This unhappy experience could have been easily avoided had the property owner been upfront about the renovations in progress during the week of our scheduled stay. When we arrived, none of the downstairs bedrooms or bathrooms had doors on them; floor tile and carpeting were unfinished; power cords and tools cluttered the hallways, etc. The kitchen and the livingroom upstairs were roomy and nice...if one can ignore the large ceiling fan and kitchen light fixtures dangling overhead by exposed wiring. When we opened up the lid to the coffeemaker to add water, filter and coffee grounds, we found the internals buried in a half-inch bed of mold feasting on ancient coffee grounds that had obviously been left there for weeks. (Apparently, the cleaning crew and the renovation workers only use the Keurig). There's much more, but let's just say that after a brief family conference, I notified the owner of the main deficiencies, forwarding pictures as evidence, and offered to tolerate the deficiencies for the week as long as some sort of prorated adjustment was offered and at least the doors installed on Tuesday (it's Memorial Day weekend, after all). His immediate reply, after some initial snarkiness, promised he would return a full refund if we vacated the property immediately -- that's his only offer. So, by a small miracle and a lot of hasty websearches, we found another place to stay on short notice (adding a devastating hit to our vacation budget) and finished the week elsewhere in a non-VRBO cabin that actually matched its online description.
We have stayed in several VRBO properties in the past with good satisfaction; this was our first disappointment, which, after notifying VRBO's complaint department and the owner of our intention to pursue legal action to recover our losses, a full refund was finally received.
Key points to remember: this property, once renovations are complete and a thorough interior and exterior cleaning accomplished, will easily rate 4.5 of 5 stars or higher. Also, if you or a family member have any pet allergies, be aware that large pets have resided here (we do not own pets) and our son-in-law reacted badly to whatever set of critters preceded us. Lastly, in dealing with property owner, I recommend you exercise increased due diligence (trust but verify, verify, and re-verify), well in advance to avoid repeating our unhappy experience.