Service fee avoidance - great app for those looking for direct owner contact

[mortlipp]

Thanks for all these options Dave123. Looking at the Home Escape site I see a few listings that are also on Homeaway and Airbnb - I will look more closely and compare prices as I wonder whether owners might just increase their prices so that renters pay the same total price as they would if they booked through the other sites.

I booked through VRBO/Homeaway in 2016 before the changes and everything was fine. However, I am a bit wary of Homeaway now given all the terrible reviews by owners and travellers. I use Airbnb but don't like the traveller fees and the fact that if you cancel the booking fee is still charged. I kept all the email contact details for the owners we stayed with in Italy in 2016 but as it was a trip with my sisters and we had 2 bedroom places I would be unlikely to use these again for my husband and I when we travel. We don't tend to return to the same places exactly.

Perhaps we could all share details for direct contact with owners for nice apartments we have rented on this forum? However, not all owners seem open to direct bookings. We have stayed twice at an apartment in Melbourne through Airbnb and I have the owners phone number and have suggested booking direct with him (as in paying him cash on arrival) but he prefers to do it all through Airbnb for his own ease of keeping records for tax purposes. The issue of having your booking cancelled happens with Airbnb also but perhaps the refund process is easier and I imagine that they would refund the traveller booking fee in these instances.

I'll be interested to read of success in booking and staying at a rental through these alternative sites.
Michelle

 

[Dave123]

Both of our vacation rentals for 2019 have bypassed the mainstream advertising process, by booking directly (one owner has a web page, traceable via judicious searching).

Homelidays seemed to manage for many years without also charging the traveller, until they were acquired by Homeaway.

However, the dominance of the larger operators in the vacation rental market arguably allows them to charge both parties in the transaction, whilst offering a service of questionable value to the traveller (why is there no 'contact us' facility on the web site ?)

"Owners Direct, part of HomeAway, claims the extra money generated will be used to invest in brand marketing, build customer confidence and improve technology."

Travemole - Owners Direct slammed for 'greedy' booking fee, June 2016
http://www.travelmole.com/news_feature.php?news_id=2022566

Finally: "The issue of having your booking cancelled happens with Airbnb also but perhaps the refund process is easier and I imagine that they would refund the traveller booking fee in these instances."

Try here for travellers' experiences:

https://www.airbnbhell.com/airbnb-guest-stories/

Good luck ?!

 

[DragansDen]

I prefer Google hotels. Nothing is really direct, the agent will charge owner provision or annually. Only what you can call direct is going to straight to reception where you will be charged more than online. Online you can get many discounts.

 

[dviney]

Have a look at this! https://staysavr.com/ I have tested it as a guest. It is quite magical! You know how the big sites are hiding the owner information from you? All you get is a first name and a scrambled email address unless they are part of a dying breed who have managed to hang onto this information on the site (but probably only until mid-2018 on the Homeaway sites) by being grandfathered in as those who do not take direct bookings through the site and paying a hefty 'ransom' subscription price for the privilege.

You install this on your computer (a matter of seconds and BTW it doesn't work with Safari) and it means that you don't have a giant (aka Expedia) standing between you and the rental of your dreams. Of course, you need to be able to trust that the owner is all that he/she purports to be. These sites have been playing on the not completely unfounded fears of the guest that they are going to be scammed. But scammers represent a tiny proportion of the market. Project fear has meant that people are willing to pay up to 12% (they are testing out raising it from previous high of 9%) extra on Homeaway thinking Homeaway/VRBO/Owner's Direct etc. are going to cover them in the event of a place not existing. The reality (see sites like Trust Pilot for Owner's Direct) is, allegedly, somewhat different. They advise you that you have to claim through your credit card (well, you were probably going to do that anyway, or use your travel insurance). And if you arrive in the middle of rural France, for example with a couple of toddlers at 11 pm at night, only to find the advertised house does not exist, is the person on the helpline in India or the Philippines really going to be able to find you a similar rental property, just like that, possibly in a high, fully booked season?? That is what they appear to "guarantee", at least for the first three nights.

This app is is two fold in its use. It gives you direct contact details through revealing a phone number and a name (and also a website and email address if the owner has installed the app as well). I think a name and phone number are crucial to checking out whether a place is legitimate. No genuine owner is going to object to a phone call to ask for more details/get an email contact address to proceed, without the middle man taking a slice of the cake.

Also, by booking direct, you avoid paying large and useless (in my humble opinion!) service fee.

Speaking as a traveler AND a host, have some knowledge of them. The reason they can extract contact details is because Homeaway present this data in the webpage, but HIDE it from being displayed on the page. So Staysavr can scrape it from the underlying source code of the page. I guess the longer term risk is if VRBO decide to start to NOT present this data at all.