TravelTalkOnline Forums Travel and Vacation Forums St. Maarten - St. Martin VRBO and hurricane season

What happens if you book through VRBO and there is a hurricane? Will they get you your money back?

I would hope that is all spelled out in the rental agreement but never any guarentees.,

Never rented anything through VRBO, so have no idea what is in their rental agreement..

It might vary with each property listed depending on the agreement that property owner has with the listing. Not sure on that but could be a posibility.

Right from VRBO, below.


What is the cancellation policy?

Cancellation policies vary from property to property and are available for review directly from the property page. Though hosts can set their own policies, typically they apply one of the following:

No refund policy
Bookings at this property are non-refundable.

60-day policy
100% refund if you cancel at least 60 days before check-in.
No refund if you cancel less than 60 days before check-in.

60/30 day policy
100% refund if you cancel at least 60 days before check-in.
50% refund (minus service fee) if you cancel at least 30 days before check-in.
No refund if you cancel less than 30 days before check-in.

30/14 day policy
100% refund if you cancel at least 30 days before check-in.
50% refund (minus service fee) if you cancel at least 14 days before check-in.
No refund if you cancel less than 14 days before check-in.

14/7 day policy
100% refund if you cancel at least 14 days before check-in.
50% refund (minus service fee) if you cancel at least 7 days before check-in.
No refund if you cancel less than 7 days before check-in.

Custom policy
Some properties may have custom cancellation policies that differ from the ones above. Custom policies may have different cancellation terms and fees associated with them. These terms are usually available for review directly from the property page. If the cancellation policy is not displayed, please contact the host directly to review their cancellation terms.

*All cancellations must be made by 11:59 pm in the property’s time zone to fall within the cancellation policy.




VRBO cancellation policy due to weather

If a guest has to cancel due to natural disasters such as a hurricane, flood or storm, they should get in contact with the owner. The owner and the guest must then come up with a solution, such as refunding the guest or rescheduling the stay for a different time.


VRBO does allow you to buy trip insurance that will cover weather

OK, that doesn't really give me any confidence they will be of any assistance at all, which is kind of what I thought. I'm thinking about booking for October, and the free cancellation date with the owner is September 1, which is fairly useless.

I would NEVER in a million years book trip insurance through VBRO. I am looking policies now for insurance through Insure my Trip, and hurricane coverage seems to vary widely..

Did you book using a credit card that includes travel insurance? If you're not able to get things resolved through VRBO or with the owner, the insurance through your card may be another option. We use a Chase card to book trips, and it includes interruption/cancellation insurance that would cover any nonrefundable expenses impacted by weather.

https://www.chase.com/card-benefits...llation-trip-interruption-insurance-5000

You should reach out directly to the owner and see if they will make a commitment of 72 hours for trip cancellation because of weather. It couldn't hurt to ask and they might agree for the booking. Maybe offer a small fee if you had to cancel, like 5%, which might be cheaper than extra insurance.

Agree. Contact the owner directly to discuss.
Have rented from owners many times with VRBO and never had any issues.

I have also used VRBO MANY times but a cancellation less than 7 days prior to travel for weather would definitely have to be in writing. I have only cancelled two rentals (Paris and Bruges) with no issues but definitely before 7 days

The owner says that we can get our money back if there is a hurricane, but I'm not at all sure he will put it in writing. I am looking at trip insurance that will cover it regardless.

I would look at the reviews of the owner on the VRBO listing. If there are numerous reviews, and all positive, and he will state it in writing in an email than I would accept that offer. It still doesn't prevent you from getting additional insurance as a fail-safe.

I have looked at the online stuff and he seems fine. I want to make sure I have insurance for medical evac anyway, so will just handle it that way.

I have yet to have an issue with them, Knock on wood. I do know that when rona hit last year VRBO was pressuring the owners to refund customers, or at least reschedule if within the cancellation window.

Just make sure that you pay by credit card. in the event of a problem, the credit card company will back you up.

Have an attorney look attorney at it

Pelican--I assume that's a joke.

Yes

Good morning all!

TGIF and have a great weekend (once it gets here later in the day - at least for me.)

We have been booking through VRBO (and it's sister site: HomeAway) for ages. @Bdeeley's post with terms is very accurate. To protect ourselves outside of the cancellation window, we always purchase Trip Insurance. Most Trip Insurance will cover hurricanes as long as you do not purchase it once the storm has been named. We tend to bounce between either Generalli or CF Travel Insured (this is not a recommendation, and you should do your own research.) Usually, we select on price - as most offer very similar coverage.

We had to cancel once due to illness, and were very pleased with the process and timeliness of the payment for the non-refundable part of that trip.

As a complete aside, we wish there was some insurance to cover the last minute cancellation of a booking by the owner. We have had that happen twice now, and uniquely enough, both times when renting through VRBO for a stay in St. Martin (Orient Beach area.) One time the unit was sold, and the new owners no longer wished to rent to leisure travelers (completely understandable.) As this happened with more than 6 months to go, it was not a major issue to find a replacement property (no help from VRBO.) The second (and most recent time - just this February) the owner the week before our arrival claimed to completely forget about the booking (well documented through VRBO.) That was a wee bit stressful, but it all worked out in the end. Unfortunately, VRBO was of negative assistance, and I had to work much harder than I would have thought to get my full payment back from the owner. She, I believe, lives on the island; and I hope to never run into her.

We have still had more positive experiences than negative ones with VRBO, though (about 8:2.)

Money saving tip with VRBO or similar service. It is possible with a bit of sleuthing to find the property owner or managing company. If you contact them directly (outside of services like VRBO,) you will save yourself a fair bit of money.

had that very scenario happen to me years ago and I reached out to the owner and was given a total refund.

ChivalrousJr

From your comment: "Money saving tip with VRBO or similar service. It is possible with a bit of sleuthing to find the property owner or managing company. If you contact them directly (outside of services like VRBO,) you will save yourself a fair bit of money."

Be careful about this. We thought we had a villa booked through VRBO (it showed available when we reserved) for next February only to hear from the lady who owned it that she had already booked the property for the entire month we were planning to come. We were able to find another one okay, but, interestingly we looked at this property again on VRBO a few days ago and it STILL shows availability for the dates we wanted. Our biggest fear is showing up thinking we have reserved a property only to find out the owner has rented it on their own and someone is already there! Just sayin...........

We have rented multiple times with VRBO, as well as directly with owners that we have used before.

I believe it is up to the owner to keep the availability calendar up-to-date, if they take bookings outside VRBO. If all the bookings are through VRBO it isn't a problem, since in that case I believe the calendar is automatically updated. But some owners use multiple sites to advertise their units, so if they get a booking from another site, they need to update the calendars on all the sites. IME, some are more diligent in doing this than others.

Owners or managers that don't keep their calendars updated are a bit of a personal pet peeve and I tend to avoid using them. I usually make a point of contacting the owners, especially if it is someone we haven't used before, to ask a few questions about the property after we have booked. It helps ensure they are aware who has booked the unit for a particular period. If there is a problem, at least they can let you know in plenty of time to book something else.

Always use VRBO rentals never a problem. The owner probably will have you sign a rental agreement going over the policies. Keep in mind the VRBO owner losses out too if there is a hurricane or anything that keeps you from traveling. You can but travel insurance but even a credit for the next visit would be ok with us. As much as you here about hurricanes we have been really effected by one in going to sxm mostly in hurricane season for over 20 years.