I rented the house for my 80+ year old parents and older brother to stay while visiting family in Austin.
The good… Barbie the property manager had a working contact number and she responded if you called or texted repeatedly. The house suited our needs for space and location.
The bad… she gave us the wrong code for the lockbox and didn’t know the correct one, so it took awhile to get in. My parents found a full freezer with partial gallons and pints of ice cream amongst other opened food packages. The fridge was full of half used condiments, jams, partially finished juice bottles, an uncovered pat of butter on a plate. In the pantry there was a bare half eaten chocolate bar, open chips bags and pasta boxes, etc. In the bathrooms and restrooms were used soap bars, lotions and makeup. And these are only the highlights as the freezer and entire fridge door plus two shelves were filled.
The ugly… My parents complained immediately after check in and Barbie told them that her brother had been staying there and that they could eat and use whatever they liked. When I complained, she sent the housekeeper to clean out the fridge and freezer on day 3. When I got really angry, she sent the housekeeper to clean up the rest of the mess on day 5. My parents checked out on day 6. By then we had all spent hours getting this property into shape.
Unfortunately I was out of the country and my parents did not inform me of the situation until after 24+ hours had passed so it was too late to get our money back.
Unfortunately the owner did not see that there was anything wrong with what she was doing, informing me that several of her friends also do the same. The way I see it, she took advantage of sweet elderly people who didn’t know how rental properties should work. Unfortunately VRBO does not allow photo uploads on their app.
In conclusion, worst VRBO rental ever. Completely unsanitary under normal circumstances never mind during a pandemic. Host is completely oblivious to normal health standards and dragged this ordeal out when she could have easily fixed it from day one.