I was not able to travel to Vancouver Island on December 25th, 2024 because all ferries were cancelled due to storms and gale force winds. As a result, I was not able to make the first night of a two night reservation. My request for a one night refund was ignored by the host so I contacted VRBO. They asked me to send screenshots of newspaper articles proving that the ferries were cancelled due to the storms so I sent them news articles from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Global News reporting the travel disruptions. VRBO has an extenuating circumstances policy which states that when broad scale travel disruptions prevent a VRBO traveller from completing their reservation, VRBO can activate its Extenuating Circumstances Policy, applicable to all bookings made on VRBO and if such an event occurs, and VRBO activates this policy, they must provide refunds for impacted reservations, regardless of the reservation’s cancellation policy. They failed to invoke the policy and told me it was at the host’s discretion. I am very unhappy but I’ve accepted that I will not receive a refund. However, my mostly positive review of the property was declined because I mentioned that ferries were cancelled and I did not receive a one night refund. VRBO is cherry picking reviews. I think potential customers have the right to know that they will not receive a refund for widespread travel disruptions (particularly at this time of year when they may occur).
