More Than 50% of Vacation Rentals Leave Guests Disappointed

Based on traveler feedback across the wider vacation rental market

Over three-quarters (76%) of survey respondents have booked a vacation rental in the past year, often choosing them for space, privacy, and a more home-like feel. But, over half (52%) of them said their trip was disrupted due to rental issues.

When the experience is done right, it sets a high bar. Wander has a 4.2 out of five Trustpilot rating, with almost 97% of reviews being positive.

But across the wider market, that level of reliability is far from guaranteed.

To understand why, we surveyed more than 1,000 US travelers about their experiences with disappointing vacation rentals, exploring how often stays fall short and what goes wrong when they do. We paired those insights with an analysis of customer reviews across major vacation rental platforms, using both ratings and sentiment to see where expectations most often break down.

Many travelers don’t turn back to hotels because they want less space or privacy. They do it because they want confidence. Wander was built to address this exact challenge by pioneering the hotelification of vacation rentals, combining the consistency, quality, and service of a luxury hotel with the comfort and space of a private home.

We apply hotel-level standards to every stay, from professional cleaning, to transparent pricing, concierge services, and dedicated guest support, while preserving everything travelers love about renting a vacation home.

Key findings

• Cleanliness is the leading cause of disappointment in vacation rentals, cited by 45% of travelers, ahead of price, location, or amenities.

• On review platforms, over 91% of reviews for professionally managed rental providers (such as AvantStay, Plum Guide, and Onefinestay) are positive, compared to 65-73% negative sentiment on open marketplaces like Airbnb and Booking.com.

• Host responsiveness is the most frequent complaint, appearing 407 times in negative reviews, nearly double the next most common issue.

When things go wrong, how much does it really affect the trip?

For many travelers, a disappointing rental is not just a footnote. It shapes how the entire vacation feels.

• More than half of travelers (52%) said problems with their rental had a noticeable impact on their trip.

• One in four (26%) described the issues as minor, but still disruptive.

• 4% said the rental ruined the vacation entirely.

The most common reasons travelers feel let down by vacation rentals and hosts

When we asked travelers to describe what went wrong, the answers revealed a clear pattern. Disappointment tends to stem from missing the fundamentals rather than luxury extras.

Disappointment starts with the most fundamental expectation of all. Cleanliness.

Nearly half of respondents (45%) who experienced a disappointing stay put cleanliness issues as their primary frustration. This points to a breakdown at the very first moment guests step inside. Unclean spaces, leftover mess, or signs that a property has not been professionally turned over can immediately shake confidence, particularly when listings promise a stay that rivals hotel comfort.

Once that confidence is dented, other issues become harder to overlook. Almost one in three travelers (31%) reported maintenance problems, such as broken appliances, plumbing issues, or heating and cooling systems not working as expected.

Accuracy then builds on these problems. Three in ten travelers (30%) said the property was not as advertised. Often, this reflects listings that present an idealized version of the home, using outdated photos or vague descriptions that gloss over limitations. When travelers arrive to find something different than what they planned for, even small discrepancies can feel significant.

These frustrations are not inevitable, they’re the result of inconsistent standards. Wander was built around the idea that the fundamentals should never be optional.

Every home is professionally cleaned to hotel-level standards, inspected regularly, and maintained proactively so issues are addressed before guests arrive.

Listings are verified and kept accurate, with transparent pricing and no surprise fees.

Dedicated guest support and concierge teams remain available throughout each stay, removing the communication gaps that often leave travelers feeling stranded.

By treating reliability as a baseline rather than a bonus, we eliminate the issues that most commonly turn a promising rental into a disappointing one.

What travelers actually prioritize when booking a vacation rental

Across the board, the same priorities surfaced again and again. Cleanliness ranked highest, chosen by 45% of respondents, ahead of price, amenities, and even location.

Price followed at 40%, but the data suggests this is less about spending less and more about understanding what is included, with transparent fees and clear costs picked by 21% of respondents. Travelers want clarity upfront, so nothing interrupts the flow of a trip later on.

Location and safety, both chosen by 33%, are the third-highest priority for a lot of travelers.

Customer experiences across major vacation rental platforms

Booking a vacation rental is meant to be the easy part. The photos are glossy, the descriptions promise comfort and style, and the booking promises suggest everything will run smoothly.

But once guests arrive, the experience can feel very different.

To understand where travelers are most often let down, we looked at Trustpilot ratings as a broad indicator of how well expectations translate into reality.

On Trustpilot, professionally managed providers (like AvantStay and Onefinestay) cluster tightly at the top, with ratings ranging from 4.5 to 4.4 out of five. At the other end of the spectrum, large open marketplaces (like Expedia, Airbnb, and Booking.com) sit between 1.2 and 1.9, despite handling millions of bookings each year.

That unpredictability is where frustration creeps in. Two listings can look almost identical online, promise the same amenities, and sit at similar price points, yet deliver very different stays once guests arrive. When expectations are high and time away is limited, that inconsistency is often what turns an otherwise promising trip into a disappointing one.

Traveler reviews of popular vacation rental platforms

Star ratings show how often people are happy or unhappy. To understand how stays actually feel, we analyzed the language used in recent reviews across major vacation rental platforms, looking at whether guests described their experiences positively, neutrally, or negatively.

On professionally managed platforms, over 91% of reviews are positive, with negative sentiment staying below 8%. On open marketplaces, the picture flips. Between 65% and 73% of reviews are negative, depending on the platform.

Negative sentiment at this scale suggests travelers feel let down rather than mildly inconvenienced. Reviews frequently mention confusion, stress, and a sense of being unsupported. By contrast, positive sentiment reflects predictability. Guests know what they are walking into, who to contact, and what to expect next.

Across the vacation rental market, guest sentiment is often unpredictable. Wander tells a very different story. Nearly 97% of Wander reviews are positive, placing it alongside the strongest-performing platforms in this analysis.

That level of consistency points to an experience designed to remove uncertainty. Guests arrive knowing the home will be clean, accurately represented, and they will be professionally supported throughout their stay.

The small issues that turn excitement into frustration for vacationers

When we examined negative reviews more closely, one issue stood out far above the rest.

Host responsiveness was mentioned 407 times, nearly twice as often as the next most common complaint. That puts it well ahead of unexpected fees, check-in problems, or cleanliness concerns.

This matters because communication failures tend to surface early. Guests report unanswered messages about access, timing, or basic logistics, often before the stay even begins. Once that uncertainty sets in, the tone of the trip changes.

Unexpected fees appear 209 times in the data, often surfacing late in the booking journey or after arrival.

This shows that many of the most frustrating moments happen before guests ever unpack a bag. 

Wander is designed to prevent that uncertainty from building in the first place. 

Check-in details are clear and confirmed in advance, pricing is fully transparent at booking, and support does not depend on a single host being available at the right moment. A dedicated guest experience team remains on hand before, during, and after each stay, so questions around access, timing, or logistics are answered quickly and consistently. 

By centralizing communication and accountability, Wander avoids the small breakdowns that so often escalate into trip-defining frustrations.

How vacation rental issues differ by platform

On large marketplaces, responsiveness is almost universally the biggest problem. Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, Vacasa, and Plum Guide all indicate that host communication is the most common issue raised by guests.

Platforms that rely on thousands of independent operators struggle to consistently enforce response times, communication standards, and accountability.

Higher-rated brands tend to receive more specific and contained complaints, such as those related to cleanliness or arrival communication. These issues are narrower in scope, easier to resolve, and less likely to overshadow the entire stay, which helps explain why sentiment remains largely positive.

Chief of Staff, Mat Kowalewski, details why these issues are far less likely with Wander:

“On large marketplaces, everything depends on individual hosts. That’s where gaps appear. With Wander, we control the experience end-to-end.”

“Every Wander home is cleaned and prepared by a professional operations team rather than individual hosts, removing the variability that often leads to cleanliness complaints. Listings are supported by extensive, up-to-date image galleries and detailed descriptions, so you know exactly what you’re booking before you arrive. Pricing is clear upfront, without unexpected fees appearing late in the process, and communication does not hinge on a single host responding at the right moment.

“You should never feel like you’re chasing answers. From check-in details to on-stay support, there’s always a clear point of contact. That consistency is what prevents small issues from becoming defining moments.”

If you want a vacation rental where reliability is built in, you can explore Wander’s collection of luxury vacation homes in the US and book with confidence.

Methodology

Wander is a luxury vacation rental brand that pioneered the hotelification of vacation homes, combining the quality and consistency of a luxury hotel with the comfort and privacy of a private residence.

As part of our ongoing research into how travelers experience vacation rentals, we ran this study to better understand where rental stays most often fall short, how those experiences affect trips, and how expectations are changing across the wider market.

To do this, we surveyed over 1,000 US citizens on their experiences with disappointing vacation rentals. 

We also analyzed a number of leading holiday rental and accommodation booking platforms, taking the average rating from user reviews on Trustpilot for each.

For each brand, a representative sample of recent Trustpilot reviews was also collected. These reviews were analysed using sentiment analysis to assign each review a sentiment score on a standardised scale from negative to positive.

Brands were then given a normalized score out of 10 based on their Trustpilot rating, median sentiment score, and percentage of negative reviews.

To identify the most common customer issues, negative reviews were examined in more detail. Frequent phrases were extracted from the review text and analysed to identify recurring problem types. 

Brand mentions, and phrases that showed behavioural intent (such as “will never use again”) and other non-specific filler phrases were excluded from classification. The remaining phrases that described issues were manually grouped into consistent categories.

To ensure fairness and comparability across brands, platforms with a very small number of Trustpilot reviews were excluded from the final rankings.

In particular, Wander was not included in the ranked results due to having a relatively low Tripadvisor review volume at the time of analysis. However, these reviews were still analyzed separately to give contextual insights.

All data was collected in January 2026 and is correct as of then.