As a Travel Advisor, I am often hearing from clients, "Oh I'll just book an AirBnB" or "Can you help me find a place on VRBO?" or "Do you book VRBO or AirBnB?" My reply to them is usually along the lines of "Sorry, I cannot help you with that. The reason being, if I recommend one of them, I take on the liability and there is absolutely no vetting process, no back up plan should something go wrong & I'm not willing to take on that responsibility on behalf of my clients." I know that there are plenty of successful private home rentals that have been secured by these two Vacation Rental Booking sources, but there have been bad ones as well. I can speak from personal experience on both. I take an annual girls trip with my lifelong friends. We've stayed at hotels in New York, rented an AirBnB in Palm Springs, rented again in Scottsdale & have returned to resort hotels in Cabo for the last two years.
My first experience with an AirBnB rental was for Palm Springs. We got lucky. We had a wonderful "compound" of 3 apartments that were enclosed behind a shared front yard with pool, BBQ kitchen, Firepit, lawn area, hot tub. It was our own "Melrose Place" atmosphere and we rented all 3 apartments, which afforded us to each have our own bedroom and bathroom. It really was perfect and checked all of the boxes of things that were important to all of us. We weren't too sure of the neighborhood, the person who met us with the codes said it was a safe neighborhood but it looked a little run down. We're smart women, we weren't going to walk outside after dark and we were two blocks away from a busy street, close to shopping and not far from the downtown area or the airport. We really had nothing to complain about, we had a wonderful long weekend together. I was pleasantly surprised at the experience, so the next year when we decided upon Scottsdale and the majority wanted to rent a house again, I was a bit easier to convince. (Though full disclosure, I still prefer a hotel and going out to eat, etc. because I don't cook or clean at home, why do I want to pay to stay someplace where I have to cook and clean? Seriously!)
So we headed to Scottsdale for a long weekend in our House Rental. We found the house on both VRBO and AirBnB, the prices were quite different so as we begun asking both "property managers" questions, somewhere along the line they started to reply to us directly via email. They appeared to still be affiliated with VRBO, but we asked about the name difference and they said that they were the local property management company who lists on both VRBO and AirBnB, they offered us a slightly lower rate than what we had already seen. After group consultation, we decided to book with them. Red Flag #1: DO NOT communicate outside the channels provided through VRBO or AirBnB, you lose all consumer protections that they provide if you do not actually book through them. Red Flag #2: our contract was 20+ pages long, this is not rocket science. Any company who needs a contract that long is trying to get away with something. We were green at this and did not know and of course, we didn't read the entire 20 page contract word for word. We looked at the important parts: payment, refunds, keys, cancellation penalties, etc.
Once we arrived in Scottsdale, we were instructed to call a number after 3pm to get our key code and the address to the house. We did this, everything was cool. We went grocery shopping on our way to the house and as we were leaving the store with two filled to the rim cars (people, luggage, groceries) the property manager, Bruce calls to tell us that he has a great house that just became available and he'd love to offer it to us, no additional charge, it's a mansion, it's gorgeous, etc. We were a little stumped, we asked questions: how many bedrooms, how many beds, how many bathrooms, etc.- these were all important things for us. He couldn't answer us right away, but sent us a link. We reviewed and all agreed to just stick to what we know, to what we had already researched, etc. We arrived to the house, unloaded all of our stuff, put the groceries away & began our vacation.
First, we notice that the sink in one of the bathrooms is clogged. We called & they said they would have a plumber come by the next day. That never happened. We noticed M&M's on the floor in one of the bedrooms, which had the place been properly cleaned that would have been picked up. They didn't leave enough towels (per contract) for the number of people we said we'd be, they had 2 dish towels for the entire kitchen, they were missing several kitchen utensils that were on the "house list" of items to be provided. We could not figure out how to get lights on in the backyard, we're still not sure if there were lights in the area, we ended up bringing a house lamp outside to help see over the BBQ area. Regarding the BBQ, they had instructions on how to turn the propane tank on, we didn't have a tank. We called & they said it's hooked up directly to the gas. I said to them, "don't you think your instructions should be updated to say that?" It was just one thing after another and we composed our list and emailed them everything that was wrong by the Friday evening. (We had checked in Thursday evening).
Saturday morning, we come to find out we don't have any power or any water. We call them about it and they tell us that we're being evicted. They couldn't give us a reason, except to say, "you're not happy with the house, so you can find another. We tried to give you a mansion, etc." It was absolutely UNREAL!! We called the police, they couldn't do anything unless we were being physically threatened. We really had no choice but to pack up and leave. In all honesty, we were all creeped out at that point and even though we wanted to fight this, we were not comfortable, we did not feel safe to stay. We were lucky to have some inside connections and spent our last two nights at the Fairmont Scottsdale and a very low reduced rate. We really thought it was strange though that when we were packing up to leave, the cleaning crew was pulling up to clean the house. We asked them when they were asked to come clean the house & they were told it was on their schedule to clean the house that morning. I asked a local friend later that day to drive by and see if she saw any cars in the driveway and sure enough, they had new people staying in the house.
Sunday morning, a few of our early risers drove over to the house again and rang the doorbell. A very nice woman answered the door & they all began to talk. We told her that we were supposed to be staying at that house through Monday & she said that she and her friends were supposed to be in a different house for a week, but they were given this one instead. Just more evidence that this company runs a very shady business. They found many things wrong with the house as did we, we kept in touch for months following because they weren't sure if they would get their security deposit back & of course, we were wanting much more than that. They did eventually get their security deposit back, but it took about 5 months before it was received.
When we returned home, I started to make phone calls. I spoke to the Better Business Bureau, I called an Attorney who gave a 30 minute free consult, I spoke to the Arizona District Attorney's office, you name it & we tried it. Two days after we returned, I receive an email from VRBO, "Tell us about your stay", at that point I figured they were related and I wrote quite the review! You can only imagine. Well two days later, I get an email from someone who said they are the attorney representing the rental company & I was in breach of contract by posting a review. Per contract, they have charged my credit card $500. Yep, they sure had and that breach of contract was on page 19! They prohibit you from posting any sort of review. I took down the review, I disputed the charge and reported my card lost to get a new number.
After months and months of working with the D.A. & he was working with their attorney, we had almost come to a settlement of what was due back to us for the two unused nights & then their attorney said his client was not returning calls and was not paying his bill. We were able to be made whole again by the credit card company because we disputed the charges through them with all of the documentation of the other avenues we had pursued to obtain our justly due refund. It was all a huge waste of time and energy to have to chase down our money. So I can honestly say at this point, I have ZERO desire to stay in a Vacation Rental booked through VRBO or Airbnb again unless I know the homeowner or know someone who knows the homeowner.
As I write this blog, I am working with a client who booked a house on VRBO for a 4 night stay in Hawaii over Christmas. He just received word that his reservation has been canceled by the homeowner. He was totally shocked by this and enlisted my help to find him something else. The same house that he had confirmed is up for rent on VRBO right now, but for almost twice the price. Turns out there is a new bill that was just passed on the Island of Oahu that homeowners can only have one booking per month until October 2020. They are trying to regulate the rentals and have homeowners apply for permits, something that has not happened in decades. So homeowners are canceling reservations that they have already confirmed in the hopes of being able to rent out for higher prices or longer stays for that "one booking" per month. I'm not even sure how they can get away with it when it's been confirmed & I don't understand why VRBO isn't helping the customer, but they basically told him to find another place & they will see if they can help match the price he was paying. That's crappy customer service if you ask me!
You can google "VRBO problems" "AirBnB problems" or complaints or news and you'll find an infinite number of stories where consumers have had issues with both companies. You'll even find that homeowners have had issues receiving their payment for completed rentals from VRBO.
At the end of the day, it's your decision to make. How valuable are your vacation dollars? What sort of vacation guarantee do you want? What sort of peace of mind do you want knowing there is a "Plan B" should something go wrong? I'm not saying the world of hotels is perfect, hotels oversell, hotels can get plumbing leaks that displace guests- but at the end of the day a hotel will help you with alternate arrangements, they will put you up in another hotel, they will upgrade you if possible, etc. Not to mention, when you're booking hotels through your trusted Travel Advisor, we always have your back. Should something not be quite right at the hotel, we can get involved, we can help find solutions so that you're not spending your valuable vacation time working to solve the problem.
