VRBO / HomeAway double booked my reservation. What do I do now??
Long time lurker, first time poster here. I am in a huge bind here and need some advice. Here's what happened:
On May 20, I booked and paid for a high end condo in San Diego for June 7 - 12 on VRBO.com. My credit card was charged $1,340 and I received a confirmation email from VRBO and the property manager. I confirmed the reservation via text message with the property manager.
On June 7, I texted the property manager to ask about the logistics to get the keys. He texted back that he made a mistake and already rented the condo out and it is occupied until June 13. There is a huge conference going on and there are no hotel rooms available within walking distance to the conference that are the same price or less than the condo. The property manager first suggests a room at a house that is under construction and would require a car or cab to and from the conference. I told him this was unacceptable and that I needed a hotel or condo of equal or better quality than his condo that is still within walking distance of the conference center. He then suggested a crappy two star hotel that was $308 a night and again not within walking distance. The cheapest hotel my wife and I could find online was at the Hilton for $384 a night. It's located roughly the same distance from the conference center as his condo. I went back and forth with him and was getting nowhere with so I just booked the Hilton and paid $2,163. I texted him that I expected him to pay the difference of $776 (which I miscalculated - its actually $823), which he immediately sent to my PayPal account. I texted him when I got to San Diego and we agreed to follow up in the morning on June 8. I also contacted VRBO customer service to note the issue.
On June 8, I texted the property manager requesting an update to my refund of $1,340. I got no response.
On June 9, I contacted VRBO again and they were pretty much useless to get me my $1,340 back. I filed a complaint against the property manager. I then called my credit card and filed a dispute on the $1,340 and they immediately reversed the charges. About an hour later, the property manager sends me a PayPal payment for $584 and he says that's all the money I'm going to get from him.
At this point I have no idea what to do. I'm out $823 for this hotel and this guy isn't going to send me any more money. I'm wondering if I have to contact a lawyer or something else. I'm still waiting on my credit card people to follow up with me and I fully realize that I can't keep both the credit card reversal AND the $1,340 from the property manager via PayPal. But what can I do about the extra $823 it cost me to get this hotel? He breached a contract, right? We did not have any formal contract other than whatever the default VRBO.com purchase agreement. However, anytime I've ever stayed at a hotel that was overbooked, they have always put me up at a hotel of the same or better class in the same general area of the city and they paid any difference. Is this the same kind of situation?
Thanks for reading this and for any guidance you can offer.