Lawsuit Accuses VRBO of Prioritizing Profit Over Fire Safety

The complaint, filed in King County Superior Court, contends that VRBO markets itself as a trustworthy platform while failing to enforce its own safety standards. According to the filing, the company’s booking architecture hides critical host disclosures—such as the absence of smoke detectors—within secondary menus that users are not required to acknowledge before processing payments. Plaintiffs argue that this design choice systematically prioritizes completed transactions over consumer safety.

Legal counsel for the family highlights that VRBO continues to facilitate rentals for properties that have explicitly disclosed a lack of smoke alarms to the platform. Investigations conducted by the plaintiffs’ attorneys 40 days after the tragedy revealed that approximately 80% of reviewed listings in parts of the Dominican Republic lacked smoke detectors, with follow-up audits still showing a 66% absence rate. Louis J. Farrah, lead attorney for the family, stated that the platform’s decision to list these properties despite known risks constitutes a choice made for profit at the expense of human lives. The lawsuit seeks to hold the parent company accountable for failing to mandate basic safety measures as a prerequisite for listing homes on their platform.