Months after VRBO booking, Taylor Swift fan told home 'not available' during Vancouver concert

A message from a VRBO host to Melissa LaFontaine received on July 7, 2024, seven months after LaFontaine used the platform to book a Vancouver rental for the weekend of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour.

A frustrated Taylor Swift fan is speaking out after being pushed from a short-term rental she booked for the upcoming Vancouver leg of the superstar’s Eras Tour.

Vancouver Island resident Melissa LaFontaine is taking the ferry over to the mainland to attend Swift’s concert with her daughter, sister and friend on Dec. 6, and rented a home through VRBO where they could spend the night after the show.

She secured the short-term rental back in December 2023, conscious that accommodations during Swift’s three-night tour stop would be in short supply.

“I reached out to a hotel I regularly stay at when I come over for work, and they told me they weren’t taking bookings yet for December 2024,” LaFontaine said. “So then we went to VRBO.”

‘Thank you for booking’

After finding a home with enough space for the group, at a nice location in Vancouver’s Point Grey neighbourhood, LaFontaine pulled the trigger, paying $879 in advance for a single night, including fees and taxes.

Initially, the VRBO host replied with a short message that said, “Thank you for booking.”

It wasn’t until seven months later, in July, that LaFontaine received a new message asking her to “please cancel.”

“Hi Melissa, we are not ready to take Dec reservation yet,” it read.

Under VRBO policy, hosts can face repercussions for cancelling a booking – including fees and listing suspensions – that they otherwise wouldn’t if a customer were to initiate the cancellation.

LaFontaine refused, on the advice of a VRBO representative.

“Honestly, I think she realized in July that the date we had booked was Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour and that she could have received more money,” she said.

LaFontaine was nervous about losing the rental because by that point, the cheapest alternatives available were “at least double the cost,” she said.

But after LaFontaine declined to cancel the VRBO booking, the host stopped messaging. The Taylor Swift fan remained apprehensive, but was hopeful she would have a place to stay come Dec. 6.

‘Not available’

Months later, in mid-October, LaFontaine noticed the booking had disappeared from the “upcoming trips” section of her VRBO app, so she messaged the host again.

“Please cancel,” the host replied. “It is not available.”

Frustrated, LaFontaine tried reaching out to the company for help – but said she received nothing more than a list of alternative accommodations, and an offer of a $50 credit.

“When they sent me the links to alternative accommodations, I found out that I would still have to pay the difference,” LaFontaine said. “The cheapest one they sent me was $1,500.”

Contacted for comment, VRBO told CTV News the host was “willing to keep” the reservation she had accepted in December 2023, and that a customer service representative would be reaching out to LaFontaine.

But by the time the Taylor Swift fan received that phone call on Friday, it was too late – not only had she already booked an alternative accommodation, for more than double what she initially paid VRBO, she had also lost all trust that the host would honour her reservation.

“Their statement to me was that even though the host is willing to honour it, she could still cancel,” LaFontaine said. “And that if the host does cancel, they’ll send us another list of alternative accommodations.”

VRBO did not respond to follow-up questions from CTV News on what led to the host’s change of heart, and the host did not respond to messages from CTV News sent through her listing.

VRBO addressing cancellations

Last year, VRBO introduced a new policy to discourage hosts from cancelling on their guests, including fees that increase the closer it gets to the check-in date.

For reservations cancelled more than 30 days in advance, hosts are charged a fee of 10 per cent of the reservation amount, which includes things like pet fees and cleaning fees.

For LaFontaine’s host, that would amount to about $87.

“We know cancellations are frustrating for travellers, so we’re working to reduce them,” a VRBO spokesperson told CTV News in an email. “While cancellations are rare on our platform, we’re making them even less common by removing hosts with high cancellation and low acceptance rates.”

Repeat offenders can also face “reduced visibility” on the platform, and the loss of Premier Host status, which is given to users who receive consistently high ratings and have a cancellation rate of less than one per cent.

None of that matters to LaLaFontaine, who said the situation has been such a headache that she’s boycotting the short-term rental service.

“I will never use VRBO again, for sure,” she said.