Coronavirus concerns disrupt Florida beach vacation rentals for renters, owners

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As if barren grocery store shelves and daily chaos amid the spread of coronavirus were not enough, would-be Southwest Florida vacation property renters have been refused refunds by Naples and Fort Myers Beach landlords, who are faced with their own set of financial distress.

Vrbo and Homeaway, which are owned by the same company and book rental properties on behalf of owners through its online platform, and the involved owners have yet to refund much – if any – money back from bookings, even for at-risk, elderly customers.

Rival site Airbnb extended its extenuating circumstances policy to include coronavirus for bookings made between March 14 and April 3 of this year and is giving full refunds, according to its site. Reservations are still being taken.

Vrbo and HomeAway also are still taking bookings.

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“Homeowners and property managers who list homes on Vrbo have been encouraged to adopt more flexible cancellation policies in light of COVID-19 and offer full refunds to those who wish to cancel for concerns of their own well-being,” a statement on Vrbo’s website said.

Vrbo has since announced a change in policy on its website to refunding 50% of the renter’s money for coronavirus reasons.

So far, this encouragement has not worked.

Kathleen Thompson of Amesbury, Massachusetts, said not only did Don and Karen Ostendorf, the owners of the Fort Myers Beach condo she rented, not refund her money but booked the same condo to another renter during part of the same week, Thompson said, as she saw on the Vrbo site it had been rented to someone else.

“Both my husband and the other traveler have heart issues,” Thompson said. “They asked both of their doctors last week, and both doctors said absolutely do not travel.”

Each couple was given $875 travel vouchers for their flights by JetBlue to use on a future trip.

But Thompson still had to pay $2,200 for the 800-square-foot Seaside Condo for March 14-21, plus a $160 cleaning fee despite never staying there.

“I messaged her through the Vrbo site on Wednesday,” Thompson said of the owner. “I told her we were concerned. Her cancellation policy was no refunds within 60 days of the trip. I explained to her the situation, and her answer was, ‘The beach is open.’ (Most since have closed). On Thursday, we met with the other couple. What should we do? We decided this just wasn’t worth the risk of getting on an airplane. I messaged her. She said, ‘You should have bought traveler’s insurance.’ But the traveler’s insurance wouldn’t have covered us anyway.

“That’s when I went to her site and noticed she had rebooked it.”

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Don Ostendorf said his wife manages their four rental properties, three on Fort Myers Beach and one in Bonita Springs. He explained that his wife tried rebooking the property but the second renter backed out as well.

“We’re trying to make all of our loan payments,” Ostendorf said. “If we don’t get these payments, we would be out of everything.”

Karen Ostendorf could not be reached for comment.

In a letter sent to renters and owners, Vrbo said:

"Vrbo is a two-sided marketplace, so for every traveler who paid hard-earned money for a getaway they may not take, there is a partner who relies on clear cancellation policies and the associated money within those policies to pay their mortgage and hard-working employees. Despite that, the vast majority (>95% in the past week) of our partners are rising to the occasion and giving credits or refunds to travelers given these extreme circumstances. We believe our policy strikes the best balance of protecting travelers, partners, and the public."

Stacey and Gabriel Ballinger of Newburgh, Indiana, booked a house last year to visit their daughter Sydney Williams in Naples this coming week. They received a partial refund.

“As they booked in December, they had no way of knowing the coronavirus would be spreading like this and states would be on lockdown,” Williams said. “They contacted the owner of the rental and asked politely for an email considering the circumstances.

“They spent thousands on this rental for them and my aunt and grandma to travel with them (who are 55 and 70 and not fit to travel now).”

Williams and her parents have contacted Vrbo.

“They are refusing to answer besides ‘contact the owner,’ which obviously left us with the same result as before,” Williams said. “The owner was rude and condescending.”

The owners of the three-bedroom, two-bath property, Lenny and Svetlana Liberman according to Collier County property records, could not be reached for comment.

Vrbo did not return messages seeking comment.

The Ballingers spent about $2,200 on the house near Vanderbilt Beach Road. Their daughter made repeated attempts to reach the owner and finally got through to him once.

“We didn’t get a great solution,” she said. “He offered a stay in April. We don’t know what it’s going to be like in April. We don’t know if it’s going to be even worse than it is now? He offered to give her $1,000 back for the cancellation. However, he was keeping $1,267.10 out of pocket for the fees. He said it was just for accommodations, lodging and tax.

“We have been trying to get in contact with Vrbo, the rental company. We’ve been getting no answers from them. They’ve been running us back and forth saying to contact the owner.”

Kylie Williams, no relation to Sydney Williams, spent $1,700.41 on a house on North Captiva for the first week of April. She and her husband and two children had planned on visiting from their home in Richmond, Virginia.

“And last week, looking at how this is not going to happen, I sent him a message and asked, what’s the cancellation policy? He said we’re not offering refunds. I wrote him back. Not even for a rebooking? Can I rebook this again later when all this mess is gone?

“They didn’t respond.”

Connect with this reporter: David Dorsey (Facebook), @DavidADorsey (Twitter).

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This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Coronavirus: Pandemic creates chaos for Florida vacation rentals