Vrbo Reviews 119,052

First time and last time using Vrbo.

Their poor IT means the people who own the apartment have no idea I’m trying to book. I found this out going direct to the apartment owner.

Don’t waste your time with
these idiots, there are plenty other booking sites.

I’m sharing this because I’m still furious and I want other travelers to know what can really happen on VRBO.

Last month I booked a condo in Hallandale, Florida through VRBO for a two week-long stay with my elderly mother and her aide (both in their late 80s). The listing specifically advertised “elevator access,” “beach chairs and pool access for guests,” (for which we paid an additional amenities fee per day to the Beachwalk resort) and “well-maintained amenities.” None of that was true.

The elevator was completely out of service for 12 hours— something that is genuinely unsafe for people my mother’s age. I immediately contacted the host and VRBO support to report the unsafe condition. No one fixed it. The elevator stayed broken and access a long hallway to another building to use their elevator was locked by security.

That wasn’t the only problem. The pool area was crowded and chairs held by guests for the entire day even when no one was using them. The “beach service” promised in the listing was for old chaises with dirty, moldy cushions full of sand, rarely availabe in a crowded in little area of the beach. The unit itself had broken tiles on the balcony, and furniture that looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in months, and dirty kitchenware in the cabinets.

After we checked out I left an honest, detailed 1-star review explaining exactly what happened. A month later the owner’s agent “Stay Away” reached out and offered me compensation for the “terrible stay.” I thought, okay, at least they’re trying to make it right. I responded and we started discussing an amount.

Then, without any further conversation, the same agent filed an extortion report against me with VRBO, claiming I was trying to “blackmail” them by leaving the review and asking for compensation. VRBO removed my review. I never initiated a conversation with them. I never said “pay me or else.” I simply accepted their offer to discuss compensation after I had already posted the review in good faith.

This is exactly why I will never trust another VRBO property again.

The platform lets hosts and their agents weaponize the review system. They dangle compensation to get negative reviews taken down, then turn around and accuse the guest of extortion the moment it suits them. Meanwhile, travelers — especially families with elderly members — are left dealing with unsafe, misrepresented properties with zero real accountability.

If you’re thinking about booking through VRBO, read every recent review twice, screenshot everything, and assume the worst. Because the “trust” they market is completely broken. I learned that the hard way.

VRBO has a security problem! They misplaced my owner payment of $1322.70 into someone else's account. When I made them aware they assured me that they would fix the problem. After some 15 phone calls and emails, they simply said that they have done all they could. All customer support came from a very hard to understand call center in what I assumed was in India ! Where it stands now, someone hacked into my VRBO account , and VRBO isn't doing anything more. I'm canceling VRBO account today as they have a huge security problem . I gave them one star only because there was no way to mark no stars !

Shocking customer service - used this year to book apartment in spain for week - had reservations as two previous bookings made via this site were cancelled by the host - but it was the only website we could find the apartment we wanted on. Booked in Feb 2026 for Aug 2026 - in April 2026 they allowed the host to cancel the booking - refunded us - but due to the exchange rate being different we are out of pocket - so a booking we aren't able to go on has cost us money - we've also had to rearrange transfers from the airport that has also now incurred a charge !!!

I have been dealing with this company for a month now trying to get my client a refund. There was a citation on the door and it was extremely dirty and uncleanly filled with bugs when he did finally enter after seeing the citation on the door against operating as a rental property. They have been dragging this process of giving him a full refund for a service that was never received as he immediately left and found another accommodation to stay at. He is ready to take legal action that is how frustrated he is

For any owner thinking of listing a property with VRBO/HomeAway, my suggestion is to save your $ & list somewhere else. I have been a VRBO/HomeAway host for about 20 years. I have about 300 reviews & almost all are 5/5 stars. I keep my rates competive with other owners, but I have 3 bookings this entire year & 0 bookings within the past month. I have contacted their customer service numerous times & they have been no help at all. The only bookings I am getting now are with AirBnB.

Reference # MR0PMG2H

VRBO should not even be in business. My daughter and her boyfriend rented a condo in Florida. They had messaged the management company a few times leading up to the trip to confirm that everything was set. They drove down to Florida from Michigan. On their drive down, they were messaging the management company (via the VRBo app) who were no longer responding. So, they had no way to check in and get into the condo. There have been multiple calls to VRBO with zero resolution. They say that the owner was switching to a different management company the week of their trip. However, it was still listed on VRBO. VRBO has now said to argue the charges with our bank and if the bank refuses to reimburse the cost, then VRBO will credit her. It’s been almost six weeks. The bank says it could take up to 90 days to make a decision on the charges. How is our bank responsible when this is a VRBO error? Absolute nightmare and VRBO is a total scam. Look elsewhere. The time and cost of this experience is unacceptable and they should be out of business.

This company.needs to.listen to.their Host. Their host is the ones that makes them most of their money. Instead a guest can make up the most horrible things about your property and you call VRBO.and tell them what the guest is goi g to post and that you tried EBERYTHING to resolve the problem. VRBO.SAYS WE WILL.MAKE SURE IT DOESNT GET POSTED AND THAT IS A LIE. IT GETS POSTED EVERYTIME AND SITS AT THE TOP.OF THE PAGE AND COST THE HOST ALOT OF BOOKINGS. EXTREMELY UNFAIR. SO YOU CALL BACK AND THEY SAY THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO.

I have spent more than 100 hours of my time trying to troubleshoot my property's listings on VRBO. Now the listing is inactive and no one is trying to resolve the problem. It's fine, though, because I have only received one reservation from VRBO in six months. That is how badly VRBO treats guests as well, I'm beginning to understand. Terrible company. They just wrote that I can contact their customer service at any time. That is wholesale untrue. Expedia as its owner is equally terrible.

their relationship with the host is more important with the guest. they do not back their listings. have no actual power to issue a refund. will not take down bad reviews even if you can prove it was a lie and guests do not have the option to comment on a bad review but hosts can comment on their bad reviews. kept me up till 3am on the promise they will fix things only to find out they actually have no power or plan to fix things. VRBOcare is a joke and means nothing. will not ever rent off VRBO again.

Terrible service. Been locked out of the platform for two weeks. No one can solve it. Terrible customer service. Taking my property down as soon as i can access my account.

The VRBO customer service is the worst of any company I've ever had to deal with.
IT WOULD BE BETTER IF THERE WAS NOBODY THERE AT THE END OF THE PHONE LINE INSTEAD OF SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT. THEY CAN'T SPEAK ENGLISH. I CAN'T UNDERSTAND THEM AND THEY CAN'T UNDERSTAND ME.
The customer service is obviously outsourced in many other countries. These people are not properly trained , nor do they know the system or the questions that I was asking.
I was on the phone for forty five minutes and got absolutely nowhere.
All I heard over and over was not to worry, not to worry , not too worry.
Well, when it involves the IRS and tax purposes You tend to worry when you're givin the wrong information by over 15k.
Even after I addressed the wrong information and wrong numbers , I was continually told not to worry.
That was the only thing she could say perfectly well in english.
My parents are immigrants and my husband is an immigrant. If you're going to work for a company as big as vrbo , and you're going to handle other people's financials , you better learn the language.
Evidently, you can work for VR BO with no training whatsoever and get a job.
Beware and check your facts from vrbo customer support.

In January we booked and paid in full for a property for 8 people for 3 nights over Easter weekend. We found out by chance on the Thursday the property was a scam. Vrbo stated they would remove it from their site - they haven't. They undertake no due diligence on this property even though I phoned them in February as the 'property owner' asked me for a £250 damage deposit via an invoice outside of the Expedia/Vrbo platform, and Vrbo said I needed to pay it. If I hadn't phoned them on the Thursday to enquire about check in details, we would have arrived in Belfast hoping to check in to Pettingers Quay to find it either didn't exist or wasn't available for us. Impossible to leave a review on the site as they cancelled my booking meaning a review is not possible. We have booked several properties in the past via Expedia / Vrbo but have now seen their true colours!

Edit 11 May 2026 Despite a response here from Expedia/Vrbo, it is still available to book via the Expedia site, 5.5 weeks after I identified it as a scam. They email me regularly to say they are removing it. I have no idea how we trust the booking process...

Trust the low ratings given to VRBO. With their merging with "Air B&B" both companies are complacent, unhelpful when problems occur and their loyalty is only for the $$ they steal from both Hosts and Renters. Customer service comes from "India"; that should tell you something. Their "terms and conditions" border on usuary and abuse of any trust you might rely on. The lack of oversight by authorities encourages them to flaunt the legal actions one could take to obtain any refunds for their shoddy vetting process of Hosts or properties they represent. Attorney fees far exceed any justice one can expect to obtain for their lack of support. Pictures can no longer be trusted with the use of A.I., Photoshop, and Digital manipulation available today. The continued negative reviews are the only way to lessen their ability to "scam" others like yourself. They provided us with a unclean, mold ridden, dark, and dismal interior and an equally run down building, pool, and surroundings where trash bins were not emptied, rusted doors, paint, missing concrete from foundations and noisy tenants. Even a homeless person would consider it a "dump". Pictures document this review. As a "Vacation Rental" it didn't deserve a 1 star rating. Rugs were not cleaned, mold was painted over, and personal property of others was strewn around the outside of 15 units. Hours on the phone resulted in long hold times, false promises, and poor communication skills of alleged customer service. We left after 3 days, but did not cancel to keep them from renting to someone else for the month we paid for. The Host was never identified or able to be contacted. Any poor ratings others have given should not be dismissed, let alone the numerous ones you've seen here. Their reviews are FALSE. They won't let you review the 1 star properties. 1 review.....run away. Beachfront? False. Customer Care? Forget it.

If I could give negative stars, I would. The worst customer service and they don’t care about the reviews either I guess. I canceled my rental before the cancellation period so all within the policy. VRBO refuses to refund the money and pointed to the rental management company. Why is it my problem to now call the rental management company, I had no idea who they are. Anyhow, I did but they never returned my calls. So, now I am stuck. VRBO next explanation to me is that I should contact my credit card company and ask them to get the money back. OMG…..no accountability, no help. Never using VRBO again.

The information on this site is inaccurate and misleading. There appears to be no reliable process in place to prevent fraud or verify property ownership. I was able to make a reservation and pay in full, only to arrive at the location and be informed by the host that they no longer owned the unit. This is completely unacceptable and reflects a serious lack of oversight and accountability. I would strongly caution others before using this platform.

I was forced to use the Vrbo app because the host for a specific location I wanted to use would only allow bookings through Vrbo. The app is useless, I was unable to see any details relating to my booking once I paid the deposit, I was therefore unable to obtain any information relating to the booking or amend dates etc. The app seems to be a way of making any changes to bookings impossible. Forced to initiate a chargeback with my credit card provider. Avoid at all possible costs.

First - and last - time using VRBO.

We booked a 2BR for four nights in Maui. Instead, our reservation was split into three different rooms across the stay - meaning we were expected to move rooms three times. Completely unacceptable and not what we booked.

To make matters worse, the reservation wasn’t even under my name. We lost an entire day of our trip dealing with this while Marriott and the host blamed each other and took zero accountability.

VRBO support was equally useless: hours on hold, multiple transfers, dropped calls, and no real help or follow-through, i.e., too many empty promises from VRBO “supervisors”…

Total failure all around. Do yourself a favor: think twice before using VRBO to book your next vacation; after all, a vacation should be fun and stress free and VRBO just added to the stress.

Zero stars if I could.

My wife and I chose to stay in a 2 bedroom property advertised on VRBO and booked this from the 3rd to the 5th April, in Seville Spain. I paid the property partner as instructed on the VRBO website, although when the system transferred us to their booking system, VRBOs property partner charged us more than we had agreed on the VRBO website. Your property partner then changed the dates on the contract from 3rd to the 5th April to 4th until the 6th and having paid the VRBO property they refused to let us into the property.

My wife and I spent 7 hours on the telephone to VRBOs customer services department until 2am in the morning, yet they were incapable of sorting out the mess that VRBO and your property provider had created. The representative merely promised to pay us the amount that we had paid to the VRBO property partner in Seville.

Your customer services department having failed to resolve the problem, that VRBO had created, did nothing to provide any alternative accomodation but at 1.30am stated that we should find somewhere else to stay and that VRBO would pay for it. With all hotels either closed or fully booked it took us until 4.45am in the morning to find a room in a hotel. This was incredibly stressful and completely ruined our holiday in Seville as we spent the majority of our time on the telephone with the VRBO office who promised everything, yet delivered nothing.

VRBO have all proof of our payments for the old booking to the VRBO property partner and my wife's bank details which they stated would be reimbursed, yet they have still failed to do so.

Furthermore they have my bank details, as they stated VRBO would reimburse me for the cost of the hotel room we found independently, as they failed to organise the accomodation for which we had paid.

Needless to say, even VRBOs promises to repay the money paid by my wife, to the VRBO partner, has not been reimbursed. And of course the promise to reimburse me for the room we booked has not been reimbursed either.

The moral is to avoid VRBO at all costs as they are incompetent and crooks

Host cancelled with less than 24 hours to go to checkin... leaving me and a group of 15 people stranded. VRBO did not find a solution to help....