Letters: A lasting reunion, HomeAway fees and Guinness beer

Regarding “Their Road-Trip Reunion,” by Roy J. Harris Jr., April 17: I also had a sibling reunion in Hawaii: My brother and his young children came from New York City, while my sister, whose husband had been completing obligatory government service, arrived with her young son from Bangkok.

It was our first experience vacationing without parents and with our offspring: The Aloha spirit prevailed and the usual family tensions dissolved, producing a magical week of enjoying one another as adults, and the children forging bonds that remain today. Mahalo.

Ruth Kramer ZIony

Los Feliz

Frustrated over

HomeAway fees

I read the On the Spot column about VRBO/HomeAway’s new fees with great interest, as I was caught in the middle [“Rental Owners Displeased With Fees,” by Catharine Hamm, April 10]. My daughter and I decided to spend a few days in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in July, and we found a great rental condo on Homeaway.com for a good price. I have rented through HomeAway for several years and always had a good experience. But lo and behold, when I went to finalize the booking, a new $100 fee popped up on top of the almost $600 rental.

After communicating directly with the owner and calling HomeAway, we were both surprised to learn of its new “service fee.” I was very angry as they charge the fee not only on the actual rental but also on the refundable security deposit. I communicated with customer support, and I wrote a letter to the president of HomeAway. The customer service rep told me it had “a lot of costs” it needed to offset, so that was why it instituted a new fee. The president’s representative explained that HomeAway is the last travel rental site to institute a fee, which will be used for marketing and to guarantee that a renter won’t lose funds through scams.

I was incensed that the consumer should pay for its marketing and that they shouldn’t allow scammers to post rentals on its site to begin with. Not one of the four HomeAway people I talked with budged on refunding the fee.

The owner of the unit was as angry as I was because it made his inexpensive rental much more costly, particularly because he required a refundable security deposit. He indicated that notice to owners of the new fee was nonexistent or buried in other news. He also said that the owners had recently had a hike in the fees that they pay for listings.

The owner and I decided to go around the HomeAway payment system and do our deal directly to avoid the fee. I told the president that this is what will happen, which will defeat its initiative. HomeAway didn’t seem concerned.

As I told the president’s representative, they just lost my business and goodwill after I have spent thousands of dollars over the years renting vacation places through its site.

Tom Schields

Laguna Niguel

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This is a no-brainer. HomeAway should add the fees to the price of the rental, just as Amazon and others offer “free shipping.” Consumers do pay shipping costs, but they don’t see them broken out. Homeowners can use other services as well.

Wendy Bryan

Anaheim

This Guinness

is for you

I hope readers of “A Short but Sweet Stroll Through Dublin” [April 10] won’t be put off by Diane Haithman’s description of her first pint of Guinness (“It was still nasty…”).

This Southern Californian tasted her first Guinness, poured in a pub in Kilkenny, on Day 1 of my two weeks’ driving trip through Ireland. I found it to be a smooth, malty ale, with almost a melting chocolate creaminess to it. I drank Guinness with almost every meal, and Jameson at the end of every day. The Irish really have wonderful national drinks. (On a fun note, I happened to arrive in Ireland on Arthur’s Day, an unofficial national holiday when Arthur Guinness’ birthday was being celebrated.)

Ann Stice

San Diego