Pool heating fee listing discrepancy

Monica1317
Level 1
New Orleans, LA

Pool heating fee listing discrepancy

*update- the host agreed not to charge as long as we are mindful of usage.   Still curious if there’s any policy on changes after reservation is booked however.  Thanks

 

Hi.  I booked a large house for a group in a popular area filled with many options, but my group is operating on a budget so I went with a house that did not say they charged a daily rate for heating the pool.  After the reservation was confirmed, 2 days later I received an email from the host saying btw, there is a $40 per day pool heating fee. I have a screen shot of the original listing and the listing change after the reservation was confirmed.  Am I now obligated to pay the $40 per day charge?  I don’t want to be an ungrateful guest and hate to go back to searching for another house, but this is a newer host and I already took a gamble on someone with only 1 rating over several properties...

Thanks for your help.

 

 

 

5 Replies 5

@Monica1317 Airbnb does offer hosts a tool ("Resolutions") that allows them to request additional payments, even ones that aren't clearly disclosed in the listing. You as the guest still have the right to refuse the charge. Your booking will still be valid, but the host may choose to leave the pool heater off during your stay.

 

 


@Anonymous wrote:

@Monica1317 .... Your booking will still be valid, but the host may choose to leave the pool heater off during your stay.

 


Not if the heated pool was listed as an amenity, without a fee, when they booked. If this is indeed how the property was "sold," then they do have to heat the pool and not receive a fee. [So important that listing descriptions are actually what you are offering.]

@Monica1317  Happy to see that the issue is resolved. The policy is a little bit vague. On the one hand, the Terms of Service state:

 

7.1.2 Once a Guest requests a booking of your Listing, you may not request that the Guest pays a higher price than in the booking request.

 

So while the host can require payment for optional services, or changes to the booking (such as number of guests), he can't raise the room rate. The room rate by default includes all the items on the Amenities checklist, and if any of those come at an extra charge it has to be stated in the listing.

 

The loophole here is that the Amenities checklist does not have "Heated Pool" as an option - only "Pool." So while he's obligated to provide you access to a functioning pool, he is allowed to say after booking that heating the pool is an additional paid service. Not a good move from the customer-service point of view, but technically allowed.

 

 @Susan151  makes a fair point that muddies the water a bit. The text of the listing description is also relevant to the host's obligations, so if the listing explicitly said the pool is heated year-round, that's the condition it should be delivered in. Otherwise, I'm not so sure. A listing can say that the home has central heating, but that doesn't necessarily oblige the host to turn it on in July or let the guests leave it running all day.


@Anonymous wrote:

@Monica1317 

 

 @Susan151  makes a fair point that muddies the water a bit. The text of the listing description is also relevant to the host's obligations, so if the listing explicitly said the pool is heated year-round, that's the condition it should be delivered in. Otherwise, I'm not so sure. A listing can say that the home has central heating, but that doesn't necessarily oblige the host to turn it on in July or let the guests leave it running all day.


You have made another good point; one I keep meaning to implement in my listing. Including a date range for a specific amenity removes any muddiness of the waters and should ensure clean documentation. Of course, the dates for heat and air-conditioning [the only amenities at my home that would be affected] are dictated by the weather and not a calendar. I need to spend some time figuring out how to define this in a way that makes sense to both native English speakers and those that might be using translation software.

Linda108
Level 10
La Quinta, CA

There are hundreds of discussion threads about how hosts have to deal with guests that do not read the description, however, unfortunately not reading what is available for hosts to properly set up their listing is also a problem.  If you have a host that admits to making a mistake and is willing to negotiate a solution, that might be the best way to resolve this issue.  Both hosts and guests sometimes need to give each other a break and negotiate in good faith.