VRBO.com

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records this consumer was contacted via email on 11/3/2016 regarding Marketplace Standards.   What are the HomeAway Marketplace standards? To be sure owners and managers who list with us are providing the experience travelers expect, we have created best practices known as our “marketplace standards.”   How does this Marketplace benefit my business? Our goal is to provide you the most bookings possible, and to do so we need to provide travelers with a simple and secure online booking experience. These marketplace standards help make it easier to book, give travelers security in their booking experience so they are more likely to return to the marketplace in the future.   HomeAway Marketplace Standards By following these standards, you will benefit in improved visibility to travelers looking to book your property on the HomeAway site and an overall better experience for you and your guests. Owners and property managers are expected to adhere to the following standards when listing a property on the HomeAway network of sites through both our pay-per-booking and subscription listing models.    Marketplace Standards       All bookings from HomeAway travelers must be processed through HomeAway checkout or reported through an integrated software. This includes language, URLs, phone numbers, content around avoiding the service fee or any other request on your listing that attempts to direct travelers to another website or to book outside of HomeAway checkout.     You must accept a material number of booking requests. While we understand that not all booking requests are desirable for your property, you should accept a material number of the requests.     You cannot cancel a material number of confirmed reservations.  Canceling a confirmed reservation is a huge disappointment and can result in lost time, money and a bad overall experience for travelers.     You must maintain an accurate calendar. Your calendar should be kept accurate at all times. This will save potential travelers from spending time submitting booking requests for unavailable dates and you time in having to respond about availability.     You cannot use one listing to drive bookings for multiple unlisted properties.     Offenses to these are violations of our Terms and Conditions. These standards are intended to minimize risk and provide the best experience possible for you and your travelers. Should any of these be violated, your listing is subject to less visibility to travelers, penalties that include but are not limited to removing or disabling your ability to receive inquiries, demotion or removal from search results, or removal from the listing site all together without any refund. ---------------------------     [redacted] Trust & Security Lead | HomeAway, Inc.

VRBO
New Policy - to take as much money from anyone and everyone who's stupid enough to use our website.

To clarify when a credit card is used on our site for a booking the charge will show as HomeAway.  HomeAway offers a service to our vacation rental owners or managers to accept credit cards  though a third party credit card processing company VacationRentPayment (VRP) HomeAway. HomeAway is not the merchant of record. However so that travelers will clearly recognize they booked a property they found on the HomeAway site, a travelers credit card statement will show HomeAway, since the consumer may not recognize the name VacationRentPayment (VRP)According to our Terms and Conditions:The Site is a Venue and We are Not a Party to any Rental Agreement or other Transaction Between Users of the Site.We urge all users to be responsible about their use of this Site and any transaction entered into as a result of either listing a property or renting a property.  We do not own or manage, nor can we contract for, any vacation rental property listed on a Site. HomeAway.com and other Sites act as a venue to allow homeowners and property managers who advertise on the Site (each, a “member”) to offer for rent in a variety of pricing formats, a specific vacation or short term rental property to potential renters or renters (each, a “traveler” and, collectively with a member, the “users”). "Members" may also include property owners or managers who originally advertised their properties on another website and their listings have been redistributed on the Site. We also may offer online booking or other tools or services to allow users to communicate with each other and enter into rental agreements or other transactions.  We are not a party to any rental or other agreement between users.  This is true even if the Site allows you to book a rental or provides other ancillary products or services, as the Site may facilitate booking a rental or other tools, services or products, but we are not a party to any rental or other agreement between users.As a result, any part of an actual or potential transaction between a traveler and a member, including the quality, condition, safety or legality of the properties advertised, the truth or accuracy of the listings (including the content thereof or any review relating to any property), the ability of members to rent a vacation property or the ability of travelers to contract for properties are solely the responsibility of each user. You acknowledge and agree that you may be required to enter into one or more separate agreements, waivers or terms and conditions prior to making a booking or purchasing a product or service and may place additional restrictions on your booking, product or service.Responsibility for applicable laws, rules and regulations:  Users agree that they are responsible for, and agree to abide by, all laws, rules and regulations applicable to their use of the Site, their use of any tool, service or product offered on the Site and any transaction they enter into on the Site or in connection with their use of the Site.

I recently booked an apartment at vrbo.com for my family vacation. But the day before my scheduled arrival, the owner informed me he had to cancel my reservation because of emergency. As a traveler, you'll never want to be in this kind of nightmare. It is even worse that vrbo.com/HomeAway told me they could do nothing about it except letting me file a complaint to the owner. In vrbo's own words, "we are an advertising venue". I filed the complaint, but you can imagine what this kind of owner would do - No response at all. What frustrated me more is when I rated this owner a 1 star out of 5 on vrbo.com, they rejected my rating saying "It would appear you did not stay at the property being reviewed". They want to protect this kind of irresponsible owner! If you are a traveler, never rent on vrbo.com. They just take your money but commit for nothing.