FlipKey Reviews

1,823  Bad
TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

1.3

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I've been using FlipKey & VRBO for…

I've been using FlipKey & VRBO for years now and their service just keeps getting worse the more I use it. I spent over a week trying to book a place, only having the place never respond. It take 24 hours until they can cancel my request, then I have to find another place to try and book with. FlipKey never makes the owner update their dates of bookings. This last time, the property manager of several rentals flat out told me she has nothing to rent until March, yet all her properties are marked ready to rent.

Date of experience: February 02, 2024

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Pluto and thanks for your message about the availability of properties on our website and VRBO. We're sorry to hear that you've had issues with securing a property due to the owners not having their calendars up to date, and we understand this is disappointing. Despite the reservations being made on third-party websites like ours, we don't own, manage, or operate the listings. Owners are responsible for making sure they have their listings up to date to avoid negative booking experiences. To help encourage owners to maintain their ads they are penalized on their account performance when they decline requests or cancel bookings due to such issues which will cause their listing to be lower on the search, not receive the excellence reward or site recognition, and suspend and close their account. We do recommend sending owners an inquiry instead of a booking request by clicking "contact owner" on the ad this way you can message one or more owners your interest in booking their property and check their availability and rates before adding any payment. The owner can then reply with a quote, and you can review then add the payment to secure the property with an automatic confirmation. You can also call our 24hr reservations team that can call the owners directly as well to help secure your booking at +1-844-242-3777. Thanks again for your feedback! Sylvia - Tripadvisor Rentals Support

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor web-site functionality

The website is very glitchy so after a morning of trying to get my payment info, I gave up. I called customer service for help and that was difficult. I gave up and went to a different site.

Date of experience: February 02, 2024

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Lance and thanks for your review about making payments to confirm a booking. We're sorry to hear that you had issues with making a payment on your booking, and we understand this was disappointing. Often, payment issues happen due to the bank blocking international charges or requiring a two-step verification to approve the payment. Sometimes it's an issue with the web browser or device that is being used, which is why our team will try to do multiple troubleshooting steps to try and figure out the issue to determine if it is a technical issue on our part, user error, or the bank. Guests that use PayPal as their form of payment tend to have fewer issues when booking with us and have the added benefit of receiving any due refund within 48 hrs of processing versus regular method of payments can take up to 10 days. Thank you again for your feedback! Sylvia - Tripadvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely run from this company

Absolutely run from this company! Do not book with them. I requested to book one property and the booking was denied. I then booked another property and found it was 45 minutes from my destination so within 5 minutes I cancelled. They will not give me my $1851 payment back now. Their terms in fine print claim I am not entitled to my money back. ABSOLUTE SCAM

Date of experience: November 13, 2023

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Elizabeth, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. We're sorry to hear about your booking and the deposit not being refunded back to your credit card. We are still assisting you with your refund, and we are waiting on the property manager. When a traveler cancels a booking, the owner or the property manager's cancelation terms apply. And, because the booking contract is with the owner or the property manager, we need their approval before we can initiate a refund. We are sorry for this delay. The property manager messaged you stating that they have replied to us already, however, we haven’t received any emails yet. Additionally, because it’s the weekend, when we tried calling them today as well, we couldn’t reach the correct team at the property manager’s office who can give us the approval. We will be following up with them again tomorrow. Thank you for your patience. Many thanks – Oliver - Tripadvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

WARNING !!!!! FRAUDULENT COMPANY!!!

Flipkey allows you make a reservation on the property but the property is never booked in hopes of getting a better price on another platform like AirBnB or wherever website this house is listed on. Once they have another client with a higher price for property they then cancel your booking. This is a FRAUDULENT COMPANY and they do dirty business strategies!!! DO NOT BOOK WITH THEM . Also look and see whatever company they are affiliated with and do avoid booking on their site as well. DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE BOOKING.

Date of experience: April 04, 2023

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Angela, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. We‘re sorry to hear about your booking request possibly never being accepted, and we are sorry to hear that you feel we are a fraudulent company. Rest assured, we are not. We understand your frustration, and we’ll address your concerns about owners waiting for another client a higher offer, just so they can cancel your existing booking. We looked in our reservation system, and we’re unable to find any reservation or declined booking request. When searching for a vacation rental on our website, every listing price and availability is set up by their owners. When a traveler is interested in reserving a property, they can either send a message to an owner or they can send a booking request through our website. The owner will then verify that the dates requested are available and its pricing is up to date, and they will either accept the request or not. If the rates are not up to date for the specific time requested, then the owner will have the option to send the traveler a quote with the updated price. It’s the owner’s responsibility to ensure that their availability and pricing are up to date prior to accepting a booking request or prior to sending a quote. Owners do this because they usually advertise their listing on multiple websites. They need to make sure their listing is correctly advertised before proceeding with the request acceptance or sending a quote. Only when a booking request is accepted by an owner, then they’re in a binding rental agreement with their guest, and they can’t modify the accepted rental price. If owners were to cancel an accepted booking request, they’ll be penalized. They will be subject to a possible cancelation fee, and their listing performance will be impacted as well. We take booking cancelations very seriously. If owners were to cancel more than one booking, their accounts may be terminated indefinitely. As mentioned above, we’re unable to locate any booking request in our reservation system under your name. If an owner canceled a booking of yours, please contact us, so that we can further investigate what happened. Please contact us via this link https://t.co/Ez39ygj58U, so that we can gather all your information, pass the security questions and help you. We are more than happy to provide our assistance in finding a vacation rental that meets all your criteria. We’ll be able to secure your booking and answer all your questions. Many thanks! Oliver- Tripadvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

OWNERS BEWARE

OWNERS BEWARE: Apparently this company isn't smart enough to accept an EIN in place of a SSN for owners.
They are refusing to release a payment for a booking in early December. VRBO and AirBnB had NO PROBLEM using our EIN. Use VRBO/HomeAway or AirBnB instead. Avoid FlipKey/TripAdvisor if you want to be paid!

Date of experience: December 19, 2019

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your review of our tax form. We're sorry for the trouble you've had with your tax details and that you feel we are refusing to pay you.

I understand how important it is that you receive your payout on time when the guest check-in at your property. Please be sure, we're trying to pay you your payout for your booking, but to do so have to adhere to IRS regulations. Our tax form is made to automatically validate your answers and in your case, it may be asking for the SSN for others the EIN, this depends on the information the IRS requires.

If you'd like an update on your ticket, please reply to one of our emails, and we're happy to tell you about our progress.

Many thanks,
Marie - TripAdvisor Rentals Support

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Accommodation-less and abandoned!

A Party of 4 adults plus 9 months old and 4-year-old children currently have no accommodation in Oahu as FlipKey allowed a house that was taken from their inventory to be booked. They took our money and will not help us find alternative accommodation. This service feels like a total scam. Avoid

Date of experience: June 18, 2022

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Daniel, I'm really sorry for the bad experience you had with Flipkey. I understand how frustrating it could be to see a property you like online which is in reality not available. Also, I apologize that they did not help you find alternative accommodation. Rest assured, that our goal is to provide a unique and positive experience to all our travellers. In order to help you better with that, please feel free to call us on 1-877-354-7539 or  +44 (0)203 701 5369. We will be more than happy to help you. Daphne -Tripadvisor Rentals


Rated 2 out of 5 stars

Euro Payments go to the UK, so it's expensive

Booked a beach house through tripadvisor/flipkey as it was cheaper than on other platforms.
What they don't inform you about is that even if you see a price in Euros to pay by card (for a country that uses Euros), your money goes to the UK and you will probably pay a ridiculous fee to your bank for this nonsense.
Why on earth do you handle EURO payments for properties in the EU through Brexit-Country?

It was a EURO payment from Euros to Euros, no currency exchange, just the outside EU fee that probably most banks have since Brexit.

Date of experience: May 18, 2023

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Kelvan, thanks for taking the time to leave us a review. We're sorry to hear about your concerns relating to any currency conversion fee on your booking payment. We understand how upsetting it’s finding out that you may be charged such a fee, after it already happened. The currency your booking is charged in depends on the currency the owner has chosen to receive payments in. To make comparing prices easier for you, the website may show you the booking price in your local currency. Once you’ve decided which rental you’d like to book and you’re on the payment page, you’ll see the full price in the currency in which you will be charged. On that same page, underneath the grand total for that rental, travellers will see a link that says why travellers are seeing prices in two different currencies. This link is there for travellers to understand in advance how charges may apply. Rest assured, our platform doesn’t charge any fees for currency conversion. However, the travellers chosen payment method may charge their customers some fees for transactions in a foreign currency. We suggest travellers check with their payment providers to see if they do charge currency conversion fees for transactions in other currencies or not, and what those fees are, since not all credit/debit card charge such fees to their customers. Many thanks - Oliver - Tripadvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Unfortunately I fell ill

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.

Date of experience: July 14, 2020


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Please save yourself time dont not book…

Please save yourself time dont not book with this company, if anything goes wrong they will keep your money better off going through a travel agency. Flipkey is associated with Trip Advisor they got me dont become the next victim.

Date of experience: July 31, 2019

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Cerica, thanks for providing your feedback on your recent booking experience.
I'm sorry to hear that you had to cancel your booking two days before the check-in due to a last minute issue. I understand how disappointing this could have been for you and your party, who was certainly looking forward to this weekend together.
By the terms and conditions you had also agreed to when you made your booking, if a traveller decides to cancel a booking the cancellation policy set by the property owner applies. We do not hold your money Cerica, because this was paid to the owner as a cancellation settlement: we are sorry if the owner, in this case, didn't want to issue a refund in your favour. We completely understand that issues can arise anytime, and for this reason, we always advise and encourage our holidaymakers to have a travel insurance that could cover the loss in case something goes wrong.
Once again we are very sorry for the bad experience you have had with your booking, following the cancellation. We do understand that you were expecting a different scenario.
Please do not hesitate to get back in touch if you need any help.
Many thanks,
Michael - TripAdvisor Rentals Support

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Do not book with this company - bait and switch

Do not book with this company! Beware and go somewhere else. I rented one unit, paid, got a confirmation number only to have Flip Key change my reservation to a lesser unit with fewer amenities. Apparently the owner dropped Flip Key before my trip and the company decided to put me in a lesser unit with no warning. Major bait and switch, book elsewhere.

Date of experience: March 27, 2019

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Melissa, thanks for your feedback!

We are sorry to hear you have faced issues with your booking and can certainly understand your disappointment. This is never the experience we want for our travelers and I want to assure you that we are here to help.

As a platform connecting owners and travelers, we do not manage the bookings and properties on the site ourselves. This is the responsibility of the owners and property managers who list with us. For more information regarding your specific booking, we encourage you to reach out to the management company directly.

We appreciate you reaching out and sincerely hope you enjoy your upcoming trip. If you have any additional questions regarding the platform, please don’t hesitate to reach back out.

Many thanks,
Katie – TripAdvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Can't believe they are in business

Can't believe they are in business. I am a property owner. They have pathetic customer service and lie through their teeth and never call back. Talked to 5 different representatives all telling me one thing and then guaranteeing me a supervisor would call me back based on my request. Of course, that didn't happen and I'm still trying to a resolution to their screwup.

Date of experience: November 20, 2018

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I'm sorry to hear you've been disappointed with our customer service, I understand the ongoing frustration you've experienced due to your guest's recent cancellation. We do have multiple agents work on cases to bring the matter to resolution as quickly as possible. All of our agents have access to the case information and are equipped to handle your query.

I do apologize if you have not yet spoken with a supervisor. I see that our supervisors have attempted calling you multiple times but have been unable to get reach you. Therefore, we have followed up with you by email. I understand you are on Philippine time are would like a call between 8AM - 8PM. I will request our team to reach out to you tomorrow, 21 November, during this time frame to speak with you. If you wish to give a call into us, you can reach us on +1-877-354-7539.

Many Thanks,
Sarah - TripAdvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Called up pet-friendly places

Called up pet-friendly places, up pops FlipKey. I go to check out vacation rentals...that are linked to the pet-friendly page, determine and itinerary and then check the amenities: Low and behold...the rental said NO PETS! So watch it! Flipkey is not accurate about pet-friendly places..and there's no contact info that I could find to point out the problem. Will not book through this outfit!

Date of experience: November 20, 2019

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Hal,

Thanks for your feedback. I’m sorry to hear that when looking for pet friendly properties you came across a property that was not pet friendly. I see how this can be frustrating, as you want to include your pet in the vacation. I want to assure you that we are here to help. When looking for properties on Flipkey and you enter your destination, all properties in that area will show. From there you can can click on more filters and in the suitability option, you can Tick “Pets Allowed” and properties that only allow pets will show with the pets allowed on the property listings underneath the picture. I also want to assure you that we are reachable. I’m sorry your were unable to find our number on the website but I’m happy to provide you with the link to our contact us: https://bit.ly/2KHNjIp. Also, to be able to better assist you, I recommend calling us at +1-877-354-7539 and a dedicated agent will be happy to help you look into this further for you.
Many thanks
Johanna- TripAdvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

FRAUDULENT COMPANY

I have booked 2 houses with them in the last 3 days and they have cancelled both my reservations within 24 hours of making them stating I did not send an additional $300 refundable security deposit via Cash App to the owner. They sent me a text from a different number that the booking confirmation and said they were the owner. I was lied to several times and the person even called me and could not even tell me his name and said he was the owner, then the property manager. ITS ALL LIES!!! They are trying to steal money! DO NOT BOOK WITH THIS COMPANY

Date of experience: August 07, 2020

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor customer service

Owner accepted my booking request on acccident instead of declining. He doesn’t want my group to stay there which is ok, but flipkey will not return my money even after numerous conversations with them where they said they would. Both the owner and I want the transaction cancelled but flipkey is providing no help. They keep saying they will call me back or email me as a follow up, but I have gotten nothing.

Date of experience: July 22, 2018

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Patrick, thanks for providing your feedback on your recent booking experience.

I'm sorry to hear that you have experienced issues with the booking process, as it looks that the property that you tried to book was not available, and the owner made a mistake accepting your request. This is certainly not the experience we would like for our travelers, and I can assure you that we hold our owners accountable for making sure their calendars are up to date, and their properties are available to book when they should.

I also understand that this booking is still standing and it hasn't been canceled yet, and you are frustrated as you haven't yet received a call back to sort things out. I'm currently unable to find this booking in our system just going by your name, but we'd really like to sort this out for you as soon as possible so you can get your refund quicker! Could you please give us a call on the +1-877-354-7539, so we can have a look at it? We'll be happy to also help you find an alternative property, so you don't have to go through all the booking process again.

We'll be looking forward to hearing from you, please do not hesitate to call us.

Many thanks,
Michael - TripAdvisor Rentals Support


Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Christmas in Las Vegas

The five bedroom house we booked a year in advance turned out perfect for 7 adults and 3 children. Everyone enjoyed the pools, TVs in every room and large kitchen. Family get togethers can be tricky, allowing everyone enough space.
The house was very clean, supplied with basic necessities and lots of pool towels.
Throughout the process of communicating with Flipkey and Evolve, it was easy and professional. We’ve always been happy with Flipkey and will continue to refer to them.

Date of experience: January 02, 2019


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

HORRIBLE

Bad,we rented a condo in florida and we drove all the way as soon as we got there we called the company because they didn’t tell us the address and they said that the previous residents decided to stay.We were stressed becouse they lied to us and said that they send us a email saying that they told us the old residents decided to stay WHO DOES THAT ? We soon had to rent a hilton hotel with no help they already took the money from my bank 😭 but returned it soon afterword.They were very rude about it and i TOTALLY DONT RECOMEND IT.

Date of experience: October 01, 2018

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Liza,

Thanks for taking the time to leave a review. I am so sorry to hear that you were informed the property was unavailable for your stay on your day of arrival, I can only imagine how disappointing and stressful that must have been. I can assure you that this is not the typical traveler experience. We take cancellations by owners/property managers very seriously and appropriate action is always taken.

We are always here to help our travelers if situations like this occur and when paying through our platform, you are covered by our Payment Protection https://bit.ly/2jVQ8FJ. This guarantees our travelers a full refund if they are prevented or denied access to a property or if the property is significantly not as described. We make our customers a priority and when situations like this occur we extend our efforts to help secure a new booking. I hope you choose to book with us again soon as many travelers have a very positive experience when booking on our platform.

Many Thanks,
Sarah - TripAdvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Booked with Flipkey for the first time- DO NOT USE THIS SCAMMING COMPANY

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.

Date of experience: March 19, 2020

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

BEWARE!!!

BEWARE!!!! I booked a beautiful condo on the FlipKey website only to find out that my credit card number was then stolen and used to make multiple purchases. I was never able to confirm my condo rental, there was no response and the owner of the condo never received my request to book. This was a complete scam just to get my credit card information. I would NEVER book on this website and I would caution anyone else to book elsewhere for a legitimate experience.

Date of experience: February 27, 2021

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Sally, thanks for your review and my apologies for the delay in getting back to you. I'm sorry to hear that your credit card details were stolen and I can understand how upsetting this must have been when you found out about it. We take the safety of our platform very seriously and provide a safe platform for travelers to look for properties and to send booking requests. Please reach out to us as quickly as possible as we would really like to understand how exactly this happened. When booking through our platform this should never be the case and you should not have any problems like this since all the booking purchases made through our platform are covered by our Payment Protection. You can find out more here https://bit.ly/3v2hGik
Please call us at +1-877-354-7539.
Many thanks - Michaela - Tripadvisor Rentals Support


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Don't trust quoted prices

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!

Date of experience: January 30, 2020

Reply from FlipKey

Hello Jason,
Thank you for sharing your experience. We are really sorry that the owner of the property you chose, didn't have the weekend rates updated and that he increased the price of the quote he sent you. We encourage owners to have the rates updated to avoid this kind of situations, but unfortunately, sometimes this can happen. However, travellers are free to decline the quote proposed by the owner if they are not happy with the change of price.
If you are still looking for accommodation, please call us on the telephone number +1-844-242-3777, and our reservation's team will be happy to assist you.
Many thanks,
Estefania – TripAdvisor Rentals Support.


Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I recently tried to book two apartments…

I recently tried to book two apartments on FlipKey and both of them were denied with no real explanation except the owner could not accommodate us for those dates. They were not blocked out on their calendar and it didn't come up as unavailable when I entered my dates.
I rent through Airbnb all the time and have had no trouble, so I went back to them. Got a great place for my two week stay.

Date of experience: May 15, 2021

Reply from FlipKey

Hi Jacqueline, thanks for providing your feedback on your recent booking experience.
I'm sorry to hear that you have experienced issues with the booking process, as it looks that two properties you tried to book were not available. This is certainly not the experience we would like for our travelers, and I can assure you that we hold our owners accountable for making sure their calendars are up to date, and their properties are available to book when they should.
We provide our owners with many features on their dashboards, to help them successfully manage their business and account. It is the owner's responsibility to ensure that they properly advertise their listings, to eliminate any confusion or issues like this. We are sorry to hear that these owners have let you down this time.
I'm glad to hear that you were able though to find a place to stay, and we hope you'll enjoy it very much. Please do not hesitate to get back to us by calling the +44 (0)203 701 5387 if you wish to book with us in the future and need more help. We'll be happy to make sure your booking experience goes as smooth as possible.
Many thanks,
Michael - Tripadvisor Rentals Support