Avoid Turnkey Vacation Rentals!!

[Chris12586]

We booked a trip with turnkey for a special annual trip we take with the family. We booked our trip and then immediately canceled realizing that not only were none of the amenities available while we were visiting but very far away from the property. We contacted airbnb and turnkey several times before cancelimg to make sure that we would not lose our money. After several assurances that we would get a full refund we finally canceled. This was after hours of airbnb and turnkey pointing back and forth at who was responsible for canceling the reservation and getting our money back. Only after we canceled did we find out that there was no refund available despite being told that there would be a full refund. When we realized this we quickly asked them to keep the reservation before the unit got booked. We figured we would just make the best of it. And even though the property was still available they refused to rebook it and kept our money. So within the matter of 24 hours our annual family trip was dead. No money and no place to stay. These people are truly crooks.

[Sharon1142]

I hosted my property with Turnkey. After seeing how they operate, I would NEVER book a  rental with them. 

[Natasha399]

I too had a terrible experience with Turnkey. We paid a heavy price to stay in a modest house in the Central Valley managed by TVR. It seemed worth it bc we were eager for a comfortable get away and our anxieties about travelling during covid were appeased by their claims of “enhanced cleaning protocols” and very stringent standards. To us, this was well worth an additional $250 for the cleaning fee. Our first night there my daughter called me into her room to show me hair on her sheets that could not have come from any of us. I then inspected all of our beds and it was obvious that none of the bed linens had been changed since the previous guests. I stripped the beds (there were no spare linens) and did a load of laundry then went to take a shower. The shower wall was full of hair as well and so I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the bathroom. I took pictures and sent it to Turnkey and would you believe I still haven’t gotten the $250 cleaning fee refunded? It just boggles the mind that knowing that I had to clean the house the first night of my vacation, they didn’t think refunding that was the fair thing to do. Outrageous.

[Ari37477]

Do not book TurnKey properties. They have a hidden $200 pet fee for properties that allow pets. When I complained that was not clearly listed and asked for a refund for the property I had just booked (I called within 10 minutes of booking), they said they could not provide a refund and I would need to ask AirBnB. AirBnB pointed fingers at TurnKey. They are awful to deal with and AirBnB has not done a good job at monitoring their listings and attempts to take hidden fees. 

[Linda3151]

I was so dumb to think if AirBNB was associated with TurnKey it would be fine. What a mistake. Had same experience as @Chris12586  in this thread. Lost my money in under 24 hours. "This was after hours of airbnb and turnkey pointing back and forth at who was responsible for canceling the reservation and getting our money back." I had so many good experiences with AirBNB that I naively booked and then got lost in the rabbit hole of bait and switch on a property where the amenity was not clear until AFTER they had my money and sent the email with details. I'm devastated. A whole week. My money. Gone. TurnKey is a NO. Awful.

[Sarah977]

@Linda3151  Airbnb is just a listing service. They don't "associate" with anyone. They don't even require hosts to submit any paperwork which verifies they are the owner or have permission by the owner to list. Home owners have had situations where a long-term lease renter listed the place on Airbnb without the owner's permission and in contravention of the lease prohibiting sub-letting, and Airbnb won't take the listing down.

It really falls to guests and hosts to try to check each other out by reading reviews and communicating via messaging. 

I'm glad you've had some good experiences with Airbnbs and I'm sure you'll have more. Sorry you got screwed by Turnkey.

[Amanda1664]

I also recently had a horrible experience with Turnkey Vacation rentals. Similar to both posts above, TurnKey and AirBnb kept going back and forth pointing fingers and blaming who's a fault it was that I lost money due to their extremely misleading listing details. I had to cancel because it wasn't actually a pet-friendly location like they listed, and they tried to keep $500 because it was their cancellation policy! SUPER awful communication. Took dozens and dozens of emails and messages with them and Airbnb and both. It took me making multiple phone calls and linking to all these similar reviews and disputing multiple times that Airbnb finally got me my money back. TurnKey still refuses to admit that it was their responsibility.