VRBO VRBO.com VRBO refuses to side with guests, even when presented with valid evidence and admitting unreasonable Austin TX

We booked a stay at an apartment in Washington, DC. It looked good on the ad, but didn't have a lot of reviews, which should have been a red flag. My friend and I got to the apartment and the host did not adhere to COVID protocol, and stayed in the apartment to tell us miscellaneous information for an hour. Once the host left, we looked through the apartment, and found it was in the middle of a renovation, and completely different than the advertised photos. The ceiling was unfinished in four places, the apartment was different than the ad, and the toilet didn't function properly.

My friend had trouble with a newly scratchy throat in the morning, and with the dust that appeared to be coming from the unfinished ceiling, we decided to cancel the rest of our stay for health reasons.

We were willing to pay for the first night in full, but assumed the rest of the stay would be refunded, considering it was a gross misrepresentation by the host. The first issue with working with VRBO was the wait time was excessive to reach a representative. By the time I talked with someone, the checkout time had passed, and the host said we were responsible for another night, even though we had said we wouldn't be staying another night prior to checkout time.

When I talked to someone from VRBO, they explained the refund should be negotiated between the host and the guest. This is problematic, since VRBO should be obligated to act as a mediator when one side of the guest-host agreement is in the wrong. But what makes it worse is that the guest has no recourse or negotiating standing in this agreement.

I talked to VRBO representatives every day for the next two weeks, explaining to them the misrepresentation, and providing supporting evidence. All representatives agreed the deception was unreasonable, yet said they had no ability to challenge or receive a refund unless the host agreed to it. Considering I had no leverage, it is predictable how this negotiation worked out - I got back about 1/5 of the total cost, when I had only stayed for one of the seven nights.

I did everything right to resolve this, and had clear documented evidence of all the disputes, including correspondence on the app chat service between the host and I where he admitted the place did not match the advertised photos, and was undergoing renovation. However, I still ended up on the hook for nearly the total cost. I do not plan to use VRBO again, and will recommend others avoid it as well, since VRBO has been unreasonable and offered no recourse.