Homeaway Woes

GemmaNelson

We are a small holiday rental and take many of our bookings through Homeaway. We are concerned that we have not received payment from Homeaway for our recent guests. Our communications with them have been met by obfuscation and excuses of ‘technical issues’.. After the huge hit of COVID-19 on our business, we can’t take the risk of future payments to Homeaway not being passed on to us by the Company, so we have reluctantly cancelled these bookings. We have read feedback from many others in the same position on review sites and are, frankly, very concerned. Is anyone else- either holidaymaker or property owner- having issues with Homeaway?

nyermen

Is this the company owned by Expedia Group?  Just wondering if there's a connection to the recent news that Expedia are rebranding them next month.  
Also, I'd think your money is safe unless Expedia are in trouble.

GemmaNelson

Hope you are right Peter. Yes, I believe they are part of Expedia, although I don’t necessarily think this will protect us as I think they are a separate trading Company and Expedia have almost certainly insulated themselves from Homeaway’s financial dealings...

bigspender1971

We booked a villa via Homeaway and due to lockdown, we couldn't actually travel there. The Villa Manager point blank refused to refund us, so I asked Homeaway what their policy was. They said it was up to the villa manager but said they (Homeaway) would refund our booking fee. I'm still hugely out of pocket and have raised a Section 75. If this fails, I will be naming and shaming, letting everyone know how atrocious the Villa Manager and Homeaway have been. I'll never use them again. 

isplumm

bigspender1971 said:

We booked a villa via Homeaway and due to lockdown, we couldn't actually travel there. The Villa Manager point blank refused to refund us, so I asked Homeaway what their policy was. They said it was up to the villa manager but said they (Homeaway) would refund our booking fee. I'm still hugely out of pocket and have raised a Section 75. If this fails, I will be naming and shaming, letting everyone know how atrocious the Villa Manager and Homeaway have been. I'll never use them again. 

I would be surprised if you will be successful - was the villa available? If so then I don't think you are entitled to a refund.
Mark