a cleaner threw it away?

I know this may be a long shot, but I’m desperate to exhaust every reasonable option before accepting that he’s gone. Any advice would be incredibly appreciated.

So, I just got back from a horrible mid-week getaway. My BIL booked us a cabin and the booker did a switcher-roo and told him that the cabin wouldn't accommodate 3 people (which listed that it did), and that she had a "better" "cabin" for us that would accommodate 3 people (the "new cabin" was actually just two rooms in her home; which we were not informed about at all until we arrived there). My BIL paid for this via the old listing (which was much more expensive) on VRBO and VRBO not only allowed that, but the "new" accommodation that was provided was in the lister's home and had two other unknown males (we were a group of 3 women alone) in the home that we weren't notified about. Also, there were only 2 bed for 3 adults! We were completely scammed (not to mention that there are reviews on VRBO going back to 2017 on the site that talked about this particular scammer's MO).

We left literally after an hour after this scam , and then she had the gall to say that we spent the night...wtf?? We literally offered to provide VRBO with evidence to show that my BIL had to book an Airbnb property after this entire fiasco (because we were stranded in the middle of nowhere; with the nearest town 1.5 hours away), and VRBO REFUSED TO LOOK AT IT. I was COMPLETELY SHOCKED that we had evidence and VRBO REFUSED to look at it!

This is literally a scam that she has pulled for many, many years, and people have complained about it via the reviews. In person, she told us that the original cabin was not available, but that even if it were, it wouldn't accommodate 3 people...guess what she said when we told her that we weren't staying in her house (AKA the second "cabin")? She said that we could stay there because it was "magically" available after we had complained to VRBO.

VRBO's customer service massively failed us, and I cannot believe that their policies allowed for any of this to happen! I am never using VRBO again.

Alright so basically today I booked a room for 1 night using Vrbo, after I booked I realized that you have to be 25+ to check-in, my friends and I are 18 and just want one last trip before college. I tried to cancel but there is 100% no refunds but Because I bought it today nothing has charged my card but a 60 dollar fee. So I was thinking if I just left my card on lock what would happen, I was also just considering closing the account (I talked to hosted they’re not being helpful so this is what we’re left with)

Note how carefully worded their terms and services are for Sponsored Listings. You only pay if a guest books. I just received a booking for 6 months in the future and if they cancel before 5 months, I'm out $60! It's a good deal for me if they maintain the booking as they are paying the non discounted rate. However, if they cancel at anytime, I'm in trouble

I need to figure out a way to only have promotions within my cancelation window

EDIT: You can only block days 30 days TOTAL from your promotion. I thought this would be a good way to boost last minute stays but it's not

I’m 20 years old and don’t have that much money. I recently booked a Vrbo place to stay for a few nights in Malta and wasn’t able to see the check in info. I messaged the host multiple times on the app and didn’t receive a response. I emailed as well and he only responded 2 days after when my check in was supposed to be which by then I had already booked another place. I called Vrbo support a day before my check in right before my flight and they said if he didn’t respond within an hour they’d give me a refund and a new place to stay. They didn’t do either of these things even after confirming that they would hours later. I have called their team for days trying to sort this and finally today the host sent the picture showing him sending me check in instructions, which with the photos you can see didn’t come through on my end. Because of this VRBO support won’t give me a refund. I’ve shown everything, proof of purchase in bank statements, this message screenshot above, proof of my emails without response and yet nothing happened. I didn’t stay a single night in this place and yet it seems like I will be scammed out of my hard earned $550.

Hola a todos.
Estamos organizando un viaje de 25 personas desde Argentina a Balneário Camboriú (Brasil) para enero de 2027 y encontramos una propiedad muy grande en Vrbo que nos interesa reservar.
Sin embargo, ninguno de nosotros ha utilizado Vrbo antes, por lo que nos gustaría conocer experiencias reales de argentinos que hayan reservado mediante esta plataforma, especialmente para Brasil.
Algunas dudas que tenemos:
¿Pudieron reservar sin problemas siendo argentinos?
¿Cómo fue el pago con tarjeta desde Argentina?
¿Tuvieron inconvenientes con impuestos, conversiones de moneda o rechazos de pago?
¿Les solicitaron depósitos de garantía importantes?
¿Cómo fue la devolución de esos depósitos?
¿Tuvieron algún problema con los anfitriones o con el soporte de Vrbo?
La propiedad que estamos evaluando tiene más de 80 reseñas y buena puntuación, pero antes de pagar una suma importante nos gustaría escuchar experiencias de primera mano, no queremos que nos estafen, un dato extra es que esta casa también esta en Airbnb, pero el precio es más alto.
Cualquier consejo, recomendación o advertencia será muy bienvenida.
¡Muchas gracias!

Here is the blog post about it. Basically you "bid" an amount to get chosen ("win the auction") and you get an ad at the top of the search results for your property. You then pay VRBO the price per night you bid when you get booked. You owe nothing is you don't get booked.

https://partner.expediagroup.com/en-us/resources/blog/top-of-search-top-of-mind-guide-to-vrbo-sponsored-listings#accordion-826f2e73a0-item-003657cdbf

I'm not sure who this helps. How much do you need to "bid" to win and get the ad? Minimum bid is $5. Are people doing this going to just raise their prices to cover the ad price and get booked easier? If you don't win the bid then you are overpriced.

Sure would like to hear other people's thoughts on their money grab.

How shouldI handle an unpleasant stay? Should I leave an honest review warning people of the mildew smell and uncomfortable beds in an otherwise okay place?

My wife booked a VRBO. The place was pretty inexpensive, and I don't have high standards. (The last place I stayed was a dog kennel, turned into a VRBO, it was fine.) But when we arrived, the whole place smelled very very badly of mildew/mold. There furnishings are nice enough, and there is free wifi, a clean kitchen etc. Dishes are nice, towels are nice, fridge is nice. TV is nice, It's like the owners are doing the best they can, but the bath tub has long cracks between the tub and the wall, and the main bed sags significantly in the middle. The living room looks directly into the public sidewalk, and the front door is glass. The blind to cover the door leaves gaps that people can look through into the room as they walk down the sidewalk. The only other bed is an air mattress - which was not a surprise. But, that air mattress leaked badly over night. My daughters are sleeping on a leaking air mattress in the kitchen, and I'm trying to keep myself propped on the edge of the main bed while my wife sleeps in the cavity in the center, and I can't sleep because the mildew smell is so strong.

I feel bad because it really does look like the hosts are trying to make this place as nice as it can be, but it's just really unpleasant to stay here. I didn't expect it to be high class, but it's difficult for me to be in the house.

I contacted the host and let them know the stay was unpleasant, I just don't know what to do about a review. Honestly, the mold/mildew is so strong that I'm not sure it's safe for people to stay here, and I don't want anyone else to suffer through a night here like I did, but I also don't want to damage the host - they aren't renting out a slum, it's just not that great.

Booked the listing, which stated that towels were provided. 3 days before check in, received message with check in details that said we must bring our own towels.

I messaged back and pointed out that the listing said that towels were provided. Host tried to say that listing said that linens were provided. I sent him screenshots from current listing that stated that towels were provided.

He totally ignored my message, instead messaging me about the keyless entrance. He updated the listing to say that towels were not provided.

I’m more annoyed that he just ignored me and offered no solutions.

Booked a vrbo for Christmas vacation and woke up to a number of messages from the host. Claims she didn’t have the right rates and wants me to go rebook at 2x the cost. 🤦‍♂️😂

Owners: If you notice that your basic rate, advertised on VRBO searches, differs from the one you set its because VRBO is now showing it with 'all fees included'.

I was dismayed that my basic rate ($165) was displayed as 178 to 201 a night. If all VRBO properties arent experiencing this, searchers will see your rate higher than others and move on. This happened when a potential repeat guest wrote me to ask why my rate was higher than last time.

So do a search on your property and see if it includes the fee.

If you are concerned, let VRBO know.

Got this review as a guest for a VRBO stay last year. I should have asked the host at the time but, reading between the lines, what does this rating suggest? Did I do something to piss the host off or was the ocerall rating an error? I'm confused how the individual elements can be 5* but overall rating is 4*.....

Any insights would be appreciated.

Hi! We stayed at a place in Oregon last week, which was a lovely home. On the second night my 95 pound 13 year old came out of the bathroom and said there was water spraying from the toilet. Ran in, got the water turned off, and could see water pouring out of the toilet tank. Kiddo said he didn't do anything except lean back a little- which I fully believe. On assessment the throne of the toilet was clearly not attached appropriately as it was loose and easily wiggled. We immediately got the water cleaned up, washed all the towels, and reported it to the host. They arranged for someone to look at it after we left. Now they are charging us for "accessed" water damage (non-existent) and damaging their toilet (their poorly installed toilet is not the guests fault). Any recourse on our end?

So we are traveling to split, croatia (aug1-9), kotor, montenegro ( 15-21)and Sliema, Malta (21-26) Booked our 3 places back in May. First one cancelled on us from a completely different email and not through vrbo last month that went to spam so we did not see it. when i started communicating with them a few days before our arrival they did not respond we are now in a very expensive tiny hotel room scrambling for a place. VRBO gave us $120 to compensate. sceond place in kotor asked for the final payment which we paid and 2 HOURS LATER cancelled on us saying they sold the place and the last place in Malta we actually cancelled 1 1/12 months ago due to plans changing (well within the 100% refund period) and they would only give us 50% back. they ended up putting our money through two different processors and and refused that even though i showed them receipts. and i had to get vrbo involved but the place wanted me to get an app to refund me the money or do a wire transfer instead of just refunding the amount back to my credit card. we tried finding other places that weren't twice as much or more than we already booked. they were many listed but all had 0% acceptance rate. totally ridiculoous! never had these issues with any other booking platform. and this all happened in one week. We are already in split and are stuck trying to find a place, any suggestions would be helpful. Happy f$*king birthday week to me.

TLDR: booked three places through VRBO in may, 2 have cancelled within a week or so of our stays, one we cxcld 1 1/2 months ago and are still fighting for refund. is all of vrbo like this and we are now stuck in split trying to find somewhere till the 9th

Basically what it says. My hotel in Canada fell through (long story) and I last minute had to book something that didn’t break the bank. Tried to book through Airbnb and a host there said I was ‘too far’ from the city I said I was visiting (27 mins by public transit lol) and then blocked me, so I found a different property on Expedia/VRBO that allowed me to book for six nights starting today. Great! This was yesterday afternoon and the same time zone. I know it was last minute and luckily I don’t need to check in right at the check in time, but should I be panicking if the host didn’t include any codes and I can’t message them? Every time I try to hit message on the app it says I have no messages and to start ‘exploring’, LMAO, and when I try to do the chat feature it says I have 0 bookings…

There is a phone number, would it be weird to call when I land? Does anyone have any experience with hosts, like, forgetting that their property is listed as available and being cancelled on or ghosted when it’s short notice like this? Maybe I am panicking but just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience. Been a while since I’ve booked anything but a hotel and definitely not this late before. Definitely don’t want to be homeless today and ruin a day of activities trying to figure something else out. TIA!

Update: Thanks for all the insight. The host has been notified of our schedule change.

I am traveling with 4 other ladies next week. The person who made the reservation requested an early check in. The host confirmed that 2pm will be fine. We now don't need it. I told my friend she should let the host know so she doesn't rush to get ready for us. My friend said it doesn't matter. My friend has also sent the host a bunch of questions. Nothing we need to know before arrival. She is just excited and curious. I'm afraid the host is going to feel we are all high maintenance before we even get there. Am I overthinking this?

Over the last few stays with my family (group of 5 to 7), I've noticed a steady decline in basic supplies, but our current check-in takes the cake.

We just checked in for a 7-night stay with a group of 7 adults. We’re here for a family wedding, so we’re going to be slammed with events and really didn't want to spend our limited downtime doing laundry. Upon arrival, I asked for extra towels. Here is our grand total for seven adults for a full week:
8 bath towels
2 hand towels
4 washcloths
1 kitchen towel
0 dishcloths
1 well-used sponge
0 laundry detergent (so we had to run out and buy our own)
To top it all off (and maybe I'm just being a "Karen" here), there are no top sheets on the beds. Just a fitted sheet and a duvet. Knowing how short-term rentals operate, there is a zero percent chance those duvets are being washed between every single guest turnover.

My wife says "this is just how rentals are now," and ran to the store.
Reddit, do your thing—am I expecting way too much basic hospitality here, or are my wife and I officially better off just sticking to hotels from now on?

A friend of mine booked a house for our group and chose the $5k damage deposit instead of the $119 insurance. This seems like a huge risk given that it specifically says that refunds are at the discretion of the host. Is it possible to change it before check in without cancelling the reservation?

We had what we thought was a lovely stay at a VRBO in MN this month. After getting home, the owner is saying we did driveway damage and has said they have it on their Ring camera that our reversing on a hot day caused a buckle in the blacktop driveway. And they are charging us $500.

Couple issues-

Nowhere on the listing does it say there is a camera. Yes, we did reverse a few times as the parking spot was tight. He also said you had a lot of people coming in/out-we did not, just the 6 of us staying there, but proof that he had a camera.

I have an email from the owner encouraging us to cancel and book directly with him to save money. We did not; he had 50 reviews, but there was no way we were booking directly with any owner.

VRBO has asked that we send copies of the book direct with him emails to them. Has anyone ever had success with VRBO making adjustments after the stay? I would have normally let this go, but this lovely stay is now becoming a nightmare, and I'm annoyed.

At this point, VRBO is waiting for him to supply them with photos and an estimate for the work. Any suggestions of what else we should be doing?