Rude host canceled my booking and asked me to book somewhere I can afford

[Jack1880]

The host first confirmed my booking, then few moments later tried to cancel it and say it was too low of a price and it is not worth it for her that she is not making any money.

It was fine that she wanted to cancel, but after that she said 'Please find something you can afford in Malta', it was very rude that she is trying to portray that I should book something that I can afford but not her expensive Airbnb.

When I said I will contact Airbnb, the host said “perfect”. I never experienced such a rude host before.

I reported the user but the report system links me back to the chat support which asks me to check the faq

[Jack1880]

@Sarah977  Exactly! I was too ignorant to believe her words. I actually started a host cancelation request after seeing Andrew's suggestion but she took her sweet time to finally reply 'NO, I DO NOT WANT TO CANCEL'.

I have been to Malta for many years and have stayed with different hosts from Airbnb, always had a pleasant experience!

But this incident is a wake-up call and I will be more careful next time, lesson learned!

[Anonymous]

@Jack1880  I hope this experience hasn't put you off old-school Airbnb hosts or the lovely people of Malta. Rather, what you experienced was a really non-bright person trying to run an improvised property management company with a listing platform she couldn't get her eighth brain cell around.

One way to spot the warning sign of this in the future: look at the fact that this host has 345 reviews, but the sum total of all her active listings' reviews is under 100. That is always a surefire sign that she's deleted and re-animated some listings. The only reason a host would do that is terrible ratings. Now look at the existing listings - obviously there are several duplicates that are exactly the same property. But read the reviews - despite the host's best efforts to suppress her terrible reputation, even the new listings are getting a mixed reaction at best. All the information you need to know that this is a disreputable and untrustworthy host is actually right there in plain sight, if you know what to look for. 

Next time, I recommend choosing hosts who show some consistency. A profile with 300+ reviews shouldn't have a smattering of listings with just a handful.

[Jack1880]

For people who wanna avoid booking with her in Malta, her Airbnb profile goes by A****a and has 12 listings with 345 reviews as of today. 

[Sarah977]

Drilling down through several pages of this host's reviews, while she has plenty of glowing reviews, she also has a history of cancelling a lot of bookings, and moving guests to a different apartment, i.e. bait and switch. And it appears that while many guests had good experiences with her and said she was a great host, it seems that anytime a guest had an  issue, she responded rudely and can't handle any criticism, writing lengthy responses always blaming the guests for everything and never accepting responsibility or offering any apologies.

[Jack1880]

You’re right. 

i am also quite surprised when I explained to Airbnb about the situation, Airbnb reinstated that she did not violate any terms. 

Indeed, if she would have just told me that the price was wrong, apologized and kindly asked me to cancel the booking, I would have just rest the case.