Airbnb cancelling reservation on arrival date, and guest showed up

[Paul1081]

Hey fellow hosts, 

I've been a host for a few years, but new here to the forum. Just had a strange experience with Airbnb, and wondering anyone else have had similar experience. 

7 days ago, a guest made a reservation for Dec 20. On the arrival date, around 4am, Airbnb sent an email to the guest and myself cancelling the reservation. (I've pasted the email at the bottom). Out of concern, I called Airbnb, while they can't provide any information, I was assured that the guests will be contacted by phone to ensure they are aware of the cancellation, and all my contact information and check-in information will be made unavailable to the guest. 

Shortly after midnight I get a call from the guest, saying they are on-site, and wondering why the code to get in doesn't work (I had it immediately changed after short notice cancellation). I had to explain that Airbnb had cancelled the reservation, I tried calling Airbnb and was offered little assistance. The guest stood outside the door trying to rebook, but can't, due to some payment issues. After an hour, they end up having to find somewhere else to stay. 

I understand I probably dodged a bullet, and Airbnb did this to protect hosts. But several concerns:

1. Timing of the cancellation - I understand Airbnb might be busy this time of the year, but, with 7 days notice, and then cancelling last minute is concerning. Guests could be traveling by plane and have no access to email. 

2. Lack of transparency for the host - I understand that Airbnb hands might be tied, and can't relay info to the host in a lot of these instances. But I think there could be a better balance to help host understand the level of threat they are dealing with. (ie. Should I be asking the guest to leave immediately, or should I wait for Airbnb to sort out a minor credit card issue).

3. Customer service - better customer service to help mitigate issues as they occur, eg. help calling/explaining to the guest. I had the guest and Airbnb on the phone at the same time, but Airbnb wouldn't call them to explain the situation, or help sort out whatever concern they had with the guest's profile. 

4. With the guest at the door, this could have potentially turned into a hostile situation. And better handling by Airbnb for point 1, 2, and 3, could have helped.

I am hoping this was a one-off. Airbnb had been great, and this is the first stressful situation that I have had to deal with.  If any hosts have had similar experience and/or suggestions, please chime in. Thanks!

Airbnb cancellation Email: 

"We monitor all reservations and user interactions on Airbnb very closely. We’ve noticed this reservation xxxxxxxx doesn’t appear to be legitimate. As a result we have cancelled the reservation and refunded the payment. If you feel this was done in error, please let us know. Otherwise we hope you understand that we do this to preserve the integrity of our marketplace"

[John5097]

@Paul1081 

This has happened to other host. There was a topic about 6 months ago where Airbnb canceled the reservation after the guest checked in and both host and guest had no idea why. If I recall, that guest may have booked on short notice, although host didn't want to admit, so may have been a scam as the payment didn't process in time. That also open up the host to risk requesting guest to leave especially if it late at night. So if it were me I would be cautions about kicking someone out at night if reservation was canceled by ABB after then checked in.  

Thanks for sharing. I suppose sending a brief message after its canceled. "This reservation was canceled by Airbnb. Please contact customer support for more info." 

Host can also change your settings to require a request to book for a few days advance and not accept higher risk guest. 

Although you did the right thing by changing the access code.