05/14/2019
WARNING to all my friends: VRBO, the online company that connects travelers with vacation rental units, can potentially ruin your vacation. Here’s what happened to me: Months ago I paid in full and reserved a 2 day stay at a beach house in July as a mini vacation for my 9 family members. I told them, and they all made plans to reserve that weekend. From time to time we’d confirm the date and location with the person who booked it. Then without warning a couple of weeks ago, the booker canceled our reservation! Our money was refunded, but we now had no place to stay (and certainly it was too late in the season to book another beachfront property).
I contacted VRBO, explaining that my entire family had made plans for that weekend, and now had no place to stay. Several operators told me they would honor the reservation and find us a comparable location at the same price. Relieved, I waited for their call. After two weeks of hearing nothing, I called them again only to find out they would not get another location for us, because it didn’t fall within 30 days of the reservation. What horrible customer service! The initial operators told me incorrect information and more importantly, VRBO has now left us without the location we had paid for and reserved months ago.
So here’s what I see as a major problem with VRBO, some of their bookers will cancel your reservation without warning, and if it is canceled more than 30 days before the reservation, you are simply out of luck. And if it’s a beachfront location, good luck trying to find another so late in the season. Please let your friends know about this. I certainly don’t want others to go thru what I went thru with this awful online company.
