Host raised price after I asked for information

[Raoul41]

Hi Airbnb community,

I am having an unpleasant experience with a host in California. Me and a couple of friends are planning a low cost trip, and found a place to share that costed 90$ per night. Since Airbnb does not provide the exact location, I messaged the host asking about the distance between the place and the closest public transport stop. The host's very cold reply came together with an Airbnb offer by him (the kind that expires in 24 hours, most probably to rush us) at a WAY HIGHER price, around 300$ per night, which is the advertised price now.

Obviously we did not book the place, but now we have to find a new one and that used to be the cheapest option. We're not super experts but that sounds greedy and unfair: so, in order avoid being treated like this, one has to blindly sent a booking request BEFORE asking for information?

Definitely bummed.

[Sarah977]

@Raoul41  This sounds like a case of the host either having neglected to update his pricing for a busy time of the year and then trying to ask you to pay more, or there may have been something about your message that he didn't like so he was trying to get you to go away by naming a price he knew you wouldn't accept.

Or maybe you didn't enter the correct number of guests who would be coming? $90/night may have been the price for one person, not for 3, and the base price shown on the listing may be far lower than the price for specific dates.

And to answer your question, no, a guest doesn't have to put in a booking request, as opposed to an inquiry question, in order not to get a reply like you got. In fact, if the host doesn't want your booking, all they have to do is decline the bookng request. I just got an Inquiry last night from a guest who asked if she could have a friend stay for 3 nights of a one week booking, when it clearly states on my listing that I only host one guest at a time. So I just messaged her back, saying no, I don't accept 2 guests for the one room I host, she said she understood, and proceeded to put in a booking request only for the days she wanted to stay on her own. Which i then accepted. No price changing, nothing like that.

In fact, many hosts wish that guests would ask questions about anything they are unclear about, before sending a booking request, as when guests arrive with false expectations, it's not a good scenario for either the guest or the host. If the guest hasn't asked these questions beforehand, the host is faced with having to either accept or decline the booking within 24 hours, even if they and the guest haven't gotten things clear yet.

So it appears that you did everything right, you just had the bad luck to hit on a host who wasn't too nice. It's really best not to just go for the cheapest place, but instead use a price range and then read reviews for the place before considering it.

[Pete69]

I've had people just inquiries about dates (not actually requesting to book the dates) and then for other reasons I blocked out those dates or raised my price. I'm constantly changing my prices depending on how the supply and demand situation looks, or sometimes just because something came up and I'm not really enthusiastic about hosting for particular dates.

[Anonymous]

@Raoul41   Hosts are free to advertise at whatever price they choose, and they can change it at any time up until the booking is confirmed. It would be against the rules and legitimately unfair if you had a binding booking and then the host demanded more money outside the terms of your contract. But this is not the case. The system doesn't really reward greed; if the host's asking price is too high for the market, it will remain unbooked and he'll get $0 instead of $90.

Side note: I didn't catch which part of California you're planning to visit, but I can tell you that most of the state is a very expensive place to live and to visit - not somewhere that would make much sense to attempt a "low cost trip" even if you're willing to do camping or couch-surfing. If you're struggling to find accommodation in your price range, the real problem may be that your budget expectations are unrealistic.