Warning against use of Turnkey Vacation Rentals to manage properties

Paul368
Level 4
New Orleans, LA

Warning against use of Turnkey Vacation Rentals to manage properties

Hello, 

 

I have been a host for six years across two cities, and I wanted to put out some information about my experience with Turnkey Vacation Rentals in Nashville, TN. This company was a complete disaster for my listings, and I would never recommend any host use them. I have a TON of things to say, but I'll try to list the basic issues with their "service."

 

1. They advertise a "hands-off" and "worry free" service for absent landlords. It was anything but. They couldn't even handle basics like getting the lawn cut before it was 3 feet tall in mid-summer, causing mutiple terrible reviews. I had to check up their work constantly, and they showed no care at all to making sure guests had a good experience and would leave the listings with good reviews.

 

2. They similarly advertise high-quality vacation listings, but they were awful at basic things that give guests a good experience. Replacement towels and linens were of really low quality, and not maintained well, despite these expenses being charged to me. They didn't even try to use good products when they weren't paying for them! Again, no care given to providing a good guest experience, and the listing suffered for it. 

 

3. They never held guests accountable for damages or even apparent theft. Items went missing from the home, including a full bed frame. Curtain and bathroom hardware was pulled down and shoddily replaced multiple times, but no guests were held accountable for these damages, and I ended up eating the costs.

 

4. Becuase the reviews suffered so terribly, after buring through my old airnbnb reservations that were already in place at handover, they had one good month of revenues (when their listing was new), and then after that, reservations tanked. I had 3-4 days out of two months reserved when I finally fired them. Now I'm having to cover the mortgage at this house with no revenue coming in for two months wheil I wait to get a long term tenant in place.  

 

Bottom line, this company is unprofessional in many ways and not to be trusted with any property that is nice enough to be a good airbnb listing. Plus, there is no bond or deposit in place to ensure their care of your property or business reputation. Use their services at your own risk.  

110 Replies 110

Hi Larry,

I am a super host here in Nashville and currently host my own rental as well as co-host five others.  I would be happy to discuss your needs for management of your property here and can be reached at *sensitive information hidden*

 

Best,

Laura 

Rick250
Level 2
Portland, OR

At this moment, I'm staying in a TurnKey managed property in Yachats, Oregon.  We're here for the week of Thanksgiving 2018.  The place is awful. Upon arriving today, we discovered dirty and hole-filled bed sheets in one bedroom, a sand-filled and filthy washer and dryer, grease literally dripping off the stove's dust-encrusted exhaust fan, burn holes in one of the bed's pillows, compressed and yellowed pillows in other bedrooms, old ratty blankets, thick dust on table tops and floors, and cobwebs hanging throughout the place. No one had emptied the coffee maker after its last use, leaving it filled with gross, moldy coffee grounds. Two smoke alarms started up with low battery warnings, one around 10:15pm and the other at 12:30am. It's 1:45 am and I've been awake since the last alarm went off. We had to climb up on a table to unplug the first alarm and stand on a makeshift ladder of chairs and a cooler to shut off the other. We're only one night into a seven night stay. I hate to think how the rest of the stay is going to go.  I have no problem staying in a place that's old and lived-in. I did it in September at another AB&B owner-managed listing in Yachats and it was a wonderful stay. This is beyond old and lived-in. More like neglected.  It's obvious whoever has been cleaning and providing upkeep on this place (TurnKey) has not been doing their job. Unfortunately, I'm sure the owners will never know their property is being mismanaged.  

Maybe try to look the owner up through property records and send them a link to this page!

Just wanted to provide a follow-up on our stay at this TurnKey property in Yachats.  We contacted TurnKey the morning of my earlier review and brought our issues to their attention, including a wifi connection which was problematic.  The local contact person offered to send someone in to clean, but based on how terrible the "cleaned" condition was, we declined and cleaned it ourselves.  Four of us worked for two hours, sweeping, scrubbing, vacuuming, doing laundry, dusting, and degreasing.  The contact person later called us and when we mentioned the four of us had done this, she laughed.  Right?  She laughed.  Okay, then.  That pretty much summed up where TurnKey stood on the issue.  So, we've made do for six days.  We keep getting a pop-up message on the internet service saying the bill hasn't been paid and could someone please pay with a credit card.  Mmmm...nope, sorry.  The only web addresses we can access are encrypted ones and the access we get is pitifully slow.  When the internet service was mentioned to TurnKey, they did nothing and denied knowing anything about it.  Needless to say, I don't believe them.  Probably no need to  say I will never rent a TurnKey property in the future.  If you're reading this, I hope you don't either...

Hi @Rick250 -- I work at TurnKey and apologize that we're just now responding to this after discovering this forum thread.

 

TurnKey is always willing to send someone out to the property, and thank you for calling our 24/7 guest support line. But we're very sorry that the home was not in acceptable condition upon your arrival -- that is definitely not consistent with our service standards. Based on your arrival during a holiday, sometimes back-to-back activity can sometimes result in slower cleans. But this is not an excuse for the condition you experienced.

 

We never want a guest to clean the home, but we will adhere to your preferences, if specified. Our policy would be to ensure you had your housekeeping fee returned to you. Based on this info I can't confirm this happened. If it didn't, or you would like to reconnect with us on how we can improve our service, please email us at reviewsupport@turnkeyvr.com

@Adam1073  You are responding to posts that are a year or more old. You are not even tagging the posters, so they will not receive any notification that you have responded. You have obviously been tasked with damage control, but the damage has already been done- 2 pages here of hosts and guests disgusted with your company. Pretty hard to retreive any kind of good reputation after the fact, when the hosts' and guests' complaints were ignored at the time. 

You want these people to take the time to respond, telling you how you can improve? All you have to do is read the posts- it's blatantly obvious what you need to do to improve.

Thank you @Sarah977. I've made sure to tag the original posters. And yes, while some of these had originally been posted over a year ago, we know that owner and guest experiences are very personal and important. Upon discovering this thread, we wanted to make sure to follow up, offer any assistance or continuing communication possible. We take this feedback seriously, and in many cases have already taken steps to improve our service based on information just like this. 

The condition of that rental had nothing to do with "back-to-back activity".  The level of filth was due to accumulation of sand, grease, dirt, dust over time, not a one time missed cleaning deal.  You should have seen the grease dripping, literally dripping, off the exhaust fan of the stove.  It was disgusting.  And a missed cleaning doesn't explain the burn holes in pillows, dirty bed linens, mold in the coffee maker or two fire alarms going off at midnight due to unreplaced batteries.  My sister-in-law handled the charges, so I don't know if a cleaning refund was given.  Though an offer of a cleaning crew was provided, we had little hope it would end up any better than it was.  And, we would have had to vacate the place to do it.  Response from local Turnkey property management included the contact person laughing when informed we had spent three hours cleaning the place.  Laughing.  Understand? Your note at this point is merely a mop-up job attempt at saving face.  Apologies are cheap.  Nearly 365 days later, we've moved on and will never rent a Turnkey property again.

Maria2934
Level 1
Los Angeles, CA

I just got back from vacation using Turnkey Vacation Rental (TKV) - Dec 12-16, 2018. I am extremely disappointed with my experience with TKV. I have requested multiple times to speak to someone who has authority to make decisions ASAP as the response I received for my case is not acceptable. I have yet to receive a phone call or to even be provided a name of a supervisor.

FACT 1: We were not able to check-in to our rental due to it not being cleaned upon check-in (e.g. empty pizza boxes, used/unmade beds, used towels, etc.). A TKV representative checked housekeeping records and confirmed that the rental had not been cleaned.

FACT 2: TKV reps offered to have our rental cleaned or to move us to another rental. However, TK reps ultimately moved my reservation to another rental which was not authorized. We wanted to stay at our original rental because of the location. The other rental was 6 miles away from where the original rental was located. A new rental agreement was emailed to me for property that was not agreed to. The agreement was electronically signed with my name which I DID NOT AUTHORIZE.

My group wasted the equivalent of one full vacation day due to waiting around for lodging and from moving from one rental to another (which, again, was not authorized). This is the first time I've used TKV and I really want say that I will use them again for upcoming trips as they appeared to have better services than AirBnB and VRBO. Also, it's just nice to have options. To date, my case has not been resolved in a manner which I feel is fair. I am still giving them a chance to call me to discuss the issue. However, if they continue to not have a supervisor speak to me about my issue I will no longer use TKV and will not recommend them to family, friends, or colleagues.

Background: Our flight was scheduled to arrive in Reno at 10:30 pm on 12/12/18, with us arriving at the Lake Tahoe rental around midnight. I can't even imagine what would have happened or how I would have felt had we arrived at the rental to find it uncleaned with pizza boxes lying around at that time of the night. The one thing that worked in our favor was that my friend and her family arrived in Tahoe at 4:00 pm. She was the one who discovered the rental in the condition that it was in. The fact that she arrived earlier than the rest of the group gave us time to try to fix the situation. However, it took TKV over 3 hours to find another rental (which I can not reiterate enough, was not authorized) when they stated that our original rental would have been cleaned within and two hours. My friend had to deal with the situation for over 3 hours with her 7 month old in tow when they could have been in the original rental earlier in the day. I understand that things happen, but for us to have to deal with lost time because of something that we did not authorize and not have the situation be resolved in a fair manner is NOT acceptable. The situation completely affected the mood of our trip and made the first 2 days infuriating.

 

Hi @Maria2934 -- I work at TurnKey and apologize that we're just now responding to this after discovering this forum thread.

 

We pride ourselves in providing exceptional housekeeping in all our rentals. It's unacceptable to us that you arrived at the home in that condition, and we always try to make it right. If a guest chooses, we can always re-accommodate in a nearby property. We're sorry that this option did not work for you.

 

Regarding the agreement, we have a reliable, digital system to collect electronic signatures. Our system actually doesn't allow us to add your name or signature to an agreement that you did not authorize or wish to sign. It certainly sounds like some breakdown happened, which could have occurred given multiple parties communicating about the same topic and property.

 

I am glad you were able to call our 24/7 guest support line and start the process at your scheduled check-in time. But again, we're very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced.

 

For all of these issues, I want to make sure we compensated you fairly, and that the end resolution was satisfactory. Please reach out to us 24/7 or email reviewsupport@turnkeyvr.com

BAIT AND SWITCH - VERY BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE
Turnkey Rentals e-mailed me at 11:07 p.m. with an offer on a property to rent for Spring Break.

I e-mailed Turnkey 8 hours later (as soon as I woke up) and expressed interest in the rate but needed clarification.

I never received a response to this e-mail. I called at 1:30 Central the next day inquiring about the rate, and was told that the rate was no longer valid - it was now $700 more that the original offer. Their rationale for the sudden rate change was that rates expire 24 hours after the offer (company policy - I get it).

Follow my timeline. Turnkey offer e-mailed to me Friday at 11:01 p.m. Central. My e-mail response Saturday at 7:00 a.m. (8 hours after the offer). Then my call to Turnkey on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. where I was told the rate increased because of the 24 hour expiration policy (14 hours after the offer).

Maybe there is a 10 hour time difference between Austin and Chicago?
Lots of other property management companies out there. This one is SHADY...

Hi @Daniel2427 -- I work at TurnKey and apologize that we're just now responding to this after discovering this forum thread.

 

We're very sorry for any confusion. Our rates are professionally managed and maintained based on demand similarly to airlines and hotel rates. While our rates can change, we don't have a company policy in place where they expire in 24 hours. This sounds like a unique situation.

 

If possible, we'd like to see the email you received to be able to track down the issue. You can send us the email or more information at reviewsupport@turnkeyvr.com. This will help us improve our communications and avoid this kind of confusion in the future.

Michelle1467
Level 1
Saratoga, CA

We also had a horrible experience with Turnkey.
 
What a terrible experience! We booked our reservation but realized immediately that we would not be able to make the trip. Unfortunately, the trip was purchased WITHIN their 60 day no cancellation policy.  Their cancellation policy is NOT listed . It is NOT listed on their listing either. You have to dig through 12 pages of information before you get the cancellation policy. 
 
We spoke with a representative who indicated that we would be able to change the reservation to another date. My husband and I needed to confer on the new date. We found a date that worked for our family and showed that the place was still available to rent for that weekend. We changed our flights. We changed our ski lessons. We changed our dinner reservations based on this information. My husband then called back to make that simple change. We were then told that we were NOT able to make that change. We were confused. They had notes in our file that indicated that we we WOULD be able to change the rental. However, regardless of their mistake and their notes about this case, they would not change the date given their strict policy. They admitted that they made a mistake. However, there was nothing that we could do to change it. They did not take ownership of this mistake. We asked to have a supervisor speak with the representative who gave us the information and they were supposed to call us back. No one called us back. Very unprofessional and unforgiving. 
 
We own multiple properties on the east and west coast. We would never choose Turnkey to rent our properties based on this terrible customer service experience. 
 

 

Hi @Michelle1467 -- I work at TurnKey and apologize that we're just now responding to this after discovering this forum thread.

 

We're very sorry you had a negative experience and did not find our communications or policies clear. We have actually taken great effort to be transparent in our booking experience, including our cancellation policy, which we make available at checkout, in our post-booking emails, in the reservation finalization process, within our Guest Portal and on our website.

 

We do apologize for our miscommunications in finding a solution and in your inability to get in touch with our representative. If you would like to reconnect with us or share your booking information for us to evaluate and learn from, please email us at reviewsupport@turnkeyvr.com

Joe98
Level 2
Oakland, CA

Turnkey = Fyre