In the eyes of Airbnb, there is a difference between a host cancelling and a guest cancelling. Guests can cancel whenever they want, subject to the terms of the policy in force. This isn’t considered unusual, nor a violation, in Airbnb’s eyes, and they aren’t likely to punish the guest by leaving a “black mark” on their profile.
When a host cancels, however, Airbnb considers it a violation, which is why there are so many penalties and black marks applied for doing so. I presume this is why they find it necessary to put a black mark in a host’s profile when a host cancels.
Either party can cancel and perhaps qualify for forgiveness under Airbnb’s “Extenuating Circumstances” policy. I assume that’s what Airbnb means when it refers to “special circumstances”.
As far as Airbnb telling you that they do leave cancellation statements on a guest’s profile, the current CS staff is seemingly unaware of their own policies these days. They clearly have not been trained properly. They are learning on the job, so to speak, as each issue arises.
So these days, I tend to approach the CS staff with the attitude that whatever my issue is, we are likely both seeing it for the first time, and my Airbnb knowledge base is probably more comprehensive than theirs. It’s not as it should be, but there you have it.
