HomeAway

I'm and ownner that rents our home. I started with VRBO and they were acquirred by HomeAway. The model has always been; pay for annual subscription and you get a website with functionalatily to book your vacation rental, it's been great. Well in Februray of 2016 HomeAway has started charging fees to renters that range from 4 to 9%, this is very frustrating and a poor way to do business. Any inquiry I have had in February has refused to pay the fees. Be aware that booking through HomeAway sites results in additional service fees.

Click bait who do then try to offer a different crap apartment when you apply.

I submitted an application to rent an apartment that was shown on VRBO and managed through travelmob who is owned by HomeAway. They said they take 24 hours to review and get back to you. They came back that the price had gone up and offered a different apartment for more that it was showing on their sites. Essentially click bait to get you in then switch. The VBRO website doesnt let you post a review until after you have stay in the apartment and strangely enough there is zero reviews. The link to the scam apartment is here - https://www.travelmob.com/p*******

The property owner double booked my stay with another family. I called Ashley (a representative of homeaway) about being double booked to contact the property owner to get a refund of my $1200. The payment was taken out by homeaway company. She reports there is NOTHING she can do or willing to do to help me. She said the property owner would have to issue the refund (taken out of my account by homeaway). So unless he contacts homeaway I have no way to get my payment back (payment made through homeaway). When I requested to speak to supervisor she said there were no supervisors/managers to contact me back. This is the worst customer service to deal with. I am left with obtaining my own legal action despite HOMEAWAY being the company to take out my payment and contracting with this owner. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY! They do not help the traveler!

I booked a room at the MGM Grand through Expedia. The deal was I had until Sept. 15 to cancel. I looked at my credit card and they charged me 105.00 more than the original price. I caledl Expedia to cancel and they tell me I have to call Homeaway to cancel. Homeaway tells me I have to talk to a company called Hostie to cancel. Between the two, Homeaway and Hostie, I get jerked around all morning and I didn't get the cancellation. I had to call my bank to dispute the charges. As an extra precaution I had a new card issued. Horrible, horrible run around from these people. Stay away, you have been warned. Also, I have dealt with Expedia for 15 years. Because of this horrible situation I feel into through them, I am refusing to do business with Expedia ever again. Homeaway, Hostie, and Expedia. I am done with all 3.

Rented this place for a the first family vacation in 3 yrs. Place was dirty, soft fabrics had a foul odor, couches full of pet hair and dirt. Most of the dishes in the pantry were dirty with dry food stuck in them. We cleaned the apparent for hours and at night everyone had to sqeeze in to one bed becaise the sofa-bed had some serious smell issues. The bottom of the oven had burned chunks of food stuck on it so was either clean the oven or don't use it... after all the other cleaning decided not to bother.

I have pictures and attached with my review. Their answers was for me to work it out with the owner.

The owner obviously does not care or wouldn't be charging a cleaning fee with out actually cleaning the place. When we rented the property we had to either put a $5,000 deposit or but renters insurance. Either way the owned was covered. But there is no help for the traveler if something goes wrong.

Will never rent from homeaway.com again!

Booked in August 2019 for a property in Roatan, Honduras at Infinity Bay. Vacation was to occur April 8th 2020. I paid in full $2076 USD ($2838 Cdn). I contacted the owner and cancelled within my 2 week window which was advertised for a 100% guaranteed refund. After trying unsuccessfully to text and call the owner of the property "James Demoney", I contacted HomeAway. I provided them with all booking information, Credit Card information and all emails and contact attempts with property owner. They initially indicated that I should definately receive a refund however they had to do their investigation. After numerous emails and phone calls, four weeks later, I receive an email saying they would not cover due to the COVID 19. The owner James Demoney has vanished into thin air. With no other recourse, I'm taking to social media. Never again will I recommend or use VRBO or HomeAway. James Demoney you are a thief!

We had a stay booked for 5 days at Christmas 2018. Within 30 days it became apparent we would not make because of an eye surgery and other health problems. I worked with owner who was able to rebook 4 of the days with another family I do believe but my motto is trust but verify and I could not. I tried to minimize my lose. Owner did all she could I think. I tried to get a refund from HomeAway for service fees so I could be comfortable with my lose. They refused and said it had to be re booked for the entire stay to get the service fees about $270.00 refunded. They refused... the owner did a lot but HomeAway could even have prorated it they but refused. A company that is not willing to make any consideration is not some place to spend my money and we as a collective group of 4 familes we spend alot in the mountatins.

The company gives you the runaround when you call them. They don't verify the guests information. The will chargeback your account after the guests will leave!

They will not verify the guest credit card and if the card is stolen, the host has no clue of knowing.

I had a guest for 7 days, after he left- "Homeaway" chargedback my account and they are asking me, the host, for the credit card information that of course they have it and not me...

I got hit for $2,000 and they take NO responsibility!
SCAM

To whom it may concer,
I would like to inform people about the following. A man calling himself Rafael Alcacer has offered me an appartement to live in Amsterdam. He has an account for several years at HomeAway. This man told me to book the appartement thrue HomeAway and transfer an amount of 1900 euro's as a deposit. Then he would send me the keys, without ever meeting me or showing me the place first. I could later decide If I wanted to keep the appartement or not, but the money needed to come first. I tried to connect with him thrue skype or calling... but he put me off by saying he was travelling. I didn't fall for it, but I would like to warn people for this man. Do not send him anything and listen to your gut feeling. If somethings sounds to good to be true, it probably is!

We booked an apartment on 2205 3rd Ave in New York, NY for a one week stay. Pictures were beautiful and the owners description was great. We arrived to a sleeping doorman (24 hr. Avail) and cockroaches on the floor and on the see-through curtains. Bedsheets were dirty and so was the bathroom, cockroaches in the toaster, and the shower curtain moldy. We emailed the owner, Maaya, who assured us she would come and see herself and offered to have it cleaned. She never showed up. Due to a variety of circumstances, we had no choice but to stay. We surface cleaned (no cooking) our best and try not to stay in, but to sleep. It's been 3 days and no word from the owner, who supposedly lives in New York. The worst vacation experience EVER!

Of course you have to be careful of the rentals but I admit that I trusted the site on the travel insurance. I bought the insurance without CAREFULLY reviewing the coverage. Little did I know that the standard TRAVEL insurance only covers Emergency Assistance Services, Concierge Services, Teladoc, Trip Cancellation, and Travel Delay. It's just too bad if you're already there and a hurricane arrives so you leave early. Why should travel insurance cover that? Silly me. Lesson learned.
I have used the site several times. That was the last.