Airbnb Host Increases Price After Booking and Demands Extra Payment
On March 20, I made a reservation through Airbnb for a property located in Saranda, Albania, with reservation number HMJ8PE3K3X, and I paid a deposit of $202. After completing the payment, the next day the host informed us that the property was actually unavailable for those dates and that they had forgotten to block the calendar. To avoid penalties from Airbnb, the host asked us to cancel the reservation ourselves. However, we had already relied on this reservation and arranged our car rental and flight tickets accordingly.
During this process, we contacted Airbnb and explained the situation. While these discussions were ongoing, the host unethically and improperly canceled the reservation themselves. Afterward, Airbnb informed us that the host claimed the cancellation was a “mistake” and that the reservation dates were still available if we wanted to proceed. The fact that dates previously said to be unavailable suddenly became available again was already concerning, but since all our plans were based on those dates, we agreed to continue.
The main issue arose after this point. The host demanded an additional $157 payment on top of the $202 we had already paid for the same reservation. In other words, we were forced into an unfair price increase. When we reported this to Airbnb, their response favored the host rather than the guest, and our situation was not taken seriously. The response we received clearly reflected this disappointment.
The fact that the host is listed as a “Superhost” clearly shows that this process is not aligned with a guest-focused approach. Both the host’s and Airbnb’s handling of customer dissatisfaction fell far below expectations, and trying a different platform instead of competitors turned into a major regret for us.
I request that the financial and emotional damages we experienced be resolved, that this unfair additional payment demand not be enforced, and that the original agreed price and conditions be honored. I also ask Airbnb to implement stricter oversight and enforcement mechanisms to prevent similar situations from happening to other guests.
