Steve S.

Well i M getting requests for summer but the length of stay instead of a week is 3-4 days on average. I believe that the new service fee is greatly impacting what a guest is willing to pay. I am sending out quotes but not getting as many back. Additionally the quantity of guests is increasing per request. You can only put so many in a one bedroom condo. I have also had a guest decide to delete a day and to that you have to delete the booking and refund the deposit and then create another one and request a new deposit and that is before the final payment is even due. So the whole service fee is gumming up my listing and I have decided to sell my unit. I think that this is only the beginning and believe that the advertising cost will also go up this year. It will be interesting to see if enough people are upset enough to impact Expedia's bottom line. Lets hope so.

Plenty of people are livid with this new service fee. Many people have renewed their listing contract spending hundreds of dollars only to find out a few weeks later about a mysterious service fee. Homeaway says that this is paid by the guest true, but I and many others have noticed less requests for actual booking and complaints from loyal guests planning on booking their weekly vacation. Many reviewers are quitting there subscription fees when they run out. Fat chance of getting a refund if you quit before it runs out. So is there a solution?

Perhaps a the few hundred that are on sitejabber could band together and create a homeowners vacation rental co-op. The by-laws would not allow a sale to a horrible giant like Homeaway or Expedia. Hire a company to create a website like Homeaway with the same functionality. Perhaps hire another company to cold call homeowners to join. These companies started with the first paid listing than another and then another. We have an advantage because many people are very upset. As more people join it is conceivable that costs could go down and maybe offer additional advertising etc.to generate income for the co-op. There are internet experts that can help new site move up in the rankings. Interviews could be done locally and as exposure increases with bigger more standard companies. Perhaps even the Today Show. This is just an idea but it is worth trying I will become a member with a $ 300.00 donation. We could hire a lawyer to hold and disperse funds to grow the co-op.

Let me know what you think and if there are any internet experts please email me.

*******@att.net

It is easy to complain about what Homeaway is doing to the hosts and yes even to our guests. If they were to lose 10% of our advertising dollars plus the fees would they get the hint? If we unite as a group we can make a change. There are other options like homeescape.com and vill4vacation.com but if enough of us made the change we can effect a change. It is fine to complain but it is time to do something. "The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice it is conformity" Earl Nightingale. I personally refuse to conform to this type of behavior. I hope you will also and get involved in changing this poor corporate behavior.