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The front page is at http://vrbo.com. If you like the idea of uncluttered self-catering vacation travel staying in some of the best maintained homes from home, take a peek. These are properties you would love to own yourself. All styles, party sizes, locations and budgets are catered for. ... Read review
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A review by Newfloridian on vrbo.com December 11th, 2002
Author's product rating:
Layout & Design
Good
Navigation
Excellent
How fast is this website?
Very fast
Search Facility
Good
Range of Services / Products
Good selection
Products & Services Pricing
Reasonable
Advantages:
Great holiday ideas, lovely properties worldwide
Disadvantages:
None really
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
No sooner has Christmas come and gone than it will be time to start thinking of the summer vacation. I have never been a one for the organised party or the package tour. I have always preferred to look after my own destiny and make all the arrangements myself. To this end I now book the family’s flights over the internet and wherever possible use e-tickets. I have loyalty cards with several airlines and a couple of hotel chains.
Our family (although not large) is quite diverse in its age range, activity and accommodation requirements. We do all agree that our experiences of self catering holidays have always been the most relaxing and enjoyable.
Some years ago, we started staying in villas rather than hotels. Initially booked through a travel agent I then chanced upon this web site where the vacation homes were privately owned even if they were maintained by local management companies. ‘Vacation Rentals by Owner’ (VRBO) is one of the largest such organisations on the net. They are based in Colorado but provide facilities for owners of properties worldwide. Naturally the large majority of properties are in the US (covering virtually every state) but there are also listings covering (amongst others) Australasia, China, Caribbean, UK, Denmark, Israel, South Pacific and Poland.
Navigation around the site it straightforward and can be browsed by country, region, state or town. I have found inspiration in browsing the various areas worldwide – both in considering new places to visit and arranging suitable places to stay. To date we have stayed in several villas in Florida and have also booked a Georgian apartment in London. I have found contact with the owners to be a very friendly affair. The standard of accommodation and maintenance is extremely high.
Each owner takes out a one year contract with VRBO and has the facility to display a description of the property, neighbourhood and local activities, three photographs (more on a separate page) and details of availability and rental charges. Facilities are also available that allow editing of pages by the owner to keep information up to date. It is also possible to download an availability calendar. Prospective clients then contact the owner by telephone or email (not through VRBO). This aspect is a free service to the client.
Three years ago, we ventured into the vacation ownership market ourselves. Although we have a local management agent who looks after some short term and seasonal bookings for us and maintains the villa, we have also subscribed to VRBO. Joining was simplicity itself. Our page was initially made up for us from our own text which we have subsequently edited and refined. The photographs were transmitted as jpeg files. We have also been able to provide a link to our own web site where we maintain a much larger library of photographs, anecdotes and descriptions of the villa and the surrounding area. VRBO also submit vacation home details to the major search engines on behalf of the owners. The VRBO staff have been very courteous throughout and we have had a steady stream of enquiries (5500 page hits since we went live in April 2000).
The front page is at http://vrbo.com. If you like the idea of uncluttered self-catering vacation travel staying in some of the best maintained homes from home, take a peek. These are properties you would love to own yourself. All styles, party sizes, locations and budgets are catered for. You'll be spoiled for choice. You might find, like me, that you become hooked.
Advantages: some honest owners Disadvantages: some unscrupulous owners and VRBO allows that
Excellent site BUT with exceptions and the real problem occurs when you notify VRBO of an inaccurate listing and they do nothing. Conseaquently consumers continued to get ripped off by the home owner you have already reported to them. They will tell you that they will act if they get several complaints BUT after the first one everybody is getting stiffed.
Case in point. VRBO listing 172614 in Ajijic Mexico........several blatant lies in listing. ... ...lied to we asked for a refund indicating we would not stay there. Owner refused and we went to a lawyer and are now in the process of suing her civilly..........helluva way to spend a vacation.
VRBO has been nontified and the listing has not been changed so others will be deceived. Understand that the homeowners are VRBO' s customers but it only works if consumers rent their properties. Cant do business long distance unless everyone is totally honest.........not ...
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06.02.2009
Quick review of vrbo.com Review ofvrbo.comby
floandsteve
We also had a bad experience with VRBO, in Santa Fe, NM. We had used the site 2 yrs ago and stayed in a wonderful casita. Our Christmas/New Years rental this year was a disaster. The photos were deceptive; there were no drawers in the place. The shower and toilet broke during our stay. We are contesting our bill through American Express. I think VRBO is now used by owners who are only renting out properties. It might help to ask when you call to make a reservation is "Does the owner live in this Casita?" We were shocked to find that the website's "guest comments" do not appear AT ALL unless the owner approves.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful
05.01.2008
Quick review of vrbo.com Review ofvrbo.comby
wilburmemo
What is the point of submitting a negative review of a VRBO property when it has to pass approval with the properties owner before it can be posted?
We just returned from our worst experience in a Vacation rental home ever and I have rented dozens of private homes off the internet for years. In our case it was property #94224 in QuintanaRoo, Mexico. A completely misrepresented property on the website and a total rip-off.
Any property that has no feedback from prior occupants should be completely suspect as absolutely no one provided a positive comment and the untold negative comments are simply kept from being posted by the properties owner.
VRBO only facilitates the rip-offs with this kind of inane policy.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
helpful
25.02.2008
(24.02.2008)
Quick review of vrbo.com Review ofvrbo.comby
arsmes
Beware! Rented a property called Peninsularhouse in the Florida Keys, this property needed work, some amenities not as listed, had to beat the owner with a stick to get my deposit back. VRBO only shows good reviews because owners censor any bad reviews. This is the first time however, out of many properties rented through VRBO that I had a problem.
Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful
Advantages: lots of listings in 1 place Disadvantages: no protections from unscrupulous owners
I used VRBO for a trip to Hawaii recently and discovered it isn't all its cracked up to be. Two things really stood out -
1) owner sets refund policy. This might seem reasonable, but VRBO provides no (zero, zip, nada) recourse in the event an owner has completely misrepresnted their property. If you end up at a property that isn't what you had in mind for your vacation (not exactly a wonderful time to discover it), small claims court (probably in ... ...should have checked into this in advance, but (stupidly) assumed VRBO held owners responsible in some way to deliver what they promised. 2) 'owner approved' reviews. This means the only reviews you read are those the owner has approved. Again, I should have discovered this in advance, but it isn't that obvious, nor does it make a lot of sense. Once I'd discovered a property was badly misrepresented, I decided to look at all the reviews. Turns out ...
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