Host asked me to Cancel

[Cynthia824]

Booked an AirBNB and got my reservations accepted yesterday and today I received a message from the host stating “their was a glitch with incorrect pricing. Please cancel your reservation and check the price difference.” It seems it was a fluke on their end and didn’t update the price on their own and using “glitch” as an excuse. They also added “I will update the amenities and add more photos. You will agree it’s a great deal.”

I’m afraid to cancel on my end as I do not want to accrue any fees for cancelling. It also should not be my responsibility to cancel as I did nothing wrong. Am I held responsible to cancel at the host’s request or should I reply back as they are the ones that need to cancel?

thanks!

[Sarah977]

No, you aren't obligated to cancel, but if you are still within the 48hour full refund period, you could, as hosts get severe penalties for cancelling a reservation.

It could be that the host forgot to update their pricing, and in that case, the onus is very much on the host to cancel. But honestly, "glitch" is not necessarily an excuse- the Airbnb site has tons of glitches and hosts post here all the time wondering why their pricing suddenly changed, or their check-in time changed when they didn't do anything on their end, etc. It happens all the time.

And if it truly is a glitch, the host should contact Airbnb to find out why the price showed incorrectly and get Airbnb to do a penalty-free cancellation. But their customer service dept. has been so poor lately that hosts are finding it frustrating to try to get the simplest things taken care of.

@Cynthia824

[Anonymous]

@Cynthia824  Your host is going about this is a wrongheaded way, and you should not have to bear the brunt of it. But you'll also want to free up your payment to book with a better host as quickly as possible.

Here is the procedure to follow when a host tells you they can't honor your confirmed booking:  https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1250/

1. Go to Trips and find the trip you want to cancel
2. Click Show trip details
3. Click Change or cancel
4. Click Cancel reservation 
5. Under Please select a reason, choose My host needs to cancel
6. Next to Did they say they can’t host you anymore? choose Yes 
7. Click Ask host to cancel

If the host refuses to cancel from their end, but also indicates that they won't honor your booking as-is, call Airbnb. Grab a book, you might be on hold for awhile.

Pricing glitches do happen, but nobody forced the host to activate Instant Book when their listing wasn't ready for primetime.