Home Away payments - VRBO

[Jumbiegirl]

Has anyone had experience paying with a credit card via Home Away payments for a VRBO booking? I never done it and I'm wondering how the process went and if anyone would recommend it.

Also, Home Away also offers trip insurance on a rental. Has anyone purchased it or used it?

Thanks!

[PA Girl]

I can speak about trip insurance. I have had claims paid, claims denied and hell-ish fights with the provider over denials.

Read the trip insurance docs language VERY carefully. Coverage varies greatly. The policy I had kicked in after 12 hours of delays but some go out past 24 hours. Some won't cover losses after you complete X% of your vacation.

[MadCityMom]

We have experience using VRBO Home Away Payments. We used it for our upcoming trip. It is very slick in that it allows you to pay by credit card or e-check without having to give the owner any of your credit card information etc. I feel greater fraud protection paying by CC than paying by check. We own a rental property in Wisconsin and we use it for our guests. They pay via VRBO Home Away, we get notified by e-mail and then the payment (less credit card fees to VRBO) gets deposited in our checking account a few business days later. We never see any of the information other than the name of the person on the card and mailing address but not the CC number.

[PatrickMcc]

If the trip insurance is owned by Home Away it might not be a good idea. I read in Consumer Reports years ago that it is better to buy the insurance through an independent company. We always use Travel Guard but if you google trip insurance there is a web site that compares a number of companies.

[philbetm]

When we go on vacations I always handle all the arrangements , except when we are taking a cruise, then I use a very well respected travel agent with CruisePlanners. She has always taken our ins. out with CSA...it gives me a lot of peace of mind. We have been lucky and never had to file a claim...knock on wood but just knowing my agent ( who has become a long distance friend) trusts them says a lot to me. Also their rates are very reasonable. We rented for this June ...a condo ...our first time to stray away from a Villa on STJ. I found it on VRBO...but I am paying directly to the owner, who everyone raves about in the reviews. So I really can't help with info on the payment using Home Away. Good luck and have a great trip !

Sherry in SC