Vrbo Reviews 259

Be very aware when you're using this booking system. I made a booking today from Sunday to Sunday and booked my flights accordingly only to find that the host would only take Saturday to Saturday. This was not clear on the website and it's very misleading. I would advise to be very, very cautious. You think you've booked something and you haven't.

I would hope that the company pick up this review and come back to me, but I very much doubt it George Humphreys.

Booked an apartment in Dubai and had confirmation through Expedia for one night to see new year celebration. We travelled from London, when went there no place to find it or couldn't contact on phone. We had to find our own accommodation. Very bad experience. They refunded apartment and the taxi money but not fully. So disappointed and advice others not to book with this vrbo.

Title: Confirmed Vrbo Booking Cancelled at the Door at 10:30 PM — Family Left Stranded

We booked and paid in full months in advance through Vrbo for a holiday stay that was meant to be our honeymoon and Christmas family vacation. We received a confirmation code and followed all Vrbo procedures.

On December 20 at approximately 10:30 PM, after arriving at the property in cold weather, we were unable to enter the house because the electronic lock did not work. While we were physically standing in front of the property, with crying children, a wheelchair-bound family member, and elderly parents with medical conditions, the host informed us that the listing had been “long closed” and cancelled the reservation instead of providing access or help.

We were left without accommodation late at night.

What made this worse:

This was already our second cancellation through Vrbo on the same trip

Customer support calls were repeatedly disconnected, forcing us to restart and explain the emergency situation over and over

No immediate relocation or emergency accommodation was provided

We were told refunds could take 15–20 days, despite being stranded

This experience shows a serious failure of platform oversight and guest safety. A vacation rental platform should never allow confirmed guests—especially families with children or disabled travelers—to be cancelled at the door, late at night, with no immediate solution.

This trip turned from a once-in-a-lifetime celebration into a traumatic and unsafe experience. Based on what we went through, I cannot recommend Vrbo, particularly for families or vulnerable travelers.

Book Direct or Through Any Platform Other Than VRBO
We strongly recommend booking directly with us or through Airbnb, Booking.com, or Google Vacation Rentals.
Unfortunately, we have been dealing with ongoing issues with VRBO for the past eight months. We operate a cabin rental business with individual standalone cabins, and despite repeated explanations, VRBO has consistently struggled to understand and properly categorize our property.
As a result, our listings have been incorrectly restricted for months at a time, preventing guests from booking. This has happened repeatedly and without warning.
Important note: We are successfully listed on Airbnb, Booking.com, and Google Vacation Rentals and have never had a single issue on those platforms.
Most recently, after being restricted again for nearly two months, VRBO informed us that because our property is zoned as a Motel/Hotel, changes are required to reflect this status.
This is exactly what we have been telling VRBO from the very beginning — for the last eight months.
Due to the continued disruptions and unreliability, we cannot recommend booking through VRBO at this time.

I had two bad experiences with VRBO within the last 4 months. I booked a VRBO for our trip to London in November 2025. I found a property that I liked better so I cancelled the first property within the cancellation guidelines / timing and booked a different property. I had to chase the refund multiple times via VRBO. They kept advising to contact the host, which I did. The host said they never got the deposit and therefore couldn't refund it. VRBO customer care was no help and said I need to work it out with the host. My frustration is that they do not hold their hosts accountable for refunds. So what's the point of booking with VRBO if they cannot (or will not) help? Eventually VRBO just said to dispute the charge with my credit card company as they were not able to help.
Then there was the second property...
We were on the train from Amsterdam about to arrive in London and we still hadn't got our check in instructions after multiple requests from both the host and the VRBO customer care. The host was giving me the run around and so I was working with VRBO customer care again and they said the host will send the check in instructions. This went on for hours on the train. After check in time came and went, the host finally admitted the they property we booked had been sold and they were going to put us up in another property (similar location was their words). The similar location was in North London and we wanted to stay in South London so that did not work at all. They cancelled our reservation, but now we didn't have a place to stay. Surely, the host and VRBO should have known the property was sold ahead of our check in time. Our refund came eventually but it was minus a $100 fee. Again, VRBO took no responsibility and said cannot control their hosts. We ended up staying at a hotel the first night we were there and then booked an AirBnB with no issues. The additional last minute cost us +$500 more than we were going to spend on the VRBO booking.
VRBO does not protect their customers and lets the hosts do whatever they want with no accountability.

Le Beryl in Carras Nice. The pictures on the website are out of date. The furniture on the balcony is nothing like displayed and most is broken. The blind displayed was damaged when we arrived and continued to destroy itself in the wind to be unuseable, and no longer exists. The whole apartment was dirty, broken (aircon, which the host knew about) and overall disgusting! The washing machine did not work. The hosts were aggressive and unpleasant - avoid at all costs! We reported it to VRBO who offerd to move us, but there was nowhere local available, so we accepted some (not full) compensation.

I used VRBO to book a weekend in a London apartment hotel, I have used them before so I expected the booking to be reasonably straightforward. I would add that 2 of my previous bookings through them were for the same apartment hotel. At the point of booking, the price quoted was £380, after pressing enter, the resulting invoice had changed the price to £430, an increase of £50.
I complained to VRBO who said, “Oh, that booking was though Expedia and that I would need to talk to them about it”. This was a total surprise and revelation as I had used the VRBO website and there was no mention at any point that the booking I was taking out was with Expedia! Moreover, when I looked at the invoice the bill was in US dollars even though I live in the UK, I had booked in the UK and the apartment hotel is in the UK. After numerous and longwinded chats with VRBO, I ended up talking to Expedia who said that their hotel prices are very dynamic and that exchange rates also change constantly and that this accounted for the price difference. Needless to say, I wasn’t happy with this! At the time of booking I paid an extra £6 for full refund if I cancelled within a certain period. The very next morning I therefore decided to cancel the booking and when I received the refund I found it was nearly £30 short. I tried to get the money back from VRBO but they said I needed to talk to Expedia, Expedia said I needed to chase it through VRBO. What a disgrace and a total con! The whole experience was a disaster and I will NEVER EVER use either VRBO, EXPEDIA or any other company owned or partnered with them again as they cannot be trusted!

Dreadful customer service. Two bookings for apartments in Thailand that were both scams and unable to access.
Passed around from one call centre department to another for hours with no resolution for a refund on the 2nd one before then being cut off after 2.5 hours.

Practically impossible to contact them if you need to

Appalling customer service. Do not use. We booked an 8 night stay in Portugal and there were cockroaches in the villa, drainage issues, the villa looked so outdated and dirty compared to the photos. Customer service don’t care about the issues. Never use this cmpany!

AVOID!!! Took my money a month ago and cancelled my booking today. Ruining my partners Birthday weekend. Yet to see the refund of £280 come in my bank account!

I'm a host with vrbo, also a superhost with airbnb. I consistently get 5 star reviews, seldom 4 stars ... with all the booking agencys we employ as well as other review sites. I'm focused on customer service & being honest & my guests having the best experience possible. However, vrbo have gone too far. After taking tax off guests (SSL) after I told them we should not be taxed, they have kept it. Now they will charge me 10% last min promotion fee UNLESS I opt out. It's not legal & not fair. I am unable to email them (I rang customer service "Ishita" who later hung up on me. Yes, I was cranky with vrbo, but not abusive, which their recording will prove) no email address to tell them what I think so I'll have to do some reviews instead. If they treat their (5 star) hosts like this, no wonder the guests feel cheesed off too. Ada Milley (b/c I always believe in putting my name to my beliefs, not hiding behind anonymity.

Horrible service never seen before.
Booked 1 week in Miami after 2 days received email from Vbro that the host changed the price and my surprise is price is doubled lol.
What a joke

This is not a proper website...please stay away from this scam website...they have created a system to take your money, and they do not reply or take care of the accommodation that they have in their system, which is a total lie...UNFORTUNATELY, I DID NOT READ THE REVIEW PROPERLY AND WAS CHEATED...

STAY AWAY, GOOD PEOPLE

These are linked with EXPEDIA. Both companies are equally terrible. If you have a problem with a booking you are referred to them. They then say you have to call America to speak to customer service….they don’t have an email. What company doesn’t have a customer service service email…a crap one. That is absolutely awful. So you give up and they get your money or anything linked with them. Please avoid at all costs.

I am a host with one property on vrbo
I had some guests come to stay that had a disabled person with them in a wheelchair which was a problem to get over the gravel walkway along with my house having the kitchen lounge upstairs with a sofa bed and the bedrooms downstairs , despite it clearly showing this in my photos , they decided not to stay and asked for a refund. This was in the height of the busy season that was booked up ,they had booked 5 nights at a cost of £1100
Which meant I was getting £900 , my property clearly states it is non refundable and I really couldn’t afford to lose this booking
I do not advertise that my property is fine for disabled people and they had not checked with me prior to booking, otherwise I would have said it wasn’t suitable !
They asked for a refund ,i said it was non refundable , so on the back of that they went into my property and made up things about it, saying my stairs had sharp edges and I had mould and other things that were totally untrue along with saying my property was a health and safety problem !
It is absolutely not , I have no mould etc !
I have only been open for 8 months after a 2 year renovation . On all the other sites I have 10/10 reviews but yet VRBO gave the guest a full refund and are now trying to take £900 back from me, i have emailed many times , spoken to customer service many times but had no response , just a ban to advertise my lovely new property !

Disgusting !!!

I don’t know what I can do but this is beyond unfair that I have been treated this way

Review for small cottage in Brittany
I give them 3 stars because it mostly worked out OK in the end. We had endless hassle however after we had made our booking. Firstly trying to get a confirmation that the property had been secured for the dates we expected and then in trying to remove most of the hidden extras that appear after you are committed to the booking. Late arrival (after 6pm!) charge 35 Euros, Early departure charge 35 euros. (even though the rep later showed us a key press on the gate post) Bed Linen 15 euros per bed. Bath towels 10 euros per person. Kitchen towels 5 euros each. Cleaning charge 111 euros! For three nights!! Etc. The kitchen had absolutely no basics in it but did function OK. None of this shown on the original advertised cost. The local rep was much more helpful however. We brought our own linen and he agreed to waive the cleaning if we didn't leave a mess. When we mentioned these things in our feedback to VRBO they sent the review back saying that the content was not within their guidelines. In other words they did not want to see anything that was not considered a good review. Looking at other peoples reviews of VrBo on TP I think we got off lightly. I think as customers we should continue to complain strongly about the hidden extras cost element, which seems to be creeping into every aspect of hospitality these days.

I booked an appointment paid for in full 6 months prior to stay. The appartment & amenities not as described, vrbo were not helpful or interested.
I raised my issues & requested a refund under the 'confidence guarantee' 4 emails & 2 phone calls in have had no reply or acknowledgement.
Have since raised the issues for refund with my card provider.
DO NOT RECOMMEND VRBO

How that I had looked up this company on this site before I booked. We booked paid and now the hosts are contacting us as if we are scammers. Maybe they have had a bad experience with guests but it is concerning. I have tried to contact the company and they have every trick in the book to avoid customers being able to contact them. This is our first booking with them and not a good omen. We have used another similar company for 30 years and no problems.

We booked and paid for a property in London 11 months ago. The property cancelled our booking 3 days before the stay. There is no compensation, no way to leave a review and we will not get our money back for 15 days. The VBRO cancellation policy is structured to look after hosts and ruin the stays for customers. NEVER USE VBRO TO BOOK ANYWHERE!