As a long time successful host who pride ourselves on the service we provide, we are removing our house from the VRBO platform. Our home was recently trashed by a guest and VRBO have wiped their hands of all responsibility. We have only just found out 2 important things:1. As a host you are limited to maximum claim defined by the 'pre-approve' damage charge to guest at the outset. If you set this high, you are unlikely to get bookings, if you set it too low, and there is a major issue, VRBO will do absolutely nothing to help you.2. More importantly, and most concerning to all hosts, is that the verification that VRBO carry out to ensure you are receiving security approved guests is minimal. They informed me today that they take no ID, apparently just a return email to check that the email the guest is using is real. They do no age check, no id check, no address check, no secure means of verifying who your guest actually is. Nor do they appear to care if a guest has a fake id using a stolen credit card. I gather that buried in their terms they suggest that hosts should do this.Our house was rendered un-rentable whilst we make repairs and deep clean. VRBO refused to contribute at all. The extent of their 'help' was to send a message to request payment to the guest (who has now vanished). In our view their commitment to hosts has reached an all time low.
