Fun times with our beach reservation

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

For the past few years, I’ve reserved a condo on the Alabama Gulf Coast and taken my (grown) children there as a family vacation. It’s usually a pretty relaxing and fun time.

This year, though … this year it’s been challenging. And we haven’t even gone yet.

I booked a condo in February for August 2 - 7. In the past, I’ve always booked directly with the condo leasing agency. This time around, though, they weren’t showing a ton of available condos, which surprised me. One of my kids suggested going through Airbnb instead, so I did … and lo and behold, there were a multitude of options. (Apparently owners have migrated away from the leasing agency and have started going to Airbnb to offer their condos.)

So, I find one that looks good, pay the half-up-front deposit, and don’t think much more about it. A few days later I got a message from the leasing company who manages that particular condo: Vacasa.

(In hindsight, I should have known this wasn’t going to end well. I mean … “Vacasa”? That name just SOUNDS evil, right? Like it ought to be one of the minor villains in a Marvel movie. Somebody Thor defeats on his way to fight the REALLY bad guy.)

Anyway, Vacasa lets me know they manage the condo I rented, and they’ll be messaging me about it from time to time, and I ought to do nothing for the next six months but sit back and relax and imagine all the fun I’ll have in this condo.

In mid-June, they automatically bill me for the remaining half of the condo rental. I pay it, and all is well; nothing stands between us and a relaxing beach trip but the few remaining weeks until August 2.

(“That’s what YOU think, Thor! You didn’t count on the mighty Vacasa! Take that!”)

So. Tuesday night, July 26. Beach trip is officially one week away. I get an email. From Vacasa.

It seems the condo I’d rented is experiencing HVAC issues. Vacasa (in the form of Jasmine, their helpful agent) is letting me know about this, and offering to do whatever they can to make it right. They have helpfully made another reservation for me at another condo, and all I have to do is agree to use that condo instead of the one I’d originally rented. Or they will work with me to find another suitable condo. Or we can move our trip dates to a later time and stay in the original condo, assuming the HVAC issues are resolved. Or they can give me a refund.

All this sounds pretty neato-keen, right? In fact, as Jasmine cheerfully noted, the new condo they’ve reserved for me normally costs about 25% more than what I originally paid, but because they’re such nice folks they’ll just eat that cost to help me out. They’re obviously bending over backwards. How nice.

I take a look at the new condo they’re recommending. It’s good, for the most part, but it’s lacking some things we really wanted:

  1. It’s not beachfront. We’d have to cross a highway to get to the beach.
  2. It doesn’t have a lazy river.
  3. It doesn’t have an outdoor pool. It DOES have an indoor pool, though.

So I reply, and thank them for the disappointing news. I also point out the amenities we’re losing as a result of the new condo they’re recommending. And because I’m sometimes a jerk, I noted that I’ve done a price comparison for the new condo vs. the old condo by plugging in various five-day stays in their booking engine for both. In every single instance, the new condo is about 30% LESS expensive than the one I’d originally booked, not MORE expensive (as they say).

Wednesday afternoon (with my trip now six days away), I get a reply. This one is from Haven; apparently I offended Jasmine in some way. Haven tells me the new condo is indeed 25% more than the old one, and I need to either move my reservation or cancel it.

Gone is the “we’ll help you find another option if this one doesn’t work.” Gone is “we can move your trip to another series of days while we resolve the HVAC issue.” Now it’s just “take what we’re offering you or cancel.”

So I reply to Haven. I’ve done some research, and (wonder of wonders, because we’re in the height of the Gulf Coast tourist season) I’ve found a couple of beachfront condos still available with the same amenities as the original. Best of all, while these are slightly more expensive than the original condo, they’re not 25% more. I suggest to Haven that Vacasa just move my reservation to one of those two options; that way, they’re still keeping me as a (relatively) happy customer AND it’s not costing them as much as the condo they proposed.

Wednesday night, I get a reply. This one is from Kayla. She reiterates how nice Vacasa is being by offering me a condo that’s 25% higher than my original booking. She also says there’s no question about the rate difference, and she doesn’t know where I got my price information. I need to let her know ASAP if I want the new condo, or if I want to just cancel my reservation.

So in my response, I tell her:

  • I got the rate information from their site
  • I offered two options that are less expensive than the price they’re quoting for the new condo (even though they’re going to be nice and cover the additional cost)
  • I’d prefer one of those two options, because they have more of the amenities I wanted when I first booked this trip in February

This morning (Thursday – the trip is now five days away) I get an email, this one from Kelly. She tells me Vacasa doesn’t manage the two condos I’d suggested, so they can’t book them. I can either take the condo they offered or cancel my reservation.

To quote Foghorn Leghorn, after a bomb blew up in his face: “Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered, for just such an occasion.”

I had the booking site for the other two condos pulled up already, and had been refreshing the availability screen regularly waiting for Vacasa’s reply. Once I saw Kelly’s email come through, I immediately booked one of the condos. Then I replied to Kelly (with likely more malice than was required) to tell her to cancel my reservation.

The best part? The condo I booked was actually slightly cheaper, because it was a last-minute deal.

Airbnb reached out to me this afternoon to apologize for the whole brouhaha. (You’ll recall that Vacasa was essentially a third-party vendor to this transaction; it all started with Airbnb.) They’ve offered a coupon worth several hundred dollars for a future booking if I’ll use them again. Which I will, for a trip we’re taking in October.

But Vacasa ain’t gettin’ NOTHIN’ from me again. Except scorn, and possibly a loogie as I drive past their offices on my way to the condo next week.

2

Well, that was an entertaining read! Glad it worked out well for you in the end. But it’s a shame you had to spend all that time researching prices and dealing with Vacasa (which actually strikes me as a pretty cool name: vacation + casa).

3

With va being a Spanish root for “go”, I wonder if it’s also a play on “going home” or something like that (my Spanish isn’t good enough to suss that out, though).

4

Ask your doctor about Vacasa (for your arterial plaque problem).

I was really expecting to hear a 40% (last minute) cancellation fee being applied somewhere in there, but I’m just being cynical.

5

I was expecting a cancellation fee too. Maybe they realized the OP would be persistent in fighting them.

I’m also wondering what really happened with the original condo. Ordinarily an HVAC problem (almost certainly something to do with the AC being on the fritz) shouldn’t take that long to fix. Although with supply chain disruptions, I’m a little more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt; maybe a part needed for repair is slow in arriving.

Still, these folks sound sleazy enough that I’m wondering if HVAC problems are just an excuse, and they double-booked or found someone else willing to pay more, or something. @Sauron, is the original condo close by where you’ll be staying? I’d be tempted to saunter by and see if it looks occupied.

6

Like nova as the name for a car?

7

Saying there’s, “an HVAC problem,” sounds a lot better than there’s, “a black mold problem,” which a malfunctioning HVAC could definitely precipitate. And it wouldn’t take much.

8

We’ve rented from Vacasa a few times. There are pretty big competitor to Airbnb.

9

Bait-and-switch is a very common AirBNB scam. You find a good deal and relax, then a last minute “crisis” requires you to accept a different, lesser property. The renter never intended for you to have the good property; this was the plan all along.

I can’t say for sure that’s what happened here, because I don’t know if Vacasa works the same, but it sure does fit the profile.

10

You should NEVER cancel at the request of an AirBnB host. Make them cancel from their end if they can’t give you the place you booked. No negotiations.

They get penalized very heavily for cancellations — if they have Super Host status they will lose it, plus there are cash penalties. They aren’t helping you by offering to find you another place, they’re trying to save themselves. Make them cancel.

11

I would have accepted the rental with “HVAC issues”and taken my chances. HVAC issues can be fixed in a matter of days.

12

The whole situation does have a very “bait and switch” feel to it, particularly the part where we went from “we’ll work with you however we can to make this right” to “take this other condo or cancel your trip” in the space of roughly 24 hours. Granted, we’re at the end of summer, and condo availability on the Gulf Coast is at a premium … but I wasn’t pleased with the lack of options they offered.

I dunno how Airbnb is gonna work this out with Vacasa, but from my perspective this ended fairly well. I’ve gotten a nicer condo for only a couple hundred bucks more than my original booking, AND I’ve gotten a coupon from Airbnb that will essentially pay for lodging for a trip we’ve got planned in October. So I’m relatively happy, except for the stress I endured for a while thinking my annual beach trip wasn’t gonna happen.

All I need now is for Vacasa to die in a fire, and I’ll be set.

13

We recently had HVAC issues - the blower motor on our furnace (which is how the A/C is circulated) died. We were told “2 days to 2 weeks” for the part to arrive; it wound up being just under a week.

So I can see HVAC issues maybe taking a couple of weeks. But otherwise, yeah, you were bait-and-switched. Did you ever get your refund? And was it for the full amount?

14

The same is true for Uber and Lyft.

15

For what used to be an extensive business travel schedule pre-COVID, I used to use Airbnb a lot. Based on my experience, “HVAC issues” means “the owner wants to use the place that week.”

16

I did indeed get a full refund, thanks for asking. And although it wasn’t AirBnB’s issue, they offered me a voucher worth several hundred dollars to use for a future booking through their site.

We stayed at a different (and actually nicer) condo that week, that just happened to be available (I’m guessing due to a late cancellation). It was only a couple hundred dollars more than the original booking. And I got to metaphorically spit at all the Vacasa signs I saw during the trip, which was nice.

17

That only works if the owner has other properties they can foist off on the unsuspecting traveller. I wonder if maybe it’s less punitive to the owner to cancel for “HVAC issues” rather than just flat-out cancelling?

The one time I was asked if I might cancel, the landlord (who was himself new to Air BnB) had a chance to rent the apartment for the entire winter, versus a few days here and there. He messaged me and asked if I’d be willing to cancel.

As there were plenty of alternate accommodations in that town, and I didn’t feel like being a jerk, I said of course - but it wound up falling through before I could do so.

He’s no longer doing AirBnB, which is really too bad - because the location of the apartment was nearly IDEAL for us (even walking distance to the train station - which had been a problem in the past) and we visit that town at least once a year.