I’m a long-time AirBnb host, but I’m posing this question as a guest… A couple of months ago I made a reservation for July and August in Spain – high season. The host was very difficult and unpleasant about accepting the reservation. It seems that he hadn’t yet thought out his calendar that far in advance (even though it was open) and wanted more money than the calendar price indicated. We arrived at what I thought was an agreement. I contacted him a few days ago asking to start the reservation a week later (same departure date), and he got cantankerous again, saying that if I wanted to change the arrival date that I needed to make a new reservation – for which he would presumably charge more.
I understand that hosts can cancel for any reason, and if he wants to charge me more that he can do so with my current reservation. Is that everyone else’s understanding about host cancellations? Any insights? Thanks all.
He can’t charge you more on your current reservation. And he’s not under any obligation to approve a date change.
If he cancels your current booking, he will receive penalties- the dates will be blocked, so he won’t be able to rent them out to anyone else at a higher price, and he’ll be fined.
Honestly, I never would have booked with or “negotiated with” a host who was difficult and unpleasant and tried to up the price on me, in the first place. I would have reported him to Airbnb and looked for another place.
What’s the cancellation policy on this listing? I realize that prices may be high now to book another place instead, but unless you are going to lose a lot of money, I would be running from this host.
When you start with trouble, do you really think things will improve? I would have headed for the hills. Now, the OP has plenty to worry about for months and then some.
How is any of this possible? An airbnb reservation is made thru the app at the price asked by the host. It looks like you are off the app?
There are unscrupulous hosts who tell guests when they send a request that they neglected to update their pricing and need to pay more. At that point, the guest should stop dealing with them and report them to Airbnb, because of course that’s not okay.
I’m not sure this is the ‘fault’ of a bad host - after all, we are told that the OP says “I’m a long-time AirBnb host”. Gaming the system, going off app, and then coming here asking for ‘help’? Not buying it. Sadly this ‘guest’ needs to understand that they are in their own hole they dug.
Not sure why you assume he went off the platform. I’ve read many guest posts where a host tried to up the price on them when they sent a request or inquiry through the platform.
Certainly it’s up to the guest to stop dealing with a host like this or foolishly negotiate with them, though.
So let me get this straight - you requested a stay, he didn’t want to accept it at the posted price, then you and he settled on a higher price than posted. You ignored the “red flags” of him asking for a higher price and decided to go with him anyway. Now you are cutting a week off your stay, and you are upset because he won’t accept your change request and tells you to cancel and rebook instead. You don’t want to do that because he might raise the price on you before you rebook your shorter stay.
I would not be surprised if he raises his price when you cut your stay short. He negotiated a price with you for a particular set of dates and may have given you a discount for a longer stay that he won’t give for your new, shorter stay.