Cash-grabbing Dublin host ends up indebted €235 to their customers after getting caught trying to force them to cancel their €115/night accommodation for St. Patrick's weekend: ‘And I got a free upgrade’

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Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor
May 26, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

We live in a society that's obsessed with a good grift. 

In line with the cash-grabbing opportunists and your average snake oil salesman, grifters come in many forms, but when it comes to travel, you can always count on your home-share host to be the capitalistic version of themselves. Like the worst landlord of all time, these holiday hosts make an egregious amount of money just because they own property in an ideal spot, counting their coin as weary voyagers deep clean their house. 

This host was based out of Dublin—naturally known as the global hub for St. Patrick's Day celebrations—and they knew their busiest time of the year was tinged with green. Just like the dollar signs in their eyes, their hearts turned green with the potential cash-grab after realizing they'd undercharged a guest for their busiest week of the year. But instead of confessing their mistake, they tried to force them to cancel their reservation with the goal of price gouging them afterwards. 

Keep scrolling to read how karma came back to bite this host, while their guests got a taste of the luck of the Irish. 

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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

  • "I should cancel on my end? no problem!"

    I booked accommodation 2 months in advance for St Patrick's weekend in Dublin. It was a fairly ancient b&b but for €115 it was a place to sleep and cheapest option for the busiest
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  • weekend of the year in Dublin. It was one double bed for me and a buddy to share. It was pay on arrival. 3 weeks before the stay, the accommodation manager
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  • messaged me on the app I booked the stay on telling me there's a problem, I can no longer stay and to cancel on my side immediately. No apology let alone
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  • help offered by them. This was followed by multiple phone calls daily, along with text messages in a harassing nature saying I need to cancel now so I can get my
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  • money back (once again, it was pay on arrival). I didn't answer the calls or messages telling me to cancel. Something felt off, so I checked
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  • the listing for the night I was supposed to stay and it just so happens the accommodation had been listed again for double the price. Likely the manager realised St Patrick's weekend was a cash grab.
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  • Maybe not immediately but at the property manager's request, I simply rang booking.com, and told them I'd like to cancel my booking. The customer service
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  • rep asked why I was cancelling. I explained in detail all the above to her and things took an unexpected turn for the property manager.
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  • Ultimately the rep agreed the property was acting in an unfair manner and the solution was that booking.com would find me accommodation within 1km
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  • (originally they tried to get me to stay waaaaay outside of the city but I wasn't having it) of where I intended to stay. The original property would then be liable to cover any difference in cost.
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  • Here's the good part - finding accommodation 3 weeks before St Patrick's Day in Dublin is about as difficult as trying to light a fire with flint and steel in the rain, near impossible. Everything
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  • within a 1km range was booked out except for a well known 4 star hotel. The room alone cost 350€ per night, and had 2 double beds,
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  • much bigger room and in a nicer location. The customer rep had to get it cleared by her team lead, so I just sat on hold doing chores for 25 minutes. Eventually they
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  • came back and said it was all signed off on and they'll send me a special link. What a treat, I gladly accepted their compromise.
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  • This in turn meant the property owner that tried to force me to cancel on my end was now indebted €235 and we got a massive upgrade for the same price we originally had!
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  • I had to pay the €350 upfront and had to keep receipts and show proof of payment to the booking partner after our stay but got my refund of €235 the following week.
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  • TLDR: property demanded I cancel my booking on my end, they ended up having to pay an extra €235 and I got a free upgrade
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  • NotFreshPants ⚫ It's nice to hear GOOD stories now and then!
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  • queued Up The only thing that would have made this better would be if they also blocked the owner from booking through them that weekend due to their property being unavailable for the OP.
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  • theUncleAwesome07 I started to laugh at "Everything within a 1km range was booked out except for a well known 4 star hotel." because you could SEE what was coming. Brilliant!! Glad this worked out for you and f that property manager.
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homeowner costs deserved traveling costs family drama landlord guests hotel St Patrick's Day cancelled Airbnb debt host Travel weekend traveling accommodation
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