Airbnb host tells guest they need to increase the price of the house they booked 8 months ago

With the rise of companies like Airbnb and Vrbo, hotels are no longer your only option when you’re on vacation. For some travelers, a whole house rating is better than hotels that don’t give you the same privacy or amenities as a vacation rental.

However, as with any part of traveling, unexpected things can happen that make staying in these rentals difficult. A woman who had planned her trip in advance learned the hard way that Airbnb wasn’t the best choice for her budget.

An Airbnb guest got a big surprise when the host contacted her and told her they had to double the price she paid.

TikTok content creator and business owner Morgan Norris shared her experience dealing with an Airbnb host in a video that she classified as a “rant.”

“There’s no reason why an Airbnb host should call me personally and say, ‘Hey, I see the day you booked something, um, there’s a big event coming up this weekend,'” she said, recalling remember their experience.

An interesting twist was that Norris was aware of the event well in advance. That’s why she made the booking in the first place.

“And I thought, ‘Yes, you do. I knew you did it.’ “I literally had inside information about when this date was for this event because I work with the company,” she continued.

“Remember, I booked the reservation eight months in advance,” she explained. “I paid for the whole thing in full. And what are they doing?”

“He says, ‘Hey, sorry, um, I can’t rent it to you at the price we previously agreed on through Airbnb.’ Um, I know I could triple the amount, um, so I’m going to double it. Are you willing to pay that?’” she said.

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The guest was unsure whether increasing the price after booking and paying was even permissible under Airbnb rules.

“And I said, ‘Is this allowed?’ I really need someone from Airbnb,” she said.

She wondered, “Can a host suddenly try to cancel or change your reservation at the price you quoted?”

To make matters worse, it appeared as if the Airbnb host contacted her in person instead of communicating with Norris through the app.

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“And he did that, not through the Airbnb app. Do you know what I’m saying? They called me personally,” she said.

Unfortunately for Norris, she felt like she didn’t have much influence in the situation.

“I don’t think you should be allowed to, but I feel like I have to pay the price anyway because there’s nothing else for the amount of people I’m going to have with me,” she complained.

“I literally hate people who price gouge,” she said. “This is ridiculous.”

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Unfortunately for the guest, she seems to be in something of a gray area.

Hearing Norris’ story, it’s easy to feel like she was wronged and Airbnb needs to make amends. However, it may not be that simple.

Airbnb has an “off-platform policy” that states that “all communication with guests must occur through Airbnb prior to booking.” Although it may seem like the type of communication this host was involved in was not permitted, it could be. After all, this only happened after booking.

While contact between the host and Norris may technically be permitted, charging a guest more for rent than originally agreed is apparently not permitted.

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“If a host has attempted to charge you for something that violates our policies or was not disclosed in the listing, price breakdown, or message thread, please be sure to dispute the charge in the Resolution Center,” it says it in the help of Airbnb Center.

Therefore, changing the rental price to double is definitely unacceptable and should be reported to Airbnb. How quickly they will respond to this information is, of course, unknown.

If Norris is really desperate to get the rent, she might decide to just give in and pay the extra amount. Honestly, after everything that’s happened, could you blame her?

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Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.