What has happened at VRBO?

I’ve had several enquiries from home owners in the last month asking about some unusual charges levied by VRBO, so I thought it might be worth updating you here.

Since February, VRBO has started charging every guest who books with them a service fee in addition to any charges levied by you.

100% of this money goes direct to VRBO.

Inevitably, there is a lot of anger about this (just do a quick search online and you’ll find VRBO approval ratings are through the floor on ratings sites – and even talk of class actions against VRBO).

I think a lot of the anger stems from the fact that VRBO isn’t giving us a choice.  Plus, they introduced it with little warning and poor explanation.

The problem is that VRBO already charge owners a hefty chunk of commission, so charging guests as much as another 9% again simply seems greedy.

There is also anecdotal evidence to suggest that bookings made through the site are falling off for some home owners as a result of these changes.

But why are VRBO doing this and what should you do about it?  Read my full advice here.