Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:06/21/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We had a sudden death in the family and contacted them for a refund, they approved a refund but then stoped contacting us. We have left multiple phone messages, text messages, and emails to no avail! This has been a very unpleasant and very unprofessional experience considering we have been dealing with a sudden tragedy!

  Business Response

  Date: 06/21/2023

  
  Good day!I hope you are great today! 
  Please know we have been in communication with this guest and have responded and refunded 50% of their stay. We are truly sorry for their loss. But unfortunately due to how our inventory works the cancellation policy they agreed to when booking it clearly states we are no longer able to fully refund once they are within 30 days of checkin regardless of the circumstance. At booking we offered insurance they could purchase should they need to cancel and file a claim that I do not know if they did or not, but regardless they agree to our policy at the time of booking and we are powerless to change anything. We have offered and given what is stipulated in our cancellation policy. So I do not see why they should be issuing a complaint with BBB. I really appreciate your help in this matter. Thank you so much for your understanding.  Have a Great Day!
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/21/2023

   
  Complaint: 20215975
  
  I am rejecting this response because: we have been canceling the reservation since the end of may, and once we finally did get someone to contact almost two week later were told we are out of the window for a full refund. My wife accepted this $600 loss ((50% of $1200) because she was afraid of losing the hole $1200. But during the talking with the person via text they just stoped talking with her and wouldnt talk to her, we tried everything to get you to respond and we did not get the confirmation of the 50% refund untill today after we initiated a BBB report! 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Business Response

  Date: 06/22/2023

  We were NOT requested a full refund since May. Had that happen we would have fully refunded them as per our cancellation policy which is:

  Please know our cancellation policy is you can cancel down to at least 30 days before check-in and you will get back 100% of the amount youve paid. If you cancel between 14 and 30 days before check-in, youll get back 50% refund. If you cancel *************************** the unfortunately you would not get a refund. 
  
  You can also modify your stay up to 14 days prior to check in. After that there are no modifications or refunds allowed. We recommend you purchase the travel protection if you think you might cancel and your stay is more than 30 days out. The policy is a small percentage of how much your reservation cost is but can protect you from most instances.
  
  Please make sure you look over the policy coverage so that you understand what it does and doesnt cover as one of them your reservation has to be booked at least 30 days in advance.
  
  If something were to happen and you needed to use the insurance, it would be a claim you would make through the 3rd party insurance company; you wouldnt receive a refund from us. 

  
  Also they have requested to cancel due to a recent death in the family.  We let them know our cancellation policy again to see what route they were going to take. Once they got back to us we offered what was permitted which was 50% which we gave them before we even received the notification from BBB. We do not play with our guests, and we do not appreciate this guest claiming to cancel since May. I honestly do not find any correspondence other than in March when they updated their email address they had sent us incorrectly and then again now in June which was around 17 days of check in. Please know we have been short staffed and we have many other guests we need to deal with as well in our day to day so it is possible between shifts they did not get o them as quick as they needed. We are sorry if that was the case but we never intentionally took longer to get back them them. We have before receiving the BBB notification completed the refund we can give at this point in time due to how our inventory works. We have completed our end of the transaction and do not understand why they continue to ask for more, but they are NOT entitled to a full refund. They policy they agreed to clearly states they can get a 50% refund which is what we have given them. We can not give any more due to how our inventory works and again we are very sorry for their loss and wish them well during these trying times. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 06/26/2023

   
  Complaint: 20215975
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  As you can clearly see from the text we were told we would receive a %50 refund then got no response until after I placed a claim through BBB. The one email sent prior to my claim states we would receive no refund. Then and only after my claim you send an email confirming a %50 refund. We left messages after messages and called 6 times. No refund of any kind was give. Until we files this claim. You clearly leave information out to your benefit. I will not change my stance you and the business are running shady and taking advantage of unfortunate circumstances. 
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************************

  Business Response

  Date: 06/29/2023

  We have presented all the information we have, We have already issued what we could which was 50% refund which is what we told you we would do and we did before we received your complaint from BBB.  We are not able to issue any more refund. I am very sorry for your loss but we can not change the rules for anyone  for any circumstance. Please remember when you booked you agreed to our cancellation policy and now you expect us to change it for you. To keep it fair for all our guests it can not be modified due to how our inventory works. So I am very sorry you are upset and that is the last thing we ever want but we can not help you with more. Thank you for your understanding. .  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/27/2022

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Booked a hotel for for 12/11-12/14/22, paid fully, received confirmation emails (not booking request) from both Expedia (where I booked through) and the hotel, was contacted by the hotel the next day that the room we booked was not available.We booked: ********************* 1BD Villa at $230/night They offered a substitute: ************************ 1 BD at $250/night but they can give us the same price Difference: The Villa has an in-unit *************** free self-parking, 835sqft, king **** The ** has no in-unit *************** valet parking $32 daily (no self-parking), 650sqft, queen **** Altho we don't need to pay the $20/night difference, we are actually not getting anything we need but need to pay extra parking fees. They said "those ad are the number of units and property that we have available for those dates. We apologize but It takes 24 hours for the calendar to update and we apologize for the inconvenience." which means 1) customers saw online was a fraud, they are offering something they may not have, after we paid, they force us to either cancel or offer something else we don't want 2) It is the hotel's responsibility to fix the booking system problem. I'm sure if their calendar always needs 24hr to update, many other customers should have faced the same problem and the hotel never fixed it?! 3) I received booking confirmation emails at 22:17 PDT, 10/21/2022, till 23:20 PDT 10/22/2022, the Villa still shows there are rooms available 12/11-12/14 on their official website Final solution they offer: a) I'd either cancel my booking or accept the ** room they offer b) they offer a token with free 3nights4days hotel trip but I need to decide where I want to stay within 7days -- My desired resolution: I don't want the token, I can pay for my trip, they can't force me to plan another trip within a week!!! I don't want refund or cancel, they need to arrange the villa or a BETTER room that has the features I need!

  Business Response

  Date: 11/02/2022

  Good afternoon!
  We hope you are very well today. So to start please let me explain how our business works. We are owners with ******** and we use our inventory to book each of our guest's stay. In order to advertise our units, we use websites like VRBO, HomeAway and Expedia to name a few to advertise our units. So when we get a booking request, we immediately begin the process to confirm our guests' stay. So what we do is we get into our Marriott account and book the room under our guest name. Once we have confirmed the room we immediately charge our guest for this stay. Now in the case of this guest, we, unfortunately, did not have availability. We looked for something similar that could possibly accommodate her but unfortunately, she did not like what we found. We offered to keep the room at the same price as originally offered but again she did not like the offer. So what we did was cancel her stay since we did not have what she originally requested and she did not want to stay in the alternative where we did have the availability. Please know we did not charge her for her stay. The only thing that she was charged was a booking fee charge from the website that she used to book this stay. We at no point took her money as she was never charged. What we did try to do was offer her an alternative which like I said she did not want. So the only thing that she was charged was a booking fee charge from the website that she used to book this stay.  But when we canceled her request the booking fee was refunded. So again we at no point took her money as she was never charged. What we did try to do was offer her an alternative which like I said she did not take. Now as an apology since this was now out of our hands we did offer her a separate vacation voucher from a Hotel Partner of ours for a future stay only paying the taxes. It was not intended for a trip now but as compensation for a future trip do to the unfortunate lack of availability not for a trip right now. This as an apology for not having the availability that she needed. Unfortunately, our availability is updated every 24 hours and unfortunately, there are times which are very few that we do not have availability any longer when we receive a booking request. The confirmation letters that she received was from the booking site and not from us with the actual Marriott confirmation. But again as I said we did not charge her anything for this stay. So we never toucher her funds. Believe me, we never want to have a guest upset and we work very hard to always have our calendars as up-to-date as possible. We are very sorry this happened and hope and strive to not have this happen again. Thank you for your understanding.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/02/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/27/2022

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I booked a room through this company at *********************** in *********, ** for the night of October 5, checking out October 6. First of all, this company apparently used another third party company, VRBO, to make the booking, and this was not disclosed to me before the purchase. We arrived very late at night owing to evening travel, and learned around 1am that there was no hot water in our hotel room. We called the front desk twice and I spoke with the concierge in the morning (on 10/6) about the issue, but we were informed that ******** could not help us obtain a refund since we had booked the room through a third party. I spent hours on the phone with VRBO to even get a working phone number to contact Vacations Simplified. I have now called this company several times, and each time I have been informed by a receptionist that someone will call me back and nobody ever does. I did not get what we paid for, and the room--without hot water-- obviously was not as advertised. This was a horrible experience and I hope you can help me! I have looked through Yelp and ****** Reviews, and it appears that several other people have been taken advantage of by this company. Frankly, even though this seems to be a relatively new company, with the number of 1 start reviews online, I am surprised that a complaint hasn't been filed yet through the BBB.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/04/2022

  Good afternoon!
  We hope you are very well today. So to start please let me explain how our business works. We are owners with ******** and we use our inventory to book each of our guest's stay. In order to advertise our units, we use websites like VRBO, HomeAway, and Expedia to name a few to advertise our units. From what I understand all these websites book with third-party locations.   So when we get a booking request, we immediately begin the process to confirm our guests' stay. So what we do is we get into our Marriott account and book the room under our guest name. Once we have confirmed the room we immediately charge our guest for this stay. So to start we do not like to be called a scam. She very clearly checked into a Marriott Hotel room and stayed the night. So how can she accuse us of being a scam? Now in the case of her stay, I am very sorry she says she had an issue with the hot water. We looked over our emails and text messages and I can not see any correspondence pertaining to the issue. The only thing we did see was a negative review in our account that we were investigating to be able to get back to her. Please know we reached out to the resort and we were informed by the front desk that the guest never reached out about the issue with the water. The front desk document any and all interactions with each guest but they had no record of anything with her.  Having said that the guest did stay in the unit and after the guest stayed the night and checked out we now get this poor review. Please know that we have many listings we host on VRBO  and you will see hundreds of wonderful reviews of the many guests we have had over many years in the business. We are truly sorry for the inconvenience they experience but in looking at our correspondence I honestly do not see where this guest reached out to us with this complaint. We will be happy to issue her a travel voucher with our hotel partners where she will only need to pay the taxes. But due to how our inventory works the room she stayed in is no longer refundable so we can not cancel or refund the stay. We can if she would like to offer her the travel voucher. We would be more than happy to send her the locations she can choose from. Thank you so much for your understanding. Have a Great Day!

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/27/2022

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Booking # ******** On August 1, 2022, I booked a vacation rental through VRBO with Vacations Simplified in **************, **.The dates were Sept, 26 - 30. When I found out about hurricane *** possibly hitting *******, I contacted Vacations Simplified inquiring about a refund. The only response I got was an automated response with their cancelation policy. There was nothing mentioned in there about a hurricane clause. I contacted VRBO since and the lady told me if there was a hurricane there our money would be refunded but it would have to be through Vacations Simplified. I tried again to contact them and again was sent the same email about their cancelation policy. I have made 15 calls and I have yet to speak to someone. I would keep getting text messages telling me about their cancelation policy. They have a receptionist that says she will forward my message. I told her that I wanted to speak to a person, no email and no text, she assured me someone would call within 24 hours. just like every other time, I would get a text message and an email giving me their cancelation policy. I called the hotel and asked them about cancelling it and she told me it could be canceled but Vacations Simplied would have to do cancel it and their points would be returned that they used to book it. Again I tried to call them and have them cancel it but could not get ahold of anyone. I am asking for a full refund of /$453.80 since they had the option of canceling it for **. There was a state of emergency for the entire ****************, President ***** even canceled his trip to ************** since no one knew which part of the state was going to get hit. There was plenty of time for them to cancel this and they refused to return my call. This has been the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/04/2022

  Good afternoon!
  We hope you are very well today. So to start please let me explain how our business works. We are owners with ******** and we use our inventory to book each of our guest's stay. In order to advertise our units, we use websites like VRBO, HomeAway, and Expedia to name a few to advertise our units.  So when we get a booking request, we immediately begin the process to confirm our guests' stay. So what we do is we get into our Marriott account and book the room under our guest name. Once we have confirmed the room we immediately charge our guest for this stay.  Now once we confirm the stay with our guest we immediately send them a confirmation letter that says the following:
  
  
  
  Hello Valued Guest! 
  
  Thank you so much for booking with us and we hope you have an amazing trip!  ** Please read this email to ensure you have a great trip!**
  
  We have attached and answered all of your questions in this email so take your time to read and then let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns.
  
  Below is the actual confirmation email you will need for your stay at the Marriott resort with all of the check in information, phone number, address, and confirmation number. 
  
  ***Please double check to make sure we have your name is spelled correctly; and that it coincides with your name on your drivers license, ID, or passport; or it will cause problems when you check in*** 
  
  Also check to ensure that we booked the correct resort, villa size, and dates that you requested. You can also call the resort directly and request a map of the property to select where on the property you would like to be on and or the floor or location of your room and they will do their best to accommodate you. 
  
  You will need to read over the attached *** page. If you would like to set anything up with the concierge feel free to contact the resort directly. If you would like to make any special requests such as early check in, room location, discounted tickets, shows or anything else you can contact the resort directly prior to your arrival at any time. Please be advised your requests are not guaranteed and are at the discretion of the resort. Late checkout can only be requested the night before checkout directly with the front desk.
  
  Please remember that you are not allowed to Modify or Cancel this Reservation with the resort directly, but you can simply email us at ********************************* or text us at ************ and we can help you with your request.
  
  Please look over the cancellation policy on the website you booked on. We are owners with Marriott and or represent other owners, and we want to ensure you have a very pleasant stay, so please let us know if you have any questions after reading over the *** page, and someone from our team will be happy to answer your questions. 
  
  Save money in the future and book with us directly! Save our email address and email us instead of booking through a 3rd party In the future. 
  
  Please consider purchasing insurance, we have 2 levels, we recommend you purchasing the one that is 10% as it will handle cancels for any reason for any time! 
  
  **Regarding the Insurance- if you are worried about needing to possibly cancel your reservation due to the Coronavirus or other reasons, here is the link to the rental insurance site to get you covered now as we do not offer any refunds or discounts ourselves but you can buy our policy that would handle you in such instances. To get an insurance policy please:  Click Here
  
  We suggest you read over each policy very carefully and purchase the one that is the higher option as it is for cancel any reason at any time!  
  
  ***Please know that when you book after April 14th,2020 there will be no special cancellation considerations due to the Corona Virus. You will be subject to our normal cancellation policy you see at the time of booking*** 
  
  In case of emergency at check in only Please text us at ************ or email us at *********************************. If you don't hear back within 5 minutes please also TEXT Only ************ your name, the name of the property you are staying at and what the issue is and we will get it resolved as quickly as possible.
  
  If you need anything or have any questions please message us or email us at ********************************* or Call/Text ************. 
  
  Please leave us a review of your experience after your stay on our ******** page, we appreciate it! 
  
  ******** review page: Click Here  
  You can also find us on Google: Click Here 
  
  We hope you have an amazing trip and have a great day!
  
  Vacations Simplified Team
  
  
  
  
  In the confirmation letter we clearly suggest the guest purchase insurance in case something happens and they need to cancel. But our cancellation policy that they need to agree to before booking states the following :
  
  
  Please know our cancellation policy is you can cancel down to at least 30 days before check-in and you will get back 100% of the amount youve paid. If you cancel between 14 and 30 days before check-in, youll get back 50% refund. If you cancel *************************** the unfortunately you would not get a refund. 
  
  You can also modify your stay up to 14 days prior to check in. After that there are no modifications or refunds allowed. We recommend you purchase the travel protection if you think you might cancel and your stay is more than 30 days out. The policy is a small percentage of how much your reservation cost is but can protect you from most instances.
  
  Please make sure you look over the policy coverage so that you understand what it does and doesnt cover as one of them your reservation has to be booked at least 30 days in advance.
  
  If something were to happen and you needed to use the insurance, it would be a claim you would make through the 3rd party insurance company; you wouldnt receive a refund from us. 
  
  Let me know if you have any other questions, concerns or if we can help in any other way. We look forward to hosting you!
  
  Vacations Simplified Team
  
  
  So if you see all our company policies and how we let her know of her options we do not see why we need to refund her something she has already charged back. The hotel was not affected by the Hurricane and if they did they would have closed and refunded us the points which they did not because it was not necessary. So as well let her know previously we can offer her a vacation voucher from our Hotel partner where she will only needs to pay the taxes. But due to how our inventory works the stay is no longer refundable so we can not cancel or refund the stay. We can if she would like to offer her the travel voucher. We would be more than happy to send her the locations she can choose from. Thank you so much for your understanding. Have a Great Day!

  Customer Answer

  Date: 11/08/2022

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me AS LONG AS THE VOUCHER IS FOR THE ENTIRE AMOUNT I PAID. 
  

  As far as the hotel closing, they had no idea where the hurricane was going to hit. There was a state of emergency form the entire ***********.  President ***** cancelled his trip due to the uncertainty.  

  VRBO told me that money could be refunded due to a hurricane.  

  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************