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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
Hi Trudy:
We did condo rentals on Oahu thru VRBO in March of 2008 as part of a two week cruise-land package. We had four units divided between 10 people. 2 studios, a one bedroom and a 2 bedroom. The studios and the one bedroom were 3 night rentals at less than $150/per night and the two bedroom was a weekly rental at $850/week. These were on the north shore of Oahu in the Turtle Bay Resort. There are rentals available all over the north shore and these are much more relaxing than Waikiki Hotels.
I've also done a one week 2 bedroom rental in Acadia National Park in Maine in 2007 and we also did a 2 bedroom in Destin on the Florida panhandle. These were RCI exchanges using my Disney Vacation Club points. I have booked a one week rental for Sept, 2010 in Island Park, Idaho on DVC points,(20 miles from Yellowstone's western entrance and am looking forward to that).
Needless to say both of these methods provide significant savings in lodging costs and the properties rank between 1st class and luxury.
We have used VRBO extensively and until this year have always had a great experience. This year we rented a really great place in San Diego. We loved it. My daughter and I spent most of the day before we left cleaning and spiffing the place up. We left it cleaner than when we moved in. We were supposed to get our damage deposit, $800 back within 14 days. It hasn't come and now the owner won't respond to me by phone or e-mail. The owner even expressed to me that it was "immaculate". Don't know what to do now. I guess it's small claims court for us. We were hoping to stay in the same place next year. I guess not. I haven't been able to find out if VRBO offers any recourse.
An $800 DAMAGE DEPOSIT!!! That's unreal, we have a rental in San Diego for over Christmas and it was a $100 cleaning deposit
Hi Trudy:
We did condo rentals on Oahu thru VRBO in March of 2008 as part of a two week cruise-land package. We had four units divided between 10 people. 2 studios, a one bedroom and a 2 bedroom. The studios and the one bedroom were 3 night rentals at less than $150/per night and the two bedroom was a weekly rental at $850/week. These were on the north shore of Oahu in the Turtle Bay Resort. There are rentals available all over the north shore and these are much more relaxing than Waikiki Hotels.
I've also done a one week 2 bedroom rental in Acadia National Park in Maine in 2007 and we also did a 2 bedroom in Destin on the Florida panhandle. These were RCI exchanges using my Disney Vacation Club points. I have booked a one week rental for Sept, 2010 in Island Park, Idaho on DVC points,(20 miles from Yellowstone's western entrance and am looking forward to that).
Needless to say both of these methods provide significant savings in lodging costs and the properties rank between 1st class and luxury.
Be happy to provide details
Was suprised to see this post re-appear after so long
We did book a condo in the Keys that year and have been renting from the same owner twice, soon to be 3 in April. It has been a great experiance. After the first time he did not charge the security deposit as he knew we were not problems! He has gone out of his way to help us rent in the time frame we need and is giving us a break on price as return renters.
It has worked out great.
One thing I really like about private rental is that there is no maid service and everything is right there in the unit..washer/dryer full kitchen...It's so nice to get home and not have a ton of dirty laundry...also makes packing easy..don't have to bring much
We found the beach house that we havebeen renting for years on VRBO. Once you find what you want ; you pretty much deal with the owner. I think VBRO is pretty much just a place for people to list their rentals. Our owner is great and because we rent each year we never have to pay the increase in rent or the deposit. I would recommend them to anyone.
I've used them on trips to CR and Panama - the damage deposit varies from $250 to $750 depending on the property and it's usually on your credit card. You can usually purchase damage insurance policy for far less.
We rented a place in Big Bear, California the end of August 2010 for two nights (vrbo.com listing 162242 ). The kitchen, living room and the bedroom have no doors, so the noise from the refrigerator propagates through the house making this a less than a romantic vacation. Before checking out we vacuumed all rooms and cleaned the bathroom
and kitchen with the cleaning products provided and took the trash out. There is no damage to the cabin. We were supposed to get our deposit, $150 back within 2 weeks. It has been 7 weeks already, it hasn't come and now the owner won't respond to me by e-mail.
This experience is awful. I feel I am being exploited by the owner of the property. I would not recommend renting this cabin.
Here is the address in case the owner lists the place in other sites.
136 West Aeroplane, Big Bear City, CA, 92314
The owner, John Anthony Eddo. conveniently lives in Norway, out of reach of the Small Claims Court.
His phone is 011 47 47399699 and email [EMAIL="zion_el@hotmail.com"]zion_el@hotmail.com[/EMAIL]
Ray, the property manager (949)939-9212
I also tried to submit a review for this cabin in VRBO.com. After an hour or so I got a response that the review does not meet their guidelines.
When I look at other reviews on VRBO, they are all very positive. Looks like the VRBO team is busy filtering the reviews.
STAY AWAY FROM VRBO.
Looks like the VRBO team is busy filtering the reviews.
STAY AWAY FROM VRBO.
I am a very long time member of VRBO, and this is not typical. I have sent a copy of your post to VRBO, suggesting that they investigate. We (owners) want rogue owners removed from VRBO.
I suggest the poster contact VRBO through that address.
Dear Hank,
Thank you for contacting VRBO.com!
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Since that website is a public forum, there is nothing we can do about. That is the travelers personal opinion as to what has happened. He did not contact us directly to ask why his review was rejected and so we could not tell him the reason. We do appreciate you looking out for us though and appreciate your loyalty.
Thank you for using VRBO.com--the world's most visited vacation rental website.
Beware you are on your own with VRBO! I have used VRBO to rent vacation homes at least four times. The first three times the homes were accurately represented and the homeowners very easy to work with, however, I just returned from a vacation in Minnesota where the home was grossly misrepresented on the website. The photos were photoshopped; I would never have agreed to stay in this house if I had seen the real condition of the property. I immediately called the owner and told her I would not be staying in her home. She has refused to return my $725.00. I have contacted VRBO and they told me they do not check the status of any home. The only thing they do is Google Earth to see if a structure exists on the property. They will not help me get my money back and they still haven't posted my bad review warning others of the dangerous conditions of this house. They have no intention of removing her from their site. They are not interested in the real pictures I took of the deplorable condition of this home. They said, "we are just an advertising medium" You would not know that from their site. Nowhere does it say they are like "Craig's List" in nature. They imply these are quality homes that they have vetted. I have contacted the city counsel in that town and have been told it is an illegal rental. No business license, no safety inspection and VRBO don’t care about the renters. As a matter of fact they give the owner's detailed instructions on how to bury a bad review.
Do not trust these people. I am out my vacation money.
I've used VRBO for the past decade both to list my many rental properties I own and also my family and I use them all the time to rent properties around the world. We've NEVER had any problems at all both renting properties or with clients that have rented with us from VRBO.
VRBO has been really good about policing owners. They are very reputable and I highly recommend them. We just rented properties with them on the Big Island and also in Kauai and had fantastic experiences.
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Stay away from vrbo
VRBO watch out you can get took!
