Community : Discussion List - Interacting with Guests

HA will give potential guests your phone number even if you chose not to display a phone number. Why?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 17:43:28 GMT

I have been a customer - at least I think I'm HA's customer since I'm the person who pays their bill each year- for over 10 years. I generally chose to interact with guests via email only, for its the most efficient way for me. I have a system and it works.

This last week, I strangely began receiving inquiry calls on my business line. The number is used for a separate business, unrelated on my vacation rentals , but a potential renter calling could easily confuse the two. My primary business is real estate sales, and when a tenant hears that voice mail, they wrongly assume they are related. They are not.

After the fourth call this week, I asked him where he got the number. He replied HA. So, I called HA and was told that they will release your number to a potential guest who asks. I was told this is not a new policy, although it never happened before this week.

I don't like nor agree with this. If I chose to not receive call, that's my choice. If it hurts my business, that's my choice. HA once again is trying to become something other than a lead generator.

My number on file is now changed to an anonymous google voice number. Just FYI- if you used a number, like a home number to set up an account and don't want everyone out there calling it, change all numbers with HA.

The downward spiral that is HA/VRBO continues.

Need to cancel a guest - HELP!

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Mon, 27 May 2013 20:43:53 GMT

I have reservations for this guests who is an assistant District Attorney for June 13. Reservations were made back in December after lots of back and forth.

His 50% final payment was due on May 13, and not payment was received, so I sent him a reminder on May 17th. He emailed on May 21st, saying he's been traveling, but will send payment that week.

Two days ago, he called and emailed, asking about the 15 people limit for a gathering that I put in the lease. He said he is inviting about 20 people and wanted to make sure he doens't get evicted for this. I emailed back and said due to my state law I'd need to get separate permit if there is more than 15 people in the house. He was asking which state law is that the limits gathering in a home? What kind of permit required and he is willing to apply for the appropriate permit if one is required and / or to indemnify me.

I also mentioned about the insurance and he said he can't imagine anything will happen that needs insurance.

Feeling cornered, I said ok, will allow you to host the gathering, but if there is any extra cleaning needed, we may have to charge you extra fee. He called and said he's surprised that I think of him as unruly teenagers. He sounded irritated and told me he and his wife are 50's something who are very responsible people and will leave the house as clean as they find it.

He also emailed back and said there shouldn't be any need to charge extra.

I know I shouldn't have agreed to the gathering to start with and shouldn't host guests that make me feel uncomfortable. But I guess his job title (and his email address using the usdoj.gov threw me off a bit and I felt intiimidated.

But I just realized that I still have not received the final payment which was due 30 days prior to arrival which is on June 13. So my question is, can I cancel based on incomplete payment?

I was planning to send him the following email:

Dear _______

As of today, I still have not received your final payment which was due on May 13 as well as a signed copy of the updated lease agreement. You mentioned last week that you were going to mail the check and if that was the case I should have received it by now. If we don't receive the check by tomorrrow, unfortunately your reservations will be canceled. We will refund 100% of your deposit (eventhough the lease stated otherwise).

Thank you and best wishes,

Me.

What do you think? Any feedback? I really won't feel comfortable having him in our home with the way he kept pushing on us. In my lease, it didn't say that reservations will automatically be canceled if no payment received, but it did state that all payments should be received 30 days prior to arrival.

Is that enough ground to cancel?

And any better wording to my email?

My plan was to send it and not respond back if he emails or calls. I really he hasn't sent the payment and was waiting until the last minute since he was thinking I wouldn't cancel on him.

We definitely would rather leave the house vacant and not get payment than having these people staying here, albeit only for 4 days.

Would really appreciate to hear from you.

Thanks!!

Ugh!!...I have been bragging about Reservation Manager forever but....

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 10:42:37 GMT

....Now I have found a flaw that that only benefits HA/VRBO.

Reservation Manager is a great system and it has been refined many times to almost now be perfect. To explain further I take credit cards processed through VRBO. It does a marvelous job of sending out payment requests, due dates, date received and even late payments. All is recorded for you. Yet when you accept personal checks the system doesn't recognize that and you must then keep a separate account via excel or other just to remember that someone owes you the second portion. This is not progress but instead HA/VRBO not caring about the personal experience the owner goes through. The system forces you to use credit cards so that HA/VRBO can make their cut for processing fees.

I do not think we have ever seen any request followed through with and we always get the typical answer that a separate survey shows i.e.: that owners prefer the extra work of having to keep another book on receivables but I will ask anyway.

On the Book It Tab
1. Have an option to pay by credit card or now an option added to pay by check.
2. If the renter wants to pay by check then the system asks the renter to write a check and send it to a predetermined address that the owner puts in the 'Settings' tab under My Tools in Reservation Manager.

Until this happens I can not personally keep bragging on a system that has a (for HA/VRBO benefit only) angle in it.

NO MORE TWO THUMBS UP FROM ME!

P.S. The reason I bring this up is that a renter sent me an email this morning and said that she was sorry that she did not send in her second payment and should she just wait and meet me at the property to give me a check. In other words.....if she hadn't emailed me she would have gotten away with not paying half of the monies she owed me. So to protect myself I must now build a spreadsheet on the side which is redundant to make sure that I get all receivables.

3 month renter leaving month early

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:23:05 GMT

Hello,

<ugh> We had a "feeling" we should've required full payment upfront. This was to be Jan 8 - March 15 rental to a single man working on contract locally. He paid 1/3 immediately, 1/3 within his first week. His last payment is due Feb.15 but he called this morning (Feb. 5) to say he would be leaving Feb. 15. Worse is he's leaving on Friday of the Thur-Mon President's Weekend and so we'll miss that 4-day weekend opportunity. Do we have any recourse? or are we simply "burned" on this one? Thank you for any words of wisdom you may offer!

You Google someone and discover something bad...what would you do?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 00:14:38 GMT

Okay...sometimes I Google a potential guest and sometimes I do not. This time I Googled this potential guest and discovered that he is a known felon. I am pretty sure I got the right person, unless there is someone with the exact name at the same location. Per his email, he sounds nice. He and his fiance want to honeymoon at our place for 15 days in 2014. Since we don't take reservations more than one year in advance, that gives me some time and we typically don't book for more than one week. What would you do???

Email sent regarding new phishing scam

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 15:14:32 GMT

Did everyone receive this yesterday?

Urgent Notification: Beware of New Phishing Scam

We want you to be aware of a new phishing scam targeting unsuspecting owners and property managers. This week, phishers have been sending fake inquiries and fake login pages to attempt to take over email accounts.

We believe these attacks are specifically targeting owners and property managers using Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail and Windows Live email addresses.

Only use your email service provider's official login page

The current scam works as follows: If you open a fake inquiry email, the scammer will place you on a webpage indicating that your email session has ended and that you need to log back in. The page on which you will be asked to log in is actually a fake email login page that looks almost identical to an official Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail or Windows Live login page.

Warning, if your session is interrupted, do not log in on that page. By doing so, you will give the phishers full access to your email account.

In these recent attacks, the webpage URL contains several numbers in random order. Always log in to your email account by typing in the official URL. The official login URL of your email service provider will contain recognizable English words, such as:

Gmail: accounts.google.com or mail.google.com

Yahoo! Mail: login.yahoo.com or mail.yahoo.com

Hotmail/Windows Live: login.live.com

Official login page example

Fake login page example

Watch out for suspicious inquiries

In this new phishing scam, the email includes "HomeAway" in the subject line – so it looks like an official inquiry.

This fake inquiry email does not contain property details that you would expect to see in a normal HomeAway email inquiry request.

The email includes a link to "View Message." If you click on this link, you will be sent to the fake login page for your email provider.

Learn how to protect your online accounts from identity theft

Recently, we sent an email explaining how to protect yourself from online identity theft and phishers, with these recommendations:

Never provide personal information to anyone through email communication.

Always access your email from the official login page of your email service provider.

Never reply or click on a suspicious email or webpage.

Look for clues that the email is official: contains normal brand heading, no typos or errors, and never asks for personal information via email.

To access your owner dashboard, only log in to our official websites. To confirm it's an official website, make sure the URL on the login page starts with https://cas.homeaway.com (for both HomeAway.com and VRBO.com) or https://www.vacationrentals.com.

Keep rental payments secure

Accept secure online payments through secure credit card transactions with ReservationManager™.

Include your phone number on your listing so that travelers can call you to confirm their reservation and payment details prior to sending money, especially when you are asking to be paid by check or through a wire transfer to your bank account.

Encourage travelers to buy Carefree Rental Guarantee if they have additional concerns.

Phishers are aggressive. They will continue to try many different ways to trick Internet users. We recognize that this may be frustrating, but if you stay alert and always practice caution, you can help protect your email account and online identity.

We appreciate your efforts to help us operate the most secure and trusted vacation rental marketplace in the industry.

Guests rating system

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 20:21:05 GMT

Wouldn't it be nice if VRBO would start a guest rating service whereby owners could check to see if the guest they are going to rent to are 5 star or 1 star. Posted by owners only and viewed by owners only.

As a owner you could list their rating and why you rated them. ie; they tore the place up and I will never rent to them again. or they left the cabin in as good a shape as when they got there.

To withhold or not to withhold a portion of deposit?

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:27:14 GMT

Hello All,

I just did a walk-thru on a 3 day rental and was really disappointed to find that my carpeted stairs (that I just had professionally cleaned) are absolutely filthy - I mean, we're talking black stains on nearly every stair clearly caused by heavy heavy foot traffic. The renters clearly had a party (expressly forbidden in the signed contract) as the huge recycle bin in the garage is overflowing with beer bottles and all of the furniture on the deck is moved around.

Background: this is a high end rental in San Francisco and I screen renters thoroughly to try to avoid this type of thing. I know the typical response on this site is to just chalk it up to cost of doing business but I feel pretty strongly that this type of behavior should be properly penalized (maybe these folks would think twice about doing it again) and I'm not really concerned with a bad review as it would be my first. Laws in our city allow me to keep the portion of the damage that I can provide receipts as well as photo documentation of the damage. It will likely be $100ish.

I immediately sent the guest pictures (they are really bad) and suggested that I needed to get the carpets cleaned. She immediately emailed me to say they loved the place but has not responded to my pics.

What say all of you?

Do you tell some inquiries that they are just not a good fit for your home..I just did.

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:36:33 GMT

Here is my response for someone that had 2 adults, 6 children and wanted other family members to come and go from the home while they were visiting. While we hate to miss an opportunity, sometimes the small income is just not worth the wear and tear on the home with that many people in and out.

Yes, I did see your questions, but before I answered your questions, I wanted to be sure that your family was a good fit for this home. I am sure you can understand. Unfortunately, I don't think my home would work for your family. I have a limit of 6 overnight guests with only 2 daytime guests visiting during the day. I sometimes make an exception for a little larger family (up to 8), but that is with additional fees and no other daytime visitors. You can see it in the body of my VRBO website.

You may want to try (my friends VRBO was put here)....her home is quite a bit bigger than mine and it may be the perfect fit!

Thank you for your inquiry though!

When you GUESTS suffer natural disasters

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:53:39 GMT

I have guests in residence for a week. They are from Oklahoma, and while their home did not take a direct hit from the 5/20/2013 tornado outside of OKC, I know they are anxious to get home. If they choose to leave early I've offered to give them credit for the unused days, and allow them use that credit towards another stay within 1 year. I have another group from OKC set to come in next month and I'll be in touch with them in a week or so. I'll play that by ear. Some times you just have to do the right thing.

Debj

Thanks

community-no-reply@homeaway.com — Sun, 19 May 2013 20:58:33 GMT

With great sadness I bid my fellow Ambassadors and Community Forum members farewell. My VRBO listing expires today. I’ve enjoyed being able to share my experiences and have learned SO much over the years from all of you.

I’m one of those old “original” VRBO customers who found it a wonderful place when I first started my VR business. Times change and the product has changed in ways that don’t work for my vacation home. I’ve given much thought to the reality of my ROI (Return on Investment) on VRBO and simply can’t justify renewing my listing at this time.

I know the “Product” continues to evolve, and I like to think I’ve helped to improve things as VRBO became part of Homeaway. I’ll keep a close, hopeful eye on things as they progress. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll return.

I’ll be focusing on Vacation Rental Ordinances that Galveston Island, Texas is looking to begin to draft, so I’m not leaving the industry at all! I love our industry and will continue to be an advocate for responsible VR owners. And, I'll continue to rent my much loved VR!

You all have my sincere thanks, and my BEST wishes for success in all you do in our wonderful industry! HAPPY RENTING to all of you!

Kind regards, MsDebj