Hurricane Ian

EltonWales

Last year we booked a Villa via VRBO in Cape Coral. 9 days before flying out, Hurricane Ian hit the city. The local agent based a few miles up the coast advised us, 2 days before travelling, that the booking was cancelled. In panic, we booked elsewhere in the state as we could not change out flights.
The property owner has insisted the property was habitable and refuses to refund. The local agent doesn't want to get involved as they did not take my money. My credit card company will not recover from VRBO as VRBO was only taking money on behalf of the owner. I did not take out canx insurance with them as I thought Credit Card plus basic travel insurance would be fine. I also did not expect Hurricane Ian when I booked it 11 months earlier.
My insurer has refused to pay as hurricanes aren't included in the policy.
My issue is that the local agent would know better than the owner (lives in Belgium) what the situation is on the ground. My problem is that I'm a little guy in England and I want to sue the big Company in The Sue S A  (USA) for false information. I have spent over £3000 for this villa. Is there an ombudsman or someone to turn to for help?

eskbanker

Which 'big company' are you hoping to sue?

It all sounds messy when there are so many parties involved, so it'll probably boil down to the extent to which the local agent was acting on behalf of either or both of VRBO and the owner?  Without checking VRBO's booking terms, it wouldn't surprise me if they have some sort of wording to indicate that you're contracting with the owner rather than them, but if neither VRBO nor owner actually terminated the contract then was the agent authorised to do so for them, or should the cancellation have been confirmed with VRBO or the owner?