Renting a house - Vent

[Darcy03231]

Why, why, why to owners/property managers keep a listing open on any of the home rental sites only to tell you when you inquire that it's not available for your dates and then offer you something else? I made sure to put the dates of our trip in, how many bedrooms/bathrooms, private pool, etc. and only inquire about the homes that came up in that search. I also checked to see when the last time the calendar was updated. It's really annoying to spend hours searching the site, narrow down your choices, send out inquiries and then be told sorry the house you want isn't available and then offered something that isn't even close in location, price, number of bedrooms/bathrooms or doesn't have a pool! Some even offered condo/townhouses when I was inquiring about a private pool home. Out of the 22 homes I sent inquiries out on (5 at a time, then when those 5 didn't work out, 5 more, etc.) only two were actually available for my dates.

We've been renting homes for years and this is the first year I've had this happen. Usually one out of my first five isn't available. What's usually a pretty easy thing to do was way more difficult this year.

 

[2Gma]

Ugh, frustrating! Especially when you checked their "updated" calendars. I feel property management companies are starting to lure guests in with an attractive low priced property so they get inquiries and then try to get you to book a different, more expensive property. Never happened to us before this year either. We kept looking until we found one that we booked directly through owner. Good luck, hope you find the perfect thing for your vacation!

 

[Iam.Goofy]

I am not an owner, nor do I ever want to be, but I have experienced this too. The owners are people with day jobs and have a life away from the villa and often live over seas. Sometimes these villas are owned by investors, not truly owners. Owners often post the villa on many many many villa web sites. So, it is difficult for them to keep all the sites updated, What you experienced is pretty common to what I have experienced too. It would be nice if there was just one master site (like VRBO or HomeAway) that everyone could use, and management companies that were affordable and responsive to keep the calendars up to date. I just don't think the owner rental villa industry is there yet.

 

[mikehn]

Im not an owner either. I suspect they get a steady stream of renters who make reservations, only to cancel later when they find a better deal, a better property some where else. So instead of constantly updating the calendar, they just leave it open.