HomeAway Reviews

Former Employee – worked at HomeAway full-time

Pros – Great work environment, super sharp and committed leadership team, lots of perks and fantastic benefits

Cons – As with most companies of that size, there are some issues with some employees getting complacent/lazy. They also don't seem to hire based on personality or cultural-fit, so as the company grew the culture shifted or became diluted.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire sharp people who want out perform the status quo. Elevate innovation in all areas as a corporate priority.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – Laxed work environment
Free breakfast on Fridays
3 week paid vaca

Cons – Compensation does not match responsibility
Communication between teams is poor at best
Do not promote within, would rather hire outside talent.

Advice to Senior Management – Like most of the other reviews have already stated, the compensation does not match the responsibility. You hear the C team talk about all the great advantages of working for this company yet the Customer Experience team does not see/feel any of it. Please do more to support that group because soon most of the talent that you acquired during this "employers market" will leave. Also, it would be nice if you took an active interest in developing talent within your team .

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HomeAway as a contractor for less than a year

Pros – Excellent amenities, laid back, great location next to whole foods. There are some very talented key contributes who really care about the company.

Cons – Communication between teams is non-existent even with different teams of developers. It feels like the company grew too fast and they are still trying t o catch up. The work load is a little unbalanced--in other words, some people do a lot of work, and some people do very little.

Current Employee – been working at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – Cool Offices, free breakfast on fridays.

Cons – Poor work-life balance, mid level managers tend to micromanage.
Some employees are allowed to work from home while others, in the same department with the same job title, are not.

Advice to Senior Management – There is only one group in the entire company that actually speak with the customers on a daily basis. More should be done to keep morale high with this group. Allow them to work from home once a week. Show them that they are important by compensating them when they have more responsibilities put upon them.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – Vestiges of what it was like pre-I P O.
There are fossil records that show how awesome it used be to work for HA. One old survivor is the vacation time (which is phenomenal by most standards.) However, all the good qualities that once were or no more thanks to the I P O bug.

Cons – I P O disease. Look it up - what happened here is textbook.
I worked here pre I P O and for quite a while afterwards. I saw and experienced the shift.
Think about it - HA sells vacation rental ads. That's all it does. They can have some fun with that and keep it to scale. However, the big C's decided to go 100% corporate on everyone, including the customers. Be very aware before applying here. Take the offer only if they offer you an exceedingly nice package (normal employees get no 401k matching, measly health insurance, and sub-par management.)

Advice to Senior Management – Improve your benefits to compete in the high-tech world and maybe realize what you are selling - classified ads for rich people - focus on how to sell to these high net-worth people - cold calling and sub-par customer service won't cut it.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – - Very intelligent pool of people to work with
- Free breakfast on Fridays
- Thorough training before you get on the floor
- The decor of each location

Cons – - Poor Compensation. The pay does NOT match the level of responsibility and/or daily tasks
- Highly suggested overtime each week w/ no option of working from home
- No work/life balance (i.e. long hours during the week + weekends)
- High stress work volume
- High stress work environment
- Low raises or none at all
- Upper management totally disconnected from their customer service departments
- Not different than any other place you've probably worked at already

Advice to Senior Management – Share the wealth! I cry a little inside each time I see upper management. It's heartbreaking to see a group of people loving life so much at HomeAway (plus making a good salary), promoting hard work, discussing all the awesome things going on at the company without any of it trickling down to the rest of their employees. There's nothing like being acknowledged and rewarded for your hard work at the place you work every day. Please put more effort into keeping the BACKBONE of your company challenged, valued, and appropriately compensated. More than just the engineers and developers should love the job they do here.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – Great downtown location, free food on Fridays and the occasional fun holiday celebration.

Cons – This company has grown too fast, lost focus on the basics and doesn't seem to care about lower-level employees. However, its biggest down fall is the lack of support for, and hiring of, female managers. For a company that sees itself as progressive and forward thinking, it is completely backward in this area.

Advice to Senior Management – Hire additional female managers and give them the support they need to succeed.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – downtown is the pro about this job

Cons – bad management good for nothing

Advice to Senior Management – get your act straight

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at HomeAway full-time

Pros – 4 weeks paid vacation every year - doesn't get much better than that.

Cons – 1. They hired some big shots to run the CS department a few years ago and since then the department has gone to pot. They make unnecessary and random changes ALL the time. Most of the workers in the CS department loath the changes.
2. Some employees are allowed to work from home and the rest are not. Their goal is to get rid of work from home completely when other companies are going in the right direction of letting most employees work from home. Work from home is a major benefit these days considering gas prices and it is also environmentally friendly. Get the picture guys and do the right thing.
3. They keep adding more job responsibilities to the role and the pay is the same (not that great).
4. Goals are ridiculous, complicated and add more to our job description.
5. Mandatory overtime ALL the time. They NEVER hire enough employees. The only time they hire is to replace the ones that quit.
6. For an online site, there are TOO many technical meltdowns and bugs. This also makes for ALOT of VERY VERY upset customers that take it out on CS.
7. Myself with a few others in this department feel like we are all replaceable and there is no sense of appreciation for the employees.
8. Management has favorites and show favoritism blatantly ALL the time.

Advice to Senior Management – Make HomeAway a place where employees will want to stay and not leave. STOP making unnecessary and ridiculous changes. Give more employees options to work from home.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Former Employee – worked at HomeAway full-time for more than a year

Pros – Breakfast every Friday during company-wide C-team meeting, nice offices, young innovative work environment

Cons – Not much communication between teams, no 401k matching