Frustrated with VRBO owners
 

I am really frustrated with VRBO owners. It seems very few owners update the calendar, even though VRBO specifically tells them to do so. I contacted 9 owners for dates next winter who, according to their calendar, had openings. 6 waited until I emailed twice and called ( I had to leave a message) and then finally emailed back they were booked!! I may have missed out on other bookings with such delay. Of the 9 VRBO owners I emailed, only 2 replied promptly. I'm still waiting for others. These have all been in the Phoenix area. Is this standard for US owners? I think they were waiting for repeat renters to commit, but be honest and tell me that. Also, I think cleaning fees of $200 are excessive. When a renter leaves, he takes all his stuff with him. Then we are told to wash one load, the dishes, etc. We did rent a place last month in the Phoenix area through VRBO from an owner in Canada and he was wonderful in responding. Maybe I need to work with Canadian owners!!!

I feel your pain. My heartburn has been with owners who supposedly have pet-friendly rentals and when you actually contact them they come up with a whole BUNCH of restrictions which IMO SHOULD have been included in the listing in order to prevent wasting time, both mine and theirs.

I've rented from vrbo many times and my strategy is to send requests to as many as possible and just see what responses I get. Usually there are so many to pick from, it doesn't matter if some don't respond. I agree with you on the cleaning fees! Especially when they ask you to do half of it before you leave. That's nuts. I won't rent from someone that charges more than $100 cleaning, unless the overall rate is really low.

I use the same strategy as Tally. Just contact every listing that looks interesting and then see who responds. If someone doesn't respond promptly, I don't wait for them. I assume that the unit is rented and move on.

The cleaning fee thing - I always consider the cost of the rental plus cleaning fee as the total cost of the rental. I don't really care how they break it out - it is better for them from a tax perspective to charge a lower rental rate and a higher cleaning fee because the rent is income and fees are not. So a $1000 rent plus a $200 cleaning fee is the same as a $1200 rent and no cleaning fee.

Good idea about emailing many. I'm doing that now. Didn't know about cleaning fee not being taxed - puts a new perspective on things, but still irritating. I am having better luck with Home Away owners responding. Any other owner rental sites to check out?

What you describe has not been my experience at all. Granted, I've only rented through vrbo twice, but both times the owners responded promptly and the deals were made quickly and mostly without any serious incident. I prefer to be contacted by email and it does bug me when the owners call me for an intial conversation. I've had a few get sort of pushy and keep calling.

I have much better luck with homeaway in terms of responses; not sure why.
It may be an advantage to have cleaning fee higher proportion of rent in the event of cancellation, since that has to be returned.

I also emailed quite a few, 6. Two responded promptly, 2 were responding with 'unavailable' and 2 reponded after I'd commited to my house. I chose between the 2 who were prompt and efficient. VERY haapy with my choice and and level of cooperation.

I'm a VRBO owner. I'm fairly happy with my listing, because I have the only property on VRBO in my community, which is a small planned neighborhood on a bluff in North Alabama, in the foothills of the Appalachians.

FWIW, VRBO has installed this new function that kicks in when a potential renter inquires about a specific property. A window pops up, (on the ad that that owner has paid for,) and asks, "have you considered these other properties". As a result, some potential tenants are sending out lots and lots in inquiries, and owners are experiencing a mirror image of what some of you have described, which is responding to the inquiries only to never receive a response back from their contact. This has only happened to me once, simply because, as I said, I have the only listing in my area, and while that window does pop up during an inquiry, it says, "Sorry, there are no other listings matching your inquiry."

VRBO's new focus seems to be to cater only to the traveler. They've allowed management companies to list properties.

I've specifically stated in my ad that }the owner manages this property." My vacation house is also my second home, and there are primitive antiques there that are from my family. So yes, sometimes I do like to speak personally with people who are staying there, but I don't ever want to appear pushy. I respond to all requests for information, but I don't contact more once without a response back. My house is not for everyone because of where it is. It is more of a quiet retreat y. type of propertSome of my neighbors live there full time and I need to be respectful of their enjoyment of their home.

Re: the cleaning fees, yes, the cleaning fees are not taxable, but the rent is. So lodging tax is charged against the rental portion, and income tax is paid on the rental portion, but the cleaning fees are exempt. I pay my cleaning person the full amount I charge for cleaning, which is a set amount for one couple, another amount for two couples (or a group using both bedroom suites) and then extra for each additional person up to 6 maximum occupants.

I know this is an old thread but perhaps this will shed some light on this issue from the other side.

I am renting out my own home this winter, but through an agency, not VRBO. I pay $175 for a full cleaning and that's just what is passed on to the customer, even though I pay it twice -- once before they arrive and once after they leave (I only rent it once for three months minimum).

As a renter myself, I won't stay in a place that doesn't charge a cleaning fee. I don't expect a place that was "cleaned" by tenants the morning they were leaving for the airport to meet MY standards or even near to it. I learned that the hard way, when I rented a place in Nice, France that claimed their costs were low because all tenants clean before they leave. We spent the first three hours in the apartment cleaning! And before we left we spent even longer, totally sanitizing and cleaning, mopping the floors, doing all laundry, and srubbing the bathroom top to bottom. I'd have gladly paid someone else to be doing one or both of those cleanings, but I realize that most people wouldn't begin to clean like we did.

I don't consider asking people to strip the beds, clean out their things from the refrigerator, wash their dishes and similar items to be a reason to lower the cleaning fee. In fact I'd rather not rent to someone who thinks it's fine to walk out the door with wet towels strewn about the floor and dirty dishes in the sink! Makes me wonder how they "lived" in my home while they were there!

I agree, I won't rent a place that I have to clean myself. For reasons Patrick mentioned.

We have had good luck on VRBO for the most part. The place we are renting next month has had the most amazing communication with the owner. He is on top of everything.

When I was doing inquiries in late August, I actually had one owner tell me they didn't know their holiday plans yet so weren't sure if the cabin was available. I let them know that we rented another place. But really...a few months before Christmas in a prime skiing area, and you don't know if you will rent or not? Needless to say I wouldn't even consider them for another time.

We advertised this past summer on VRBO and won't be doing it again. We also hired a rental manager who was listed as the contact and she shared with us some of the ridiculous inquiries. She always responded promptly and often had no further communication with the inquiring party.

If a calendar isn't updated, its may be because the date is in limbo. There is usually a lag between when someone verbally commits to a booking and when deposits are received. Sometimes 5-6 weeks or more.

Are you saying that you leave a sink full of dirty dishes?

Hi! Im a VRBO owner.
I understand your frustrations. I wonder if you are having issues on the other end of my situation.

My aggravation (with vrbos set up) is that when I have a "tentative" renter (basically waiting on paperwork) I get a ton of requests I set my calender to “tentative” for those dates. I always politely explain that I’m in paperwork waiting and ill get back to them.
So my home shows as "available" I wish there was a way for it to show tentative to prospective people? Would be nice..

Also as per the cleaning fee I have only had cleaning fees for one season now. After a number of renters left such a mess i couldn’t even fathom cleaning it up in an entire day and I started having to haul in 2 (wo)man cleaning crews.

Well this season what I've started doing is with my refundable damage deposit I've started issuing refunds on the cleaning fee (my fees 125 for a 2k sq ft. home) if the home is left in near perfect condition (conditions I can clean up in less than an afternoon etc etc kinda thing) I return the fee. That seems to be making folks very happy.

Cheers and Happy Renting folks!

I have a question about renting with VRBO. This is our first time using them or anything like this. I've contacted two people for the two the Hilo and Kona locations on Hawaii that we are going to stay at. (I haven't decided on the Maui location yet.) I called them instead of emailing first because I wanted to know if their dates were open. I got a good feeling about both places by talking to the owners.

The first place we are staying sent me an email saying it's ours for our dates and said we have to send in a check for the deposit of one nights stay. We asked when the balance was going to be due. There was no rental agreement mentioned, should I call her and ask for one. Does everyone that rents though VRBO have a rental agreement? I'm still waiting for confirmation on the dates from the second location.

Utahtea

VRBO has many issues these days FOR PROFIT totally owner controlled censored for profit touts a fair number of scammers reviews culled pics photoshopped deception at many levels deals are not that great any more I rarely use these days.One poor lady on Fodors lost $10k wiring money to an villa that did not exist long ago so I am always careful to pay with CC.

VRBO Security - Scam Alertwww.fodors.com/community/asia/vrbo-security-scam-alert.cfm Pretty scary stuff so Caveat Emptor...

Calling the owners instead of emailing provides alot of info. of course caveat emptor, but most owners are nice and honest.

Utahtea, I have only rented twice from VRBO but I spoke with each owner on the phone and their willingness to answer my questions convinced me to rent from them. They each emailed me a copy of a rental agreement which I had to sign and include with the check for the deposit. For the protection of both parties, I believe a rental agreement is essential and I would not rent without one. Contact the owner and ask for a rental agreement--it's entirely possible that she thought she had already sent it to you.

Utahtea, we have rented many times thru VRBO and always with a rental agreement. You need to be able to have everything in writing like cancelation policy, etc. I would call and ask for it.

A rental agreement will not help when you arrive at the house and there is a problem. You would still have to make other arrangements and then decide if you would even file a small claims court suit, since you will use up your vacation time to file and then would you return for a court appearance?? Most likely not. So, IF there is a problem, it isn't going to matter all that much whether or not you have an agreement or not.

I rented an apt in PARIS through VRBO without a rental agreement. I paid a deposit by US check, that was mailed to the owner [in reality, he would have had a tough time cashing it since it was in $]. I didn't speak to him, but we corresponded a lot by email. The whole process was as smooth as could be in the end.

I was concerned about the lack of a rental contract, but the info in my first paragraph was given to me by several people and it made sense. Either the deal is legit or it isn't and having a piece of paper won't change much.

I have rented VRBO with both contract and without contract and have had no problems. I did do a bit more research on the ones that did not provide a contract (web search for history, comments, etc).

I have had to cancel twice and in both cases was glad I had a contract spelling out I would get my deposit back because of canceling within the proper time frame that was spelled out within the contract.

It is very typical in the US that people (even good friends and family members) do not respond to mail, e-mail, Facebook, or other means of communication.

Also, wedding gifts and other gifts often go unacknowledged. Your cancelled check or delivery company tracking number confirmation are your thank you!

Good manners and financial planning are among the subjects not taught in many US homes and schools.

On the upside, those who do respond and have enough sense to say "thank you" often have something worthwhile to offer. I suggest that you send out three or four times more inquiries than you feel necessary in order to get the number of responses you need to find the dwelling that meets your requirements.

HTTY

Interesting comments here and since I'm new to the VRBO platform I remain curious as to how the brand is perceived on the consumer side. I like to think of my self as one of the good-guys in the private property management area but I'm hearing complaints here that are pretty basic to the rental task.
VRBO too has been a learning experience as I haven't wholly adopted their "system" starting with c/c either. Fact of the matter is that many of my clients are older and don't fully embrace credit card sales over the internet. Yes,! Still...
Oh and yes, manners matter and that caveat should apply the person making the inquiry as well. I make it a point to answer all inquiries received during the business day within a few hours and those received in the dead of night are generally out with current availablity by 7:00 a.m..Still can't quite figure out why the inquiry is central to availability when the calendar for such is central to the on-screen presentation.

For that matter everything central to the transaction is pretty much there as well including twenty-four photographs.

I am always interested in learning how to make a service better or BEST so I will continue to follow along here and make note of comments and whatnot.

Tks.,

-j

We don't rent our beach places thru VRBO, although we might in the future. We use to have the summer week long tenants either clean the apartment themselves or hire it out. This was satisfactory, especially since almost all the tenants were multi year tenants whom we know well. 3 years ago we decided to charge $200 more (for both cleaning and an inflation adjustment) per stay and have the cleaning done professionally. No one objected.

Last year we rented a place in Austria for 5 days. Although we left the place spotless, we still had to pay a 59 euro cleaning fee. That was all up front and not objectionable.

We have just been informed last minute that the place we rented 6 mths ago has been sold and now not available so we are left high and dry scrambling for a place. Still looking for my money to be refunded.

As a homeowner I do not charge a separate cleaning fee but I do hire a housekeeper to clean before and after rentals. hotels don't charge separately for cleaning so I don't either. I just take the cleaning fee out of the rent money.
I just read that some people don't rent a vacation home if there isn't a cleaning fee because they don't want clean. I never expect anyone to clean. Some of us just think cleaning should be included in the price.

One renter's "I cleaned it" is another's "You've GOT to be joking."

I'm not sure why people would balk at not paying a separate cleaning fee -- unless the information and contract state "you are responsible for the cleaning". That's my clue to look elsewhere. I know that many people on day of departure are scrambling to get to wherever they are going next, and it's hard to imagine many of them taking the time to scrub toilets, mop floors, change bed linens, and all the rest. In fact I'm willing to bet most just don't bother. But I've stayed in several VRBO and other "by owner" rentals without a separate fee, which clearly stated that the apartment WILL BE professionally cleaned before and after arrival.

I have a big feeling I wasted too much time not dealing with this but this thread has got me thinking....

I did an airbnb earlier this month. I just looked at the listing and the owners charge a $50 cleaning fee. However, the owner gave me a big discount as I was sort of on the fence and my booking would have coincided with another booking very nicely (her words). The location was terrific, but when I showed up I was literally appalled at the non-cleaning. There were dust bunnies everywhere and the tub/shower was old and had a few stray hairs in it. I realize I could have called the owner, but I just didn't. She couldn't renovate the bathroom and I just did a basic clean. The rest of the house was fine.

Then I got bit by a spider on my 3rd night there. I think it happened over night while I was sleeping. I woke up the next morning with a really bad reaction that was downright PAINFUL. It was as if my left shoulder blade had exploded. I ended up having to go to a clinic which cost me $85 plus antibiotics and my time. It still hurts almost 3 weeks later.

Because I didn't want to cause an issue I didn't tell the owner. Instructions called for the tenant (me) to strip the beds and put everything in the laundry area. I did that, but I didn't do much else to tidy up. I am very clean in general so there wasn't much to do. I just know that a professional cleaner was not there before my visit, but I don't know if the $50 cleaning fee was even utilized because I got a special deal. Lesson learned is the next time I do this I will ensure a professional cleaner is used. I advise everyone else to do the same!

I will say one thing - I live in a 2BR apartment in NYC (a very expensive place, as you all know) and I pay $80 for a cleaning. So when the fee is $100+ I find that suspect.

All owners should have the homes they rent out cleaned very well prior to a guest arriving. We, the owners, are running a business and we should conduct ourselves that way. We can choose to have the guests pay for the cleaning by charging a cleaning fee or pay for it ourselves with money from the rental proceeds but we should NEVER have guests arrive to a dirty house! The very last thing a guests wants to do after a long journey is to clean a house! My goodness.

These problems come with the territory and can be avoided by booking with reliable organizations, such as Marriott.

If you book a room at Hampton Inn and aren't 100% satisfied, they won't charge you for the room.

HTtY

<i>I will say one thing - I live in a 2BR apartment in NYC (a very expensive place, as you all know) and I pay $80 for a cleaning. So when the fee is $100+ I find that suspect.</i>

I used to think that too until I moved out of Los Angeles. Then I realized that living in a major metropolitan area had spoiled us in terms of the low cost of certain services due to fierce competition and no shortage of labor. Now I pay more for anything requiring labor and often have trouble finding someone to do it. Similarly, my parents have a 3BR condo in Hawaii that costs $300 to clean and they have a difficult time finding a reliable service.

You're right, and that's something I didn't think about. This Airbnb was in Nashville, which is still a city but not NYC. I used to worry when I moved here years ago I wouldn't be able to get manicures as much as when I lived in Chicago until I realized they cost half the price here! I just hope my spider bite isn't something more serious in the long run.

Nancy - can you please own all the places I'd like to rent?

HTTY - sometimes if you are staying in a place for a prolonged period of time you don't want to be stuck in a cramped hotel room for when a similar price range you can be in a big house.

<i>sometimes if you are staying in a place for a prolonged period of time you don't want to be stuck in a cramped hotel room for when a similar price range you can be in a big house</i>

I understand. My point was: <i>These problems come with the territory</i>. Those who want to live in a privately owned home assume the kinds of problems about which the OP complains.

HTtY

I've seen some not so clean hotel rooms in my lifetime too. Nothing is perfect.

"...until I realized they cost half the price here!"

Did you see the recent thread that explained why?

Scary stuff.

<i>I've seen some not so clean hotel rooms in my lifetime too.</i>

Yuck.

When I rent out my Florida townhouse (for a three month minimum stay) I usually pay my cleaning person about $275 each time. She not only dusts and vacumms and mops the floors, but throroughly scrubs the bathrooms and kitchen top to bottom, cleans out the refrigerator and ovens, washes all the windows (mainly sliding doors) inside and out, cleans all the balcony railings, uses a stepstool to climb and clean the ceiling fans and hanging light fixtures, vacuums all upholstery by removing the cushions (who wants to reach into the cushions and find someone else's popcorn or peanut? She opens every cabinet, vanity, and dresser, and completely wipes out the interior of every drawer. She moves furniture and vacuums or mops under everything, lifts, and mops under all area rugs as well as thoroughly cleaning the rugs themselves, and slat by slat polishes all the plantation shutters. She has an assistant and such a cleaning normally takes the two of them three to four hours. They bring all their own equipment and cleaners.

But skiergirl or others -- in any of you want to come and do all that for $80 please contact me!

By the way, I charge $175 cleaning fee, absorbing the rest -- and of course only charge the fee once per renter.