VRBO
Questions & Answers

There are many problems with listing with VRBO/HomeAway. The 1st is that it is the largest company of it's size. While that may mean that you get more exposure, you also have more competition for getting your listing seen. For example, your listing could be # 300 out of 2,000. Most people don't want to search that far to find what they want because they can usually find something else sooner. In order to get a higher listing, you must pay more. I pay the highest rates they have for my properties in TN # 191351, 189535, & 289723, i. E. over $1,500 each. Listing position is also based on a number of criteria which they mandate. We have no control over some of those criteria. For example, listing position is based on whether or not guests USE VRBO/HomeAway on line booking. Initially,. VRBO/HomeAway required that we OFFER on line booking in order to maximize our listing position, so I offered it. VRBO/HomeAway then changed their criteria & now guests must USE on line booking in order or my listing position drops. I have no control over whether or not they USE VRBO/HomeAway & I don't recommend it for several reasons (more on that if you're interested). Listing positions are also determined by the number & quality of reviews. Again, I have no control over whether or not someone writes a review nor how they rate a property. What may be a 5 Star for someone may only be a 3 Star for someone else, but I'm at their mercy to provide a review & to rate it well. There are many other factors that go into listing position. As I said, I try to maximize what I can & If I'm luck, my property will be listed around 50/200. I get much better response from FlipKey by TripAdvisor. As I mentioned, I pay VRBO/HomeAway over $1,500 for each property. I Pay FlipKey by TripAdvisor about $450/property for #'s 6588094, 2386143, & 3746421 & get much better results. The problem with FlipKey is that it's hard for someone to search for a specific property using the property #.

There is no downside, but if you expected 10 inquiries, now expect 5 or less, so your income is cut in about 1/2. Whatever they are doing was drastic over December, don't let them tell you its been gradual or its all kinds of different factors. We have had the same property for several years and nothing had changed and suddenly our bookings are off 70%. We have started to look at other options to make up for it. Eventually it will be VRBO's loss and I will not be surprised if someone does not file a class action lawsuit similar to the Ashley Madison.

I agree with all of these complaints. I am a home owner and pay a yearly fee to VRBO, now owned by Home Away and now by Expedia. This year and last they began charging the renter an extra fee of $270 a week for nothing and then dinged me $135 for getting me a renter even though I already pay them an annual advertising fee. I will not be using them again but instead will be using AirB&B. Person to person works well; both parties pay less.

VRBOs bookings are off because Airbnb has them beat hands down. Airbnb is by far the better way to go. The downside of VRBO Iis that there's no qualifying the guests. On Airbnb hosts receive a picture, a profile, their email address once booked,, and reviews of the guests from past hoss. VEBOs mobile ap is worthless and when I questioned an amount due a rep told me that the amount was off due to a rare algorithm in the system. Seriously? There are dozens of reasons to not use VRBO. The only reason that I can think of to use it is obviously the money on those bookings that you do receive, however it's almost not worth it

VRBO will get the $$, i assume for you; But NO matter how bad the deal goes for your renter they will NOT get a penny back. We lost 10 DAYS! On Maui for a bug infested listing and got NOTHING and did, t stay even
Stay 12 hours.
Sounds like VRBO will be your best friend.
As a renter i think they are a bunch of ASSHOLES who don't give a SHIT!
"just sayin"

We also filed a claim against Peace of Heaven but VRBO did not assist at all. Thus property was completely misleading.

Christine, good luck hopefully your time share will rent to decent people. However if not VRBO will not be much of help if you need any help. We were on the other side where the owner of property mislead us and we were left with no place to stay. We will have to file claim against them to get oue money back.

Haven't gone on our planned trip yet. My major issue so far was that it was n't listed as a company based in Singapore so I had a hefty credit card fee for money transaction. I would not have used VRGO but an American company. I certainly hope that our condo we are renting for a week is what it is listed as.
The owner was communicating well at the beginning with questions, but not so much after that.

HomeAway allowed review from someone and it was totally false. I have proof. HomeAway removed the review but VRBO left it on their site. They will not even speak to the owner about this. I would run from this place. I have advised my rental management company not to rent my place through them anymore. The absolute worst customer service.

Be careful listing with VRBO as they do not care about Owners and the well being of their properties. Customer service can be rude as well. They only want your money by accepting all booking requests although it could cause you grief with the wrong guests.