Price gouging

[Ruth1664]

My partner and I have been trying to book accommodation in Amsterdam for the weekend of Amsterdam marathon. Tickets went on sale on Saturday and we tried to book our accommodation as soon as we'd got confirmed places. We've both got good Airbnb ratings and have now had 4 bookings rejected for venues that were free for those dates.  One seller has confirmed that the original pricing was wrong. 

It looks as if people have seen a rush of demand for accommodation now the marathon places are confirmed and are now rejected bookings only to relist at a higher price point?

Whilst I totally get that this is a supply and demand issues and people will naturally want to get the best price for their venues, it doesn't make for a good user experience?

I also understand that no contract has been broken as no booking has been made but it's not something I've ever experienced when booking a hotel or guest house? It just doesn't feel great... 

Is this accepted Airbnb practice?? 

[Mike-And-Jane0]

@Ruth1664 when searching Airbnb we only look for instant book places to avoid this kind of behaviour

[Emiel1]

@Ruth1664 

Declining a booking request because of wanting a higher price is not good practice, but it happens.

But those hosts decline a request offficialy for other reason, like "dates are not available" (and then make them available again with higher price).

Amsterdam is an expensive city and the (greedy) Dutch want to make maximum profit of such a major  event !

Just keep trying or maybe search for a listing in the region around Amsterdam. Public transport is very well organized in the Netherlands.