Airbnb host says the price shown on Airbnb was wrong — after I had already paid
I’m looking for some advice on how Airbnb normally handles situations like this.
I booked a property through Airbnb for 12 guests, Oct 2–4. The booking showed a certain price, so I went ahead and paid the amount displayed on Airbnb.
The host then contacted me asking for the guest count and dates. I confirmed that it was for 12 guests and that I had already paid.
After checking the booking, the host sent me a different price — ₹32,500 for two nights — and then explained:
“Ur date is long weekend sir. Price is not updated on Airbnb so it is showing less.”
They then said that if I booked through Airbnb, I would need to pay 40% extra, but if I booked directly, it would be ₹32,500 including taxes.
My issue is pretty simple: if the property listed a price on Airbnb and I booked and paid based on that price, why should I be asked to pay more because the host didn’t update their pricing?
The host did say I would receive a full refund, but that doesn’t really solve the problem. I specifically chose this property based on the accommodation, location, number of guests and the price shown on Airbnb.
I obviously don’t want to pay an additional amount after booking, and I also don’t think customers should have to deal with a host’s pricing mistake.
What would you do in this situation?
Should Airbnb honour the original booking/pricing, or is the host allowed to cancel/refuse the booking because they listed the wrong price?
Also, has anyone here experienced something similar with an Airbnb host?
TL;DR: Booked an Airbnb for 12 people at the price displayed, paid the amount, and the host subsequently said the price was incorrect because it’s a long weekend and asked for 40% more. Looking for advice on how Airbnb handles this.