VRBO, Yapstone, Hyperwallet, what a mess!

[Kevin Lefeuvre]

Those of you hosting with Homeaway and VRBO have certainly received 2 emails in the past few days; 

One email is from HA/VRBO telling us they are dumping Yapstone because Yapstone now wants to charge 3% additional for the "advanced payment" feature (paying us at booking instead of check-in time). VRBO invites use to "upgrade" to the new system for a vaguely better experience which will NOT include the "advance payment" anyway. (so how is this an upgrade anyway?). There is only one call-to-action button in their email UPGRADE which leads to acceptance of 2 new contracts. 1) Terms in which they introduce HYPERWALLET, as a replacement of YAPSTONE and enforcing some bad terms such as the authorization of "debit" (in addition to the normal "credit") into our bank accounts in a more formal way. 2) A new terms for HOMEAWAY/VRBO which among other things, removes hosts option to sue them in court (except for small claims), forces Arbitration and removes the ability for a class action. I Haven't accepted those 2 terms so I don't know what'es next, but I guess it means we allow them to get rid of Yapstone and we accept the new , more restrictive terms, thrown to us in the middle of this "payment partner" fight they have.

Another email from Yapstone who tells us that the "advanced payment" feature is no longer offered as a standard plan, and that from now on we will get paid at check in time. But they offer us the OPTION of keeping that feature for an extra 3%!! (total is getting more like 6% JUST FOR PAYMENT FEES). The call-to-action button at the end of this email is OPT-IN (we optin for the 3% more).

It looks like we are being given a choice between "worse" and "even worse".

Called VRBO and the rep wanted me to "upgrade" (first choice above) and said Yapstone is no longer the good guys. When I told him that the new terms talked about a new vendor called Hyperwallet, he didn't even know , never heard of them and thought it's their internal solution. What a mess! 

In fact Hyperwallet is simply a competitor to Yapstone. It looks like the decision has been made in panic mode. 

Any of the hosts here already made a choice between Yapstone and the new VRBO/Hyperwallet? Is it even sustainable to stay with Yapstone? What are your thoughts?

[Valerie Rogers]

My biggest objection to the terms of VRBO's new payment platform was these items in the T&Cs:

"Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the event a Guest provides correct notice to the website the Property was booked through within 24 hours of the scheduled check in that the Property is not as described, or there is some other issue with the Property, You authorize us to return the Accommodation Fees to the Guest."

and

"You acknowledge and agree that You are responsible for any Chargeback or Reversal of a Payment, plus the applicable Chargeback and Reversal fees, regardless of the reason for the Chargeback or Reversal and that we will not have any obligation to pursue any collection action against any Guest."

The first item is waaayyyy too vague, in my opinion. VRBO will refund a guest if they contact VRBO within 24 hours of check-in and complains about the property? I'm not worried about guests complaining that my properties are not "as described" but "some other issue with the property" is worrisome. What if there is a storm and the power goes out? What if the internet or cable TV service goes down and it takes a while to be restored? What if there is June grass in the Gulf? (Yes, I actually had a guest complain in a review about that....how can we be held responsible for the weather or conditions of the Gulf of Mexico??)

It also seems wrong that VRBO will make owners pay any chargeback fees. Maybe that is standard (I don't know, I've never had to deal with a chargeback).

When these emails from Yapstone and VRBO were first sent I thought I would NOT "upgrade" to VRBO's new payment platform because at least Yapstone was not threatening to refund guest payments for any reason like VRBO's T&Cs do. But since then I've published a couple of new VRBO listings and discovered that they were automatically enrolled in the VRBO payments platform. It is clear that if you want to advertise on VRBO you'll sooner or later have to agree to their payments T&Cs in order to do so.

Even though every year Airbnb continues to increase performance & bookings for my properties, VRBO is still the major producer. My newest listings are in San Diego, however, and I suspect that Airbnb might be the best producer in that market.

 It is annoying not to have guests payments disbursed in advanced like we've enjoyed for years, but since my properties are available year round at least we'll receive deposits throughout the year. I feel sorry for people whose properties have a single or short "season" such as summertime.....they may be taking bookings for their property year round but they will only receive the payments during the summer when their guests check in. That would be hard to manage funds for expenses year round when the money only comes in during the