disappointed first-time VRBO traveler
I've never used VRBO before but had three nights I was needing lodging for in LAS during a period where rooms are elevated in price. I looked at other places to see what existed and at what price points, leading me to VRBO.
The first place I found resulted in 1) hidden fees not disclosed on the site 2) an owner who had clearly jacked up their cleaning fee to cover their listing expense and 3) an owner who tried to take a question about the property as a commitment to book.
The second place I found resulted in someone who was upfront with all of the fees but where the property had been listed that day only to have the owner deny the request claiming it had been booked for some time on at least part of the three-day window I was looking at.
The third one (all of these were actually in the same building) resulted in hidden fees, to include the owner (a management company) claiming that a resort fee would be charged at check-in. If I wanted to pay resort fees on top of cleaning fees, I would simply book at a traditional hotel property through the hotel's website.
Are these common occurrences with VRBO and similar sites? The whole cleaning fee issue seems to be on par with the ebay vendors who inflate shipping costs to pay the listing fees. You cannot tell me with a straight face that it costs $120.00 to clean a sub-800 foot studio occupied by one person and for three nights...
All in all, this past few days has really soured me on their whole concept...