VRBO prohibits contacting guests before booking

[Kevin Lefeuvre]

Bad news announced today. The new release is removing the ability to contact guests by hiding their emails and phone numbers and filtering them in the messaging.

Given the fact VRBO is awful in vetting the guests, this is going to make them less desirable.

I guess I was lucky to use my last "long stay" (3 weeks) out of vrbo just 2 weeks ago for this August. Now longer stays are going to be hurt, since the fees and %s become unacceptable on longer stays and bigger amounts. New opportunity for those "corporate housing" websites? Maybe.

There are other changes, but this one seemed the most important to me.

Thoughts?

Peter R. you were spot on!

[William Leahy]

VRBO keeps rolling out "new coke" moments since the Expedia takeover. Airbnb innovates, VRBO copies..   poorly.

They are moving to onlne booking only, which makes sense. But I am sure the next push will be for instant booking. I love the explanation for restricting communication. It is all for the sake of "protecting users from phishing".  Insert big belly laugh here.