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Has anyone rented a vacation home/cond from VRBO(Vacations for Rent By Owner)? I was tempted last year but was aprehensive about if it was legit. Especially as you usually have to send a deposit way before you go. In addition.. what if the plumbing or AC dies while you're renting.. and so many other ?? Would appreciate any experiances.. Thanks
VRBO are well established and one of the larger Vacation Rentals sites. However, they don't do any vetting of the owners, so you are really dependent on doing your own checking. Having said that, thousands of people use VRBO and the other vacation rentals sites. I would recommend you ask the owner for a reference of someone who has stayed at his property before.
By the way, you can find a list of the major vacation rentals sites here:
[URL="http://www.compareownerholidayrentals.com/"]Vacation Rentals By Owner Forum[/URL]
I used VRBO and it was a disaster. The unit we rented was occupied and we had to stay in another place. The "Manager" did not know we were coming and was on the other side of the island and we were not able to get into the condo until 6:00 p.m. We had to disbute the charges in order to receive our deposit back. It took 4 months to receive this and I am still waiting for my "1 night free" a promised by the manager for the trouble. Stayed in a dive! not what was promised
We've only used VRBO once, but it was overall great.
It was in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area, and it was far less than a hotel. I think we paid $600 for the week and we had a two bedroom, one bath (with separate tub and shower), formal dining room, full kitchen, washer and dryer, dishwasher, private parking spot, etc.
Hotels at the time were over $200 per night except for the Queen Mary, where my husband and I have often stayed, and when I entered two adults and one child, they always showed "No Rooms Available" for that time period.
I loved having the kitchen so that we could easily eat local foods, and eat lighter breakfasts and lunches. We ate dinner out, but as we don't overstuff, we had leftovers for the fridge and could have leftovers when convenient.
The downside was that the full-time tenant who lived in the other part of the duplex got really loud one day with her music and gave our parking spot to her friend. The other downside was that the prior VRBO renter didn't vacate on time, leaving us waiting to get into the unit.
The owner of the unit was so professional, although she did not live in the vicinity of the unit. She sent our deposit back before we even left the state.
We plan to VRBO every chance we get. We have trips to Memphis, Paris and Buenos Aires in our future and this is the way to go. I do believe that we will choose properties that accept credit cards though, so that we have recourse if necessary.
I plan to check out the VRBO forum to read more about it as we plan on buying a vacation unit and may list it there.
I used VRBO and it was a disaster. The unit we rented was occupied and we had to stay in another place. The "Manager" did not know we were coming and was on the other side of the island and we were not able to get into the condo until 6:00 p.m. We had to disbute the charges in order to receive our deposit back. It took 4 months to receive this and I am still waiting for my "1 night free" a promised by the manager for the trouble. Stayed in a dive! not what was promised
That's ashame. Most of the VRBO rentals I've been in contact with have not been like this at all. I have a home that I advertise on VRBO and before I put my money into advertising with them I checked many things out. Alot of the owners actually gave me time to speak with them about their experiences. This helped ease my fears. However, whoever you are renting from you should definitely be given the opportunity to view their testimony page or something. I have that on my website and even though most people might believe I take off the negative I haven't even gotten the opportunity to take a negative response off as there haven't been any yet. I go by that to get hints as to the property. Even though they may be fixed you can still look at Google Earth and look at the neighborhoods as well. Alot can be told about the home by the neighborhoods' upkeep and such.
We've only used VRBO once, but it was overall great.
It was in the Los Angeles/Long Beach area, and it was far less than a hotel. I think we paid $600 for the week and we had a two bedroom, one bath (with separate tub and shower), formal dining room, full kitchen, washer and dryer, dishwasher, private parking spot, etc.
Hotels at the time were over $200 per night except for the Queen Mary, where my husband and I have often stayed, and when I entered two adults and one child, they always showed "No Rooms Available" for that time period.
I loved having the kitchen so that we could easily eat local foods, and eat lighter breakfasts and lunches. We ate dinner out, but as we don't overstuff, we had leftovers for the fridge and could have leftovers when convenient.
The downside was that the full-time tenant who lived in the other part of the duplex got really loud one day with her music and gave our parking spot to her friend. The other downside was that the prior VRBO renter didn't vacate on time, leaving us waiting to get into the unit.
The owner of the unit was so professional, although she did not live in the vicinity of the unit. She sent our deposit back before we even left the state.
We plan to VRBO every chance we get. We have trips to Memphis, Paris and Buenos Aires in our future and this is the way to go. I do believe that we will choose properties that accept credit cards though, so that we have recourse if necessary.
I plan to check out the VRBO forum to read more about it as we plan on buying a vacation unit and may list it there.
Wow that sounds like you understand the ways of various different rentals and still maintain a positive attitude. Have you ever considered going to Galveston Texas? I know a great place to stop over that has just been recently renovated. It's a really nice place and the owner is great. She's very accommodating and the home is in excellent condition as well as the location is all that, location, location, location. Let me know if you ever get that way and I'll get the information to you if you would like.
Has anyone rented a vacation home/cond from VRBO(Vacations for Rent By Owner)? I was tempted last year but was aprehensive about if it was legit. Especially as you usually have to send a deposit way before you go. In addition.. what if the plumbing or AC dies while you're renting.. and so many other ?? Would appreciate any experiances.. Thanks
Hey, how are you doing? I do have my vacation rental with VRBO and have actually had alot of success from it. As far as my policies are concerned I am always available to help out my renters with any problem that they may have. I know not everyone is like this but sometimes we just get with a bad situation and it messes up the rest of the possibilities.
Most of the people with VRBO are reliable and just as careful with tenants as you are with rentals. Hope this helped out. I think VRBO people are mostly reliable and safe. Talk with them more as you can usually find out a lot of information about them and get a feel for who they may be.
Funny this thread came up at this time...I am the original poster...I just returned from my VRBO vacation!!! IT WAS GREAT!!! The owner was very good... We originally booked for 5/1-5/15th...He notified us that there was major (jack hammer type) construction starting on 5/5...(kind of like the TV commercial!) We re-booked for 4/21-5/5 at the same rate. This is my first experiance with VRBO and I loved it
I especially liked not having maids come in...like if I can't make my own bed in the morning...maybe I should not be on vacation There was also the washer & dryer...First time I ever got home without 4 weeks of laundry to do from a 2 week stay!!! I plan to rent his unit again...
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
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Hi Trudy......
I just got back from Las Vegas yesterday, used timeshare exchange and stayed at a Marriott "vacation ownership" condo. Same thing. I got to do our laundry there but I've been doing all the other laundry since I got back. But, yes, no daily in and out of maid or anything, unless you specifically request it and pay for it separately.
BTW....how's you know what?
I was soooooooooo tempted this week. Everybody and their great grandmothers smoked all around you. Everywhere. Smelled real good.
Vacation
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Think I have to start over!!! But not anywhere near as bad...just about 6 a day...If I put the patch back on I can get it back down to 2
Location: Lots of sun and palm trees with occasional hurricane :)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Trudeyrose
Vacation
Other
Think I have to start over!!! But not anywhere near as bad...just about 6 a day...If I put the patch back on I can get it back down to 2
Six a day sans patch is terrific!!! You'll get there.
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There was also the washer & dryer...First time I ever got home without 4 weeks of laundry to do from a 2 week stay!!! I plan to rent his unit again...
