Misleading prices/ inflated offers

[Monique862]

I tried to book a 6 bedroom house for a max of 12 guests for 21 days.

The price is $1227.93 for 12guests and 21days 

But when I contacted the host he said is now over $5000 , how are they allowed to do this? 

[Emiel1]

@Monique862 

The host is not allowed to change the price once a booking is made. What is offered on the listing is binding. Hope you are still able to book before host changes the price on the listing.
(Be sure to enter the right amount of guest in the booking form).

[Huma0]

@Monique862 

The host is not allowed to change the price once you have already booked (providing you put in the correct number of people, dates, pets etc.) but they are completely entitled to change the price if you only sent an enquiry or a request to book. There is no contact yet at that point.

Are you sure you entered the correct number of people etc.? I am not sure where you are trying to book and if it's somewhere where Airbnbs are very cheap, but $1,227.93 seems insanely low for 12 people for 21 nights. Think about it, that's less than $5 per person per night.

If you entered a much lower number of guests, that would explain why the host came back to with a significantly higher price once realising how many people were coming. The $5,000 works out still to less than $20 per person per night, which sounds more realistic to me.

When you search for listings, it will give you a price based on the dates and number of guests. Even if the listing states a maximum capacity of 12 people or more, it won't necessarily show you the price for 12 if you put in a lower number than that as many listings have a base fee for, say, four guests, and than additional fee for each extra person. There may also be additional fees for cleaning, linens, pets etc. but you should also see those in the price breakdown ahead of booking.

[Sarah977]

@Monique862  If this is a new host, they may have not had their pricing set up correctly. 

If it's an experienced host, it's more likely that you had not entered the correct number of guests on the booking form or were looking at the base price. Obviously no one would rent a 6 bedroom house to 12 guests for 21 days for $1228, that's absurd. The utilities and amenities costs alone would probably add up to that.

And a host can change their pricing at any time- they just can't change it after a guest has booked. It's just like booking an airline ticket- you might see a price advertised for a flight, but that price might change half an hour later.

[M199]

@Monique862 

Key words "tried to book".  Likely the host spotted the price error and fixed it.