VRBO / HomeAway double booked my reservation. What do I do now??
Jun 10, 2015, 6:45 pm
#16
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: USA
Programs: SA Air, Air Canada, KLM, BA,Lufthansa, United, AA, Hawaiian, Air New Zealnd, Qantas, Virgin Atlantic
Posts: 777
To the OP
Wow that is really a rotten owner, I would be extremely upset also.
I have rented numerous times on both VRBO and Home Away, in the US, Mexico and Belize and I guess I have been lucky.
A curiosity question... did you follow up with a phone call to the owner?
I generally book several months out, once it was a year out. Daughter getting married and I needed nine bedrooms all with onsuite.
I always call at the time of rental, and every couple of months after.
I hope your CC company comes thru for you.
I have rented numerous times on both VRBO and Home Away, in the US, Mexico and Belize and I guess I have been lucky.
A curiosity question... did you follow up with a phone call to the owner?
I generally book several months out, once it was a year out. Daughter getting married and I needed nine bedrooms all with onsuite.
I always call at the time of rental, and every couple of months after.
I hope your CC company comes thru for you.
Jun 11, 2015, 8:05 am
#17
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 93
I don't think that the owner should have to pay the difference between his property and the Hilton. In my mind the most the owner should pay is any difference in price of the Hilton between the time OP booked the homeaway property and the time OP booked the Hilton. The PayPal thing is strange, the property owner should have returned the money to the credit card OP paid with through the Homeaway system. The credit card fee would have been refunded to the homeowner and there would be no grounds for disputing the charge since all of the money was returned to OP
Jun 11, 2015, 8:39 am
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: London & Sonoma CA
Programs: UA 1K, MM *G for life, BAEC Gold
Posts: 10,225
As to the OP, he should get exactly what the contract states he should get.
Jun 11, 2015, 9:56 am
#19
Suspended
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: DCA
Programs: UA US CO AA DL FL
Posts: 50,262
But, VRBO is all about one-off's. Why does the San Diego property manager care about OP? He doesn't. He will never see him again, either way.
Last edited by Often1; Jun 11, 2015 at 11:33 am
Jun 11, 2015, 2:49 pm
#20
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: NYS
Programs: Days of Our Lives, General Hospital
Posts: 1,495
Jun 11, 2015, 9:05 pm
#21
Used to be 'Travelergcp'
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: New Orleans
Programs: AA Plat, Marriott Gold, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 2,826
Cancellation agreements are usually bi-lateral and damages limited to the amount you paid. Think about it, if innkeepers had unlimited liability in this situation, they would never accept reservations at all. At least with hotels, they have an incentive to make things right because they care about your future business.
This is not much different than an airline canceling and refunding your cheap advance purchase ticket and leaving you forced to buy an expensive walk-up fare at the airport.
This is not much different than an airline canceling and refunding your cheap advance purchase ticket and leaving you forced to buy an expensive walk-up fare at the airport.
Jun 12, 2015, 10:45 am
#22
Join Date: Jan 2012
Location: YYC
Programs: AC 25k, A3 *G, BA, Westjet Gold, Hilton Gold, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 125
Be sure to leave a review on their website about your experience. The owner is not permitted to block the post, he is supposed to work with you to change the review if you disagree. He will get his chance to respond with the owners' comments. At least others will know what happened and can conduct themselves accordingly.
Jun 13, 2015, 3:09 pm
#23
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 6
VRBO / HomeAway horror story - could happen to anyone
You booked a property on VRBO or HomeAway and have already paid in full. Are you prepared for what can happen next?
The property owner / manager can cancel your reservation at any time before you take possession of the property for any or no reason leaving you with no place to stay. For example, a property manager may book his rental to somebody else who is willing to pay more money through a different website. When you arrive on site, he may inform you the unit is no longer available, even though you paid in full and confirmed your paid reservation with him days, weeks, or months in advance.
The property owner / manager is only obligated to refund the amount you paid for the booking. This can take days or weeks to get returned to you through the VRBO / HomeAway site. Hopefully you paid with a credit card so you can have the credit card do an immediate charge back and return the money you paid back to you.
The property owner / manager is under no obligation to find you alternate lodging or reimburse you any cost difference between his property and wherever it is you find to stay (assuming you can find a place to stay). If you have to pay more to stay somewhere else, that is coming out of your pocket, not his.
You will never be allowed to leave any sort of negative feedback for the property owner / manager on the VRBO / HomeAway website since you never actually stayed there. No future potential customers will ever know that person double books his property. You have zero recourse against the person who just scammed you.
Please don’t be as gullible as I was and believe this cannot happen to you. I went to a conference in a major US city and booked what was advertised as a luxury condo next to the convention center for a reasonable price. I paid in full via a credit card. I received an email confirmation from VRBO / HomeAway. I contact the property manager to confirm the reservation three weeks ahead of my check in date which he happily confirmed. Thirty minutes before boarding my plane to fly to the conference, the property manager texts me telling me he double booked it and I have nowhere to stay. His alternative lodging options were ridiculous – one was a house under construction and the other was a flea-bag motel. Both options were miles from the conference center. Calls to VRBO / HomeAway went nowhere. I was able to get my credit card to do a charge back very easily at least. I ultimately ended up paying close to double the VRBO / HomeAway condo price for a decent last minute hotel.
My advice – if you are going to use VRBO / HomeAway, you need to have a plan B from the very beginning in case your property is not available when you get there. I have been using these sites for years without incident thinking when I paid in full I was securing and guaranteeing the property. This is not the case.
I am posting this in hopes I can prevent this from happening to somebody else. Please understand what you are getting yourself into with these sites and plan accordingly. Thanks for reading.
The property owner / manager can cancel your reservation at any time before you take possession of the property for any or no reason leaving you with no place to stay. For example, a property manager may book his rental to somebody else who is willing to pay more money through a different website. When you arrive on site, he may inform you the unit is no longer available, even though you paid in full and confirmed your paid reservation with him days, weeks, or months in advance.
The property owner / manager is only obligated to refund the amount you paid for the booking. This can take days or weeks to get returned to you through the VRBO / HomeAway site. Hopefully you paid with a credit card so you can have the credit card do an immediate charge back and return the money you paid back to you.
The property owner / manager is under no obligation to find you alternate lodging or reimburse you any cost difference between his property and wherever it is you find to stay (assuming you can find a place to stay). If you have to pay more to stay somewhere else, that is coming out of your pocket, not his.
You will never be allowed to leave any sort of negative feedback for the property owner / manager on the VRBO / HomeAway website since you never actually stayed there. No future potential customers will ever know that person double books his property. You have zero recourse against the person who just scammed you.
Please don’t be as gullible as I was and believe this cannot happen to you. I went to a conference in a major US city and booked what was advertised as a luxury condo next to the convention center for a reasonable price. I paid in full via a credit card. I received an email confirmation from VRBO / HomeAway. I contact the property manager to confirm the reservation three weeks ahead of my check in date which he happily confirmed. Thirty minutes before boarding my plane to fly to the conference, the property manager texts me telling me he double booked it and I have nowhere to stay. His alternative lodging options were ridiculous – one was a house under construction and the other was a flea-bag motel. Both options were miles from the conference center. Calls to VRBO / HomeAway went nowhere. I was able to get my credit card to do a charge back very easily at least. I ultimately ended up paying close to double the VRBO / HomeAway condo price for a decent last minute hotel.
My advice – if you are going to use VRBO / HomeAway, you need to have a plan B from the very beginning in case your property is not available when you get there. I have been using these sites for years without incident thinking when I paid in full I was securing and guaranteeing the property. This is not the case.
I am posting this in hopes I can prevent this from happening to somebody else. Please understand what you are getting yourself into with these sites and plan accordingly. Thanks for reading.
Jun 13, 2015, 3:29 pm
#25
Join Date: May 2009
Location: South Park, CO
Programs: Tegridy Elite
Posts: 5,678
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I went to a conference in a major US city and booked what was advertised as a luxury condo next to the convention center for a reasonable price. I paid in full via a credit card. I received an email confirmation from VRBO / HomeAway. I contact the property manager to confirm the reservation three weeks ahead of my check in date which he happily confirmed. Thirty minutes before boarding my plane to fly to the conference, the property manager texts me telling me he double booked it and I have nowhere to stay. His alternative lodging options were ridiculous – one was a house under construction and the other was a flea-bag motel. Both options were miles from the conference center. Calls to VRBO / HomeAway went nowhere. I was able to get my credit card to do a charge back very easily at least. I ultimately ended up paying close to double the VRBO / HomeAway condo price for a decent last minute hotel.
I am posting this in hopes I can prevent this from happening to somebody else. Please understand what you are getting yourself into with these sites and plan accordingly. Thanks for reading.
I went to a conference in a major US city and booked what was advertised as a luxury condo next to the convention center for a reasonable price. I paid in full via a credit card. I received an email confirmation from VRBO / HomeAway. I contact the property manager to confirm the reservation three weeks ahead of my check in date which he happily confirmed. Thirty minutes before boarding my plane to fly to the conference, the property manager texts me telling me he double booked it and I have nowhere to stay. His alternative lodging options were ridiculous – one was a house under construction and the other was a flea-bag motel. Both options were miles from the conference center. Calls to VRBO / HomeAway went nowhere. I was able to get my credit card to do a charge back very easily at least. I ultimately ended up paying close to double the VRBO / HomeAway condo price for a decent last minute hotel.
I am posting this in hopes I can prevent this from happening to somebody else. Please understand what you are getting yourself into with these sites and plan accordingly. Thanks for reading.
Jun 13, 2015, 6:23 pm
#28
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 26,288
I appreciate this thread greatly, and thank the OP. It reminds me that VRBO is not at all like a hotel, and that I need to read the contract very carefully before selecting a VRBO to stay at, whether overseas or domestic.
Jun 13, 2015, 9:27 pm
#29
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 6
I'm trying to help others avoid this mess
For those who were asking, it's this property - VRBO Listing #3925381ha
I'm simply trying to help other people avoid a similar situation by presenting facts as they are unfolding and asking for advice from others. I tried to create an executive summary in a separate thread for easy reference but it was combined with this thread by the mods, and that's why it appears as duplicate information. I must ask, what have you added to this discussion by your last comment that is quoted above? Or advice like 'suck it up'? You come across as a travel elitist and it doesn't help. You can see by the posts by other travelers in this thread that this situation is indeed something that is 'new, strange, or unlikely' to many of us. If you are not going to help contribute to the community in a helpful manner, please exercise some restraint and refrain from commenting.
On second thought...I suppose if you keep commenting this thread will stay on the front page meaning more people will see it and possibly be saved from this same situation.
On second thought...I suppose if you keep commenting this thread will stay on the front page meaning more people will see it and possibly be saved from this same situation.
Last edited by uwcableguy; Jun 14, 2015 at 1:22 am Reason: correction