The rental of this apartment has been the worst I have ever experienced in the many years and multiple countries I've been booking through VRBO. As a result, I will NEVER book with VRBO again. First of all, I paid in full for this apartment up front. Just a few days prior to arrival, I was told I had to pay hundreds of Euros in cash for a security deposit before I could check in. I know from booking VRBO that paying any money NOT through VRBO goes against their policies. I contacted VRBO and they told me it was indeed against their policies. After several days of phone calls with VRBO, during which they attempted to deal with the apartment's owner/manager, I was told to go to the apartment and if the person giving us the keys demanded payment of hundreds of Euros cash, I was to walk away. That indeed did happen, so we walked out of the apartment and were down the street, when we were called back. We were told the owner had waived the security deposit after all. We were given the keys and all seemed to be well. In the next few hours, we received emails once again demanding hundreds of Euros cash. I called VRBO again and was told this time by VRBO that if I didn't pay the Euros cash to the owner, the owner could ask me to leave at any point without giving me more than cursory notice. This goes against all VRBO policy that I have ever known, but this person from VRBO was adamant. I did not want to take that chance, so we found another apartment to book, forfeiting all money we had paid for this apartment, which was not cheap. One of the reasons we found another location is because, although not mentioned in the listing, the windows were covered with scaffolding and green shielding tarps, blocking all views. In addition, the apartment smelled of mold and mildew, as if it had flooded and not dried well, as did the whole building, which was permeated with the cooking smells from other apartments. As my husband is seriously allergic to mold, it was unacceptable for us to stay there. This is but a short summary of the considerable amount of time and effort expended on trying to reach an agreement with the owner of this apartment. I would say to anyone who is considering booking this apartment, do so at your own peril!
