2/10 Hirveä
Carl B.
4.8.2021
The Stay that Wasn’t
My wife and I booked our stay at this property over three weeks in advance. After hearing nothing at all during that period from the host, I reached out to her through the VRBO app the day before we were scheduled to check in and received no reply. My wife then contacted her as well, this time in Romanian, and again we received no reply through the app. A call to the host’s listed phone number revealed that “the host” was actually a rental agency that controls this property, among others. We also then discovered the apartment had no hot water.
Aside: this is a problem that many properties in Bucharest have during the summertime. The hot water does not come from a water heater in the apartment or from a boiler in the basement but rather from a public utility that stops hot water service for maintenance in the summer.
The “host” first told us a crew had been sent to the property to install a boiler. Another property in Piata Romana was offered in case we did not wish to stay in our original booking. Because the apartment was not in the location we wanted AND because it was not on par with our original booking, we declined this offer and chose to stay in the apartment we reserved, hot water or not.
The host then told us this was not possible because the crew had not finished the work. Accordingly, we asked for a refund of our money. Remember: all of this was going on the day we were traveling to Bucharest and were having to find other accommodations.
We were told by the host that WE should cancel our reservation with VRBO. Doing so, however, would have resulted in the full amount being paid to the host and NOT refunded to us.
Unacceptable.
Late that night after arriving in Bucharest and finding another place to stay, we were finally able to contact VRBO. The agent was extremely helpful in resolving the situation. VRBO convinced the host to cancel our reservation, and our payment was refunded to us in full.
This whole experience was a huge inconvenience and cause of stress to my wife and me on what was supposed to be a vacation trip. We do not plan on using VRBO again.