I have to leave out a lot of details to fit this review, but just know there are so many more details to support this review. We had this place booked for 7 days, stayed for 9 hours and never went back. This place is a duplex, not a “cozy cottage.” There is a shared yard, not private. The bed is held together by ratchet straps because it’s broken. The access code was given to us 2.5 months in advance and is the same code used for every guest (any prior guest can access the unit at any time.) We brushed those things off.
This next part is where things go downhill and this turns into a nightmare.
Around 10AM, the neighbors started knocking on our door multiple times. I immediately messaged the host and asked him to tell them not to do that.
Shortly after this, we heard yelling and ran to the front window to see what was going on. There was a crowd of people out front and a woman pounding on a car window asking whoever was in the car if they are okay. We had no idea what was going on and were calling police, when a man with a literal movie filming camera came from the other side of the duplex. These people were shooting an actual movie in front of the house. We couldn’t leave the house because they were all over the shared porch, front yard and even on our driveway by our car. I messaged the host and his response was, “ok. thanks for letting me know.” At this point, I knew he wouldn’t do anything to help and we felt extremely uncomfortable. The host repeatedly lied to VRBO. He told them the people knocking on our door were just lost and looking for their friends. He told them there was no one with a camera or people outside. Mind you, he has surveillance cameras and was seeing everything that was happening, but continued to lie. He finally agreed to refund all but one night, which we agreed to because we were there for a few hours. After check in, a host is the only one able to cancel a reservation. VRBO walked him through how to cancel without any negative affects to his metrics, he continues to lie and say there is no way for him to cancel. When he was caught in that lie, he told VRBO that I refuse to agree to the refund of all but one day. I had to give VRBO access to my account to view the messages, in which, I agreed to that refund multiple times. The host still refuses to refund my money, despite agreeing to it multiple times. Now, I am filing a lawsuit against the host to get my money back. Stay away from this host at all costs!!