I have booked many great places with AirBnB and VRBO and have never had any problems or surprises. I am currently booking AirBnB's for the Netherlands and England - it offers many more choices. I am not booking with VRBO until they categorize my credit card purchase as "travel" instead of "other services". See my recent post about this for more details. It only affects you if you have a credit card like mine that lets you earn more credit card points with travel purchases or use these points as a travel credit.