Vrbo

[riverdees05 Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close riverdees05]

What are the dos and don'ts about renting from Owners found on VRBO, Travel Advisors, etc. We are looking to go to a place where there are very few times shares, plus it is a holiday period and we will have to rent.

[Spence Super Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close Spence]

www.vrbo.com

What are the dos and don'ts about renting from Owners found on VRBO, Travel Advisors, etc. We are looking to go to a place where there are very few times shares, plus it is a holiday period and we will have to rent.

www.vrbo.com

It's all individual owners that advertise, and everyone is different. Listings aren't cheap and that helps weed out riff raff. Your experience will most likely be VERY GOOD.



I will tell you this, VRBO is aggressive on the side of the person looking for accommodations, the renter. Even though it's the owner/landlord that is paying VRBO the $$$ and it ain't cheap.

I've listed there for more than 10 years and had only one really bad experience. A woman came and rented my apartment in DC with her two teenage daughters and three of their lacrosse teammates (so, 5 teenage girls.) Supposedly there was a husband there, but I never saw him. When they left and my housekeeper started to work, she called me to come immediately, she had never seen anything like it, even the West Africans who came and stayed for a month had not trashed the apartment the way this group did. There was food on the floor and ground into the carpet in every room, even all three bedrooms. In the two bedrooms where the teenagers stayed there were stickers (like you get to identify yourself as part of a tour group) pasted all over the walls. The kitchen had not been cleaned as per house rules to run the dishwasher, etc. Every dish, pot, pan, and utensil was dirty.

The woman called at Noon after they had left and said she thought she'd left her wallet. It took me awhile to find it under the mess on the dining room table, no wonder she 'lost' it. She said she'd be back by at 1pm to meet me to get it, at 1:30 she still hadn't showed, I left it with the front desk, they said she didn't show until 8pm.

I had a $500 security deposit, I kept $90 for the extra cleaning, and returned $410.

This woman then wrote to VRBO and claimed:
that my apartment was dirty
that none of the three televisions worked
that the apartment smelled of mildew
that the door would not lock
and several other lies that I cannot remember


I told VRBO the story, I sent VRBO the pictures, I invited VRBO to come inspect. I have hundreds of positive feedbacks through their system.

VRBO's response, they let her feedback stand (the only reason it didn't "post" was because the woman did not reply to the automated confirmation email) and they told me not to let it happen again or they would delete my ad/listing!

[Nancy Platinum Contributor Find all posts View Profile Close Nancy]

We've rented from VRBO a few times with good success. I would not hesitate to rent via them again.

Nancy

[Luanne Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Luanne]

We've used vrbo with good results also.

[easyrider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close easyrider]

We use vrbo a few times each year and have never had a problem. Its great for short stays like weekends which is usually what we rent. Many people want you to rent for a minumum of 3 nights but you can always ask for just the nights you need. Every vbro dwelling we rented had a cleaning charge.