host cancels a booking, then increases price

[Peter3013]

We're a community of hosts, and, in many cases, customers, too. At your convenience, please share your feedback, given our experience below.

We booked a 4 bedroom place at a popular destination back in January, for a July vacation. The host immediately rejected my reservation request, and we saw that the host increased the price. My wife, using her account, then booked the property at the slightly, but still affordable, increased price - still in Jan. Fast forward to June. We received a cancellation of my wife's reservation, and noticed - and took a screen shot - of the property for the same exact dates available at 2X the per night cost from our original booking. We're talking around $400 night to over $1000 a night after the cancellation.

We have been in communication with overseas customer service, but we're not getting anywhere. After looking a bit closer at the host, we also notice the person hosts multiple upscale properties - host does not seem like the owner, rather a manager of a bunch of properties. 

Also, noteworthy to the situation, at the location we have a vacation planned to, there are no longer affordable lodging alternatives with the number of bedrooms we need for privacy between folks traveling on the vacation.

What would you, as a host, and customer, do in this case? What do you think airbnb should do?

Thank you.

[Alexandra316]

@Peter3013 I'm scratching my head over you rebooking after the host cancelled on you the first time. If someone is willing to cancel on you to make a few extra bucks, it's probably a red flag and a sign that you should just move on, rather than using a different profile to make a new reservation. 

At this point, you can try and complain to Airbnb, but it's doubtful that they will do much. Maybe they will offer you a travel credit towards a new booking. The host's behaviour seems unethical,. but maybe they said that they were uncomfortable with your booking because you have no photo or profile, or because you have no reviews. Airbnb definitely won't force the host to take back the booking or make another host accept a reservation at a lower price, but maybe if they do offer a travel credit, that can help to offset the price difference.

[Elaine701]

@Peter3013 

This may have been something other than the obvious. Have you checked prices outside of your dates? Are they still the lower price you originally booked? 

This has happened to us on occasion... We've mistakenly missed a few dates when setting prices for the year, setting the prices lower than we should have. The only way we discover it is that somebody wants to book it. Usually, we just eat our mistake, but if it's not a confirmed booking, we've sometimes declined, and changed the price accordingly, and informed the guest why it was declined. But we would never have sny expectations that the guest would rebook at the higher price. 

Personally, other than a situation like the above, I can't think of any benefit to declining or cancelling a booking only to attempt to solicit a higher price from a guest. It's a no-win, no-brainer (one would expect, anyway). 

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[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Peter3013 Theoretically what you describe shouldn't be possible. If the host cancels then the dates should be blocked. My suspicion is that if this is a mega-host then Airbnb apply different rules to protect their revenue stream.

Having seen many issues with these big hosts my only advice to you and others is to book with hosts who have a small number of listings and who are fully invested in their properties.

[Anonymous]

@Peter3013    I think @Mike-And-Jane0  makes an important point - the bulk property managers are playing by a different set of rules on Airbnb, and their capacity for aggression in this hyper-competitive market gets a lot of transgressions swept under the rug.

In the past, when a host has canceled a booking, Airbnb has usually offered guests a limited-time voucher in addition to the refund to get guests to re-book on-platform. When this has happened to me (and unfortunately it is really common), the amount of the voucher was insufficient to cover the cost difference of what was available, so I've gone so far as to change destinations altogether and book a hotel. 

In my experience, you're very unlikely to get anything further out of Airbnb at this point other than a headache. However, I'd definitely recommend checking your travel insurance policy, because many insurers cover the cost difference in changing accommodation as one of the primary benefits. Hopefully this is the case with yours too - it's one of the most important things to verify on your insurance plan when you're traveling in the high season.