Beware VRBO

I have used VRBO to book our winter weeks in Florida for six years. I never had a problem. Even when I had to cancel due to illness I had my money back in a few days.

When there were minor issues with a house, the owner or property manager were very responsive.

Not this year.

Back in September I booked a condo for dates in January and February. December 15 I received an e-mail from the property manager saying the owner decided to sell the condo and cancel all reservations. They offered a few unacceptable alternatives.

I called VRBO and they basically took a hands off approach, eventually giving me a phone number for the manager – Houzlet, Inc. Nothing could be done I was told, the owner had no obligation but I would have my money back – in fourteen days.

Here’s the good part. That same condo remains on the VRBO site as available to rent. ‘

It gets better.

I found another rental, a nice house. I booked it or so I thought, but what I didn’t notice was that the owner had 24 hours to accept my rental.

The next day the booking was declined and the VRBO website said booking declined due to a “technical” problem.

I called VRBO and they said the owner turned down the rental – which I already knew. The explanation of the “technical” problem turned out to be the owner posted the rental on different websites and the property still showing on VRBO was already rented.

Today I changed the rental dates and guess what, the house still showed up on VRBO so I rented it again. Now I wait for the owner response- I’m not hopeful. UPDATE: the owner did not respond in 24 hours so VRBO cancelled reservation request.

The annoying part is VRBO has no idea what is going on and takes no responsibility, And of course, there is no link to other sites where the same rentals are listed. So if the owner does not change the VRBO posting, it stays in place making it appear the property is available

Oh, by the way Houzlet failed to reply to my email and failed to call me when I left my number as their system suggested.