Can I get a refund from HomeAway?

Did you recently have a cancellation with HomeAway? Are you thinking of booking with them but you’re unsure how flexible to cancellations are? Are you trying to get a refund for a trip that you were unable to take? If so, you might be wondering what the refund policy is, and when you qualify for a refund versus when you don’t.

Cancellation Policies for Listings

According to the company, refunds are only issued in accordance with the cancellation policy for the property that you booked. If you cancel and you qualify for a full refund, a service fee that you were charged gets automatically refunded.

If you are a host with a listing, HomeAway gives you the option to set the cancellation policy from one of five versions:

1. No refund, which means no refund is offered at any time for any reason.
2. Strict, which means any booking that is canceled at least 60 days before the start of the stay gets the full refund.
3. Firm, which means any booking that is canceled at least 60 days before the start of the stay will get a full refund but any booking that’s cancelled at least 30 days before the start of the stay will get a 50% refund.
4. Moderate ( this is the one they recommend people use), which means bookings canceled at least 30 days before the start of the day receive a full refund and bookings cancelled two weeks prior to the start of the stay receive a 50% refund.
5. Relaxed, which means any booking that’s cancelled at least 14 days before the start will get a full refund, and bookings cancelled 7 days before the start will get a 50% refund.

What does this mean for you as the traveler booking through the company? It means that you have to pay particular attention to the cancellation policy for the home you are booking.

How do I request a refund?

With this company you shouldn’t have to request a refund because according to the policy,  that refund is automatically issued assuming you are in compliance with whatever cancellation policy the host picked.

For example: If you pick a home with a firm cancellation policy in place and you abide by the 60-day limit and cancel before that 60 day window, you qualify for a full refund. Assuming you qualify, the refund and any deposit you made it should automatically be put back into your account.

If that refund isn’t issued, you have to contact HomeAway customer support. 

What about Travel Insurance?

If you cancelled a trip but you previously had travel insurance, you have to contact the CSA travel protection directly in order to get a refund for your plan. HomeAway says that the contact information for them should be in the email you received after you purchased one of their travel insurance plans. 

Special Circumstances

There are current company publications that have to do with a coronavirus and these asked that the hosts implement more flexible cancellation policies and the potential for more refunds for those people who were affected by covid-19.

What happens if they don’t issue a refund I deserve? 

There are some situations where HomeAway simply won’t issue a refund even if you think it’s deserved. If they’re not getting back to you and you’ve done everything that you’re supposed to, you can try consumer arbitration. 

With our help you can reach out to HomeAway with some legal options and try to get the refunds that you deserve. If they still aren’t fixing the problem, you can use an independent third-party arbitrator to look over the case, see what the problem is and decide whether or not you deserve a refund. We help walk you through the steps.