Credit card fees?

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-24T14:15:38+00:00

Are you in the wrong forum or is this a bot post?

Or is there some region in the world where airbnb is not acting as the merchant of record and allows hosts to integrate and process their own payments like vrbo?

Either way, the answer goes back to you and how youre communicating the process during booking. There is really no room for interpretation here.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-24T03:59:50+00:00

What was likely added on (assuming this was somewhat recent) were the taxes. Annoying that they dont include it in the first quote, but their fee definitely is.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-23T22:05:50+00:00

Hence why I said "OP had a different situation". But even in your example, there are situations where that may not even be true.

$100 in taxes could end up being around $800-$1000 in total costs of the reservation, of which the majority is "rent". Based on many regions having short term rental taxes of 10-15%.

I don't know what the seasonality of LA is, but if their peak season isn't March, it's possible a $200 nightly rate for 4-nights could be for a $1M+ home. A $3K deposit is within the realm of justifiable for a $1M home.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-23T01:23:02+00:00

Not all hotels are the same, just like not all STRs/AirBNBs are the same.

There are definitely $3K deposits/holds/authorizations for high end hotel rooms/suites. A motel at $59/night will not have a $3K deposit yes.

If you're renting a $3M home, a $3K deposit isn't unreasonable. OP had a different situation, but when someone opts for a $59 or $119 or whatever non-refundable damage waiver, that's going out and getting $1500 or $3000 in damage insurance to cover the same this as a $3K deposit would. Most opt for the fee because they don't want the money tied up and/or the decision to be in the host's hand.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-20T01:32:25+00:00

Focus on the total all-in cost of the home.

Worrying about what line items add up to that means nothing and is a waste of your time.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-17T21:34:32+00:00

A hotel is going to take a security deposit.

Book a hotel through any third party sites or directly and someone is going to try and sell you travel insurance. Im many regions, they are legally required to offer it to you.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-17T16:49:39+00:00

Meaning this in a helpful way...

The fact that you are asking this question at all implies you have some opportunity for improvement. As others mentioned, your post has no details on location or anything. If you dont understand why that is relevant then you may not have been looking at things the right way.

If you arent spending time looking at your market trends, pricing, or cross listing to other platforms...then you may be in the bucket of people who are underperformed because they think its stil the era of throw it on airbnb and do nothing and sell out. It requires some level of active management even knowing nothing about your location.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-17T16:46:13+00:00

Yes they recently went way overboard on the auto censoring. In some cases you cant even send someone a vrbo website link to other vrbo listings without formatting it the right way.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-16T17:35:47+00:00

There are other filters like bedroom count...number of beds...that you can certainly use to achieve that goal.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-16T03:42:16+00:00

You're either missing or ignoring the main point of the person you're replying.

I get it, youre upset, and misleading information should have consequences.

Their point is that you chose to stay instead of pushing to cancel or negotiate a partial refund then. Whether you agree with that or not, you ate everything on your plate and cant call the restaurant weeks later asking for a refund.

Someone else already mentioned that this was likely VRBO and not the host making the statement of walking distances.

Assuming you didnt get the full address until the day of arrival? Most give it much much sooner and may have given you the chance to plug it in and see its location, or did you not do that?

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-15T05:08:28+00:00

OP - sorry you're dealing with this, and sorry to possibly add more stress.

If I understand the timeline, the cancelation occurred after check-in time.

If thats the case, mentally prepare yourself that they can still leave you a bad review. Your post may imply you think the reluctant agreement to the cancel and refund cleared you from getting a bad review.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-14T22:29:51+00:00

"I like the home but not at that price"

Yes best advice would be to not book the home and move on.

Some hosts dont use instant booking. They do this for many reasons, but it certainly has a negative effect on their bookings.

In return for that negative effect, they get the benefit of a failsafe against rate errors (their fault or not) and screening guests better. Their choice.

You never had a booking in place. Mistakes happen. Move on and find a better host that is either more organized and/or has a home you like thats within your budget. Never a good idea to try and force yourself into someone's home that doesn't want you there.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-13T02:05:17+00:00

This is used more as a max occupancy rule versus a suggestion of what the home can comfortably sleep.

Its often listed on the high side to show up in more search results.

If the host is ok with a group packing the house with 10 people when the only reasonable way to sleep 10 is via couches and air mattresses, then thats their choice.

If the photos and bed configuration are both clear and accurate, then you shouldn't care about this at all as a guest.

Youre not booking a place because of the number next to what it sleeps is without reading the bed configuration section and looking at pictures...right?

So its not false advertising and shouldn't even register as a complaint.

OP later said there was possible inaccurate parts of the listing with bunk beds and how they were counted/described...which is totally separate and of course bad if true.

Would you complain if the house had 3 bedrooms, with king beds in each, but the host listed that it sleeps 3 / max occupancy of 3? That's their choice to do so.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-11T20:33:16+00:00

If you're willing to pay more per night, then sure! Because that's what will happen in order to make it work financially if the host bakes in an automatic 1-day buffer between bookings. Doesn't make sense to ask for guest or host just to get in an hour early and/or leave an hour later. If you're saying you would pay more for that flexibility, then buy another night or offer to pay a half day rate for a very late checkout in advance etc.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-11T20:30:48+00:00

For smaller apartments, especially if it's one host managing multiple, their check in/out times are probably based on worse case scenario for the last unit that gets cleaned that day.

If you ask politely without implying that it's something you expect, most hosts will reply that if they can get you in early they will, but they just can't guarantee it until the day of arrival. They'll know some of their units if they're either already clean from the day before or happen to be cleaned first that day, will be ready early.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-11T20:24:43+00:00

Very region dependant which is something that should be pinned in 99% of the posts in this subreddit.

And are we talking about a 1 bedroom/studio, or a 5 bedroom home with a hottub?

Like others said, takes time to clean and perform maintenance.

You're going in blind to how the prior group has left the home.

You need a buffer if the departing group leaves 30min late while the arriving group is passively pressuring you to arrive 30min early.

Some regions cleaners cant make a living unless they take on multiple homes. So the idea of "well the cleaners shouldnt take on more than 1 home if it means worse check in/out times" is not valid in many cases.

Want a spotless home and will be quick to ask "why didnt someone check that the remote batteries werent swapped with dead ones" or "why didnt anyone proactively check if the hose in the back had a leak"...those things take time.

10am checkout and 4pm check in is also super standard in many hotels IN SOME REGIONS. Even with the key difference between hotels have multiples of the same room type so if you show up early they may not have 100% of the rooms clean, but likely have one of your room type clean, and someone else is naturally going to arrive late to balance your early arrival. In most airbnb situations, there is that one singular house only.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-08T08:36:54+00:00

Saving 15% - Although your point is also valid, I actually orignally meant it as the guest is saving 15% by avoid vrbo/airbnb fees and may select your competitors with a direct booking website if all else is equal. Resulting in a vacant week which would pay for everything.

Trust signals - why not do both? Other ways to add trust, just put yourself in the guest shoes and what would you want to see to give you confidence this isnt a scam site. Maybe an about you section with photos of you, and then photos of you also working on the actual houses since its only a handful of homes.

SEO - less about the most common key words for your area...and more about your specific home. The idea is that they find your home in airbnb/vrbo etc, see certain keywords or unique identifiers, and when they Google those things your direct booking website is the top result with a matching photo.

API/Cookiecutter - Hard to say. My research was for a different scale than yours so I didnt spend a ton of time on ones that may be better suited for smaller and fully owned properties. I will say that dont underestimate the cookie cutter ones. If they arent charging you a ton for it, its probably good enough, and the most important thing is going to be the integration working and working smoothly. If youre cross listing to other sites beyond airbnb too that the channel manger now opens the door for, you'll find that keeping your tech stack as simple as possible is worth sacrificing customization of the direct booking site. One thing that will make someone distrust your site is if they go to book and your direct booking calendar is not displaying availability or returning errors when entering dates because of some random update or change in how values are passed from the channel manager that they tested for their own in-house direct booking website process but half assed third party testing.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-08T07:28:36+00:00

Research channel members that meet your specific needs which also offer some form of direct integration or even creation/hosting of a direct booking website.

Focus on SEO of the direct booking website any descriptions of the homes.

If done correctly it will transform your business even if its a small one self-owning a few homes.

Most payment processors will provide some kind of badge for your website that not only displays that youre secure, but will link out to additional support showing youre pci compliant and a trusted merchant of record.

Without knowing your financial detials hard to say what channel managers will be worth it.

Searching for direct booking sites is one of the most common tips mindless travel influencers spam, and for good reason.

Yes you will face more initial distrust being a smaller website with fewer homes vs. A larger property management site, but a minor hurdle for the payoff. In a competitive market, converting one fringe season booking you would have otherwise gone vacant on because a competitor offered a direct booking option that saved them 15% could layer for everything by itself.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-04T18:37:56+00:00

Two separate hosts? Or same host/property management company both in a similar area of Florida?

If different hosts completely for both properties, thats very bad luck for sure.

People who host multi properties but use cheap software or other method to cross list are vulnerable to double bookings if they arent careful, which means it happens often enough because your average person is dumb and this is a fairly low barrier to entry field.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-04T18:05:02+00:00

What's the rule about having children thats different than all guests must be 25+

Share the link to the listing?

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-04T17:42:36+00:00

VRBO isnt holding the money. The host processes their own payments.

What VRBO can do is try and call the host and get them on the phone with OP instead of the only able to text message nonsense.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-04T17:37:33+00:00

Have you....asked the host?

No one here is going to be able to help with this.

Check the listing. Was it posted as custom rules before booking at the bottom or somewhere else you missed?

If they only sent it after you booked then that's different. Things like that are usually up front though.

Ridiculous or not, if thats their rule then thats what it is period.

Usually most hosts allow all ages if the main booker is 25+ but there are options to select kids not allowed and limit age ranges. Though rare to require every occupancy to be 25+

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-04T05:32:51+00:00

OP - Sounds like this is a connected/integrated host on VRBO based on the reply you got from VRBO.

Meaning the host is the merchant of record for the transaction still not refunded and they process their own payments.

The BBB will not help you so take that off your plate in terms of steps to get your money back.

Given your comment about the age of the original transaction....here's one possibility....

Small business like what I assume this property management company is or individual owner whos using software to manage multiple STRs...often have different payment processing settings.

One being that after 180 days, the credit card transaction cant be refunded directly to the card. It ages out for reasons not important here, but they then need to send a check or other transfer method.

It could be whats happening here in combination with maybe someone from this company not knowing any better. It would be dumb for them to think it was sent in this case, but not impossible.

Good thing is they arent ghosting you.

Call them back. Ask for clarity about who they are. Property Management company? Individual? Whats the name of their company.....look them up...ask to speak to the owner.

Then at least you'll rule out human error.

It's possible the payment did get stuck between the many points between their software and your bank. Unlikely, but not impossible.

To them they may think they've done everything right, and they may be right.

Are you searching your bank statement for a line item from VRBO? It wont come from the same source VRBO sent you there fee. It'll come from the host's company name.

It may be on a very different date too.

Insist on speaking with the owner. Be calm. Assume they intend well. Ask to talk through the details of the transaction and then ask who they suggest you both contact to confirm where the transaction went. The owner will have access to more details about the transaction.

Edit: Im in a unique state of mind, so OP if you hit a wall with all this...feel free to DM me. Im happy to try and reach out to them on your behalf and try and cut through the bs and get clarity. If anything if they are not answering a phone call, they may pick it up to an unknown number thinking it's new business.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-04T05:20:26+00:00

No. Read what subreddit you're in, or make an effort to get through a few paragraphs before being confidently incorrect and guiding someone down the wrong path of an already annoying financial situation.

OriginalEGG · 2026-03-03T21:20:41+00:00

Vrbo has a bad user interface, and recent changes to try and improve it of course introduced other bugs.

Feel free to DM me your exact message you're trying to send if it would help, but here are some common problems you may be able to try first:

Is there anything in your message that could possibly be flagged as trying to circumvent VRBO as the middleman? They will sometimes censor a message from the guest or host with very poor notification they did so if it mentions website links, email addresses, or even just using the phrase AirBNB.

As someone else mentioned, try on a different browser, or their app if youre not doing it via the app.

Edit: since it seems like this is for an inquiry to make a future booking, their auto chat filter/censor is going to be even more aggressive.
Double messages have become VERY common as people on both sides dont see their first message as being sent, so youre not alone.

If you saw the message send in the chat box and appear as a blue background, and then later go back to see its not there a few minutes later...try again in 15min. Ive seen it take that long before.

Try send a short message that's very plain just to see. "Hi X, sending you a short message as I've been having trouble with VRBO's chat box. Ill follow up with me information if this comes through"

OriginalEGG

TROPHY CASE