Misleading Pricing

[Michael657]

I found a house that seemed to be listed for a lot less than it should.  Still, I enquired about the property and the host asked me what my budget was and I responded with the list price.  He then said that he could not accept that rate.  I am feeling somewhat mislead and unsure what to do as it seemed like he was aware of this list price.

[Alice-and-Jeff0]

Flag the listing, the host, and the emails you received detailing the pricing situation. This will alert Airbnb to their deceptive practice.  

[Huma0]

@Michael657 the list price is not always the same as what you end up paying as the price that shows up in listings is usually the base price. You could expect this to go up depending on the dates you want to book (this isn't calculated in the price when you do a search unfortunately), Airbnb fees, VAT in your area etc.

So, when you make a booking enquiry or request, the total price would normally show as higher, but should be broken down for you so that you can see what the host gets (before Airbnb takes host fees), what Airbnb is charging you as a guest and additional costs such as VAT.

However, your guest should not normally be asking you to specify your budget. If he/she did that off the bat, then @Alice-and-Jeff0 are right. You should report the host.

On the other hand, if you sent a booking enquiry but were suprised that it was coming to more than the price you saw on the listing, did you check why? If you then asked the host for a discount and they asked you what you budget was, they weren't necessarily doing anything wrong, just considering giving you a discount.

I hope that's not too confusing! I'm just not 100% sure from your post exactly what happened.