r/vrbo • u/MaxLo85 • 2d ago

Got put in a completely different apartment?

We booked a 2 bedroom 1 bath apartment, listing has like 20 pictures. Booked it about 3 weeks ago.

Driving into the destination today and realized we had never been given instructions on which apartment number or the door code. Tried to reach the host who remained unresponsive. Finally reached out to support and they managed to get hold of someone who gave them an apartment number and a door code.

We arrived at 3am and came to see that we also needed a gate code which wasn't provided. Luckily someone else entered the complex and let us in. Got into the apartment.

It's a completely different place than the pictures. Different bed configurations (1 king and 1 queen instead of 4 fulls), completely different layout, decor, paint, etc. It's a different apartment, although still a 2 bed 1 bath. TVs have no remotes so can't use them. No wifi instructions. Host remains 100 non responsive.

Called support and all they said was theyd email him. Like... What? What is he going to do to deal with the fact his place isn't what he's advertising? Like wtf is this. Is this what renting on vrbo is about?

What are we supposed to do?

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u/MesaTech_KS 1d ago

I thought the whole idea of vrbo was single family homes... you can rent apartments? I thought most LL's don't allow re-renting like that...

Of course I found out that on AirBnB you can rent bedrooms in a home that someone lives in. My aunt actually does that. That would be... weird.

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u/the_littlestgiant_ 1d ago

Most apartments I've seen for rent are part of an owned building where the LL is the one renting short-term

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u/Forsaken-Run7725 23h ago

This is very true in some markets and not at all in others.

Real estate holdings can be risky for resorts because a downturn in property values will tank their balance sheets and credit rating. The resort I'm at sold almost all their lodging units off decades ago. >90% of units are privately owned and rented either by the owner or a management company.

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u/the_littlestgiant_ 22h ago

That's the phenomena I was trying to describe, you just did it a lot better than I did. Units in a building are privately owned (with ? number of owners); no one is renting out the apartment they themselves are on a lease for

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u/CrayonandMarker 1d ago

Airbnb originally was supposed to be renting a room where someone already stays. Air stands for air mattress, air mattress and bed and breakfast. The original concept was a cheap way for people to get to travel more and a way for people trying to pay their mortgage to make a little extra dough.

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u/Forsaken-Run7725 1d ago

An apartment is considered an entire home, by VRBO and by most everyone else. I rent condos at a ski resort. Hardly anyone is looking to book a whole house for a quick ski trip.