28 March 2024 , 14:48
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A family was shocked to be slapped with a bill for an extra £4,000 ahead of an Airbnb stay.
A young woman recently opened up about her issues booking a place to stay on the holiday rental platform. She had plumped for a five-month Airbnb in Toronto, where she had to move to for an internship. The aspiring worker used her mum's credit card and everything seemed fine until the host said the price went up by 39%.
The worried parent told the Guardian that her daughter booked a five-month stay using Airbnb while doing an internship in Toronto. However, after the booking was accepted, she received an email saying the price had increased by £4,000.
The young woman was left unable to pay the price, prompting her to cancel the booking. At that point she was charged an eye watering £1,962 for cancelling, on top of £682 for cleaning and taxes, her mum claimed in a letter to the newspaper. This is despite the cancellation being made very quickly after booking.
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She'd booked a five-month stay in Toronto (Getty)"Panicked, and unable to afford the extra sum, she cancelled. Airbnb has taken a £1,962 fee, plus a further £682 for cleaning and taxes. As my daughter cancelled immediately, it is extremely unlikely that a booking was lost," the mum wrote.
The perturbed parent added: "Airbnb is endlessly quoting T&Cs and says it has asked the host to return the money, but he won’t. It feels as if it has assisted this man to perpetuate what looks like a scam."
After the newspaper got in touch, Airbnb gave back all the money, the Guardian reported. One reader said: "That's not allowed in the Airbnb rules. A price is quoted, you book it, pay for it and that is that. I have used Airbnb 100s of times and I've never heard of the price being adjusted after you pay for the booking."
The young woman is far from the only person to encounter issues when trying to book a holiday home. Last week a mum explained how how she ended up bursting into tears after realising she had taken her family to a fake holiday home after falling for an online scam.
On Christmas Day Leanda Parrott excitedly told her family that they would be heading to the seaside for a New Year's holiday, prompting the four little ones to race off and pack their bags. Several days later, ahead of the turn of 2024, the six of them hopped in the car and drove two and a half hours to the Sussex destination.
It was only when Leanda knocked on the door that she realised something was wrong. "The home owner came out and said 'I'm sorry to tell you but we've had 10 families turn up just today and yesterday and this is our family home'," Leanda explained on ITV's Holidays: Get Away for Less.
"I was just in shock. I remember looking at the car, at my kids' faces, and I just started crying on the man's doorstep because I thought, 'I've got to tell them that we've got to drive home now'."
Leanda had spotted an advert for the three bedroom home with a hot tub - close to a river and just a short walk from a beach - on Facebook. It was listed as costing £200 for three days. When the mum contacted the seller she received a reply from a woman in five minutes. Her concerns that it was a scam were allayed when the host said she'd accept payment over Paypal Goods, which offers extra consumer protection.
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