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Homeaway/VRBO - safe, reliable? (1 Viewer)

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Taking an eastern road trip in October and staying a few nights in NYC. Prices on these sites for a unit near Central Park are like a third of hotels. Are these owners generally reliable? Anybody have bad experiences? Good ones?

I kind of don't like the idea of some stranger knowing when and where I'm staying but maybe I'm just being paranoid.

 
I'd recommend sticking with AirBNB... Not familiar with those you listed, but I know people who have used AirBNB for lodging and renting their place and everyone seems to like it.

 
I've used it dozens of times to rent throughout the world, and on the other hand use it as an owner to rent out my houses in Nicaragua. Just read the reviews for the houses and it's pretty easy to figure out which ones are the best. :shrug:

 
I've used VRBO to rent places at the beach. One time when the place wasn't totally clean, I got on the phone with the owner who lived in Wisconsin and they authorized the cleaning company to come back and do a better job. I've been satisfied with them.

Never used them for a big city rental, though.

 
fantasycurse42 said:
I'd recommend sticking with AirBNB... Not familiar with those you listed, but I know people who have used AirBNB for lodging and renting their place and everyone seems to like it.
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Airbnb is very popular in NY, but vrbo/HomeAway have been around at least a dozen years longer than Airbnb and are more established as a result. vrbo/HomeAway (they are the same company but have two different sites) also only allows rentals of an entire house or apartment, whereas on Airbnb there are tons of places that are just renting out a room. I use vrbo because I want a place to myself, not living with some strangers (Airbnb has those, too, but not nearly as many).

Hell, I just realized that I've been in two vrbo rentals in the last week alone.

 
I've used VRBO a handful of times for rental houses at the coast. Never any problems, always been very satisfied and would recommend. Just do your homework, read reviews and take a leap of faith. Great site, IMO.

 
I can't remember the last time I went on a trip and DIDN'T use vrbo/homeaway. You can typically get a pretty nice house/condo for less than a shady motel would cost you.

Never had a "bad" experience per say. Sometimes there are annoying things like a slow emailing owner, non-functioning wifi, or a locked thermostat that you have to call about, but that's about the worst I've ever seen and I've gotten some sweet spots all across the US and other countries as well.

Owners have no control over the reviews that are posted on their listings so they'll typically do whatever they can to make sure you're leaving a 5* review.

And yea, I'll second the notion that saying "stick with Airbnb" is kind of weird. VRBO/Homeaway has been around much longer and is much more widely used.

ETA: We're looking for a spot at Lake Tahoe right now and with a group of 4 couples it looks like we'll be able to get a sweet 4000sqft lakefront home with a private pier for roughly half the cost per couple as we'd spend on dinky middle of the road hotel rooms a few blocks from the lake.

 
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Used VRBO about five times. Never a hitch. Rented a great house in San Clemente two years ago for daughter's wedding for 10 days.

Read the reviews for each property.

 
I wouldn't avoid Airbnb, we just used them for the first time about a month ago, after years of using HomeAway/VRBO, and were very pleased. We went to Vancouver, and found the prices lower and a better selection on Airbnb, most of the places on HomeAway/VRBO were booked already or too expensive. Just be aware that Airbnb will also rent just rooms, and be sure to look for places where you rent the entire house/condo. It wasn't tough to filter for that.

 
Love VRBO. We've used for Lake Tahoe only though. Stayed in a privately-owned condo at Squaw Valley for $50/night. Rented multiple houses/townhouses on North Shore for about $100-$150 per night per family (usually go with 2-3 other families). All have come fully furnished, full kitchen stocked with pots/pans/plates/glasses/coffee maker/silverware/basic spices/etc., wifi, Netflix, some sort of gaming console (Wii or xbox), plenty of linens, washer/dryer, and board games.

 
lmao @ staying away from airbnb. I'm in one now, have used it many times, it's genius. I believe they just passed Hilton's global properties valuation of 10 bil. If it's not Hiltion, it's one of the big ones, which took like 107 years to amass. Airbnb did it in what, 6? Whether that valuation is accurate or not, it's still staggering, their rise.

I find airbnb's site much nicer than vrbo/ha and they seem to be more up-to-date with stuff. Vrbo dragged their feet in that area, imo.

 
FreeBaGeL said:
I can't remember the last time I went on a trip and DIDN'T use vrbo/homeaway.
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Interesting. I've used it, I'm a supporter of it, I haven't had a bad experience... but I'm not quite that level of a fan. Maybe I haven't used it enough but I guess I like the hotel experience sometimes (maid service, restaurants on site, generally great beachfront property).

I can't imagine using it for everything.... but maybe I should be using it more

 
Good info in here. Thanks.

We are going away for 17 nights and using hotels most of the trip. But 3 nights in NYC = hotels are out of their damn minds with these prices. 350-400 a night for a damn holiday inn.

 
I have used VRBO many times. Never had a problem. But you need to read the reviews and look at the pics. It takes some amount of work.

 
Fennis said:
I have used VRBO many times. Never had a problem. But you need to read the reviews and look at the pics. It takes some amount of work.
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true... but it can also be work scouting hotels for a vacation as well.

 
i've used vrbo many times and used it to rent my condo in maui to people all over the world. never had any problems

 
Looking at a VRBO today and the site quoted a fee of $540 for 4 nights. I called the owner and was quoted $890 all-in where the additional fee is a $110 non-refundable cleaning and "protection" fee plus a fee of $240 due to having more than 2 guests. I now see under "fees" the listing has the added language "Rates are based on 2 guests; add $30 per night, per additional guest." So instead of a very reasonable $135/night as quoted, its $222/night.

This seems like a bait/switch, right? I know cleaning fees are standard. "Protection" fees are usually refundable in my experience, like a security deposition. But the fees for additional "guests" I think is going to send me elsewhere on this one. Is this normal or to be expected? The property is advertised to sleep 5, so it seems misleading to have a significant charge for guests 3 and 4. The additional guests are our kids - 9 and 3.

 
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CletiusMaximus said:
Looking at a VRBO today and the site quoted a fee of $540 for 4 nights. I called the owner and was quoted $890 all-in where the additional fee is a $110 non-refundable cleaning and "protection" fee plus a fee of $240 due to having more than 2 guests. I now see under "fees" the listing has the added language "Rates are based on 2 guests; add $30 per night, per additional guest." So instead of a very reasonable $135/night as quoted, its $222/night.

This seems like a bait/switch, right? I know cleaning fees are standard. "Protection" fees are usually refundable in my experience, like a security deposition. But the fees for additional "guests" I think is going to send me elsewhere on this one. Is this normal or to be expected? The property is advertised to sleep 5, so it seems misleading to have a significant charge for guests 3 and 4. The additional guests are our kids - 9 and 3.
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Seems a little shifty. I can't remember seeing a VRBO place that charges by the guest count. I would counter with something in the middle. If he doesn't go for it, move on. If he's not going to be reasonable at this point, it might be more trouble than it's worth to rent from him.

 
Co-worker rented his place out all the time on AirBNB- never had a problem and made some good cash on it (he would rent a smaller place to live in while his was rented out).

My BIL rented a place here through AirBNB- showed up in the evening at the address, which was an empty lot. Got duped. And then had to stay at our place with his 3 kids for 3 days. That was fun. #### you, AirBNB

 
El Floppo said:
Co-worker rented his place out all the time on AirBNB- never had a problem and made some good cash on it (he would rent a smaller place to live in while his was rented out).

My BIL rented a place here through AirBNB- showed up in the evening at the address, which was an empty lot. Got duped. And then had to stay at our place with his 3 kids for 3 days. That was fun. #### you, AirBNB
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:confused:

how high was the fence around the lot?

 
:blackdot:

Thanks to all those who posted in here. I've always wondered how these sites worked/if they're reliable. All my questions answered :thumbup:

 
CletiusMaximus said:
Looking at a VRBO today and the site quoted a fee of $540 for 4 nights. I called the owner and was quoted $890 all-in where the additional fee is a $110 non-refundable cleaning and "protection" fee plus a fee of $240 due to having more than 2 guests. I now see under "fees" the listing has the added language "Rates are based on 2 guests; add $30 per night, per additional guest." So instead of a very reasonable $135/night as quoted, its $222/night.

This seems like a bait/switch, right? I know cleaning fees are standard. "Protection" fees are usually refundable in my experience, like a security deposition. But the fees for additional "guests" I think is going to send me elsewhere on this one. Is this normal or to be expected? The property is advertised to sleep 5, so it seems misleading to have a significant charge for guests 3 and 4. The additional guests are our kids - 9 and 3.
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Depends upon the location. On our rentals in Nicaragua, I charge differently based on 1-2 people vs. 3-4 vs. 5-6 vs. more. This is because our by far highest cost is electricity (which can be over $1000/month), and the big electricity suck down there is the A/C units in the bedrooms. More bedroom usage = much higher costs for me. I could see this being a factor in other locations as well.

I'm not a litigator so am not sure what a security deposition is. ;) Make absolutely sure the security deposit is refundable. vrbo has a charming practice of automatically including rental insurance that is NOT refunded; when I put together my quotes, I always have to change that from the automatic of "yes" to "no" instead so that my guests don't have to buy the insurance.

Cleaning fees are pretty standard in US rentals (I don't do them in Nicaragua), though $110 seems pretty steep.

 
krista4 said:
Make absolutely sure the security deposit is refundable.
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I've noticed a new thing popping up on some rentals, a "damage waiver fee". It's a non-refundable damage fee that I guess absolves you of damage responsibilities. They ranged from $250-$350 and were not optional.

I hadn't seen it before. Not sure if it's just because it's new or if only some areas use/allow it. These were Florida beach rentals I was looking at.

 
FreeBaGeL said:
krista4 said:
Make absolutely sure the security deposit is refundable.
Click to expand...
I've noticed a new thing popping up on some rentals, a "damage waiver fee". It's a non-refundable damage fee that I guess absolves you of damage responsibilities. They ranged from $250-$350 and were not optional.

I hadn't seen it before. Not sure if it's just because it's new or if only some areas use/allow it. These were Florida beach rentals I was looking at.
Click to expand...
I would take that as a challenge to break at least $350 worth of stuff.
 
FreeBaGeL said:
krista4 said:
Make absolutely sure the security deposit is refundable.
Click to expand...
I've noticed a new thing popping up on some rentals, a "damage waiver fee". It's a non-refundable damage fee that I guess absolves you of damage responsibilities. They ranged from $250-$350 and were not optional.

I hadn't seen it before. Not sure if it's just because it's new or if only some areas use/allow it. These were Florida beach rentals I was looking at.
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Yikes. I don't think I've seen that. The thing that it automatically puts in ranges from $49-$89 and is called a property damage waiver, where you get $1500-3000 of coverage. Essentially it is insurance, offered by and collected by vrbo. I don't know how it works on the owner's end if there's a claim, since I've always deleted it.

Someone might have added their own fee, or as you say there is something special in Florida? I doubt it's the latter as I don't think vrbo systems are that sophisticated. There is a button that allows us to add any fee or discount we want, so I assume that some people are coming up with their own stuff, and maybe if they see others do it it becomes "standard" in a particular area.

When I say it's optional, by the way, I mean optional to me as the owner to put that in or take it out, though if I don't take it out it automatically gets included. If it were to leave it in, it would NOT be optional to you as the renter.

 
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McGarnicle said:
FreeBaGeL said:
krista4 said:
Make absolutely sure the security deposit is refundable.
Click to expand...
I've noticed a new thing popping up on some rentals, a "damage waiver fee". It's a non-refundable damage fee that I guess absolves you of damage responsibilities. They ranged from $250-$350 and were not optional.

I hadn't seen it before. Not sure if it's just because it's new or if only some areas use/allow it. These were Florida beach rentals I was looking at.
Click to expand...
I would take that as a challenge to break at least $350 worth of stuff.
Click to expand...
Prepaid souvenir is the right interpretation here if non-refundable.

 
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