The hosting company’s website had been hacked, so I kept receiving fraudulent emails and texts from the rental agency telling me I needed to pay for the accommodations even though I rented it through VRBO. The messages constantly threatened that my reservation will be canceled if I didn’t pay. I contacted someone at the agency and also forwarded some of the messages to them. They apologized, said they were dealing with it, and told me not to respond to any of these messages. Meanwhile, I continued to get messages up until the day before checking in telling me that I had to pay for my reservation or it would be canceled. When I contacted the rental agency, they said some of those messages had come from them. There was no way to differentiate between the real messages and the fraudulent messages, but they offered little apology for what had transpired and said it wasn’t their fault. I had to call VRBO, who informed me that their request for payment was legitimate because they were a third-party taking care of the rental. I had never heard of that in my past experiences working with VRBO – I always thought the company was paid through VRBO. Not in this case. At one point, I received three texts within one hour all claiming to be from the rental agency and all originating from different countries. while I enjoyed the accommodations, they are a bit rustic, and the front steps are treacherous. No A/C, no extra set of keys as promised, little familiarity with the property.