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Renting from VRBO
#92344
03/30/2016 08:02 PM
03/30/2016 08:02 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 711 Rosemont, Pa & Lewes, De.
LeeLee
OP
Traveler
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OP
Traveler
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 711
Rosemont, Pa & Lewes, De.
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Knowing that quite a lot of people on this forum rent through VRBO I want you to be aware of the following: Since Expedia bought VRBO, they are charging a service fee to the renter on a scale of 3% to 9% of the TOTAL rental price which includes cleaning fees, taxes, etc. We owners are up in arms but there isn't much we can do. I personally am going to "eat" the fee.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: charlieh]
#92346
03/30/2016 08:52 PM
03/30/2016 08:52 PM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 711 Rosemont, Pa & Lewes, De.
LeeLee
OP
Traveler
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OP
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 711
Rosemont, Pa & Lewes, De.
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Maybe if you contact the owner and do things privately you can bypass the fee. This is such a shame! Expedia is not only gouging the customers but you may be directed to their hotels. Sneaky people! It's really hurting the owners. I pay close to a thousand dollars a year to be on VRBO. It's plain greed!
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: kim]
#92349
03/30/2016 10:01 PM
03/30/2016 10:01 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 185
VitaMan
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 185
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Airbnb charges the renter a 6$ fee on the rental price, and while they do not charge the owner a listing fee, the charge us a 5% booking fee for each placement. Like LeeLee, I net down the 6% renter's fee and absorb that myself as well. It will be interesting to see if my VRBO activity drops off as the result of the imposition of the renter's fee. I may not renew my listing with them if that's the case.
If life dealt you a full house, don't complain you didn't get a royal flush.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: kim]
#92351
03/30/2016 10:33 PM
03/30/2016 10:33 PM
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Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 185
VitaMan
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 185
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Must be a sliding scale then, depending on the amount of the rental. The less the rental charge, the higher the fee, and visa versa. They probably feel they need to get at least a minimum amount to cover their processing costs.
If life dealt you a full house, don't complain you didn't get a royal flush.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: ApeBro]
#92353
03/31/2016 06:50 AM
03/31/2016 06:50 AM
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,687 Newtown, CT
kim
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 4,687
Newtown, CT
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My Airbnb transaction was easy and was not a wire transfer, we paid by credit card, and I also conversed with the owner via Facebook. The other unit we rented was through Homeaway, and that transaction was paid through a wire transfer. So all depends how it's set up. But I agree, i would never do a wire transfer again. Many times the unit is listed on several sites, so always good to do some research.
Last edited by kim; 03/31/2016 07:43 AM.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: ApeBro]
#92355
03/31/2016 08:09 AM
03/31/2016 08:09 AM
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Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,883
Bahston
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 1,883
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ApeBro said: I'm very leary of Airbnb. We did a few searches for condos and were contacted by an "owner" through Airbnb. It was a crazy cheap price on some 6 bedroom villa in Terres Basses. My husband was skeptical and did some research. Someone had hacked into the site and was contacting email addresses that searched. Hubby finally found the actual owner and let him know of the scam. I'm still getting the odd email, supposedly on Airbnb's behalf giving us deals. I would be very careful. Having said that, I always get nervous when companies ask for a wire transfer. We take the hit of the credit card fee on VRBO or HomeAway just to be safe. Worth it for a bit of insurance in my opinion. Similar problems have happened with VRBO. One of the things which VRBO suggests is that you communicate with the villa owner/manager using the phone number in the listing, not one which has been emailed to you, in order to verify that you're dealing with the actual owner/manager and not someone who has hacked the account/email.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: LeeLee]
#92356
03/31/2016 08:16 AM
03/31/2016 08:16 AM
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,086 Massachusetts
boucharda
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,086
Massachusetts
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We have rented through Homeaway/VRBO many, many times and never paid a booking fee. We are presently in our next to last week of a six week home rental in Cape Coral, FL.
When booking next years visit I noticed a "booking fee" of $499 for a 7 week rental and did some research. They now charge a fee of 4-10% depending on rental cost to a max of $499 (they say average is 6%) but it also eliminates the credit card surcharge and kinda mandates (for safety) that method of payment. I also found that this was usually cheaper than AirBNB.
..and...re: contacting the owner directly via email...they now encrypt ANY email address put in the booking request so ALL communications have to be through them...and..if they find out that this was somehow defeated they will ban the owner from any future rentals through Homeaway and VRBO.
Nice.... <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/Yikes.gif" alt="" />
Oh, I forgot...this was started the 2nd week of February 2016
Duh...edit #2...the owner we rented from gave us a 20% discount and itemized it as "long term rental" to help (it obviously exceeded) the booking fee.
Last edited by boucharda; 03/31/2016 08:23 AM.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: VitaMan]
#92359
03/31/2016 09:00 AM
03/31/2016 09:00 AM
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 711 Rosemont, Pa & Lewes, De.
LeeLee
OP
Traveler
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OP
Traveler
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 711
Rosemont, Pa & Lewes, De.
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I pay a little over $1000.00 a year (just looked it up). What it seems they are doing now is spreading the fee money across the board so it includes all there holdings. VRBO was working just fine but they saw an opportunity to make their other companies more profitable off the backs of VRBO owners. That is my opinion and that of thousands of other owners.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: kim]
#92361
03/31/2016 01:19 PM
03/31/2016 01:19 PM
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,086 Massachusetts
boucharda
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,086
Massachusetts
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Homeaway has acquired around 20 rental companies (VRBO is one) since 2005...most operate under their original name. No clue why they don't combine but maybe brand loyalty/familiarity to each one is important
Sometimes when doing a search on VRBO the rental ID number has "HA" after it indicating the original listing is on Homeaway (and vise versa)
Last edited by boucharda; 03/31/2016 01:21 PM.
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: SeaStar]
#92363
04/02/2016 01:58 PM
04/02/2016 01:58 PM
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Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,086 Massachusetts
boucharda
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 5,086
Massachusetts
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or should we expect to see tax, cleaning and vbro service charge? The above.... I always paid FL tax and cleaning fee...now a Homeaway booking fee was added to my recent 2017 rental I should add the tax is location dependent..some charge..some do not
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Re: Renting from VRBO
[Re: LeeLee]
#92364
04/06/2016 04:13 PM
04/06/2016 04:13 PM
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Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 559 Florida & Beacon Hill, SXM
GaryB
Traveler
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Traveler
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 559
Florida & Beacon Hill, SXM
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Agree with most of what you are saying. I am an owner of a SXM rental on VRBO. If the owner is a paid upfront advertiser (like me) rather than a per booking advertiser you can contact the owner via email or by an inquiry on the site. It is ONLY if you book AND pay via VRBO will they charge their service fee payable to VRBO (not owner.) As an owner you have to go to the VRBO site, sign in and check the inquire. In it you will see the email address and or phone number of the party. The automatic email sent to you as an owner will (as someone has said) have the email address hidden. So, as an owner you can still book guest. As a guest you can pay direct to owner and avoid the VRBO fees. At least for now. (they will most likely phase out the one fee ad rate to prevent this in future.) <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/duh.gif" alt="" />
Good luck and happy travels. GaryB <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/handshake.gif" alt="" />
GaryB
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