Removing my listing to host refugees

[Katharine-and-Len0]

Hi.  I've just "unlisted" my property as we have a family of refugees who will be hopefully moving into the property in a couple of weeks time.  I have a number of existing bookings.  I contacted Airbnb to ask what happens if I cancel and didn't get a terribly helpful response but then when I unlisted it also implied my bookings would be cancelled.  Is this true?  I want to contact all the booked guests to let them know what we're doing and why, apologise etc as I'm optimistic most people will be supportive (ever optimistic) but didn't know if anyone had every done this?

Also if I want to relist in 6-12 months is it like starting from scratch, and what will happen?

Grateful for anyone who has any insight on this who has had to unlist their property temporarily.  

[Helen3]

Hello @Katharine-and-Len0 

I don't think it would be fair to guests who have booked with you in good faith for you to cancel their bookings. If you do, you are likely to be charged a cancellation fee for each guest you cancel and of course it will show on your profile that you have cancelled multiple booking, which would mean that guests in the future would be reluctant to book with you.

What you can do is accept refugee bookings around your existing bookings and snooze   (not unlist) your listing to open up your calendar going forward.