We had a terrible experience this summer after booking a holiday home in the Dordogne through the HomeAway website. As my wife is a wheelchair user we chose a house clearly advertised as wheelchair accessible and suitable for a disabled visitor. To be certain, we emailed the owner and, after receiving a reassuring reply, booked it, paying more than £3,000.
It turned out that the property had been seriously misrepresented by HomeAway. There were steps all over it. The wheelchair could not get into the corridor to access the bedrooms unless the arms were removed and the chair manhandled. It was impossible to get it into the bathroom and the gravel outside made it impossible for my wife to move about.
The holiday was a disaster. Normally, we would have just given up and gone home, but we had been joined by friends and family, and didn’t want to let them down. My wife, who is extremely stoical, found the whole thing humiliating. HomeAway denied any liability claiming it just lists properties. NH, Oxfordshire
HomeAway is part of the £7.6bn-a-year-turnover firm Expedia and charges the owner a hefty fee – between 6% and 12% – when someone books a house listed on its website. In your case, it would have pocketed between £180 and £360, but has told you that it has no liability as it “does not become party to any contractual relationship between the holidaymaker and the owner or property manager”. Clearly, what is advertised on the site is a big part of the decision to book and it is absurd to suggest that it has no liability.
HomeAway says it has since asked the owner to remove the disability claims on the listing, which has happened, rather making your point for you. But it has continued to deny any liability and refused a refund.
You have calculated your wife’s share of the £3,000 bill and are going to take HomeAway to the small claims court. We suspect the company will pay up when it gets there and we will report back. Other readers should note HomeAway’s stance. The big tech firms and regulators need to be aware that consumers are getting fed up with this “no liability” position.
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