Flawed service that refuses to evolve
VRBO has significant tech debt with the site continuing to load slowly, stall page views, and demand cumbersome workflows for obvious common scenarios. Mobile app mimics the deficiencies of the website and introduces new flaws of its own, including that links from VRBO text message alerts default to opening a marketing banner over the mobile app each time, inexplicably. Demand for bookings is sporadic at best. For all these flaws, VRBO still demands a richer commission than Airbnb.
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Terribly not user friendly
This is really not a well done app. Typing messages alone does not work well. I tried to decline a booking request, and after typing in my explanation and clicking okay, some kind of error occurred and pulled away my message, so when my thumb hit the button to confirm the denial, it instead hit the button underneath which was to accept the booking. You would think there would be some further button for me to confirm this, especially in the context of just going through the process to deny, but no it was just one button press to fully confirm the booking. Vrbo does many things that are anti-renters, but this was just ridiculous.
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Service is getting worse...
I loved using VRBO up until this past year. Nothing seems to work, Customer Service is argumentative. It has become my nightmare.
Laggy
It’s a good app but some bugs need to be to be fixed or updated
The worst
VRBO has refused to give us any of our money. They’re stealing over 30k from us. I’ve called now 11 times and no one helps. It’s time to get lawyers involved. Livid. Do not use them!!!
Freezing in Calendar and terrible pricing
The app has been horrible lately! I just updated and same thing.
Issues:
1. Cannot customize anything on individual dates. It just shows the loading bottom sheet but doesn’t bring up the details so literally cannot change anything
2. Auto-generated pricing is really bad. It’s raising our normal pricing by double and nothing getting booked.
Issues:
1. Cannot customize anything on individual dates. It just shows the loading bottom sheet but doesn’t bring up the details so literally cannot change anything
2. Auto-generated pricing is really bad. It’s raising our normal pricing by double and nothing getting booked.
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Difficult site
I’ve left several notes complaining about maneuvering through the site! Very frustrating and time consuming!! Please fix!!!
Sooo many bugs!
I don’t know who you have hired to QA and test the features of the iOS app but it has sooo many bugs, it’s unbelievable. Here are just 3.
1. When I try to upload & share a photo through the messaging feature. It just shows a spinning wheel forever.
2. When I try and do a partial refund to a guest it keeps saying it failed and try again. I try again and it fails no matter how many times I try.
3. I tried to “share feedback” through the iOS app and the button doesn’t do anything when I press it! How ironic!
All of these features work on the desktop website but the Apple iOS app is just terrible. Fix these bugs!!!
1. When I try to upload & share a photo through the messaging feature. It just shows a spinning wheel forever.
2. When I try and do a partial refund to a guest it keeps saying it failed and try again. I try again and it fails no matter how many times I try.
3. I tried to “share feedback” through the iOS app and the button doesn’t do anything when I press it! How ironic!
All of these features work on the desktop website but the Apple iOS app is just terrible. Fix these bugs!!!
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Paperweight App (HATE IT)
I’ve been a VRBO owner since 2013. Anyone who gives this app more than 3-stars has very little experience using it. It’s clunky, slow, and inefficient. First complaint. DEVELOPERS, WHY does the app split up conversations once someone books??? Sometimes there’s very pertinent info in the original communications that is critical to the guest’s stay. Once they book, however, it starts an entirely new string? Why, why, WHY??? MONTHS can go by and that pertinent info that is sometimes important to the guest that they conveyed to us from the original conversation is LOST! Makes me think very horrible things about you as the developer. Shameful things! ONE CONVERSATION PLEASE!!!
Second complaint. WHY DO I NEED TO GO TO THE WEBSITE LOGIN TO UPLOAD DOCUMENTS, ETC. BEFORE ITS USABLE IN THE APP??? D U M B!!!!!
Third complaint. When a guest sends an attachment, WHY can’t I expand it to make it larger????
S T U P I D!!!!
WHO SIGNED OFF ON THESE INCOMPETENT DESIGNS???
L A Z Y!!!!!
Second complaint. WHY DO I NEED TO GO TO THE WEBSITE LOGIN TO UPLOAD DOCUMENTS, ETC. BEFORE ITS USABLE IN THE APP??? D U M B!!!!!
Third complaint. When a guest sends an attachment, WHY can’t I expand it to make it larger????
S T U P I D!!!!
WHO SIGNED OFF ON THESE INCOMPETENT DESIGNS???
L A Z Y!!!!!
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Used to be wonderful now it’s AWFUL
Vrbo Needs to Reconsider Its New Premier Host Policy
I’ve been a Vrbo owner for years, and I’ve watched the platform evolve considerably. Unfortunately, some of the changes being made in 2026 leave me questioning whether Vrbo still understands the business model of many of the owners who helped build the platform.
My biggest concern is the new Premier Host/Performance Milestone structure.
Under the current 2026 requirements, a property must maintain a 4.6+ rating, a 99%+ acceptance rate, zero owner-initiated cancellations, at least five Vrbo reviews, and at least five bookings OR 60 booked nights. Premier Host is then reviewed quarterly based on the preceding 365 days.
On the surface, that sounds reasonable. I completely understand rewarding owners who provide excellent guest experiences.
The problem is that booking frequency and guest experience are not the same thing.
Vrbo is simultaneously marketing itself as a destination for extended stays, including monthly rentals and stays of 28 nights or longer. That’s a very different business model from turning a property over every three or four nights. A property that specializes in monthly, seasonal, or otherwise extended stays can have excellent occupancy, excellent revenue, excellent guests, and excellent reviews—while generating dramatically fewer individual reservations and reviews.
That’s where the new Premier Host structure becomes counterproductive.
If I rent my property to one guest for three months, that guest may occupy the home for 90 nights. I have successfully generated 90 booked nights for Vrbo from one reservation. But I may receive only one review from that entire stay.
Compare that with a property turning over every weekend. That property can generate multiple reservations and multiple opportunities for reviews in the same period.
Why should the second property be considered more deserving of Premier Host recognition simply because it produces more transactions?
If Vrbo wants to market and encourage longer stays, it needs to recognize that long-stay hosts naturally generate fewer reviews per occupied night.
This is especially frustrating because Premier Host isn’t just a vanity badge. Vrbo says Premier Host properties receive benefits including increased search visibility, a Premier Host filter, improved search positioning, and priority support. In other words, the designation can materially affect a property’s ability to compete on the platform.
That creates a strange cycle:
Vrbo promotes longer stays → longer stays create fewer reservations and reviews → fewer reviews can make Premier Host qualification harder → losing Premier Host can reduce visibility → the host is then effectively encouraged to pursue shorter bookings simply to satisfy the algorithm.
That makes absolutely no sense for a platform that is simultaneously telling owners to embrace extended-stay demand.
And now there is another layer to the problem: Vrbo and Expedia Group are increasingly emphasizing paid advertising and sponsored visibility. I understand that advertising is a legitimate business model, but it becomes frustrating when long-term, loyal owners are told to meet increasingly stringent performance metrics to earn organic visibility while paid placement is simultaneously becoming another avenue for visibility.
After years of listing properties, investing in homes, maintaining them to a high standard, responding to guests, and generating revenue for Vrbo, I don’t think an owner’s value to the platform should be measured primarily by how many individual transactions and reviews they can generate.
Measure the quality of the stay—not simply the number of times the door turns over.
If a property has outstanding reviews, excellent acceptance, zero host cancellations, strong occupancy, and a significant number of booked nights, that should be enough evidence that the host is performing exceptionally well.
I would strongly encourage Vrbo to reconsider the Premier Host criteria and create a fairer path for properties that specialize in extended stays.
For example, Vrbo could distinguish between short-term and long-term booking models and evaluate hosts based on booked nights, revenue, guest satisfaction, review quality, acceptance rate, and cancellations, rather than applying essentially the same review-volume expectations to every property.
I have been loyal to Vrbo for years, and I want to continue being a successful Vrbo partner. But the current system feels like it is penalizing some of the very owners Vrbo should be trying hardest to retain.
If Vrbo truly wants to be the marketplace for both vacation rentals and longer-term furnished stays, its policies need to reflect that reality.
Right now, the marketing says one thing while the incentive structure says something very different.
Vrbo can—and should—do better for its long-standing property owners.
I’ve been a Vrbo owner for years, and I’ve watched the platform evolve considerably. Unfortunately, some of the changes being made in 2026 leave me questioning whether Vrbo still understands the business model of many of the owners who helped build the platform.
My biggest concern is the new Premier Host/Performance Milestone structure.
Under the current 2026 requirements, a property must maintain a 4.6+ rating, a 99%+ acceptance rate, zero owner-initiated cancellations, at least five Vrbo reviews, and at least five bookings OR 60 booked nights. Premier Host is then reviewed quarterly based on the preceding 365 days.
On the surface, that sounds reasonable. I completely understand rewarding owners who provide excellent guest experiences.
The problem is that booking frequency and guest experience are not the same thing.
Vrbo is simultaneously marketing itself as a destination for extended stays, including monthly rentals and stays of 28 nights or longer. That’s a very different business model from turning a property over every three or four nights. A property that specializes in monthly, seasonal, or otherwise extended stays can have excellent occupancy, excellent revenue, excellent guests, and excellent reviews—while generating dramatically fewer individual reservations and reviews.
That’s where the new Premier Host structure becomes counterproductive.
If I rent my property to one guest for three months, that guest may occupy the home for 90 nights. I have successfully generated 90 booked nights for Vrbo from one reservation. But I may receive only one review from that entire stay.
Compare that with a property turning over every weekend. That property can generate multiple reservations and multiple opportunities for reviews in the same period.
Why should the second property be considered more deserving of Premier Host recognition simply because it produces more transactions?
If Vrbo wants to market and encourage longer stays, it needs to recognize that long-stay hosts naturally generate fewer reviews per occupied night.
This is especially frustrating because Premier Host isn’t just a vanity badge. Vrbo says Premier Host properties receive benefits including increased search visibility, a Premier Host filter, improved search positioning, and priority support. In other words, the designation can materially affect a property’s ability to compete on the platform.
That creates a strange cycle:
Vrbo promotes longer stays → longer stays create fewer reservations and reviews → fewer reviews can make Premier Host qualification harder → losing Premier Host can reduce visibility → the host is then effectively encouraged to pursue shorter bookings simply to satisfy the algorithm.
That makes absolutely no sense for a platform that is simultaneously telling owners to embrace extended-stay demand.
And now there is another layer to the problem: Vrbo and Expedia Group are increasingly emphasizing paid advertising and sponsored visibility. I understand that advertising is a legitimate business model, but it becomes frustrating when long-term, loyal owners are told to meet increasingly stringent performance metrics to earn organic visibility while paid placement is simultaneously becoming another avenue for visibility.
After years of listing properties, investing in homes, maintaining them to a high standard, responding to guests, and generating revenue for Vrbo, I don’t think an owner’s value to the platform should be measured primarily by how many individual transactions and reviews they can generate.
Measure the quality of the stay—not simply the number of times the door turns over.
If a property has outstanding reviews, excellent acceptance, zero host cancellations, strong occupancy, and a significant number of booked nights, that should be enough evidence that the host is performing exceptionally well.
I would strongly encourage Vrbo to reconsider the Premier Host criteria and create a fairer path for properties that specialize in extended stays.
For example, Vrbo could distinguish between short-term and long-term booking models and evaluate hosts based on booked nights, revenue, guest satisfaction, review quality, acceptance rate, and cancellations, rather than applying essentially the same review-volume expectations to every property.
I have been loyal to Vrbo for years, and I want to continue being a successful Vrbo partner. But the current system feels like it is penalizing some of the very owners Vrbo should be trying hardest to retain.
If Vrbo truly wants to be the marketplace for both vacation rentals and longer-term furnished stays, its policies need to reflect that reality.
Right now, the marketing says one thing while the incentive structure says something very different.
Vrbo can—and should—do better for its long-standing property owners.
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Progresshell on earth . Renewing of subscription took endless calls , same excuse will escalate!!! M
Things are tuning smoothly after the covid crisis well done
100% better Airbnb for hosts
I would highly recommend all host go to VRBO instead of Airbnb. The guest in VRBO are much higher quality and they take care of your property!
Broken attachment upload in IOS
It’s been months now that this feature isn’t working. I keep getting error “we werent able to upload this file” when uploading pictures. I uninstalled the app updated the app same problem. I have to be using an android phone to make it work. Also when are you guys changing the earnings view to work simple like airbnb everything in this app is over engineered and cluncky
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AI taking complete control over host tools
Terrible UI. Difficult to navigate and changes aren’t saved half the time you make them. Message notifications do not come through realtime, sometimes even hours after being sent. Worst of all, VRBO has implemented AI automation to choose which photos are displayed on your listing in what order. We have a beautiful historic home in the Ouachita Mountains, and VRBO’s AI decided a photo of the shed was what needed to be seen as the primary listing photo. Spoke with multiple reps who advised there was no way to override the AI “feature”. Don’t use this app, use any other STR-hosting app over this one.
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Not use-friendly
This could not beat Airbnb. Design and other functions are awkward and un friendly. Need an update to be fancy and easy to use.
Payout is always less than expected
Our daily rate is consistently the same, however our Host “payout” varies and is always less than expected, between $120 to $200 or so less than expected, where as Airbnb is ALWAYS the same, as it should be when we have no rate changes.
VRBO views always favors the Guest to the detriment of the Host who is providing the Home.
VRBO views always favors the Guest to the detriment of the Host who is providing the Home.
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Mile stone rating
You have us declining 2 bookings and we actually had the two guests stay with us! They had issues with your web site and booking the trip properly. I spoke with you two months ago and was assured they would take the penalties off. Two months later and nothing has been done. I feel unappreciated by VRBO.
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Never get bookings
Our house is slammed on airbnb but we never get bookings here. Seems like our listing is buried in the algorithm even though we have a bunch of 5* stays.
VRBO not following owner requirements
For some reason VRBO keeps letting quest book stays that are shorter then the required min nights stay. This is the 2nd one in 3 weeks.
Unreliable
VRBO app is extremely unreliable, slow, and difficult to navigate and perform function on. I am not a fan, but I continue to use it to offer guests a wide range of booking platforms. I wish they formatted the platform like Airbnb does. It’s extremely user-friendly for the host and the guest.
