I booked with (and paid) Expedia for this booking. I was supposed to receive check-in instructions from the host and a link to a Vrbo account to manage the booking. I had not received either by the published check-in time on my day of arrival.
It was very difficult to establish who was acting on behalf of whom. As well as the involvement of Expedia and Vrbo, it transpired that the host believed they were renting their property via Homeaway, via a local agent in Spain.
The number of parties involved provided opportunities for one party to blame another for the situation I found myself in
Clearly the host did not receive my messages where I was asking for help, either because (by their own admission) their ‘phone didn’t work’ or because they had tried to contact me on yet another different app ‘Abritel’ which I had never heard of and had not at any point been invited to use.
I eventually got through to speak to Vrbo who agreed that under the circumstances they would issue a refund so I could go ahead and book somewhere else. Having done this I called Vrbo back who then REFUSED the refund.
It was reasonable for me to have expected to have been given the information I needed to enable me check in at the published time (16:00). When I reached out for help, this was not forthcoming, instead, the host decided they deserved to keep my money which was (for obvious reasons) a decision fully supported by Vrbo and Expedia.
