FlipKey Omdömen 1 804

We booked and fully paid for our vacation. One month before departure, the owner cancelled our reservation. Flipkey, Evolve, and TripAdvisor, all day the refund has been done. Well, we have yet to receive our money! $2176 would be the refund and have rebooked on our own. This is ridiculous! This is no fault of ours. We did not cancel, the owner did. We just want our refund! BR28133719.

Beware of unscrupulous property managers who take advantage of the 24 hour response period. We had one manager accept our booking then try a bait and switch for another property. When we declined the alternative bookings she asked us to cancel, which would have cost us 50% of the booking ($2,168). The web site states the manager should cancel the booking in these instances, but she claimed she could not. It took several attempts, but we finally got a refund. Stick with Vrbo and others who provide instant confirmation.

A am an owner that lists my 3 cabins on Tripadvisor (flipkey's parent). We have 5-star reviews. I use pricing software called Wheelhouse for rates. recently I got a request to book for July of next year. After I accepted the booking, I realized that the rates on TA/FK did not match those that Wheelhouse pushes. Basically TA/FK was showing some random rate to the traveler but not holiday 4th of July week rate. The rate shown to potential guest was about $800 less per week than it should have been. I updated the price and explained to guest the error, and that I cannot honor the rate that is $800 less than it should have been shown. Guest did not accept the alteration - understandable, so I said they can cancel. THIS IS A YEAR AWAY, so guest has plenty of time to book another property. Got a call from CS stating that to cancel, they will penalize me and change me $150. This is outrageous. CS is non existent when you have a problem, when calendars do not sync, but they jump right in when they can change you some outrageous penalty for cancellation A YEAR OUT. TA/FK has been also disconnecting calendar syncs lately. And this company constantly pushes owners to enable instant booking? with heir buggy website, calendars and prices not syncing, who can allow instant booking? I cannot!

Unfortunately I ended up getting sick the day before we were to arrive at Laurel Ridge near Nantahala River in NC to stay in a cabin. I was admitted to the hospital and had explained to TripAdvisor and Flipkey about the situation. The owner Steve Ballmer or Steve B. that I was pretty much screwed out of 700 dollars. I pleaded for some kind of resolution but the refuse to answer my emails. I understand the cancellation process but for Pete's sake, give me a break. I had food poisoning and there was nothing I could do, at least have a little compassion.

As soon as the dates moved for the Covid-19 cancellation policy I applied for a full cash refund and both were processed very quickly.

Our 1st check in was 29th June which I cancelled on 22th May and was refunded within a few hours.

Our 2nd check in was for 6th July and the cancellation window moved to the 15th July. I applied in the same way at 8pm last night and got up to an email saying all approved and refunded sent at 2am.

We had booked before the specified date so it was just a case of checking each day to see if the date range had moved.

A screenshot of the gov site was required to be uploaded as evidence. I did the UK showing our travel restrictions and one of France to show that we would not be able to get the certification to travel as non essential travel is also banned there. I also advised in the notes that our ferry operator was not yet permitted to carry non essential travellers.

I am writing this review to give hope as the reviews on here and elsewhere left me worried that we would struggle to receive a refund but the entire process for both was so easy. The only thing I would say when cancelling is to make sure all the dates are ok and when it shows on your booking that you can mow cancel, do not click any of the 2 options. Look underneath and click the link to apply for a full cash refund. That bit is a little hidden so you may go for a credit note in error.

All in all I would definitely use FLIPKEY in the future as I have received all our money back in full without a fight 10/10

Great website. No security lacking. Very fine options. As an host and guest, I recommend it.
You can chat with the owner directly, and if the host tries to trick you, FlipKey will save you.

Perhaps I have just been lucky, but I have been using FlipKey since 2013, and can only sing their praises. Out of extensive travel with FlipKey over the last 7 years, dozens and dozens of properties, I have only had 2 particularly negative experiences, one in Paris years ago, where the owner misrepresented the apartment, heating didn't work, it stank of smoke, and he was no show for hours. In that case, FlipKey stepped in when the discount he promised together with free 1st night never eventuated, not only did FlipKey efficiently resolve the issue, they gave me a token credit amount for my troubles. My more recent experience was in Rome, where an apartment management company failed to advise that major, major building works were literally outside my bedroom door, with metal banging, chainsaws etc, making use of the apartment after 0730 impossible. Sadly, yes, I had to video stuff at considerable risk to myself, I had to send photos, it was all very unpleasant, and I was hand-balled from one customer service person to another due to time zone issues, but in the end, they have given me 50 percent discount I think for all the nights/days that were affected. I say in today's cross-border customer service setups FlipKey are one of the best. I love the service, I recommend it to my family and friends, I used apartments all over the planet, and I have made some amazing friends. In many cities, I continue coming back to the same apartments year after year. I have only good words to say about FlipKey.

Encountered a problem with my rental, Flipkey's answer was prompt and accordingly. I recommend them.

I was supposed to have a guest arriving at my vacation rental shortly via FlipKey, but the booking was cancelled late yesterday, less than 24 hours before arrival, by their Trust & Safety Team. They initially sent me an e-mail saying the booking was cancelled due to COVID-19, but that made absolutely no sense as the guest was already in my city and had just made the booking a day earlier; there are currently no lockdowns in our area.

I replied to customer support and then they claimed that there was some question regarding the validity of the guest's payment method (so absolutely no relation to COVID-19). I found this odd since FlipKey originally sent an email saying that the guest had already pre-paid. If the guest had trouble paying then of course I do not want him in my home, but FlipKey never gave me any clear explanation as to why the supposedly pre-paid booking was having payment troubles at the last minute.

Later the guest sent me a message asking what was going on; he seemed to think I had cancelled the booking and was upset, and he ended up reserving a different property instead.

The worst part is that I had already paid for housekeeping services to prepare for the guest's arrival, so not only did I lose the original booking fee, but I was also out of pocket on housekeeping expenses.

Needless to say, I was not happy. I asked FlipKey if they could at least cover the cleaning costs since the booking was cancelled by them at the last minute, but they immediately refused, and then told me that they would no longer discuss the issue with me and I had to contact their legal team for further information. I did not appreciate this curt response.

I understand that it is not FlipKey's fault if a customer's credit card has issues, but they are the ones who confirmed payment and the reservation in the first place. Property owners do not take direct payments from guests, so FlipKey should take responsibility for fixing these types of issues. I also do not understand why they first told me the issue was COVID-19 but then later they changed the story to a credit card problem.

I asked for a phone number for their legal team, but they said they would not take calls with customers and they actually asked me to send an inquiry by postal mail! Yes, in the year 2020 they expect you to write them a letter.

I am very disappointed by this company. It is clear they do not care about supporting their property owners.

My family operates a vacation rental apartment that we advertise via various platforms including FlipKey, which is owned by TripAdvisor. FlipKey unilaterally cancelled one of our bookings and withheld payment that we were due for a long term booking that had been made six months in advance, was during peak travel season to our area, and the total value of which was almost $3,000. This occurred only two days before the scheduled booking and happened even though neither the guests nor we requested it. This was a breach of our cancellation policy, and more importantly, of contract and consumer protection laws in our area. Contacting FlipKey customer support to find a resolution was an exercise in futility: a real person never answered their customer service hotline so the only option for contact was email. They replied with template responses that ignored the questions asked and specifics of the situation; at one point they sent identical replies four times in a row. Each time a different customer support "executive" replied who seemingly knew nothing about what was previously discussed. It gave the impression that their customer support was intentionally designed to obfuscate, frustrate and pressure customers into giving up rather than find solutions. Finally someone from their customer support called me and admitted that their systems automatically cancelled the booking and withheld our payment in error but there was nothing they could do about it. When I pushed the issue further, they then moved the goalposts and said we had broken a clause in the User Terms of Service (which was a complete lie), so they would not honor the reservation / send us any cancellation payment. Eventually they just stopped replying to my messages and closed the case. Since all of this occurred only two days before the original booking, of course it was too late to get a replacement customer and we simply lost out on the booking. This is unquestionably the worst customer service experience I have ever had. FlipKey is an unscrupulous company that no property owner or guest should ever trust.

UPDATE: FlipKey replied; interesting that they ignored several emails to customer support but when a bad review is posted online for all to see, they suddenly have time to respond! Unfortunately the reply also ignores several key facts.

Again, neither the guests nor we had requested any of this; I had already been in touch with the guests to discuss rebooking for the future if travel became difficult, and this all occurred before Covid-19 was even declared a pandemic. There was no state of emergency and actually people were still traveling in our area, but we knew some people were becoming concerned so we tried to be flexible with all of our customers. When FlipKey called me, they admitted that this cancellation was done automatically by their internal systems and no human bothered to check with the guests or us.

Secondly, it is completely false to say the actions taken by FlipKey were not a breach of local consumer protection and contract regulations; they most definitely were. I pointed this out to FlipKey and they insisted that they were not bound by laws in our area, but only the laws of Suffolk County, Massachusetts, where their headquarters is based. I can promise that local regulators where our property is located do not agree.

Lastly, this comment is laughable: "Whenever we have contact with a customer regarding an ongoing issue, any member of staff dealing with the case has full access to the previous communication and notes on the issue at hand in order to provide clear information." If this is true, the staff obviously do not bother to read those communications because they regularly ignore questions and send template responses. Again, I received several identical, copy and paste replies that did not even attempt to address the questions I had sent. They actually had the nerve to send a template response that stated, "we recommend that you remain in communication with your guests through your Inbox to discuss the possibility of alternative travel dates in the future." That is EXACTLY what I had done from the beginning, but FlipKey totally ignored the communications with the guest and cancelled the booking anyway.

It boggles my mind that a company owned by such a well known, global brand like TripAdvisor will knowingly provide such lousy customer service. You only have to see the huge numbers of negative online reviews to know something is wrong.

Lucy from FlipKey, rather than admit things were handled poorly by your customer support team, you would rather make excuses and cheat small family business owners out of money. You should be ashamed.

This is a total scam! I deposited $1600 against rent, then they ask me for an additional $1000 as a security deposit. They promised to send the documents after I have done all of this. I did all that and now when I had to move, I am out $2600 and no place to stay. And the owner and their customer service both are ignoring me.

NEVER USE THIS SITE!!!!

I am also filing a case of fraud against them. I will spread the awareness wherever possible. I want this company shut down.

Has anyone been able to speak to a human at FLIP KEY (877) 354-7539? Southwest Airlines cancelled my flight to that country and REFUNDED my money. When I leave a bad review (1 star), FlipKey can finally call and leave a voicemail with no direct call back number. Situation still not resolved BR27669079. FlipKey keeps bouncing me to owner, owner keeps bouncing me to you. Wonderful game in these times. Southwest Airlines has refunded my money as they are not flying to that country due to COVID-19. Your website page does not provide all the answers. You say you can override May but your computer system is not designed to override JUNE vacations, SCAM.. Please its a computer , you just push a button. Closing down the reservation line so no one can contact you. FlipKey do the correct thing, be amoral and credible company in times like these..NO More GMAES.

Booked with Flipkey for the first time. Tried to cancel before my final deposit was taken only to be told on my account that I had to ring their 24/7 helpline.I was on hold for an hour before the line went dead. No help or support whatsoever. Appalling customer service. I have also lost my deposit because I am just outside of their 60 day cancellation period. No help or support for people over this COVID19. I stayed with the Villa before and the transition was easy. Use Flipkey at your peril. I Will be reporting them to trading standards.

I had booked through Flipkey for a vacation in Las Vegas. I waited until the week before to see if we could change the booking to November due to the coronavirus and me being diabetic and close to 55. All was well and then the property owner kept sending things like "Nobody else is canceling because of the "virus", "more people die from the flu than the "virus", etc. I got tired of her chastising me for wanting to be safe. She did not know the facts concerning my high risk of death if I were to get the "virus" nor did she care. I was called mentally unstable along with a few other names. Antonio Zen was the evil lady. She finally agreed to postponing, only to charge me $972 extra dollars instead of the $300 that was for the one extra night. I complained to Flipkey about the treatment I was receiving. I knew we would not get a refund but we felt something should be done to the owner because of the rude, disrespectful, unprofessional treatment I was receiving. After several phone calls, Flipkey gave us our reservation fee back, $267. Again, the money doesn't bother us. This woman/ owner was crude to me. She made many hateful remarks and I feel something needs to be done about HER.

I will never ever use this site ever again! Friends and I were planning a trip to state college, PA and booked a few months in advance. We had everything lined up and paid until the owner of the property demanded more money. We paid MORE money only to have the booking cancel 1 week away from our trip. We were then refunded and the other properties available were 4x our price range. I felt betrayed and as if the rug was pulled out from under me. This website is a scam and I will NEVER use it again. I’d also advice anyone thinking about booking here, to look elsewhere

While we do use Flipkey to reserve our stays it appears the advertised rates are always 40 percent below the actual cost. You see the nightly rate then add the rental fee, cleaning fee, damage fee, and tax. Now your true cost per night For a $300 a night house has increased by $200+. Why does Flipkey allow this to occur? Hotels are way more affordable again. Airbnb charges even more... I just want to know the real cost when I am shopping. This should be illegal to advertise a daily rate that is not even close to the final rate.

II am appalled at the lack of professional on the part of TA/Flipkey. I guess that I could call and speak to someone after being on hold for an hour. FlipKey/Trip Advisor has marked up my rates to the point that my property if found is totally unrentable. My weekly rate for that time frame is $3995 and they show $5300. The only owner fee is for $325 and they mark up to $431 and have a exhorbitant booking fee of $831. Totals over $7000 when it should be close to $5000. Maybe this is their way to either punish owners they do not like or push business to favored PM's.

First time using flipkey. Never again. The quoted price is not the actual price. After booking, I received a notification of an updated quote which increased the price by $300 to 'adjust for weekend rates'! A piece of advice flipkey. If you want people to trust your site, the price listed has to be the actual price!

Hi Sara,
You missed what I was stating , Flipkey does not allow free speech once a deposit has been taken, you can only communicate freely with both parties after final payment.

You suggetsed we use the In box to communicate and we did, the Welcome letter the owner is trying to send was still rejected.

VRBO, AirBnB etc.are better options due to allowing the sharing of information after a deposit.

You have a bad policy concerning sharing of information once a deposit has been made.

Not happy WE HAVE BEEN SCAMED, we booked and paid a deposit for a 37 night stay in Sliema Malta on 31 Dec19. We got a confirmation email for booking and payment of deposit. Then on 7 Jan 20 we got a message from the host stating that as she had not received a deposit she was canceling our booking. We sent proof of payment to the host CHARLOTTE G but today 8Jan 2020 she replied that she has now received other bookings for these dates therefore cannot accommodate our dates. She also said that WE NEED TO CANCEL our booking so the system will refund our deposit. FLIPKEY information clearly states that for us to get a refund in this situation the owner needs to do the cancelation. IF WE CANCEL WE WILL LOSE OVER $400.

THIS IS A COMPLETE SCAM AND CHARLOTTE G IS A VERY DISHONEST PERSON DO NOT BOOK WITH HER.

IT STILL SHOWS ON FLIPKEY THAT WE HAVE A BOOKING FOR THE DATES IN QUESTION SO HOW CAN SHE REBOOK THOSE DATES WITH OTHER TRAVELLERS.

I hope she is not SCAMMING them as well.