HoufyReviews of houfy.com

Response from HoufyJan 14, 2025

Thank you for sharing your experience with Houfy. We’re sorry to hear we didn’t meet your expectations and understand your frustration. Houfy operates differently from platforms like Airbnb and VRBO. We don’t charge the high service fees those platforms do, and we don’t focus on centralized marketing or advertising. Instead, Houfy empowers hosts to connect directly with guests and promote their listings independently via social media, emails, and other channels. 2024 marked the first year Houfy developed any revenue streams to support our essentially free services. This year, we’re focused on expanding and implementing marketing efforts to grow our user base further. We’re proud to have saved guests an estimated $1.8 million in fees last year, which reflects our commitment to creating a cost-effective platform for both hosts and guests. We appreciate your time on Houfy and hope to see you return in the future as we continue to grow.

Response from HoufyOct 14, 2024

Dear Mr Clancy, We regret the fact that you find Houfy useless. Although you are correct in stating that Houfy does not yet generate organic bookings comparable to any of the big OTAs, it is also true that Houfy currently generates 2 Million+ $ in monthly bookings and is growing exponentially. Houfy's thousands of hosts testify to the value of Houfy, both in the large savings it provides, and the freedom it allows hosts over their properties. Why you would feel compelled to become offensive to the owner is perplexing. We have no doubt that Houfy will become “huge” despite the haters and yes, marketing is of course planned and happening. Kindly let us know your listing(s) # and we will gladly remove your properties from Houfy.

Response from HoufySep 9, 2024

Hi Shari, Thanks for your feedback after your very short interaction with our platform! We're glad you found us—it’s not easy standing out when you choose not to take 20% commission fees. Shame on us, we really like to focus on giving our users a better deal. Our objective is and will always remain to disrupt the market by giving our users the best deal. We are not sure what your very disdainful review is trying to achieve. We wish you all the best with your rental business.

Response from HoufyJun 30, 2024

Dear Joey, Thank you for sharing your experience. We deeply regret to hear about the issues you faced with your booking. Bad guests are a risk across the entire short-term vacation rental industry. As a book-direct platform that doesn’t participate in the transaction or collect any fees, Houfy provides the means for hosts and guests to connect, but we do not mediate transactions. It is crucial for both parties to conduct thorough research and proceed with caution. For hosts we always recommend collecting guest ID, a rental agreement copy, and to verify that any credit card used was issued to the ID collected. Nevertheless, we are actively working to reduce this risk for both hosts and guests. Since your unfortunate event, we have introduced HoufyProtect—a damage deposit alternative that includes guest screening. This service offers hosts an extra level of protection, including up to $20,000 USD in coverage for all approved bookings. This is designed to give hosts peace of mind and support and reparations in situations like yours, where a bad apple can spoil the experience. We appreciate your feedback and are committed to continuous improvement to enhance the safety and reliability of our platform. If you have any further concerns or need assistance, please contact us. Thank you for your understanding and for being part of the Houfy community, and we hope as we improve our services that you will continue to pursue book direct. Best regards, The houfy Team

Response from HoufyJun 6, 2024

Dear Valarie, We truly regret that Houfy was unable to fulfill your expectations. Reading thru your review we do however feel compelled to correct some of your statements which are incorrect. Yes you are right in that there is no phone number for customer service but that is not a secret and something you can see before joining Houfy. We actually pride ourselves in providing an excellent customer service, which many of the reviews on Trustpilot testify for. The Facebook page is NOT where Houfy handles its customer service, it is just an additional channel, the info@Houfy is, which is also where you sent your 8 emails of yesterday. You asked for duplicate listings- it was done within a few hours. You mentioned the double charge -it was fixed within 8 minutes. To clarify, Houfy did not double charge your guest, Stripe charged the guest once and also placed an authorization for the same amount. This was an internal error between Houfy and Stripe and we sincerely apologize for this error, it is now fixed. Less urgent and personal requests may indeed take a few hours or a day to get a response to, we are unable to offer you a personal concierge. Your listing was NOT deleted, it is hidden but you have full access to Houfy for all your reservations data and guest info. Unfairly being called terrible and receiving insults of Houfy's team is something we neither need nor will accept and so we wish you many happy rentals on the numerous other outlets available out there. Regards, the Houfy team

Response from HoufyMar 23, 2024

Dear Bayou City, Houfy is legit, over 25 MLN USD has been facilitated as bookings through Houfy. Unfortunately you received some inquiries and booking requests which seemed scams, for which we warned you. We are finding a solution to minimize these issues, which happen on many other websites as well. Thank you, The Houfy Team.

Response from HoufyMar 6, 2024

Dear Jeri, We at Houfy would like to sincerely thank you for kind words of trust and confidence. In regards to your complaint resulting in this disappointing 1 star review, our system records show the following: At 8.43 AM you messaged Houfy about your guests card being declined. At 9:55 AM you PERSONALLY approved your guests reservation and so the issue was resolved. At around 10:30 we at Houfy read your message and as the reservation had been processed and confirmed we did not see any special urgency in contacting you. At 1.59PM AFTER having accepted and processed your guests reservation thru Houfy, you post this 1 star review. We feel it is unfair and really not deserved. Our policy at Houfy is to respond and resolve all issues within 24hours. Unfortunately your one time $5.99 membership fee cannot afford a personal concierge service able to message you back within a few hours about an already resolved issue. Maybe the big OTA's provide this kind of response time. Not sure, but we will look into it. Happy renting! and thank you for all your support, we really appreciate it. If however you truly feel Houfy provides such poor service to you, please contact us and we will gladly remove your listing.

Response from HoufySep 2, 2023

Dear Hero 2, As you know, Houfy is a DIRECT BOOK site and neither you nor the homeowner incurred any costs from Houfy during your transaction. It is a direct transaction between both parties and that is made very clear on our site. You mentioned various times in your negative Trustpilot review how the listing you found on Airbnb was, in your opinion and after staying there, highly misrepresented on Airbnb. Are you suggesting Airbnb would have refunded you the deposit within a week overriding any rights of the homeowner? When you contacted us, August 23, about one week had passed from you contacting the homeowner, and at that time we indeed suggested you try to resolve the issue directly with him. We have since looked into the matter and the pictures and agree with you that withholding $1000 damage deposit for moving a medium sized wooden tepee support a few yards is highly unreasonable and unfair. We have since proceeded to hide all listings from this homeowner and have already informed you of this. There is nothing more Houfy can do at this point. Writing such a negative review about Houfy and this particular property on Trustpilot, while not reviewing the property itself seems rather unfair and definitely does not serve any travelers in making informed choices. We at Houfy have now for years empowered homeowners and travelers to contact each other directly and be their own decision makers, rather than a big OTA deciding what funds you may get/pay and when. Countless satisfied customers on both sides testify to this and we at Houfy plan to continue to do so while constantly improving our services in the future.