Anyone with experience with VRBO?

1

I know it is a different app, but does anyone have any experience with VRBO? I have been on it for a while and up to this point I have had only one person contact me about a room and they were obviously a scammer wanting to pay me with a third party check. No thanks. I tried to contact VRBO to report the guy and never was able to reach a real person. Now all of a sudden I have a request for a room for a month. If something happens (damage to property, failing to leave as scheduled, etc.) is VRBO going to settle it for me? Can I actualy count on them to support me? Maybe I am just more used to the Airbnb app and feel more comfortable with it, but my first impression of VRBO is not a good one and now I am a bit nervous about this one month guest coming up on April 1st. Any advice will be appreciated.

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you are not allowed to list a room on vrbo…only independent space.
no vrbo will not settle anything for you. It is up to you to be a businessperson for your property.
You should have a contract between you and the person.

3

Given the new eviction rules in the US I would be very careful about taking anyone for a month, even with a contract. I would want to know why the person is booking, have a cash deposit equal to the month’s rent and more. Be prepared to have a roommate not paying rent in months 2 and beyond.

I know nothing about VRBO but wouldn’t take the booking.

4

So, does VRBO not have the persons card on file and can charge for damages or debts similar to what Airbnb does? Do they even send us the money for the trip like Airbnb or do I have to collect all money myself from the guest. The site seems so hard to understand and I tried calling and talking to someone there and waited for an hour before giving up. My experience with them is not starting out well.

5

I’m sorry I’m not familiar with VRBO. You should probably not count on anyone or anything but yourself right now. If you can’t manage your own rental with background checks, contracts and deposits then you should shut down in the interim. The tourist business has crashed and everyone is cutting staff. Don’t count on anyone to save you now. There aren’t enough lifejackets on this ship.

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6

I can’t imagine not getting an answer at VRBO. I always get a person with little to no hold time when I need to contact them. (Edit: under normal circumstances. times of worldwide pandemic and all…)

Take some time to go through their documentation.

You have the option of requiring a damage deposit, or offering the guest a damage protection policy instead. Some of my guests choose to pay the fully refundable ($1500) deposit instead of buying the $1500 policy for $59.

https://help.vrbo.com/articles/What-is-Damage-Protection

Search threads here for ‘VRBO’. Many of us host there and threads in this forum exist.

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7

The help section on VRBO/HA is pretty good. Follow the link @LoneStar posted and have a read, it’s all pretty straightforward.

JF

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8

VRBO charges a deposit based on your requirements. For me it’s $500. If you haven’t specified a deposit, I don’t think they will charge one.

Unlike Airbnb, they actually collect and hold the deposit for 2 weeks after the end of the stay, unless you instruct them to release it earlier. I would want to have a thorough understanding of why they are booking when most people are staying put.

Make sure you understand their payout process. It’s changed recently and hosts were up in arms over it. I only get a few bookings a year from them, but have gotten good repeat guests. Good luck.

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