Vacasa Reviews

Vacasa
( 40 reviews )
Website: www.Vacasa.com

Vacasa is a vacation rental service where users can find lodging for trips that the company states are at a lower booking fee than at a hotel because you're booking directly from homeowners who would like to rent out their property.

Vacasa states it has desirable vacation homes spread all over the United States, Central America and South America as well as some locations in Africa and Europe. 

How Does Vacasa Work?

The process is simple, whether you are looking for a property to rent, or attempting to list your property. Once you create your account, the process is smooth.

If you are searching for a vacation rental, all you have to do is input your desired location in the search bar. Afterwards, you will be offered a multitude of options in and around that location.

Once you do your research and decide on a place, all you have to do is make sure that your account is in order and you will be able to book. Similarly, the process for listing a property is just as simple.

All you have to do is access your account, supply the website with the information needed and wait for bookings.

Cost and Price Plans

The price really differs depending on your desired location, time of year and popularity of the property. However, rest assured that since it is not a hotel employing a staff of people, the cost is a lot cheaper.

Customer Service

Vacasa is extremely easy to contact, as all their company info is listed on their website under the ‘Contact Us’ tab. That said, call them at (503) 345-9399, email them at [email protected], or fax them at (503) 897-7036.

Their policies are all quite simply explained in their Frequently Asked Questions tab as well. As for their cancellation policy, if you cancel within 24 hours, you will receive a full refund. You will be able to receive said refund within 30 days of booking.

Online Reviews/Complaints

While the website makes Vacasa seem simple and safe, the reviews say otherwise. This website actually has an extremely negative rating, as many had complaints with it and claim it to be a fake, spam website. There are some good comments too, but those are limited.

Competitors and Alternatives

Vacation rental platforms are extremely popular right now and so, even though Vacasa has negative reviews, there are plenty of good, safe options out there with similar services to Vacasa.

The one that probably started it all is Airbnb. It is a vacation rental agency in which people can find rentals and put their properties up for rent. It is similar to Vacasa in many ways when you think about Vacasa vs Airbnb.

However, Airbnb is accessible in many more locations and is way larger of a company. This is both a positive thing and a flaw. It is positive as this company has had its time to grow and work out many of its flaws that inevitably arise.

On the other hand, this is a downside because, since the platform has grown so quickly, their scanning process is not perfect. As a result, it is not guaranteed that the property you rent or the people who rent your property will be everything you wanted.

Unlike Vacasa, the property is taken care of by the owners completely. This means Airbnb itself cannot confirm the state of the place. Also, your best option may be sharing your space with the owners and only getting a room.

Another example that is an alternative to Vacasa is TurnKey. Turnkey is extremely similar to Vacasa and Airbnb, except it is solely, currently in the United States.

If you compare Vacasa vs TurnKey, the latter runs similar to the former, so may prove as a good option to run alongside each other when researching properties in a specific area.

Evolve is marketing partners with Airbnb and again, works very similarly. What truly differentiates Vacasa vs Evolve is that the cancellation terms are a lot more flexible.

If you are planning a trip, but you are not exactly sure how certain you are, this may be the platform to book your rental through.

One thing you will realize with the competitors is that they are all very much alike and compared to Homeaway, there’s not much difference. Basically, in all of these websites, you might be best off just figuring out which website’s design and interface you prefer and stick to that one.

Your best option might be to go with a competing company with safer reviews. Since Airbnb is the most popular, it is most likely the safest. Albeit, the other three options may be just as good.

Where to Buy?

To make use of Vacasa’s services, just head on over to their website at www.vacasa.com

The Bottom Line

Vacasa claims to offer a simple way to find lodging for your vacation. While this statement is true and it really is simple to find lodgings, it would seem that many have trouble with it actually following through.

There are many options for vacation rental services though, so it may be better to pick a site with better and safer reviews.

If you have any experience with Vacasa or their services, please leave your reviews below.

Vacasa Customer Reviews

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Beware Of Unauthorized Charges
February 8, 2023

I booked a house for a family get together. Not only was the advertised price half what it turned out to actually be after fees and taxes, but I was charged insurance. On the pay now screen, it showed "Insurance ------". There was no quoted price, nor a place to accept or decline insurance. I contacted the service rep during my vacation weekend who told me to contact Billing. The Billing Department opened Monday. When I spoke with a service rep they declined to refund me for insurance I did not select, nor was even quoted a price for.

I will never rent anything from VACASA again.

Horrible, customer, relations, and business practices!
December 30, 2022

If I could leave less than one star, I would. These people are horrible to deal with, and turned our vacation into a nightmare. Do not do business with them! We had a reservation, drove six hours, and when we arrived at the property, there were issues with the booking I was told.

When speaking with their customer service representative Melanie, she specifically told me there were issues with the information transferred from Booking.com and instructed me to cancel my booking and rebook through their website. With her on the phone, I canceled the booking, and then proceeded to book online to which was unsuccessful because the room became unavailable.

It is New Year’s Eve weekend, and everything is booked, and all this company can say is unfortunately, you’ll have to find something else. What horrible way to do business and to treat people. I will never use them again and would recommend finding a different company to do business with if you want to be sure you don’t get screwed.

Do NOT Recommend
November 29, 2022
The house we rented from Vacasa had so many issues. The door lock on to the bottom floor didn't work, and wasn't locked when we arrived. We had to ok replace the batteries ourself. The bottom floor smelled like cigarette smoke. The TV in the living room kept shutting itself off. The Keurig was broken, I ordered the piece to fix it myself. The regular coffee pot had old coffee in it. The floors were dirty. The house clearly hasn't been cleaned well. Also, we reached out about an item that was left and they are charging a fee for looking for it, whether they find it or not. It's been two months, shouldn't the item just be in a lost and found item location? This should be a courtesy. I've worked in the hospitality industry before, we charged shipping for items, but a fee just to look for it? That's ridiculous. DON'T rent from this company. I recommend finding another. I'll never rent from them again, and based on their 1.2 star review average, there are many others that feel the same.

Horrible Customer Service!
October 17, 2022

This review is not for our stay but for actions after our departure. Our stay was in Pacific Beach in Washington State, October 24-26.

Shortly after departing to return home, we realized that we had left some items behind. Without having a direct contact with the property manager, we sent an email to the review address that was provided. I have contacted VACASA 5 times by phone since then and cannot get an answer if the items were recovered or not. The customer service reps seem very friendly but don't keep their promise of getting back to me. The big issue it seems that the VACASA person in Pacific Beach is not responding to repeated contact attempts.

I find it very frustrating when it seems simple, if you cannot contact a property manager REPLACE them.

I'm not sure what else can be done but I will avoid AT ALL COST any VACASA Rentals in the future.

Horrible management
October 11, 2022

I rented a 4 bedroom home in Bethany beach DE for 5 days. After arriving I called immediately to let them know there were stains all over the carpet, one of the stools for table was all ripped up and refrigerator had rust all over it. None of these are big issues for me I just wanted it on record so I wouldn’t be blamed.

Fireplace did not work, they said someone would get in touch with us within 45 minutes.

Next day I called again, this time it was again the fireplace that they never called back on and the smoke detector was beeping every minute (dead battery), I informed them that I disconnected the smoke detector and they need to get it fixed, again I was told 45 minutes.

I figured, no smoke detector, kind of a big deal they would certainly do something about it. I was wrong.

The next day a bunch of men show up and start painting the stairs to my unit, I explained, there are 7 people here all coming and going all day that they could come back when we checked out. The guy in charge got nasty with me complaining that I was being cooperative.

Then the night before checkout at about 7pm someone knocks on the door to fix the fireplace and sliding glass door (there was not problem with any door), I informed him that I no longer cared about the fireplace, there was never any issue with a sliding door but that the smoke detector was broken. He says he can’t fix the smoke detector and good night.

So other than the location was great, the Vacasa experience is a complete fail.

DIshonest realtor, sham, takes your money and won't refund it!
October 7, 2022
Vacasa listed a rental that was damaged in Hurricane Ian and uninhabitable. They took our money and won't refund it until the date of the rental at the end of November. We can't rent another place until we get our money back. Vacasa cancelled our rental, not us!!!

Charging Cancellation Fees for Homes Effected by Ian
October 3, 2022
We rented a home for this winter in Cape Coral, Florida through Vacasa. Cape Coral was devastated by Hurricane Ian. Vacasa is insisting on charging me several hundred dollars to cancel the reservation. Don't do business with this company; in my opinion this is terrible customer service.

Company without a heart or soul
September 29, 2022
I live in Venice Florida and yesterday we were hit with the eye of hurricane Ian. Streets are flooded and impassable, trees down, damage inside and outside of my home, 2.5 million people without power. And yet when I called to ask for a refund for a coming stay, I was told no. How heartless. How mean. How horrible. How uncaring. What a terrible policy. What am I supposed to do? Grow wings and fly there?

Vacasa Is a Bad Business!!!
August 17, 2022

Why would you subject yourself and your loved ones to bad memories as a result of VACASA EXPLOITATION. Your choice, so WHY NOT have fond memories of your holiday.

I made a booking thru booking.com, submitted my credit card info only to learn I had been redirected to VACASA. I had already had a bad experience with them so I didn't continue with finalizing the reservation.

VACASA charged my card ASAP, sent me emails to finalize my reservation. I called booking.com/ wrote VACASA to cancel the reservation within days, reservation was a month or longer out.

They never cancelled, never refunded, and have been 'incommunicado' for weeks. MICHAEL S RUPPENTHAL

Stinky and Dirty Ebb and Flow in Gold Beach, OR
August 4, 2022

We stayed July 22-25, 2022 at Vacasa's Ebb and Flow unit in Gold Beach Oregon. When we arrived there was a funky odor even before we went inside. We discovered an outdoor size garbage can packed and overflowing in the hot garage. It looked like 2+ weeks of garbage including dirty diapers. I called Vacasa and they told me that I would have to dispose of it myself.

I dragged it down the road in the dark and emptied it bag by bag. It took overnight to air out the unit. There was also a big pile of dirty laundry in the garage, and we only had 3 washcloths for the 4 of us for 4 days. The twin bedsheets had not been changed and there was sand in the sheets. We had to wash the sheets and remake the beds.

The floors had not been cleaned or vacuumed. After walking around a bit, my feet were filthy. The kitchen counters and dining table had not been wiped down. There was a loose tread on the stairs. We had to remove the piece of tread to avoid tripping on it.

We reported all these issues multiple times to Vacasa and they never sent anyone to remedy the situation. They only offered to refund me the cleaning deposit, which in no way covered all the cleaning we had to do to make the unit livable. This was my first and last experience with Vacasa!

Worst Vacation Experience Ever
July 22, 2022

We had reservations to stay at 4875 Pescadero Avenue in San Diego with Vacasa and had paid an incredible amount of money ($4,000 for 4 days) to be able to stay there.

When we arrived, the distance from where we had to park to the front door was longer than it should have been.

The property had been advertised as being all on one level, but when we arrived, we learned that was not true. The property itself was not nearly as nice as pictures on the site had shown.

Since I have orthopedic difficulties that make it difficult for me to go up and down stairs, this was a disadvantage right away.

The property had been advertised as having Wifi. When we arrived, we could not get Wifi to work, so we called for help. Help couldn’t come out until the next day. After we had left the property, we received a call late in the afternoon of the next day indicating help was on the way.

The property had no air conditioning, so we were only able to sleep off and on during the first night there because even with 2 fans, the temperature was 82 degrees.

After that, we realized we couldn’t stay there any longer, so I called Vacasa to cancel our reservation. They were glad to do so, but they refused to refund anything even though we left that very morning. I protested to the bank my MasterCard is from, but I was not able to win.

We had to move to a hotel to be able to get air conditioning.

This trip ended up being a financial disaster. We had hoped for a vacation of a lifetime, but then Vacasa happened. Don’t ever let this happen to you.

VACASA management is a big fraud
July 21, 2022

VACASA management is a big fraud. They will never honor what they say. Will keep adding expenses in to your account & will find ways to create more expenses so company gets more profit & minimum or negative cash flow to the property owner who invested & is liable for lots of expenses to maintain property.

VACASA IS A BIG FRAUD.

Offensive
July 9, 2022

We rented at Whitney Beach 6701 GOM Dr, #332, LBK FL 34228.

Upon entrance of the unit the outside wall of unit is collapsing. Upon entering front door of unit ceiling is collapsing. Outside collapsing wall caused damage to inside bedroom wall. Non working bedroom blinds. Broomsticks used as locks for sliding glass door on bottom floor unit. Should we go on?

Called Vacasa within 10 minutes of entering unit, operator stated someone would be out 6/2/22. Vacasa was a no show or call.

So as to not completely ruin our vacation, these issues would be dealt with on our last week.

No one at Vacasa contacted us after numerous emails. The unit has obvious code violations therefore we contacted LBK code enforcement and they wrote two code violations. After the code inspection (on our vacation), Vacasa finally called only after we searched for the company’s CEO’s and email addresses and blasted them all with there failure as a management company. A management company that does not manage, go figure.

Vacasa offered $1k refund for renting a unit with code violations knowingly and willingly.

EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE. Vacasa district manager admitted issues with unit. The owner is also at fault.

Vacasa received a final demand letter from us, they still owe $430.00 and time is ticking.

All $ should have been refunded back to c/c on file. Vacasa you are playing a game refunding the balance of $430.00 on a check. You’ve proven to be dishonest.

Vacasa don’t push us anymore, you will not like the outcome.

Our advice to others; many of us in these situations are 1,000’s of miles away from home with no help except for Vacasa Management Company who is useless! We reached out to the town’s council members, code enforcement, HOA on-site manager and other owners on-site.

Hope this is helpful to others who have to endure Vacasa Property Management or an owner who willingly rents there unit with multiple violations.

No control of heat or air, won’t post review.
July 1, 2022

Terrible experience, rental should have been torn down. No screens, no thermostat. No control of air or cooling when Seattle experienced 90: degree days. Dirty property. No refund and they never posted our review on website for others to see.

This is a dishonest company.

Disgusted!
July 1, 2022

Our family recently rented a Vacasa home in OBX. We had the maximum allotted number of guests (12) so every bed was spoken for. Upon arrival, we noticed poison oak everywhere and couldn't use the deck stairs.

There was dried dog feces on the top deck as well as in 2 of the bedrooms, marijuana on a night stand, 4 beds still had dirty sheets on them and had the covers pulled up, ice maker on main floor broken, fridge on 2nd floor not working, and jetted tub not working.

In one of the bunk rooms, the top bunk was off limits because the ceiling fan switch was broken. The fan was running at high speed and nearly nailed one of the children in the head with no way to turn it off.

There was no deck furniture other than a few broken chairs. We had 10 deck chairs delivered the next day and the office manager came and pulled the poison oak off of the steps. She said the company was a mess and short staffed but she didn't care because she was retiring soon.

After 3 days of phone calls, the office manager advised for us to get through the week and we would discuss the issues after our stay. She said she would refund a large portion of our fees and see what else she could do for us.

They did provide bags of ice for us and the 2nd story fridge was fixed later in the week, but we were left cleaning up dog crap and washing dirty used bedding.

A comprehensive list was emailed following our vacation and after 3 weeks and numerous emails, the office manager responded. She said she found it "strange" that all of the issues weren't previously discussed with her while we were on vacation even though the way it was handled was agreed upon.

We were offered a 10% discount on our next stay and they refunded $149 in cleaning fees and thought that was more than fair. This company doesn't care about their guests time or money whatsoever.

Impossible to get refund after mislead
June 3, 2022
I Will NEVER rent through Vacasa again !!!! I was misled about the condo. It took five representatives and six hours to get results. Then I was misinformed about a refund. My refund came through not the amount promised.

Dirty sheets and broken lock box
May 11, 2022
Vacasa is a scam. I rented a place recently. There was no key in the lockbox, which took an hour to resolve. The backup lockbox was broken. Then there were dirty sheets on the bed with blood and hair. They charged $160 in fees (in addition to the rental) for a three-night stay. They deleted my review and will not answer my emails. I am requesting a refund of the cleaning and reservation fees to no avail.

Cancelled at the last minute, Marco Island
February 7, 2022

Less than 48 hours before we were to arrive in Marco Island, we were notified that our rental house was no longer available and our reservation was cancelled.

They offered us an alternative house in Naples with no pool. We had been looking forward to the pool and dock in the canal to fish in Marco Island and had chosen Marco Island not Naples.

We were devastated! We were flying in to Fort Myers with no place to stay! The customer service rep told me that this happens all the time. What? How can you stay in business? We prayed hard and searched other options.

We found an even better house through VRBO and had a wonderful time! Please listen to me and don't use Vacasa. Our much needed vacation and get away could have been ruined!

Vacasa is TERRIBLE - STAY AWAY
February 2, 2022

They are scammers. They canceled our lodging 5 days before our trip and didn’t care. We had everything paid in full. With only 5 days before we were set to go we received the following email, My name is Karla, with Vacasa, and I need to inform you of an important change to your reservation: The vacation home you booked for your upcoming trip, will not be available due to the home being sold and new owner living in the home full time.

That’s it, just like that our entire vacation ruined. Sure they would refund the lodging, nothing else. So now what do we do we have airfare, ground transportation, lift tickets and rentals but no place to stay. Everything else not available. They claim this is legal due to some wording in the contract buried way deep. This is totally illegal. We are now suing them. Do not use vacasa! I would rate negative numbers if it was option

On a recent ski club trip to Telluride (01/2022) we rented four units from Vacasa. All units had signed contracts and deposits all paid. Vacasa over the course of a few months cancelled all of our units. They claimed the units had become "unavailable". They offered us a different unit.

The replacement unit was not acceptable, in the wrong location and had the wrong bedroom and bed configurations. They were very stubborn and did not care. We had to fight to get our money back, (which took almost 8 weeks).

We had already paid for airline tickets, ski rentals, lift tickets etc. We needed to find alternative lodging which became very difficult. In the end we found lodging but ending up spending a lot more money.

Vacasa customer service and "relocation specialists" did not seem to care that they wrecked our vacations. We fought with them to get our money back and to get the difference from what we originally paid to Vacasa and then for the new rentals. In the end our club is out $3,000. Be informed, do not rent from Vacasa

Completely Unempathetic
January 23, 2022
We rented a home for a family vacation ($3600!). 13 days before our trip began, our 72 and 77 year old parent's home burned to the ground in the Marshall Fire (Louisville, CO). We asked Vacasa for a partial credit to vacation at a later date and were told no exceptions. I will never book with Vacasa again! At least with Airbnb you can tell the home owner about why you need to cancel and get some kind of human understanding.