Menu
Login
Reservation HA-611ZRL
We arrived at the apartment on October 20. My wife, another guest, and I had been sick since that morning. We dropped my wife off to wait, while the other 4 adults in our group took an hour to drop the rental cars off. When we returned, we all smelled that the apartment had a pungent smell of cleaning fluid and what we thought was vomit. When you are not feeling well, this is the last thing you want to smell.
The space where the 5th person was supposed to sleep in, was a basement room, not an office, and had no privacy. See the photo. The description and photos on the host's site, are unclear. There is no photo of the basement and futon bed. Under the room description, she lists it as three bedrooms.
However, the third bedroom is an open space with a double futon bed that takes up nearly the entire basement room. There was a massive cobweb hanging over the bed. The bathroom was filthy. See the photos.
I immediately contacted the host at 4 pm and shared our concerns. She declined to take any action to cancel or refund the reservation. I contacted VRBO Chat and Dennis B over the next 40 minutes explained steps that the host could take to cancel the reservation. I sent the host all the information. She wrote that she contacted VRBO and according to her VRBO stated that she did not have to cancel the reservation. I phoned the host and asked if she could charge us for the first night and rent the apartment out for the other nights, but she declined.
We booked 3 rooms in a hotel and left the keys in the apartment.
I realize that VRBO has a cancelation policy. But how does their policy allow for when a place does not fit the description that the host has on her VRBO listing? How do you take a photo of an apartment that smells? You don't know this until you step into the apartment.
At the very least, charge us for the first night, but refund the cleaning fee of Euro 75 and the cost of nights 2-3 and lodging tax.
Claimed loss: We had to book 3 hotel rooms in the place of the VRBO stay.
Desired outcome: VRBO can charge us for the first night as a loss, but at a minimum refund the cleaning fee and the cost of night 2 and 3 and the VRBO fees.
