A woman who booked an Airbnb eight months in advance is accusing her host of trying to raise the price after learning of an event taking place in the area.
TikTok user Morgan (@morgannnorris) posted a video over the weekend with the details. She says she booked an Airbnb for a company event she knew about well in advance. “I came on here to rant,” she says to start the video.
Morgan continues, “Because there is no reason why an Airbnb host should personally call me and say, ‘Hey, I see the day that you booked something. We have a big event coming up that weekend.’ I literally had the inside information on when this date was for said event, because I work with the company.”
What the Airbnb host called to ask
Morgan says, “Keep in mind, I had already booked the reservation eight months in advance. I paid for the entire thing in full. And what did they do? He’s like, ‘Hey, sorry, I cannot rent it to you for the price that we agreed to prior via Airbnb. Now I can get triple the amount. So I’m going to double it. Are you willing to pay that?’ And I was like, ‘Is this allowed?’”
Morgan then requests advice from people more experienced with Airbnb policy. “Is this allowed? Can a host all of a sudden try to cancel or modify your reservation for the price that you have listed?”
The TikToker also notes that the host contacted her outside of the app. “And he did this not through the Airbnb app,” Morgan adds. “They called me personally. I don’t think it should be allowed, but I feel like I’m gonna have to pay the price anyways, because there’s like nothing else available for the amount of people I’m going to have with me.”
She concludes the video: “I literally hate people who price gouge. This is ridiculous.”
Viewers offer advice
The video has amassed more than 264,000 views as of Tuesday. In the comments, users offered advice on how she should proceed.
“Do not allow communication outside the app,” wrote one user.
A second user wrote, “They can cancel, but it blocks out the dates so they can’t list it for more. That’s why they’ll harass you until you pay more, because there’s nothing they can do.”
A third user said, “DO NOT CANCEL! Reach out to Airbnb. They could get banned from the app for this.”
Someone claiming to be an ex-Airbnb employee wrote, “No they cannot. A lot of hosts tried to do that, but once the reservation is made, they cannot double the price. No convos should occur outside the app. Don’t pay!”
Are Airbnb hosts allowed to cancel?
It’s dicey but doable. They are subject to a minimum $50 fee from Airbnb, which in this case would be worth it for the host if they really can get triple for their rental. There are other considerations, per Airbnb: “In addition to a cancellation fee, other consequences may apply, such as preventing the Host from accepting another reservation for the Listing on the affected dates by blocking the Listing’s calendar. Hosts who cancel confirmed bookings without a valid reason may experience other consequences, as explained in our Terms of Service and ground rules for Hosts. For example, Hosts may have their Listing or account suspended or removed, and may lose their Superhost status.”
Can Airbnb hosts price gouge?
It depends. They are allowed to send “requests” that update prices after a booking. A similar situation on Reddit was met with advice from commenters. As one redditor noted: “Don’t accept new price increase. Don’t cancel. Be sure to only communicate via the app, take photos/videos upon arrival and again at checkout just in case host tries to pull some [expletive] on you after you leave.”
A key is not allowing communication outside of the app, making it easier to freeze-out a last-minute price change requests.
Two follow-up videos
In a follow-up video, Morgan said she contacted Airbnb support but posted the original video while she was waiting for a response. When she eventually did hear from support, Morgan said she was told the host would face consequences for canceling on her.
However, the next day she received a message from the host through the Airbnb app stating they could no longer host her. Although she was told by Airbnb that the dates of her initial booking would be blocked out, Morgan saw that the dates appeared available for booking at a total cost of $4,000. She initially booked her stay for $1,200.
In a third video, Morgan said she eventually booked a nicer rental and even got a discount code courtesy of Airbnb. She said “clearly” what the previous host was doing wasn’t allowed under the terms and conditions.
@morgannnorris ur joking right @airbnb #airbnb #airbnbexperience ♬ original sound – Morgan | CrimsonCustoms
The Daily Dot reached out to Morgan via TikTok comment and direct messages for comment. We also reached out to Airbnb via press email for comment.
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