I have rented through VRBO a few times and the contact has been through the owner. I find if you go back to the same place/ owner year after year you end up by passing vrbo and you can get a better deal which I have received. In fact I am booking New Hampshire for August and have rented the same place for a few years and the owner already told me book directly through her vs vrbo to save the charges and she is also giving me a discount for being a repeat customer. So I guess depends how you use it. I have booked the 3 additional days through GoBeach and the villa as I have used Annemarieke for around 16 years now. I trust her opinion on places to rent and the process to rent. I think I just had a lack of judgement when I looked at VRBO for a 3 day rental.. she was more than happy to find a few places I could pick from and the price was $200.00 lower through her than vrbo for basically the same type of rental.