Vrbo

VRBO Disaster

I booked a VRBO for March 7-22 on September 17 of last year. Later that month I reached out to the host and requested to extend my trip until March 23. She agreed. On February 21, 2026 the host contacted me asking for a final payment which I promptly paid.

On March 1 I sent a msg to the host thru the inbox, it wasnt answered. On March 2 I sent another message. No answer. On Tuesday March 3 I contacted VRBO and expressed concern that I could not get a reply. They tried contacting the host but told me that not only did the host not answer, the message box was full and that I should try again the next day. I tried Wednesday and again got no answer. At this point I asked VRBO to cancel the reservation as I saw another host had a similar booking available and I was concerned this was going to be cancelled. I was told that wasnt possible and not to worry as they were certain everything would be fine. I received instructions on how to enter the apartment on March 6, and I arrived at the apartment on March 7 and the code did not work. I called customer service, they called the host, and the host said they didnt mean to list the apartment and its now cancelled. EXACTLY what I was concerned about in my March 4 call to VRBO.

IT GETS WORSE. My husband and I are scheduled to work multiple days at the Houston Show and Livestock Rodeo and we do not live in town. Hence, booking the apartment for 3 weeks. I am now stuck, in downtown Houston, loaded up with 3 weeks worth of supplies and a rodeo shift that starts in an hour. VRBO cannot find a replacement apartment in the area. Tells me to go to Hotels.com and book thru them. I see that the Wingate hotel across from NRG is available. I book it for the full amount terrified that if I dont I will have no place to go. The Wingate is $3600 for the 16 nights vs the $1500 I was paying for the apartment. Im assured by both the VRBO customer service rep and the front desk at the Wingate hotel that only the first night is non-refundable. I drop of my things and go to my shift. I return to the Wingate hotel at 11 pm. Four cars in the very sketchy parking lot next to me have had their windows bashed in and broken. The hotel room is old and mold/mildew is growing all over the bathroom walls. The hallways reek of marijuana and mildew. I call the front desk and tell them I want to check out the next morning. The apologize for the inconvenience and tell me that only the first night will not be refunded, and that I have to call hotels.com to receive my refund. I look on VRBO and still nothing else is available. I look on Airbnb and see an apartment across the street from the original VRBO is available for $3200. More than my original cost of $1500 but much better than a *** hotel for $3600. I book the Airbnb reservation. I contact Hotels.com and Im told that the entire hotel reservation is non-refundable because I already check in. I go round and round, they understand the problem, but say that the hotel is refusing to refund. I call the hotel, they say they didnt receive my money and that it is hotels.coms responsibility to refund my money. I get NOWHERE. VRBO offers me at $500 credit towards a future stay. As if Id ever use them again. I decline this and say I want my money back. They say sorry and hang up. No resolution at all.

Booked a property in WPB, FL, Nov 2025 for stay during President's Day weekend in Feb 2026. Paid our deposits in full on time and continued to receive prompts from VRBO that we should be hearing soon from the host about how to access the property.

The day before, we still hadn't heard but figured it would be in our email the next morning. Instead, we received at 3 AM an email saying that our rental was canceled! We were to leave in 2 hours to fly 6 hrs from NE to FLA after waking to this alarming email. Called VRBO customer service with our reservation code and they brilliantly declared that the reservation was cancelled!

We waited 30 minutes for that news as the poor customer service rep profusely apologized every time she got on and off the phone, thereby wasting precious minutes instead of just immediately escalating our concerns. That took one hour and we had to then get on a plane and fly to where we had no place to stay after we arrived. Finally, a supervisor said, 'OK, we will refund your money and extra funds for you to rent another property'—well, hard to do when flying, and you have to wait 24-48 hours for anyone to get back to you. Any hotels had to be booked through hotels.com or direct.

Holiday weekend last-minute booking for decent hotels would have overextended even the budget they gave us. My sister-in-law was able to book a last-minute ABNB for one night, but VRBO explicitly stated they would not pay for anything booked through ABNB or other competitors. So, we are left with that expense. We finally were able to get two last-minute hotel rooms through Hawthorne, and although we were pleased with them, it was not at all the comfortable home environment with pool, spa, and communal kitchen and living area that we would have had in our VRBO.

On top of that, we ended up eating out more often—further adding to our expenses. Mix in the nail-biting waits for alternative hosts to negatively respond to our rental requests, and just the increased stress when the vacation was for destress made the experience memorably terrible. Now, I would be writing none of this if this was because of a natural disaster or unpredictable property problem. The fact of the matter is that VRBO made a great mistake in not informing us earlier (they had 3 months) that the rental had been removed from the market.

No monetary compensation is worth it when you can't spend it to rent a comparable property. We lived up to our end of the contract—they did not. We encourage all of you who have had similar experiences to report them independently.

VRBO has refused to post ours because we mentioned ABNB, and even when we edited, will not post—it is similar to this posting. We (along with the rest of our well-traveled family) needless to say, will not use VRBO again.

I recently booked a reservation through VRBO, and immediately after paying, I began receiving additional payment requests from the owner. This already felt suspicious because the listing clearly stated:

Our prices include all fees. No hidden fees.

When I called VRBO for help, the situation became even more troubling:

VRBO could not locate my reservation, even though I had already been charged. This made me question whether the listing was legitimate at all.

While I was on the call, I went online to locate the online chatbot.

I eventually found the reservation myself before the support agent could even find it. They claimed there were technical issues.

When I asked how to report a fraudulent or non-existent listing, the agent avoided the question entirely.

In the end, I was unable to speak to a single person who could help me report this listing or confirm whether VRBO has any real vetting process for hosts.

This experience raises serious concerns:

How are listings verified?

Why is there no clear process to report a fraudulent property?

I am posting this so other consumers are aware:

VRBO claims to offer secure bookings, but when something goes wrong, there appears to be no real support, no escalation path, and no accountability.

Consumers deserve better oversight, transparency, and protection, especially when payments are involved.

I rented a house for a group of 5 adults. It was supposed to be rated a 10 out of 10.

The place was filthy, ceiling fans were broken, there was a decomposed rat, there were holes in the floor and ceiling, knobs on the gas stove were broken, the TV wouldn't turn off, and worst of all, the deadbolt against a wooden frame barely had enough wood to secure it. The holes were 5 times the size of the deadbolt and the door, which was falling apart with 3 screws falling out of the back. The billing was a sham, as the listing advertised no surprise billing, yet I was charged a $100 cleaning fee by the host. Then Vrbo itself had to put their hand in the cookie jar and charge a service fee of $50.

I found out after I made the reservation on the receipt. I should have looked closer, but when the host advertises no hidden fees, I expected just that.

1st- it was hard to reach a real person thru the app and kept going to chat which repeatedly said it couldnt help. 2- I finally spoke to a representative and he said they would get back to us with 24 hours and nothing.

I called again and was told again 24 hrs. Our condo was discussing. Dirty sheets, blankets, and towels. No extra blankets, dirty bunk bed stairs and rails.

3rd- we posted a review and it would appear to be gone. I googled the room and someone else posted this exact same thing a year ago and the conditions have not been changed.

The condo manager repeated said it was all on the condo owner and were of no help. And now no communication from Vrbo.