Superhost Just Cancelled A Booking And Relisted At Escalated Price

[Dorothy226]

I woke up this morning to a text telling me that a property I booked back in June for a 10-day Christmas holiday in Honolulu has been cancelled. The Superhost will not respond to my texts and the property has subsequently been re-listed on AirBnB for the same dates as my trip at an escalated price that is a daily rate FOUR times more than what I paid. In fact, I had just made the final payment on the reservation only last week.

What can I expect in terms of help from AirBnB in terms of helping me book a property at a comparable price? And why is this Superhost allowed to re-list the property on the site with the same dates they cancelled on me with a higher rate?

So far I am not getting much help from AirBnB other than saying they are sorry this is happening to me. They told me hours ago that they will help me out, and now my support ticket has gone completely silent. I am now sitting with non-refundable tickets from Vancouver to Honolulu along with several activity and other bookings, including Covid tests, that I cannot be compensated for. The prices for hotels and other vacation properties are crazy high-- that is why I booked this AirBnB back in June. I am at a loss and don't know what I can expect next. 

[Huma0]

@Lisa723 @Sarah977 

Yes, there can be valid reasons for cancelling an IB months after the booking. I did this once because the guest had ignored numerous attempts to contact him over those months and not answered a single question. Funnily enough, he was in touch within minutes after I cancelled. I am. glad I did cancel because this guest's behaviour after that was pretty weird.

Obviously, that is not the case here, as there has been no explanation given by the host and the listing has quadrupled in price.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dorothy226 @Sarah977  well, maybe this host used one of his 3 penalty-free cancelations when he realized he could earn more. Is it legit? I honestly don't know, I've never done it although I could have earned 2 x or more for some popular dates  (including all weekends this month) Unfortunately, I am always too late with raising my prices, I would be a very lousy broker 🙂

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Well, as I mentioned, it wouldn't be legit to use a penalty free cancellation, as the host would have had to lie when giving the reason for the cancellation. I don't think "I realized I could charge more over Christmas" qualifies as a reason to feel "uncomfortable" with a booking. 🙂

[Dorothy226]

WOW, judging from what I am reading when searching the airbnb hashtag and @ on Twitter I am not alone. So many similar stories of hosts canceling last minute and re-listing and the same ghosting of Airbnb support when a ticket opens. Just in the past few days several other people have had happen to them what is happening to me. I am very tempted to go to my local media with this story. Now I feel foolish for ever booking with Airbnb or for thinking the support people would do anything. Thanks to those of you here for your help and suggestion-- you hosts are clearly the majority out there-- but I am not sure how I can ever trust a booking with Airbnb again.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

1478 $ per night for 1 Bdr apartment? WOW 😮

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Must have a gold-plated toilet. 🙂

[Dorothy226]

@Branka-and-Silvia0 that price is a complete mystery to me as the average price for a condo in that area is now $500-750/night. I paid $275 back in June for the listing and all the other ones were close to that range. It is Honolulu pricing for Christmas, but I cannot imagine who will pay that crazy price for that "OK" condo. 

[Dorothy226]

I got my final message from Airbnb support and clearly this will not be of much help. I have found a decent deal at a Hyatt in Waikiki for our ten nights over Christmas (paying double what I booked for back in June,  but using travel points and a family discount) and will move on, but lesson learned for me and hopefully this post will help someone in the future. Thanks again everyone. 

**[Message from CS removed in line with Community Center Guidelines]

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@Dorothy226  Sometimes the host doesn't want to receive a booking for a certain period but also doesn't want to block the calendar or snooze the listing (and drop down in search results) so he just sets up a crazy high price instead. Maybe this is the case, it looks like one.

[Sarah977]

@Branka-and-Silvia0  Maybe he's got the "everything's going to get booked up over Christmas and guests will have no choice if they want to book somewhere" mentality.

Also possible that as this is likely not a host-owned property, that the owners informed the managers that they were planning on using it themselves over Christmas unless they got paid some exhorbitant amount and the manager had little choice. I'm sure there are hands-off homeowners who have clueless and entitled ideas about what they can and can't do as far as how the listing is run.

I've noticed that with a bank of property-managed listings- some may have 5 star ratings, some really low ratings. Some reviews say a place was beautiful, other of the listings have reviews saying the place was run down and needed new furnishings. 

That can't all be the manager's doing- some of the property owners are probably too cheap to invest in making their places nicer and replacing worn out stuff,  repainting, etc. 

[Colleen253]

@Dorothy226 So the host most certainly would have made up a lie to get the penalty free cancellation. Again, so so sorry this happened to you. There are a lot of upstanding Airbnb hosts out there that would never do what this host did, but unfortunately it’s just the name of the game that you’ll never really know who you’re dealing with. And the fact is that even for good hosts, sometimes life happens and cancellations need to be made for reasons beyond their control.

To be completely honest with you, as much as I would always prefer a home away from home over a hotel, for big trips I would probably book a hotel instead of a rental. 

[Lisa723]

@Dorothy226 Ugh. I am so sorry. What a miserable experience, and so disillusioning that Airbnb would allow a host to abuse the system in this way. And there really were not any red flags that would have alerted you that this might happen.

I book Airbnb stays pretty regularly but as @Colleen253 says it can be a risky platform for both hosts and guests, as well as expensive for guests. When I find a place I like I always try to find it on another site and book that way if I can. But it's not always possible.

[Lisa723]

@Dorothy226 @Colleen253 @Sarah977 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Helen3 

This hadn't occured to me before but this is an illustration of why, as a guest, it might be better to send a request to book than book instantly.

[Sarah977]

@Lisa723  I was going to say that, too, but I figured all the hosts who love and prefer IB would get mad at me. 🙂

Most guests, unless they are also hosts, wouldn't be aware of the fact that hosts can do penalty-free IB cancellations, but not penalty-free request cancellations, though.

[Dorothy226]

@Dorothy226 @Colleen253 @Sarah977 @Branka-and-Silvia0 @Helen3  thanks to each of you! Many lessons learned, and I consider myself a very seasoned traveler with family members in the hotel and tourism business and I should have known better and done a bit more communication with the host ahead of making the second payment. I am still a bit confused on the book instantly feature because I did connect with the host before booking etc.. but now I know to steer clear of that option. All of you have made this whole experience a bit more human, and in the end, I did resolve my accommodations. I just shudder to think what people without means/credit/ability to pay more would do if this happened to them. I am 50 and the 20-30 year old me would be royally screwed!