diff --git a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb
index 7ecb6999e..c7bd9e097 100644
--- a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb
+++ b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto.rb
@@ -121,9 +121,13 @@ module VagrantPlugins
 
               if folder_opts[:exclude]
                 Array(folder_opts[:exclude]).each do |pattern|
-                  ignores << RsyncHelper.exclude_to_regexp(hostpath, pattern.to_s)
+                  ignores << RsyncHelper.exclude_to_regexp(pattern.to_s)
                 end
               end
+
+              # Always ignore Vagrant
+              ignores << /.vagrant\//
+              ignores.uniq!
             end
           end
 
diff --git a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
index c23cd1d53..a3c9decdc 100644
--- a/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
+++ b/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper.rb
@@ -16,7 +16,13 @@ module VagrantPlugins
 
       # This converts an rsync exclude pattern to a regular expression
       # we can send to Listen.
-      def self.exclude_to_regexp(path, exclude)
+      #
+      # Note: Listen expects a path relative to the parameter passed into the
+      # Listener, not a fully qualified path
+      #
+      # @param [String]  - exclude path
+      # @return [Regexp] - A regex of the path, modified, to exclude
+      def self.exclude_to_regexp(exclude)
         start_anchor = false
 
         if exclude.start_with?("/")
@@ -24,19 +30,14 @@ module VagrantPlugins
           exclude      = exclude[1..-1]
         end
 
-        path   = "#{path}/" if !path.end_with?("/")
-        regexp = "^#{Regexp.escape(path)}"
-        regexp += ".*" if !start_anchor
-
         # This is not an ideal solution, but it's a start. We can improve and
         # keep unit tests passing in the future.
         exclude = exclude.gsub("**", "|||GLOBAL|||")
         exclude = exclude.gsub("*", "|||PATH|||")
         exclude = exclude.gsub("|||PATH|||", "[^/]*")
         exclude = exclude.gsub("|||GLOBAL|||", ".*")
-        regexp += exclude
 
-        Regexp.new(regexp)
+        Regexp.new(exclude)
       end
 
       def self.rsync_single(machine, ssh_info, opts)
diff --git a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto_test.rb b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto_test.rb
index 953c55ed0..5a9c691ff 100644
--- a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/command/rsync_auto_test.rb
@@ -66,15 +66,12 @@ describe VagrantPlugins::SyncedFolderRSync::Command::RsyncAuto do
     # https://github.com/hashicorp/vagrant/blob/9c1b014536e61b332cfaa00774a87a240cce8ed9/lib/vagrant/action/builtin/synced_folders.rb#L45-L46
     let(:config_synced_folders)  { {"/vagrant":
       {type: "rsync",
-        exclude: false,
         hostpath: "/Users/brian/code/vagrant-sandbox"},
       "/vagrant/other-dir":
       {type: "rsync",
-        exclude: false,
         hostpath: "/Users/brian/code/vagrant-sandbox/other-dir"},
       "/vagrant/relative-dir":
       {type: "rsync",
-        exclude: false,
         hostpath: "/Users/brian/code/relative-dir"}}}
 
     before do
@@ -103,6 +100,11 @@ describe VagrantPlugins::SyncedFolderRSync::Command::RsyncAuto do
         with("Watching: /Users/brian/code/relative-dir")
       expect(helper_class).to receive(:rsync_single)
 
+      expect(Listen).to receive(:to).
+        with("/Users/brian/code/vagrant-sandbox",
+             "/Users/brian/code/relative-dir",
+             {:ignore=>[/.vagrant\//],
+                        :force_polling=>false})
       subject.execute
     end
 
diff --git a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
index e50ae872c..aea2f198b 100644
--- a/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
+++ b/test/unit/plugins/synced_folders/rsync/helper_test.rb
@@ -32,23 +32,23 @@ describe VagrantPlugins::SyncedFolderRSync::RsyncHelper do
     let(:path) { "/foo/bar" }
 
     it "converts a directory match" do
-      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "foo/")).
-        to eq(/^#{Regexp.escape(path)}\/.*foo\//)
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("foo/")).
+        to eq(/foo\//)
     end
 
     it "converts the start anchor" do
-      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "/foo")).
-        to eq(/^\/foo\/bar\/foo/)
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("/foo")).
+        to eq(/foo/)
     end
 
     it "converts the **" do
-      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "fo**o")).
-        to eq(/^#{Regexp.escape(path)}\/.*fo.*o/)
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("fo**o")).
+        to eq(/fo.*o/)
     end
 
     it "converts the *" do
-      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp(path, "fo*o")).
-        to eq(/^#{Regexp.escape(path)}\/.*fo[^\/]*o/)
+      expect(described_class.exclude_to_regexp("fo*o")).
+        to eq(/fo[^\/]*o/)
     end
   end