Is VRBO a good place to find rentals?

I have rented apartments through VRBO a number of times and never had a bad experience. I look very carefully at reviews - both on the regular site and sometimes on sites like Trip Advisor and Slow Travel. I also pay attention to how promptly emails are answered by the owner and look for 'red flags' in their responses such as different information than the original web page.
I also use Slow Travel to get others opinions even if there are no reviews on a particular apartment. Some times other readers may pick up things I miss.
If you are thorough in your research, VRBO can be a great resource for rentals..

I have had great success with VRBO rentals - several different places in the U.S. and a wonderful apartment in Paris. We have not had any problems. Love staying in the apartments vs a hotel - better value and you feel like you are living there - not just staying there.

I try to research the area I'm considering through various resources to try and have a good idea on the general location and related aspects (e.g., transportation, noise, safety, etc.) Then I rely a lot on the reviews of people who have stayed there. I try to have a checklist of what is important to me (e.g., non-smoking, enough seating in the living area for my family, WiFi access, etc.) And I look critically at the photos and detailed descriptions for those things and try to imagine the logistics of the space. I also always have a few questions for the owner and consider how/what they respond as well. For example, I also am looking Rome right now, and when I asked someone specifically if there were shops, restaurants, and a grocery store close by, the response was simply a cut and paste from the rental description I'd already read that said the area was "busy". So a non-personal response like that is a red flag to me. I have generally found the owners to be very responsive and helpful. As I said, no problems at all.

I see the VRBO website now seems to offer more safety features re payment and even insurance for the stay.

I've used vrbo many times, both in the U.S. and in Europe. I also use Homeaway, which is a sister site to vrbo. As mentioned, pay attention to reviews and how responsive the owner is. I would have no hesitation to the site itself, but remember that you are renting from the owner, not the site.

Thanks for the input. Very helpful.

Agreed with the above... we are renting 3 vrbo's for this summer's Europe trip. Have never used them in Europe before, but have rented successfully through vrbo 3 times a year or so for the past... 5-7 years? Never a problem. I also always look at the reviews and I pick places that have a lot. And how responsive the owner is upon initial contact. Have a great trip!
Kim

Think of VRBO as the classified ads. Your luck will depend entirely on the landlord who listed the apartment. VRBO is not an agency and does not service the apartments and if you have problems is not going to assist. We have rented in Burgundy and in Paris through VRBO listings and had good luck with those. We also talked by phone with the landlords, and insisted on lots of pictures so we knew what we were getting. If you are an experienced renter and know what to look for and what questions to ask and have good spidey sense, you may do very well. It is however always risky to rent; we have done it over 60 times in Europe from anywhere from 3 nights to 2 months and never had a bad experience. But, that doesn't mean that our next landlord won't be a scam artist, misrepresent the apartment or refuse to repair plumbing or fix the wifi etc. You have to have the ability to cope a bit to rent sight unseen in a foreign country. For us it is the only way to go for longer stays -- a week or more. We started back when you picked places from catalogues 30 years ago -- today with the internet, it is both easier for renters and for scam artists so you do need to be careful.

Think of VRBO as the classified ads. Your luck will depend entirely on the landlord who listed the apartment. VRBO is not an agency and does not service the apartments and if you have problems is not going to assist. We have rented in Burgundy and in Paris through VRBO listings and had good luck with those. We also talked by phone with the landlords, and insisted on lots of pictures so we knew what we were getting. If you are an experienced renter and know what to look for and what questions to ask and have good spidey sense, you may do very well. It is however always risky to rent; we have done it over 60 times in Europe from anywhere from 3 nights to 2 months and never had a bad experience. But, that doesn't mean that our next landlord won't be a scam artist, misrepresent the apartment or refuse to repair plumbing or fix the wifi etc. You have to have the ability to cope a bit to rent sight unseen in a foreign country. For us it is the only way to go for longer stays -- a week or more. We started back when you picked places from catalogues 30 years ago -- today with the internet, it is both easier for renters and for scam artists so you do need to be careful.

We've used VRBO with no problem, but we only pick places that appear reputable, esp. ones with lots of reviews. You might also look into airbnb.com. We stayed at an airbnb listed place in Trastevere last year and really loved it. Unfortunately, it's no longer listed.

I've rented apartments all over Europe using VRBO and never had a problem.

I've never personally used VRBO because a couple different friends of mine have used it on a few different occasions and have voiced frustrations about it.
However, I have used AirBnB and LOVED it each time!
In fact, hubby and I are traveling to Italy next month (Venice, Florence, and Rome) and are using AirBnB for all three stays :)

We traveled to Germany and Italy last summer and rented an apartment in both countries for 1 week each. It was great, I used Homeaway.com. I admit, it was a little scary to think about sending the money through paypal or bank transfer, but both places we stayed the folks were great to work with. There were 6 in our group and it was great to come "home" every night and not waste time packing a moving every 2 days. Unless you are staying in a big city, you will most likely need a rental car if you do this. For the 6 of us it worked out to be about $24 a night per person for the 14 nights we were there plus we had a kitchen for breakfasts, a refrigerator and a washing machine so we were able to pack light since we could do wash. We have used Homeaway in the US for summer vacation rentals as well, they have always been a great experience.

My wife and I have used vrbo numerous times, and have never had a bad experience. I agree with all of the already-mentioned tips on how to find a "good" place to stay in. We have also used Airb&b and a couple of others which escape me at the current time.

We are using vrbo this spring to rent several places in Italy. Just use good judgement and you should be fine.