Darcy03231
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 1, 2006
I know people here who rent through VRBO. I've done so for years and never had an issue, until now.
Last July I rented a home for my family to stay in for my daughter's wedding. It's in a resort town on a holiday weekend (Columbus Day), so I booked early (15 months ahead) and paid the booking in full per the owners rules.
Last night, 2 weeks before we were supposed to arrive, the owner canceled. The reason was that their plans had changed and they decided to stay in the house! They issued a refund. When I let them know what a bind it put me in they said they didn't contact me earlier because they weren't sure what their plans were going to be and there might be a chance I could have stayed there, so they wanted to wait until their plans were finalized before canceling my reservation.
The problem is there is nothing to rent - - all the houses/condos are booked as are the hotels. It's prime foliage season in the northeast and a holiday weekend to boot. VRBO was not at all helpful. They classified the cancelation as COVID related and wouldn't honor their book with confidence guaranty and even attempt to help find me a new rental.
The resort where the wedding is at has been wonderful and they are reaching out to everyplace they can think of to try to get us rooms. We've been bumped to first on their cancelation list. We live about an hour away so worst case is that we will just have to travel back and forth for the weekend. It would have been much worse if we were coming from any distance. If you absolutely need rooms and your plans are not flexible I would highly recommend booking a hotel through a national chain. VRBO owners can cancel you at the last minute, for any reason, with no repurcussions.
Last July I rented a home for my family to stay in for my daughter's wedding. It's in a resort town on a holiday weekend (Columbus Day), so I booked early (15 months ahead) and paid the booking in full per the owners rules.
Last night, 2 weeks before we were supposed to arrive, the owner canceled. The reason was that their plans had changed and they decided to stay in the house! They issued a refund. When I let them know what a bind it put me in they said they didn't contact me earlier because they weren't sure what their plans were going to be and there might be a chance I could have stayed there, so they wanted to wait until their plans were finalized before canceling my reservation.
The problem is there is nothing to rent - - all the houses/condos are booked as are the hotels. It's prime foliage season in the northeast and a holiday weekend to boot. VRBO was not at all helpful. They classified the cancelation as COVID related and wouldn't honor their book with confidence guaranty and even attempt to help find me a new rental.
The resort where the wedding is at has been wonderful and they are reaching out to everyplace they can think of to try to get us rooms. We've been bumped to first on their cancelation list. We live about an hour away so worst case is that we will just have to travel back and forth for the weekend. It would have been much worse if we were coming from any distance. If you absolutely need rooms and your plans are not flexible I would highly recommend booking a hotel through a national chain. VRBO owners can cancel you at the last minute, for any reason, with no repurcussions.