18 Comments Add your own

• 1. William Anderson    February 24th, 2008 at 2:38 pm

  What is the point of making a negative comment about a VRBO property you have stayed in, which was totally mis represented on the VRBO website, when the comment has to be approved by the owner of the property? In my case it was property 94224 in Tulum, Mexico. It was absolutely the worst case of mis representatrion I have ever seen and I have rented dozens of private homes off the internet over the years.
  You had better watch out for any property that has no comments by previous guests. All that indicates is no one said anything positive and all the negative comments are simply not allowed to be posted by the owner that obviously could care less.

• 2. Kathy McTavish    January 9th, 2009 at 11:29 am

  I would like to post my comments from a place that we stayed in Maui, Hawaii this past Christmas. If the site does not have guest comments, how do I go ahead with this?
  Thanks
  Kathy

• 3. St. Paul, MN    April 29th, 2009 at 10:41 am

  I am highly disappointed in VRBO renter comment process. As noted above, the comments posted are those only approved by the homeowner. I want to post the following for VBRO #228546 in Rancho Bernardo of the San Diego North Country.

  INTERESTED RENTERS PLEASE READ: This vacation rental is subpar and the price is not justifiable. My husband and I were on a short term work assignment and rented this unit for one month. The place was not ready for renting. Two of the advertised amenities were not available. It took 2 weeks after arrival to receive the key to the pool and the 2nd garage remote after persistent contact with the owner and property manager.

  If you have sensitivities to mildew please beware. The place is fusty. The fusty smell could not be removed after relentless work to dispose the stench. The owner suggested the area carpets were the culprit and asked us to roll them up and store them in the garage. This did not remedy the problem. The smell seeped into our clothes. We are not mildew/mold experts, but have determined the source is deep within the walls. We also found mold on the underside of the master bathroom shower handles.

  The rental contains dated uncomfortable furniture, unsupportive beds and stained linens.

  I normally do no make time to comment. I felt it is necessary to alert potential renters to the issues we encountered in this vacation rental during April 2009.

• 4. Thomas Kosich    June 26th, 2009 at 10:52 am

  Beware of TLC Mt Hood Cabin / VRBO # 151752
  This cabin is listed as exquisite, reality is fair AT BEST…beware of dishonest owner Thomas as he will hold your deposit hostage upon departure. I have rented from VRBO over 12 times in the last year and never had a problem until I made the mistake of renting from this owner. Do yourself a favor and rent another property in Mt Hood / Goverment Camp, this owner is dishonest!

• 5. Sally Jones    August 1st, 2009 at 8:27 pm

  Warning for those considering The Garden City VRBO Listing #239580. My family was falsely accused of leaving the premises less than desireable and our deposit was withheld. If you stay there, take pictures of everything and send them to the owner within 24 hrs. Even though we notified the owner of huge stains on the carpet and broken decorative items our deposit was withheld. The owners were very unreasonable. This is a problem with booking through VRBO, the owners can accuse you of anything and keep your deposit. Beware!

• 6. Willa Keith    August 22nd, 2009 at 12:49 am

  We stayed at the 348 V Street NW- both A & B unit, Ledroit Park- Howard Property ID Number: 430192 property, Washington, DC for 4 nights. Beautifully decorated but located next to an abandoned public housing project which was never mentioned. Our first introduction to the neighborhood was by a drunk woman telling us to watch out for our stuff around here. The units were also missing many essentials such as washcloths, iron, full washer/dryer(cheap all in one unit), dish towels, cabinets installed to high to be usuable, roofed leaked, wires exposed and no parking permit for renters, which is needed if you don’t want to be towed. We were travelling with Girl Scouts and was quite nervous staying there but stuck it out because of the homeowner living next to us kept an eye out and we are in law enforcement. Emailed owner over two weeks ago to express our concern about neighborhood and problems and received no response to our complaints but prior to owner receiving full payment for, responded almost immediately. This is the 5th property we’ve rented through VRBO and had been quite satisfied until now. We recommend that you don’t rent this property.

• 7. Mike Harrison    August 25th, 2009 at 8:28 pm

  I am also disappointed that VRBO comments must be approved by the home owners. However, in our case, the rental was all we hoped for and more. If you want a lovely, clean home right on the ocean in the Puget Sound area, this is the one! #199488.

• 8. wayne olsen    September 5th, 2009 at 11:45 pm

  My complaint is two-fold.

  We have rented many times through VRBO but this past July took the cake. The condo was located in Gearhart Oregon. The kitchen was sticky on the cupboards, kitchen floor dirty, hair in the showeres and floors, blankets not washed who knows when along with the mattress pad. We did receive some money back but it was a terrible experience for a family of six.

  Second complaint was in July (2009) I saw a post in Vegas for a condo. Number 218516.
  The woman said if I waited 60 days out she would give us a discount. Called 60 days as well as emails. She never responded. Now we have two airplane tickets and no place to stay at a reasonably priced condo.

  Things have to be checked out with VRBO. They are getting a very bad reputation to the point that we probably won’t be using them again

• 9. P Chiu    September 21st, 2009 at 4:14 pm

  After a dozen VRBO stays, had our first problem this summer at Zion National Park, Utah Vacation Rental by Owner Listing 189923 - Secluded Mountain Home Between Zion and Bryce National Parks (Campbell Canyon house in Glendale, UT) Several minor problems that we put up with - poorly functional frig ruined some food, intermittent internet, VERY cold bedrooms (in-laws were not comfortable at all) - wood stove but no wood to heat bedrooms. After checking out, owner claims damages and charges us an extra $100.
  Poor response and never answered emails follow ups.

  We enjoyed very much Flagstaff, Arizona Vacation Rental by Owner Listing 180927. Would definitely recommend!!

• 10. kate    September 22nd, 2009 at 4:13 pm

  I can’t believe that VRBO can’t hold the owners of the properties responsible if they misrepresent their own properties. It hardly seems fair that most of these owners can just accuse you of false claims and you have no way to protect yourselves.

• 11. Christina    September 23rd, 2009 at 3:10 pm

  I, too, think it is ridiculous that any property owner on vrbo can just hand select the best comments and simply not approve comments that give honest feedback about the property

  Sea Dunes 104a Bare Foot Bungalow
  Okaloosa Island, Florida
  #247627

  First, though it claims to be — the condo is not
  actually baby friendly — the outside gate to the
  pool did not work and there was glass furniture
  that was not tip-proof located throughout the
  condo. The view is just okay. The listing says “unobstructed” — most of the
  windows and the balcony are right in front of the
  boardwalk so the actual view is of all the guests
  walking back and forth to the beach and showering off. etc. Plus, those guests get a direct view of your balcony and the inside of your condo when they walk about ten feet directly in front of your windows. Finally, I would
  never rent from this place again because of the
  rental company which is managing the condo — Platinum Property Management.
  They were rude and extremely unprofessional.
  Just to start, they accused our family of STEALING towels when we left. I have never been so shocked and disrespected in my life — we will NEVER rent from their company again.

• 12. Anne Bain    October 10th, 2009 at 10:45 am

  October 9, 2009
  We were 9 girls travelling to New York. Stayed in the “Mansion in Manhatten” What a dump. The bathroom was leaking into one of the bedrooms downstairs, the tub did not drain so we had to use a plunger to clear the drain. There was left over food left in the fridge, There was black soot in the stairwell. Clothes were left in the closet and drawers and there was a dirty dusty sock under the dresser that had been there a very long time. The smell of gas was very strong. The “New” furniture was dirty and broken. The kitchen chairs were discusting. I feel VRBO misrepresents themselves when they allow these people to advertise and rob us. nyc.com here I come

• 13. E bosworth    November 16th, 2009 at 2:21 am

  Montecito, California Vacation Rental by Owner Listing 37928

  We were greatly disappointed with this “pristine” home. The baths and kitchen were old, old towels, old soaps that seem to be from hotel stays. The kitchen drawers were filthy, carpet was wet when we arrived and smelled, dining room chairs were wet when we arrived from the cleaning and were unusable. Carpet in family room was stained and smelled of pets. There are no comments, because I think they would be negative, and removed by the owner.

• 14. J K Hirota    January 15th, 2010 at 7:00 pm

  Beware of Montecito home (VRBO LISTING #161811). We got burned badly when we rented in 2008. The interior of the house was very dirty: hairs in the sheets, ants in the bathroom, no one had bothered to clean up the cobwebs or dust, and there were broken blinds in the bathroom (goodbye privacy!). The hot water was lukewarm. The kicker was a box of Asian roach powder left on the kitchen counter. The owner took more of our agreed-upon cleaning deposit…let’s hope that he actually got the house cleaned! Would never stay there again…it nearly ruined our vacation!

• 15. jan Hansen    February 10th, 2010 at 7:27 pm

  We are very disappointed in how the VRBO allows the owners to screen comments they don’t like! We rented a condo from Chris in Sandpoint, Idaho at The Seasons for 8 days (VRBO 127485) I have used VRBO many times without a problem, but Chris will not return our deposit . He said he was simply too busy running his two companies, he didn’t even attempt to explain why ! He told me if it was so important to get it back I should not have rented from them. He finished by telling me not to bother him again. This brings up a potential problem for all renters of VRBO listings, what recourse do we have! On our next trip to Idaho we are going to file a small claims action, but unless the court date falls at a time we are in Idaho, it is not worth the plane ticket to appear and try to get our deposit back. VRBO needs to revise their system and provide some security for renters.

• 16. Darren Campeau    March 6th, 2010 at 11:31 pm

  I trusted VRBO comments, and thus, rented a condo at 1305 Scott St. in San Francisco, only to be above the neighbors from hell. No wonder the owner doesn’t live here, the thumping music doesn’t stop and the neighbor doesn’t seem to care, nor does the owner.

  VRBO comments are useless if the owner gets to decide what is published.

  Thank you for this venue to inform others. Beware of VRBO, I will never use them again.

• 17. Adam    March 6th, 2010 at 11:52 pm

  The biggest thing to realize with VRBO is that the site is a listing service that serves property owners — I’m sure VRBO hopes you are happy as a renter, but they have no incentive to allow bad comments on their site because they make their money from the property owner, not you.

  VRBO does not own any of the properties listed, so complaining to them about a property is pretty much in vain — you need to understand that you are dealing with the individual owner (or management company) of the property you rent, and that VRBO has no role in that relationship further than your seeing the listing on their Web site.

  Seeing a listing on VRBO does not increase (or decrease) the chances that the owner is fair or aboveboard — it just means the property owner has found VRBO a good place to list their property in order to fill their rental calendar.

• 18. joe buckowski    March 13th, 2010 at 7:35 am

  My vacation sight had ALL goodie, goodie comments. I should have known that the bad ones were all deleted. I never did get to my vacation rental because of winter storms. The thief hung up on me when I asked for my security deposit back. She would not anwer my emails. This is a criminal action. I wonder how many others lost their security deposits.

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