They Booked an Airbnb Ahead of the World Cup. Can a Host Demand They Pay More?
Dear Tripped Up,For my parents’ upcoming 70th birthdays, I booked a trip for seven family members, including me, to Southern California to see the World Cup.My father is an immigrant from Iran who has never been west of the Rockies, and we managed to get tickets to the two Iran games being played in Los Angeles.
Prices in L.A.were high, but we wanted something near the ocean and found a reasonable Airbnb for the family in La Jolla, a couple of hours away from the stadium.
In December we put down a 50 percent deposit for a $4,300 rental.Imagine our surprise when in April I got a message from the host letting me know that to keep the reservation, I needed to rebook with a new host and pay an additional $1,000 — an amount that would soon go up.
My guess is that someone realized the World Cup was going to be in the region and tried to jack up the rates.I reached out to Airbnb, whose AirCover policy says it will find a comparable place in such situations, but it only offered a refund or a coupon worth 20 percent of the original deposit, or about $430, which doesn’t come close to filling what had by then grown to a $2,000 gap.
Prices had gone way up for other properties as well.I found their customer service agents’ level of robotic adherence to a script to be maddening.
Every sentence started with: “Yes, I completely understand, and do not worry.” Yet they then went on to say things that very much indicated they did not understand and that I should in fact worry.Can you help? Jason, WashingtonDear Jason,It’s unclear what happened to the house you reserved, which seems to have changed ownership, or at least management, since you booked it.
But it is crystal clear that this should not be your problem.Airbnb’s AirCover policy states, as you note, that it will “help you rebook a similar place to stay.” Alas, the policy continues, adding a mighty hedge: Such a rebooking is “based on availability at comparable pricing.” To me, that sounds a bit li...