North Liberty Home ~ 11 Mi to University of Iowa!

Reviews

• Very Poor Communication

  1/5

  On the 4th of July, I booked a two night stay via VRBO at a property near Iowa City for the University’s Parents’ weekend in mid-September. On Friday September 13th (the day of my check-in) I received an email and a text message (neither via VRBO’s platform) from the “host” (a local realtor—Acie Earl of the Sellers and Seekers agency and Venom Investments) informing me that the property had been sold and that they had another property available to me for the same price. I reached out to VRBO to ask what protocol was, given it was such ridiculously short notice, and they confirmed that this was a highly suspect practice and that I should not proceed with their offer. They explained that had I accepted the host’s offer of a different property that my stay would not be covered by VRBO if anything went wrong. VRBO reached out to the host while I held on the line, confirmed the course of events, and canceled the reservation after explaining my options to me. They charged the host a 50% penalty (paid to me as a credit on their site, usable immediately) because of the way they handled this reservation, and luckily, I was able to find another property at which to stay (the Hyatt Regency in Coralville—had a great stay and they were also very accommodating!). Subsequently, I looked at the property records for the original address and saw that it had been sold on 8/23 (which meant the sales proceedings had been ongoing likely since the 7/4 booking date or shortly thereafter—plenty of time with which to make me aware that I would need to be switched to another property). The hosts should have, obviously, immediately taken down the listing and let me know what my options were via the VRBO platform. Instead they reached out off-channel as to not get their access to the VRBO site taken away and a fine levied. I will never book a property with this host again. But I have a huge amount of respect and brand loyalty to VRBO for how they handled things—easy to understand, very accommodating, and perhaps most importantly, immediately. Unlike the host. Do not use this host.

  Manager's Response:

  Hi Brian, thank you for sharing your detailed feedback with us. We understand how frustrating it must have been to deal with such last-minute changes, especially for an important event like Parents’ Weekend. We followed up with the homeowner and they would like to share the following:
  - Thank you for sharing your experience, and we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience you faced. We understand the frustration caused by last-minute changes, especially for such an important weekend. Due to the sale of the original property, we regretfully could not honor your initial reservation. Rather than canceling outright, we reached out to offer an alternative property that we hoped would meet your needs. Unfortunately, we did not receive a response from you.
  - We apologize if our communication methods caused any concerns. Our intention was to make the transition as smooth as possible, though we understand it did not come across as intended. We’re committed to improving our processes and ensuring our guests feel supported every step of the way.
  Thank you again for your feedback, and we’re truly sorry for any disruption this caused to your plans. We wish you the best in your future travels and hope you enjoyed your time in the Iowa City area.