Are you an ardent traveler who always looks for accommodation in a new city or a country? VRBO can really be a boon for you.

Know About VRBO

VRBO stands for Vacation Rentals by Owner. The site offers a vast and impressive range of vacation rentals all across the world. The platform connects users to property owners worldwide so that they can easily book them without facing any difficulty. On the other hand, property owners can list their properties for rent so that travelers can easily find them to stay.

It has a rich catalog of properties ranging from gigantic mountain cabins for adventurers to calm and conventional homes to lavish apartments to contemporary houses.

 

PROS

• Amazing private properties
• Good for big and long family stays
• User-friendly interface
• Pet friendly
• The subscription fee option saves money for hosts
• Guest reviews are helpful

CONS

• High service fees
• Restricted rental options
• High taxes

History of VRBO

The brand came into existence in 1995. It started it’s journey as a vacation rental marketplace. However, in 2006, HomeAway acquired it. After a few years, Expedia acquired HomeAway. As a result, VRBO has now become a part of Expedia Group. The travel and hospitality giant collaborated with both VRBO and HomeAway in 2020 to offer a wide range of services, choices, and products to ardent travelers.

Currently, VRBO has over 2 million properties in over 190 nations. The properties include condos, homes, apartments, castles, treehouses, beach houses, etc. However, it doesn’t offer shared accommodations such as hostels or serviced apartments. Broadly, one can find out private properties, especially homes.

How Does VRBO Work? How To Book On the Platform?

If you are aware of Airbnb then you may not find any difficulty in making a booking on VRBO. To make a booking, one has to use it’s smart filter that helps you to pick the best and most apt accommodation effortlessly. You can select a number of rooms, property types, amenities, house rules, etc.

Every property listed on VRBO has a particular rating to help users to pick accordingly. In fact, one can also read reviews right at the bottom of every property.

In case, if you are not sure about the property but you want to keep it then you can easily save it to a ‘Trip Board’. Later, you can come back and book it.

However, if you book a property and the property owner accepts the booking, you can easily interact with them to get the property specifications, check-in procedure, etc.

The best part is that VRBO gives a Book With Confidence Guarantee that ensures every traveler’s safety against fraudulent listings, activities, and transactions. It also gives instant access to the team of specialists who deals with re-booking.

The team of re-booking specialists helps users with a new booking in case an owner cancels it at the last moment due to any reason.

However, it doesn’t act as trip insurance. If you will cancel the booking, then you won’t get any refund.

How To Sign Up On VRBO?

In order to get started on VRBO, one has to signup. The signup process requires your name and email ID. After that, you can fill in some optional columns such as a short bio, a picture, preferences, etc.

If you wish to get verified the VRBO will ask for your permanent address, date of birth, and some other details. If it’s successful then you will get a badge of a verified guest. A verified account usually gets more attention and is considered reliable by hosts. After all, hosts can only see that you are a verified guest. Hence, on the basis of that, they will accept your booking.

How To Find Your Rental on VRBO? Know the step-by-step guide

To find an apt rental as per your requirements, VRBO offers a versatile range of filters. These filters will take you to the desired home without wasting much time or making much effort. The prominent filters include the number of bedrooms, price, availability, location, and amenities.

Moreover, users can also make use of some strong filters to get to their dream rental easier than ever. These filters include:

–              Property type

–              Castles

–              Yachts

–              Lodges

–              Nearby activities such as theme parks, skiing, fishing, pools, etc

–              Premier Hosts who have special badges given from VRBO

–              Reviews and pictures

How To Book & Pay On VRBO?

Once you have found your dream property to stay during the vacation it’s time to book and pay. There are two steps to follow to make or confirm a booking:

–              24 hours confirmation

Here you need to send a booking request to the host’s property. The host will then confirm with you within 24 hours.

–              Instant book

This is the instant way to book without waiting for approval from the host.

However, in both ways, you have to furnish your travel details, including arrival and departure dates, number of guests, pets, special requirements, etc. You can also make some special requests to host if any.

Apart from the booking fees, there are some other charges, including cleaning fees, service fees are taken by VRBO, etc.

VRBO takes the payment via MasterCard, VISA, and American Express. You can either make a full payment or in installments, depending upon the host.

In case your host wants a full payment, VRBO still offers you to pay in installments through it’s special collaboration with Affirm loan firm. The loan company gives you the facility to pay the vacation rental in installments even post-stay.

However, the loan partner offers the installment facility to only qualified users and for limited properties in America.

How Does the Check-in Work?

Well, the check-in process entirely varies from property to property. However, one can easily access any property rental via a lockbox that comes with a key, or a code to open a door. VRBO sends a confirmation mail about the rental 3 days prior to the stay via email. The mail carries all the essential details related to the stay, check-in, check-out, etc.

How Safe is VRBO?

VRBO is a legal, reliable, and reputed online rental platform. One can trust the platform without keeping any kind of doubt. However, one needs to be very careful as it involves a stranger entering your house for the first time.

Safety tips for guests and hosts

Unlike, Airbnb, VRBO doesn’t perform background checks on guests. However, it does offer badges for verified users. Hence, hosts must allow verified users into their houses.

–              For guests also VRBO offers an option of Premier Host. It is given to the hosts with exceptional features and rapport. Hence, guests can also pick them up to avoid any kind of inconvenience while staying at any property.

–              When it comes to the payment part, it’s completely protected on VRBO. However, avoid dealing directly with the host. In such cases, VRBO can’t help in anyways.

–              In case of natural disasters such as earthquakes, volcanoes, hurricanes, etc, guests can contact VRBO to get an update. However, if you haven’t started your journey then it’s advised to get in touch with the host to discuss.

How To Cancel a Booking on VRBO?

The cancellation process is pretty simple on VRBO. All you need is to:

–              Sign up

–              Visit the ‘My Trips’ option

–              Select ‘Change or Cancel trip

Now, you can easily view the cancelation policy for the property you have booked. If you are eligible for cancellation, then you will see the Cancel Booking option right on the screen. Otherwise, you need to select ‘Request Cancellation’ in order to request the host to process the cancelation.

The cancelation policy entirely depends on the host. However, VRBO gives you 14 days to cancel the booking before check-in to get a full refund.

However, the platform offers 5 different cancellation policies, including:

–              Relaxed: Here, 100% amount gets refunded if it’s canceled 14 days prior to the check-in

–              Moderate: Here also 100% of the amount is refunded if it’s canceled 30 days prior to the check-in

–              Firm: Here, one has to cancel at least 60 days prior to the check-in to avail 100% refund.

–              Strict: Similarly, one has to cancel 60 days prior to the check-in to get a 100% refund.

–              None: No refund is given once the booking is confirmed.

 

How To Deal With An Issue On VRBO?

If you will face any kind of issue while booking a rental on VRBO then you can reach out to the ‘Contact Us’ option given on the website. Here you can directly get in touch with the customer support team. Also, choose the Book With Confidence option to get an immediate alternative booking if a host cancels your booking unexpectedly within 30 days of your stay.

The customer support team is available round the clock. One can reach out to the team via 1-877-202-4291.

Money Saving Tips on VRBO

We all want to save money in order to utilize it somewhere else. On VRBO, guests can save money smartly and effortlessly by choosing the right methods of booking. Although prices are mostly set by hosts, there are some result-proven tricks to save money.

• Your stay should be longer

If you will book a longer stay then most hosts can give you some good discounts. It’s a smart trick that can save you a lot of money. The longer the better.

• Redeem your credit card points

There are some credit cards that offer travel points to redeem for travel services or products. Since VRBO is quite a popular rental platform, most credit cards allow you to redeem points to book a rental stay on VRBO.

• Book in an off-season

VRBO keeps changing it’s prices every day.  During the peak season, it charges higher than the normal days. For instance, if you are going to book during the Christmas season, then you have to pay higher charges. So, try to book during the off-or-shoulder season.

Customer Reviews: What Do People Feel About VRBO?

VRBO is older than Airbnb. Hence, it has a loyal customer base and garnered more reviews. When it comes to it’s rating on some leading review portals then it has:

–              2 out of 5 on Customer Affairs

–              4.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot

The above ratings are recorded in April 2020.

However, VRBO has also received a lot of criticism for it’s cancelation and refund policies during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In fact, some property owners/hosts have also complained about it’s payment policy. They have complained about the high fees and customer support.

When it comes to positive reviews, then many people mention it’s premium guests, effective customer support, and excellent search results.

FAQs

How much commission does VRBO charge from hosts?

VRBO has two options:

–              Commission model

–              Subscription model

If a host will choose a commission model then he has to pay 5% on every booking along with a 3% extra processing fee

If a host will pick the subscription model then they can pick a 12-month VRBO subscription by paying $499 in one go without paying on every booking.

• Does VRBO charge a fee from guests upon booking?

Yes, it does charge a service fee that keeps changing. It is being added to the nightly rate and upon taxes and extra fees.

• What’s the general pricing on VRBO?

VRBO offers competitive and reasonable pricing across all the property rentals listed in every category. The night rates keep changing as per the time, season, and availability. However, one can easily get a rental stay under $50 per night.

 

VRBO Alternatives

Apart from VRBO, there are some more popular online property rentals platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com. However, Airbnb and Booking.com also offer shared rooms, hotel rooms, and private rooms. Moreover, both platforms have properties all across the world. VRBO primarily focuses on the US.