Lay My Hat

You can check in but you can't check out.

Having been caught in a VRBO trap ( put alternative payment methods in that I now can't remove so any booking which is a 'request booking' one has to go through checkout or I am shot at dawn), I hurriedly went to remove my quite separate OD alternative payment methods. I had been testing out online booking and offering PP, cheque and bank transfer on there ( got one booking that way and no fee YET of course).

On OD, subscription listing, whilst I can remove the online payment thing, I can't now remove the payment options. It gives you a Red warning notice saying you have to pick at least one method and it won't submit and save without. This is in preparation for when they add the booking fee later this year. All the American sites are now doing this and people are losing bookings. The guests think it is the owner adding the 7-9% ( on an average listing) fee.

It is OK now as they don't charge a fee but for any of you thinking it is a good idea to tick those alternative payment boxes DON'T. There is no way back.......at least I can't find one. Anyone????

I think you have to phone them...

Thanks for the warning. I nearly did it; thank heavens I didn't. A bit like their stupid hospitality app that you inadvertently sign up for.

Problem is that I am now in Austria for the next two weeks+ and I don't fancy waiting half an hour to be answered in Austin on a mobile, or even OD in England. But others in America have tried and failed when ringing CS so it is deliberate, quite clearly. I think I have to write to the CEO when I get back as this is SOOOO sneaky. They don't have an email address for VRBO any longer. Does the OD one work?

Sorry to hear this Felicity.

I had a feeling that this might be the case,and it's quite staggering that they are doing it in such an underhand way. Surely any ethical business would warn you (their customer) that there is no opt-out once you accept. The fact that they don't warn you shows clearly that they KNOW it's going to be unpopular.

The same with the booking fee...I asked on OD's FB page (stirring a little) if there was any truth in the rumour that they would shortly be charging a booking fee to guests. The answer was this:

we are launching a service fee in the USA this month. At this time we don’t have any final plans to introduce a similar fee on Owners Direct.

Tavi - I have emailed OD so will update. For a long time, one could go into the alternative payments thing and wipe it out completely as I kept vacillating on this in view of the duplication of financial information across the two listings. Somebody pressed a switch which does not have a position 'off'. All I could do on the VRBO site was give "Feedback" on the relevant page as there is no option to email. The maddening thing is that I renewed so recently - two on VRBO and one on Owner's Direct, in November, December and January.

Does anyone have a copy of the terms and conditions for either site more recent than September for OD or November for VRBO/Homeaway, not counting the new one produced February 8th(ish)? I renewed within that window and if they did not update in January I signed up to the old terms and have a legal opt out, I believe.

I believe someone has listed parts of it on the HA community forum. You will see hundreds of messages about the fees. https://community.homeaway.com/community/us. US listers are not happy!

newtimber wrote:I believe someone has listed parts of it on the HA community forum. You will see hundreds of messages about the fees. https://community.homeaway.com/community/us. US listers are not happy!

Yes, thanks, I have been following and contributing to these discussions for weeks on the US forum. They listed part of a September edition. I have the September one for Owner's Direct and the November one for Homeaway.com/VRBO. ( this one gives me an opt out for my November renewal if I write to them). What I am trying to find out is when they changed these two, if it was before the end of January as I had renewals in December and January and I can't find record of T and c's published in those months.

The September one seems to be the latest for OD; I don't think they've changed OD's have they?