Maybe this should go in People Talk; if so, feel free to move it.

I've just confirmed a reservation at Blue Marine in Maho for November/December. When communicating with the owner regarding the deposit, there was a discrepancy between the deposit stated in his rental agreement vs. what my card would be charged per the VRBO website. When I asked about the discrepancy, he said it was a new fee VRBO was levying and that the difference goes to VRBO. He wasn't pleased about it, nor am I. It appeared to be about 5% of the rental amount.

Does anyone else know anything about this? Have you experienced a fee levied by VRBO?

yes, it is a new fee. If the same property is offered on Trip Advisor, no fee. And I believe VRBO and TA are all owned by the same company. So I'm sure TA will go the same way, eventually.

I list our villa on VRBO, and my understanding is that an owner has an option to choose online booking, in which case VRBO does not charge the owner an annual LISTING fee, but will charge the owner a "commission" for each booking, and also charge the renter a processing fee. The other option for us owners is to continue to pay an annual listing fee and not sign up for online booking, in which case there is no fee on either end. That is the option I will choose when my renewal comes up, but by not choosing the online booking option, I will drop down the pecking order of my listing being seen by potential renters. C'est la vie.
For the record, VRBO is owned by HomeAway and TripAdvisor is owned by Expedia.

VRBO and it's parent company (Home Away)were purchased last fall by Expedia. The new fees have all up in arms. In the news today there have been some adjustments to the fees as it appears that bookings are down, but the fee to the renter is staying, and is similar to Airbnb.

This is a relatively new situation, which is discussed here and here . I understand that MANY owners are very upset abou the whole situation.

Wow - not sure how I missed all that. Thanks for the links.

Re: VRBO fee

1)The fee is as mentioned BUT there is no additional CC fee,

2)"Contact owner direct" sounds simple but you HAVE to go through VRBO message link to get to the owner and all correspondence is recorded "for the protection of both parties". Any inclusion of an email address on either side is redacted out.

Our 2017 rental owner subtracted a 20% "long term rental discount" to get around the fee which actually worked out better for us

I have my Lewes, De., house #596843 (I just love my house) on VRBO and I pay the regular booking fee and extra for premium listing and they charge my guests the fee. I am considering giving my guests the fee back in cash. The fee is up to 9% if only rented for 3 days. Believe me we are angry about it and are looking for
alternatives. This is my 1st full year of renting and thank God most of my guests booked early.
Carol this may be a good opportunity for you and Eric...list properties for rent on SXM.