FlipKey

Was renting my villa in Phuket through TripAdvisor/ Flipkey. Needed to cancel ne rental because my villa was being sold. Could not pay their cancellation fee online: their app was turning down my payment and systematically ask me to call their customer service. I tried to pay more than 12 times on different devices: mobile, ipad, computer. Same results. In the end spoke to their customer service. Asked me to give my credit card confidential code over the phone which for obvious safety reasons, I refused to do. Then asked me to make an international bank transfer: they were unable to give the proper bank details (no account number, no full name of beneficiary). In the meantime, they were not canceling the rental which mean that their client deposit was not refunded, and the client was prevented to make other arrangement.
In the end, they terminated my access to the app, ending a multi year relationship with no incident so far, for the non payment of a cancellation fee which I was very willing to pay if their system add allowed me to proceed online.
Useless. I would have rated them below 0 if it had been possible.
Owners and renters: avoid them!

Don't waste your time on this site. The site appears to have available rentals, but the 24-hour time period lapses without the hosts bothering to respond. Are these real rental possibilities? It seems doubtful when the same thing keeps happening over and over again. And each time you loose 24 hours in which to find lodgings. I'm not sure what their game is, but the result is to string you along.

I will never book with FLIPKEY. We had to cancel nearly 5 weeks in advance due to my daughter being too sick to travel due to contracting Covid. We are receiving $0 back, despite your extremely misleading and disingenuous message on your site about being "flexible with travelers due to Covid". We couldn't even get the owner to defer our trip to a future date. He said "only if I can rent it out for your dates". Completely unacceptable. Every other reputable rental company is modifying their cancellation policies if covid-related.
The owner DID rent it for 2 of the 5 nights. Heard nothing from him about getting even a partial refund, even though he promised to if he rented the place. He is ignoring my messages. We lost over $1000 because my daughter got Covid and is still sick. I filed a complaint and didn't hear back from FLIPKEY. It has so far been 5 days.
Why even bother having this "Covid" message so prominently on every page of the website if it means absolutely nothing. I will continue to fight this and try to get my money back. This is the worst booking company I have ever encountered. I used to own a rental condo for 16 years and would never have treated someone this way with a family illness or emergency. Keeping $1100 of someone's money like this is greedy.

I just went through 3 properties, that indicated that my dates were available! In reality, NONE of them were available. It seems pretty easy to me to update calendars when house are booked! Will go back to VRBO!

Great deal and easy to search. Thank you for the simplicity of finding a vacation location. Just go for it.

I have just read some of the negative reviews about FlipKey and feel that most of them are very, very unjustified.
In case some of the reviewers had not noticed, there is a global pandemic underway and this is impacting ALL companies to a

Greater or lesser degree.

I have successfully rented out a holiday home with FlipKey for over 3 years now and yes, some of the payments are delayed

Currently.
This is not the end of the world.
They used to pay out to us on the day after the guests had arrived. Now if can take up to 7-10 days.
THIS IS NOT A PROBLEM...
Especially since FlipKey announced this early enough for all to be aware of.

FlipKey - keep doing the great job that you are doing. I and my guests are VERY happy with you.

Flipkey always worked for me. Honoured all agreements. I have stayed in 2 diff. Private Flipkey apartments in Barcelona, 1 in Vienna, and 1 in Bordeaux. I have stayed in someone's home (house or apartment) in seven different Flipkey's England (in one of them three times in three years) and in houses that were part or all rooming houses in 4 locations in England. In Canada, 7 times in someone's home (Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver) and four times in an apartment in Toronto or Victoria. They have all been as advertised. When I left early due to dissatisfaction, I was refunded the amount (the host agreed to my leaving). When I lost a key to a lock, the host wanted $700 to install a new lock. Flipkey paid him $350 and didn't expect me to pay anything.

I had read many bad reviews and reports on people's experience of trying to obtain a refund from FlipKey as a result of COVID-19. I just wanted to say that I completed the ‘extenuating circumstances' refund process on Saturday and within 3 hours I had confirmation from FlipKey that my refund had been approved. Today I have received the money back into my bank account - 4 days including a bank holiday! Thank you for dealing with my request so quickly and positively.

Booked a house in Florida with flipkey. It was confirmed and deposit paid. A few days later a change was issued by the owner at three times the agreed upon amount of money. Tried to say house was not ready then said flipkey must have screwed up the amount asked for and last stated that the rates were not set for when I wanted the rental. Smells a lot like a scam and when I did not bite he cancelled the rental. I will see if my deposit is returned promptly. But not real happy as there is no way to contact flip key listed on their site. Won't use flipkey again.

I felt I needed to try to redress the balance slightly as I am a little bewildered by the extreme negativity of these posts. I have been both an Flipkey host and Flipkey user for the past four years and based on my own experiences feel that generally, with one or two exceptions, Flipkey offers a great service to both travelers and hosts alike. HOWEVER - Flipkey can only be as good as its hosts and as good as its users.

We have stayed in Flipkey accommodation in the UK, and abroad. When my husband and I travelled across the USA, we stayed almost exclusively in Flipkey properties with host families and with the exception of one bedroom in New Orleans, were generally delighted with the quality of the accommodations, and the friendliness of the hosts. OUR LAST EXPERIENCE WAS 10 DAYS AGO.

Flipkey was a life saver on one occasion, when, due to flooding we had to make a 300 mile detour. We had to cancel the Flipkey we were heading for (the host was wonderfully understanding and refunded our monies), and when we found that every hotel and b&b in the area was fully booked with families fleeing the floods it looked as though we'd be stranded. We checked Flipkey and found a home within 3 miles - they took us in immediately just asking an hour's grace to get the room ready! And it was a lovely room too.

Even the room in New Orleans was fine - however, in the photos, the curtains to the window were drawn. We found out why when drawing them back -there was no view, just a massive air conditioning unit filling the whole window. The hosts were also quite uncommunicative - possibly because they had such a high turnover they could not be bothered to chat to ALL their guests.

As hosts, most of our guests have been lovely and often very interesting people. One or two have been less lovely and have seemed to forget that our home is not a hotel, but they were in the minority. We have an ensuite room in our house, so we are on the premises. Most Flipkey issues seem, in the main, to centre around properties where the owner is not on site.

I am puzzled by reviews that state that the host has the opportunity to vet guest reviews before they are posted. That just is not true. The system is that guests and hosts can do one review on each other. Neither can see the other review until both have been posted or if only one review is posted, until 14 days have passed. Flipkey will send reminders to guests and hosts to do these reviews during this time span.

We always review the guest straight away. In most cases, we receive a review back. We also have the opportunity to leave a public response to a review once they both appear publicly - for example, one guest review suggested that our guest accommodation just had use of a bathroom on the same floor. We were able to set the record straight in the public response (our accommodation is ensuite).

I do agree that sometimes, Flipkey seems weighted a little unfairly towards the guest - if on the extremely rare occasion we had to decline a booking for very good reasons Flipkey responded by sternly admonishing us to ensure that our details are up to date and meet guest requirements (this after declining a guest who informed us that they were terrified of dogs and might scream when they met ours! Our details state quite clearly that we have a dog that has a full run of the house).

That said, when we have needed assistance or advice, Flipkey has been quick to respond. You do have to go through a procedure before making direct contact with them that can be irritating, but I think this is almost certain because so many queries and questions are the same. When we have written with an enquiry or problem, we have pretty quickly had a response back.

Generally, we are quite happy with Flipkey and would certainly recommend it to other potential hosts and guests.

Good luck to you all - guests and hosts alike and enjoy the experience!

I cancelled a London res. Due to Covid and the inability to travel there. The record on the res. Clearly says it was cancelled, but their phone recording says it wasn't cancelled. I paid $386 deposit and need it to be credited on a different VISA ‘cause I had to close the original one due to fraud. Flip Key is holding my $$, no matter how many emails or phone call attempts. If Flip Key reads these reviews, it's res. BR*******. London property owner has been very nice, but he doesn't have the deposit and he'll also get fined if he cancels the res. - Obviously, we can't travel there and Flip Key will not respond.

Not always satisfied with a room or apartment, but they are always willing to return you money even if policies are strict and they see appropriate testament.

People here were amazing. I have traveled with Flipkey like 20 times, last time in July and I love it when I can make a choice If I wanna be alone and have privacy like the entire home apt or I want somebody to tell me insights about the area around. People there are kind and sometimes even make you breakfast.;)

Pictures are usually the same, the reality is and price is the best on the market.
Go here rather than any other similar website.

I've been using the page for a while. Never had any issues after booking confirmation. I used them last week for a booking in Atlantic City, everything was great, from the owner to the FlipKey services.

Sometimes hosts cancel but you can't blame FlipKey for that. Money is always returned within minutes.

Pros: *Available everywhere
*Easy to book
*Funds Protection

Cons: *Can be a bit pricey in some cities (2x hotel price), yet very cheap in others.
*The customer service can have delays.

In general I recommend FlipKey to everyone.

Not saying Flipkey is perfect, but compared to other rental websites, Flipkey is way better.

We have used Flipkey for a long period of time, in June was our latest experience with a booking in New York. The best of all is with the least amount of trouble. And even when there's a problem we could always solve it with help from FlipKey smoothly and professionally. Plus, there has never been any payment issue. As a result, we are very confident using FlipKey to rent our properties in the future.

Why is Flipkey the best? Our guess is because Flipkey handles everything from the beginning to the end with a proven system. Their customer service representatives, at least the ones we talked with so far, speak perfect English, are professional and a pleasure to deal with.
I recommend Flipkey!

I have read positive and negative comments on this site. All I can tell you is that Flipkey is for the person who would like to save money and experience something other than a hotel and it also is good for the person renting who has the extra space and can earn some income. It may not perfect, as hotels/motels are not either. But if you are adventurous and want a place for less than you would usually pay for a hotel/motel, then Flipkey is for you. Do Not expect the Ritz Carlton if you are paying a minimal rate. This company is an A in my book.