Heaven and hell in Curacao

[chevron]

First off,
Rented a house from a jewish guy on VRBO, ended up doing rental off VRBO. $120 a night for 4 people, got charged extra for the 2 "extra" people came out as 25 extra per night. Next we paid electricity and water, $100 cleaning fee.

We left house cleaner than most hotel rooms, says there is grease in mirror, tp on floor (!!!!!!) ashes on outdoor porch from bbq grill, wants to charge us for cleaning.

WHAT THE HECK!! What does the 100$ cleaning fee cover ?

Paid cash and have no recourse with VRBO. Never again !

[Moshe123]

You pay nachreinigungen in most of Europe after renting a chalet.

[churnbabychurn]

First off,
Rented a house from a jewish guy on VRBO, ended up doing rental off VRBO. $120 a night for 4 people, got charged extra for the 2 "extra" people came out as 25 extra per night. Next we paid electricity and water, $100 cleaning fee.

We left house cleaner than most hotel rooms, says there is grease in mirror, tp on floor (!!!!!!) ashes on outdoor porch from bbq grill, wants to charge us for cleaning.

WHAT THE HECK!! What does the 100$ cleaning fee cover ?

Paid cash and have no recourse with VRBO. Never again !

What does he have from you? Just don't give him cash.

[ash]

so what was the hell part of the trip ?

[chevron]

He's using security deposit... messed up.

Heaven part i'll get to, had to rant about the hell

[as2]

He's using security deposit... messed up.

Heaven part i'll get to, had to rant about the hell

Sue. Unless he can prove it's really needed cleaning you'll be fine. Always take a picture before you leave/return any rental.

[chevron]

my first time ever renting a house, usually do hotel. but rawr!!!!!! How does the $100 cleaning fee not cover toilet paper on floor or greasy mirror?! WTF

[gozalim]

Sue. Unless he can prove it's really needed cleaning you'll be fine. Always take a picture before you leave/return any rental.

good luck pursuing that internationally

[mgoldhammer18]

Second....

[yuneeq]

First off,
Rented a house from a jewish guy on VRBO, ended up doing rental off VRBO. $120 a night for 4 people, got charged extra for the 2 "extra" people came out as 25 extra per night. Next we paid electricity and water, $100 cleaning fee.

We left house cleaner than most hotel rooms, says there is grease in mirror, tp on floor (!!!!!!) ashes on outdoor porch from bbq grill, wants to charge us for cleaning.

WHAT THE HECK!! What does the 100$ cleaning fee cover ?

Paid cash and have no recourse with VRBO. Never again !

GUess you earned your lesson. That's why people use Airbnb/VRBO and don't try to save a few bucks going direct.
Unless you know people vetting for the host there's absolutely nothing preventing you from getting screwed.
And by screwed, I mean it could've been a lot worse!

[mmgfarb]

GUess you earned your lesson. That's why people use Airbnb/VRBO and don't try to save a few bucks going direct.
Unless you know people vetting for the host there's absolutely nothing preventing you from getting screwed.
And by screwed, I mean it could've been a lot worse!

Airbnb and VRBO are very different. Airbnb handles all the transactions and holds the money until the stay is complete, that way if there's a problem they can deal with both sides since the money is essentially in escrow. VRBO just facilitates listing for private renters, they don't handle any money and can't really help much in a dispute situation.

[yuneeq]

Airbnb and VRBO are very different. Airbnb handles all the transactions and holds the money until the stay is complete, that way if there's a problem they can deal with both sides since the money is essentially in escrow. VRBO just facilitates listing for private renters, they don't handle any money and can't really help much in a dispute situation.

Airbnb actually releases the money after the 1st day, not after the stay.
And VRBO also handles payments and has booking protection.
They've had that for years now.
https://www.vrbo.com/info/ha-guarantee/travel-with-confidence?icid=il_o_link_bwc_homepage

[mmgfarb]

Airbnb actually releases the money after the 1st day, not after the stay.
And VRBO also handles payments and has booking protection.
They've had that for years now.
https://www.vrbo.com/info/ha-guarantee/travel-with-confidence?icid=il_o_link_bwc_homepage

My bad then, I thought VRBO and Homeaway both didn't handle money while Airbnb did.

[thaber]

Airbnb actually releases the money after the 1st day, not after the stay.
And VRBO also handles payments and has booking protection.
They've had that for years now.
https://www.vrbo.com/info/ha-guarantee/travel-with-confidence?icid=il_o_link_bwc_homepage

My bad then, I thought VRBO and Homeaway both didn't handle money while Airbnb did.

@mmgfarb isn't totally wrong. VRBO (was owned by Homeaway, now they're both owned by expedia) having them process payments is optional, Airbnb it must go through them. It's a different hashkafa, room sharing vs broker. VRBO didn't offer host protection until recently. Airbnb releases funds first day of stay, VRBO right after booking. both claw back in cancellation scenarios.
VRBO lets host hold security Airbnb they hold it and host has to petition for it.
That said I would never recommend host or guest to go off grid in almost any scenario.

[chevron]

$40 cleaning fee for minor mess like greasy mirror?!?   After the $100  mandatory cleaning fee. $35 for supposedly breaking the shower head height adjuster. Water and electricity for 4 days 75$?!?

Total cost for 4 days about $900. On an initial 125 a night advertised price..

[yoohoo]

link to listing?

[TheManInTheBlackHat]

You never got to the heaven part