HomeAway Reviews

It is rather simple Homeaway represents the owners and protects them from their clients (you). They will do little if anything to settle a dispute, they have no policies that protect the users (you) from whatever happens. Their answer is you made an agreement with the owner not them, they wash their hands totally.
HomeAway does not publish any reviews that are deemed negative, only positive reviews are posted.
VRBO is the same company with the same issues, my experiences with Airbnb is about the same, I have decided to go back to hotels where I have the say!

I've used VRBO for several years; this is my 1st with Homeaway. Just learned that it is now VRBO/HA, and very frustrating to use (to say the least, dependent on your problem with them). Can you imagine that this "new" firm can't employ minimally-competent software people to establish a working email service? I couldn't email the owner. This time, on the 2nd try with a service agent via phone, she had the brililant thought to call the owner(Italy), and we conversed in this way - yay! This was important as we had to confirm our 1st meeting. Sooo happy with the luck I had with THIS AGENT -Thank you, "Charlie"(young woman)! The 1st via chat was dumb as a rock, and when he asked "did you try to call the owner?", I knew I reached his gray-cell limit, and my end of my patience ("if I could call, would I be talking to you now? - duh). ---This is very discouraging; I wonder how I will arrange our housing on our next trip, since this firm is now a "zero"? :((

I had a problem after a rental that the owner had decided to not return all of my deposit. Trying to contact HomeAway is a nightmare and only after using Chat and more than 10 messages, I was answered, but actually not even considered my explanations.
They hide behind their rules' at all costs to protect their homeowners and give renters no ability to claim or explain. Airbnb all the way from here on out. HomeAway disgusts me at this point. Totally biased to their homeowners. They do not care about your rental experience at all. They completely took the homeowner at her word. They had no interest in my side of the story at all.
Just to note I have been using HomeAway since 1998 (!) but no more

Every time we book with HomeAway we find some new way they have come up with to get more money from the renters. This past trip we took in June went well, great house etc., then the owner sends us a message saying they are sending $1,380.00 of our $1,500.00 deposit back to us and the $120 deduction is for utilities. We were surprised as these new fees were not listed with all the other fees. The kicker in my book is that they take money for fees from your security deposit, that does not seem right to me. When we protested with the owner she informed us that HomeAway told them to do it this way. Thanks, Keith

I'm using it - I'd rather not but the alternatives aren't any better.
I've used other similar sites - like others, there are some hidden charges - which are revealed only after the booking and payment is completed (I'm an owner). They try to hide behind the small print but after complaining I managed to get my money back - they are still playing these tricks (what's the excuse?).
My general view is that websites like these should be controlled and tested more closely by a specialized watchdog.

This property is grossly misrepresented in your advert. It is advertised as being wheelchair accessible.. It is not. On arrival two steps need to be addressed to enter the property, to get to the villa another flight of steps or manoeuvre your wheelchair air up a grassy bank..once in the villa there are two steps down into the toilet, which is very small with no room for a wheelchair anyway. The ground floor bedroom is the converted garage down by the gate. The villa is advertised as being 5bedrooms, which technically it has, but in reality this is a 3 bedroom villa with a family room, as the 5th bedroom is a child's room accessed through the main bedroom in the converted garage and sharing a shower room also accessed from main bedroom..Totally unsuitable for a family of all adults (ages 79 to 31)with one disabled.

I stayed at a property in Spain for a couple of months, and the place was quite run down and in a poor state of repair. I advised the owner I wouldn't be able to give a good review, and she understood, blaming the condition on previous tenants.
Homeaway is supposed to contact on departure to have you submit a review and this didn't happen. The other method is to log in, go on "my trips" and review it there, however there isn't a spot to initiate this action, so you can't leave a review. Contacted their centre, and did an on line chat, that ended with me waiting endlessly for person to get back to me, so gave up.

The per night rate is deceiving, to say the least. I was very surprised to see the added fees - after the room was booked.
The website is easy enough to use, but when you book - you are charged EXTRA fees : "service fees", "owner fees", "cleaning fees", All these extra fees INCREASE your per night charge by 40%!!! That is a substantial difference in what you expect to pay and what you actually pay. Leaves you with a very disappointed feeling after what should be an exciting beginning to your travel adventure. Not sure I would use this service again. Managing expectations is the key to customer happiness - this is poorly done with the 'additional fees'

I recent booked a property on HomeAway listing for 295.00 per night after spending 25 minutes putting in all my info I found that after upcharges the property was nearly DOUBLE that. False advertising. Will not be using them again.

I was looking at homes in Hawaii for my family to rent. I thought I had found a great deal. I booked it. The cost was quoted in Canadian dollars. I had read everything that was included in the ad, paying close attention to the costs associated. When I got charged, it was in USD so I had no idea what was actually charged to my card until I saw my statement. It was wayyyy more than I thought it was going to be. It was really expensive. It's because I got charged an extra 500 USD for extra people! The ad said the house could sleep 10 and we had 7 adults and 2 toddlers and a baby. So why was I charged for extra people?! I immediately asked to cancel. I gave it two stars because the host was nice and approved the cancellation. I still have to wait for the full refund to show up on my card so we will see if I have any more of a hassle with this. I don't recommend homeaway. I went with the trusted airbnb instead. They quoted in cad dollars and charged in cad dollars.They also listed all the charges I would expect to pay.

We are two Finnish married couples who hired in Venice an apartment (clean but quite cold) in Calle del Remedio 4407 in Castello1.-8. 10. 2018., in the center of Venice. The bedrooms are large, but the tiny, uncomfortable kitchen was the only place where we four could sit together and chat. There are not enough hangers for clothes and no coat rack! And only three undamaged drinking glasses for four people. On Saturday the boiler got broken and we had to be two days without warm water. Because it was the weekend no repairman was available, I paid 300 euro guarantee payment. Our contact person promised that HomeWay will refund it immediately but I haven't seen it so far in my band account.

I work with Airbnb, Trip Advisor, and Home Away. Home Away pays very late and beyond even the time period they allow for Owners' funds to be deposited. The other services i use are very prompt payers. Because of late payment and more difficulty using their web site, I would recommend using serives other than Home Away.

We have been forced to move from Bookabach, a very stable booking site we have used for several years, to HomeAway. We are very frustrated as property owners, with the way HomeAway run their site. Our first issue is that we have a manager of the property (I am an owner). Our property manager is not able to be a 'reservations only' manager, but use my log in details to access the HomeAway account. HomeAway have not facility to separate managers and owners. This is very dodgey. Also, when trying to use the HomeAway website, when I click on some links, they will not load or dont work. Our bookings have dropped off tremendously, not that I am surprised with the extra fee's HomeAway charge. Also, they ask for all money up front very early, and release it slower then I think they should. We were told the funds were released to our account on the 13th, and they took a week to appear in our bank account. This is a small irritation as we aren't waiting on the funds. But all these issues add up to super big frustration. HomeAway is an amateur outfit at best. Can anyone suggest another short term accommodation platform we can use please???

I used Home Away last year in the Virgin Islands renting a villa. It was great, wonderful experience. I don't know if new management took over this year, but I made reservation and had to cancel.(within a day). They charged $104 service fee that I cant get back unless owner does initiates on website. Owner gave approval but claims he is out of county. Home Away should initiate this refund of THEIR service fee. Why should owner have anything to do with that. I booked another trip but now am afraid I will not get refund if I have to cancel. I was on expedia site when I booked this trip but somehow it re-routed to home away. I will not use them again

I have used Owners Direct (from today Home&Away) for over 14 years. They have, over the years provided the lions share of rentals to my overseas property to the point where they have appointed me one of their "premium" owners - so I must be earning them loads of "service charge" dosh and have kept my villa a viable proposition - so no complaints from this angle but it is a 2 way street - I am honest and provide a villa as described on the website. I do what I can to ensure my guests get value for money and want to come back - which they do!
HOWEVER - I have noticed, since Home Away took them over - a very clear decline in customer service standards. They are now a large Corporate company that are only interested in maximising their profits and providing minmum value. No regard for either the renter or the owner.
Whenever I have a problem they make it clear it is MY problem and not theirs. They hide behind Corporate gobbledy gook speak and NEVER answer the question you ask. The payment sytem they use is a mess.
On the occasions I have provided feedback with facts and specific incidents - I get the "feedback is a gift" speel but do not acknowlege they have a problem and need to fix it.
I guess I am like thousands of other villa owners in that we are between a rock and a hard place - Home&Away give us the advertising exposure we need but little else - but few good alternatives. Its like an abuse of power.
Rant over!

I actually had a great stay but when I tried to get my damage deposit, I got the run around. I ultimately had to dispute the charge with my credit card company. The owner of the property was awesome and tried very hard and multiple times to help me. She was also getting the run around and couldn't get paid from HomeAway. Seriously terrible. HomeAway pretends to try to solve the issue but nothing ever happens.

I am a first time user of Homeaway. I was quoted a price and paid in good faith but was charged a higher amount on my credit card. When you proceed to make payment the amount quoted is confirmed on the screen - so everything was in order.

I queried the higher fee amount with Homeaway. They said they had excluded part of their fee relating to taxes. I have sent 4 emails to which they have responded to 1. Homeaway needs to be clear on their fee which they are on-charging to the customers AND this must be disclosed as part of the quoted price!

After finding a rental, getting a price quote including total price including taxes and fees, entering all our information, and clicking"book this stay" , then we get a page that says the damage deposit is $1500 of which some or all may be refundable OR we can buy their trip insurance for $60.
On principle I consider this blackmail. $60 isn't a huge amount, but isn't it a "fee"??
A $1500 damage fee seems quite ridiculous for a 2 day stay of 2 senior adults.

I am a property manager who has used HomeAway for years to assist in booking the properties we manage for our owners. In the last 1-2 weeks, I've lost 3 reservations because HomeAway leads the customer to believe they have paid the entire amount in full when the customer has only paid their booking fee. HA will not release the customers information so the we as the Lawful agent of the owner can contact the guest to finalize the booking. HA refuses t give the customers phone # or email even after they have paid HA. HomeAway says that we must mark the customers booking as Paid (when really they haven't paid us at all) which then sends the customer an auto email telling them that they've paid - in order for us as the property manager to get the information for the guest. It causes the Guest to feel that we as property managers are doing something wrong when really it is HomeAway. I've called support 3-4 times now and one agent refused to let me speak to a supervisor. I just called back now and was told the Resolution Dept was closed at 10:45 am Texas time. HomeAway feels they can "rule" everything. They are directly going against our state laws in the way they require us to handle the booking but they Could care less.

I'm sorry for guests because they Don't care, they don't deal with things quickly and they don't respond to issues. HomeAway doesn't manage or handle the properties in any way but lead guests to believe they do.

We as property managers are trying our best to advertise properties so that guests can book and have a great vacation. HomeAway is ruining it for everyone.

I booked a property through this company on August 30, 2017 for travel in March and April 2018. I needed a ground floor unit, that was affordable during prime time in Florida so I booked early. The owner confirmed that the dates I requested were available. He sent me a confirmation and accepted my deposit of $1207.00. In January, I contacted the owner via e-mail to ask a question about the unit. I was then informed that the unit I had booked was no longer available on those dates. The owner cancelled my reservation and I am awaiting a refund. He would not agree to speak with me by phone.

I called HomeAway to advise them of this cancellation and solicit their assistance in this matter. The only thing they would do is to put a mark against his property. There is no way for me to write a review on this property/owner as I did not actually get to stay there. Therefore, I cannot warn other travelers about my experience. The Property owner's name is Gabriel and his HomeAway property number is 967214. Travelers beware before booking with this property owner.

I expected that by booking through HomeAway and paying a booking fee, I was getting a level of security that a cancellation like this wouldn't happen. Not only DID it happen but HomeAway refused to help me out in any way. BEYOND DISAPPOINTED AND VERY FRUSTRATED.

We booked a property on this site. # 8172193 Boutique Fishermans cottage .
We only needed 9 nights. The booking went through. The owner contacted us a few days after saying that the booking for 9 days would not work for her as she only lets for either 7 days or 14 days. Owner said that the homeaway system was at fault. Property owner suggested we go in and pay extra money to cover her costs even though we were only going to stay there for 9 nights. A ludicrous offer to pay for 14 nights and stay for 9.
We were travelling to UK from Australia and all the juggle back and forth and time zones to actually get someone to talk to "live" on the phone became a big problem to sort it all out before heading off on a big trip.
The owner then just deposited the money back into our account - essentially kicking us out of the booking - leaving me with 1 day to try and find alternative accommodation before I was flying out with my family the other side of the World.
I was limited taking an elderly Mother away after a knee reconstruction and needed property without a big walk. I found this behaviour on the property owners part very unreasonable. The outcome was that Homeaway did not take responsibility as they stated that it was the owners problem that it allowed the booking for days and not theirs. Homeaway did help us find alternative property however , and covered the extra charge as the only properties left at this stage were out of our budget which we appreciated but the reimbursement took 5 months to get back. But we did get it back and grateful The irony is that the property that kicked us out of the booking - we could see that it was vacant during this time anyhow!!!! So she lost out anyhow. If she had left us stay for the 9 days she would have had income. The treatment did cause a lot of stress and uncertainty but we appreciate that homeaway helped us out eventually. But the original property owner is another story - we lost money in international fees with currency conversions on transactions made and now out of pocket and still can remember the angst of trying to get it all sorted in a few days before flying the other side of the World.

It has taken me hours to get the refund for a house that I cancelled. I cancelled two days after booking with 5 months notice so I was due the full refund. The owner said that they had cancelled it with Home Away. Now I am still calling Home Away, over a month later, to get their service charge reversed. I will get all of the money back, but without my persistence this would not have happened. I wonder if they scam people and keep their money. This is a horrible business model.

Rented a cabin in MN. The cabin was great but the processes was a nightmare. We got over charged for additional guests even though it says It accommodates 14 guests. Anything over 8 was charged an additional $50/ guests. Even though we anticipated 14 girls only 9 came. We still got charged the additional guests charge and emailed the owner and customer service about asking for a refund which was completely ignored. It also took 24 days for our $1000 damage deposit to be refunded. The entire set up and run around was extremely frustrating. And my advice if youre going to book threw Home Away do yourself a favor and just say you have the min guests!

Okay site, bad customer service not friendly. AirBNB is much better. Does not respond until issue is an ongoing problem, both times used have been horrible.

My review was on a Pittsburgh Pa Homeaway rental from the 6/28 to 7/05 /17 @ 494 Sterling St Pittsburgh Pa Owner goes by Joey ! The view was nice the picture he posted shows the old furniture that's not The same white couch tho ! The walls needed painting the floor were filthy .Dead bugs Spiderwebs everywhere feces in toilet Supposedly he has a Maid ! No sign she had been there in months the neighbor told us how people come and leave within a hour because of the conditions ! The house had several boxes of baking soda like it was absorbing the funky odors. NOT ! Bed upstairs was on the floor and the dirty baseboards you would have had to roll over on to get up off the bed/ floor on ! We used a can of Raid up there but after seeing all the dead bugs We chose not to sleep up there ! Please come with your own linens towels etc like we did . We used his guest towels and linens to clean toilets floors etc and to walk or stand on ! The master bath was on the bottom floor and the sauna tub had the huges hairball I've ever seen . I pulled it out and vomited ! By the way I did return it to the drain before we moved out ! When I complained this man offered me Lunch or the Maid to return I asked for the maid and got NOTHING ! Smh ! He came off very sarcastic after several texting back and forth ! So I just decided to make the best of it and do this review .That Homeaway took down ! The furniture looked to be found off a curb on trash day ! But that wasn't the issue the issue was the house was nasty from top to bottom the kitchen was the cleanest part ! For the price and number of people in our party you could ask why complain ? I'm complaining because the place would be nice if it had a women's touch a real Maid and not Joey lying lazy butt ! Oh computer has No Sound ! The Tv is Apple TV so if you know nothing about it google because Joey was no help at all ! Also trash was piled and full when we arrived imagine how it looked when we left the raccoons and other wildlife had it every where trash day was Monday and No1 came to sit it out To shame to face us probably ! Oh and he say that you checkout later as long as you don't mind the MAID working around you Well wait on the maid and you can probably checkout a day later Lol ! Checkout was at 1pm I lef at about 7pm because I wanted to see the Maid !