Increased prices after I paid

[Alice1014]

Hello,

My boyfriend and I booked and paid (confirmation of booking) a trip to Florence last night. We have woken up to two requests for an increased fee, £160 extra then £190 extra which is nearly DOUBLE what we paid for. The host didn’t say anything, merely asked for more money. I was confused and asked if they were just trying to get more money out of us as we have booked in what I guess is a busy time. I declined this then they cancelled the booking. However, we booked and paid  the price that they had listed, are they allowed to then ask for practically double what they were advertising? Does this not breach the terms of service? Many thanks to anyone who can help!😊

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Alice1014 No they are not allowed to do this. If Airbnb is working correctly they should be fined and have the dates blocked in their listing. That said if it was Instant Book then they are allowed to cancel up to 3 times per year if they are uncomfortable with the booking.

Sadly there is little you can do other than report their behaviour to Airbnb - Others may have better ideas - lets see.

[Alice1014]

Hi, thanks so much for your reply I really appreciate it.  I don’t know if this is a silly question but how would I know if it was an instant book? Thanks again😋

[Sarah977]

@Alice1014  Instant Book is a booking setting the host can choose, which means a guest can just find a listing they like and book it, without first communicating with the host. If you didn't instant book, you would have had to send a booking request to the host, which the host can either accept or decline. So if all you did was find a listing and clicked on "Book now", that was an Instant Book.

The reason that hosts who use IB can get 3 non-penalty cancellations a year is that IB is riskier for the host- sometimes guests book who, after the host has exchanged a message with them, sends up red flags for the host, like the guest wants to bring more people than are allowed, or a pet, or communicates poorly or rudely, or doesn't reply to the message at all, or just sounds sketchy. 

Hosts who require that guests send a booking request have the opportunity to chat with the guest before accepting or declining the booking, so they can get a sense of what the guest is like and ask questions to ensure it will be a good fit, as well as discuss any extra fees for extra guests or pets, so there's less chance for miscommunication or nasty surprises.

A good host wouldn't use wanting more money as an excuse to lie and say they're uncomfortable with the reservation, so in a sense, if that's what happened, you may have dodged a bullet with a bad host. In fact, a good host would never ask the guest for more money after they had booked, certainly not without explaining to the guest why. Occasionally, there is an Airbnb glitch and a guest will get charged some price much lower than what the host had it listed at, so in a case like that, a host may message the guest and explain what happened and apologize, saying they just can't rent for that amount, they'd practically be hosting for free. But it doesn't sound like that was the case here.

If it wasn't an Instant Book, the host will be penalized for cancelling, but some inexperienced hosts don't know that.

You should report this to Airbnb- it's very poor hosting form and unfair to guests.

[Ann72]

@Alice1014  You would know if it was Instant Book if you were able to book the place without sending a request or asking first.

Definitely send a message to Airbnb about this with the reservation number.

And keep any communication with the host in the Airbnb messaging system.

It's unconscionable that they did this.