Price Increase after I book?

[Kelly170]

I made my 5th reservation today on the site.

However about 2 hours after I get an increase booking price thing from the host. I declined because she was $150+ more for 3 nights and claimed airbnb had the wrong price for her summer rates.

When I declined she asked me to cancel my reservation and wished me the best in finding a new place. I  beyond mad right now. What is my recourse? If I cancel I will be charged a fee through no fault of my own and my money is tied up 3-5 days for this nonsense. 

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

You are absolutely NOT obligated to cancel your reservation.  You are completely correct - you should not be charged a fee for no fault of your own.  I would respond to the host and let them know THEY can cancel the reservation, or they can honor the booking as-is.

[Crustt0]

Agree just tell them to honor the booking or cancel it from thier end. Pobably should report the request for you to cancel your booking.

[Kelly170]

Thank you guys. I told them they will need to cancel from their end so I will not be charged the cancelation fee.  I don't want to have to pay for something that is not my fault.  If AirBnb did charge me the wrong price that is something they will need to take up with AirBnb proper and give me my full refund back.  Hopefully I can find an alternate place nearby my convention.

[Kelly170]

She is still telling me to cancel on my end.  She claims her refund policy is Easy yet in the listing it says Moderate.  I know I will be charged the fees because I am canceling.  I had to cancel a previous trip to Europe because of reasons and paid the $90 cancellation fee. I have no clue what to do an AirBNB isn't answering me.

The Reply:

If I am the one to cancel, I won't be able to take any other guest on that days...

Today at 6:04 PM

Kelly, you need to cancel it. And there will be no penalty on you. You will get full refund because of my easy refund rule. As long as you cancel 5 days before the trip, you will get a full refund on me

Today at 6:04 PM

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

DO.  NOT.  CANCEL.

Ignore her (but don't delete the messages) and let ABB handle it.  She's a slick one!

If you cancel, even if she has a liberal refund policy, you'll still be stuck with ABB's fees and you may even get dinged by ABB (not sure about that last part).

DO.  NOT.  CANCEL.

[Wendy-and-Frank0]

Try reaching ABB on Twitter.  I have read that it's very easy to get resolution quickly if you go that route.

[Edel4]

Yes! Airbnbhelp in twitter is the best way to raise your complains. I got an immediate response stating they will give me a full refund. I hope this people trying to extort money from guests will be banned from airbnb.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1 · Accepted solution]

@Kelly170  Like @Wendy-and-Frank0 said, do not cancel.  This host is trying to strong-arm you.  You won't receive your Airbnb service fees back if you cancel.  I would again tell the host that you will NOT cancel and since SHE wants to cancel the booking, SHE needs to do it from her end.  OR she can, obviously, keep the booking as-is. 

Personally, I would just wait out the host and make her cave first, but if you just want to be done with the situation, you can Contact Airbnb and they will review your messages and mostly likely cancel on the host's behalf and you will get a full refund.  But at the same time, the host likely won't be penalized either and, in this case, I would want the host to feel the burn of her mistake. (But that's just me)

[Crustt0]

On the massage that she sent you there is a little flag , use that to report her. She should not be misleading you to get you to cancel.

[Craig178]

Please do not cancel on your end. You will not get any Airbnb fees if you made your reservation more than 24 hours ago. You are under no obligation to pay additional charges from the host as well. If the host is not happy, let the host to contact Airbn and to cancel the reservation. It is not on you - you should not be wasting your time and most importantly loosing money (because Airbnb will not refund you their fees).

[Michael955]

I think I am in the same situation right now..

I have not declined the request yet..

The thing is that the host is not replying, so I sent him a message where I asked him to honor the original deal, or cancel the stay on his part. I gave him 24 hours to reply.

I cannot find the option where I get the ''host to cancel'', is this because I haven't declined the request?

As far as I've understood the steps are:

-Ask the host if he can honor the original deal

-If not, cancel the request, and then select the '' make the host cancel'' option

-wait out the host?

What happens if the host doesn't cancel?

I'm a fairly new ABB user, so im a little anxious right now.

Thanks for the helpful information, allready provided.

[Kelly170]

Contact Airbnb and have them cancel in behalf of the host. They can request the person hosting or the price but I find people who change the price after someone books is prolly not a place you would want to stay. 

[Clare0]

@Michael955. If the host has not accepted your reservation request, you may cancel it. Also, if a host has not responded to your request within 24 hours it is automatically cancelled. 

When a host asks for more money after a reservation request has been confirmed, you may decline to pay more.  There is a way to ask the host to either honor the reservation as originally booked or cancel from their end.  Here's how: 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/1250/what-should-i-do-if-my-host-needs-to-cancel

Please let me know if you have questions!

[Yap0]

You are doing the right thing, Michael. 
The host should make a decision whether to honour the original deal or to make the full refund to you.

The messages in Airbnb chat will serve as evidence for the future resolution.